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Loved it.
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Time. Seen Been and Stephen Graham in a gritty prison drama, what could go wrong? Well, it’s largely a depiction of how the middle class skate through the prison system as model prisoners, and the lower class gets absolutely fucked up even worse than they already are. The depiction of the prison system itself is uncritical, with some perfunctory “Oooh, that seems harsh.” nods to the general inhumanity of it all, and there’s just enough rehabilitation for one character, fuck the rest. It’s extremely naive and utterly tone-deaf. I don’t object to this sort of stuff on principle, but I do object to people writing about it, who only exist to justify the state’s hamfisted attempts at punishment, using a method devised hundreds of years ago.
Now I’m not saying I find Aubrey Plaza attractive, but when she said this line, I had to pause it and go and splash some cold water on my face and have a little talk with myself in the mirror about unhealthy crushes. This is, dare I say it, even better than the first season? Jennifer Coolidge is fucking hilarious and may be the funniest performance in it, F. Murray Abraham kills it again, this time as a horny grandfather, Michael Imperioli is solid, and Sabrina Impecciatore is perfect as the blunt hotel manager.
Corporate. A standard sitcom set in a corporate nightmare. Not bad at all, with some solid lines.
Tulsa King. Stallone is fairly past it at this point, and this dovetails nicely with playing a New York gangster getting out of prison after 25 years to start an organised crime franchise in the midwest. He’s always been slightly shambolic, which has usually worked to his advantage, and it remains so here. He can’t really throw a punch any more, and the idea of just moving in to some place magically free of organised crime is idiotic, but at least the cast and situations are a little unusual.
Fire Country. I’m half-sure this series has been created just to troll me. It’s a show in which no-one can do anything (watching someone try to do something as simple as pour a beer is excruciating), none of what happens is practical (CGI chainsaws, fire, etc, all the way down), there’s at least one explosion per episode (usually more), and there are multiple reveals per episode (“You don’t understand, God has already taken away my kidneys, you can’t take away my kids!”). Terrible dialogue, wooden acting, ludicrous shit.
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Fully this. Unhealthily obsessed with her rn, probably mostly because of that scene.
eta: enjoyed Tulsa King, as ridiculous as the premise was. Would watch a season 2 if it comes to pass. Glad I skipped Fire Country, it seemed a bit stupider than the usual fare.
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Speaking of “stupider than the usual fare,” I started watching Night Agent. I’m trying to find something positive to say about the show to start things off, but… The cast is an ongoing assortment of B and C-list “talent” and the acting is at times deplorable. Which would be ok if one of the leads could carry it, but they absolutely cannot because neither of them are likeable and the scripting gives them no help at all.
The overall feel of this thing is like I’ve time-traveled back to 1995 and am watching an alternate universe version of 24, only Keifer wasn’t available so they found this other guy who’s handsome and rugged, but conveys zero intelligence. Like he’s supposed to be trying to figure out a conspiracy, and I question that he could figure out how to use a hammer.
The show has the dumbed down scripting of a network show, but they sprinkle in curse words at random times to remind you you’re watching netflix. It’s actually sort of jarring. If you have really fond memories of 24, this may be the show for you. If you like your shows to feel like they’re from the current century, maybe look elsewhere.
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Hahahahahahaha you beat me to it.
I actually subjected myself to all 10 episodes of The Night Agent, perhaps due to my undying optimism? Hope for a better future? The idea that whatever her name is would get naked to “save” the show in an otherwise gratuitous and unnecessary sex scene? (narrator: none of those things occurred).
I can’t say more than @biffpow’s excellent summation except to marvel at the hubris of the writers / creators in ending the show in a blatant S2 bid. The fact that this drivel is #1 on Netflix speaks wonders about the viewing public.
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I’m halfway through and my wife seems to be enjoying it so I have to suffer through the back half this weekend. I agree with all points, though. This is an especially bad show considering we’ve had much better fare from the likes of Jack Ryan and Reacher.
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I went into this show having just finished the new season of Jack Ryan, which was strong. Just very high quality production all around on that and much better writing and character dev. I mean, obviously a much bigger budget on that too, but Night Agent just feels like the least amount of effort has been made in every regard.
I am…impressed? with @js619 actually finishing all 10 eps. I finished 5, and that was all I could take. Now that I know the season ends a) without a sex scene (we get swearing, but no sex?) and b) with a setup for another season, I’m even happier that I will never finish this thing…
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1883. This is a Yellowstone spin-off, and it’s (mostly) free of the two-faced politics that series has submerged itself in (particularly S5) because of its setting. It’s still something of a shitshow overall, but there are some good performances and dialogue, there’s enough violence for it to be roughly historical, and it’s an easy watch.
For All Mankind. This really improved towards the end of S1, and only now am I getting back to S2 to find it opening on a similar strength, with an interesting premise, and a solid cast of pros who consistently perform well, especially Sonya Walger and Michael Dorman. Classic soundtrack, although it would have been nice to get some alt history versions.
Owl House has won me over within the first twenty seconds.
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Clark, on Netflix.
A 6 episode limited series done very tongue in cheek about Clark Olofsson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Olofsson), a Swedish bank robber and criminal and the guy behind the robbery for which they coined the term Stockholm Syndrome.
This. Was. Fucking. Brilliant. 10/10
Caveat emptor, subtitles are required unless you speak Swedish, Arabic, French, and whatever else they dabble in.
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Family and I are watching “how to get rich” by Rahit something or other on Netflix.
Has been super fun so far, fairly standard tips (similar to the barefoot investor in Australia).
I have forgotten how bad people can be with the basics, and how lazy we get at times.
Fun to teach the 10/9/9 team!
Coming next in my viewing, I think. She was absolutely fantastic in The Americans, one of my favorite shows of all time.
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Ohhhh please let it be good, she’s amazing.
For All Mankind S3. Perhaps the weakest season overall, but some of the best moments. There was just a little too much “And no comeuppance!” for a lot of the plot threads, when a significant amount of what actually ocurred was Quite Bad. This is closer to what I wanted from books like The Calculating Stars, but it’s still too free of the very real cost that extensive space programs are going to incur. Overall, worth watching, but I would vastly prefer a much more downbeat series that was realistic about exactly what more space travel is going to mean; trying to popularise it via media is only going to lead to a larger backlash when misfortune happens, and it will. The universe is completely indifferent to us, you don’t need some tortured plot points.
Mrs Davis. I have no idea what this is, but it’s a fucking riot. I belly-laughed more in the first episode than I have done for entire seasons of other series’. I freely admit I have no idea if this will hold together, and I don’t care. Bonus Margo Martindale.
Primal. Some beautiful, subtle animation underlying a simple style, combined with skilful visual storytelling, and no dialogue. Started it skeptical, found myself rapt.
Colin from Accounts. This is actually properly funny. Two people meet over an accident with a dog. Hijinks. I would go to a zoo to watch Australians.
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The Diplomat: Now this is what TV should all be like in 2023–great writing, great acting, and well-filmed. At no point in this did I feel like a corner was cut or an opportunity was missed. Keri Russell plays the title character, Ambassador to the UK; Rufus Sewell is her husband, a former big-deal international diplomat who is currently without a post so his character is in the new and weird position of playing first-lady to his wife. International strategery and hi-jinks ensue.
It’s not a perfect show, but it’s awfully good. The writing is sharp and new, yet it manages to convey a little of the complexity around international relations seen on Homeland and some of the bantery husband/wife stuff best seen in the Thin Man movies (but updated for the modern world). Many fantastic performances. Michael McKeon is perfect in his role as the President, and I wish he’d shown up more often.
I thought from around episode three that they were setting something up as a big reveal for the last episode (of the season; season 2 has been greenlighted), but it wasn’t the thing I thought it was, which I always appreciate. The only point I’d deduct from the show is for an overly long stay in the middle at a country estate, where the pacing slows and sideplotty stuff distracts from the meaty main plot. But it’s a small complaint–the show kills it in most other regards.
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Seconded, I liked it a lot. Keri Russell is always great and she played her role well, as did Rufus whatshisname who I had to look up cause he looked familiar and I forgot he was King Nazi in Man in the High Castle.
Just started Silo, on Apple TV+. Based on the Wool series by Hugh Howey, one of my favorite dystopian books of all time. Fingers crossed they do it justice.
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Let me know how Silo goes. I’ve seen the promos and do want to watch sometime.
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He’s interesting for me because I first encountered him in Dark City (a movie I watched, didn’t like, then had explained to me as basically a live-action anime, watched again, and liked so much I bought the DVD) in the role of protagonist. He was really good, but his facial structure is just a bit severe, and has tended to lead to him being in a lot of villainous or ambiguous roles since. But, ever since that first exposure I’ve found myself expecting him in roles which are at least somewhat more complex than pure baddies.
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Over the past month, we have worked our way through all 3 seasons of Picard, as we only recently got Paramount Plus. While all 3 seasons were good, Season 3 is just fantastic I thought. I loved the dark take on a TNG type story.
One really cool aspect of watching is that this was the actual introduction to the Star Trek Universe to my wife. Sure, she could pick Spock out of a lineup, but she had never seen a single episode of ST anything before, and only had seen one movie, the reboot Kirk movie in 2009.
Now I need to think about what to share with her next now that she really enjoyed a ST series.
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This is really great info! I’m a huge Trek fan but have been putting off resubbing to P+ because I found the first season a little disappointing. Some fun fan service, but acting and dialogue were at times very hard to take. Felt even more put off by the first season of Discovery, which I didn’t even finish.
Question for Trek fans: my son is 7–what is the best entry point to Trek for him, in your opinion? I’m really having a hard time deciding. I’m leaning towards Next Gen, but the first season is pretty awful, so where to start?
Maybe Lower Decks?
The inside jokes will fly over his head (but great for a later re-discovery) but aside from that its more unrestrained format may be a good starting point?
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