swaldman | Entries tagged with tv

I finally finished this, what must be years after it came out.

It wasn't a patch on the first season. Or even on S2/3. There were some really cringy episodes where I had to stop watching, and force myself to finish later.

I feel that Otis's story was largely told somewhere during S3, with parts left to close out. Maeve's story had a little left, but not a lot. This season was mostly about Eric, and also about Jean. And that's fine. They had significant and worthwhile stuff to tell, and I think it would have worked better if it had pivoted to being more about them. But they kept the focus on Otis even though there wasn't much more to say with him except as part of others' journeys, and that led to some really stupid contrived plotlines and so forth.

Still, it was a nice ending. I was pleased that there was some resolution and optimism for everybody, but that it wasn't happily ever after for everybody concerned.

In "Simon continues watching kids' shows".... After adoring seasons 1 and 2 of Hilda some years ago, I finally got around to S3 in the last few weeks.

It's less about Hilda, and more about her mother. As such, unfortunately it back-burners a lot of what made the first two episodes so wonderful: the dynamic of the three kids, the whimsy, Hilda's ability to make friends with everything she meets... in tackling darker and more serious themes it becomes a more serious show, and it suffers from it.

Still, it does wrap things up nicely and give the series a satisfying ending. And if you haven't watched Hilda, you really should - at least for S1-2. It takes 2-3 episodes to really get going.

So, I finished this series a week and a bit ago. It left a number of mysteries. I'm sure these have been much-discussed elseweb, but I haven't read others' thoughts. So... spoilers follow.

( spoilers )

I tried this when it first came out, a couple of years ago, and gave up half way through the first episode. It was loud, and brash, and trying too hard to be edgy.

Recently I was encouraged to try and and persevere, and it grew on me - until I just ended up binging the last four episodes.

It is loud and shouty at first, and it took a long time for charactisation or plot to get going, but fortunately the musical numbers are great.

I hope there's a second series.

I've been watching Star Trek : Strange New Worlds over the last couple of months.

S1 was good: I've heard it described as the intent of TOS, but with modern sensibilities and production values, and with the new-trek ability to hold a continuous storyline because streaming. S2 is so much better, while also containing a certain amount of Argh Stupid. Unlike nearly all Trek that's come before, it doesn't take itself entirely seriously. It's not a comedy like Lower Decks, but it's self-aware. This is perhaps the biggest thing that distinguishes it from Discovery.

Spoilers follow.

( Spoilers! )

Current Mood: delighted

I've finally gotten around to watching the Netflix series (up to episode 10, at least - the main arc. I haven't watched Calliope yet)

I was really impressed, and liked it a lot. Not every episode was amazing[1], but a few were - The Sound Of Her Wings in particular, partly for Death, but mostly for the way the repositioned story of Hob Gadling was done. Quite a lot has been moved around, in fact, and a lesser amount outright changed... and I'm OK with that. It's retained the big picture arc, retained the spirit of the story, retained the rules of its world. The changes provide exposition without a narrator, and drive the narrative without the artificial mechanism of comic issues. I think my only real criticism was that the character of Gilbert felt rather diminished. I wasn't convinced about the casting of Morpheus at the start, but he grew on me.

I noticed that we're being given a much earlier, and clearer, view of the flaws in Morpheus's character than in the books (or at least, than I noticed in the books). It'll be interesting to see how that progresses. Also, in the end of this arc, we're shown him learning, evolving, changing, in a way that surprised me. He doesn't seem quite as rigid. I wonder whether this will result in dissonance in some seasons' time, if Netflix allows things to get that far.

I'm sure I will enjoy episode 11, and I look forward to the next season.

[1] I didn't like "24/7", but I don't like that issue of the comic either, and it was at least toned down enough that I only had to look away briefly. It was worse knowing what was coming based on the comic... That issue is one of a number of ways in which I think comic Sandman only really found its voice from the second book.

Current Mood: pleased

I finished watching Wednesday.

I was impressed. I'm not sure that the whole "outcasts and normies" world setting would hold up to much scrutiny, but so long as the show doesn't continue to lean on that too much for political/cultural relevance, that doesn't really matter.

Spoilers follow.

( Spoilers )
Here's a fun, and fairly non-spoilery, blooper reel:

Just finished the last episode. Thoughts:

I love love love the production design, and the general tone of it. It's such a departure from what came before.
I can't speak to the authenticity of the Pakistani-Muslim-teen-in-NJ aspects, but... well, if nothing else they've done a good job of portraying a different normal life to people who have no idea. I hope it doesn't grate horribly for people who would know.
The Pathé-style newscasts in Ep 5 grated badly for me. By all means explain British colonial history to the viewers as context, but not like that. Can you imagine 1940s British newsreels actually criticising British colonial policy?
I wish the bangle had an origin story beyond "hidden in an old temple". Maybe that's still to come.
There had better be a season 2. I want more. A new superhero who has to explore herself, in a fascinating new situation vis a vis the government, and.... so many loose ends, one of which (whom) could be the end of the world.
Speaking of government, what's with DODC? I do wish Marvel would stop creating extra, nearly-duplicate, agencies whenever they get the urge[1]. What happened to SHIELD in the end? How about SWORD? Did they vanish underground and/or collapse? I've lost track of the timeline. Maybe they needed a new one because the ones they had wouldn't just assume "brown super bad"?
She probably can't be a very *responsive* superhero, in that she doesn't have any powers that would enable quick-changes. Then again, she's also perhaps the least anonymous superhero in history (except, come to think of it, for most of the Avengers. Marvel doesn't go in so much for the secret identities thing, does it), so maybe the costume doesn't matter so much.
WTF happened in the final episode's post-credits scene? I have no idea.

[1] Yes, sure, they keep creating extra near-duplicate everything else too.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Rjukan, Norway

I'm three episodes in to the BBC series.

I'm impressed.

They've changed the story in little ways. It's years and years since I read Northern Lights, so I don't remember the details, but I think Lyra was a less sympathetic character and a more ambiguous hero. Lyra the lier, I recall. And I think there are some minor plot changes. But it works, and it casts the world really nicely.

I love the way they've done the Gyptians. I'm not convinced about the casting for Azreal, in that he seems good only at being dramatic... but we'll see. I'm not totally happy about they way they've done Lyra - she's not young enough, and it's too obviously an adult playing a child, but I can forgive it because doing it any other way would be really hard. Similarly I get what people have said about there not being enough daemons around... but equally, I doubt that Pullman ever thought through how crowds would, or wouldn't, work, in a world with a taboo of touching another's daemon.

Promising!

I finished watching Season 5 on the plane over here (yes, I'm slow. I waited for it to appear on UK Netflix).

I enjoyed it; it was fun. But.... not as good as it used to be.

The first four seasons were still paying lip service to it being a cop show. Yes, a stylised and camp one, but still. In S5... well, no actual crimes are being solved. It's more of a comedy soap opera that happens to be set in a police station.

And I feel that some of their set-piece episodes have kinda played out, at this point... there are going to be two episodes at the start getting out of whatever dire situation ended the previous season. There's going to be a Doug Judy episode. There's going to be a Halloween Heist episode (although that was nicely subverted this time around). It all feels a bit much like fan service.

I don't hate it; I still enjoyed it, and I'll carry on watching to see what the next season (with new funders, I think?) is like. But it's not like it was.

simon's blog

Entries tagged with tv

Sex Education, Season 4

Hilda, S3

Hazbin Hotel speculation (spoilers)

Hazbin Hotel

Strange New Worlds

Sandman (mostly spoiler-free, unless you're very strict)

Wednesday (spoilers)

Ms. Marvel

His Dark Materials (no spoilers)

An unpopular opinion re Brooklyn 99

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