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

[Hatredsheart]

The Orville
Watched first couple of episodes and enjoying it so. It's Star Trek with knob jokes, pretty much. Ship designs are great as are the make up effects on the various aliens. From what I've heard it manages to be more like Star Trek than the most recent efforts on Netflix and CBS. Silly but entertaining.

Season two is better, still lots of humour but it starts getting a bit darker. Looking forward to the upcoming season three.

[Sly Boots]

+1 for the Orville, it's excellent, a proper homage to old-Trek with a slight Mcfarlane tang.

[ManBearSquid]

The Haunting of Bly Manor

That's us just finished our third Flanagan; we've watched them in a backwards order of Mass, Hill House, then this one.

I've enjoyed them all almost equally with Hill House being the most consistent, Mass being my personal favourite, and Bly being enjoyable overall if a bit slow to get moving. All three have had excellent moments that I have found touching in some way.

Also, the beginning to Bly disarmed me a bit when I, almost instantly, recognised Greg Sestero (Mark from The Room). How the hell was he cast?!

[Achtung Englander]

Top Boy season 4

Excellent

9/10

[Sly Boots]

Better Call Saul Season 6 episode 7 review:

Jesus Fucking Christ!

[Mantis]

Yeah what an end to the middle of the season eh. So brilliantly put together too.

[Raid]

Better Call Saul Season 6 episode 7 review:

Jesus Fucking Christ!

I decided to get myself caught up after seeing this, because I'll be damned if this show gets spoiled for me. I watched the three most recent episodes this evening.

Yeah.

Spoiler

I expected this season to have a body count, the trick has been deciding who'll walk out alive. There are characters that I've grown to love over the course of the show, through superb writing and acting, and other than the ones that appear in Breaking Bad, it's pretty clear that none of them are safe. That second candle flicker in the final scene properly set off my adrenal glands.

Lalo Salamanca is every bit as good a villain as BCS or BB created. Tony Dalton just carries that same sense of threat and menace that Gus had in Breaking Bad.

[Solitaire]

Strange New Worlds, Supplemental: Episodes 3 & 4

I found E3 to be the weakest so far, with a well-worn premise seen not only in lots of other sci-fi shows but Star Trek episodes of yesteryear. Just felt rushed and phoned-in by the cast. And apparently, No. 1 has plot-armor type powers? I'll say this, though - Dr. M'Benga's dialog near the end was heartfelt, and

Spoiler

when he looks away from the camera to say, breathlessly, "to say goodbye," it was a little punch to the gut. Well done by Mr. Olusanmokun.

E4 has made up for E3, however - strong story, definitively old-school ST vibes, and some surprisingly emotive acting in some scenes, especially

Spoiler

the mind-meld sequence, which was handled quite well by the actor playing Spock - presented as stoically Vulcan, but with an undercurrent of emotion in his voice that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. It wasn't just the particular situation they were in, but also a sense of tension or unease, even menace, because here they are inside each other's minds, where anything can happen just like in a dream, or a nightmare.

Interesting to me that the security officer reminds me so much of Drummer from The Expanse, not sure if that's purposeful or just my impression. The tight black eyeliner and intensity is giving me Drummer vibes, let's say that, and not a bad thing at all. Interesting character and glad to get a little more background on her. Mount's Captain Pike continues in strong fashion. He delivers his lines with space and thoughtfulness, giving depth to the conversations, compared to what some actors will do, which is rushing and hammering their lines at the audience. Good stuff, here's hoping that following episodes stay on course.

[Raid]

Obi Wan Kenobi

I can't say I'm that impressed by the first couple of episodes. They've decided to heavily feature a young character whose back story I'm not really that interested in, and then they've given the young actor lines that don't feel remotely realistic for a character of that age. And then the antagonists are squabbling and unprofessional, which is largely at odds to the way they've been portrayed in the past.

Room for improvement then, but there are only going to be six episodes, so the first third of the series hasn't really grabbed me.

[Wrathbone]

I enjoyed the first two episodes, mostly for Ewan Mcgregor’s portrayal of Obi Wan.

Spoiler

I like that they’ve gone with Obi Wan being stubbornly on-task but totally disillusioned, without him being cynical. To see his humility in going from a great Jedi and general to a manual labourer who can’t reveal his true ideals or abilities is compellingly tragic. I’m not convinced by young Leia, but it’s a fair enough excuse for dragging Obi Wan back into the thick of it.

Am I right in thinking the Inquisitors play a significant part in later seasons of Rebels (I’ve seen up to the start of season 3 I think)? I feel like I was missing something in their dynamic.

Not a perfect start, but I’m certainly looking forward to the rest of it.

[Raid]

Spoiler

Am I right in thinking the Inquisitors play a significant part in later seasons of Rebels (I’ve seen up to the start of season 3 I think)? I feel like I was missing something in their dynamic.

Spoiler

The Inquisitorious do play a significant part in season 3, but I think they take a back seat for the last season, which focuses more on Imperial officers. I don't think you've missed anything in their dynamic; there's maybe a little bit of discord in how they interact with one another, but certainly not to the extent that happens at the end of Obi Wan episode 2.

You owe it to yourself to finish Rebels by the way.

Edit: No, actually that's rubbish, I thought the end of season 2 was the end of season 3.

Spoiler

The Inquisitors don't appear after season 2.

[Alan]

I have no idea how anyone can find the time to keep up with all the Star Wars stuff theyre tossing out. So anyway I just finished rewatching 352 episodes and two TV movies of Stargate and its still awesome and Universe still deserved another season despite Eli.


We're also watching The Staircase (Sky version) 2eps in and its fucking horrible exploitative rubbish so far. The Netflix series was one thing but something about how they are dramatising this just does not sit well with me. In particular theres a scene where they recreate the death as the defence claims it went and I just cant help thinking that some of her kids probably watched it out of curiosity and its probably fucked them right up. Great cast too but I just dont think it should exist.

[Hatredsheart]

Better Call Saul Season 6 episode 7 review:

Jesus Fucking Christ!

Indeed. Can't wait until July, but also don't really want it to come to it's final ever episode. Such brilliantly crafted characters, my personal favourite is Mike.

[ManBearSquid]

I really enjoyed Breaking Bad when I eventually watched it a few years after its run, but for some reason any time I've considered starting Better Call Saul I've hummed and hawed about actually putting it on. In general, I'm often pretty wary of prequels, I guess.

[Mantis]

It takes a while to get going as the early seasons very much are slow burners and focus on the drama between Saul and his brother. But I think it is quite an essential part of his backstory that shows why he becomes the character of Saul and it still has plenty of great drama.

Seasons 4 onwards where we get more and more emphasis on the criminal underworld both with Saul's involvement and the other characters are really excellent though. It is definitely a rival to Breaking Bad in terms of quality in the later seasons, we're absolutely hooked on it now. Vince Gilligan's craft as a director and cinematographer have come along a lot since Breaking Bad too, some parts of the show are masterfully shot.

We watched the first three episodes of season 4 of Stranger Things last night. Decent enough so far but still a far cry from the amazing first season. It is a step above the travesty of season 3 though.