TV You Have Watched

[fuse]

Racking my brains to think of what else I saw since last posting in here; Traitors S2 (BBC) was interesting - I liked some of the changes from S1 - but you can already see how it's changing as people join up with specific strategies in mind. The Tourist (BBC) was alright, I guess? One Day (Netflix) is based on a book that's already been done as a film, and changing to a series meant it really took some time to get going. It is quite touching and heartfelt in places but I also really never warmed to one of the central characters and I found that kept me fairly cold on it overall. Deadwater Fell (C4/Netflix) was just... not great, and did nothing for me.

What I really want to talk about though is True Detective: Night Country, which was bloody great. Definitely the best it's been since the first season, which in itself is an almost unreasonably high bar to have set. The setting does so much for it, and Jodie Foster is fabulous. What little I've picked up of public opinion is that the ending seems to have met mixed reviews, whereas I was pretty happy with where it ended up. Fave thing I've watched in ages.

[QualityChimp]

I feel like I'm the only person who didn't get much from S1, but I'm definitely intrigued by the Carpenter's The Thing vibes in this new season.

[Neon Ignition]

Mr and Mrs Smith
To be honest we gave up a few episodes in given its been well recieved but the first half of the run is considered to be easily the better half. The emphasis is on the relationship so those expecting spy action will come away disappointed. Not seeing the praise to be honest, it's a chronically flat show that moves at a glacial pace. The arc of the relationship makes little sense, they're bad spies and have no discernable chemistry.

[egparadigm]

Watched the Murder Trial Jury program on C4. Just watched the verdict:

->Open Spoiler<-

Amazed anyone could think it was manslaughter after he went off to get a mallet. There was far too much focus in the trial on the “bad” behaviour of the victim and far too much weight put on empathy with the accused. You can empathise with someone but still know they are a murderer. It’s the wrongheaded idea of good vs evil. “Good” people do bad things.

I also don’t think the relationship had gone on long enough for him to have “loss of control”. One of the jurors had been run over by his wife, but he had been abusing her for decades prior. And she didn’t even end up killing him.

Having said all that I like to think the jury system works better than this most of the time This program is entertainment, not a real experiment. It might be a good idea for jurors to be paid and better advised/educated on the law, so maybe it could be improved.

[Neon Ignition]

Ghosts: Series 03
Decent but not as strong as the second run as it returned more to the original runs formula of keeping the characters more straight forward and a tad over dumb

[Neon Ignition]

Bates Motel: Season 04
Feels like they didn't think they'd get another run as this one does all of the tying things up. It's a better run for it even if the cast has clearly been cut down in size, some plot strands are over vague or meander a lot and the timeline makes little sense. That being said, simply having a destination in mind helps lift it. The show should have massively been a one off event series though, most of its issues stem from dragging it out.

[Lebowski]

The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (Apple Tv)

launched on Apple TV with the first two episodes last Friday, Noel fielding given the opportunity to prance about in capes and purple boots as a highway man with a stellar supporting cast including stand-outs for me are Mark Heap as his dad the butcher, Greg Davis a psychopathic rival highway man, Asim Chaudhary Craig the warlock, and Hugh Bonneville thief taker and Dick Turpin main adversary. This is just scratching the surface though, as its absolutely packed and is like a who's who of contemporary British comedians. It's very surreal and silly, but more grounded than Feilding's previous work. It's more in keeping with the likes of Monty Pythons or Black Adders takes on History and i cant recomend it highly enough if your a fan of this type of show. First two episodes are up with new episodes every Friday.

Things You Should Have Done (BBC iplayer)

Stumbled across this on iplayer. Chi is a 21-year-old stay at home daughter who is clearly not all their, the show starts with both her parents killed in a road accident and chi not really that concerned, she is left the family home under the condition that she learns how to do a series of tasks, (learn what a clock does, Pet a dog, get a GCSE, learn to drive ect) It starts off brilliantly with her wandering around town trying to flag down a driving instructor who she latches onto much too which is very unfortunate for him. The series is an extremely stupid chain of events, following the completely clueless chi as she bumbles through her list. You can't help routing for her as you really want her to succeed but her lack of Boundaries and her inability to grasp even the most basic of concepts is her downfall time and time again. The short run of 6 episodes feels perfect for this, very funny in places and very, very stupid.

[Colin]

Only two episodes in, but very much enjoying Shogun on Disney, think this one is going to be great.

[Neon Ignition]

Upload: Season 03
Was still a fun run of the show and there are good strands to it even if it increasingly feels like it's growing distracted from the fun of the base concept. Though with the next run being the final it won't outstay its welcome.

[QualityChimp]

Continuing with The Prisoner. I'm up to my fave episode, "Many Happy Returns", but I wasn't concentrating, so I'm restarting it.

We finished off Trigger Point S2, which was exciting, but a bit silly by the end. I'm pretty sure they nicked the ending from Police Story 2, but with less kung-fu.
Not sure where they'd go with a third series as it's getting to Jack Bauer levels of incredulity. Diffusing bombs on the International Space Station?

We've mainly been caning Traitors Australia S2 - magnificent telly and different from every other season.
Started off disliking all the self-absorbed influencers (a reason why I stopped watching Big Brother at S2), then it morphed into something else where one of the traitors was like Teflon and the faithful couldn't see past the end of their noses. It was fascinating to see a bit of fast talking make them drop all suspicions.

The ending was delicious.

Thanks for the advice, wakka. We might try and see if we can watch the other countries, even though it sounds like a faff.

[Lebowski]

Extraordinary Season 2


British comedy series where everyone has a superpower Except Jen (the main protagonist) is back for a second series on Disney+. It's a fun and interesting world to explore as it goes for a more realistic approach to a world where everyone has a special ability. Not all abilities are equal or actually useful, Jens mum can control technology with her mind but is a technophobe. Theirs a guy who can create any item you want the caveat is in where these items come from, His description of his ability in the show "my bum is a like 3d printer" theirs also a character who can turn into a cat called Jizzlord (he has an amazing origin story).

It's a funny show with some excellent characters and some brilliant writing, and it still feels genually unique in the overcrowded superhero Genre, it really goes out on a limb with the powers in this universe and how silly mundane or fantastically bizarre some of them are, it backs all this up with interesting storylines and a great cast.

[Neon Ignition]

Extraordinary: Season 02
Still great, hopefully Disney doesn't drag its feet commissioning a third run

Poltergeist: The Legacy
We ended up skipping most episodes as it not only dated hard but the budget was clearly savaged as it went on. We watched the final episode last night which was half flashback sequences to the pilot and even then the rest was incredibly basic and cheap but at least we've finally seen the ending after 28 years

[fallenangle]

Happened to notice that Ken Burns' epic documentary series The Civil War about the US Civil War was being shown on PBS America (Freeview) and as there was nothing better on at the time, which is not surprising, I am hooked on it again.

Vies with The World At War as the best war documentary series ever made. I argue it is actually better as it, mostly, sticks to the time line and its outstanding and extraordinarily dynamic use of contemporary still b/w (obviously) photographs of the war thanks to the work of early photographers like Mathew Brady.

[Neon Ignition]

For All Mankind: Season 04
Love this show and this run has had particularly strong reviews.
Which was sad, as it sucked. This run takes place in 2003 where a full Mars Base is in operation and the story shifts from the usual dangers and perils of space exploration to industrial action by labourers, Korean spy suspicion and a lot of mundane beats. One episodes entire story arc for a character charts their effort to locate a thermostat... yay. The next run looks set to be based in 2012 and on another base which doesn't inspire the idea that that run will get things back to being interesting. A huge shame.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, I have no idea how that season would have got strong reviews. I found it to be very poor. And the actions of Ed Baldwin were just baffling this season. I felt like I have no idea who that character is now.

Also, it's a small thing but I feel they finally hit a point where the aging makeup got distracting.