Topic: The TV Show Thread

@graymamba Fantastic show! And one of the better series finales out there; Mackey's ultimate fate is a prime example of poetic justice

@FuriousMachine yeah I remember the conclusion relatively well… and as with any truly great anti-heroes, I know that I at least felt really conflicted about it. Maybe I’m just evil or something 😅 but while characters like Vic Mackey, Tony Soprano, Walter White etc. clearly do (really) bad things… I can’t help but root for them on some level. That’s not to say they make decisions, or take actions that I would… but I can’t help but understand and empathise (on some level at least) with the justifications they arrive at within their own psyche.

What I didn’t remember though, was quite how early people were onto Vic’s activities and how well drawn some of the anti-villains are. Aceveda is a brilliant foil for Vic, and the methodical way Claudette is set up in the first two seasons to take on that role for the next couple is really well done.

My only issue now is… I’m sat here unable to carry on into season 3 as the missus is at the hairdressers 😁

@graymamba hahaha, the terrible consequences of marriage revealed! 😂

CCH Pounder was born for that role and Claudette was such a great character. Actually, most of the show's characters were pretty next level compared to other shows. Plenty of shades of grey to go around there. By the final season, though, Mackey and the gang had done so much vile s#it that I had began rooting against them. I think Ronnie was the character I rooted for the longest, but even he failed to do the right thing when it mattered, so in the end they all got their just desserts, I'd say.

I find that as I've grown older and more weary of the world that anti-heroes appeal less to me unless they do bad things for misguided but in their minds right reasons, like a warped or misplaced sense of honour, for example. It varies, of course, but I find fewer and fewer of those types of shows appeal to me these days.

@FuriousMachine yeah in fairness, I don’t really have any recollection of how bad/evil Mackey and his crew get by the end of season 7. So by the time I get there, maybe even my now 46 year old sensibilities will see it differently. I do recall my 30 year old self feeling conflicted though. I’m now very interested to see if I feel different.

And yeah Pounder is a phenomenal actress and at her peak here.

We just started The Bear season 4 today… and as ever, it’s excellent. Episode 3 - Scallop emotionally slayed us though. Seeing the love/spark in those around him at the restaurant reigniting Carmen’s snuffed-out ember… and then Richie’s prayer being answered by the Michelin adjudicator (I’m assuming here) turning up when they totally delivered for a visiting family dealing with life-and-death… chef’s kiss!

The missus is in Manchester for a seminar and in situations like this I always struggle to find something to watch that she wouldn’t want to. As mentioned previously in this thread, I did start a rewatch of The Shield recently but she’s jumped on that bandwagon now, so I can’t really carry on with that.

Was browsing through my various subscription services and found a fair few shows I was interested in… but they all kinda seemed like the missus would probably want to watch them… so in the end I just pulled the trigger on a free week of Crunchyroll. The missus has no affection for anime and I’ve wanted to see what happens in seasons 2, 3 and 4 of Attack on Titan since Netflix used to have the first season years ago. I’m gonna rewatch season 1, as I can’t remember a great deal and then go from there. Quite excited to get back into this.

So I’m 22 eps into Attack on Titan (seems a lot considering I only started it yesterday but they’re only 20 minute eps to be fair) and I’m really glad I decided to rewatch season as so many big, pivotal-to-the-plot things happen… that I have absolutely no recollection of! 🤯 I must’ve watched it while I was still partaking if you get my meaning 😉… I remember nothing!

It’s good! The characters, the bonds, visuals, ost all good… I don’t know about other people but for me it’s all about the lore and the ongoing mystery though, which are very good.

watching the Beefy boy episode of season 1 of freddy's nightmares on Tubi. Lar Park Lincoln is in it as the girlriend of the boy that works at the Beefy Boy eating place

@graymamba Over at the movie thread, whenever I comment that I've seen a movie but remember very little of it, that is mostly due to the same reasons This applies mostly to movies from the early and mid aughts and anything seen during the pandemic.

@FuriousMachine 😉 indeed 😁

@graymamba sell me on attack on titan. You binging it has made it seem at least worth the ask, but as someone that isn't big on anime I've only ever heard of it and have no idea what it even is, but I have heard it's very good and it is an anime... 😁 A little user, non-spoiler, summary of what it is and why it is worth a watch to a noooob would be lovely. Better than google AI, for sure!

Genre, themes, style and the kind of lore (is it sci-fi, fantasy, mythology?) Anything like that i'm unaware of tbh.

@graymamba Give us 15 mins on Attack on Titan.

@JohnnyShoulder PowerPoint is optional.

@Ravix hmmm… ok I’ll try 😅!

We have a last remnant of humanity living within a habitat of three concentric rings, each ring denoted by a 60 foot wall. I think the amount of humans at the start of season one is maybe 2 million-ish… I cant quite remember. Humanity lives behind these walls due to huge lumbering titans that wander about beyond the walls and love nothing more than to pop humans down like jelly-beans.

Without spoiling too much… the opening episode involves the appearance of two new types of titans, both seemingly intelligent (the normal ones aren’t) and exhibiting new and different (from each other) abilities. These two new Titan types (abnormals) manage to break a hole in the outer most wall allowing the normals in, to feast on the humans in the rural outer most (& largest) enclosed circular area. The shows three main leads (Eren, Armin and Mikasa… all barely teenagers) live in this area and see their community and loved ones devoured during this attack.

Some of the outer most rings inhabitants (including our leads) are able to escape behind wall number two into the middle-ring with the help of the human military (there are three military groups, military police, garrison and scouts… the garrison helped with the escape).

Our three leads then spend the next 5 years training to fight in the military. It sounds a long time but is basically about 12 eps. During this time we get to meet loads of other characters that go on to become recurring supporting characters. All of which hope to become military police, as it’s the safest job and you get to live in luxury within the central ring. During this time they can’t help but be impressed by Eren’s determination to join the scouting division (the most dangerous military division, where platoons will venture out beyond the walls to take the fight to the titans). By the end of their training all bar one of the trainees, inspired by Eren decide to join the scouts.

That’s all I’m gonna say in terms of the narrative… though loads more has happened since this point. What I will say is that there is a lot more going on than has been explained within the show. It seems that this is set well in our future, even though the technological capabilities of humanity in this era is little more than horse-and-cart… and there seems to be a definite agenda behind the creation and deployment of the normal titans (brainless and ranging from 8 feet to 20 feet) and it’ll only be by capturing one of the abnormals (intelligent, have specific abilities and around 60 feet) that any further intel will be gathered.

There are a few other real zinger of reveals that I’ve seen to this point (31 eps in) but they would be far too spoilery to say here. They do provide some small suggestion to what is going on though.

Oh and in typical anime style (something that would not seem typical to you as you don’t watch anime) each of the leads bring specific things to the table… but would not be half as effective if not for the other two. Armin is an incredible strategist, though athletically weak. Mikasa is just a phenomenal warrior but will risk it all for personal reasons… and Eren… well beyond a burning desire to fight for humanity, he brings something real special and potentially humanity-saving that I couldn’t possibly spoil (it gets revealed relatively early though, in around episode 12-ish).

Having said all that, it is very anime though… and if anime is not your thing, this will probably not be either. Let me know whether I’ve intrigued you… or put you off entirely.

@JohnnyShoulder 🕒 14:59 😉

That's a pretty good summary there @graymamba.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it colonel. I actually got the Steelbook versions of seasons 1, 2 and 3 a few weeks ago myself (Didn't think anyone would care so I never bothered to mention it )

Are you watching it dubbed or subbed?

@HallowMoonshadow dubbed I’m afraid (don’t hate me 😅). I find watching things with subtitles really effects my enjoyment due to having to take my eyes away from the visuals/action. I get that the voice performances are almost always far worse… but it’s the trade-off I resigned myself to many moons ago.

I take it you’ve seen the whole thing. Does the ending provide a satisfying conclusion in your opinion?

Oh don't worry I'm a filthy dub enjoyer through and through @graymamba (Kinda ticks me off actually at all the sub only people who insist all dubs are rubbish)

I have not actually seen Attack on Titan all the way through. I'd seen seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix back in the day similarly to yourself and ONLY just got back around to watching it after like 10 years (I just got a really good deal on the steelbooks!)

I did something similar to you with a massive binge watch with my daughter and we both got a bit burnt out a few eps into S3 and we just haven't gone back yet!

@graymamba well I don't know now, haha. Explaining anime always sounds super strange, to be honest. Thanks for the big response though. I was expecting just a few hints as to what makes it good, but here I gather it is something verging between sci-fi and fantasy, but with horse and cart sensibilities? (That was the most appealing thing, to me) as some anime can be, how can I put it? "Laser-happy"

The fact it has 9.1 on IMDb and has rave reviews seems like it is worth a try.

I'm not averse to anime, as such, i'm just clueless about it, and it is hard to know where to start when there is so many universally loved creations. I'm more used to western adult animation which has most of its roots in comedy, but a lot of them also have way more about them than just cheap laughs, but I've probably exhausted the well on those and keep wanting to try anime, as fantasy and sci-fi are my jam as well.

@HallowMoonshadow I actually spied the steelbooks recently too, which is part of what made me wonder what the show was 😂😂😂 @johnnyshoulder (you've created a monster)

@HallowMoonshadow ahh okay… maybe I’ll beat you (and your daughter) to it then. I’ll try extra hard not to spoil anything 😉. Also, refreshing to hear you watch dubbed too… it seems everyone watches subbed (and lord it around like they’re life’s great success stories 😁).

@Ravix okay I get you… right, while I think Attack on Titan would be absolutely fine as your entry point… personally I’d advise anyone to start with One Punch Man and then take it from there.

Is there anything in particular you're looking for @Ravix?

I don't know a whole lot of anime myself but I've certainly watched a few and can help nudge you in the right direction maybe?

As for Attack On Titan if you're wanting some themes... Well there's the fact it shows off humanity in the face of impossible odds, the will to survive (Trying to do broad strokes kinda things here that aren't super spoilery).

There's a LOT of casualties and death... It can be quite melancholy at times. There's very little fan service (The sexual kind) or comedy (Though there are some moments of levity) in it...