Topic: The TV Show Thread

Trying to wittle down my number of followed topics (I'm getting an unmanageable number of notifications) and don't know how to do that without first posting.

But to keep it on topic Severance was phenomenal.

Stranger Things s4p1 continues 3s trend of being corny and disappointing. It'd be one thing if the tone of the show had always been this way. But it wasn't. They just decided to change it mid run. It's just odd is all.

Dopesick is somehow really good and feels really important but I can't get myself to finish the show.

Ozark did what it did. I mean the show was such an incredible drama at times and such a let down at others. All in all it gave us one of the best downtrodden but badass female characters in all of television so I'm grateful for that. And who knew the meat market scale guy from Sopranos could be so convincingly ruthless? Hmm.

Then there's Yellowjackets. Not even sure on this one but looking forward to another season.

That's all I can think of. Now onto Winning Time, the final season of Better Call Saul, and Station Eleven.

@zupertramp Julia Garner was absolutely superb in "Ozark" wasn't she? I'd be very surprised if she isn't an Oscar winner within the next few years.

Ouch, that part in episode one season 3 of The Boys made me wince and almost made my eyes water.

@JohnnyShoulder 😂😂 it was quite a shocker of a moment!

@LN78 she really was so good. Laura Linney and Tom Pelphrey were also great but Julia Garner surely stole the show.

@MightyDemon82 Makes me wonder what they will think of next! 😳🤣

Finished up watching through Batman Beyond. Really impressed with the whole show. I was pleased to see that its third season didn't pull any punches after a lacklustre second year, which suffered from having double the amount of episodes and therefore descended into "they fight" padding all too often. Some of the premise's best, most interesting storylines were kept 'til last.

Also kept up some great guest casting throughout. One episode's credits were able to boast Stephen Baldwin, William H. Macy and Robert Patrick. It also took me far, far too long to realise that recurring villain King, leader of the Royal Flush Gang, was voiced by George Lazenby!

@RogerRoger Did you watch "Return of the Joker" as well? It's excellent and boasts one of the most sinister incarnations of the titular villain of all time.

@LN78 I did, yeah. Slotted it in between the second and third seasons, to match the change in Barbara Gordon's voice actor. It might've played a part in picking up the pace heading into those final episodes.

Took some doing, though. For some bizarre reason, outside of America, the complete Blu-Ray box set comes packaged with the censored DVD version of the movie, and not the uncut HD version. The only Region 2 country where you can get Return of the Joker uncut on Blu-Ray is, strangely enough, Germany. I ordered a separate copy from there and had to switch the discs.

Other than that frustrating oversight, however, it's a really great collection. The episodes look amazing.

@RogerRoger That's handy to know - I've been tempted to buy that set a couple of times when I've seen it marked down in HMV so I'll definitely look into getting that import before I take the plunge.

@LN78 I know you're not a big fan of Amazon, but this is the version you'll want. Comes direct from Amazon's own EU storefront, and for a very reasonable price. Others are selling it on eBay and elsewhere, but for double the money, or with a degree of confusion over whether it's actually the German Region 2 version, rather than an import of an American Region 1 copy.

@RogerRoger I've got a friend in Amsterdam who usually sorts out my European imports - I'll see if he can get hold of a copy before I start hunting around online. Thanks though!

@LN78 No worries. Best of luck, to you and your buddy!

It's definitely worth the effort. I watched a side-by-side comparison with the censored version the other day and sure, while I totally understand the context of the movie's release and agree with WB showing temporary restraint, there really is no contest.

The original cut of that flashback is a masterpiece.

Finished up IRIA: Zeiram the Animation earlier today. Sci-fi anime OVA miniseries that follows Iria, a bounty hunter of sorts whom, after being sent on a mission to rescue the crew & cargo of a ship that has sent out a distress signal, gets caught up in an entanglement involving a deadly & nearly indestructible alien presence & a company conspiracy to hide it.

Clearly it's base elements are inspired by Alien, but it does a lot to set itself apart, whether it be the aesthetic that mixes in a lot of traditional Japanese or otherwise Asian design with the deep space sci-fi stuff (kinda like Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star, & Photon, it's a vibe I've noticed a lot of 90's sci-fi anime fall under), the "alien's" largely unique appearance/skill set, & ultimately a more personal connection between Iria & her foe.

It can be watched free on Retro Crush & Tubi (at least in the US), so check it out if it sounds like it floats your boat.

Oooooh there is a new animated Castlevania Netfilx show coming soon

Finished up season 2 of the Man in the High Castle this morning, & I thought it was even better than the first. I do hope they eventually explain the mechanics behind traversing realities, but otherwise things are really starting to get going.

Finished up Wanna be the Strongest in the World! the other night. If that name makes it seem like an anime, it's because it is. J-Pop idol Sakura Hagiwara decides she's going to join the pro wrestling circuit & beat them at their own game after her group is humiliated during a cross promotional event.

Doesn't have that big a budget as it's primarily a fan service show (the premise gives the animators ample excuse for crotch or butt closeups, plus the after match showers), but it actually kinda works. They manage to get by effectively with a lot of relatively static action involving submission holds (I exaggerate, but it seems like someone's in a Boston Crab for 50% of the show's runtime). It helps that it's actually pretty well paced for the first half (she really struggles to make it & doesn't get her first win until the show's half done), though it gets overstuffed in the latter half as she immediately gets the attention of the world champ, gets her own protege (in a storyline that doesn't really go anywhere), and is menaced by a mystery assailant. That said, it actually manages to end in a pretty good place.

Binged through Aika R-16: Virgin Mission this weekend (currently free on Tubi), which wasn't that hard as it's only 3 episodes long.

Anime OVA miniseries that follows high school student Aika Sumeragi whom after obtaining her salvager's license, she can pilot a sub, is invited by her school's "Adventure Club" to take part in an expedition to a set of mystery coordinates which were hidden in a message within a butterfly tattoo that another, amnesiac, student has. Things won't be easy however, as there are forces aiming to kidnap said student during the trip.

The best I can describe it as is dumb, guilty pleasure, fun. It's so short it's really impossible to become attached to the characters or for it to build any sort of engaging narrative, so it just jumps from one zany scenario to the next. It's full of cheesecake fan service (if you couldn't tell from that title), and it's hard to be disappointed if you're going into it for that (the art direction is pretty simple, but things are typically animated & detailed well. I've seen much worse). The biggest negative I can think of is that it's a bit blurry, either an SD product that's been stretched to fit modern aspect ratios, or an SD copy of an HD production.

Finished watching season 8 of Homeland. I pretty much binged through season 1-7 back in 2019 but then I had to wait until 2020 for season 8 and I had completely forgotten about it until now that is. After subscribing to Disney+, I saw that they had Homeland and the last season, so I decided to finally watch it. And overall, it was a really good season. A lot of stuff happened and I was impressed that they managed to wrap up the show in a good way. Granted, the final episode was pretty brutal but at least it ended on a positive note.

Really glad that I decided to give this show a shot back then. It's such a good TV show, especially for people who are interested in world politics (which I am), and I'm happy that I've finally watched the last season.

@LtSarge I watched all 8 seasons on Netflix, started the first last summer and finished it a couple months back.

Overall it's good, first season the best BUT my God is Carrie one of the worst protagonists in modern TV history. Seriously she drove me nuts!

Poor Brody, poor Quinn. Poor anyone that allows her into their lives lol.