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Tactically Inept

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Malaphax

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished:

  • Under the Banner of Heaven - Great show that focuses on real murders that happened in a small mormon community in Utah.  They don't hold any punches about showing the mormon religion in a negative light, including some flashbacks to the founding of the religion and some of the key moments. 
    • If you just can't get enough weird culty shit about mormons there's a documentary on netflix called "Be Sweet, Pray and Obey" which deals with a fundamentalist sect of mormons that still followed polygamy and how eventually the cult leader makes his way onto the FBI's most wanted list and is put in jail for some heinous child sex abuse.
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi - This show is trash, I hated almost all of it, I'd argue this was somehow worse than the book of boba fett and I really hated that show too. 
  • Stranger Things Season 4 Part 1 - Really solid, looking forward to watching part 2. 
  • Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Mostly standard marvel dreck, I enjoyed some small parts of how they handled the multiverse and some characters but overall was very underwhelmed. 

Watching:

  • Star Trek: Brave New Worlds - Still a decent show, there have been a few episodes I didn't enjoy with silly premises, but I feel like that's a core component of any star trek show.  This season has been solid enough that I sincerely hope they do another season. 
  • The Boys Season 3 - If the very first scenes of the first episode doesn't set the tone for what you're in for, I"m not sure what to say.  This show leans hard on shock content and yet even past all the ridiculousness it still manages to be a solid (if weird) show. 
  • For All Mankind Season 3 - More alternate history space stuff.  I'm a little sad they kept some of the core cast through all 3 seasons because with the in show time skips some of the characters are legitimately too old to be doing what they're doing.  I still enjoy their mostly positive alternate history with such a huge focus on space exploration, I hope that this helps in some small way to push for more NASA budgets and bigger space exploration goals. 
  • Westworld Season 4 - This show is a big fucking mess at this point.  I've totally lost any threads to what the original premise was, I'm mostly watching out of morbid curiosity but even that is starting to fade fast. 
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  • 5 weeks later...

Finished:

  • Star Trek: Brave New Worlds - Star Trek shows have notoriously bad first seasons, and while there were a couple episodes I disliked this was probably the best first season of a Star Trek show I've seen.  I've enjoyed this show and hope they continue to push forward and make it even better.  Looking forward to more Captain Pike. 
  • The Boys Season 3 - Didn't like the ending, it felt weak.  This season in particular suffered as the plotlines that really mattered didn't move very far forward, and the season arc ended with a letdown.  The only thing saving this season was Frenchy being... Frenchy, by far the best character on the show right now. 
  • Ghost in the Shell SAC 2045 second season: This was better than the first season but still such a jumbled and garbage rendition of ghost in the shell that I'd just recommend skipping it entirely so it doesn't taint your opinion of the franchise. 

Watching:

  • For All Mankind Season 3 - This show shifts from really solid alternative history / NASA stuff to absolute garbage melodrama.  They seemed to double down on a really terrible plotline from the second season that was universally hated and it's bringing the entire show down. 
  • Westworld Season 4 - Still a big mess, Sadly I don't think understanding exactly what was going on would make this any better. 
  • Yofukashi no Uta / Call of the Night - This is going to be one of the seasonal darlings.  It's a love letter to seeing city streets nearly empty late at night combined with a weird romance and some vampire stuff.  It's not for everyone and I suspect it's too slow and romance leaning for most people but so far it's been interesting. 
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  • 3 weeks later...

Finished:

  • For all Mankind Season 3 - This show definitely jumped the shark.  They seemed hell bent on focusing on their mediocre drama elements instead of the cool space stuff, the last 2-3 episodes in particular were a complete mess on multiple levels.  I suspect they want to do more of the show and they do tease another timeskip at the end but I don't know if I'll be interested in watching anymore. 
  • Westworld Season 4 - This season was better but still not nearly as good as season 1, or even 2 for that matter.  It does put a relatively firm ending in place and I hope that HBO doesn't renew this for another season it would be a waste. 
  • The Bear - It's a show centered around a dysfunctional restaurant in Chicago staffed by dysfunctional people.  The pacing in much of the show is frenetic, and it's fairly well acted and grounded.  I mostly enjoyed this as a palate cleanser, soft recommendation. 

Watching:

  • The Sandman - Very solid so far.  You can tell Netflix invested some serious budget into this show and that the showrunners are trying to do it justice.  The author Neal Gaiman has been heavily involved in the show's production and I think that comes through.  They've been fairly faithful to the source material (I've only read the first volume), even with some shot for shot recreations of the comic scenes. 
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  • 1 month later...

Plenty of normal media although most of that is ending in the next week or two. 

  • House of the Dragon - It's really good, see the dedicated thread
  • Rings of Power - I dislike 90% of this show, but enjoy Durin and Elrond.  Looks very pretty as well.  See the dedicated thread.
  • Rick and Morty Season 6 - This has been hit or miss for me, I'm still interested but not enthralled or anything.
  • She Hulk - This show is less of hit and miss and more of average and brain rottingly stupid.  I've been clicking through more than watching and even that has become tedious. 
  • Andor - This show is genuinely fantastic, and the best star wars since Rogue One.  I think it has surpassed the Mandalorian for me.  See the dedicated thread. 

Oops All the anime:

  • Boku no Hero Academia - The most generic shounen garbage available, I have to skip the first 5 minutes of every episodes because they keep starting with "previously on" and recapping like 4 seasons worth of bullshit.  This thing is getting padded to death. 
  • Golden Kamuy Season 3 - Looking forward to another season, it's a unique show that definitely leans more seinen/adult but doesn't mind getting silly at times. 
  • Bleach - IT'S BACK BABY!  I'm all in on this purely for nostalgia purposes. 
  • Chainsaw Man - I want you to watch the OP and bask in it's glory/weirdness.  Also try and spot all the movie references (this picture does a good job pointing them out).  This is one of the few manga I read (somewhat recently too) and I'm along for the ride.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - I've seen a few other gundam shows and they're generally well produced.  I have no idea about the greater gundam universe or if this is an alternate timeline or whatever, I was just in the mood for watching giant mecha fight. 

This season of anime is beyond stacked. 

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  • 1 month later...

Anime mid season update:

  • Boku no Hero Academia - This season has actually be action packed.  No filler and plenty of high stakes big fights with multiple characters and massive stakes.  They also stopped with the mega recaps once the action finally started. 
  • Golden Kamuy Season 3 - I'm behind but it's more slapstick than some prior seasons, it feels like the progress is kinda slow as well.  Still unique but I'm less engaged this time around. 
  • Bleach - Literally some of the best anime, with amazing fights.  This show never looked this good and it's super cool to see.  They've slowed down in the last couple episodes after some major action but I assume it will ramp up again soon. 
  • Chainsaw Man - In a season of absolute amazing anime this still manages to be the top show.  The animation quality is crazy, the storyline is somehow even more insane, and they've managed to keep very close to the manga.  It's a great show and probably the one to watch this season. 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - Solid mecha show.  Good 2d mech animation, and while it's certainly trite and filled with the power of friendship etc.  It's also gundam so I know sometime after the halfway mark it's going to get dark as hell with a bunch of major characters dying in gruesome ways. 

Non-Anime stuff

  • The peripheral was good.  They clearly wanted to stretch out the story and so they made a change from the book to allow for more, but overall they're keeping very true to the world that Gibson created.  I'm very curious where they go with this but it's certainly felt like some solid scifi. 
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  • 3 months later...
  • Vinland Saga - This continues to be a really solid show, this season feels much slower and less action packed (supposedly this tracks in the manga) which I think serves as an elongated timeskip before additional conflicts and more action setpieces.  
  • Perry Mason Season 2 - This show feels like it's going to get the westworld treatment, it's super high quality and looks high budget but I just don't see enough interest and viewership to make up for the cost.  It's not helpful that they're airing it during succession's final season, on Mondays.  Still probably the best noir show on television and a great 1930's period piece about Los Angeles.  
  • Succession Season 4 - Final season, and they're not holding back, the writing feels tight and the character dynamics are great.  I'm hopeful they'll land the finale, especially since the showrunners/writers decided to end the show rather than it just being cancelled or having it drag on forever.  
  • Mandalorian Season 3 - Feels a bit more plot driven and less episodic so far.  It's cheap popcorn star wars which I can still appreciate.  I'm glad they're leaning into the mandalorian culture.  On the other hand, I really dislike the fact they need to immediately dunk on the new republic as incompetent and stretched thin, going so far as to rehire empire goons and house them in compounds.  I think this is where the show suffers from it's place on the timeline and the need for the new republic to fall in a relatively short period of time - they feel obliged to help set up the sequel trilogy (which is admirable but a mistake).  I know the clone wars animated series managed a herculean lift of rehabilitating the prequel trilogy's image but I'm still of the opinion that no amount of work can be done to fix the sequel trilogies and they would be better off just jumping to new points on the timeline (old republic, sith empire, chiss empire, random outer rim stuff, even further after the sequel trilogy, etc.)
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  • 1 month later...
  • Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Very solid film.  They lean into the silly nature of D&D and the idea of plans going poorly.  They also even call out a few weird spell rules for comedic effect and mess with a couple of tropes.  This was surprisingly good and doesn't overstay it's welcome.  
  • Star Wars Visions Season 2 - Unfortunately, I have very little positive to say about this season, screecher's reach being the only standout.  There are some artistically interesting elements (first ep - sith), but the stories are so uninteresting it's painful.  I didn't love every short from the first one but at least the anime studios brought something interesting, this season they gave a whole new batch of studios a chance and I don't think this batch is nearly as good.  
  • White House Plumbers - A comedic take on the real life events of the Nixon administration.  HBO production values help make this miniseries interesting, first episode was ok.  

Anime stuff

  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - This is somehow getting better.  The fights are fantastically animated and the drama is solid.  While there's still some of the usual anime bullshit, it's still a good show and worth watching, even if you don't care for gundam / mecha.
  • Mahou Tsukai no Yome [The ancient Magus' Bride] - No idea how this got a second season, but I'm glad it did.  The relationships are weird but endearing, and magic college sounds like a terrible trope but actually works when you make focus more on secret societies and low stakes relationships rather than tournament arcs and learning to throw fireballs.  This still remains one of the few anime similar to Mushishi, very slow and almost naturalistic take on magic / spirits - sometimes with problems that can be solved but not as neatly as people would like.  Also an interesting take on mages being more focused on contracts with spirits and sorcerers being a more scientific approach to magic.  
  • Vinland Saga season 2 - still great.  This season is much slower than the previous ones but they did have a few action sequences that felt fantastic.  I feel like this is a middle season setting up some bigger stuff down the road but still worth watching.  
  • Kimetsu no Yaiba ( Demon Slayer) - Shounen garbage that's very well animated.  One of the best instances of blending traditional 2d animation with a few 3d elements and effects.  
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • Star Trek Picard Season 3 - The internet told me this was way better and worth watching even though season 1 & 2 were absolute dogwater.  Unfortunately, it's not actually that great.  It's mediocre star trek at best, with a huge helping of nostalgia bait that would fit in Ready Player One.  It's nice seeing all the cast get back together, but the plot for this season is flat out uninteresting, and really spins its wheels for the first half of the show.  
Spoiler

They bring back the dominion (or at least the changlings) and the borg, and then do some mega asspulls about networked star fleet ships and networked "young people" except it also works on non-humans? What the ever living fuck am I watching.  Also why would the Dominion help the borg become more powerful and take over the alpha quadrant, especially when the dominion are at best getting some revenge? 
There's also a teaser for a potential new series (I really hope not) and of course Q needs to make an appearance.
I find it amusing that they got Levar Burton's actual daughter to play one of this daughters.  

  • John Wick Chapter 4 - I feel like this really jumped the shark with the omega bulletproof suits everyone wears, half the time they don't even flinch when getting shot, might as well be kids playing with airsoft guns.  You get Keanu doing this weird motion where he pulls up his jacket to cover his face like 3 times every scene and it looks goofy as hell.  Also the badguys in this one wear grey suits, but half of them are wearing high boots and it looks like they're wearing capri pants - which is also goofy looking.  The plot makes no discernable sense, some of the action and fight sequences are cool, the rest is mindless nonsense.  
    Not a good film, just a list of locations and stunts.  They had some cool music towards the end, and one sequence in a club where people are literally shooting one another and swinging hatchets at one another, but all the patrons just keep on dancing - must be one hell of a party.  
  • Succession Season 4 - Solid show.  It really displays some fantastic writing and excellent acting.  It's worth a watch and keeps the quality level from start to finish.  
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/30/2023 at 2:16 PM, Malaphax said:
  • Star Trek Picard Season 3 - The internet told me this was way better and worth watching even though season 1 & 2 were absolute dogwater.  Unfortunately, it's not actually that great.  It's mediocre star trek at best, with a huge helping of nostalgia bait that would fit in Ready Player One.  It's nice seeing all the cast get back together, but the plot for this season is flat out uninteresting, and really spins its wheels for the first half of the show.  


I'm on the same page as you on this. The writing is mediocre especially as it hits the middle half as its basically all nostalgia fapping its fanbase. I'm up to Eps 7 or 8 but one of the latter episodes just has extremely poor writing.

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Pantheon (2022) - The premise involves uploaded intelligence, corporate greed/malfeasance and some mystery surrounding coverups.  It's a solid show, well worth a watch with some solid voice acting talent and a good story.  It has a bit of an open ending (they clearly wanted another season) but it still works as a standalone series.  I have to remind myself that animation targeted to adults has grown dramatically in the past few years, but it's still nice to see.  

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Avatar 2 - Yea this was about as bad as I expected.  I clicked through some parts because as much as people want to compliment the visual effects they're not actually transformative enough to carry a movie like this.  The story isn't beat for beat pocahontas anymore which is... something.  But the rest of it was still a weird hamfisted anti-imperialist message with some eco-friendly feel good nonsense thickly layered on top.  

The Bear Season 2 - Really solid show.  The first season was a good but hectic romp though the kitchen of a local restaurant.  The second decides to lean more heavily on the high end (read: Michelin star rated) side of the business.  There's certainly an element of the entire thing being up it's own ass when you get to that level but there are a few small acknowledgements about that.  They also use some substantial guest actors for one major flashback episode, which further fleshes out the main character.  I appreciate that they still nailed the hectic feeling of the show, both with visuals, music, and even the dialogue that overlaps.  If you're in the mood for something that feels fast and frenetic, I can strongly recommend this show.  

Vinland Saga Season 2 - Finished up the farming arc.  The show is interesting since it's loosely based on real historical figures, including King Cnut (Canute in the show) but the first season plays out as a more action oriented show before it takes a hard turn towards a message of pacifism.  It's not as "fun" as something like the Last Kingdom, but it's a good anime being made by Mappa (who continues to be the best animation company IMO) so I'm hopeful they'll keep the series going.  

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 - It's wonderful that we're getting good star trek.  The show isn't perfect, in fact the first episode was garbage and had some super trashy and laughably bad action sequences (that went on forever) but the second episode seemed like a return to form with a courtroom sequence about who should be allowed to serve in starfleet; clearly inspired by The Measure of a Man (holy shit this has it's own wiki entry lol) the episode was solid, it was also nice to see the actress that played bilquis in American God's getting more work.  I know the nature of episodic television means there's going to be hits and misses, but I'm glad to see the general trend is good.  

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  1. For all Mankind - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772588/ - First season I liked a lot. Alternative-history sorta hard sci fi I was digging it. Second season it started to get a little weird but I was still enjoying it. Third season was not so fun and by the end of it I was basically done with the show because it really just started to feel silly. Pointless side stories. Crazy coincidences. Unbelievable character arcs. I believe they are working on a season 4 but I probably won't watch it.
  2. Tokyo Vice - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2887954/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 - Still watching it. Enjoying it although I occasionally get really mad at the main character. I think that is intentional but that doesn't really change anything.
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16 hours ago, kuhla said:
  1. For all Mankind - [...] Third season was not so fun and by the end of it I was basically done with the show because it really just started to feel silly. Pointless side stories. Crazy coincidences. Unbelievable character arcs. I believe they are working on a season 4 but I probably won't watch it.

My only hope for this is that they're doing a rather large timeskip and they just dump the entire existing cast.  I was actually hoping that this season would have been a sort of passing of the torch for some of the characters that were from the first 2 seasons, but instead they opted for the absolute worst of both worlds by having characters that were too old and shoehorning in some of their kids and then taking a swimming pool's worth of garbage drama to drown the entire season in.  Whoever wrote anything to do with Danny's character should go back to writing trash that struggles to get any traction on fanfiction websites.  

Upcoming stuff I may watch (or hate-watch)

  • Witcher Season 3 - I'm expecting absolute shite.  Also Netflix needs to shit or get off the pot with breaking up their big releases into 2 parts.  Just admit that your big releases should be weekly and smaller stuff should drop entire seasons at once.  Fuck this weird half-step where you keep breaking up big series into 2 parts in some desperate attempt to keep people from cancelling memberships.  
  • Jack Ryan Season 4 - Last season was better than season 2 (which was terrible) and it scratches a dumb sort of tom clancy thriller itch that I can zone out to when I'm in the mood.  
  • Foundation Season 2 - I've heard the writer responsible for the Empire storyline (the only good part of the show) left.  So I'm expecting this to take a nosedive in quality.  I hope I'm proven wrong considering this is one of the few big budget sci-fi series currently running (although Apple seems to be leaning into sci-fi heavily... interesting).  
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On 6/29/2023 at 10:04 AM, Malaphax said:

Upcoming stuff I may watch (or hate-watch)

  • Witcher Season 3 - I'm expecting absolute shite.  Also Netflix needs to shit or get off the pot with breaking up their big releases into 2 parts.  Just admit that your big releases should be weekly and smaller stuff should drop entire seasons at once.  Fuck this weird half-step where you keep breaking up big series into 2 parts in some desperate attempt to keep people from cancelling memberships. 

.....

I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to even watch that. My expectations are really low and I'm not sure even worth my time.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Jack Ryan Season 4 - It's a short season with some longer episodes but I just wasn't really feeling it.  The villains are cartoonish and they really try to hit you over the head that there's a shadowy essence to everything that just didn't land.  Michael Pena is about 40lbs too heavy to be even remotely believed as some ultra-tough SOF operator, he just looks awkward the entire time.  They sort of lean into the politics for some sections, along with some absolute nonsensical propiganda about how the CIA is going to turn a new leaf and protect american values.  I think there's better popcorn spy thriller stuff out there.  
  • Star Trek Strange New Worlds - This is still episodic but not quite as good as the first season.  I think they're leaning a little too hard on the original series and some of the goofier aspects.  This is another show where some of the actors are great and others are flat out terrible, they're thrown together in different scenarios and sometimes it works and other times it's painfully bad.  It's still the best star trek we've had in a long time, but I was hoping for a bit more.  
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 - Mediocre.  The villain has some neat backstory, and the majority of the film is a fairly basic plot, but it still felt thin.  I think just about all the recent marvel stuff has been of varying quality, and I'm just going to find an excuse to take a major break from it at this point.  

Anime Garbage

  • Mushoku Tensei Season 2 - This is one of my favorite shows.  The animation quality is great and the storyline is solid.  I'm excited to see where this goes.  
  • Heavenly Delusion - This got some solid reviews from last season.  So far the animation and storyline is living up to the reviews, even though the main characters are young, this is definitely targeted at adults.  I'm normally not super interested in post apocalyptic settings but this has a few neat gimmicks.  I'm about halfway through the show and have been enjoying it.  
  • Hell's Paradise - This also got some solid reviews but for different reasons.  This is a turn your brains off and watch cool fights type of anime.  
  • Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 - They switched studios and slightly changed the artstyle, but the action looks even better than before.  This is going to be great.  
  • Bleach - IT'S BACK BABY.  Time for some absolute old school garbage battle anime with a new coat of paint.  
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • Good Omens Season 2 - A nice short season that felt very much at home with the books and first season.  There's some blatantly obvious "we filmed this during covid, give us a break" moments in the show that they tried to integrate but felt ham-fisted.  I was beyond amused to see them parody the parable of Job, and portray the angels as so enlightened that they're clueless about how humans function.  Clearly Neal Gaiman is more than happy to get involved in tv shows now and so far they've all been fairly decent.  
  • Star Trek Strange New Worlds - I'm still enjoying this but the second season was a bit worse.  Since this is one of the few Star Trek shows that hasn't been cancelled, I'll be interested to see where they take it.  I also don't like what they've done with the Gorn.  I understand they wanted to move away from a dude in a goofy looking rubber lizard suit but they've made them too animalistic.  I just can't fathom a species like that achieving warp or having advanced capabilities - it would be like if James Cameron's Alien suddenly started piloting a starship, it would seem so out of place as to be unbelievably ridiculous.  
  • Foundation Season 2 - This is about on par with the first season.  The empire storylines still feel far better than anything related to the actual foundation.  Most of the new characters/actors feel like a good fit, but Salvor is the worst actress on the show and Gael isn't much better.  

Anime Garbage

  • Heavenly Delusion was solid.  My only note of caution is that it's a mystery box show.  I have extremely low tolerance for mystery box bullshit but it was still interesting enough to watch.  Animation was very solid and the world building was a unique take on post apocalyptic.  I hope they put out another season because the show is clearly unfinished.  
  • Hell Paradise isn't nearly as good as people recommended, I'll skip through a bit more but I'm not impressed.  
  • Jujustu Kaisen Season 2 - The first few episodes are a giant flashback sequence that essentially acts as a standalone arc.  The animation is phenomenal, and the antagonist was fantastic.  I'd almost recommend watching those few episodes as an intro to the series rather than start with season 1.  
  • Bleach - The animation quality is still great and they're absolutely keeping up the pace.  Most episodes have at least one fight sequence, the plot feels like someone took a standard battle shounen and cut all the bullshit, it's refreshing.  
  • Mushoku Tensei - Still the best anime airing.  

Upcoming Stuff

  • Winter King - King Arthur stuff, based on books by Bernard Cornwell, who wrote the Last Kingdom.  I'm down for more early English sword and sandals type shows so I'll give this a shot.  
  • Ahsoka - Its Star Wars so it could be good or could be terrible.  I'm expecting it to be right down the middle, probably about the same quality as the Mandalorian, maybe a little worse.  
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not sure if i post this rant on the right thread but as some one who wanted to watch multiple diffrernt football leagues/soccer. why is it so fucking dificult and expensive;

i literally have to sub to 3 different subscriptions to watch all of those matches.i get it this is all due to contract and deals for those streaming service but its getting ridiculous now. one league one service.

premiere league = peacock nbc
bundesliga = espn +
premiere league = paramount + 
dumb

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I think we've hit full circle on content fracturing.  When streaming first came out, there was massive consolidation and an effort to get everything online and easily accessible to cut down on piracy, and it worked.  Now we have too many streaming services and they're also moving towards ad-supported models or premium pricing for less content, same thing with the VPN and password sharing crackdowns.  I know recently Netflix said they saw an increase in subscriptions when they implemented their policy against password sharing, but I suspect we'll start to see more movement towards piracy.  I'm personally at my limit on netflix, and if they increase the pricing on my plan or make it any worse I might just drop it and get my content elsewhere. 

Sidenote: ESPN+ (owned by Disney) made a deal with some gambling shit recently.  I'm not normally someone who tries to ascribe characteristics to mega-corporations, but it does feel weird to think that Disney is now in the gambling business. 
I also think there are some obvious ways for some of these streamers to make money with live sports streaming, especially since sports is already ad-supported.  I can just imagine more people would be willing to pay a single fee for all the playoff games of particular sports, or big events like the world cup, but as far as I know right now they're still sticking with the monthly subscription model instead of offering a more pay-per-view model for big events. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Winter King - has been... meh.  It's not quite as pulpy as the Last Kingom.  Instead it feels like its taking itself too seriously, which I'm not opposed to but I don't think they're hitting the mark.  Also the action scenes are suffering from severe shaky cam syndrome - I can't tell if they're trying to cover up poor stunt-work or just making a poor design choice.  I'm hoping this picks up because so far I've been disappointed.  
  • Ahsoka - I'm severely biased because I've watched all of the clone wars and rebels.  I felt so far this is a strong 7/10 star wars show.  It's not as bad as some recent star wars offerings and also not even in the same discussion as something as good as Andor.  There's also some valid criticism being leveled at the show.  I do think Rosario Dawson is playing a bit too stoic and aloof, which is a different take on the character, but I also understand this is an older version of that character.  I think we're seeing a return of the completely inept ruling faction (in this case the new republic), which is not just tedious but annoyingly so.  We've also seen a few instances of weird space maguffins involving maps, in this case a map to a person's location which is just... so dumb.  Not to mention light sabers are dramatically less lethal now that we've seen multiple series show characters get stabbed in the gut and just seemingly walk it off (RIP Qui Gon Jinn), this is even more wacky when we could have seen a lesser and more believable injury like slashing the meat of someone's leg so they can't chase you.  Despite all my critical feelings of the show, I still want it to succeed, and not just because of my nostalgia regarding the character.  
  • Foundation Season 2 - This has been surprisingly engaging.  I still have sincere issues with some of the acting of Gael and Salvor, but at least the plot seems to be moving briskly and not just retreading old ground.  All of the additional characters this season have also been solid.  
  • The Knick - I picked this up on a random recommendation from the internet and so far this has delivered.  I think this fits the "good show, but nobody watched it" category.  Which is ironic considering the writers/creators of this show also did Perry Mason, another good show that nobody watched and that was recently cancelled because of the poor viewership.  This is also one of the few tv shows that used a single director for the entire run (Steven Soderbergh) which I think leads to a more cohesive style and less variability in the quality of episodes.  

We get season 2 of Wheel of Time this week.  I'm going to give this a second chance even though the first season was pretty bad.  Considering Amazon's track record of high budget fantasy shows, I'm not holding out much hope.  

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • Winter King - Continues to be very meh.  It's not bad enough to drop, especially since this is a standalone mini-series, but bad enough that I would recommend last kingdom instead and just avoid this series.  
  • Ahsoka - I would actually revise this, to a 7/10 show if you're a casual star wars fan (or more accurately have not seen rebels and clone wars) and an 8/10 if you've seen the aforementioned animated series.  The costuming is really neat, Balon Skoll and Shin Hati have a cool knight motiff complete with a few clone wars era armor pieces and a layered/stitched cloth style that carries that "armored" look which I enjoy.  It's distinct from the more flowy jedi stuff but still fits.  Thrawn's troopers and ship looks absolutely sick, really solid design choice.  I still think there's some goofy shit (space whales, making hyperspace rings EVEN BIGGER) but it still feels solidly star wars.  
  • Foundation Season 2 - Nailed the landing, this season was dramatically better than the first.  Enough that I would tell people to suffer through / fast forward through the first as needed so you can get to season 2.  
  • Wheel of Time Season 2 - Another big step up from the first season.  I don't want to use the pandemic filming as an excuse, but... I feel like there are more characters on screen, and better sets combined with stronger acting and a more engaging story.  

Anime Bullshit

  • Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 - After the flashback they're diving straight into a major arc with big combat moments.  I think this show (and more modern shounen) really has learned how to cut the fluff and really streamline the story to favor action.  The downside of that it's harder to animate when there's so much action.  
  • Bleach - Still fantastic, also had a great recent episode.  There's some issues with how many side characters are being juggled in which can be a bit exhausting but they've managed to keep these minor character fights interesting and quick enough that it hasn't dragged down the story and pacing.  
  • Mushoku Tensei - This was a much slower arc and did suffer a little bit as the focus was on setup for future seasons.  It's still one of the best animated shows I've seen.  I'm still excited to see where this goes and would give a strong recommendation for this show.  

Upcoming Shows

  • Castlevania: Nocturne - Hell yea can't wait for this.
  • Gen V - Spinoffs are very hit or miss.  I've enjoyed The Boys but I'm not sure a super powered high school is the way I would have gone with this.  I hope this leans more on the superpowers and less on the high school drama.  
  • Loki Season 2 - Absolutely the best marvel tv show that was produced (by a huge margin), I'm hoping they keep the quality level up.  I think Disney has pulled back on some of their marvel offerings (and several have underperformed - relatively) which might translate into fewer but higher quality/budget offerings.
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  • 1 month later...
  • Castlevania: Nocturne - Solid show, obviously a setup season with more greenlit and in production.  They still have a unique low framerate but high detail style of action sequences which is a change of pace.  The side characters were slightly more interesting this time around.  I'm not entirely sure I understand the villain other than "generic powerful vampire"  I'll be excited for the next season of this when it comes out.  
  • Gen V - This was meh.  They had some mildly interesting ideas but leaned too hard on the obnoxious college tropes.  They had a few cool reveals for the main show, but otherwise it's not worth the watch.  
  • Loki Season 2 - Really solid season, the last episode in particular was poignant and well crafted.  I'm glad they chose a two season arc and decided to end it where they did.  Still the best marvel tv show they've produced. 

 

Currently Watching:

  • Invincible Season 2 - Looks a little better than the first season, curious where they're going.  
  • Blue Eyes Samurai - I clicked on this randomly to kill some time and have been pleasantly surprised by how good it is.  I still dislike the comedic relief character.  The show is like a better version of kill bill without the tarentino nonsense.  I'd give this a subtle recommendation.  
  • For All Mankind Season 4 - I've downloaded this, but it's very low on the priority list.  I was disappointed by the trajectory of the show and don't want to waste my time.  

Anime Stuff:

  • Frieren - Just go watch the show.  It's really well animated, the storyline manages to avoid some of the sillier tropes of generic fantasy but still delivering a cooler and interesting world.  There are cool slow paced sections reminiscent of mushishi.  It's just really good.  
  • Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 - This whole season is bonkers and fantastically animated fight sequences.  
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  • 4 months later...

Three body problem - I have a skewed view of this series because I knew enough about the book series and had read a few synopsis of the books to not be going into this completely blind.  Even without any knowledge of the books, the show works well on its own.  I had some trepidation since this was being adapted by the same people who did Game of Thrones, but the bright side was they had a completed series so they couldn't go too far off script.  The concepts were fairly well executed and they did a solid job showing some terrible events and how the characters react to them.  I think some of the actors are a bit middling, but passable.  The main thrust of the story is solid and certainly works to set up additional seasons (I assume adapting the rest of the novels).  I'm always happy to see high budget scifi, and this is certainly more grounded or "crunchy" than most scifi I watch/read.  
I do find it amusing that nearly every single fantasy/scifi fiction I've come across that has to deal with major problems often resort to ultra-authoritarian organizations/characters.  I've seen more than a few scifi series where there's this magic "get shit done" character that somehow amasses ridiculous authority, but mostly exist to help move stuff along and allow for unrealistic projects to be given unlimited resources to make them seem achievable.  
I still have no idea how a Chinese author was able to write this series, and remains lauded by the Chinese government when an entire plotline of the show is basically showing how awful the Chinese government of the past was.

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  • The Gentlemen - Guy Ritchie decided making a movie about an british aristocrat getting involved in the drug world, and thought "damn I need to remake this into a series."  
    If you like Guy Ritchie stuff, you'll like this, it's very "turn your brain off" type of show.  I thought it was middling at best and does unfortunately use one characters extreme incompetence to help move the various plots forward, which I didn't appreciate.  
  • Masters of the Air - It was a good but not great series set in WW2 about the bomber pilots and crews and the problems they faced.  This is a noticeable step down from Band of Brothers / The Pacific even if it's produced by some of the same people.  The acting is fine, and some of the larger set-pieces are cool but the storyline isn't particularly engaging.  The sequences that cover the various prison camps were the worst part of the show and felt like a drag that didn't add anything.  This is totally skippable.  

Currently Watching:

  • Shogun - It's a very solid show, you can tell the showrunners and actors took this seriously.  I think this is a better / higher quality version of Last Kingdom set in Japan.  
    I would love to see more historical fiction like this, but I assume the budget constraints make that difficult.  I know this is technically a remake of an older "prestige tv" show from the 1980's but I think remaking a show 40 years old is more than reasonable.  
  • Tokyo Vice Season 2 - Great show.  I've heard this may be the last season (intentionally) and I hope they planned this all out so it resolves well and doesn't overstay it's welcome.  I still have some slightly mixed feelings about some of the actors performances, but nothing that takes me out of the show.  
  • X-Men '97 - I have some nostalgia for the old show, but if you asked me to describe the various plotlines I'd be hard pressed to remember much.  
    The show is a direct continuation from the original show, but you don't need any context other than basic understanding of the x-men to appreciate the show.  
    The animation is 2.5d, which is to say it's clearly 3d models that are being flattened, and there are some sequences where you can see a much more dynamic camera that they make use of because of the 3d models.  I've been very impressed by the animation work, and the showrunners / animators certainly love the IP because each of the characters feel like bigger and better versions of their original series versions.  Cyclops in particular is made to look super awesome, which is neat to see considering how lame they've made him in all of the various movie iterations.  I don't know enough about the various comic storylines but it seems like they're basing the show on some of the existing storylines and since they've already done the phoenix saga in the old show they aren't rehashing that (thank god).  
  • Invincible Season 2 (second half) - I'm still enjoying it but the animation quality and action sequences aren't doing much for me.  I'm still interested in the story but I feel like the large gaps between each season, and splitting this second season up has dampened my enjoyment.  I hope they figure it out and keep the show going through the entire storyline of the comics, because I've heard it gets wild.  

Anime Stuff:

  • Frieren - This just finished airing.  It's getting tons of hype (for good reason) and will probably be regarded as anime of the year, or at least be considered an instant classic.  Between the great animation quality (madhouse is back baby) and a serviceable storyline that pushes some deeper themes, the show is fantastic.  Strong recommendation.  
  • Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon) - Set in a prototypical dungeons and dragons style setting, the show is a mix of weirdly comfortable cooking and classic dungeon crawling.  The characters are the right amount of silly and competent.  The animation quality is solid, and they especially took care to show some well detailed cooking elements (almost every episode has at least one "recipe").  This is another strong recommendation with the caveat that this won't appeal to everyone.  The show also feels decidedly more western, mostly because of the specific fantasy setting, I think this helps the show avoid some traditional anime tropes.  
  • Solo Leveling - This is shounen power fantasty trash.  The manwha (Korean) it's adapted from is well regarded and the animaiton is good enough but it's nothing special at the moment.
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