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

[Raid]

The Book of Boba Fett, season finale.

Not great, not terrible. 3.6 roentgen.

Spoiler

There was a lot of spectacle in this, but not a lot of substance. It's utterly predictable, pretty poorly acted (I'm really not impressed by any of the Mods or the Freetown folk other than Vance), but you get a pair of jetpacking Mandalorians and a Rancor fighting massive war droids.

The rumour I had been led to believe turned out to be rubbish. Han Solo did not make an appearance. Allegedly Harrison Ford had been seen on set, but either this was nothing but a tour, or just inaccurate. I made a slightly cryptic comment about it last week when talking about Luke's voice. I'm not disappointed by this, I was just interested to see if Disney's voice synthesis could handle a character with more emotion.

There was nothing here to change my opinion on the series - it's entertaining, but I don't think I could recommend it unless you're a pretty big Star Wars fan. The Mandalorian was better in every single way, with the exception of the episodes that literally could have been episodes from that series. It's a confused production that never quite finds its feet, and detracts from the character rather than adds to it.

[Achtung Englander]

its been heavily criticised. Disney took what was a criminal SOB and made him "family friendly"

[Wrathbone]

Agree with all the above. It’s not a disaster, it’s just a mess. I’d say they got about 70% of the way to justifying his change of personality, but it was flawed from the start. I’ll spoiler the rest just in case.

Spoiler

I’m not opposed to an antihero Boba Fett in principle. The problem was that there was no convincing driving force for him to want to turn honest and semi-decent. Aside from the first five minutes of his captivity with the sand people where he tries to escape, there was no sign of his old, ruthless self. After he rescues the kid he’s totally chummy with them. If they’d spent those episodes showing him mercilessly killing one of the sand people to escape before being recaptured (maybe the kid’s parents) and then shown him gradually learning remorse and contrition, that would have been a compelling reason for him to want to change. The rest of it I think would then have fallen into place. I did like his turn with Cad Bane at the end - one of the few moments of putting his past into context.

I also think they missed a trick by barely addressing Jango Fett and how his death affected him and turned him down a terrible, avoidable path at an early age. There’s still potential if they do a second season, I guess.

One final thing which I hate to say, but I don’t think Temuera Morrison’s performance is great. He was fine in the prequels, but his portrayal of Fett is too… formal? It doesn’t feel right for the character at all.

[Rusty]

I was shouting at the screen as soon as the fighting started.

Have they never heard of tactics?

Not really spoilers but just in case:

Spoiler

Don't run in a straight line.
Use the high ground.
Prepare traps/ambushes (they were prepared enough to set up patrols)
Why use your only means of transport as cover in a dead end?

Actual spoilers:

Spoiler

Why let the rancour go apeshit at the end? He was the hero of the piece battling against the odds.
It just made it feel that it was only doing what Boba Fett told it to against its will.
Did the wookie seriously get overrun by nobodies with knives? He had a frikkin gun and was an ex gladiator!
Did the Mods also think something was amiss (enough to radio in) but still stood in the street with no escape plan or just a plan at all?

I could go on.

[Wrathbone]

Have they never heard of tactics?

The one that dismayed me was:

Spoiler

when Fett sent out the negotiator as a distraction, only for him and Mando to fly out and hover mostly in place about 20ft off the ground. If they'd been stood on a rooftop it would have had the same effect plus cover and concealment.

[Raid]

Spoiler

I suppose you could say that Fett hasn't been training the Rancor for very long, so it's not totally obedient if he's not around. It did feel a little odd for it to rampage afterward, and for the Mods to immediately start shooting at it, but for something that monstrous it doesn't really feel unrealistic.
Krrsantan did seem to be mobbed quite quickly, but clearly he does fight them off. Maybe he just doesn't like using the blaster because it's more fun to pummel them? He seems the type.
The Mods have been one of the least convincing parts of this entire show for me, from their incongruous Vespa speeders to the acting (they feel like cosplaying fans) to the fact that this gang of street kids seem prepared to fight like a military unit. There's nothing to suggest they have military training, which perhaps explains their sluggishness in getting out of the open.

[Achtung Englander]

The Book of Boba Fett

5/10

Do not give Star Wars to Robert Rodriguez to direct. The man is obsessed with Spy Kids and does not care for inconsistencies

Spoiler

when a clay wall can stop blasters...hahahaha

The best episode is 5 and 6 and Boba Fett is hardly in it

[Animalmother]

The acting and writing on this reminds me of a cheap show from the 1990's and you wonder was that intentional or just incompetence. That episode could have been epic but was so amateurish and stupid it ruined any possible dramatic tension.

Spoiler

an X Wing landed at that annoying mechanics place, I was genuinely surprised it wasn't used later in the episode to strafe one of the robots which would have looked epic

I'd be very surprised if there is a season 2 and that the characters will just get folded into The Mandalorian.

[Sly Boots]

Finally finished The Expanse.

I haven't read the books (yet) so I can't speak to how closely the TV show mirrors them (though skimming Reddit suggests certain characters have been omitted or changed slightly), but on the whole would repeat what I've said previously - if not here then elsewhere - that it's the best sci-fi show I've seen.

That said, it's not perfect - Series 4, I think, dragged a bit in places - and I feel like Series 6 could definitely have been stretched to the standard 8 or 10 episodes, as just having 6 made everything a bit rushed in parts.

Probably the biggest issue is that it teases and doesn't resolve what looks like being a massive plotline... in itself this wouldn't be so bad, were this not to be the final season of the show.

However, I've read that that plotline continues throughout the next three novels, so I shall definitely be picking those up. It's just a little odd not to adapt those as well, but you never know, perhaps that will change at some point in the future.

I'm mainly sad that I've finished and there's no more to watch

[Raid]

That pretty much echoes my thoughts identically, including the comments on season 4,which I thought was the weakest of the series. It was still very much enjoyable, I just think it was too much a departure from the stuff I was really interested in.

As for the unresolved plotline:

Spoiler

Assuming you're referring to the whole civilisation-ending-alien-threat thing, yeah. I think in the way it was discussed (Holden does I think say that the gate builders are extinct) you could have tied it up by saying that the protomolecule, the gates, the mass transit limits and such were simply technological remnants of a long-dead civilisation, and nothing more would have come from it... but that's neither a convincing end to the story nor a very interesting way of resolving it. The colonists in season 6 are clearly building or reactivating an alien ship that Inaros was expecting to join the fight, but at the last minute the commander of that expedition messages him and just says "Nah, jog on" with no real explanation.

I'm personally glad that the last season focused more on the war between the Belt and the Inners, largely because of what happened in later seasons of Game of Thrones. The existential threat is clearly a very compelling story hook, but with so much focus on the political situation throughout the rest of the series, it would have felt weird to wrap it all up neatly and then shift focus. I really enjoyed how they ended the war, I loved how Holden immediately resigned and left it to Drummer because he's so fed up of being a public figurehead and knows it's a situation that needs someone with the Belt's interests at heart. But it still needed a more satisfying conclusion to the extra-terrestrial threat than we got.

I'm going to be reading the books too. I may start with the one that picks up after the point we leave the series at, but more likely I'll read the series from the beginning.

[Sly Boots]

That pretty much echoes my thoughts identically, including the comments on season 4,which I thought was the weakest of the series. It was still very much enjoyable, I just think it was too much a departure from the stuff I was really interested in.

As for the unresolved plotline:

Spoiler

Assuming you're referring to the whole civilisation-ending-alien-threat thing, yeah. I think in the way it was discussed (Holden does I think say that the gate builders are extinct) you could have tied it up by saying that the protomolecule, the gates, the mass transit limits and such were simply technological remnants of a long-dead civilisation, and nothing more would have come from it... but that's neither a convincing end to the story nor a very interesting way of resolving it. The colonists in season 6 are clearly building or reactivating an alien ship that Inaros was expecting to join the fight, but at the last minute the commander of that expedition messages him and just says "Nah, jog on" with no real explanation.

I'm personally glad that the last season focused more on the war between the Belt and the Inners, largely because of what happened in later seasons of Game of Thrones. The existential threat is clearly a very compelling story hook, but with so much focus on the political situation throughout the rest of the series, it would have felt weird to wrap it all up neatly and then shift focus. I really enjoyed how they ended the war, I loved how Holden immediately resigned and left it to Drummer because he's so fed up of being a public figurehead and knows it's a situation that needs someone with the Belt's interests at heart. But it still needed a more satisfying conclusion to the extra-terrestrial threat than we got.

I'm going to be reading the books too. I may start with the one that picks up after the point we leave the series at, but more likely I'll read the series from the beginning.

Spoiler

Yeah, the Laconia stuff specifically. It seems with the war over that's where the main focus shifts for the books, so can't blame them for not resolving it in S6, although it's a little odd they included it at all. I read the showrunners wanted to remind people the protomolecule is still out there and doing weird alien stuff, but the way they did it left just raised further questions that won't be answered by the show, and as a result that side of it felt unsatisfying.

But, still, it's minor quibbles really in an otherwise excellent show. And I did appreciate them subtly name-dropping all their sci-fi influences in one of the final scenes.

[Wrathbone]

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 15

Finally getting round to watching It's Always Sunny last year was an absolute treat, one of those things that I'd heard nothing but praise about which actually lived up to its reputation. Season 15 is no different - I can't think of another series that has been this consistently funny over so many episodes, and they're still producing moments that have me desperately wiping away tears of laughter, trying to catch my breath. I think it's good that they're not afraid to mix things up a bit too, while keeping everything that makes it work.

Spoiler

The end of the last episode really hit me out of nowhere too. Charlie Day is an incredible actor to be able to move so quickly between hilarity and heart-wrenching pain without it being jarring in the slightest.

[Sly Boots]

Frank/Danny DeVito

Spoiler

eating his own turd in the soup almost had me wretching

It's a great show, love it.

[Alan]

If you hate your TV and want to increase the chance of it getting a fist through it the new Louie Theroux is rather aggravating.

[Sly Boots]

In a good way? Like it's a good documentary like Theroux usually delivers, just the subject matter itself is frustrating (I know it's about the far right in the US)?