Good TV (aka, the TV series spamthread), the second series

[Mantis]

It's criminal that it ended as quickly as it did because Amazon didn't have the appetite for funding a full season. The last season is okay but it feels insanely rushed and the final episode was such a whimper of a finale.

[Animalmother]

Let's keep it spoiler free, I'm only on the 2nd season.

[Alan]

I personally loved the proto-molecule stuff, although the political stuff was probably more gripping. It does get used as a macguffin occasionally, but it's also responsible for one of my favourite sci-fi events.

Spoiler

The belter racer? That was spectacular

[Hatredsheart]

Black Mirror S07E01

Christ, that was dark. He hasn't lost his touch.

[eny]

Just finished the first series of SAS Rogue Heroes, fuck me that was good.

Also 1923 and Landman, Taylor Sheridan can do no wrong for me, just the right mix of grit, grime and grift.

[Animalmother]

Black Mirror S07E01

Christ, that was dark. He hasn't lost his touch.

I stopped watching during series 5 I think as I found the feature length episodes just too much. I preferred the Twilight Zone style shorter, but more episodes style. Do intend on going back and finishing it though.

[Animalmother]

Resident Alien
I know a few people are fans of this here. The first 2 seasons popped up on Netflix recently and I pretty much binged it. An alien crash lands in a small town and takes the identity of the doctor, much fun ensues. While it has it's problems I did enjoy it for the most part, mostly due to Alan Tudyk's performance, especially while wearing the prosthetics. Most of the cast are great (except the annoying mayor and his wife). Hopefully they get season 3 soon enough.

[Sly Boots]

Black Mirror S07E01

Christ, that was dark. He hasn't lost his touch.

Working through it at the moment, just watched the fourth episode, the Peter Capaldi one.

For me the 2nd one was a bit of a letdown, mostly due to a silly ending, but the other three thus far have been bangers. #3 and #4 in particular.

[Hatredsheart]

Black Mirror S07E01

Christ, that was dark. He hasn't lost his touch.

Working through it at the moment, just watched the fourth episode, the Peter Capaldi one.

For the 2nd one was a bit of a letdown, mostly due to a silly ending, but the other three thus far have been bangers. #3 and #4 in particular.

I agree about number 2

Spoiler

given the antagonist was a computer genius and the boyfriend was wearing a vr headset earlier in the episode,(which I took as a hint),I mistakenly thought our protagonist was restrained with some sort of vr setup on. The whole multiverse thing was a bit meh.

[Stormbringer]

Daredevil Born Again Ep1
So he’s shite CGI Spider-Man now? This kind of seems garbage and there’s a certain film student thing to the camera work that the Netflix one never had. It’s like they watched the original run and thought they could emulate it but they aren’t good enough and the MCU look and feel is leaking in through the edges.

Just started this last night. You're spot on in your description. What the actual hell? I couldn't believe what I was watching. Budget CGI blended with amateur camerawork. How did this get approved?

The Netflix show was very slick. At least the first couple of seasons. I think it went downhill as it went on, and particularly when it was merged with the other rather lame characters in that woeful 'Defenders' show.

But, the first episode of Born Again was pure garbage!

[Alan]

Daredevil Born Again Ep1
So he’s shite CGI Spider-Man now? This kind of seems garbage and there’s a certain film student thing to the camera work that the Netflix one never had. It’s like they watched the original run and thought they could emulate it but they aren’t good enough and the MCU look and feel is leaking in through the edges.

Just started this last night. You're spot on in your description. What the actual hell? I couldn't believe what I was watching. Budget CGI blended with amateur camerawork. How did this get approved?

The Netflix show was very slick. At least the first couple of seasons. I think it went downhill as it went on, and particularly when it was merged with the other rather lame characters in that woeful 'Defenders' show.

But, the first episode of Born Again was pure garbage!

It does get better, ep1 was the low point. There's still glaringly cheap CG on occasions but not as horrible as ep1 and fairly sparing. Its fine as it goes on but I'm kind of getting sick of the Trump adjacent plotlines showing up in bloody everything of rich bad guy getting political power by running as a populist. That said Kingpin is a fun character and I do like to annoy the missus by emulating his stilted, breathy, slowshatner line delivery. :p

Think we are on ep 7 currently. I do predit a CG packed finale....

[Stormbringer]

Yes, the Trump allusions in Ep. 1 were so heavy-handed I was cringing.

There were so many worn out tropes, in fact, that a part of me feels a little bit queasy at the thought of continuing.

[Animalmother]

Andor S2
I'm one of those people who couldn't really give a toss about Star Wars but gushed over Andor. Really loved the first season, a spy story set in a believable sci-fi universe that just happened to be Star Wars. It's being released 3 episodes at a time each week (not a fan of that format). Definitely a more comedic start than the first season and there's what feels like a lot of filler in each episode. But it's still very good and the use of actual sets rather than green screen makes it look amazing.

[Raid]

Yeah, it's crazy how much better Andor looks than Ahsoka or The Acolyte did given it's the same universe and same studio. One of the most glaring weak points for Ahsoka was the costuming and makeup, which made it look like a team of talented amateur enthusiasts rather than the biggest media company in the world.

Anyway, the first episode didn't disappoint. They were always going to win me over by re-canonising the TIE Avenger, the ship that was known as the TIE Advanced in the old X-Wing games and one of my favourites - I am a very specific type of spaceship nerd after all, but I think the situation Cassian's found himself in is both entertaining and already demonstrating the character's strengths. It's fairly obvious what direction they're going with the ISB officers if you're familiar with Rogue One, which is a story I'm genuinely quite excited to see more of.

One of the issues I did come across though is that I don't recognise half of the characters, and I'm not sure whether I'm meant to or whether they're new. This is a wider issue with these premium series now taking multiple years between seasons - unless I re-watch the previous season it takes me frustratingly long to reacclimatise myself. Would it kill them to add a short "Previously on" bit at the start of a new season? I know with these being launched on streaming services the previous episodes are immediately available, but I've got too much to watch to be re-watching 5-10 hours of stuff I've already seen.

[Animalmother]

If I hadn't rewatched the first season a few weeks ago I'd probably be a bit lost as well. What I do appreciate is that this is a story going on in the mundane end of the empire, middle management dealing with seemingly insignificant shit that is the catalyst to the whole story.