TV Show Mini-Reviews

[Mr. Johnson]

I guess the Greek part in this is just the name from her adoptive parents, different schools in different places around the world would make for a different accent. That said, before she's adopted as a 12 year old she has a British accent. Which brings it back to being just weird.

[Roman Totale]

Started watching Peaky Blinders, gave up about 5 episodes in. One scene in particular contributed to me giving up on it...

A bit of background: the main character is the head of a Birmingham crime family in 1920's Birmingham. He has returned from World War One with a touch of shell shock/PTSD, and is no longer interested in women.

A policeman is brought over from Belfast to look for some guns that were stolen by aforementioned crime family. He brings an attractive Irish girl who works undercover at the local pub. Within seconds she is making eyes at main character. As part of some thing, crime boss man takes her to the races, where an even bigger crime boss takes a shine to her. Main character effectively agrees to pimp out Irish lass, knowing full well she'll probably be raped.

At the very, very last second (literally as she is about to be assaulted), he changes his mind and tells other crime boss "don't do it, she's got syphilis". Sexual assault averted! Attractive Irish girl then starts with the doe eyes again, basically saying how noble he is for saving her. He put you in that position you fucking numpty!


I really hate that kind of writing.

[Mr. Johnson]

I also gave up on peaky blinders after a few episodes, it's trying really hard to be a brummy boardwalk empire but falls short of that. At least boardwalk empire was genuinely interesting in the first few seasons.

[spoodie]

Personally I gave up on Boardwalk Empire after 1 episode, probably not enough if I'm fair. I really enjoyed Peaky Blinders though. Different strokes and all that.

[Mr. Johnson]

As it's an American show it's very long winded, it should not have lasted as long as it did and I only really kept watching because I wanted to know how it ended. It probably helped that I'm very interested in the time period, and boardwalk captured it better than peaky blinders did.

[Roman Totale]

I think I gave up on BE after the second episode. I seem to have a remarkably low tolerance for a lot of TV these days.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I found myself watching boredwalk empire in a very passive way for most of the first season, maybe even a few episodes of the second.

But I have absolutely no idea what happened, at all.

Same thing happened after prison break stopped being in a prison, just ended up going through the motions.

[Roman Totale]

The Shannara Chronicles

It's me. The problem is clearly with me. Another series that irritates the hell out of me with insipid 2-dimensional characters and generic as hell writing (disclaimer again: never read the books, they may have been groundbreaking for all I know). I swear they had the TV Tropes website open all the time they were putting this together.

Brief list of irritations:

The surfer boy slacker main character who "didn't ask for any of this"
The stoic and wise mature character
The strong independent female character who goes to putty as soon as she sees surfer boy
The tomboy thief type character with hidden depths
The sceptical character who doesn't believe in magic, despite everything and everyone that says otherwise


Also, the main character is a half-elf, and gnomes are portrayed as evil and vicious - dangerous propaganda, not to mention highly unlikely.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Have you tried watching once upon a time? You'll either cut yourself, or those around you within 2 episodes.

[Dog Pants]

F Is For Family
A one-series (so far) Netflix exclusive in a similar vein to Family Guy/The Simpsons/The Flintstones etc. I.e. dysfunctional family with a brutish father who has a shitty job. It's set in the 70s and more serious and adult than any of the aforementioned cartoons (I don't recall Homer ever calling Bart a little cocksucker). I'd say more interesting than enjoyable, but enough so that I watched the entire - mercifully short for American - series.

[Joose]

The Shannara Chronicles

It's me. The problem is clearly with me.

Its not just you. I actually quite enjoy watching it, but I get a weird enjoyment out of some shows that are clearly, objectively bad, and this is one of those. Its predictable and really bloody stupid, but a way that makes me giggle rather than give up. Not all bad programs do this for me. I honestly couldn't tell you what makes the difference between enjoyably bad and just plain bad. Either way, this is certainly bad.

[Roman Totale]

I know what you mean - I'm still watching it, albeit very slowly. I have to limit my intake though due the dangers of ocular strain from rolling my eyes so hard. So far I think 4 characters have used the "I never asked for any of this!" line when someone has asked them to use their powers or skills to save the world. I get the whole "reluctant hero" thing, but just once I'd like the hero to say "yeah sure, no problem, saving the world makes sense".

[Mr. Johnson]

Black mirror Season 3 (Netflix)

I don't know if it's because this season is funded by Netflix or not but I felt like they tried to appeal to a larger audience with this one and as a result some of the episodes were a bit weaker than usual. Since each episode is very different I'll say my piece about each one. If you haven't seen the whole season yet avoid everything I'm about to write and go form your own opinion first, man.

"Nosedive"

Spoiler:

I felt like this one was an introductory episode, it's fairly tame but still has the usual jabs. It does have an uncharacteristically upbeat ending though, which is why I thought it was about to get much, much worse. Not a bad one though.

"Playtest"

Spoiler:

I enjoyed the cinematography in this episode, but the actual story was a bit weak and advanced viewers will see the twist coming a mile off. Fun fact: the entire episode I was thinking "man that guy looks like a surfer Kurt Russell. It's uncanny!" Turns out it's Kurt Russell's son.

"Shut Up and Dance"

Spoiler:

This feels more like the black mirror I'm used to, but I also feel like they're re-threading ground. A bit of a middle of the road episode I thought.

"San Junipero"

Spoiler:

This one's... unusual. I kept waiting for the dark twist to come in this rather peachy romance story, but it never came. It's a legitimately sweet story about a digital romance, and I honestly really liked it. A complete change of pace but that's okay for me.

"Men Against Fire"

Spoiler:

Probably the weakest of the lot, I could once again tell what was going to happen very early on and the whole thing feels kinda poorly put together and the message was brought heavy-handed.

"Hated in the Nation"

Spoiler:

Longer than the other episodes, this finale seemed to be the episode I was waiting for. If I didn't know it was a black mirror episode I would've assumed I turned into some random police procedural, but a really good one. Halfway through I assumed I figured the plot out but they still surprised me. Good job, TV Netflix people!

In summary: I think this is probably the weakest season so far but then I don't really mind them trying out different things either.

[Roman Totale]

I thought this series was on par with previous ones myself. Regarding "twists", I don't see them as such personally. The problem with "twists" is that everyone starts looking for them and assumes that's what the whole episode is about - it's not, they're just a backdrop to the main theme. I really liked Men Against Fire as I think it contained two very interesting themes - one current, and one a possibility down the road. And that's the strength of Black Mirror; it's dystopian, but it's also very current.

[Mr. Johnson]

Twists may not have been the right choice of words, but you know what I mean.

[TezzRexx]

I thought this series was on par with previous ones myself. Regarding "twists", I don't see them as such personally. The problem with "twists" is that everyone starts looking for them and assumes that's what the whole episode is about - it's not, they're just a backdrop to the main theme. I really liked Men Against Fire as I think it contained two very interesting themes - one current, and one a possibility down the road. And that's the strength of Black Mirror; it's dystopian, but it's also very current.

^ This, though it always does a good enough job of hiding any twists and making you second guess them throughout.

I've just watched the first 4 episodes, the first 3 were really great I thought.
San Junipero, while the idea of it was alright I suppose, it kinda sucked and felt like it never really got going. The only part that interested me was the music

[deject]

Have any of you guys seen this BBC America \ Netflix UK adaptation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHqW8_xRW1Q

I finished the season and I thought it was pretty great overall, but I will admit that I haven't read the books so I can't tell if this is a travesty of justice or a well done adaptation. The two missing persons cops were especially great characters.

[Roman Totale]

I saw that pop up on Netflix yesterday, so I might give it a go once I've finished binging on House of Cards.

[Roman Totale]

Just starting watching Dirk Gently and I love it - much better than the trailers lead me to believe. Don't expect the books, just a very good realisation of the character in them. The supporting characters really add to the flow of things, and they haven't pulled back on the weirdness.

[Mr. Johnson]

I really enjoyed it too, and did not read the books. Really nice pacing too, which is a big plus these days.