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Post by theauxphou on Oct 30, 2019 12:18:49 GMT
Red Dwarf – series V (with commentary on)
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 30, 2019 14:22:37 GMT
Just finished Season 4 of Boardwalk Empire on DVD. Sadly, I found myself losing interest in the show this season. It still had some decent moments, but on the whole I was just rather bored - which I didn’t think would be possible with this show, as it was so interesting in its first season. I think one of the main reasons I wasn’t into this season was simply because there weren’t many ‘likeable’ characters left. I’m so over Gillian. The character was intriguing in the first season, but by Season 2 she was annoying me, by Season 3 I was sick of her and by this season I just wanted her gone. Considering her backstory, I should feel sorry for her...and I used to back in Season 1, but she’s done so many heinous things that no matter what was done to her, it doesn’t excuse what she’s done since then. Systematically attempting to erase Angela from her son’s memory was where she first started really ticking me off, and then she went into full-blown nutso-mode by offing some innocent dude and pretending that was her son, Jimmy, who had died. This season she was trying to take Tommy (Jimmy and Angela’s son) away from the family Harrow had put him with at the end of last season (after he’d just offed a bunch of guys and turned up covered in blood) and trying to play the ‘victim’. However, the family he was with now was much better for him, but as usual Gillian was being selfish. I just can’t see any redeeming features to her character at this point, and so I was pretty happy to see that the confession she made to the guy she thought loved her in fact ended up incriminating her and led to her arrest/being thrown in jail at long last (talk about a long con). I’m guessing I was supposed to feel sorry for her...but I just can’t, considering everything she’s done. I’d be happy if I never saw her in another episode, but somehow I doubt that’ll be the case, unfortunately (props to Gretchen Mol in the role, though). I also grew tired of Tolliver/Knox, the FBI agent who was trying to bring Nucky down. On the one hand, he got closer to doing so than Van Alden ever did and I know I should’ve been on his side (the actor played the part well)...but on the other hand, he gave off skeevy vibes/I just wanted him gone (much like I wanted Gillian gone). Luckily, by season’s end, I got my wish. That was quite the fight. One of the best fights the show has had, for sure. And I actually ended up feeling tense throughout the scene, thinking Eli could in fact bite the dust (given how much offing of characters this show had done, it wouldn’t have been out of the realm of possibility). Considering I hadn’t been that fond of Eli for most of the show’s run, and given the things he’d one, I was surprised to find myself actually feeling a tad sorry for him this season (Shea Whigham gave some excellent facial expressions/reactions after he found out his son had gone to Nucky for help instead his own father) and even more surprised to find myself hoping he didn’t get killed. That was also quite the tense scene between him and Nucky earlier in the episode when it really seemed like Nucky was going to shoot him (seemed like a callback to his similar offing of Jimmy). Nucky himself just seemed mostly bored this season. We didn’t even really get to see him react to Eddie Kessler offing himself. That was quite a sad development. They finally started giving Eddie some significant screentime…and it ended with him committing suicide. Such a shame/waste. There doesn’t really seem to be many interesting characters left for Nucky to interact with now. Eddie’s gone, I’m not interested in him and Patricia Arquette’s character (who lives in the Land of Perpetual Storminess), nor Eli’s eldest son (who seemed to get a lot of focus this season), and Nucky’s now at odds with not only his brother, but also Chalky White. Who’s left now? Mickey Doyle’s still around doing his little snickering and can get beaten by Nucky on occasion (it was kind of funny when Nucky discussed Mickey being potentially offed in such a nonchalant manner...he really doesn’t care if that guy lives or not. In fact, he’d probably prefer not). And speaking of Chalky...at least he finally got some significant screentime this season. It’s a shame that a lot of it was spent with two characters I didn’t care for. Dunn Purnsley annoyed me from his very first episode, so I was glad to finally see him gets his in the end (his fight with Chalky was another highlight this season. Knife to the face? Nasty! But I can’t say it was undeserved). The one who ended up offing him, Daughter Maitland, just seemed to be mostly around for Chalky to cheat on his wife with. Other than her offing Purnsley, I didn’t find her particularly interesting. As much as I may have hated his character, at least Purnsley was memorable. I also didn’t approve of Chalky not only cheating on his wife, but willing to leave his whole family for Daughter (especially in the season final, given what happens. It felt like a jerk move for him to bugger off like that...but I liked seeing that dog on the porch was still around). Michael Kenneth Williams really got to shine this season, at least (and he’s entertaining on the commentaries too). The best part of Chalky’s storyline this season was the fact that it gave Jeffrey Wright such an intriguing character to play. Narcisse was a real piece of work, and I wanted him taken down several pegs by the end of the season (which he fact *was*, given his final line in the season was a very begrudging “Yes...sir.”), but Jeffrey Wright played the role exceptionally well. Every scene he was in, he commanded the screen. He’s an excellent actor, and it was interesting to see him play someone very different to the role I’d come to know him for (Bernard in Westworld). As nasty as his character was, he did have the somewhat amusing quirk of writing plays that seemingly no one ‘got’ and having to explain them. Still, as interesting as he was, he’s another character I wouldn’t be sad to see get offed. Naturally, the one character I still liked/who I*did* care about ended up getting offed by season’s end. Harrow was quite possibly this show’s best character, and it’s a shame they got rid of him. I was happy to see Katherine Waterston appear for a guest role in a few episodes as Harrow’s sister, Emma. But was saddened to see the dog she’d let grow so old that he was slowly dying of old age and had to be put out of his misery. Poor Sampson. Also sad was Harrow wanting to get out of business of being a sniper/contract killer, only to get pulled back into it and his final assignment going totally wrong when he was meant to kill Narcisse but accidentally wound up killing Chalky’s oldest daughter instead. This led to him getting shot at and dying under the boardwalk whilst dreaming of meeting up with his family. I listened to the commentary, which mentioned they’d originally thought of having Sampson appear and that’d be the tip-off that his surviving the gunshot wound wasn’t real. Instead they went with showing his whole undamaged face as being the ‘reveal’ that what we were seeing wasn’t real. As angry/disappointed as I was at the killing the only still likeable character in the show...if he was going to be killed off, then this was probably the most ‘fitting’ way to do it. It was a finely-crafted scene. Goodbye, Richard Harrow. Despite all the killing, you were still the best person in this show. And Jack Huston, you gave one of the best performances in the series (how come nothing you've done since has matched this?). With Harrow gone, I’m not exactly thrilled with the prospect of watching the final season. From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound too promising either. Kelly Macdonald/Margaret was barely featured this season, and not even Van Alden seems likely to keep things interesting. His wife and kid annoy me whenever they’re featured, and I can barely even remember anything he did this season. About the only things of note were him finally offing people who were beating him up (I, like him, was fed up/sick of this happening and I was actually glad when he offed people, including ol’ Iron Face from last season - not to be confused with Iron Fist) and meeting up with Eli in the season final. I still don’t care about Capone or any of the other characters I haven’t bothered to mention here. It sounds like the final season’s a bit of a chore to get through, but I guess I’ll have to tough it out and watch it eventually. It’s a shame the show wasn’t able to maintain the same quality as the first season (or couple of seasons, if I want to be generous), though that seems to be the case with quite a lot of shows. I think I might take a bit of a break and watch Season 1 of Titans (that I just got on Blu-ray) before tackling the final season of Boardwalk Empire.
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Post by Raimo47 on Oct 31, 2019 21:13:14 GMT
Supernatural - Season 5
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 1, 2019 11:40:25 GMT
The Librarians - season 4
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 4, 2019 14:09:01 GMT
I finished of season 1 of Nikita
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Post by theauxphou on Nov 4, 2019 15:37:23 GMT
Red Dwarf - series VI (with commentary on)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2019 11:20:02 GMT
Yeah. I like what the writers of 'Supernatural' have done with angels and the Archangels were my favourites aside from Castiel and Gabriel who you would by now know was the real identity of the Trickster was a great reveal and I was wondering where Gabriel was when they started introducing other angels 'cause I liked 'The Prophecy' movies with Christopher Walken. Even though they write him out of the show he does return later and I won't tell you about that but you will find with a lot of other characters in 'Supernatural' few of them actually stay dead and they often return in later series just like Lucifer. What did you think of Sam and Dean having another brother and have you made it passed those episodes yet? The character is set to return this season and we are sadly still waiting to see the final season of 'Supernatural' here 'cause Channel 10 are making us wait for it this years and there are heaps of complaints about it on their Facebook page asking why they haven't started airing it but they are ignoring them and I had a feeling they might hold it off 'cause it is the final season and it is annoying when our channels do that to shows they have been airing for years and there have been some shows they haven't aired the final seasons of here until 3-4 years after they aired in America.
I am sorry to hear you had Chuck's real identity spoiled for you and the closing scene of Season 5 pretty much gave away who he was but some fans were hoping it turned out to be a different character and there were a lot of fans who thought Castiel was God for a while and he had forgotten who he was and lost a lot of his powers and I wouldn't have minded if they had gone down that path but if they had him find out and get his full powers back they wouldn't have been able to keep Castiel around as a regular or he would have been far too much of a powerful ally for the Winchesters to have with them when they were fighting demons. Have you seen his or Jimmy's (the guy he is possessing) daughter, Claire yet? I don't think I am spoiling much saying she returns when she is older and becomes a hunter like Sam and Dean and her and Castiel have a rocky relationship to begin with but I don't think Kathryn Newton was the same actress that played her as a young girl 'cause she ages too quickly between then and when she returns and Kathryn is 22 in real life and was recently in the 'Detective Pikachu' movie.
I liked "Jump the Shark" (the episode in which Sam and Dean meet their brother). There's a lot about John's life we don't know and I think it's realistic that he could have had a child with another woman. I have seen Claire. Flashbacks of Jimmy's life were shown on season 4. I have now watched the first half of season 5. TV-shows and movies are aired much later in Finland than in America. It doesn't bother me, though. If I like a show or if a new movie seems good, I'll just buy the DVDs.
Hi Raimo47
Sorry for taking a while to reply to you again. I just noticed you mentioned on your post above you have finished watching Season 5 of 'Supernatural' and what were your thoughts on the season and the way it ended and have you started watching Season 6 yet? I don't think it will be much of a spoiler for you if I mention Sam comes back from the dead 'cause apart from him still being in the show in Season 15 now you are probably used to Sam and Dean coming back by now and there are more characters who die and come back and in the following season but one death sticks even though the character returns again. Season 6 was one of my favourite seasons too and while I was kinda disappointed with one character they built up to be a big threat and was easily defeated I liked the storyline they did with Sam and there are some fun episodes in this one including one where Sam and Dean have to face fairies, an episode where an angel goes back in time and saves the Titanic 'cause he can't stand the Celine Dion song from the movie and another where they go to the real world and they are Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles and they have the second actress who played Ruby return for that as herself too since she is Jared's Wife. Funny enough though while you get to see some people who work behind the scenes the real Eric Kripke didn't and they had an actor play him instead.
'Jump the Shark' was a good episode and there is a lot about John's backstory you never find out and you will find out some more things about him as the seasons go on and Sam and Dean meet people that knew him or have memories about him and you also find out about his Father (their Grandfather) and how he was a part of a group called the 'Men of Letters' which plays a part in the later seasons but they kept a lot of things about John a mystery. I am glad you got to see Claire and I think you would have seen Jody by now too and she becomes a reoccurring character going forward and is still in it now and there is another character called Alex who comes into it too and they were going to have a spinoff show with Claire, Alex and Jody and some other characters in 'Supernatural' called 'Wayward Daughters' but sadly the CW Network didn't give it a chance. I am sorry to hear movies and shows air much later in Finland and you are behind with them and we used to be a lot more behind with American shows here and we were months behind with 'Buffy' and 'Angel' when they aired on Channel 7 but in the last 10-15 years they have really caught up with a lot of them which is why it is disappointing they are holding 'Supernatural' off here.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2019 11:23:45 GMT
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Post by Raimo47 on Nov 5, 2019 21:11:35 GMT
I liked "Jump the Shark" (the episode in which Sam and Dean meet their brother). There's a lot about John's life we don't know and I think it's realistic that he could have had a child with another woman. I have seen Claire. Flashbacks of Jimmy's life were shown on season 4. I have now watched the first half of season 5. TV-shows and movies are aired much later in Finland than in America. It doesn't bother me, though. If I like a show or if a new movie seems good, I'll just buy the DVDs.
Hi Raimo47
Sorry for taking a while to reply to you again. I just noticed you mentioned on your post above you have finished watching Season 5 of 'Supernatural' and what were your thoughts on the season and the way it ended and have you started watching Season 6 yet? I don't think it will be much of a spoiler for you if I mention Sam comes back from the dead 'cause apart from him still being in the show in Season 15 now you are probably used to Sam and Dean coming back by now and there are more characters who die and come back and in the following season but one death sticks even though the character returns again. Season 6 was one of my favourite seasons too and while I was kinda disappointed with one character they built up to be a big threat and was easily defeated I liked the storyline they did with Sam and there are some fun episodes in this one including one where Sam and Dean have to face fairies, an episode where an angel goes back in time and saves the Titanic 'cause he can't stand the Celine Dion song from the movie and another where they go to the real world and they are Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles and they have the second actress who played Ruby return for that as herself too since she is Jared's Wife. Funny enough though while you get to see some people who work behind the scenes the real Eric Kripke didn't and they had an actor play him instead.
'Jump the Shark' was a good episode and there is a lot about John's backstory you never find out and you will find out some more things about him as the seasons go on and Sam and Dean meet people that knew him or have memories about him and you also find out about his Father (their Grandfather) and how he was a part of a group called the 'Men of Letters' which plays a part in the later seasons but they kept a lot of things about John a mystery. I am glad you got to see Claire and I think you would have seen Jody by now too and she becomes a reoccurring character going forward and is still in it now and there is another character called Alex who comes into it too and they were going to have a spinoff show with Claire, Alex and Jody and some other characters in 'Supernatural' called 'Wayward Daughters' but sadly the CW Network didn't give it a chance. I am sorry to hear movies and shows air much later in Finland and you are behind with them and we used to be a lot more behind with American shows here and we were months behind with 'Buffy' and 'Angel' when they aired on Channel 7 but in the last 10-15 years they have really caught up with a lot of them which is why it is disappointing they are holding 'Supernatural' off here.
Hi. No need to apologize.
I have watched the first five episodes of Season 6. I liked them and it was also good to see Mitch Pileggi again on this show. The last few episodes of Season 5 were great. It was interesting to find out that Death is such a powerful character. Crowley was a good addition to the cast and I liked that both Lucifer and Michael went to Hell. Although I would have liked to see Sam and Dean killing Lucifer, it was probably better that he wasn't destroyed. It would have been too easy if they could have killed him with Colt.
I haven't seen Jody or Alex yet. The real world episode sounds like a good idea. I liked the real world episodes on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. And speaking of real world, I recently read somewhere that Jared apparently punched two men in a bar fight.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 5, 2019 23:09:25 GMT
Stargate SG-1 season 8
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 8, 2019 14:34:58 GMT
Stargate SG-1 season 9
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 9, 2019 6:23:59 GMT
Just finished Season 1 of Titans on Blu-ray. From the trailers, I knew this show hadn’t exactly decided to go in the opposite direction of the DCEU films. Instead, it went even darker...I just didn’t know how much darker. Once we saw Rachel Roth’s mum get shot in the back of the head and the resulting gaping forehead exit wound leaking blood everywhere, it gave a hint, but then when Robin beat the living snot out of a bunch of badguys - complete with dragging their faces across brick walls and broken car windows, tossing his ‘R’ insignia into eyeballs etc...yeah, it became pretty clear just what sort of 'tone' this show was going for. I liked the stuff with Dick Grayson/Rachel, not so fussed on the Koriand’r (Coriander?) parts. Didn’t care for blonde cop lady either, so when she was getting attacked in the second episode, while I wasn’t exactly enjoying it, I hadn’t grown to care enough about her to be upset if she was offed...which she indeed was, it turned out. As much as I didn’t really care about her, I was surprised at just how pointless she ended up being. Her interaction with Dick seemed to amount to basically nothing, as he didn’t appear that broken up over the news. Most pointless character in the show, it felt like. Also, in the second episode we were introduced to Dawn Granger/Dove and Hank Hall/Hawk. While the former was likeable and quickly formed a believable friendship with Rachel (loved that they bonded over Game of Thrones and Rachel called Dawn ‘Khaleesi’, as I’d been thinking the exact same thing due to her white-blonde hair. Would’ve been even funnier is she’d called her ‘Elsa’), Hank just mostly came across as a perpetually angry jerk who liked to swear a lot (it took me a second to recognize him as Original Recipe Aquaman from Smallville). Seriously, if the first episode showed just how violent this series was going to get, then the second episode showed just how many F-bombs the series was going to try to cram in (whether they were necessary or not). I was actually surprised the second episode wasn’t called ‘The Birds’ or something, considering there were four bird-named characters in it - Robin, Raven, Dove and Hawk. In regards to Raven/Rachel, she has a pretty neat (albeit freaky) power - especially the way she killed that dude - but it reminds me of the TV series Firefly and how most of the time River Tam would appear ‘helpless’/in need of saving, but on the odd occasion would kick major arse. Too bad Rachel’s power didn’t kick in when Dawn needed help (it was sad that she got hurt, since she seemed the nicest out of everyone. When she and Hank had been talking about him retiring after ‘one last job’, I knew that spelled doom for one of them, but I just figured it’d be Hank, not Dawn. It’s a shame she didn’t use her Cape o’ Blades more, as that seemed like it’d be a decent weapon). Rachel's power also would've been handy when she was being kidnapped by that psycho family. Speaking of, they were pretty unimpressive. No, acting like a ‘sweet wholesome family’ who listens to The Brady Bunch’s ‘Sunshine Day’ in the car and plays board games whilst actually being evil doesn’t make you feel ‘scary’ (at least not to me, anyway) I liked the second episode better than the first, as it felt less ‘splintered'/’fractured’ (we weren’t cutting from Dick/Rachel to Koriand’r back and forth, which I felt interrupted the story in episode 1). It also showed that at least some of the ‘superheroes’ in this show aren’t above getting seriously injured and don’t just seemingly walk off wounds that should impair them. The third episode seemed to be focused mainly on Koriand’r...which was unfortunate, as I’m just not that interested in her character. Yes, she kicks butt and has flamey powers, but that does not an ‘interesting’ character make. At least she finally met both Rachel and Dick (I was totally with him when he sarcastically commented “Gee, that’s a new one.” in response to Koriand’r saying his name in a way that suggested she wasn’t actually intending it as his name. I’m glad they got that obvious ‘joke’ out of the way, as it was rather predictable/you just knew someone was going to use his name in that way at some point). What was actually funny was how obviously they couldn’t show Bruce Wayne, so we were treated to his ‘adopting’ of young Dick Grayson without ever actually seeing him (who adopts a kid and then is never present? And where was Alfred?). The restrictions presumably put on the show of who they could and couldn’t show/feature became rather distracting. Gar Logan didn’t really seem to have much to do/say at all in the first three episodes. I was surprised how little he was featured, as I thought he’d be as important as the other three. We got to see what a live-action Cringer from He-Man might look like at the end of the first episode, then he didn’t appear again until the third, and in that one all he got to do was bond a little with Rachel over pinball and interesting hair colour choices. Still, he seemed nice at least. The fourth episode, which I’d heard quite a bit about (‘Doom Patrol’) let us get to know Gar (or Garfield, as his full name turned out to be) a bit more. I liked his friendship her formed with Rachel (and he was much less frustrating than Dick was in regards to befriending her, as at least Gar didn’t keep leaving her behind). I was sad to see dying Bambi, and I was totally with Gar when he was saying Rachel couldn’t be evil, considering how much empathy she had for the deer and her comforting it as it died. Dang it, show, why’d you have to include animal death?! However, it appeared maybe it was brought back to life (though is it now Evil Bambi?). I know later we were meant to feel sorry for one of the hunters because Dick beat the crap out of him in front of his kid...but I had no problem with it, as I wanted SOMEONE to make the guy pay for the Bambi-killing. Every time Gar shows up as his green tiger self, I think, “Hey, it’s Cringer from He-Man!”. I kind of liked that his explanation for why he turns into a tiger is simply because he’s always liked them/they’ve always been his favourite. It was also great to meet the characters that the episode was named after. We may have only got a brief time to get to know them, but by episode’s end I was already more interested in them than I was in Dick or Koriand’r as characters. In fact, every time we cut to those two, I wished we were back with the Doom Patrol, as they were far more fun/intriguing (though I was glad to hear Dick point out to her she really needed a change of clothes. She may have said she’d been blending in fine, but I found it a bit ridiculous that she hadn’t been tracked down by all those who wanted to get her, since she stands out like a sore thumb with what she’s wearing). Part of what made the Doom Patrol so interesting was the fact that they all seemed to have tragic backstories. Rita’s was especially shocking when we saw a glimpse of how she appeared whilst watching old footage of herself when she looked normal. I felt sorry for her the most (though with a superhero name like ‘Elasti-Girl’, I was kind of expecting more stretchiness and less…blobbiness. And also, isn’t ‘Elasti-Girl’ the name of the mother character in The Incredibles? How’d they get the rights to use that name in their movie if a character with that name already existed in comics long before that movie was ever made?), but both Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer managed to elicit sympathy from me for their characters as well. Considering they were ‘just’ providing the voices (with other people actually playing the parts physically), it was quite impressive how they made it feel as though they were actually playing the parts. The only one I wasn’t that fussed on was the doctor/’Chief’, but still, I spent the episode wishing that Rachel and Gar could stay with the Doom Patrol and the show would be about them (and ditch the characters in this show I didn’t particularly care for). Of course, Doom Patrol is its own show now, and I hope we get it here on DVD/Blu-ray eventually. Still, I wish Rachel and Gar could’ve stayed with them. I didn’t like the Dick and Koriand’r intrusion and whisking them away. It was good that all four main characters finally came together properly and we got to see them show their powers to each other. I enjoy Gar, as he’s dorky, but likeable. Though the two older ones should probably stop referring to him (and Rachel) as ‘kids’, considering they just saw him naked. Was glad to see the end of the psycho family (and there was actually some restraint shown, violence-wise, since we didn’t actually have to watch their heads explode. Something different for this series). I finally got to meet Jason Todd/Robin 2.0 - I’d heard of him, knew he took over from Dick at some point in the comics, but didn’t really know anything else about the character. I was prepared to not-like him after his appearance at the end of the 5th episode, but he was kind of fun interacting with Dick for the majority of the 6th episode. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode it turned out he enjoyed beating people up a little too much (including cops) and had this whole ‘I can do whatever I want’ attitude, which made me dislike him after all. Plus, the two of them should’ve really been more discreet when talking about being Robin and Bruce being Batman when out in public. On the plus side, at least we got a partial glimpse of the Batmobile! And Gar continued to be likeable, with his fanboying over Robin and such. I didn’t really care for the ‘Asylum’ episode, and I felt bad for Gar after he was forced to make his first ‘bite’/kill. It was good t see Rachel Nichols (though I was surprised to see they gave her a serious ‘make-under’ and she’s now considered ‘old’ enough to play a mother to a teenage daughter). And if Dick is indeed done with being Robin (as the burning of his suit at the end heavily implied)...then his time as Robin didn’t really last that long. We finally got a decent live-action Robin, and then he’s done with that before the first season’s even over? So, what, now we’re stuck with that little psycho, Jason Todd, as Robin? Blah! The next episode was better, as it introduced us to Donna Troy (a name I keep mixing up with Star Trek’s Deanna Troi) AKA Wonder Girl (who’s a character I wasn’t even aware of before this show). I know the actress who plays her, Conor Leslie, from other things, but barely recognized her, as I was used to her with red hair (like she sported in Klondike). I enjoyed the interaction between her character and Dick. I actually wanted to see more of them interacting when they were younger as well, as I thought the actress who played young Donna was really good in the role. Although her screentime was very brief, I immediately bought her as a fellow sidekick who was friends with young Dick Grayson. I enjoyed the exchanges between their ‘older’ selves too (with her referring to him as ‘Boy Wonder’ and ‘Bird Boy’ and him saying those were his favourites). I also liked hearing her mention that she’d kept her costume (because they’re expensive, Dick! Though I guess you just figured Bruce will pay for another one if you end up regretting your decision to burn yours. Better yet, just steal that little jerk, Jason Todd’s, costume. It’s upgraded from yours). The only thing I wasn’t happy about was that they seemed to just leave that poor bear in the truck. I was hoping they’d free the poor animal. The next episode gave us the backstories to Hank/Hawk and Dawn/Dove. I was surprised to learn the original Dove was a dude and Hank’s brother (I kept wondering what made the guy decide to go with the name ‘Dove’ of all the birds he could’ve chosen). It was sad to learn how Hank was sexually abused by that coach. However, as much as I felt sorry for kid Hank and his brother, I really wasn’t fond of how they acted as adults. Beating up people in a library after having an argument didn’t exactly endear either of them to me - they kind of lost sympathy there. Meanwhile, Dawn and her mother had a familiar story (an abusive father/husband to them), but I liked how Dawn was supportive of her mother who felt guilt over it. No nastiness there. The accident which killed both Hank’s brother and Dawn’s mother was some dodgy CGI work. I liked seeing Hank and Dawn’s relationship grow, but then things got rather twisted when Dawn went all vengeful on the coach’s ass and Hank finished him off. I guess that kind of sums them up. I didn’t like seeing Koriand’r hurting Rachel and Gar. I also hated that Rachel kept blaming herself and saying how she ‘sucks’ when she hadn’t been the one hurting members of the gang. I liked seeing Donna Troy return, though, and the use of the Lasso. I was disappointed that Rachel’s mother turned out to be bad (especially after she’d had a fun moment with Rachel and Gar, when she asked him if he wanted a hug and then he awkwardly stood beside mother and daughter as they gazed out of the window). Most surprising, though, was seeing Rachel’s father being played by Seamus Dever, who I mainly know as Detective Ryan from Castle (a show I’m currently doing a rewatch of on DVD). A very different character from the one he played in that series. The season final definitely didn’t feel like a season final. I read that what was intended as the season final will end up being the first episode of Season 2, which is a weird move, but anyway...this episode you could tell was going to be heavy on the hallucinations right from the beginning – because no show that’s as dark as this one would ever have such a sunshiny opening set to the tune of The Beach Boys ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ in reality. It actually reminded me of a similar opening, accompanied by the same song, in the Angel Season 4 episode ‘The Magic Bullet’. So, I was prepared for this episode mainly being Dick hallucinating. At least this ‘what if’ scenario allowed us to see things we probably would never normally get to see, such as Dick and Dawn having a kid, Jason Todd in a wheelchair/no longer Robin, and most significantly the death of the Joker (along with the bodies of Two-Face, the Riddler, the Ventriloquist), Batman going even more psycho than Batfleck ever did, and Dick killing Batman. Most surprising to me, though, was seeing ‘normal-looking’ Rachel towards the beginning when she and Gar were chatting with Dick and Dawn. I almost didn’t recognize her. What a difference normal hair, non-pale complexion and actually being allowed to smile makes. Koriand’r also looked much better without the red hair (and at least she got a change of clothes last episode). I missed Donna Troy not being around, though. I appreciated the way that the show worked around actually showing the faces of Batman or the members of his 'Rogues Gallery'. Early in the season, Bruce not even appearing was distracting, but here just getting glimpses of him (both in an out of costume) actually worked. Frustratingly, we didn’t really get any resolution to Rachel’s father being on Earth (it’s still weird seeing Ryan from Castle playing a bad guy). Well, at least it should mean a decent Season 2 premiere (whenever that’s likely to get released on DVD/Blu-ray here, that is). I have a more pressing question, though... Apparently Iain Glen from Game of Thrones is playing Bruce Wayne in Season 2 of this show, but if the GoT TV series exists in this universe (as per Rachel and Dawn watching it in episode 2)...won’t they wonder why Bruce Wayne looks like Ser Jorah Mormont? As for the post-credits scene...so that’s supposed to have been Superboy, eh? Can’t say I really care. I was much more interested to see the dog he freed (who I'm guessing is meant to be Krypto). I'm glad I finally got to see this show, @deblovesbeccy (apologies for my review being a bit disjointed/fragmented. I compiled it as I watched each new episode).
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 13, 2019 8:58:54 GMT
Most recently finished Season 5/the final season of Boardwalk Empire on DVD. I’d read that the final season was considered a ‘disappointment’ by people, but I actually didn’t find it as bad as I’d feared it was going to be. It still wasn’t up to the same standard as the first two seasons, and it was slow to get going, but what helped keep things interesting this season was the use of flashbacks to young Nucky. We got to see what life was like for him as a kid (his father was definitely a bastard, adult Nucky hadn’t been lying about that) and how he met the Commodore (who was also always a bastard, apparently. What a jerk he was with everything he said to Nucky - and that’s not even counting his truly heinous crimes). The kid who played Nucky as a child was good, but the one they got to play him as a young man was uncanny in not only his resemblance to Steve Buscemi, but also his voice and mannerisms/body language. It was like watching a de-aged Steve Buscemi basically. The actors they got to play young Eli and young Gillian also did a good job and were both believable as these characters in their youth. I actually would’ve been happy to watch a whole season of these flashbacks, as they were more interesting than what was going on in the ‘present’. The most noteworthy thing about this season was all the main characters that got killed off (and those who survived). Partway through my watching the series on DVD, I thought I’d unintentionally spoiled myself when I typed the words ‘Boardwalk Empire Margaret’ into Google and it autocompleted that with ‘Boardwalk Empire Margaret death’. So all this season I was expecting her to die. To my surprise, she didn’t. I’d grown a bit tired of her character after Season 1, but actually missed her throughout Season 4 and wondered why she was mostly absent (turns out Kelly Macdonald was pregnant that season). I found myself actually happy to see her this season and I really enjoyed watching Kelly Macdonald interact with Steve Buscemi/Nucky onscreen again. She seemed to be back to her Season 1 self again, which I liked. There was that fun back-and-forth between them from the early seasons that made me forget about how unenjoyable they were together in the later seasons (not to mention Kelly Macdonald was looking great this season). I never cared about Patricia Arquette’s character or her relationship with Nucky, so when it came time for her character to be offed, I wasn’t exactly sad about it (I figured with Nucky and Margaret interacting again, she was no longer needed). I also wasn’t at all upset that Rothstein was killed offscreen (hey, that rhymes) - though I probably would’ve been upset if I ever actually cared about that character...but I didn’t, so I was more like “Huh.” with my reaction to it. Too bad characters such as Luciano, Lansky and others I can’t even recall the names of weren’t offed because they were protected by the fact they were based on real life characters and consequently the show was obviously never going to off them. They never interested me, and I especially hated the confrontation between them and Nucky’s crew when they had that exchange of prisoners (Benny Siegel for Eli’s son), as it led to not only the death of Mickey Doyle (a fun character who I’d thought was going to outlive/outlast everyone because he was such a weasel. Alas, he did not. Disappointingly, he didn’t even get in one last snicker), but also because Nucky was forced to kneel before Luciano (who I never liked). It was frustrating to see Nucky reduced to this/forced to give up everything, including Atlantic City. The only ‘plus’ of this whole thing was the amusingly annoying Benny Siegel irritating everyone to death with his song. That didn’t stop me from wanting him dead along with the others, though. He WAS supremely annoying, after all. However, he wasn’t the character I hated the most in the show. Originally Gillian had been pretty high on my list of characters I disliked (despite her tragic backstory, which we got to see play out this season, it never excused the terrible things she did in her adult life), but Van Alden’s supposedly ‘Swedish’ (her accent always sounded dodgy to me) wife ended up surpassing Gillian and becoming the character I hated the most this season. She was just so bitchy (and not even the ‘fun’ kind of bitchy). I honestly couldn’t understand how a man with such a short fuse as Van Alden stuck with her for so long. I found her unbearable. So, naturally, she got to survive (just my luck). Meanwhile, Van Alden, who’d been such a great character in the beginning of the show, was reduced to being rather incompetent, going into a situation which he freely admitted hadn’t been thought through and consequently getting half his head blown off (from behind) by Al Capone for his trouble. What a lackluster way for the character to go out. I suppose the one ‘good’ thing about his final scene was that he at least let loose on Capone, managing to hit him and attempting to kill him (all the while spouting his old special brand of Religious nuttiness). It was good that he let out his old self before he died. I wasn’t spoiled for this death, so it came as quite the surprise. Michael Shannon was always great in the role, but I feel that after he became a fugitive his character was kind of all over the place and the writers weren’t really sure what to do with him. The most bizarre part was how this big hulking guy was constantly cowering and being talked down to/looked down on by guys who were so much tinier/less threatening than him. He could’ve taken a bunch of them out with a few good swings of his fists if he’d wanted to, I always thought. I had hoped he’d take out all those who treated him badly, but most of all I wanted his wife gone. No such luck, unfortunately. I hope Michael Shannon continues to do more movies like Take Shelter and less ones like Man of Steel. He’s an awesome actor; it’s just the writing that seems to let him down at times. I was also surprised that Chalky White didn’t survive. His death was frustrating as well, as what led to it was him sacrificing himself just so that nothing character, Daughter Maitland, could have a singing career - bah! He deserved better (though I was annoyed with him last season for tossing away his family for Daughter. Especially after his actual daughter was killed. That would’ve been the time to reunite with his family, but we never saw them again). I guess the one ‘positive’ was Chalky got to go out with his head held high, straightening his suit and giving the goons permission to kill him after having exchanged his last words with Narcisse. I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t treated to any flashbacks showing young Nucky meeting young Chalky. I would’ve been able to deal with Chalky getting killed by Narcisse’s men if it’d been for someone more worthy than Daughter, but I never cared for her character or the ‘relationship’ she developed with Chalky. Anyway, Michael Kenneth Williams was always made the most of his screentime/made Chalky one of the more memorable characters in the show (even when the show kind of failed his character). At least Narcisse was taken out in the end. That was something (though it felt a bit ‘tacked on’/just there to please all those who wanted him dead). I never really grew to 'like' Al Capone, but I'll admit his scene he shared with his son in this final episode do go a ways towards making me somewhat care about him (though it was mostly the actor playing his son that made me feel anything during that scene. The kid was just so expressive and made you feel sorry for him). Stephen Graham played the part of Capone well...it's just that, unlike with Nucky (who I knew did bad things, but I still liked in spite of that), I never got past Capone's immaturity and therefore was never able to like his character. What can I say about Gillian? I wasn’t really feeling sorry for her being stuck in the nuthouse, and I was prepared to be super annoyed if she in fact got released. Her last exchange with Nucky seemed to leave open the possibility that she may have managed to get out at some point in the future, but I choose to believe she never did. I felt sorry for her young self, of course, given that she was handed over to the Commodore by young Nucky - but that made for a good contrast in the final scene of the show. We were never allowed to forget that Nucky wasn’t exactly a ‘good’ man. He’d done terrible things, but on occasion could show some humanity. I felt sorry for young Nucky, but when he made that choice to give Gillian to the Commodore (who he knew was a terrible person and what he was likely to do to her), that’s when Nucky first became the man we saw throughout the series. I’m glad he got to have a final exchange with his brother, Eli (Shea Whigham was always excellent in the role, even if the majority of the time I wasn’t fond of his character. I actually wished we could’ve gotten more time with him and Van Alden teaming up, as they were quite amusing together). I’d read theories that the kid hanging around Nucky was going to turn out to be Tommy Darmody, son of Jimmy (who Nucky offed in the Season 2 final) and Angela, before I got to the final. I probably should’ve stayed away from reading anything about the final season before I finished watching it, as when the reveal happened onscreen...it wasn’t exactly the most surprising thing ever for me. What WAS a bit surprising was that he gunned down Nucky in front of everyone on the boardwalk. I’d thought the beginning of the episode (with Nucky swimming out into the ocean) was hinting that he was going to off himself for some reason by episode’s end...but it turned out he was just going for a swim (he talks about it in his last exchange with Eli). Once the Tommy ‘reveal’ happened and he pulled the gun, I pretty much figured the show was going to end with Nucky shot. Though I thought they’d leave his death somewhat ambiguous. Not so. He was most sincerely dead there at the end, I feel confident in saying. However, it allowed for that effective intercutting between his younger self handing Gillian over and him paying the price as an adult for offing Jimmy. The final shot was, of course, his child self successfully grabbing a coin underwater (which we’d seen he failed to do in the flashback at the start of this season). That wasn’t the only ‘callback’, though. Nucky also got shot in the cheek just like where he shot Jimmy. I can’t say I was overly ‘happy’ with this ending, but I can see how the writers felt it was ‘fitting’ for his character. He’d done some deplorable things (the worst of which was intercut with his being shot), so he had to pay for that. Steve Buscemi managed to keep Nucky likeable the majority of the time, despite all the bad things he did (I did miss the Nucky of Season 1, though), and he was also entertaining on the episode commentaries he did (it was a bit funny to hear he averted his eyes when it came to the violence in the show). Since the TV channel which aired Season 1 of this show here never bothered to air any of the other seasons, I’d thought for the longest time I was never going to get to see the rest of the series. I’m glad I got to see it on DVD. It was a good show, though like a lot of series, dropped in quality in its later seasons. Unlike a lot of shows, however, it didn’t have an outright horrible final season. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either - which I guess is the best we can hope for these days. Good bye, show, and thanks for all the old-timey jokes.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2019 12:01:42 GMT
Just finished Season 1 of Titans on Blu-ray. From the trailers, I knew this show hadn’t exactly decided to go in the opposite direction of the DCEU films. Instead, it went even darker...I just didn’t know how much darker. Once we saw Rachel Roth’s mum get shot in the back of the head and the resulting gaping forehead exit wound leaking blood everywhere, it gave a hint, but then when Robin beat the living snot out of a bunch of badguys - complete with dragging their faces across brick walls and broken car windows, tossing his ‘R’ insignia into eyeballs etc...yeah, it became pretty clear just what sort of 'tone' this show was going for. I liked the stuff with Dick Grayson/Rachel, not so fussed on the Koriand’r (Coriander?) parts. Didn’t care for blonde cop lady either, so when she was getting attacked in the second episode, while I wasn’t exactly enjoying it, I hadn’t grown to care enough about her to be upset if she was offed...which she indeed was, it turned out. As much as I didn’t really care about her, I was surprised at just how pointless she ended up being. Her interaction with Dick seemed to amount to basically nothing, as he didn’t appear that broken up over the news. Most pointless character in the show, it felt like. Also, in the second episode we were introduced to Dawn Granger/Dove and Hank Hall/Hawk. While the former was likeable and quickly formed a believable friendship with Rachel (loved that they bonded over Game of Thrones and Rachel called Dawn ‘Khaleesi’, as I’d been thinking the exact same thing due to her white-blonde hair. Would’ve been even funnier is she’d called her ‘Elsa’), Hank just mostly came across as a perpetually angry jerk who liked to swear a lot (it took me a second to recognize him as Original Recipe Aquaman from Smallville). Seriously, if the first episode showed just how violent this series was going to get, then the second episode showed just how many F-bombs the series was going to try to cram in (whether they were necessary or not). I was actually surprised the second episode wasn’t called ‘The Birds’ or something, considering there were four bird-named characters in it - Robin, Raven, Dove and Hawk. In regards to Raven/Rachel, she has a pretty neat (albeit freaky) power - especially the way she killed that dude - but it reminds me of the TV series Firefly and how most of the time River Tam would appear ‘helpless’/in need of saving, but on the odd occasion would kick major arse. Too bad Rachel’s power didn’t kick in when Dawn needed help (it was sad that she got hurt, since she seemed the nicest out of everyone. When she and Hank had been talking about him retiring after ‘one last job’, I knew that spelled doom for one of them, but I just figured it’d be Hank, not Dawn. It’s a shame she didn’t use her Cape o’ Blades more, as that seemed like it’d be a decent weapon). Rachel's power also would've been handy when she was being kidnapped by that psycho family. Speaking of, they were pretty unimpressive. No, acting like a ‘sweet wholesome family’ who listens to The Brady Bunch’s ‘Sunshine Day’ in the car and plays board games whilst actually being evil doesn’t make you feel ‘scary’ (at least not to me, anyway) I liked the second episode better than the first, as it felt less ‘splintered'/’fractured’ (we weren’t cutting from Dick/Rachel to Koriand’r back and forth, which I felt interrupted the story in episode 1). It also showed that at least some of the ‘superheroes’ in this show aren’t above getting seriously injured and don’t just seemingly walk off wounds that should impair them. The third episode seemed to be focused mainly on Koriand’r...which was unfortunate, as I’m just not that interested in her character. Yes, she kicks butt and has flamey powers, but that does not an ‘interesting’ character make. At least she finally met both Rachel and Dick (I was totally with him when he sarcastically commented “Gee, that’s a new one.” in response to Koriand’r saying his name in a way that suggested she wasn’t actually intending it as his name. I’m glad they got that obvious ‘joke’ out of the way, as it was rather predictable/you just knew someone was going to use his name in that way at some point). What was actually funny was how obviously they couldn’t show Bruce Wayne, so we were treated to his ‘adopting’ of young Dick Grayson without ever actually seeing him (who adopts a kid and then is never present? And where was Alfred?). The restrictions presumably put on the show of who they could and couldn’t show/feature became rather distracting. Gar Logan didn’t really seem to have much to do/say at all in the first three episodes. I was surprised how little he was featured, as I thought he’d be as important as the other three. We got to see what a live-action Cringer from He-Man might look like at the end of the first episode, then he didn’t appear again until the third, and in that one all he got to do was bond a little with Rachel over pinball and interesting hair colour choices. Still, he seemed nice at least. The fourth episode, which I’d heard quite a bit about (‘Doom Patrol’) let us get to know Gar (or Garfield, as his full name turned out to be) a bit more. I liked his friendship her formed with Rachel (and he was much less frustrating than Dick was in regards to befriending her, as at least Gar didn’t keep leaving her behind). I was sad to see dying Bambi, and I was totally with Gar when he was saying Rachel couldn’t be evil, considering how much empathy she had for the deer and her comforting it as it died. Dang it, show, why’d you have to include animal death?! However, it appeared maybe it was brought back to life (though is it now Evil Bambi?). I know later we were meant to feel sorry for one of the hunters because Dick beat the crap out of him in front of his kid...but I had no problem with it, as I wanted SOMEONE to make the guy pay for the Bambi-killing. Every time Gar shows up as his green tiger self, I think, “Hey, it’s Cringer from He-Man!”. I kind of liked that his explanation for why he turns into a tiger is simply because he’s always liked them/they’ve always been his favourite. It was also great to meet the characters that the episode was named after. We may have only got a brief time to get to know them, but by episode’s end I was already more interested in them than I was in Dick or Koriand’r as characters. In fact, every time we cut to those two, I wished we were back with the Doom Patrol, as they were far more fun/intriguing (though I was glad to hear Dick point out to her she really needed a change of clothes. She may have said she’d been blending in fine, but I found it a bit ridiculous that she hadn’t been tracked down by all those who wanted to get her, since she stands out like a sore thumb with what she’s wearing). Part of what made the Doom Patrol so interesting was the fact that they all seemed to have tragic backstories. Rita’s was especially shocking when we saw a glimpse of how she appeared whilst watching old footage of herself when she looked normal. I felt sorry for her the most (though with a superhero name like ‘Elasti-Girl’, I was kind of expecting more stretchiness and less…blobbiness. And also, isn’t ‘Elasti-Girl’ the name of the mother character in The Incredibles? How’d they get the rights to use that name in their movie if a character with that name already existed in comics long before that movie was ever made?), but both Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer managed to elicit sympathy from me for their characters as well. Considering they were ‘just’ providing the voices (with other people actually playing the parts physically), it was quite impressive how they made it feel as though they were actually playing the parts. The only one I wasn’t that fussed on was the doctor/’Chief’, but still, I spent the episode wishing that Rachel and Gar could stay with the Doom Patrol and the show would be about them (and ditch the characters in this show I didn’t particularly care for). Of course, Doom Patrol is its own show now, and I hope we get it here on DVD/Blu-ray eventually. Still, I wish Rachel and Gar could’ve stayed with them. I didn’t like the Dick and Koriand’r intrusion and whisking them away. It was good that all four main characters finally came together properly and we got to see them show their powers to each other. I enjoy Gar, as he’s dorky, but likeable. Though the two older ones should probably stop referring to him (and Rachel) as ‘kids’, considering they just saw him naked. Was glad to see the end of the psycho family (and there was actually some restraint shown, violence-wise, since we didn’t actually have to watch their heads explode. Something different for this series). I finally got to meet Jason Todd/Robin 2.0 - I’d heard of him, knew he took over from Dick at some point in the comics, but didn’t really know anything else about the character. I was prepared to not-like him after his appearance at the end of the 5th episode, but he was kind of fun interacting with Dick for the majority of the 6th episode. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode it turned out he enjoyed beating people up a little too much (including cops) and had this whole ‘I can do whatever I want’ attitude, which made me dislike him after all. Plus, the two of them should’ve really been more discreet when talking about being Robin and Bruce being Batman when out in public. On the plus side, at least we got a partial glimpse of the Batmobile! And Gar continued to be likeable, with his fanboying over Robin and such. I didn’t really care for the ‘Asylum’ episode, and I felt bad for Gar after he was forced to make his first ‘bite’/kill. It was good t see Rachel Nichols (though I was surprised to see they gave her a serious ‘make-under’ and she’s now considered ‘old’ enough to play a mother to a teenage daughter). And if Dick is indeed done with being Robin (as the burning of his suit at the end heavily implied)...then his time as Robin didn’t really last that long. We finally got a decent live-action Robin, and then he’s done with that before the first season’s even over? So, what, now we’re stuck with that little psycho, Jason Todd, as Robin? Blah! The next episode was better, as it introduced us to Donna Troy (a name I keep mixing up with Star Trek’s Deanna Troi) AKA Wonder Girl (who’s a character I wasn’t even aware of before this show). I know the actress who plays her, Conor Leslie, from other things, but barely recognized her, as I was used to her with red hair (like she sported in Klondike). I enjoyed the interaction between her character and Dick. I actually wanted to see more of them interacting when they were younger as well, as I thought the actress who played young Donna was really good in the role. Although her screentime was very brief, I immediately bought her as a fellow sidekick who was friends with young Dick Grayson. I enjoyed the exchanges between their ‘older’ selves too (with her referring to him as ‘Boy Wonder’ and ‘Bird Boy’ and him saying those were his favourites). I also liked hearing her mention that she’d kept her costume (because they’re expensive, Dick! Though I guess you just figured Bruce will pay for another one if you end up regretting your decision to burn yours. Better yet, just steal that little jerk, Jason Todd’s, costume. It’s upgraded from yours). The only thing I wasn’t happy about was that they seemed to just leave that poor bear in the truck. I was hoping they’d free the poor animal. The next episode gave us the backstories to Hank/Hawk and Dawn/Dove. I was surprised to learn the original Dove was a dude and Hank’s brother (I kept wondering what made the guy decide to go with the name ‘Dove’ of all the birds he could’ve chosen). It was sad to learn how Hank was sexually abused by that coach. However, as much as I felt sorry for kid Hank and his brother, I really wasn’t fond of how they acted as adults. Beating up people in a library after having an argument didn’t exactly endear either of them to me - they kind of lost sympathy there. Meanwhile, Dawn and her mother had a familiar story (an abusive father/husband to them), but I liked how Dawn was supportive of her mother who felt guilt over it. No nastiness there. The accident which killed both Hank’s brother and Dawn’s mother was some dodgy CGI work. I liked seeing Hank and Dawn’s relationship grow, but then things got rather twisted when Dawn went all vengeful on the coach’s ass and Hank finished him off. I guess that kind of sums them up. I didn’t like seeing Koriand’r hurting Rachel and Gar. I also hated that Rachel kept blaming herself and saying how she ‘sucks’ when she hadn’t been the one hurting members of the gang. I liked seeing Donna Troy return, though, and the use of the Lasso. I was disappointed that Rachel’s mother turned out to be bad (especially after she’d had a fun moment with Rachel and Gar, when she asked him if he wanted a hug and then he awkwardly stood beside mother and daughter as they gazed out of the window). Most surprising, though, was seeing Rachel’s father being played by Seamus Dever, who I mainly know as Detective Ryan from Castle (a show I’m currently doing a rewatch of on DVD). A very different character from the one he played in that series. The season final definitely didn’t feel like a season final. I read that what was intended as the season final will end up being the first episode of Season 2, which is a weird move, but anyway...this episode you could tell was going to be heavy on the hallucinations right from the beginning – because no show that’s as dark as this one would ever have such a sunshiny opening set to the tune of The Beach Boys ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ in reality. It actually reminded me of a similar opening, accompanied by the same song, in the Angel Season 4 episode ‘The Magic Bullet’. So, I was prepared for this episode mainly being Dick hallucinating. At least this ‘what if’ scenario allowed us to see things we probably would never normally get to see, such as Dick and Dawn having a kid, Jason Todd in a wheelchair/no longer Robin, and most significantly the death of the Joker (along with the bodies of Two-Face, the Riddler, the Ventriloquist), Batman going even more psycho than Batfleck ever did, and Dick killing Batman. Most surprising to me, though, was seeing ‘normal-looking’ Rachel towards the beginning when she and Gar were chatting with Dick and Dawn. I almost didn’t recognize her. What a difference normal hair, non-pale complexion and actually being allowed to smile makes. Koriand’r also looked much better without the red hair (and at least she got a change of clothes last episode). I missed Donna Troy not being around, though. I appreciated the way that the show worked around actually showing the faces of Batman or the members of his 'Rogues Gallery'. Early in the season, Bruce not even appearing was distracting, but here just getting glimpses of him (both in an out of costume) actually worked. Frustratingly, we didn’t really get any resolution to Rachel’s father being on Earth (it’s still weird seeing Ryan from Castle playing a bad guy). Well, at least it should mean a decent Season 2 premiere (whenever that’s likely to get released on DVD/Blu-ray here, that is). I have a more pressing question, though... Apparently Iain Glen from Game of Thrones is playing Bruce Wayne in Season 2 of this show, but if the GoT TV series exists in this universe (as per Rachel and Dawn watching it in episode 2)...won’t they wonder why Bruce Wayne looks like Ser Jorah Mormont? As for the post-credits scene...so that’s supposed to have been Superboy, eh? Can’t say I really care. I was much more interested to see the dog he freed (who I'm guessing is meant to be Krypto). I'm glad I finally got to see this show, @deblovesbeccy (apologies for my review being a bit disjointed/fragmented. I compiled it as I watched each new episode). Thanks for sharing your review of Season One of 'Titans' with us Chalice. I agree with a lot of your thoughts about the show and the characters and I am not particularly a big fan of Hawk/ Hank Hall either and it is sad what happened to him when he was young and how he lost his brother/ partner but he comes across as rude and arrogant to most of the other characters in the show and what happened to him doesn't give him an excuse to talk to people like they are dirt. I am hoping he changes in time and maybe the writers will make him more likable but I don't recall Hawk being so arrogant to people in the comic books and angry all the time and I liked how they made Hawkman a grumpy-bum in 'Smallville' but he was funny and you could tell he was just stirring the Green Arrow when they worked together and he didn't really dislike him but Hawk comes across as an arrogant prick who doesn't have any redeeming qualities in some of his scenes and I liked the actor more as Aquaman in 'Smallville.'
I didn't mind Starfire as much as Hawk though and I was disappointed with some of the things they did with her character in the first season like de-powering her and I think it was a mistake not to have her fly from the start or at least when she got her memories back 'cause Starfire is supposed to be able to fly. It is one of her most well known powers and there is whole thing with her Sister (Blackfire) and her about Blackfire being jealous 'cause Starfire can fly and she can't. I can understand why they have de-powered some of them 'cause they don't want them to be too powerful at the start but I feel that was a mistake and hope in the future we get to see her take flight along with Raven and Wonder Girl who should be able to fly too. I am also hoping we get to see Beast Boy turn into more animals as the show goes on too 'cause you might not be aware but he can turn into a lot more things than just a tiger and he can turn into a whole range of different animals in the comic books and he can turn into a dog, a bear, a rabbit, a snake, a deer, a frog or a monkey to name a few and when he learns how to control his abilities he is able to switch back and forth with ease and that could lead to some entertaining storylines. I like Raven and Wonder Girl the most and am glad Wonder Girl was upgraded to being a season regular. I am surprised they have gone down the dark path with Dick. I was expecting him to be a lot more of a lighter character too 'cause Dick as Robin and Nightwing is not usually known to be the dark and brooding type like Batman and one of the main differences between Batman and Nightwing has always been Dick jokes around and he mocks villains and that is why some of them like the Penguin hate Nightwing more than Batman 'cause Nightwing doesn't take them seriously which gets him into trouble sometimes. He is also supposed to be more athletic and I am not sure if that will change over the coming seasons 'cause it depends on what the actor is capable of doing but it would be fun to see Dick do more flips and kicks when he is doing fighting scenes. Alfred was off limits 'cause of 'Pennyworth' and Batgirl was too 'cause of the upcoming 'Batgirl' movie and from what I read most of the scenes you see with Wonder Girl were originally supposed to be played out with Batgirl and there were going to be flashback scenes of Robin and Batgirl together but Warner Bros blocked them from using the character.
I enjoyed the first season of the show though and it has been renewed for a third season now so hopefully we will see the team grow more and Raven and Starfire get more of their powers and we get to see more villains from the comic books.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2019 12:35:37 GMT
Hi. No need to apologize.
I have watched the first five episodes of Season 6. I liked them and it was also good to see Mitch Pileggi again on this show. The last few episodes of Season 5 were great. It was interesting to find out that Death is such a powerful character. Crowley was a good addition to the cast and I liked that both Lucifer and Michael went to Hell. Although I would have liked to see Sam and Dean killing Lucifer, it was probably better that he wasn't destroyed. It would have been too easy if they could have killed him with Colt.
I haven't seen Jody or Alex yet. The real world episode sounds like a good idea. I liked the real world episodes on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. And speaking of real world, I recently read somewhere that Jared apparently punched two men in a bar fight. Okay. Thanks. I have been kinda busy lately and am not on the IMDB2 boards as often as I used to be and when I am I try to write on different sections every time so I can reply to different posts and sometimes it can take me a while to get back to people but I always get around to it and with the holidays coming up I will have more time. I am happy you are enjoying Season 6 so far and how far have you made it up to now and what do you think about the Sam without a soul storyline. He becomes rather creepy and he turns on all the people that care about him including Dean and Bobby and I think you would already know he gets his soul back since he is still in the show now and isn't evil but before they give it back to him he is nothing like Sam we know at the end. They don't fix him in one episode though and while he gets his soul back and goes back to being normal he is damaged and they put a wall up inside his head that becomes an ongoing storyline in the following seasons but they change the soul thing in the latter seasons 'cause other people who lose their souls aren't as evil or twisted as Sam becomes and are just empty.
Crowley was a great addition to the show and there were originally plans to make him become like Angel and not exactly get a soul but get something similar which would have seen him become a good character who wanted to redeem himself for all the bad he did and he does change but they didn't end up going all the way through with it and I can't say too much without spoiling it for you but he starts to like Sam and Dean and even Castiel. I would have preferred to have seen a more proper showdown with Sam and Dean against Lucifer in the final episode of Season 5 but I think he was too powerful to do that so I was happy with what they did with Lucifer and Michael going in the cage too but at the same time I would have liked to have seen more of Michael 'cause he was said to be the most powerful angel and he was the one who beat Lucifer before and kicked him out of heaven. The scene where Dean asks Castiel if he was God he was originally supposed to say yes and that was going to be the original ending of 'Supernatural' and Eric Kirpe had only planned for 5 seasons but due to the popularity of the show they continued and I am glad it did 'cause as you will find out the latter seasons weren't as good as the earlier seasons but there were still quite a few good episodes and Season 11 was one of my favourites.
What do you think of Balthazar? We just found out 'Supernatural' is returning here for the final season in January and they are going to air double episodes every week until they catch up to America and I heard about what happened with Jared but I am not too sure about the details and I am surprised 'cause most fans say Jared is very friendly and it is possible he might not have started it and was provoked or was defending himself 'cause there are some people who would target him just 'cause he is a celebrity.
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Post by Raimo47 on Nov 15, 2019 20:23:25 GMT
Hi. No need to apologize.
I have watched the first five episodes of Season 6. I liked them and it was also good to see Mitch Pileggi again on this show. The last few episodes of Season 5 were great. It was interesting to find out that Death is such a powerful character. Crowley was a good addition to the cast and I liked that both Lucifer and Michael went to Hell. Although I would have liked to see Sam and Dean killing Lucifer, it was probably better that he wasn't destroyed. It would have been too easy if they could have killed him with Colt.
I haven't seen Jody or Alex yet. The real world episode sounds like a good idea. I liked the real world episodes on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. And speaking of real world, I recently read somewhere that Jared apparently punched two men in a bar fight. Okay. Thanks. I have been kinda busy lately and am not on the IMDB2 boards as often as I used to be and when I am I try to write on different sections every time so I can reply to different posts and sometimes it can take me a while to get back to people but I always get around to it and with the holidays coming up I will have more time. I am happy you are enjoying Season 6 so far and how far have you made it up to now and what do you think about the Sam without a soul storyline. He becomes rather creepy and he turns on all the people that care about him including Dean and Bobby and I think you would already know he gets his soul back since he is still in the show now and isn't evil but before they give it back to him he is nothing like Sam we know at the end. They don't fix him in one episode though and while he gets his soul back and goes back to being normal he is damaged and they put a wall up inside his head that becomes an ongoing storyline in the following seasons but they change the soul thing in the latter seasons 'cause other people who lose their souls aren't as evil or twisted as Sam becomes and are just empty.
Crowley was a great addition to the show and there were originally plans to make him become like Angel and not exactly get a soul but get something similar which would have seen him become a good character who wanted to redeem himself for all the bad he did and he does change but they didn't end up going all the way through with it and I can't say too much without spoiling it for you but he starts to like Sam and Dean and even Castiel. I would have preferred to have seen a more proper showdown with Sam and Dean against Lucifer in the final episode of Season 5 but I think he was too powerful to do that so I was happy with what they did with Lucifer and Michael going in the cage too but at the same time I would have liked to have seen more of Michael 'cause he was said to be the most powerful angel and he was the one who beat Lucifer before and kicked him out of heaven. The scene where Dean asks Castiel if he was God he was originally supposed to say yes and that was going to be the original ending of 'Supernatural' and Eric Kirpe had only planned for 5 seasons but due to the popularity of the show they continued and I am glad it did 'cause as you will find out the latter seasons weren't as good as the earlier seasons but there were still quite a few good episodes and Season 11 was one of my favourites.
What do you think of Balthazar? We just found out 'Supernatural' is returning here for the final season in January and they are going to air double episodes every week until they catch up to America and I heard about what happened with Jared but I am not too sure about the details and I am surprised 'cause most fans say Jared is very friendly and it is possible he might not have started it and was provoked or was defending himself 'cause there are some people who would target him just 'cause he is a celebrity.
When I'm busy, I don't post here either. Or I might just post some picture or answer to some top 5 movies thread etc.
The last episode I watched was "Unforgiven", 13th episode of Season 6. So far I have liked this Season and Sam without a soul storyline. I liked especially the flashbacks in which the soulless Sam beat up that police officer and shot the victims of Arachne, and it was also good to see Death again.
I would have liked to see more Crowley, and I think he would have been a great main villain for this season. The mother of all seems like an interesting character, though. The original ending you described would have been very good, but fortunately they decided to continue the show. Like in Xena, the last episode of season 5 would have been a perfect ending, but I'm glad that they made one more season.
Balthazar in another good addition to the cast and I also liked the Alpha Vampire.
I just mentioned the incident with Jared, because I happened to read about it. Perhaps he was provoked or defended himself. Anyway, the actors' personal lives don't affect my viewing pleasure. E.g. I hate Tom Cruise, but I like some of his movies.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 17, 2019 17:14:12 GMT
Stargate SG-1 season 10
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 19, 2019 14:32:01 GMT
The Big Bang Theory season 12
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 20, 2019 10:09:40 GMT
Just finished Season 1 of Titans on Blu-ray. From the trailers, I knew this show hadn’t exactly decided to go in the opposite direction of the DCEU films. Instead, it went even darker...I just didn’t know how much darker. Once we saw Rachel Roth’s mum get shot in the back of the head and the resulting gaping forehead exit wound leaking blood everywhere, it gave a hint, but then when Robin beat the living snot out of a bunch of badguys - complete with dragging their faces across brick walls and broken car windows, tossing his ‘R’ insignia into eyeballs etc...yeah, it became pretty clear just what sort of 'tone' this show was going for. I liked the stuff with Dick Grayson/Rachel, not so fussed on the Koriand’r (Coriander?) parts. Didn’t care for blonde cop lady either, so when she was getting attacked in the second episode, while I wasn’t exactly enjoying it, I hadn’t grown to care enough about her to be upset if she was offed...which she indeed was, it turned out. As much as I didn’t really care about her, I was surprised at just how pointless she ended up being. Her interaction with Dick seemed to amount to basically nothing, as he didn’t appear that broken up over the news. Most pointless character in the show, it felt like. Also, in the second episode we were introduced to Dawn Granger/Dove and Hank Hall/Hawk. While the former was likeable and quickly formed a believable friendship with Rachel (loved that they bonded over Game of Thrones and Rachel called Dawn ‘Khaleesi’, as I’d been thinking the exact same thing due to her white-blonde hair. Would’ve been even funnier is she’d called her ‘Elsa’), Hank just mostly came across as a perpetually angry jerk who liked to swear a lot (it took me a second to recognize him as Original Recipe Aquaman from Smallville). Seriously, if the first episode showed just how violent this series was going to get, then the second episode showed just how many F-bombs the series was going to try to cram in (whether they were necessary or not). I was actually surprised the second episode wasn’t called ‘The Birds’ or something, considering there were four bird-named characters in it - Robin, Raven, Dove and Hawk. In regards to Raven/Rachel, she has a pretty neat (albeit freaky) power - especially the way she killed that dude - but it reminds me of the TV series Firefly and how most of the time River Tam would appear ‘helpless’/in need of saving, but on the odd occasion would kick major arse. Too bad Rachel’s power didn’t kick in when Dawn needed help (it was sad that she got hurt, since she seemed the nicest out of everyone. When she and Hank had been talking about him retiring after ‘one last job’, I knew that spelled doom for one of them, but I just figured it’d be Hank, not Dawn. It’s a shame she didn’t use her Cape o’ Blades more, as that seemed like it’d be a decent weapon). Rachel's power also would've been handy when she was being kidnapped by that psycho family. Speaking of, they were pretty unimpressive. No, acting like a ‘sweet wholesome family’ who listens to The Brady Bunch’s ‘Sunshine Day’ in the car and plays board games whilst actually being evil doesn’t make you feel ‘scary’ (at least not to me, anyway) I liked the second episode better than the first, as it felt less ‘splintered'/’fractured’ (we weren’t cutting from Dick/Rachel to Koriand’r back and forth, which I felt interrupted the story in episode 1). It also showed that at least some of the ‘superheroes’ in this show aren’t above getting seriously injured and don’t just seemingly walk off wounds that should impair them. The third episode seemed to be focused mainly on Koriand’r...which was unfortunate, as I’m just not that interested in her character. Yes, she kicks butt and has flamey powers, but that does not an ‘interesting’ character make. At least she finally met both Rachel and Dick (I was totally with him when he sarcastically commented “Gee, that’s a new one.” in response to Koriand’r saying his name in a way that suggested she wasn’t actually intending it as his name. I’m glad they got that obvious ‘joke’ out of the way, as it was rather predictable/you just knew someone was going to use his name in that way at some point). What was actually funny was how obviously they couldn’t show Bruce Wayne, so we were treated to his ‘adopting’ of young Dick Grayson without ever actually seeing him (who adopts a kid and then is never present? And where was Alfred?). The restrictions presumably put on the show of who they could and couldn’t show/feature became rather distracting. Gar Logan didn’t really seem to have much to do/say at all in the first three episodes. I was surprised how little he was featured, as I thought he’d be as important as the other three. We got to see what a live-action Cringer from He-Man might look like at the end of the first episode, then he didn’t appear again until the third, and in that one all he got to do was bond a little with Rachel over pinball and interesting hair colour choices. Still, he seemed nice at least. The fourth episode, which I’d heard quite a bit about (‘Doom Patrol’) let us get to know Gar (or Garfield, as his full name turned out to be) a bit more. I liked his friendship her formed with Rachel (and he was much less frustrating than Dick was in regards to befriending her, as at least Gar didn’t keep leaving her behind). I was sad to see dying Bambi, and I was totally with Gar when he was saying Rachel couldn’t be evil, considering how much empathy she had for the deer and her comforting it as it died. Dang it, show, why’d you have to include animal death?! However, it appeared maybe it was brought back to life (though is it now Evil Bambi?). I know later we were meant to feel sorry for one of the hunters because Dick beat the crap out of him in front of his kid...but I had no problem with it, as I wanted SOMEONE to make the guy pay for the Bambi-killing. Every time Gar shows up as his green tiger self, I think, “Hey, it’s Cringer from He-Man!”. I kind of liked that his explanation for why he turns into a tiger is simply because he’s always liked them/they’ve always been his favourite. It was also great to meet the characters that the episode was named after. We may have only got a brief time to get to know them, but by episode’s end I was already more interested in them than I was in Dick or Koriand’r as characters. In fact, every time we cut to those two, I wished we were back with the Doom Patrol, as they were far more fun/intriguing (though I was glad to hear Dick point out to her she really needed a change of clothes. She may have said she’d been blending in fine, but I found it a bit ridiculous that she hadn’t been tracked down by all those who wanted to get her, since she stands out like a sore thumb with what she’s wearing). Part of what made the Doom Patrol so interesting was the fact that they all seemed to have tragic backstories. Rita’s was especially shocking when we saw a glimpse of how she appeared whilst watching old footage of herself when she looked normal. I felt sorry for her the most (though with a superhero name like ‘Elasti-Girl’, I was kind of expecting more stretchiness and less…blobbiness. And also, isn’t ‘Elasti-Girl’ the name of the mother character in The Incredibles? How’d they get the rights to use that name in their movie if a character with that name already existed in comics long before that movie was ever made?), but both Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer managed to elicit sympathy from me for their characters as well. Considering they were ‘just’ providing the voices (with other people actually playing the parts physically), it was quite impressive how they made it feel as though they were actually playing the parts. The only one I wasn’t that fussed on was the doctor/’Chief’, but still, I spent the episode wishing that Rachel and Gar could stay with the Doom Patrol and the show would be about them (and ditch the characters in this show I didn’t particularly care for). Of course, Doom Patrol is its own show now, and I hope we get it here on DVD/Blu-ray eventually. Still, I wish Rachel and Gar could’ve stayed with them. I didn’t like the Dick and Koriand’r intrusion and whisking them away. It was good that all four main characters finally came together properly and we got to see them show their powers to each other. I enjoy Gar, as he’s dorky, but likeable. Though the two older ones should probably stop referring to him (and Rachel) as ‘kids’, considering they just saw him naked. Was glad to see the end of the psycho family (and there was actually some restraint shown, violence-wise, since we didn’t actually have to watch their heads explode. Something different for this series). I finally got to meet Jason Todd/Robin 2.0 - I’d heard of him, knew he took over from Dick at some point in the comics, but didn’t really know anything else about the character. I was prepared to not-like him after his appearance at the end of the 5th episode, but he was kind of fun interacting with Dick for the majority of the 6th episode. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode it turned out he enjoyed beating people up a little too much (including cops) and had this whole ‘I can do whatever I want’ attitude, which made me dislike him after all. Plus, the two of them should’ve really been more discreet when talking about being Robin and Bruce being Batman when out in public. On the plus side, at least we got a partial glimpse of the Batmobile! And Gar continued to be likeable, with his fanboying over Robin and such. I didn’t really care for the ‘Asylum’ episode, and I felt bad for Gar after he was forced to make his first ‘bite’/kill. It was good t see Rachel Nichols (though I was surprised to see they gave her a serious ‘make-under’ and she’s now considered ‘old’ enough to play a mother to a teenage daughter). And if Dick is indeed done with being Robin (as the burning of his suit at the end heavily implied)...then his time as Robin didn’t really last that long. We finally got a decent live-action Robin, and then he’s done with that before the first season’s even over? So, what, now we’re stuck with that little psycho, Jason Todd, as Robin? Blah! The next episode was better, as it introduced us to Donna Troy (a name I keep mixing up with Star Trek’s Deanna Troi) AKA Wonder Girl (who’s a character I wasn’t even aware of before this show). I know the actress who plays her, Conor Leslie, from other things, but barely recognized her, as I was used to her with red hair (like she sported in Klondike). I enjoyed the interaction between her character and Dick. I actually wanted to see more of them interacting when they were younger as well, as I thought the actress who played young Donna was really good in the role. Although her screentime was very brief, I immediately bought her as a fellow sidekick who was friends with young Dick Grayson. I enjoyed the exchanges between their ‘older’ selves too (with her referring to him as ‘Boy Wonder’ and ‘Bird Boy’ and him saying those were his favourites). I also liked hearing her mention that she’d kept her costume (because they’re expensive, Dick! Though I guess you just figured Bruce will pay for another one if you end up regretting your decision to burn yours. Better yet, just steal that little jerk, Jason Todd’s, costume. It’s upgraded from yours). The only thing I wasn’t happy about was that they seemed to just leave that poor bear in the truck. I was hoping they’d free the poor animal. The next episode gave us the backstories to Hank/Hawk and Dawn/Dove. I was surprised to learn the original Dove was a dude and Hank’s brother (I kept wondering what made the guy decide to go with the name ‘Dove’ of all the birds he could’ve chosen). It was sad to learn how Hank was sexually abused by that coach. However, as much as I felt sorry for kid Hank and his brother, I really wasn’t fond of how they acted as adults. Beating up people in a library after having an argument didn’t exactly endear either of them to me - they kind of lost sympathy there. Meanwhile, Dawn and her mother had a familiar story (an abusive father/husband to them), but I liked how Dawn was supportive of her mother who felt guilt over it. No nastiness there. The accident which killed both Hank’s brother and Dawn’s mother was some dodgy CGI work. I liked seeing Hank and Dawn’s relationship grow, but then things got rather twisted when Dawn went all vengeful on the coach’s ass and Hank finished him off. I guess that kind of sums them up. I didn’t like seeing Koriand’r hurting Rachel and Gar. I also hated that Rachel kept blaming herself and saying how she ‘sucks’ when she hadn’t been the one hurting members of the gang. I liked seeing Donna Troy return, though, and the use of the Lasso. I was disappointed that Rachel’s mother turned out to be bad (especially after she’d had a fun moment with Rachel and Gar, when she asked him if he wanted a hug and then he awkwardly stood beside mother and daughter as they gazed out of the window). Most surprising, though, was seeing Rachel’s father being played by Seamus Dever, who I mainly know as Detective Ryan from Castle (a show I’m currently doing a rewatch of on DVD). A very different character from the one he played in that series. The season final definitely didn’t feel like a season final. I read that what was intended as the season final will end up being the first episode of Season 2, which is a weird move, but anyway...this episode you could tell was going to be heavy on the hallucinations right from the beginning – because no show that’s as dark as this one would ever have such a sunshiny opening set to the tune of The Beach Boys ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ in reality. It actually reminded me of a similar opening, accompanied by the same song, in the Angel Season 4 episode ‘The Magic Bullet’. So, I was prepared for this episode mainly being Dick hallucinating. At least this ‘what if’ scenario allowed us to see things we probably would never normally get to see, such as Dick and Dawn having a kid, Jason Todd in a wheelchair/no longer Robin, and most significantly the death of the Joker (along with the bodies of Two-Face, the Riddler, the Ventriloquist), Batman going even more psycho than Batfleck ever did, and Dick killing Batman. Most surprising to me, though, was seeing ‘normal-looking’ Rachel towards the beginning when she and Gar were chatting with Dick and Dawn. I almost didn’t recognize her. What a difference normal hair, non-pale complexion and actually being allowed to smile makes. Koriand’r also looked much better without the red hair (and at least she got a change of clothes last episode). I missed Donna Troy not being around, though. I appreciated the way that the show worked around actually showing the faces of Batman or the members of his 'Rogues Gallery'. Early in the season, Bruce not even appearing was distracting, but here just getting glimpses of him (both in an out of costume) actually worked. Frustratingly, we didn’t really get any resolution to Rachel’s father being on Earth (it’s still weird seeing Ryan from Castle playing a bad guy). Well, at least it should mean a decent Season 2 premiere (whenever that’s likely to get released on DVD/Blu-ray here, that is). I have a more pressing question, though... Apparently Iain Glen from Game of Thrones is playing Bruce Wayne in Season 2 of this show, but if the GoT TV series exists in this universe (as per Rachel and Dawn watching it in episode 2)...won’t they wonder why Bruce Wayne looks like Ser Jorah Mormont? As for the post-credits scene...so that’s supposed to have been Superboy, eh? Can’t say I really care. I was much more interested to see the dog he freed (who I'm guessing is meant to be Krypto). I'm glad I finally got to see this show, @deblovesbeccy (apologies for my review being a bit disjointed/fragmented. I compiled it as I watched each new episode). Thanks for sharing your review of Season One of 'Titans' with us Chalice. I agree with a lot of your thoughts about the show and the characters and I am not particularly a big fan of Hawk/ Hank Hall either and it is sad what happened to him when he was young and how he lost his brother/ partner but he comes across as rude and arrogant to most of the other characters in the show and what happened to him doesn't give him an excuse to talk to people like they are dirt. I am hoping he changes in time and maybe the writers will make him more likable but I don't recall Hawk being so arrogant to people in the comic books and angry all the time and I liked how they made Hawkman a grumpy-bum in 'Smallville' but he was funny and you could tell he was just stirring the Green Arrow when they worked together and he didn't really dislike him but Hawk comes across as an arrogant prick who doesn't have any redeeming qualities in some of his scenes and I liked the actor more as Aquaman in 'Smallville.'
I didn't mind Starfire as much as Hawk though and I was disappointed with some of the things they did with her character in the first season like de-powering her and I think it was a mistake not to have her fly from the start or at least when she got her memories back 'cause Starfire is supposed to be able to fly. It is one of her most well known powers and there is whole thing with her Sister (Blackfire) and her about Blackfire being jealous 'cause Starfire can fly and she can't. I can understand why they have de-powered some of them 'cause they don't want them to be too powerful at the start but I feel that was a mistake and hope in the future we get to see her take flight along with Raven and Wonder Girl who should be able to fly too. I am also hoping we get to see Beast Boy turn into more animals as the show goes on too 'cause you might not be aware but he can turn into a lot more things than just a tiger and he can turn into a whole range of different animals in the comic books and he can turn into a dog, a bear, a rabbit, a snake, a deer, a frog or a monkey to name a few and when he learns how to control his abilities he is able to switch back and forth with ease and that could lead to some entertaining storylines. I like Raven and Wonder Girl the most and am glad Wonder Girl was upgraded to being a season regular. I am surprised they have gone down the dark path with Dick. I was expecting him to be a lot more of a lighter character too 'cause Dick as Robin and Nightwing is not usually known to be the dark and brooding type like Batman and one of the main differences between Batman and Nightwing has always been Dick jokes around and he mocks villains and that is why some of them like the Penguin hate Nightwing more than Batman 'cause Nightwing doesn't take them seriously which gets him into trouble sometimes. He is also supposed to be more athletic and I am not sure if that will change over the coming seasons 'cause it depends on what the actor is capable of doing but it would be fun to see Dick do more flips and kicks when he is doing fighting scenes. Alfred was off limits 'cause of 'Pennyworth' and Batgirl was too 'cause of the upcoming 'Batgirl' movie and from what I read most of the scenes you see with Wonder Girl were originally supposed to be played out with Batgirl and there were going to be flashback scenes of Robin and Batgirl together but Warner Bros blocked them from using the character.
I enjoyed the first season of the show though and it has been renewed for a third season now so hopefully we will see the team grow more and Raven and Starfire get more of their powers and we get to see more villains from the comic books. I agree with you regarding Hawkman in Smallville, Deb (and extra points for using the term ‘grumpy-bum’! ). I preferred Michael Shanks’ version of Hawkman to the one in Legends of Tomorrow or the Hawk character in Titans. You’re right, he did have a sense of ‘fun’ to his character (despite his grumpy-bumness). His interaction with Green Arrow allowed for some funny moments. The only thing I wasn’t so fussed on was the quasi-Batman voice Shanks was using whenever the character was in costume. It was overly gruff/gravelly and got kind of irritating. As for ‘de-powering’ some of the characters in Titans, I guess they do that because if they had all of them at full power, they’d have to keep writing equally powerful villains/adversaries for them to face each episode and maybe the show can’t afford to shoot battles that all-powerful characters would have on a weekly basis? I imagine they’ll work their way up to these characters becoming as powerful as they are in the comics. Maybe save the big battles for season finals or even partway through the seasons? That's just my guess, anyway. I don’t mind that Beast Boy is just sticking with the tiger for the time being (I think if I could do what he does, I’d likely stick to whatever was my favourite animal). But, yes, I imagine he’ll branch out and try other animals at some point. What he really needs to learn how to do is to change without ending up naked every time (would be more convenient). I too was happy to hear that Conor Leslie/Wonder Girl was upgraded to being a season regular in Season 2, as she was a favourite character of mine in Season 1 as well. I’ve seen pics that seem to indicate Dick Grayson will already be taking on the Nightwing role in the second season. I kind of wish we’d seen him as Robin for longer than one season...but oh well. Yes, I figured there were certain characters they were blocked from using due to other shows or movies yet to be made that would feature those characters (though apparently not Bruce Wayne. I was surprised to see Iain Glen had been cast, as I mentioned in my review. They watch Game of Thrones in the ' Titans-verse', so won't they wonder why Bruce Wayne looks like a character/actor from that show? It'd be funny if they made some comment about it...though that might be considered slightly too 'meta'). Still, I imagine there’s plenty of other characters they can use. Also, I think a lot of shows introduce too many new characters too soon, instead of focusing on the ones they have and developing them more. When they start going overboard with new characters it oftentimes seems to get a bit out of hand and the characters who were once the main ones in the show are lucky to get much screentime at all. I think some writers are easily distracted by the ‘shiny new toy’ aspect of having new characters or if a character becomes a ‘fan favourite’, then they tend to get heaps of focus and others are forgotten about. It’s a slippery slope, so I hope they hold off introducing too many new characters too early on. Best to spread them out over multiple seasons, I think. Thanks for your thoughts on my review/the show and its characters, Deb.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 20, 2019 11:38:05 GMT
Just finished Season 2 of Castle on DVD. Well, the season started with a bit of a jump ahead in time (if the length of Beckett’s hair was any indication) and, disappointingly, the fallout from last season’s final moments (with Castle confessing to his digging into Beckett’s mother’s murder) seemed kind of anti-climactic. Firstly, I would’ve really liked to have actually seen the talk (and inevitable argument) they had. All we got was Castle referencing that Beckett said they were through (delivering on her promise from last season’s final) and walking away. Yes, she was mad at him (with Lanie backing her up), but it only lasted the one episode this season. While I wouldn’t have wanted to watch episodes with Beckett mad at Castle, they could’ve done a bit more with it. Episode 4 was a good one, as it featured at least three actors I recognise from other things they’ve gone onto (David Ramsey from Arrow, Tyler Hoechlin from Teen Wolf and Supergirl, and Kathleen Rose Perkins from Episodes. I also recognized Torrey DeVitto in the previous episode). Better than that, though, was the ending (which I totally remembered and I knew this was the episode it happened, because I recognised what Beckett was wearing - the red and black combo). Such a funny moment, and Stana’s reactions were great. I've also always remembered the moment the show did a rather unsubtle Firefly reference, with Castle wearing the outfit Nathan Fillion did as Captain Mal Reynolds in that show as his Halloween costume. It was fun, but I’m glad they didn’t go overboard with it. Castle actually wore it for longer than I remembered, as I thought it only lasted the one scene, but he wears it to the crime scene he and Beckett go to. It was fun seeing actors I recognise from other things. I wouldn’t have known of Abigail Spencer back when I originally watched the episode she appeared in, but since then I’ve come to know her in the TV series Timeless, so it was interesting seeing her play a very different character to that show. Meanwhile, I knew of Marc Blucas thanks to his time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I’ve seen him in a bunch of other things too), so it wasn’t so much a surprise seeing him make a guest appearance here. It was more of a, “Oh yeah, I remember him being in this.” sort of reaction. He played a guy suspected or murder who couldn’t remember his own identity, let alone committing the crime. It showed that the actor could play a likeable guy, even when he was suspected of murder. It’s a shame he got so much hate on BtVS, as I was with Castle and Beckett here, hoping the guy wasn’t what the evidence pointed to (also, there was a dog involved, and that always makes me “aww”). It was funny seeing Alyssa Milano guest star on here as a bride-to-be and an ex of Castle’s. The next episode was one I remembered parts of, specifically the end where Beckett is forced to shoot the first lead she has in her mother’s murder. It was a good episode, as it took things a bit more ‘seriously’ than the typical episode. There was less joking from Castle, and how refreshing to see not only the show’s lead taken hostage, but the fact it was a guy for a change instead of a girl. Castle was the hostage and Beckett was the one who had to save him. Some things I started noticing half way through this season were Castle always being thoughtful enough to bring Beckett coffee along with his own, the fact that they’d work out things at the same time/finish each other’s thoughts-spoken-out-loud, and poor Ryan being the butt of jokes quite a bit of the time. It was good that we finally got to meet his girlfriend, Jenny, who Esposito had been giving him a hard time about, claiming she wasn’t real or whatever because they’d never been introduced to her. I noticed when the list of guest stars for the episode came up, that one of the actresses had the last name Dever (just like the actor who plays Ryan) and wondered if she was his real life girlfriend. Turns out I was right (actually, they’re married). I always remember Jenny, and am glad they gave Ryan a significant other. I was also happy to see some familiar faces guest-starring in the episode. This was the one with dominatrixes and sex dungeons. I recognised Amy Gumenick (who plays young Mary Campbell/Winchester in Supernatural), Keiko Agena (Lane from Gilmore Girls) and, most of all, Dina Meyer (from the movies Dragonheart and Starship Troopers). I vaguely recalled this season’s two-parter and Dana Delany guest starring in it. It was interesting to see Beckett meet someone who was her match. Jordan Shaw had a ‘smart board’, which kind of put Beckett’s murder board to shame (though I thought it was a bit too ‘sci-fi’) and Shaw obviously pushed Beckett’s buttons, but it was good that she wasn't just brought it to be an antagonist to Beckett. They had some good conversations, and although they disagreed at times, in the end they grew to respect each other. This was also the first time we got a real ‘cliff-hanger’ in between episodes, with Beckett’s building blowing up. Seems she pulled a Lisbeth Salander from The Girl in the Spider’s Web and took refuge in the bathtub (ah, bathtubs...is there anything they can’t do?). Although we knew Beckett wasn’t going to be dead, it was still a good way to end the first part. It reminded me of the TV series The Pretender, which would end each season leaving us wondering, “How the heck are they getting out of that one?”. Season 2 certainly ramped up the jealousy factor between both Castle and Beckett when it came to them taking an interest in any other guys/girls. In the later part of the season we were introduced to Demming (played by Michael Trucco, who I recognised from various things). One thing I was thankful for regarding his character was at least he seemed a bit more likeable than the Season 1 potential love interest for Beckett played by Bailey Chase (who I knew from Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). That character was very antagonistic towards Castle and seemed to be without much personality. At least Demming was an improvement over him. Still, Castle was clearly jealous. But then, so was Beckett numerous times this season. Firstly, with the character Alyssa Milano played, then with Dana Delaney’s character, then around the time Demming was introduced, Castle had some ‘sexytimes’ with an actress (who it turned out was using him to get cast to play Nikki Heat in the movie – much to Beckett’s annoyance, since Nikki Heat was based on her), followed by Beckett’s high school friend who was played by an actress I’m quite familiar with - Julie Gonzalo (who I first came to know of in Season 3 of Veronica Mars. Also, Max Greenfield was another VM recurring actor who appeared in the same episode). She certainly had Beckett’s number - even if Beckett didn’t want to admit it. And this is where things started to get messy with the amount of times someone would ask Beckett if she had a thing for Castle, she’d deny it, so then that other person would start seeing Castle and Beckett would not be happy about it. Naturally, things could’ve been much simpler if she’d just come right out and told Castle how she felt (and vice versa). But nooooo, they both had to keep their feelings bottled up and so we were treated to these various ‘obstacles’ in their road towards growing closer to each other. It was good Esposito got an episode which focused on him, and I always liked seeing how devoted a partner Ryan was to him. It’s a bit of a shame the writers had to resort to pettiness between Castle and Demming, as both showed jealousy over each other in the last couple of episodes when it came to Beckett. Still, I felt a bit sorry for Demming when Beckett eventually broke up with him in the season final (after they’d made plans to go away for the summer) and he asked her whether he’d said/done something wrong. Castle had been asking her to go away with him to his ‘place in the Hamptons’ again and again and she’d kept declining, only for Esposito to tell her she should’ve made her feelings for Castle clear to him and, of course, when she eventually decided to take this advice...it was too late. Naturally, with this ‘will they/won’t they’ thing the show (and many shows like it) had going on, they threw ‘obstacles’ in the way, but it really was a case of both characters (not just Beckett, but Castle too) not making their feelings known to each other soon enough. They held off, assuming the other would always be around/available and it cost them. When Castle said it was going to be their last case, Beckett’s reaction really said it all. I think everyone could see the final scene coming from a mile away, as one of Castle’s ex-wives (Gina - who I don’t think we’d seen since the first episode of the show) kept getting mentioned throughout the episode, Castle kept asking Beckett to go away with him, she kept saying no, everyone was at her to go ahead and tell Castle how she really felt, then as she started to...Gina turned up and Beckett was informed she and Castle were going away together. It really was a *throws hands up in the air out of frustration* moment. Again, none of this^ was exactly some great original storytelling. However, thanks to the show’s cast, it made up for any ‘predictability’ in the plot. They’re all just so darn likeable. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic have some of the best onscreen chemistry I’ve seen in a show...which makes it even harder to comprehend what happened between them in the later seasons of the show off set (according to rumours). It’s nice to revisit these early seasons back when Castle and Beckett were still actually sharing plenty of screentime together. It’s a fun, enjoyable show. I look forward to rewatching Season 3, as I think that was probably one of my favourites.
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