I’ve been seeing dark allusions on Twitter to one of the character arcs in Ted Lasso, but that’s unexpected.
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If it’s Midnight Mass then yes, because the genre is so embedded in pop culture it feels like history.
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Succession. I tried this ages ago and bounced off, and upon trying it again I find it’s an excellent series that reminds me of The Thick of It. A family struggle to retain control of a billion-dollar company as they fight between themselves, and it simply has an excellent cast and writing. You’ll forgive me for over-generalising, but American telly has a tendency to have good actors in the main roles and…less good actors in secondary roles, but this is a very strong ensemble affair, and while Brian Cox is perfect as the pugnacious family patriarch, a role he could do in his sleep, there’s some stellar acting around him, especially Kieran Culkin as a louche failson, Matthew Macfayden as a playful family outsider, Jeremy Strong as the striving and humiliated eldest son, Alan Ruck as the eccentric dropout son, Sarah Snook as the flinty sincere daughter, and so on. I could just roll down the entire cast list and list scene after scene where they excel.
There’s some absolutely incredible comedy in this series and I hope with all my heart it stays this good.
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I bounced off of it after the first few episodes and will likely stay off. It’s a good cast but I felt they started jumping the shark when it was completely unnecessary.
LOVE this series, although my wife hates it. She despises every single character even though I insist that’s the point of the show - there’s a good interview with the writers on The Atlantic, maybe, just to that point (I’ll try to find it and link it so as not to be that shitbox that comments about something without a link to it). New season this weekend iirc.
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As much as I’m a noir-loving, cynical New Yorker, I just cannot stay with these shows where everybody is some variety of repellent. There are some great performances, yes, but I can’t be made to care. My wife is the opposite.
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I have just watched a brief clip of an interview with Danny Strong, writer of the new Hulu series Dopesick, and I have to share how proud I am that I instantly recognized him as the actor who played Jonathan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Interesting career that man’s put together!
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I was wrong; it was in The New Yorker, not The Atlantic.
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Well I suppose I’ll cope.
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Day of the Dead. So is this a real series, like, made by grown-ups? Because I watched it and immediately restarted it, as it felt so lightweight I found it incredibly unsatisfying. A cast of teens, a post-apocalypse starting scene and then an immediate flashback to pre-apocalypse, and literally everything else is poor. Walking Dead has become a joke, but this starts off as one, and it does literally nothing better. Terrible script. CGI eyeballs on the zombies.
I find it hard to credit using Romero’s most depressing film as the source material (they didn’t, blatantly for the name only) and doing teen comedy with it. Zombieland as a TV series. Only not funny.
Invasion, on Apple TV+.
As we’re all aware, I’m a sucker for dystopian, end of the world type porn, so this is right up my alley.
This show is great so far; three episodes in and you’re still not really sure what the threat is other than knowing it’s some kind of aliens. There are several main characters across the globe, with the story told from each perspective. It’s interesting to watch, in that despite the world ending on a macro scale, each character’s world is also ending on their own micro scale in their own way. Definitely brings the humanity into perspective, in that it’s not just us vs them battling the aliens, but an us vs us. You’re reminded that people are both good and bad depending on the situation.
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Oh this sounds good.
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Invasion. Mostly appreciating this. It’s a much smarter take on alien invasion, no motherships entering atmosphere and blowing up monuments. The episodes so far have been all about the degradation of infrastructure and society as they are disrupted, and while some of the storylines are a bit shit, they all have good scenes. Slower pace, sometimes not a lot happening, but I don’t mind that. Particularly enjoyable to see atypical reactions, the messiness of disaster, and ongoing interpersonal conflict, which doesn’t evaporate in times of stress.
Halt and Catch Fire. Polished off the first series. It’s okay I suppose? Edging in to good at times?
Succession. This show could keep me alive if I took a bullet to the brain. Absolute gold. I will say, the current conflict needs to be tied up and finished with this season. You can only dangle things for so long.
Arcane. This was a surprise. Excellent visual design reminded me of Dishonoured (apparently it’s based on League of Legends? Wouldn’t know), well animated, and occasionally brutal, with some effective characterisation and excellent action.
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One of the draws of a game like League of Legends is its champion roster. Much like a fighting game, each champion is rather unique with their own visual style, back story, gameplay, etc. You find your favorites and become intimate with their style.
I’ve only watched the first episode of Arcane but I love they way they are building up the world all these champions inhabit.
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Is it possible you meant Infiltration? Cause, Infiltration looks very promising.
Interesting, in Germany it is called Infiltration.
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Better title!
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I just can’t with Succession. I know so many ppl love it, and are going bonkers over Season 2. We are still mired in the first season and tried again, hacking our way through two more episodes. It’s edgy, ironic, and full of purely unrepentantly awful people. I know that’s a draw for many, but I just shut down. But then, I’m intrigued by The Squid Game, so…
The first episode of Arcane was very interesting and it hooked my family (my son and I are the League players). Hope it continues being good. Glad they are showing the origin stories of some of the champs.
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