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Post by polly on Mar 16, 2020 4:58:17 GMT
MASH: Season 6, Episodes 22-23 - I did not expect an episode about one of our characters getting blasted on amphetamines. Star Trek: Picard: "The Impossible Box" - Took a few weeks off from this show because the previous episode was so awful. This one was...pretty darn good! Lots of Borg stuff, which is a plus. Best one yet. I hope this show can finally be good consistently instead of varying between perfectly solid Trek and absolutely horrendous on a weekly basis. The Simpsons: "Bart the Bad Guy" - Another "topical" episode a year out of date. But still quite good and rather funny. Love Homer's complete lack of interest in the MCU - I feel the same way. Family Guy: "Rich Old Stewie" - Blech Curb Your Enthusiasm: "The Ugly Section" - Larry David quarreling with officious restaurant managers, a tale as old as time.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2020 6:56:37 GMT
Castlevania's third season.
Bloody hell, no wonder I've had vampires on the brain. Warren Ellis has kept a consistently high bar on this series from beginning to end. After last season's shift away from Simon, Sypha and Alucard for a greater focus on the intrigue of Dracula's court, they're back in harness with an interesting new addition to the trio -- Bill Nighy's well-travelled stranger, a... person, by the name of Saint Germain. A bit of a dandy, plays the fool occasionally, may travel in time has a mysterious link to a dark secret in the heart of a corrupted church *scribbles furiously in margins of notes*.
Ellis has managed to capture the delightful breeziness of something like The War Games. Ten episodes with four plot threads that just fly by.
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Post by polly on Mar 17, 2020 19:39:16 GMT
Columbo: "Make Me a Perfect Murder" - Great episode. We've already had an episode set in the world of TV production not too long ago, but that was about actors, and this one is about the executive level. One of my favorite Columbo murderers today, and a beautiful score.
For some reason this is out of order on my DVDs. In the combined Season 6 & 7 set, it's placed as the Season 7 finale, while it's actually third-to-last. So I watched it here midseason instead of where the box set put it.
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Post by Digi on Mar 18, 2020 13:17:31 GMT
Godless - A western miniseries on Netflix that I've just started (watching episode 1 as I type this). Well-acted so far, and absolutely beautifully shot. I have no idea how the rest of it will go, but I'm enjoying it so far. This was an excellent slow-burn Western that I'm very glad I watched. Since then... Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes - I wanted this to be so much more than it was. Ultimately I found it kind of....flat. The Stranger - Netflix limited series with Richard Armitage, Dervla Kirwan, and Jake Dudman (and Hannah John-Kamen and Anthony Head and Shaun Dooley and and and )! Mystery thriller isn't usually my go-to fare, but I really enjoyed this. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Not quite halfway through this now and I have to admit that I'm really struggling. I don't know whether it's maybe just the anxiety of all the news keeping me from being able to focus, but I'm just not finding it engaging at all. Plus the Gelflings really creep me out. Always have, even when I saw the original movie as a kid. Doesn't help with my engagement when the protagonists give me the creeps, but the villains don't.
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Post by doctorkernow on Mar 18, 2020 13:36:23 GMT
Hello again.
Still enjoying watching E4's Misfits. The third and fourth series sees a change in personnel. Seeing Shaun Dooley as a cast member of The Stranger reminds me what a brooding scary presence he is in Misfits and how he brings off unpredictable shifts in the character really well.
The cast of Misfits is excellent. While the crude and rude nature of the show is offensive in places, the cast really demonstrate well that having superpowers is not always a good thing.
The range of weird and random super powers that feed the plots of Misfits are really different. There are also some unexpectedly poignant episodes that deal with loneliness, sense of identity, mental illness and old age.
It’s not for everyone, but I'm looking forward to the finale of series 5 and seeing how Howard Overman ties up his story.
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Post by polly on Mar 18, 2020 17:59:31 GMT
MASH: "Major Topper" - It seems like it's been a while since we've a MASH season finale that was just a solid, regular episode and not some kind of upheaval or special occurrence.
Columbo: "How to Dial a Murder" - Well, having the victim savaged by attack dogs is one of the more gruesome murders on the show, but it's a level of intensity not lived up to by our rather bland villain. Ho-hum episode overall. Neat to see a pre-Sex and the City, pre-Star Trek, pre-Big Trouble Kim Cattrall.
Star Trek: Picard: "Nepenthe" - Well, butter my ass and call me a biscuit, for the first time since Enterprise went off the air, Star Trek has been good twice in a row. People actually sat down and discussed their problem and worked together to come up with a plan. You know, like Star Trek used to. Loved seeing some old friends, and their daughter was super cute. Still really don't like Dr Blondie and all her BS. Don't like offing yet another returning character for no particular reason. But, the good once again outweighed the bad.
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Post by timegirl on Mar 18, 2020 21:56:34 GMT
Inside Number 9
The Referee’s a w****r I don’t follow sports at all so I can’t say I completely understood this one but I thought the dialogue was snappy and liked the running gag about the mascot 🤔
Death Be Not Proud Unexpected, filled to the brim with dark comedy and completely brilliant! Don’t look at spoilers before watching this one!😉
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Post by doctorkernow on Mar 19, 2020 0:07:31 GMT
Hello again. Inside No. 9 is brill, the football one was the passion project of Steve Pemberton who is big football fan. Reece Shearsmith found all the football lingo tricky. While a later episode features the world of stage magic an interest of Shearsmith. It's a great series, hope you enjoy the rest of it Timegirl. www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/8261/interview-reece-shearsmith
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Post by timegirl on Mar 19, 2020 0:08:56 GMT
Hello again. Inside No. 9 is brill, the football one was the passion project of Steve Pemberton who is big football fan. Reece Shearsmith found all the football lingo tricky. While a later episode features the world of stage magic an interest of Shearsmith. It's a great series, hope you enjoy the rest of it Timegirl. www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/8261/interview-reece-shearsmithThanks!😊
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Post by masterdoctor on Mar 19, 2020 10:36:40 GMT
Making my way through Season 2 of The Punisher on Netflix and boy is it quite an enjoyable ride. I'm finding that it fixed a lot of pacing issues Marvel shows had, and there is only one real stinker so far and I only have two episodes left. Madani feels a lot more fleshed out and all the plot threads are tying up nicely. After this I think I'm diving into Inside No.9, which I've seen the first two seasons of, but will go through fully and this time mark my thoughts down on each episode. Praise be for streaming services.
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Post by timegirl on Mar 19, 2020 15:15:05 GMT
Inside No 9
Love’s Great Adventure
Totally different feel to this one compared to any episode of this series, but still very good character drama! I thought they all had a very believable family dynamic and there was a surprising amount of warmth to the story😊 I think I ultimately prefer the episodes of Inside no 9 with more twists and black comedy ( that’s just more my taste) but this was still a very believable well preformed kitchen sink drama🤔😊
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Post by polly on Mar 19, 2020 18:10:07 GMT
Columbo: "The Conspirators" - The grand sendoff to the 70s era of Columbo. Thankfully my trusty DVD set means I don't have to wait 11 years for the next season like the original broadcast. It's fine. I don't mind sending the Lieutenant into high-stakes international skullduggery from time-to-time. They clearly spent money on this one. However, the murder and murderer aren't all that hot. The gun smuggling subplot was more appealing, though.
Admittedly, sending weapons from California to Northern Ireland made me suspect it was SAMCRO up to their old tricks.
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Post by timegirl on Mar 19, 2020 22:14:37 GMT
Inside no 9
Misdirection
Clever, twisty and dark episode with stage magicians that that has slight allusions to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory💀😀
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Post by christmastrenzalore on Mar 19, 2020 22:16:03 GMT
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Not quite halfway through this now and I have to admit that I'm really struggling. I don't know whether it's maybe just the anxiety of all the news keeping me from being able to focus, but I'm just not finding it engaging at all. Plus the Gelflings really creep me out. Always have, even when I saw the original movie as a kid. Doesn't help with my engagement when the protagonists give me the creeps, but the villains don't. Speaking for myself, I love the world and the artistry to pieces. Nothing quite like it. It really feels like a rich, lived-in fantasy world. I find the Gelflings cute and endearing, but then I seem to have a high tolerance, nay, even an adoration for slightly creepy looking things. The problem is the plot, which is awkward and strung out. The original was slow, but it always felt like a deliberate choice to revel in the world. But so much of this series feels like its in a constant state of stalling; Characters making bad choices, being too indecisive, just arguing in circles. If it wasn't for all the production aspects that I love heavily compensating for the pacing, I probably wouldn't put up with it. Hopefully they can sharpen that out a little with Season 2. (Also, the action sequences have a few too many cuts, and a little too much shaky cam.)
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Post by Digi on Mar 19, 2020 22:52:42 GMT
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Not quite halfway through this now and I have to admit that I'm really struggling. I don't know whether it's maybe just the anxiety of all the news keeping me from being able to focus, but I'm just not finding it engaging at all. Plus the Gelflings really creep me out. Always have, even when I saw the original movie as a kid. Doesn't help with my engagement when the protagonists give me the creeps, but the villains don't. Speaking for myself, I love the world and the artistry to pieces. Nothing quite like it. It really feels like a rich, lived-in fantasy world. I find the Gelflings cute and endearing, but then I seem to have a high tolerance, nay, even an adoration for slightly creepy looking things. The problem is the plot, which is awkward and strung out. The original was slow, but it always felt like a deliberate choice to revel in the world. But so much of this series feels like its in a constant state of stalling; Characters making bad choices, being too indecisive, just arguing in circles. If it wasn't for all the production aspects that I love heavily compensating for the pacing, I probably wouldn't put up with it. Hopefully they can sharpen that out a little with Season 2. (Also, the action sequences have a few too many cuts, and a little too much shaky cam.) I can't dispute that. It is gorgeous, lush, vibrant -- it really does feel like a real world with all its own rules, even ones that the characters implicitly understand where we as viewers may not.
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Post by polly on Mar 20, 2020 20:42:25 GMT
MASH: Season 7, Episodes 1-3 - Some of this is starting to seem mighty familiar! I know we already did a Hawk-in-charge episode with "Officer of the Day" and I'm pretty sure there was a "Radar doesn't want the CO to cheat on his wife" episode too. Different enough that they're not total retreads, but I think the show might be starting to eat its own tail a little bit here.
Also BJ's mustache holy crap.
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Post by doctorkernow on Mar 20, 2020 23:20:17 GMT
Hello again.
The final Last Leg of the series was a very strange, no studio audience but still enjoyable. Tom Allen and Lorraine Kelly played a giant game of Guess Who. Will miss it, but next week brings the weird family comedy Friday Night Dinner which my daughter loves, "Nice bit of squirrel this..." Tamsin Grieg stars as the mother of two grown up sons and a very childish husband.
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Post by polly on Mar 21, 2020 5:27:15 GMT
The Simpsons: "Screenless" - Continuing the streak of episodes based on modern topics. Not great, not bad. It's the smartphone era equivalent of the "too much TV" episode every sitcom ever made has done before.
Family Guy: "The Movement" - Even for Family Guy standards, this was disjointed and just all over the place.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Elizabeth, Margaret, and Larry" - It is both weird and hilarious watching John Hamm metamorphose into a clone of Larry over the course of 30 minutes.
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Post by polly on Mar 23, 2020 5:14:57 GMT
Star Trek: Picard: "Broken Pieces" - Another good one. Three in a row! This one was generally a pretty lowkey episode where we connect the dots heading into the end. But, there were some fine scenes with optimistic dialogue and a fondness for past Trek, which was a big plus. And we even had some good humor, something very lacking from Star Trek since 2009. Some cool stuff on the Borg cube. I love it whenever they trot out the TOS Romulan theme. As for down points - Raffi and Jurati are still awful, sometimes things are so maudlin they verge on soap opera levels. {Spoiler} While I think AI and artificial life is a logical place for new Trek to go, given what happened with that on TNG and VOY, I don't think it needs to be hitched to a cliche apocalypse plot.
I'd prefer simply exploring this new race and how society adapts to them instead of retreading Mass Effect.
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Post by Whovitt on Mar 23, 2020 8:14:26 GMT
The Walking Dead: S10E13I'm not really sure how I felt about that one. With almost an hour's distance, I'm still trying to get my head around it. I think it was the fact that it was setting up so much stuff that we were previously unaware was going to happen while not doing anything with any of the ongoing story lines that I'm just left feeling a bit cold by it. I don't really want to go into spoilers, but the show did something a bit similar in Season 9 but at least it was connected to what was actually going on at the time. Everything in this felt so distant from the main action that I couldn't really get myself invested in what was going on. Basically, for what this episode was I think it should have been more. Anyway, next week is back on track with the main story and that at least is going really well
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