[subego]

Wormwood is an excellent documentary series.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Season 3 of Ted Lasso is brutal, sigh

[subego]

Watched Unbelievable. It’s excellent. Police procedural about a serial rapist, so it’s extremely depressing. It’s the slowest show I’ve ever watched where every moment still remains compelling.

[subego]

Oh… my dad didn’t even last 20 minutes with FUBAR.

[Laminar]

Just finished season 3 of Mandalorian. I enjoyed it, kids enjoyed it.

 

They better bring back Grogu in a mech suit next season.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I’m going to plug Succession for the last time….series finale was last night, and they knocked it out of the park overall.

Succession belongs in the short list of greatest modern dramas. The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men. I include The Americans as well, although most put it a hair below. Succession is probably as good as any of them and more rewatchable than some. Stellar!

[subego]

Started in on White House Plumbers. Loving it. Didn’t expect a comedy. Theroux fucking kills as Liddy. He’s my new favorite actor.

Fun watching it with my dad, who has first-hand recollections. I would have been, like, two.

[OreoCookie]

I just finished the last episode of Ted Lasso. It is absolutely excellent. Just the first scene hit it out of the park, pure Ted Lasso gold. The underwear :rofl: Pacing was on point, the emotional scenes that could have been sappy hit just the right notes and even though it was a 95 % happy ending, it did absolutely deliver.

I know that the last season wasn't as picture perfect as the previous two, but the season finale absolutely delivered.

[subego]

Woops! Wrong thread!

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I bailed on Ted Lasso, could not finish this last season….sigh

[subego]

Kinda meh on S2 of Yellowjackets. It got really silly, didn’t advance the story enough, and feels like they don’t really know where they’re going with it.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Yup, agreed, big disappointment. S1 was really interesting, S2 started similarly but quickly got messy. After EP4 I basically played out the string but I’m out moving forward. At least unless they have a miraculous turnaround during S3.

One important practical point: Yellowjackets has some of the worst outdoor snow sets I’ve ever witnessed. Just terrible winter set design. For S2 set in a Canadian Rockies winter, it was a distractingly bad problem. They even badly CGIed exhalation condensation, and entire scenes look nuts-to-bolts fake.

[subego]

Absolutely agreed. Also complained about the CG breath to the person I was watching it with.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

I bailed on Ted Lasso, could not finish this last season….sigh

I've seen only glowing, tearful recommendations about it. Without spoilers, can you describe why you're not into it? Too cheesy? Predictable? Unnecessarily upbeat?

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I've seen only glowing, tearful recommendations about it. Without spoilers, can you describe why you're not into it? Too cheesy? Predictable? Unnecessarily upbeat?

Haven't seen the finale yet (second-to-last episode yesterday), and it does get a bit sappy.

But never uncomfortably so, IMHO.

Backstories to a number of characters are revealed and resolved. It's pretty on-the-nose — but in a gratifying way, in keeping with the general tone of the series.

[andi*pandi]

We finished it yesterday, and I had had a real sense of approaching impending doom about it, but was overall satisfied with the ending. The kid heard that they initially intended to finish at 3 seasons, so that is what they wrote, and it does not feel stretched or abrupt as some shows who have open endings sometimes do. It feels complete.

100% would watch again for quotability and amsterdam.

Just the first scene hit it out of the park, pure Ted Lasso gold.

 

The kid and I just rolled when we realized the writers pulled a "will they won't they did they" trick on the viewers. Take that fanservice! Very happy they did not go there. Beard's underwear, such cringe!

[Thorzdad]

The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds popped up on Prime this week. I dove in tonight and really loved it. It hits just right.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

We finished it yesterday, and I had had a real sense of approaching impending doom about it, but was overall satisfied with the ending. The kid heard that they initially intended to finish at 3 seasons, so that is what they wrote, and it does not feel stretched or abrupt as some shows who have open endings sometimes do. It feels complete.

Yes, agreed. I was discussing with other people, and we thought this relatively happy ending fit very well with the overall tone of the series. Similar to how The Good Place had a relatively happy ending. There were some more tears than with Ted Lasso, but overall also here the finale was spectacularly good and fit with the overall vibe of the show.

I have to give it to the writers: they resisted closing some of the loops.

 

E. g. in the beginning of Season 3 when Rebecca sees her mom's fortune teller/medium, they introduced the hook with the green match book — which she promptly gets from Sam. Yet they did not close the loop (or rather, they through us for a loop).

One thing I would have loved the writers to pick up again was the picture that Nate gave to Ted. Nate was very disappointed that Ted did not display it at work, not knowing that Ted kept it at home in a prominent spot. I wish that them rekindling the relationship could have involved this picture, it would have been a nice way to symbolize the moment when it clicked for Nate.

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

100% would watch again for quotability and amsterdam.

Completely agreed, those are the two stand-out episodes, and they can go toe-to-toe with any other episode from any season in my opinion.

 

The underwear was amazing. I felt immediate uncomfortable and your sense of cringe. Yet, all the actors pulled it off. Rebecca did not flinch. I don't think I could stay serious. And the “Please don't clean the ropes!” bit was the cherry on top, which left viewers completely confused as to WTH happened the night before.

[andi*pandi]

I unsubscribed to apple tv and figured I'd give Blackbirds a shot before the sub was up. It got good reviews... based on a true story... ok, it's about a serial killer... oh dear.

Very well done, well-acted... not visually violently explicit but let's just say the villain's conversational style is extremely creepy. I finished it in one night because I needed to know how it ended.

Need some earbleach fluff to watch now.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Black Bird is a pretty good recommendation so far! Finished episode 3 last night and it’s really settling in. Hope they can bring it home in the six episodes.

[subego]

Was able to rope my dad into Chernobyl, so I’m excited about that.

[andi*pandi]

Ducktales is really where it's at.

[subego]

I’m told the recent-ish Mickey Mouse shorts are brilliant, but I couldn’t sell my dad on that one.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Who’s on Apple’s Silo?

It’s like…..something I can’t quite put my finger on, think a bit of Blade Runner crossed with Snowpiercer with maybe some Westworld?

@subego……..first season just ended, 10 episodes……I still feel that I’ve seen the concept before somewhere, but my comparisons aren’t crazy. It’s not without some flaws, but overall quite a nice dystopian series that builds to an avoid-all-spoilers final episode

Plus Rebecca Ferguson, if you’re into that

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Who’s on Apple’s Silo?

It’s like…..something I can’t quite put my finger on, think a bit of Blade Runner crossed with Snowpiercer with maybe some Westworld?

It’s based on the book Wool* by Hugh Howey. It’s worth a read, especially, as I understand it, the Apple show changes more than a few things from the book

* Which is the collected Silo series of novels.

[subego]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

@subego……..first season just ended, 10 episodes……I still feel that I’ve seen the concept before somewhere, but my comparisons aren’t crazy. It’s not without some flaws, but overall quite a nice dystopian series that builds to an avoid-all-spoilers final episode

How resolved are things by the end of the season?

[Thorzdad]

We just binged season 2 of Is it Cake? on Netflix (Is it Cake, Too?) and enjoyed it a lot. It’s a lot tighter than the first season but still retained all the fun. It’s neat to watch a competition where everyone is supportive of each other, with none of the “I’m not here to make friends” bullshit most other competitions encourage.

You do have to deal with Mikey Day’s eccentric manners, but it’s not a fatal flaw or anything.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I would say both resolved and unresolved.

By that I mean they actually did provide great answers to some of the key puzzling questions in the first season; but in doing so, they unveiled even larger issues that relate to some of the other unresolved questions, presumably for season 2+ to tackle.

If you’re wondering, although it definitely does not suffice as a stand-alone season, it was still quite a satisfying 10 episodes that worked up to a key final-reveal puzzle piece.

[Laminar]

Any grownup that goes by "Mikey" isn't to be trusted.

[subego]

Does Mikey actually eat the cake? I thought he hates everything.

[andi*pandi]

is it a show where people are actually trying to make a cake, unlike Cake Wrecks?

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

is it a show where people are actually trying to make a cake, unlike Cake Wrecks?

Yes. The point is to make a cake that looks like a non-cake object, like a boot or a bowl of nachos, and to fool the b-list celebrity judges. Each episode has a different theme that informs what sort of objects the bakers will be trying to mimic.

All the contestants are professional cake-makers, and very nice and supportive of each other, which makes the show pretty easy and fun to watch. There’s no conflict or drama getting in the way.

The first season was a little rough, production-wise. I think they were trying to find the show’s footing. This second season is far better.

[subego]

Started Succession.

Was not expecting Arrested Development 2.

[andi*pandi]

Is it cake: nice and light, but ultimately feels like wasting time. A good show for folding socks or doing other chores during.

Succession: gets a little darker, my friend.

[subego]

I’m figuring.

I guess I wasn’t expecting it to make such extensive use of the same strain of comedy.

[andi*pandi]

Blacklist Finale. It's over. That's all I can say. It was kind of lame.

This whole season I was expecting some wrapup.

 

Some cold war flashbacks. Some Liz hallucinations. We knew Red was dying. They told us that and then stretched it for all it was worth. So that, what?

Did we ever find out all of Red's secrets? No. Did we get nice callbacks to all the favorite side characters? Some. Did we waste a whole bunch of time on new characters that were boring AF? Yes.

If you are just starting this show, I recommend stopping at season 8. The earlier seasons are great fun.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Is it cake: nice and light, but ultimately feels like wasting time. A good show for folding socks or doing other chores during.

I don’t disagree. But, I have a soft spot for shows I can watch while folding clothes. Never underestimate the value of wasting time.

[Waragainstsleep]

Has anyone seen the show From?

Its pretty good. Under the Dome vibes with bags of mystery. Much more gory though. The sets, rather than the action.

[Doc HM]

ITV 4 (pretty niche even over here, FINALLY gets the 2019 season of Battlebots. Heaven, if your idea of heaven is metal crabs smashing the crapola out of each other, which luckily mine pretty much is. Let's hope they carry on with newer seasons pretty quickly.

Silo: 7/10: Working through trying to guess the outcome. I guess we won't find out everything since season 2 has been green lit.

Shrinking: 7/10:Fine. Sort of a lightweight version of Ricky Gervais's show about the same thing with a LOT less angst and dead drug addicts. Harrison Ford owns the whole show totally.

[andi*pandi]

aw, battlebots. Used to like watching the old one.

Last night convinced the SO to try Black Mirror. Late to the game. I only knew it had great reviews and was weird. Well it was weird enough that he actually liked it. So we have 6 seasons of that on our list now.

[subego]

I tried that with my dad, and decided to go the route where we picked one from a list of (supposedly) the best episodes.

The list I chose put the one with dating service in the top slot. It was interesting, but too long, and I felt left alone some of the darker implications of the twist.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Doc HM 

Silo: 7/10: Working through trying to guess the outcome. I guess we won't find out everything since season 2 has been green lit.

Interested to see what you think once you finish S1.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Last night convinced the SO to try Black Mirror. Late to the game. I only knew it had great reviews and was weird. Well it was weird enough that he actually liked it. So we have 6 seasons of that on our list now.

I’ve dropped into Black Mirror off and on over the years, and I can only manage to last a couple of episodes before it get too uncomfortable, and I like semi-dystopian sci-fi.

[subego]

Saw The Real World reunions. Halfway decent nostalgia hate-watching I guess. No SF or Chicago tho.

[subego]

Halfway through S2 of Succession. Not as good as S1. Kinda silly.

[andi*pandi]

New futurama: first episode very meta. Funny, yes. Interested to see how other episodes might be once all the callbacks are out of their system.

[Laminar]

Watched it last night, my son saw it and said, "Oh is this the Fortnite thing?"

I've never been a Futurama superfan, though I did see the first episode when it premiered, which was just a couple of months after Family Guy first premiered, speaking of shows that Fox killed multiple times but keep coming back...

It was...fine? Maybe a chuckle or two. But Futurama was never really for me.

[subego]

Originally Posted by subego 

Halfway through S2 of Succession. Not as good as S1. Kinda silly.

Finished the season tonight. Inferior to the first overall. Good finale though. Had me going.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Uphill from here imo…..

[ShortcutToMoncton]

A soundtrack to get you hyped for season 3…..