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[Caz]

The Expanse is back with season 5! First 3 episodes are available now.

Swithering whether to watch or wait until more episodes are out.

Same with Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) season 4, which is weekly release now. How the hell they're going to finish all the material in one season...

[Yoink]

I momentarily forgot about its January 1st release date, but yesterday (the 3rd) I finally sat down to watch season three of Cobra Kai - after chucking on the Cobra Kai shirt I bought from Wish of course, haha.   
It is good, as expected. Dials up the cheese at times almost to the point that you can't take it seriously, but stays there walking the fine line where in still remains in "strangely awesome" territory. It's like some kind of magic. Sadly, though, there are only ten short episodes and I've already watched, like, seven before I forced myself to stop and save some.   

Pretty sure production of the next season is already underway, but still. Guess I'll be back to scrounging for other series to watch before long - or perhaps I could go back for a rewatch from the very beginnings? Could be fun.


Oh, and I'm still waiting to receive a better copy of Snowfall season two. I re-watched the first season, then made a start on the second which was going well, but just when things started ramping up in a big way I became unable to source working subtitles. Ugh.   

[Loud Whispers]

Watched Alice in Borderland, the show is really, really fun. Watched Peaky Blinders and ditto, but I lost interest after the Russian season. McMafia is also a bloody treat, because I'm a sucker for people inheriting positions of grand responsibility where they're totally out of their depth

[Folly]

I finished watching Sabrina season 4.

Overall pretty good. Lots of worldbuilding and character development, despite a slightly tedious monster-of-the-week vibe.
I really disliked the ending though. MC dies, slowly, to minor injuries. A family full of witches who don't even try to heal her, through magic or otherwise. Necromancers in her family, and they don't make any effort to bring her back, after going to ridiculous lengths for her throughout the season. And then her boyfriend, whom she barely had a relationship with, commits suicide so that he can join her in Heaven. Yeah, there's a lot that doesn't track in that ending.

Season 4 was the last, with Netflix giving the show the axe. Apparently they intend to continue the story in comic book form, but I'm just not interested enough to keep following through the transition.


I also finished binging the current 2.5 seasons of American Gods.
Nobody warned me there would be erect penises. 

The premise is that gods are created, empowered and sustained by human faith and sacrifice. America has brought new ideas related to technology and media, thus creating new gods associated with these ideas. But the old gods are not content to simply fade into obscurity, and thus a war of the gods begins. And of course such a story would not be complete without hapless mortals getting screwed over on a cosmic scale. Throw in a few demigods for good measure, because there's always at least one god in every pantheon who can't keep it in his pants.

The first season had a lot of little side stories about various gods and the people affected by them; some of which tied in to the main story, others just exist to fill time. I really appreciated these stories, though I can see how some might find them an unwelcome distraction from the main plot. These mini-stories are mostly gone from seasons two and three, for better or for worse.

The plot twists are predictable, especially if you come in with previous knowledge of the gods and their ways. Fairly enjoyable to see the pieces fall into place anyway.

I've enjoyed this show, but I'm somewhat worried about it's fate after losing several of the biggest actors between seasons 2 and 3. The gods can change their faces, so it's not too difficult for the writers to accommodate. But they lost a lot of popular talent, and I'm not entirely confident that the replacements will hold up.

[RoseHeart]

WandaVision...

Man do I hate seeing the credits pop up, can definitely respect those that wait. Though the weekly format does offer a lot of fun in terms of speculation. Overall I prefer it! (But I'll be excited to have the whole season at my fingertips too)

WestWorld...

Been going back to this. Life distracted me from going very far so I am giving it another go. Can't wait to see how it unfolds.

The Expanse...

The little show that could. It doesn't seem particularly ambitious from scene to scene, but in culmination it tells a grand story, and the characters go through so much...  Fun scifi.

Resident Alien...

What a fun comedy show. Most lose my interest but I am always eager to see next week's episode. I hear it will have Linda Hamilton. SOO looking forward to that. She was one of the better elements in the luke warm Terminator: Dark Fate, so I look forward to seeing what see can do with a subversive show for the serious general she'll be portraying.

[Vector]

Atlanta, Season Two. I'm excited to have it after about three years of waiting for the DVD to be at the library in my area.

[Folly]

I finished watching Your Honor.

It's basically Breaking Bad. Malcolm's dad stumbles into a precariously illegal situation and then keeps digging himself in deeper, with lots of dramatic close calls.
But unlike Breaking Bad, this one ends after 1 season with lots of loose threads left dangling. It's a fun ride, but hard to recommend after that conclusion.

[Caz]

I started watching Superstore. It's dumb but I like it. Basically a tv show about the people working in Walmart, getting up to !zany! hijinks.

[Jopax]

Let's talk WandaVision!

At first I didn't much care for it, like I mostly stopped caring about MCU stuff after Endgame because it felt like a bigass story was just done with all the proper sendoffs and whatnot, only for them to turn around and milk it some more, except without most of the compelling characters. Then some folks started raving about it and I had some free time so I decided to give it a shot, was only 9 episodes anyways.

And it's pretty good IMO, serves to flesh out the characters, introduces some new ones I guess, moves stuff forward. That said I have some issues with it, big and small.

Spoiler: Here be spoilers (click to show/hide)

First off, the mid-credit 'bonus' scenes, fuck whoever thought of using them this way. None of the early episodes don't have them, and the credits are loooong, so after the first time you sit trough it like a twat, waiting for  something to happen you go 'OK, guess they're not doing that anymore'. Except they start doing it in later episodes and it the scenes contain important fucking events, so when their consequences appear afterwards you're left thinking that you missed an episode or something because who the fuck is that and how did they get there??
Additionally, I'd love to have seen more of some characters (like the black astronaut lady whose name I can't recall), since she seems to be introduced only to get powers and appear in something else later down the line, which is bloody lame when your origin story is to be a sidelined character that doesn't do much for most of it.
Now the major beef, which is introducing the fucking witch and apparently bringing back Vision for good.
The witch as a character was pretty neat, played well into the tropes of shows they were mimicking and could've just been a regular gal. But nope, despite starting to explore some rather dark and pointed shit when it comes to superheroes and their powers, how they affect those around them, especially when abused or used selfishly they just had to roll out a 'proper' bad guy with no redeeming quality so that the hero doesn't look that bad after mind controlling an entire towns worth of people for their own benefit. The fact that the ending felt forced into a big flashy showdown only furthers my annoyance with it. They couldn't have just explored Wanda and her relationship with her powers and how that affects others, how she's pretty fucking broken due to her past and her then figuring out a way to deal with that, nope, here's a proper bad guy instead so that she doesn't have to take responsibility for her actions.
Second thing that bothered me to no end is bringing back Vision, first off, how the fuck did they manage to clean him up and but him all together in the few days that passed between her seeing his corpse to the moment they revive him is never explained and is a pretty glaring issue, but whatever, we'll write that off as a nitpick.
My main issue is that the premise of the show rests on Wanda being broken with grief as the only person in the bloody world that she could still call family was taken from her (fucking twice, and she had to do it herself the first time), which then spirals into a massive case of what can only be called denial I guess, except its super-powered and reality-warping. Except they somehow manage to revive him without the stone, but he isn't Vision anymore, except the replica Vision restores his memories so for all practical considerations, he's back I guess? Except he fucks off to somewhere instead of trying to find Wanda for some reason.
More than that tho, his death in IW was a gut punch, it was a sign that they weren't fucking around, this shit was going to have consequences and not everyone would make it. Except now he's kinda back I guess, because reasons :I
I get that this is based on the comics and nobody can really die or go away for too long because comics are forever and shit, but I'd really like if they stepped away from that a bit more, make it all mutable over time, have things be permanent maybe. But I guess they gotta make those billions somehow, can't go killing off characters for silly reasons like story or emotional impact :V

Still, despite those, I'd say it was a pretty good watch, if nothing, the first half of it was a brilliant thing and is worth watching on its own.

[Folly]

I finished watching WandaVision. Was going to skip it initially because the name didn't grab me...but Jopax convinced me.

Overall a very decent addition to the Marvel live-action timeline. Though I feel the need to recommend skipping the first three episodes. They are fairly tedious, and the very few relevant parts get recapped in episode 4.

[scriver]

Just watched a documentary about a cultish Waldorf school here in Sweden.

Crazy fucking people.

[ChairmanPoo]

Just watched a documentary about a cultish Waldorf school here in Sweden.

Crazy fucking people.

cultish? Why would anyone consider these people cultish?

[Yoink]

I started watching Superstore. It's dumb but I like it. Basically a tv show about the people working in Walmart, getting up to !zany! hijinks.

Ugh, personally I hated that show. I watched an entire episode wanting to like it.   
A lot of the humour was the sort of thing that's been done before more successfully, but the main thing I took objection to was the main character. Are we really supposed to be rooting for this absolute jackwagon!? Right from the start he's making an arse of himself, harassing his new coworker and taking every opportunity to skive off work. And then, towards the end of the episode, it's revealed that the reason he hasn't been seen for fricking hours while everyone else has been working their butts off is that

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

instead of working he's been somehow climbing around the store like a fucking ninja putting those glow-in-the-dark star stickers all over the fucking ceiling without either being seen or falling to his death. Seriously, how the hell did he even do that? The show could at least have explained how he pulled such a feat off, but nope, it's all just 'oh wow look how nice and thoughtful this guy is for turning the bland department store where these other poor cunts work because they need money to live into a magical realm of adventure and happiness instead'. Not even a mention of how the lazy prick hasn't been pulling his weight. And then the object of his affections/harassment has the gall to look all shyly pleased by this behaviour at the end of the episode.     

   
Good grief.   

Uh, yeah, rant over I guess. I think on some subconscious level I've been quietly seething ever since I watched it, but haven't actually had anyone to properly discuss the show's glaring shortcomings with.    

I think wheelchair dude was the show's one saving grace, 100%.   

[scriver]

Just watched a documentary about a cultish Waldorf school here in Sweden.

Crazy fucking people.

cultish? Why would anyone consider these people cultish?

It 200% confirmed all my prejudice against Waldorf schools and the people who lead them. Terrible fucking people, never a thought about the children, completely irresponsible.

It's called De utvalda barnen, "The Chosen Children", but it's probably not available abroad yet as it's just being aired here. Basically it's made by a guy in his 40's maybe who used to think he had the perfect childhood/school-going, but who after making a face book group for the school starts to discover that not nearly everyone else who went there had the same happy memories that he did (he was one of the titular "Chosen Children"). It's in three parts and I've only seen the first so far, but it basically appears to have been Lord of the Flies except with music and singing, up to including teacher sanctioned beatings of unpopular kids. One woman described how she rembered she used to run to get to the classroom first, not because she loved learning so much but so she could get there before anyone else so she could hide on top/behind something (I didn't catch what) and spend the whole day hidden there.

Absolutely insane.

[Folly]

I finished watching first season of Amazon's The Wilds.
It's a show about a bunch of teenage girls stranded on an island. Each episode focuses on one of the girls, juxtaposing her tragic backstory with present struggles on the island, and a bit of their future after getting off the island.

The teen girl interactions can be a bit cringe, especially in the early episodes, but it pays off later in the season as the mystery of their circumstances begins to unfold and we begin to see some real character growth.

I would recommend this one, if you can stomach the girl-drama. Season 2 is greenlit and hoped to arrive before the end of this year.


I also finished the first two seasons of Epix's Britannia.
This one is swords and low-sorcery story, set in old Britain about 2000 years ago. So there's knights and castles and all that, but most of the focus of the show falls upon a group of Druids serving as pawns of the gods, and the unfolding of a prophecy that may change everything for them.

The whole prophecy thing takes away any sense of free agency, so most of the entertainment of this show comes from the characters expressing perpetual frustration at their inability to control their own fates. I found this to be quite entertaining, and eagerly await more.

Season 3 has been greenlit, and again is hoped to arrive this year.