The Gamers Arms

Sly Boots wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:14 pm

Achtung Englander wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:39 pm

The Queen's Gambit (Netflix)

10/10

What a fantastic story. This is best TV I have seen since Chernobyl. Superb production values, acting and it completely hooked me in from the get-go. I liked it so much I bought the book halfway through the series. Netflix done good with this one.

Next series - The Spy

I have to bump this again. We're about half a dozen episodes in now (I think there's one more?) and it really is exceptional. If you watch one Netflix show this autumn, make it this one.

Yeah watched this myself based on the rabid frothings of a review in the Graun - not usually my go-to source for recommendations but they were on the money here. Great story, beautifully shot and told. Also the lead character Beth Harman was sensationally pretty - I could have watched it for her alone.

The Haunting Of Bly Manor
First few episodes I thought this were shit. It felt cheap and basic but I stuck with it out of my usual stubborn idiocy and by the end of it I really really liked it. Maybe I’m just soft in my old age but I though the thing with the lake about halfway through was heartbreaking.

I don’t think it’s as good as Hill House but I think people are being too hard on it for it’s slow start. It’s it’s own thing are has a lot of originality in it. If you gave up on it after a few episodes I think it’s worth going back to. I think a good editor could chop a lot of the chaff out - the boyfriend stuff for example should just gtfo.

Alan wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 14, 2020 2:56 pm

The Haunting Of Bly Manor
First few episodes I thought this were shit. It felt cheap and basic but I stuck with it out of my usual stubborn idiocy and by the end of it I really really liked it. Maybe I’m just soft in my old age but I though the thing with the lake about halfway through was heartbreaking.

I don’t think it’s as good as Hill House but I think people are being too hard on it for it’s slow start. It’s it’s own thing are has a lot of originality in it. If you gave up on it after a few episodes I think it’s worth going back to. I think a good editor could chop a lot of the chaff out - the boyfriend stuff for example should just gtfo.

I gave up on it with two episodes (of 10) remaining. FWIW I thought it started strongly but by the midseason had just become a series of long, boring monologues by secondary characters I didn't particularly care about.

Aside from my dad, who on one occasion, prompted by a question from my wife ("How's your work these days?") went off on a two-hour recital of his entire career history from 16 to present, I've never actually conversed with anyone who speaks in such great detail, at such great length, without imparting anything of interest whatsoever

It could have been good, for my money it was just massively over-written in places.

Ha, exact opposite! Thought it started terrible and got good. Opinions and assholes

Star Trek Discovery: Series 3

I have watched one episode, and it's already annoying me. It's not actually a terrible episode for the most part, but there are two constants in Discovery that I just can't stand.

1. Michael Burnham's constant overly-emotional dialogue. Maybe this is actually a clever commentary of how her human mind was unprepared for the onslaught of emotions aboard Starfleet vessels after she left the company of Vulcans, but to me it just says that the writers don't know how to write a character with her backstory. She's constantly either close to tears or so angry she could stab someone with the blunt end of a tricorder. She can't speak slowly, every word from her lips seems to be trying to win the 100m hurdle, the intonation leaping up and down depending on the emotion the writers are trying to force down our throats. The dialogue in Discovery is absolutely dreadful as a whole, but it's just even more jarring with Burnham because it just doesn't fit her supposed character.

2. The Federation is less a loosely organised UN stand-in and more a goddamn religious cult. Everyone talks about the Federation or Starfleet like it's the last beacon of hope against an onslaught by the legions of hell. It's even worse in this episode, which contains a character that has spent 40 years of untold tedium just so that he can allow a Starfleet officer to descend from upon high and put a flag up. Nobody in the TNG-era series spoke about the Federation this way; even in the most pro-Federation episodes of DS9, where Sisko is discussing the merits of serving in Starfleet to a former officer that abandoned it, it was tempered by the context. In this it's just one-note fervour.

CBS don't know what they're doing with this franchise. It's as if they don't understand that you can still have meaningful, thoughtful exposition with continuous character development - just look at The Expanse, which spent half of its most recent series talking instead of making everything explode. Discovery is like a five year old trying to imitate the style of good sci fi without understanding any of the meaning. Stargate lampooned this fifteen years ago and it's even more relevant now than it was back then.

I can’t muster the will to even attempt season 3 of Discovery.

Wrathbone wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 14, 2020 6:16 pm

I can’t muster the will to even attempt season 3 of Discovery.

I'd agree, but I already noped out after the first episode of series 2

That was probably wise, season 2 was terrible (with the possible exception of Captain Pike).

I'm going to at least give episode 2 a shot, because I'm interested in the far-future setting (which I think is the furthest forward Star Trek has ever been). How far I get will probably be determined by how much each episode annoys me. If Tilly's constantly spouting "That's the power of math, people!" bullshit, I'll probably call it quits and hope to buggery that Strange New Worlds is better written.

I’ll watch it but I’m not looking forward to the entire universe revolving around Michael yet again.

Reviews for this season are better than the last ones. Still going to wait until it wraps up.

I thought Discovery was distinctly average, good to just put on when you're multi tasking because it's definitely more spectacle than depth. I do find it irritating how much Michael's character makes everything about her in the most dramatic way possible, so it was doubly tedious towards the end of season 2 when it turned out that it literally was all about her.

Bit late to the party on this one but watched the first few episodes of Dark, it's excellent. I initially wrote it off as a German version of Stranger Things but this isn't a kids show by any means (that was dispelled within the first few minutes...). Awesome stuff.

Dark is one of the best shows I've ever seen. Absolutely loved it.

It's far better than Stranger Things, and not really alike at all.

There's no comparison. Forgot to mention the excellent music used throughout the show, if there was a chef's kiss emoji I'd be using it now.

When season 3 came out earlier this year my girlfriend and I binged it in a single day. Seeing everything come together in the penultimate episode was amazing, it could have ended right there and it would have been perfect.