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Post by taylorfirst1 on Aug 24, 2022 18:47:43 GMT
"Star Trek Lower Decks" season 2
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 30, 2022 9:16:30 GMT
Finished Season 4 of Warehouse 13 on DVD. I have to say...I didn’t enjoy this season as much as the previous three seasons (with Season 3 probably being my favourite of the show thus far). Things didn’t really ‘feel’ the same in the beginning half of the season, and although Pete had his amusing moments, it did feel as though they leaned more into him being ‘bumbling’ than they did previously. I also just didn’t enjoy the episodes as much. It wasn’t until about episode 9 that things *finally* picked up with the surprising death of Leena (though it really shouldn’t have been that surprising since the show really hadn’t given her much to do for the past three seasons and she’d been absent from quite a lot of episodes. It felt like they tried to make up for that with the start of this season…but, personally, I just never felt like she ‘gelled’ with the rest of the team. While they would get in on the action, she just seemed to be there to deliver exposition and occasionally help out, but otherwise didn’t really serve much purpose. I imagine the actress got sick of this and decided to leave. I was surprised to see Wynonna Earp's Melanie Scrofano guest-star in an episode this season (though it was a welcome surprise. She played her role - which was that of someone possessed by a sadistic version of Alice from Alice in Wonderland - exceptionally well, and I wished we could've kept her in the role for the whole episode. I thought it wasn't very fair that she didn't even warrant being listed in the guest-stars at the beginning of the episode and was relegated to being one of the names in the end credits...I really miss Wynonna Earp and wish I could see the seasons that were never released here). While it was nice to also see some actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel, make guest-star appearances (like Amy Acker, James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head), none of their characters even came *close* to being as memorable as their ‘Buffyverse’ characters (James Marsters’ one was probably the best of the three, while ASH and his dodgy accented character was easily the worst and a lame villain). Still, I appreciated the 'in-jokes' regarding JM having played a vampire (this wasn't the first time he's done that. He also made a snarky comment regarding vampires in an episode of Smallville). I also appreciated the show acknowledging Myka's hair seemingly constant switching between curly and straight in the show (though no matter which...it always looked like a wig to me), as I'd wondered what was up with that (I miss her Season 1 hair that actually looked natural). Speaking of hair, I miss Claudia's 'do she had for the first couple of seasons. Nevertheless, Allison Scagliotti remains the best part of the show, imho. It's no wonder she went from guest-star to recurring in the first season and then was made a 'regular' by the next season. She manages to bring the funny, but also convincingly deliver heartbreaking dramatic performances when the occasion calls for it. She can do it ALL. I don't know how she hasn't become a bigger star. I was glad to see Jaime Murray's H.G Wells/Helena return (she and Joanne Kelly's Myka have off the charts smoking hot chemistry and it's a shame the show clearly wasn't ever going to 'go there' fully with them, so we just had to make do with all the things they didn't say to each other/reading between the lines). And in regards to Myka, there was this really weird cut at the end of the episode where we learned she had cancer. It was SO abrupt/out of nowhere that it literally felt like the ending of the episode had been replaced with this ending from a different episode. Yes, it adds 'drama'...but it would've been nice if there was even a *hint* that it was coming instead of feeling like when watching something and then finding the ending has been recorded over with something else. Anyway, I felt last season's final (with the warehouse EXPLODING) was probably an ending they should've saved for towards the end of the series, as I really don't see how they're going to top that (this season's ending certainly didn't). Considering I'd originally watched the first season and then lost interest, I was surprised to find that after rewatching Season 1 (as it had been so long since my original viewing), I was really getting into the show by Season 2 and thoroughly enjoyed Season 3. It's just a bit of a shame I found this season disappointing. Hopefully they can at least deliver a satisfying final season/series final.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 30, 2022 9:18:20 GMT
Also finished Dexter: New Blood on Blu-ray. Like most people, I was majorly disappointed with Season 8/the final season of the original show and especially the 'series final' (which seemed to be the held by many as the top standard for crap series final a show could reach...that was until GoT's, anyway). I figured that this limited series was intended to make up for that, but had heard people were just as disappointed with this as they were with Season 8. Once again it sounded like they botched the final and I was really curious to see how this could be the case, since you'd think they'd *learn* from past mistakes. I found the first episode to be fairly 'slow', but I was willing to give them a break since it had to set up things - like where Dexter was now living, the new cast of characters, what the story arc was going to be, etc. It didn't really *feel* like Dexter until towards the end when he 'relapsed' and killed again, then we got the voiceover and things seemed more like Dexter. I was glad to see him get upset about the douchebag shooting that poor white deer (which I saw coming from a MILE away when Dex was slowly approaching it). I didn't quite understand WHY he was suddenly upset over the death of animals since he killed his fair share of them back in the day, but it made me happy to hear him yelling at the douchenozzle for shooting it and how it never did anything wrong/didn't deserve it (I would've been saying the exact same thing...and probably worse. Dexter also dealt the douche a more merciful death than *I* would've). I was amused by Dex's "Bleh!"-like scare tactic too (it was random, but funny). They really made Dex's first victim be someone who we'd WANT to see Dexter kill. There was nothing redeemable about him and I was satisfied when Dex finally ended his worthless life. Unfortunately, everything before this was kind of boring. I get that we were seeing how Dex had now mastered the art of 'blending in'/acting 'normal' (he seemed much more natural at it here than he ever did in the original series), but I can't say I was really that interested in any of the townsfolk. Though I didn't mind his cop girlfriend, Angela (Julia Jones, who I don't think many people realise played Josh Brolin's wife in the 2010 movie Jonah Hex - that was 12 years ago and she *still* looks great. Though, of course, I'll forever think of her as Leah Clearwater from Eclipse and Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2), or her daughter Audrey (though the actress's name made me do a double take - her first name's Johnny?). Having said that, Audrey was kind of bratty to the character played by Fredric Lehne (who'll always be 'Yellow Eyes'/the Yellow-Eyed Demon/YED from Supernatural to me, though I've seen him in plenty of other things), as he seemed to be nice towards her despite her protesting and she returned his kind gestures with giving him 'tude. Of course, he did all this whilst coming off as a bit of a creeper and it felt that when it came to guessing who the serial killer was killing runaway girls, he would've been TOO obvious. In the end, though, nothing came of his character and all those earlier hints of him being not-what-he-seemed were pointless. Clearly, he was just a red herring (which I also ended up thinking that one mustached officer, who seemed like a cartoon character in his incompetence, was. I figured he must've secretly been a bad guy and his incompetency was just his cover...but nope, that apparently wasn't the case. Only towards the end of the series did he seem less cartoonish). This was just one of the many instances of lazy writing in this series (another being Dexter only remembering to burn the body of dead douche in the convenient public access crematorium well after he should've thought of that). While Clancy Brown can play a really good bad guy, I felt his serial killer character, Kurt Caldwell, was pretty boring and his method of kidnapping girls, letting them live a while in a room, only to release them and then sniper them from not- that-far-away (thus giving them no chance at all) was pretty lame. I mean, he didn't even go chasing after them! It wasn't even sporting. He paled in comparison to pretty much every other serial killer Dexter took on (he might've had a slight edge over Colin Hanks...but that's about it). I did feel sorry for the green-haired girl who was one of his last victims who actually had the balls to run straight at him (knowing full well he would've just sniped her had she fled like he ordered her to). Yes, she got a hole shot through her eye, but at least she went down standing up to him and defying his 'ritual'. Of course, then not even her corpse was spared an indignity, as he failed to make her a makeshift Phantom of the Opera mask for her ruined eye socket and wound up pummeling her face (SHE'S ALREADY DEAD!). In the end, this serial killer added nothing we hadn't had before. He was a mentor of sorts of Dexter's returned son, Harrison (who I'll get to in a moment), for a brief period, but nothing really came of that. It's not like he managed to turn Harrison into Dexter's ultimate nemesis or anything. The most he did was put Angela on the right track to figuring out Dexter's secret. Speaking of Angela, whilst everyone else seemed to be hating on her, I thought she reacted realistically to the betrayal she felt after learning Dexter's real name and that she'd been lied to all this time. I was also fine with her being the one to finally bring him in and lay all of his secrets out on the table. Can't say I was fussed on Harrison, though. The actor wasn't particularly 'bad' or anything, nor did he stand out as 'great' or even 'good', really. He was pretty average, I thought. And worst of all, he spent the majority of the season being the typical 'moody teen' towards his dad...which didn't really make for fun viewing. They did suggest that perhaps he was a future Dexter-in-the-making with his violent tendencies (it was a bit of a surprise that the student he stood up for at school against bullies actually seemed like HE would be a serial killer of sorts, with the bloody/gruesome drawings he made as part of his fantasy killing of his tormenters - honestly, despite the fact that it was revealed that Harrison set him up at school as waning to kill a bunch of students, it's probably just as well he took this unstable kid out of commission, as I think he would've eventually attempted to make his fantasy a reality). We spent SO much time on Harrison being a whiny bitch, getting into fights, being a shit to his dad, getting drunk, nearly overdosing, etc and NONE of it was worth the wasted screentime. He didn't become tolerable until the second-last episode, when he finally learned Dexter's secret and seemed to be more or less 'cool' with offing wrongdoers. I'd only read little bits and pieces regarding the final...which most people seemed to think was either just as bad as Season 8's final or even WORSE, but what little I had read gave me totally different ideas of what was going to go down than what actually transpired. I thought that what would drive a wedge between Dexter and Harrison would be Harrison learning what really happened with his mum being murdered - ie. that Rita was killed by Trinity *before* Dexter killed him (whereas Dexter made it sound like he offed Trinity as revenge for Rita's murder). I thought for sure what was going to happen would be that Harrison would kill Dexter out of anger or to stop him or whatever. So it came as a surprise to me that Dexter basically *allowed* Harrison to kill him (though obviously up until he made the decision to let it happen, he was desperate to escape. His plan kept changing - first they were just going to leave quietly, then everything went to hell and he wanted to go on the run with Harrison, then when it became clear that wasn't going to happen, Dex was even willing to leave by himself). What confused me the most was everything leading up to this ending in the episode - Dexter had given Angela the information she needed to go find all of Clancy Brown's victims in their display cases (can't say I was sad about the annoying podcaster lady being revealed as one of them in the previous episode. Her podcasting was amateur at best, though I saw a photo of the victims and one looked like the bartender...so it came as another surprise when she briefly appeared in the final, alive and kicking) and this combined with all the other things Dexter said about her evidence against him not holding up, it seemed very unnecessary that he ended up offing the decent cop, Logan, in order to escape jail. Seemed to me if Dex had just waited for Angela to return from finding all those victims, he could've convinced her that Kurt Caldwell had offed his own douchey son like he'd been trying to tell her. Instead, there was that weird escape where I didn't even realise he'd broken Logan's neck (tells you how bad this show had gotten when, for a second, I thought the bullet Logan fired backwards had ricocheted and hit him in the skull - like THAT wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility in this series). I guess offing Logan was necessary to make Harrison turn against his dad and see that he wasn't keeping to his 'code' of just offing wrongdoers, since Logan wasn't a bad guy. Was I pissed off about the ending we got? Eh, by that point I didn't really care. Yes, I would've preferred Dexter been offed by someone other than his annoying, bratty son...but him *allowing* himself to be shot was still better than how I thought it would go down, with him trying to escape and being shot against his will. At least this way, he went out on his own terms (more or less). Though it was a kick in the teeth to Deb and Rita when the Dexter voiceover said he'd never felt real love until this moment he sacrificed himself so his son would be free of his bad influence (though I highly doubt offing his own dad is going to suddenly make Harrison 'good'. And it's not like those violent tendencies he'd previously had just evaporated because now his serial killer father was dead). So...Dex never 'really' loved Deb OR Rita? How shitty of him! Speaking of Deb...or rather ghost Deb (since she was, y'know, dead), it's no wonder that after taking Dex's hand as he was dying, she ended up letting go before he passed - obviously she didn't take too kindly to his insinuation that he never 'really' loved her like he did Harrison. I know a lot of people apparently hated ghost Deb in this series (they didn't like her pointing out all the shitty stuff he'd done/calling him out on his shit and generally being negative towards him), but one must remember this wasn't *actually* Debra Morgan. This was Dexter's own thoughts of himself personified as her (just like his dad's ghost). Honestly, the biggest disappointment for me regarding Deb in this series was her lack of imaginative cussing - that was always her signature in the original series, and it was sadly absent here. Sure, she dropped F-bombs aplenty...but there was no creativeness/ imagination to any of it. Having said that, I did get a kick out of some of her amusing appearances in a couple of the episodes. Not only did she pick up the new trick of appearing in the clothes of the actually real living characters Dexter interacted with, but she also developed the ability to multiply/clone herself and even went all Fargo at one point. Unlike others, I never hated Deb. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I doubt I even would've had much interest in this series. Hers and Dexter's relationship was always the 'heart' of the original show for me, so without her in this one, it wouldn't have even felt like Dexter to me (though the appearances of two other original series characters - Angel Batista and Trinity - felt pretty pointless). I thought the way we saw Deb silhouetted against the wall in Dexter's jail cell was a neat touch. Whilst, disappointingly, we got no opening credits sequence for this series (which I can understand, as the old one would've felt 'outdated' with where he was now, plus the setting was completely different, and doing a new version of it would've inevitably paled in comparison to the original...though I *did* miss the 'Dexter Theme'), I thought what they did with the titles of the episodes being incorporated into the scenery and the end credits (which, thankfully, *did* include the original series' end credits music) was pretty neat/visually interesting, at least. While a lot of people seem to think this series final was worse than Season 8's...I can't say I agree. Season 8 and its final were worse, imho (I hated the Dexter wannabe/serial killer teen from that season *more* than I hated Harrison - though, unlike Harrison, at least that shit was offed eventually). I think this 'revival' (like most TV series 'revivals') as a whole was pretty much a huge wasted opportunity. They could've done SO much more with it, but this outcome for Dex was pretty much inevitable. What were the alternatives? He keeps getting away with what he does? That would've made this season feel even *more* pointless than it already did. I never believed for a second he'd off Harrison (though he did look like he was ready to grab a knife and do whatever he needed to do to get away from Angela when she arrested him...until Logan showed up). I had always thought the original ending I'd read about for Season 8 (with Dexter seeing all of his victims/people who played a significant part in his life whilst he was at his execution would've been a neat ending...but I guess Covid prevented that). At least this ending was pretty definitive (unless they decided to delve into Dexter being a zombie). Like most, I have no interest in any possible Harrison spin-offs (with Dexter just filling the role of his version of ghost Deb). This mightn't have been a great, or even good, way to end the series...but I thought it was less rage-inducing than the Season 8 'series final'. This felt more like an 'ending' to the story of Dexter Morgan.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 2, 2022 7:57:58 GMT
Finished Season 5/the final season of Warehouse 13 on DVD. Considering this season only had six episodes, it's probably no wonder things felt a bit rushed (especially near the end). They wrapped up the 'cliffhanger' from last season's final pretty quick (which was good, since it was pretty lame. I don't know WHAT Anthony Stewart Head was attempting to do with his accents as the bad guy, but I've seen him attempt an American accent in other things as well...and he just can't seem to pull it off convincingly. On top of that, he was also trying to do some other accent that I have no clue what it was trying to be. He should strictly stick to being British in the future). Myka's whole cancer scare seemed to be treated like no major thing that was also resolved quickly. Considering how out-of-left-field it the reveal of it was last season, I didn't really see what the point of it was as it really added nothing to the show at all. I can't even recall anyone but Pete even learning of it, so we were robbed of seeing her newfound 'family' reacting to this pretty devastating news. I guess they learned of it offscreen...but we certainly never saw them act like they did. There was one stand-out episode this season, which was the one where Peter, Myka and Artie got sucked into a telenovela (along with an old flame of Pete's that returned pregnant...though it wasn't his). Seemed to give the actors an excuse to go OTT with their acting...but having watched one of those types of shows myself, I'd say it was pretty accurate to the type of acting you find in such things (and kudos to them for all their Spanish speaking they did). Meanwhile, Steve got split in two and one of his selves was like a gay cliché. I was glad the show, as well as the actor playing Steve (ie. Aaron Ashmore, twin of X-Men's Shawn Ashmore - who I had mistakenly thought *played* Steve when the character was introduced in the third season and was then replaced by his brother for Season 4. I don't know why I had thought they'd switched actors, but it made me think how offended I'd be if I was Shawn, as it'd be like saying "Hey, we can just replace you with your twin and no one will know the difference"...but that turned out not to be the case and it was Aaron all along, so the point was moot), always portrayed his character in a non-clichéd way, so I guess this splitting into two halves was an excuse to allow him to go there with the role. Of course, Claudia LOVED it. Meanwhile, I was just loving Claudia (and her utilising her 'twin peaks'). Bringing Mark Sheppard back into the show as the 'big bad' for the second-last episode was rather underwhelming. Basically stuff moved from Warehouse 13 to his new one...but then he was easily defeated and all the stuff moved back to Warehouse 13. That was their BIG CLIMAX in the penultimate episode. Pretty lame. I just spent the whole time worrying about the dog...who everyone else seemed to forget about. Honestly, what was even the point of introducing a dog to the warehouse 'family'? I especially was disappointed by the pooch not appearing at the end of the very last episode - which itself was somewhat lacklustre for a 'series final', as it boiled down to the characters creating a time capsule of their 'defining moment' and this was just basically us seeing scenes supposedly from different points throughout the show that we just hadn't seen before, but were obviously filmed especially for this. Again, these were all pretty forgettable (and Pete's was a cop-out. His 'defining moment' was ALL his moments at the warehouse?). The *one* actually memorable/impressive 'defining moment' was Claudia's, which involved an artefact causing dancing girls to appear (with scary smiles) and the gang being chased by them whilst also constantly tapdancing themselves as they figured out what to do to solve the problem. It was amusing to watch (reminded me of the whole dancing-to-death thing from the BtVS musical episode). The 42nd Street performance was grand and Claudia being the one to save the day was great. Considering all the work that must've gone into that sequence...it really felt like this should've come last in the episode since it was easily the BEST of the whole lot. Instead it was first and nothing that came after could've possibly lived up to it. While it was nice to see H.G. Wells/Helena one last time at the beginning of the episode, it would've been even nice to see her share one last scene with Myka since the two actresses who played them always had the BEST sexual chemistry in the entire show. Speaking of sexual chemistry, it felt so abrupt to suddenly have Myka and Pete admit their feelings for each other. Honestly, they always felt more like siblings, I thought, so making them exchange 'I love you's in the final episode just felt like pandering to those who always thought they should end up together. I did always think that the Claudia/Artie daughter/father-like relationship was the best 'relationship' of the fore group (with the Pete/Myka relationship and Claudia Steve relationship coming in second and third). Honestly, when Artie revealed Claudia's sister was still alive at the end of last season, for a second I thought he was going to have a Darth Vader-esque "I am your father" moment (as nonsensical as that would've been). Despite his constant grumpiness towards her (though, to be fair, he was grumpy towards basically most people), it was obvious he cared about her and vice versa. They really reached the pinnacle of drama in the third season with Artie going 'evil', killing Leena (it's funny she returned in the series final simply to say via flashback that she knew she'd die in the warehouse and that it was 'okay') and Claudia having to stab him. This is another reason why the third season probably should've been the last one. That major story arc, combined with the warehouse EXPLODING, really felt like the 'biggest' the show was able to get and consequently everything that came after had less impact. Something else we could've avoided in the show had stopped at Season 3: Pete's hair this season - this show had some serious hair issues, though thankfully Claudia's never looked 'bad' (even if I did prefer the way it was back in the first couple of seasons). Speaking of Claudia, her getting her sister back just long enough to have one good day with her and then having to send her back into a coma so she didn't inadvertently hurt people with her power was another plotline that seemed like it could've done with more time. Lastly, after this whole final episode being devoted to Claudia learning she didn't *have* to be warehouse caretaker (since we saw she much-preferred being an agent instead), that lesson (and consequently the episode as a whole) felt like a complete waste since the ending showed a flash to the future with new no-name agents taking over the Pete, Myka, Artie roles and Claudia in fact ending up as warehouse caretaker after all. I guess the writers had to cobble together this episode in a hurry or something? As it really didn't feel like a proper send-off for the show. Anyway, as I said in my review for the previous season, I think the first three seasons were pretty great (with Season 3 remaining my fave), while Seasons 4 & 5 were considerably less so (though with still some good stuff included). It's funny to think that I didn't really get into the first season of this show when I originally watched it and it took me giving it another viewing before I continued onto the other seasons - which was when I really started getting into the series. It turned out to be pretty fun, mostly lighthearted, with an enjoyable group of characters and, best of all, never felt 'preachy' (like so many shows these days do). Mostly I'm glad that I got to see so much more of Allison Scagliotti (who, prior to this show, I'd only seen in one episode of Smallville, I think). She was definitely the stand-out of the series for me (and, luckily, I'll get to see her again when I do the same with Eureka as I did with this show - ie. start watching it from the first season again on DVD, after having previously only watched one and a half seasons of it, and work my way through the whole series this time since I own all five seasons. That show crossed over with this one and vice versa, so I'll get to see Claudia again in her crossover ep/s). Goodbye, show (and all your shameless Toyota product placement).
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 6, 2022 8:47:18 GMT
Finished Season 1 of Eureka on DVD. I'd previously watched this first season of the show ages ago when I first bought it (along with Season 2, I think) after it was recommended to me. I vaguely recall getting partway through Season 2 when one of the episodes seemed to have a glitch with it and I was lucky to get the thing out of the DVD/Blu-ray player. I guess that put me off watching, as I didn't go any further with the episodes. I did, however, end up buying the last three seasons on DVD at a later date with plans to eventually finish watching the series. It's been quite a long while since I did that, but after having recently made it all the way through five seasons of Warehouse 13 (which I know crossed over with Eureka at some point), I figured the next logical step was to revisit this show and do what I did with Warehouse 13 - ie. start from the beginning again...which is just as well I did, as I'd forgotten most of what occurred in this first season of the show. I remembered the characters, but that was about it. Somehow I must've made myself forget that the first episode of this show contained a bunch of things I HATE. Namely, a beautiful husky got horribly killed (when an energy bubble thing appeared in a van, transporting whatever was contained inside to another location) whilst a thieving little shit (who stole chocolate from a store, stuffed his face and then HID when everyone and their dog - well...except his own family dog, that is - were out searching for his thieving arse, only for him to be found hiding and acting like he hadn't just lost a pet), of course, survived. Talk about rage-inducing. If there's one thing I HATE, it's turds being spared whilst animals are killed (when, from what little we saw of the dog, it was a more worthwhile being who actually deserved to live. I also call BS on it not being smart enough to get out of the way of the energy thing. And it being turned into a skeleton really wasn't needed. We could've gotten the idea of what happened with just the section of the van being cut off. They didn't have to do that to the poor dog as well). Worse still, the husky wasn't the only animal fatality in the episode, as cows also got killed by this energy whatever (and worst of all, I think we were meant to find the delayed falling over of one dead cow - which had a piece missing from it - 'funny'. Sorry, sickos, it wasn't). Honestly, it's a wonder I ever made it past this first episode of the show when I originally watched it, since all this stuff which occurred would've typically been enough for me to not bother continuing. But since I'd bought the show on DVD, obviously I was going to eventually watch it (otherwise it would've been a waste of money). Colin Ferguson plays the lead character...with the *most* generic-sounding name EVER, Jack Carter (seriously, for a period of time it felt like I couldn't watch a show without either a character with the first name of 'Jack' or the last name of 'Carter' in it, so it's like the creators of this show just took the most common first and last name and slapped them together. It was funny when he asked why a mannequin being used for testing looked like him and whoever it was answered "It's generic.", since that certainly sums up his name). He does a good job with his deadpan delivery of the sarcastic comments his character makes and the overall humour in the show. Lines/moments that probably wouldn't be that funny coming from another actor are *made* funnier thanks to his delivery/reactions. He's a likeable enough character, which - since he's the lead - is pretty important. However, I'd say my 'favourite' in the show has to be his deputy, Jo Lupo (played by Erica Cerra, who I 've seen in a LOT of things, but was glad to finally see score a 'regular' gig in this show...though it's disappointing her name doesn't get included in the opening credits sequence, like she's somehow less important than those who do). Her dynamic with Jack is probably my favourite one in the show and I liked how she went from resenting him getting the job that she figured she was naturally next in line for to her begrudgingly coming to respect him (and vice versa). I did feel, though, that the episode where it built that 'trust' between them (it was a nice moment where he told her there was no one he'd rather have watching his back than her and her reaction to this - which happened to be when she and others were under the influence of some behaviour-altering gizmo) probably should've come earlier than it did. It felt like they'd been getting along in the first couple episodes and then suddenly she was back to being angry at him, so really, this probably should've been the second episode when they were still getting to know each other rather than after a few episodes. I like Jo's whole character, with her love/knowledge of guns and the fact that she's the toughest person in town...yet gets weepy watching commandos doing their thing or whatever. It was amusing to see her act totally NOT like herself in one episode (which, again, featured some behaviour-altering doohickey) and, naturally, Jack's reaction to that. It was also good that she developed a friendship with Jack's delinquent daughter, Zoe, since it made that character a bit more tolerable. The show tried to make it a 'reveal' that this kid being transported in the back of Jack's police car at the start of the episode was in fact his daughter by not having them say anything about their relationship until partway through the episode, but I thought it was pretty obvious given how they interacted. She was the typical 'moody teen' and could be quite annoying at times, but other times wasn't so bad. Although, there was an episode that came partway through the season where she and her dad seemed to talk out their issues...and, again, I felt this episode should've come earlier than it did (and I was amazed Jack refrained from making any clown-related comments regarding her totally fake-looking red hair). I have no clue if any episodes are out of order or what, but it did feel at times like that was the case with how certain characters interacted. It seemed like they'd 'regressed' somewhat in their characterisation. I'm afraid I wasn't that into the character of Allison Blake or how hard the show tried to push the 'sexual tension' between her and Jack. I never found the two of them interacting that compelling, and compared to all the other more quirky characters, hers felt pretty 'normal' (ie. 'boring'). Still, I didn't hate her or anything, it's just that I've seen her 'type' of character a million times before and she didn't really do anything 'new' with that archetype. Her ex-hubby, Nathan Stark, was pretty 'serious' most of the time too, but he did have a very dry/sarcastic humour about him on the odd occasion which kept him from being too boring. His 'frenemy' dynamic with Jack led to some amusing moments between them. And, hey, finally I found a character with the last name of 'Stark' who wasn't someone I hated. Fargo wasn't quite how I remembered him. I always thought he was just another one in the long line of 'nerd' characters who stumble over their words whilst babbling and were intended as the 'comic relief'. While he does have that typical 'nerd' quality about him, he's far less like other similar types of characters I've watched in other shows. I actually didn't even find him that funny at all. Much funnier was his house that he created (and voiced - albeit attempting to sound 'feminine') for Jack called S.A.R.A.H. and the dynamic it had with Jack (like they were an old married couple). The *one* thing I liked about Fargo was his being a fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar/Buffy (though at times it felt like this show was making fun of SMG/Buffy fans...which wasn't so funny). The character of Henry Deacon (played by Joe Morton, who's another person I've seen in quite a few things) seemed to be mainly exist to create solutions to problems and for exposition-delivering, explaining all the technobabble in the show. He did develop a friendship with Jack, which was nice...though that kinda got destroyed when he changed reality to save his love interest and that created an alternate reality in which Jack and Allison were married/expecting a kid which all got undone when Jack prevented Henry from doing it to avoid a paradox that was causing destruction. Beverly Barlowe was a pretty 'blank' type of character. We didn't get much in the way of 'emotion' from her, though it was revealed that she was a 'bad guy' of sorts (which still wasn't resolved by the end of this first season). The *one* time she actually seemed to have a bit more personality to her was when everyone (except Jack) was being affected by one of those behaviour-altering gizmos and she really had no time for everyone's issues they kept coming to her with, so she made them public knowledge (which is a big no-no when you're the town psychotherapist). There were other characters who made up the townsfolk, but the only one that really stands out (other the the most-likely-gay-but-never-explicitly-stated-as-being-such café owner, Vincent) was the so-called 'Australian' character of Taggart. Even if I hadn't seen Matt Frewer in several things before watching this show (most notably Supernatural, where he played a pretty gross/disgusting Horsemen of the Apocalypse), it still would've been immediately obvious to me he was most definitely NOT an Australian...as his attempt at an Aussie accent is, at most, one step above the 'Australian' accents in The Simpsons. Maybe to those who think Aussies sound like English, the accent he's putting on might sound halfway decent, but to anyone who actually knows what real Aussies sound like, it's a pretty weak attempt. Not sure why they couldn't have just gotten an actual Australian for the part and also maybe one a bit younger, considering how gross it is he and Jo end up sucking face in one of the last episodes of the season. She's SO out of his league it's not funny, and once again a much older guy is paired with a gorgeous younger woman. Not sure if it was the writers/creators of this show living out some fantasy or whatever, but I felt sorry for Erica Cerra. Also, the Australian stereotype wasn't particularly appreciated (why is THAT allowed/deemed 'okay' and stereotypes of people from other countries isn't, hmm?). On the whole, I think I preferred the first season of Warehouse 13 to the first season of this show. The characters just felt more like a 'family' in that other series. Plus, Claudia from that show easily beats ANY character from this show as my favourite (yes, even Jo). It was weird seeing Saul Rubinek (who played Artie in that series) show up in this series as a totally different character (sans beard). Hopefully with my rewatch of Season 2 I'll find myself getting more into this series (which is what happened with Warehouse 13) and I'm praying that this time around that hiccup with one of the episodes won't occur.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 22, 2022 7:46:05 GMT
Finished Season 1 of Knightfall on DVD. In a thread that asked what shows we gave up on after one episode, I'd mentioned this series - as I'd watched the first episode when it originally aired on TV here quite a while back. I remember being bored by it. However, because this show seemed to be hated on by quite a lot of people for its 'inaccuracies' regarding history, and because I rarely care about such things since pretty much no historical show or movie outside of documentaries is ever 100% 'accurate', I thought maybe I'd been too harsh with judging it just based on its first episode. Anyway, both seasons were available as a DVD boxset for a good cheap price and I thought I might as well give the show another shot (also, learning that an actress I'd come to enjoy in another show I recently watched would be appearing in Season of this show gave me extra incentive). Watching the first episode again was almost like watching it anew, since I'd forgotten a lot of what happened. As it went on, though, I started recalling bits and pieces from my first viewing such as there being a farm boy (Parsifal) who pretty much signed his fiancée's (Marie) death warrant when they discussed their child/what they'd name it and they seemed too happy and carefree as he left to deliver a message to the Knights Templar. This was after they'd seen a Templar (Godfrey - whose name is mentioned SO often throughout the season you'll get sick of hearing it despite the fact that we spend so little time with his actual character) die at the hands of bad guys (who he quickly dispatched most of...but not before being fatally injured). Parisfal took Godfrey's sword, delivered it, then brought the other Templars back to his farm only to find Marie dead with a crossbow bolt through her throat. I remembered this part from my first viewing and I also remembered that Parsifal becomes very single-minded about getting revenge against the one who killed her. As the episodes went on, it became clear that this was his *only* purpose on the show, as he didn't listen to the Templars who told him not to rush into things and he just made stupid mistake after stupid mistake. In the end, he *did* get revenge against Marie's killer (in a satisfying, albeit gruesome way), but then as he learned of betrayers amongst the Knights Templar, he trusted the wrong one and paid the price by unexpected getting his fool self killed. It was quite clear to me that the people in charge of this show really didn't know what to do with his character once he'd fulfilled his promise to avenge Marie and was promptly dropped him (which was somewhat surprising to me, as usually this type of character would gradually be developed to the point where they actually learned from their mistakes, became useful and eventually turned into leader material - not so here. I imagine they realised both the character and actor weren't 'clicking' with the rest so so gave him the ol' heave-ho). Probably just as well he, since his character seemed pretty worthless. The show's lead, Landry, is played by an actor named Tom Cullen - which sounded familiar to me, but whatever things I'd seen him in...he didn't leave any sort of impression. It was the same case here. Most of the time he seemed to not really do much performance-wise, then when he *did* it was a lot of OTT yelling or overdone emotion. His character was kind of hard to like, since despite taking his vows as a Templar, he broke most of them including sleeping with the wife of the KING (who he was supposedly a loyal friend of). He fought with his fellow Templars, judging them for anything he perceived they'd done 'wrong', but at the same time *he* was doing wrong things all over the place, and although he got called out on it...that didn't really make up for his hypocrisy. Most of the season his dialogue could be summed up as "blah blah blah Grail blah blah" and, honestly, he couldn't even be trusted with hanging onto the Grail since he kept LOSING it/allowing it to be stolen numerous times. As series leads go, he was rather underwhelming. A much better character was that of one of his fellow Templars, Tancrede (played by an actor named Simon Merrells, who reminded me of the actor who played Bronn in Game of Thrones for some reason). He seemed to be everything Landry wasn't, and even though he made some questionable decisions, he still remained likeable (at least moreso than Landry, anyway). The only other Templar whose name I could even remember/bother to learn was Gawain, who in the opening battle to the series we saw save Landry and get an arrow in the leg for his trouble, causing him to have a gimpy leg...which he then proceeded to bitch about for THE REST OF THE SEASON. On the one hand, I could understand him being ticked off at Landry who opposed him on many a things and it feeling like he was ungrateful for the save, but on the other hand Gawain just came across as a whiny bitch (though he *did* get a revenge of sorts against Landry at one point, going all Misery on his leg with a hammer. The two of them faced off during at battle at the end of the season, but sadly Gawain managed to get away to annoy another day). This was another reason Tancrede came out looking the best of all the Templars. Speaking of bitching, I know people complained about everything in this show from the acting, to the 'historical inaccuracies' to the CGI (I actually had no problem with that when it was featured. Unlike some, I haven't become spoiled when it comes to judging TV series CGI. I know most shows only have a limited budget, so I'm not expecting movie-quality effects from most TV series. I thought it was fine). In a weird coincidence, an actor who I'd seen in two shows I'd watched recently (the Upstairs Downstairs revival and The Frankenstein Chronicles) by the name of Ed Stoppard appeared in this series as King Philip (it's not like I was purposely watching shows with him in them, it just worked out that way), who seemed decent enough for most of the season but then once he found out about his wife, Queen Joan, cheating on him with his supposed friend, Landry, it was like he flipped a switch all of a sudden and decided "Okay, time to be evil!" as he really didn't take too kindly to this revelation that not only was someone he trusted boffing his wife (which rubbed even more salt into the wound due to the fact that she hadn't been in hubby's bed for at least two years or so), but she was also carrying Landry's child. By the last few episodes, Kingy was torturing the Queen's handmaiden in front of her, being an abusive husband and then after pummeling Landry's face for a good long while in the final as his wife gave birth, he stabbed her in her side with a sword when she begged him to allow Landry to live (though he rightly pointed out she was using the love he once felt for her to save the life of her current love, Landry - which was pretty rich). Suffice to say, he went full-blown villain by the end. As for the Queen, I found her rather plain/boring for the majority of the season...though I did like her with her handmaiden (played by an actress I recalled from the 2015 Poldark remake - and considering that was quite a while ago and she didn't play an overly 'big' role, it just shows that sometimes actors *can* leave an impression no matter how small their role is. Take note, Tom Cullen!), Sophie, whose days I knew were most likely numbered since she was helping the Queen to get away from her now supremely a-holey husband, the King. Unfortunately, the Queen's bratty, conniving daughter spied on her when she was discussing her escape plan with her handmaiden (THIS is why you check your doors/walls don't have peepholes!) and she reported back to her father, outing them. The actress playing Princess Isabella in this first season, Sabrina Bartlett, was another one I knew from the 2015 version of Poldark. She played a thoroughly unlikeable character with seemingly no redeeming qualities in the first season of that show and I was pretty relieved when she finally met her demise. I've seen her in some other things too, I think, and while I don't necessarily *hate* her...there's something about her that makes most of the characters she plays unlikeable (even when they're not supposed to be unlikeable). I think the best part she's played was that blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in Game of Thrones. I'll admit that I found her character here somewhat interesting when she conspired with her father's scheming counsellor/lawyer, De Nogaret, to do away with her soon-to-be-hubby in an elaborate ruse involving her seemingly being kidnapped in a carriage, her doomed hubby-to-be coming to her 'rescue', only for him to realise she was setting him up as she leapt from the carriage and then it exploded due to being doused with 'Greek fire'. She then was absent from some episodes, her mother was given an ultimatum by her cousin where she was to either turn over Isabella (in return for her murdering her cousin's son) or she would get stabbed in the baby. The Queen had a counter-offer/third option - namely offing her cousin to keep her daughter safe (though it seemed like her cousin was reconsidering being so harsh towards her) and in return her beeyotch of an offspring ratted her out to the King. De Nogaret was the typical weaselly type of character, and I was glad that his true self was revealed mid-season, but naturally he escaped death and was soon back in the King's good graces, so it felt rather pointless. Still, he's one of the more interesting characters (though there was a VERY unpleasant-to-watch dead horse that had been beheaded in an episode and I'm not sure how much of a role he played in that, but even if he didn't...I still can't say I 'like' his character, but at least he's not as boring as some of the others). Landry's mother who was revealed towards the end of the season proved pretty handy with a crossbow, so she actually felt less boring than Landry did. There were a couple of female Saracen ninjas (or something similar) who got phased out after playing significant parts, a Pope (played by the Mr. Carson actor from Downton Abbey) who wasn't very Pope-like (what with the murdering of Godfrey, which it was revealed he was behind), TONS of weirdly purple-ish blood splashed over all the Templars during their fight scenes (they kind of went overboard with it) and some really dodgy dialogue Landry spouted in the season final as he held the dying Queen, who he tried to save by having her drink from the Grail (which had been recovered for the umpteenth time) only for it fail to heal her and then he petulantly threw it against a tree, shattering it (THANKS A BUNCH, LANDRY! All those Templars who died to protect/retrieve it were, I'm sure, THRILLED with that). Was the Grail real or fake and did it magically heal Joan's child - which managed to be cut out of her corpse miraculously still alive - or was it just luck? Who knows! And some random dude found a teeny-weeny message rolled up in a metal cylinder inside the bottom of the broken Grail, read it...then swallowed it, CONTAINER AND ALL (dude, just swallow the paper. It'd go down much easier...and certainly be less uncomfortable when it eventually comes back out). Despite the admittedly MANY flaws this first season of the show had, I found myself sort of into it and didn't really doze off when watching (which I was guilty of doing with the last show I watched on DVD, Seasons 1 & 2 of The Frankenstein Chronicles - an entirely pointless series which I wouldn't recommend anyone checking out, despite it featuring Sean Bean as its lead. Talk about a waste!). The second season of this show features both Mark Hamill and an actress who I've become fond of (taking over the role as Princess Isabella), which I'm looking forward to.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Sept 23, 2022 20:52:22 GMT
"Bewitched" season 3
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 24, 2022 8:51:11 GMT
Finished Season 2/the final season of Knightfall on DVD. Once I finished Season 1, I went straight onto Season 2. I'd read about some recastings and other changes made well before watching, but even if I hadn't, it would've been immediately evident from the opening battle in the first episode of this second season where it's Templars vs. the King's men and Landry (now with a thicker beard) vs. King Philip (with new facial hair of his own). It also soon became obvious this was a dream sequence when the King bested Landry (I figured if this weren't a dream, then it made Landry look like a pretty lame fighter). Naturally, soon as he's stabbed by the King, Landry wakes up in reality and there's boring stuff with his newborn kid who miraculously survived the sword to its mother's stomach (that may or may not have been thanks to the water Landry made her drink from the maybe real/maybe fake Grail). Poor Tancrede (still the best of ALL the Templars in this), getting saddled with taking care of Landry's child. I guess the writers realised how unlikeable Landry was in Season 1, so for the first part of this season he spent it 'repenting'/'being humbled'/'learning humility' after throwing himself at the mercy of the other Templars and begging to rejoin since they'd kicked him out for all his vow-breaking he did. This first episode also saw the introduction of Mark Hamill's character, Talus, who's the 'initiate master' that trains all the Templar initiates, whipping them into shape through the usual tactics these hardened/grizzled teacher types implement (namely treating them in such a rough way that it verges on abuse). If people thought he was old and crotchety in The Last Jedi, this is like that dialed up to ELEVEN. He also seemed to be using a variation of his voice as The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. His most ridiculous rule? That when the initiates ate the slop they were served as food, they were only allowed 'seven chews per bite'...no more, no less (and if you tried for eight, he stuck his finger in your mouth until you barfed it up). How messed up a rule is that? What if you only needed three chews? That means four more unnecessary chews! If you've seen any show or movie with a tough drill sergeant type, then you basically know the way this goes with him being hard on the initiates (especially Landry) and making their lives as miserable as possible. However, it wasn't long before Landry was taking charge of the other initiates, since he obviously was well-experienced and knew things they had no clue about, advising them how best not to die in battle, even finding ways around Talus' seemingly impossible-to-complete tasks. Unfortunately, some initiates didn't listen to Landry's advice and they were all punished for it, but eventually they went from excluding him from eating with them to looking to him as their de facto 'leader'. One of the most amazing feats Landry accomplished was being the bottom of a human ladder so the others could climb on top of each other to reach a wall no one had been able to climb (whilst it was raining). Not sure how Landry managed to not only survive all these guys standing on top of him, but also last long enough when the one who was tasked with making it to the top ended up falling and he had to start again (then there was the small matter of each man pulling themselves up the rope that was lowered down by the first one to the top - I imagine Landry's arms shouldn't have even been functioning after having the weight of umpteen guys on his shoulders...but we cut away before seeing how that went). The most important part of all this was that it seemed to earn him Talus' respect. Was it realistic? Hardly, but given all the other crazy things that occurred in this show, I just shrugged it off. Mark Hamill managed to breathe some life into the first four episodes of this season, which felt as though they were mostly spent on all this training of new Templars. Without him being amusingly a-holey to everyone (and cussing more than you'd expect to hear from the mouth of Luke Skywalker), things would've been pretty boring. I was bummed when he departed after four episodes, but thankfully that wasn't the last we saw of him. Eventually, the initiates completed Templar College, with Landry among them (so it took him four whole episodes to get back to what he'd once been). One neat part was the inclusion of lepers in an episode where, despite their affliction, they seemed like pretty cool/decent guys and it was nice that Landry said they needn't have spared the Templars their unsightly visage by keeping their masks on in their own home. Speaking of 'visages', there was some changing of looks/appearances going on as far as King Philip and the people he surrounded himself with were concerned. In a bizarre case of 'swapsies', it appeared Philip traded his clean-shaveness and long hair with his counsellor/lawyer, De Nogaret, for his short hair and beard. De Nogaret especially looked weird to me now beardless and with longer locks. As was expected, Princess Isabella was recast from Sabrina Bartlett in Season 1 with Genevieve Gaunt in Season 2 (who I came to like after watching her in a show called The Royals - seems she just can't escape playing a royal - and was one of the reasons I decided to give this show another go). Does she look anything like Sabrina Bartlett? Nope, but who cares? It was a definite upgrade, and with her new appearance came an even more evil personality as demonstrated by the fact that she held a serious grudge when her brother, Prince Louis (who we'd never met before this episode and I'm pretty sure wasn't even mentioned last season) turned up with his wife, Queen Margaret...who made the mistake of 'patronising'/talking down to Isabella by saying there'd always be a place for her in her own home. Basically lowkey saying, "Yeah, I'll be Queen and you'll still just be a Princess. Nyah." - or at least that's the way Isabella evidently took it. This then led to her 'befriending' Margaret under the guise of 'sisterhood', inviting her to dinner, then promptly drugging her and leaving her in a room with two guys who clearly had their way with her unconscious self. And if that wasn't enough, Isabella fooled these rapists into thinking she'd run away with them (giving them each a ring from a three ring set that when put together looked like the symbol from the TV series Charmed), only for her to gladly have them executed, thus tying up any loose ends (and the ring she pretended was hers? Actually had Margaret's name inscribed on the inside of it so help with the lie that she'd been fooling around with them behind her husband's back). Suffice to say Isabella was a nasty piece of work, but at least less annoying than she was in Season 1 (thanks to Genevieve Gaunt's portrayal). The last time we saw her was when her father reminded her to 'be the wolf' (after we'd heard a story early in the season about everyone having inside of them two wolves - one black and one white - and that whole deal about which one you 'feed' more. I remember first hearing this story - except it was with bears instead of wolves - in the 2020 X-Men movie The New Mutants) and this was obviously a nod to her becoming the 'She-Wolf of France' which she'd eventually become known as (considering she'd been against getting shipped off to England by her father to marry a 'known sodomite' at the start of this season, and he threatened her if she didn't do it, I imagine she was now at the stage where she'd be able to handle her future hubby given how ruthless we'd seen her be). Meanwhile, Louis was dispatched to go kill children that had been baptised on a certain date because the King eventually discovered that his wife's child that she'd gotten pregnant with from Landry was still alive (he'd assumed it'd died since he SHOVED A SWORD into her belly last season). Since Landry had Tancrede deliver the child to the nuns (one of which Tancrede had history with/had a thing for, but unlike Landry, he didn't give into his impulses - another reason he was a much better Templar), they became a target (thanks, Landry!) and had to go on the run to escape Louis. At one stage Landry told Louis the truth about the King being the one who killed his mother, but Louis refused to believe this since his father had led him to believe Landry was his mother's murderer. Even weirder than Louis managing to disappear in the blink of an eye after shooting an arrow at Landry was Landry managing to shoot Louis after catching up with him again...and then not finishing him off despite the threat he posed to Landry's child and the nuns. It would've just taken a second, but no, Landry wasted time hesitating and then left him be. Just when you thought Louis might've gotten a clue about his father's true evil nature (as if his father tasking him with killing infants wasn't already enough of a clue - which Landry pointed out to him), he *still* continued doing his father's bidding. However, he did go ask a prisoner to tell him if he'd witnessed his father killing his mother - one little snag: the guy was tongueless (which I'm pretty sure Louis actually saw happen, as his father cut the guy's tongue out in the first episode this season because he had witnessed the King killing the Queen and was spreading this news which was totally messing with the King's narrative of how events went down). Why Louis asked somewhat without a tongue to 'tell' him something, I have no idea. Eventually he gave the guy his ring and he cut the symbol of the crown into the prison floor and THEN Louis asked for confirmation of his father being his mother's killer and the guy nodded in response. Louis really could've saved time by starting with this simple 'yes' or 'no' question. There was another time-wasting scene with Louis tracking the Templars at one stage, going all CSI with examining the hoofprints in the ground and fibers snared on tree branches - all in slow-mo, so it was really dragged-out. The King was a pretty pathetic villain, since all of his evil schemes basically just boiled down to him lying about things and all his evil plots depended on those lies. There was the lie about Landry killing Queen Joan, then thanks to Gawain (who was still his annoying self this season, teaming up with the King to take out his former brothers, the Templars) he learned of some heretic belief with a two-skulled something or other that was used as evidence that the Templars were no good (even though this whole thing was fabricated, with them crafting this double-skulled thingy whatsit), then there was a lie to the new Pope (after De Nogaret killed the previous one because he'd had De Nogaret's parents burned at the stake when he was a kid) that he delivered to the Templars whereby they would be given a 'fair trial' if they surrendered...which some of them foolishly did (including their not-so-wise Grandmaster), despite Landry's warnings *not* to do so, only for him to turn out to be right and they got captured/imprisoned, tortured, killed (or all three) with no intention of there being any sort of 'fair trial' for them. So basically, the King's just a big fat LYING LIAR WHO LIES and that was his entire shtick. Sure, this season tried to make him out to be some kind of 'badass' by having him torture/kill people with his own hands (at one point he stuck Landry in an iron maiden and slowly drove the spikes inside it into him...but then released him), but he still came across as rather lame. His fatal mistakes were imprisoning Gawain and having him tortured with a nail hammered into his gimpy leg (which he'd only just had come good again thanks to the King's doctors giving him stuff to inject into it) as punishment for failing to deliver Landry, beating up De Nogaret (for failing to do the same) and imprisoning Louis' wife, Margaret, after she was framed by Isabella as having 'cheated' on Louis (who didn't believe it and could tell Isabella was behind it, making a thinly-veiled threat towards her in the final episode...which we'll never know if he delivered on now that the show's prematurely ended). When he eventually found his wife, she'd already slit her own wrists after having been calling out to him for ages (you just didn't wait long enough, Margaret!). So by turning these three guys who had previously been loyal to him into enemies, there was no one to protect the King when Landry came back to face off against him (both De Nogaret and Louis purposely walked out and closed the doors behind them to leave Landry alone with Philip). Before finally reaching this last confrontation between the two, we'd had four episodes of initiates in Templar training, two episodes of battle scenes, one episode of torture and this last one kind of involved all of the above (well...except for the initiate Templar training, of course, since they were now all official Templars - none of which I particularly cared about or even bothered to learn the names of despite the show's attempts to *make* me care about them. Some betrayed others, some I got mixed up with each other and most died. It was nice to see Talus/Mark Hamill return to save the remaining ones from burning at the stake (though he was a bit late to save a couple of ones who got roasted first), revealing a big-arse crossbow at his disposal that he used to take out several bad guys...but failed to kill the King. However, he made up for this by taking out a whole group of guys by himself and I was amused by the look he gave as he walked off (like Hamill was thinking, "THIS is the sort of thing people wanted to see me do in TLJ."). One woman, who Louis widowed and also killed the child of in his quest to get rid of all the babies that might've been Landry's (at his father's behest earlier in the season), ended up becoming the Prince's 'pet' after he chained her up, subjected her to his monologuing and I think there was something about him hoping she'd help with his erectile disfunction problem he had...or something? Not real sure what his goal was with her, but the Templars freed her and she gave them sanctuary in her home...which was totally rendered moot when she screamed (I forget why), thus alerting those who were searching for them to their presence in her house (luckily the King's men were pretty easily fooled with some illogical story she spun them to get rid of them). Still, what's the point of a hideout if you basically go screaming "We're in here!"? Though she wasn't the WORST person in the final - no, that would be some little shit who kept yelling out to the King's men every time he spotted the Templars trying to evade them. I wish that rat bastard had been on the receiving end of multiple arrows instead of poor Tancrede (who was managing to function pretty well for someone who'd already been tortured by having his head cut open and a piece of skin peeled back, exposing the inside of his head), who got off the boat the few surviving Templars were escaping on to go hold the dying nun he fancied in his arms after she too got shot - albeit with only *one* arrow (lame! It took many arrows to kill Tancrede!). If there had been a Season 3, I doubt it would've been much fun to watch without Tancrede (I would've gladly traded him for Gawain dying instead. What was Season 3 going to be, just him and Landry continuing to bitch at each other about who wronged who first? No thanks!). The final scene was the previously-mentioned fight between Landry and Philip - who got a few good licks in, but at the end was no match for Landry who ran him through with his sword, then in a shot mirroring Landry's dream from the start of this season, he stood over Philip's body and brought his sword down on him to deliver the final blow...then the episode abruptly ended. I don't know whether the showrunners knew this show was cancelled or cancellation was pretty likely or what, but on the whole it was a fairly decent 'end' to the series (at least Philip was finally dispatched) whilst leaving some loose threads in case they came back for another season. While this show was by no means 'great' (or even that 'good', really), I certainly didn't hate it like others did and remain glad that I gave the series a second chance.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2022 18:50:43 GMT
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 30, 2022 2:22:41 GMT
Finished Season 1 of Magnum P.I. on DVD. I'd had the first three seasons of this show on DVD sitting in the queue to be watched among my many other unwatched DVDs/Blu-rays for some time now and finally got around to watching after deciding on a whim it was about time I did so. Out of all the shows that got cancelled during the 'culling' this year, I was somewhat surprised that this one got 'saved'. I never watched the original series starring Tom Selleck. I knew he was in it...and that was about it. So I went into this 'reboot' with no expectations whatsoever of what the show would or 'should' be like. I did, however, get the reference to Selleck's iconic moustache in the second episode, as this version of Magnum (played here by Jay Hernandez, who I knew from some other things I'd seen him in quite a while ago) contemplated keeping that particular part of his facial hair as he shaved...and then thought better of it. I hadn't ever really taken notice of Selleck's version also making Hawaiian shirts his signature 'thing', so when this version eventually started wearing them - I wasn't expecting it, but I gathered by how the moment was played that this was another 'iconic' part of the character. I thought the beginning of the first episode was a bit weird with him doing a halo jump FROM SPACE, but then it turned out this was purposeful embellishment as his character's written about in books (reminded me of Castle a bit) by the mysterious owner of the place he's now living in/working out of, so that made the outlandish beginning a bit more easier to swallow since it was clearly *meant* to be unbelievable. I knew Perdita Weeks from several other shows I'd seen her in previously and automatically took a liking to her character of Juliet Higgins (a Brit who, ironically, doesn't like tea) due to her owning a couple of Dobermanns named Apollo and Zeus. I immediately thought to myself good on the show for establishing that not *all* Dobermanns are 'bad' - yes, they chase Magnum, but that's simply because they don't like him specifically. Whereas one of his buddies, as well as certain others, get along with them just fine. It's about time a show broke the 'Dobermanns are a bad breed' stigma. I was bummed when we lost the brief shot of the two dogs in the opening credits after the first couple of episodes to accommodate two new additions to the series who weren't there to begin with (surely they could've lost one of the umpteen helicopter shots in the opening credits in order to keep the shots of Higgins' pooches?). I also felt bad seeing her have to say goodbye to TWO of the fancy sports cars (they were so nice and shiny!), even if they're not technically hers and belong to the guy who she's the 'majordomo' (ie. property manager) for. I've seen the kind of dynamic Higgins and Magnum have in many a show, though here the female half of the 'will they/won't they' relationship is a bit more 'prickly' than other such ones I've seen (for example, in the TV series Castle, Beckett was never quite so rough). Higgins and Magnum have the usual 'banter', but here there's a lot of exchanging of 'favours' between them (I'd be interested to know if any viewers keep track of who owes who how many favours exactly since there's been SO much of it throughout just the first season). I know some probably hate her character and find her too 'mean' or whatever, but she does make fair points about Magnum using her stuff that she bought for herself and his general 'mooching'. What keeps her from being 'unlikeable' for me is that we *do* see her soften towards him and there are moments when she does show support, thank him for things that he's done for her whilst also helping him out when he really needs it. I think if we didn't get these moments, then I could understand not liking her, but we *do* get them, which shows that she's not some 'Ice Queen' and can be decent. I also like how her yoga wasn't forgotten about after the first episode and actually helped out one of Magnum's clients. As for Jay Hernandez in the title role, I'd say he's...fine. He's likeable enough and I think he gives just the right amount of 'pushback' against Higgins' barbs she throws his way (ie. he's not 'fighting mean with mean', but he's no pushover either and can give back as far as trading goodhearted insults is concerned). Though I wouldn't say he really stands out that much from the dozens and dozens of other similar types of leads, I did appreciate that he doesn't think himself 'too good' for certain clients, like a young girl who lost her cat - so that's appreciated. He's not the typical snarky jerk who we 'have' to like because he's also got a 'softer' side. He's an actual nice guy and he isn't spouting one-liners constantly, nor is he too much of a 'man-child' who's constantly acting like a big kid/too immature to take seriously as an adult, which is another 'plus'. I think the only real 'negative' I find about his character is the voiceovering (makes me appreciate/miss the Jughead voiceovers from Riverdale...which is pretty sad). These voiceovers don't really have much 'life' to them and they feel rather redundant, since most of the stuff he explains we already know or could figure out for ourselves. He also has the annoying habit of telling us what we must be thinking, when in fact we could be thinking something totally different. I do find the voiceover mostly unnecessary - there was WAY too much of it (coupled with exposition) in the first episode and in the first half of the season, but I think they may have dialed it back somewhat by the end of the season, which I was grateful for. Something else there's FAR too much of is the loud background music drowning out dialogue. It was particularly noticeable in the first episode. I'm not so sure they've dialed that back yet. It's very annoying/distracting. I was also somewhat annoyed by the cutting back to one of Magnum's buddies, Rick (played by an actor I only really knew from one show I'd previously watched him in called Happy Endings), on a boat dancing to Spice Girls whilst Magnum was underwater actually *doing* stuff. I guess it was meant to be played for 'laughs', but I just found it irritating. However, once we got past the first episode, I actually started not-minding Rick and he even amused me on more than one occasion. Thankfully, though, he's not just the 'comic relief' and actually proves to have some *substance* to his character as the season goes on. Magnum's other buddy, TC, didn't seem to have quite as much to do and mainly served to be there as Magnum's form of transport (ie. helicopter) when he needed it - whether for himself or for clients. It took a while before I felt both these characters actually got something worthwhile to do, as they seemed to be stuck in thankless B-Storyville for a fair amount of the season. Gradually, though, we got to know a bit more about them and I came to appreciate their dynamic. While they still aren't on the same level as other supporting characters in a 'police procedurals' (like Ryan & Esposito from Castle) for me yet, I think they've got potential. I just don't know if we really needed a third character added to their dynamic in the form of a wheelchair-bound guy by the name of Shammy. He's fine, I guess (at least once he got past his 'woe is me' suicidal phase, anyway), but I had no problem with it just being Rick & TC (though I do enjoy their interaction with 'Higgy' - as Magnum affectionately refers to Higgins as - and it's interesting that she seems to go easier on the two of them than she does Magnum...which I'm guessing is because she feels differently about him than she does those two, so her being 'tougher' on him his her way of keeping herself 'guarded'/from showing her true feelings for him...maybe?). The two characters who were added after the first couple of episodes - Kumu and Detective Gordon Katsumoto - are, again, fine (though I still wish their being added to the opening credits hadn't cost us the shot of Higgy's dogs! ). I think Kumu was more instantly likeable, as she clearly gets along with Higgins and backs her up when she makes good points about Magnum, but she also isn't as tough on Magnum as Higgins is, making her a 'happy medium'. Katsumoto proved a bit harder to warm up to, for me, as he just felt like the usual type of character who is there to tell the lead character to stay out of the way and not get himself into trouble, but just sighs and gives a bit of a lecture when he's blatantly ignored. I think in the latter half of the season, we did start to see there was a bit more to his character and he even seemed to develop a slight sense of humour. However, it seems his begrudgingly starting to accept Magnum was undone by one too many in a long line of 'betrayals' on Magnum's part (ie. lying to him) and they went back to square one in the season final. Honestly, I much-preferred the character of Detective Tanaka we got in the first episode. I found him more easily likeable. Shame we had to lose him from the show. It was a nice surprise seeing several actresses I reocgnised from other things guest-star in this season such as Navi Rawat (who'll always be Dana the crazy Slayer from Season 5 of the BtVS spin-off, Angel, to me) as the mother of the girl who lost her cat (it was kind of a shame she never returned despite the hint that she may have become a possible 'love interest' for Magnum), then there was Halston Sage from The Orville, and lastly Jordana Brewster (I thought the first episode she appeared in was probably the BEST episode of this whole first season of the show), who most would probably know from the Fast & Furious movies but I personally always think of as being from that 2004 movie D.E.B.S. (as that may be the first thing I recall seeing her in). Brewster plays played Hannah, who was someone Magnum apparently was going to marry until she seemingly sold out him and his buddies to the Taliban. By the end of the season we find out she had a 'reason' for doing so...though I'm not sure it was really a good enough one to excuse what she did. Anyway, she ended up dead, so any attempt to 'redeem' her was rendered moot. On the whole, while this show's not doing anything I haven't seen before, I don't think it's 'offensively bad' either and am relieved that I didn't buy three seasons of a series on DVD that I ended up not thinking much of (only on rare occasions has there been a show I've regretted 'blind-buying'). I look forward to watching the following seasons and am glad the series got renewed after 'cancellation' so it can continue.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 7, 2022 6:09:12 GMT
Finished Season 2 of Magnum P.I. on DVD. I went straight into Season 2 after finishing Season 1 and was glad to see a shot of Higgins' dogs - albeit a very brief one- made it into the opening credits for this season (after having been given the heave-ho last season two episodes into the show so that shots of other later additions to the cast could be included). I think they might've dialed down the music that was drowning out dialogue, and for a while it felt as though they'd also reduced the amount of Magnum voiceovering...but then it seemed to be back in force. I'm not quite sure what the point was of drawing out Higgins deciding whether to accept Magnum's offer to become partners or not. I think they went several episodes before she finally said 'yes'. Her mulling it over for that long didn't really seem to serve any purpose other than Magnum constantly badgering her about it. I did think she seemed to 'soften' towards him a bit more this season than she did in Season 1. I saw more instances of her actually seeming to be decent towards him and going periods of time without her usual snarky comments. However, like with the first season, it did feel as though some of the episodes were out of order, as it'd go from her not being so 'harsh' with him to her acting like her old self after seemingly having made 'progress' with their relationship. I have no idea if any of the episodes are out of order on these DVDs I've been watching, but it did sometimes seem like that was the case with her attitude towards Magnum (unless it's just the writers of the different episodes not being consistent with her character growth?). It did feel as though Higgins was being 'punished' a bit for her 'meanness' towards Magnum when she got tortured/waterboarded in one of the early episodes this season. Also, while I've seen some accusations made that the show has her being 'better' at Magnum at 'everything', I never thought that was the case and especially in this season it felt as though they went out of their way to have him show that he could indeed be better than her in certain instances. Added to that was the fact that he knew when she was lying at times (like when she spent an episode pretending she had an injured arm in a sling when it was actually fine and it was revealed at the end of the episode that he'd known she'd been faking it the whole time). The most obvious example of him getting back at her was during the second half of the crossover with Hawaii Five-0. Previously we'd seen him at the mercy of Higgins' Dobermanns, Zeus and Apollo, who didn't like him, but this time around Higgins came across a dog that didn't like her and was in very much the same situation Magnum was often in with her dogs (ie. yelling out for help) and he got to enjoy the moment, just standing there watching her squirm as she would do with him when he begged her to call her dogs off him (added to this was the amusing bit with him snapping a photo of the moment - which he *said* he'd make her caller I.D. pic...but he never followed through with that. Speaking of, I've now become familiar with what each character's ringtone/song is when they call someone on this show - though I'm still not sure how 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' relates to Rick - and it was weird that in an episode at the end of this season, the song that plays on Higgins phone whenever Magnum calls appeared to have been replaced with some generic ring. Not sure if she changed it - why would she? - or whether the person in charge of sound forgot to have that song be played. Seemed like a really random change and it'll be a shame if it's not present in the next season whenever Magnum calls her). I think Higgins getting a taste of her own medicine regarding the dog was the show's attempt to 'even things up' a bit between her and Magnum so she wasn't always coming out on top with him always being the 'butt of a joke'. I was actually happy when they started officially working as partners and seeing her more involved in the cases, as their dynamic is a large part of what makes the show enjoyable. I also like the 'family' dynamic they have with Rick, TC and Kumu (while I did enjoy Perdita Weeks' rendition of 'The Gambler ' - which she finally got the words right to, after Magnum had earlier pointed out she was doing it wrong - I did think the group karaoke rendition of 'I Will Survive' went a little overboard with the corniness...but not *too* much. After all, I remember there was a similar corny group singing moment in an episode of Castle). In regards to the crossover episodes, I have watched the first season or so of the rebooted Hawaii Five-0 previously...but that was quite some time ago. I knew hardly anything about it past the early seasons except that Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park had left the show/been replaced with new people. Though I didn't know that Katrina Law from the 'Arrowverse' shows was one of the newly-added people to that show. I didn't recognise her at first, since her face looked a bit different to how I remembered from Arrow. Even Alex O'Loughlin's voice sounded quite a bit older (has that much time really passed?). I found it interesting how the Magnum peeps came off better in the H50 half of the crossover (McGarrett seemed slightly jerky with his possessive need to drive ALL THE TIME...even when it's someone else's car, and Chi McBride's Grover was kind of a jerk to Magnum/Higgins too, I thought. The two female H50 characters weren't so bad. I guess Danno's actor can barely be bothered doing his own show at this point, let alone a crossover with another show considering he didn't appear in either half, nor did O'Loughlin or McBride bother to appear in the Magnum P.I. half - which was kind of a snobby move, not returning the favour for the leads from that show appearing in their show. Instead we got the 'lower tier' characters). As I said, I thought the Magnum peeps came off well in the H50 half...but then not so much in the episode of their own show, where they were enlisted to do things to help find a kidnapped member of the H50 team, but failed at several points. Weird to have them look 'worse' in their *own* show. Anyway, I did end up liking the interaction with Higgins and the ladies from Five-0. I can't say I find any of the cases Magnum and Higgins work on to be particularly 'great' or anything. I mostly just enjoy their interaction/banter and don't really focus much on the case-of-the-week stuff. I did notice they seemed to include less of Higgins not getting American movie references and such this season (whereas there was numerous instances of that in Season 1. I think she did only a couple of times this season). It did feel as though the show kept trying to find 'roadblocks' on their way to making 'Miggy' (the shipper name for the characters, I've discovered) happen. Magnum got himself a g/f at the start of this season, but even she could see that 'Miggy' was destined to happen and so she left. Then there was the various times Higgins would keep something from Magnum and he'd point out she should apologise for that (whilst also apologising himself for his part in being the reason she kept things from him). The most awkward attempt to foreshadow them being 'endgame' was his offer of a marriage proposal so she could get her green card and stay in Hawaii. Given all her connections, I'm sure there would've been several other options available (and it was so OOC for Higgins to allow things to get to this desperate stage, considering she was always so prepared usually). Like with her deliberation over becoming Magnum's partner, she had to seriously think about whether or not to accept his fake marriage proposal. In the end, though, she decided to heed Detective Katsumoto's advice about keeping Magnum out of this illegal behaviour and she was all set up to fake marry TC instead (which Magnum wasn't so thrilled about...though to his credit, he at least he came right out and said as much and didn't keep his feelings bottled up/to himself like he'd accused Higgins of doing at different times) until she decided against that too and just accepted having to return to England (the absolute SADDEST/most effectively emotional moment in the season final was her saying goodbye to her dogs ), but luckily Magnum made a call to the mysterious Robin Masters and he sorted things out...a little TOO well, since the season ended with Higgins being made boss of Magnum (and all the others who work with them). Not sure how this is going to affect their 'partnership', but I can't imagine it's going to exactly go smoothly with the two of them. I think this season did a decent job of letting us get to know the characters of Rick, TC, Kumu and Katsumoto a bit more. Rick, especially, now feels like a proper character to me and not just "Hey, it's that guy from Happy Endings!". While most of his stuff seems to be about providing some humour, he *did* get the odd dramatic moment to play, which I thought the actor pulled off well. The guy who plays TC got *one* decent emotional moment (though, unfortunately, it was part of a storyline involving an old flame of his cheating on her husband with him. While it was good that he did the right thing by rejecting her offer to leave her husband for him, he essentially sent her back to being with her hubby who was clearly 'second best' as far as she was concerned. Still, TC came off looking better than she did in that whole situation). I continue to enjoy Higgins' 'sisterhood' with Kumu, who's on her side a fair amount of the time, but not always. She did get at least one episode this season that she was the main focus of. I thought Katsumoto acted a bit like a spurned lover in regards to Magnum 'betraying' his trust at the end of last season. He spent the first few episodes of this season still being pissed at him and it was only after he finally came out and said that Magnum hadn't even apologised that Magnum finally did so and this appeared to 'mend' their broken relationship (at least a bit, anyway). It does seem that Katsumoto's a stickler for the rules...until it suits him *not* to be, then he breaks them. I think I liked him a bit more this season than I did in Season 1, as I actually found some humour in his reactions to Magnum, Magnum/Higgins, Magnum/Rick/TC this time around. Still, I hope it's not just going to continue being him telling Magnum off, then forgiving him, rinse/repeat. This season saw the introduction of a recurring character by the name of Jin, a former thief, who was annoying at times...but also amused me some of the time. I took notice of Peter Facinelli when he appeared in an episode as an overly nervous guy working alongside Magnum, but I figured he was secretly the big bad because I'd seen a similar situation at the end of the first season of the TV series Dollhouse where Alan Tudyk played a comical/nonthreatening guy...only for it to be revealed he was the show's 'Big Bad'. I guess Facinelli's Ivan is supposed to be that for this show...but I can't say he seemed particularly threatening. I'm curious to know how often they'll be able to get Facinelli back for guest appearances). All in all, I quite enjoyed this second season and I think I'll be somewhat bummed once I've watched Season 3 on DVD, as it'll be a while before Season 4 ever gets released.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 11, 2022 7:08:16 GMT
Finished Season 3 of Magnum P.I. on DVD. As expected, Higgins being given ownership of Robin's Nest at the end of last season so she could stay in Hawaii and not get sent back to England took some adjusting to for Magnum at the start of this season. I was surprised to see her get shot early on, as I thought that sort of thing was usually saved for season finals. Obviously she wasn't going to be killed off, but at least we got to see just how concerned for her Magnum was. It also allowed for the amusing scene where she was on painkillers, making her a far more happy Higgins than we'd ever seen previously (Perdita Weeks has some good comedy skills). This also introduced the character of her doctor, Ethan, and it wasn't long before he took an interest in her that wasn't exactly 'professional' (and vice versa), but at least he waited until she got a new doctor before he asked her out. This wasn't Higgins' only brush with death, though, as later in the season she got kidnapped and held captive until Magnum traded himself for her (eventually they got him back too). There was a deleted scene for that episode which showed Higgins' dogs sad/upset by her absence, which I guess they thought wasn't needed but I personally would've appreciated, as I always like seeing her dogs in the show. In fact, for a while there they seemed to be absent from a lot of episodes, so I was glad to see them again by the end of the season (I was also glad to hear Magnum's ringtone that Higgins has on her phone whenever he calls, as last season I'd feared they'd done away with that tune and it got me wondering if maybe they didn't have the rights to it anymore or something else had happened. It was conspicuously absent for most of this season, but then we finally heard it again in the season final). Naturally, the will they/won't they dynamic between Higgins and Magnum continued. While last season I felt she 'lightened up' towards him (at least a little bit in the beginning of the season), it seemed like she was back to her usual 'harshness' with him this season more often than not. While I know that some people hate her and think of her as nothing more than a 'bitch', I *do* think we get to see her more vulnerable/'human' side, with her being caring/considerate towards Magnum, enough times that it helps to give us some relief from her rather tough exterior. I didn't mind Doctor Ethan as a potential love interest for her (who, let's be honest, was never going to last. Just like Magnum's g/f last season, he was simply another 'roadblock' on the way towards 'Miggy' eventually becoming a thing). He was decent enough (and had a great head of hair), and although Magnum was clearly jealous at different points, at least the two of them eventually talked it out and seemed to reach an 'understanding' of sorts. Of course, then near the end of the season it felt as though the writers had to give him some major flaw to counter how 'perfect' he seemed, and said flaw was his overreaction to learning Higgins hadn't told him about her being a former MI6 agent. He freaked out about the SECRETS & LIES...which seemed a bit OOC for someone who'd been a seemingly pretty chill dude up until that point. Then in the last episode, he suddenly changed his tune and wanted her to come WITH him when he left for Kenya. Considering how much effort Higgins and everyone else had gone to in order to keep her *in* Hawaii last season, it seemed like that was all for naught since she ended up leaving anyway (and yet again I had to see her saying goodbye to her poor pooches. Quit doing this to them, Higgy! They can only take so much! ). It was interesting that Higgins' parting words to Magnum were that he was her 'best friend' (which his reply to was 'ditto'), as I figured Kumu was probably the one she was most fond of (just like Rick and TC are Magnum's friends who he bickers with far less than Higgins), but I guess this was the first real substantial step on the road towards them eventually getting together. While I think Jay Hernandez does an adequate job portraying Magnum, he hasn't really done anything to 'wow' me as yet. A lot of the time, even if something major happens, his reactions seem pretty subdued. Then again, he (like Ethan) had a moment of overreaction at one point (when his uncle turned up and it was revealed he'd had a thing with Magnum's mum at one point...this was years after her husband/Magnum's dad had passed away). There also seemed to be a storyline that ended up hardly being much of anything with a white van following Magnum (I wondered if perhaps it was going to end up being Peter Facinelli's Ivan character from last season who was behind it...but that wasn't the case). It was a pretty disappointing season-long 'mystery'. I did like hearing about how Magnum had a mouse when he was a kid (sadly, it got squashed ) named Roberto and this explained why he was a defender of mice who was against Higgins' traps she'd laid for them in the wine cellar (which Magnum was unfortunate to discover the hard way). It was nice of Higgins to capture, but not kill, the mouse that she'd been after and present it to Magnum as Roberto II (it was the only thing I liked in an otherwise unbearable episode revolving around an infant dumped outside Robin's Nest which Higgins and Magnum had to look after. I HATE these types of stories - which, annoyingly, too many TV shows seem to have - and I spent a lot of time turning the volume down so I didn't have to listen to the noise that was constantly being made. Too bad Higgins didn't stick with her attitude that she had in the beginning - which was pretty much not wanting anything to do with it. Unfortunately, they then had to go the predictable route and have her show that she was a 'natural' at looking after it. On the 'plus' side, now this irritating story is out of the way and hopefully we NEVER have to see anything like it again in the show). Much better was the episode before that one, which involved a car being stolen at a petrol station...with a woman's dog inside. I spent the whole episode fretting about the pooch...and, sure enough, it wound up shot and being close to death (which I was NOT happy about ), but luckily it pulled through. While most of the cases-of-the-week don't really resonate with me, this one *did* since I'm an animal person and it was quite upsetting, but I appreciated the fondness with which characters spoke about their dogs...including Higgins. It was good to hear the origin of how she wound up with Zeus and Apollo. Also, I noted this episode included some pretty impressive physical fights both Magnum and Higgins got into (separately) with bad guys. There seemed to be a noticeable lack of these in a lot of episodes, so it definitely stood out to me when we finally got some. In regards to the other characters, Rick got himself a g/f this season (turns out she's played by the r/l wife of the actor who portrays Rick - I guess with Covid, love interests being played by the actors' r/l spouses in shows became more of a 'thing' than it had been prior to Covid? Speaking of, I was glad that we skipped over Covid in the Magnum P.I. universe and didn't have to sit through episodes of the actors with their faces covered by masks. They made reference to it, but obviously in their universe they'd moved on from it). I thought she was an okay love interest for Rick. As usual, his main dynamic was with TC, who I felt got a bit more to do in episodes this season than he had previously. I especially liked seeing him teaming him up with Higgins at one point, as they hardly ever had any one-on-one scenes. In contrast, it felt as though there were slightly fewer one-on-one scenes between Higgins and Kumu this season (though maybe that wasn't the case and I'm just misremembering?). Nothing involving Kumu really stood out in my mind this season (then again, my memory's pretty shoddy these days). I do recall thinking the actress they got to portray her younger self in a flashback had a good likeness to the actress who plays Kumu. It was also fun to see Janel Parrish from PLL guest-star as Kumu's stepdaughter, but it I thought they could've done more with her. Detective Katsumoto continued his dynamic with Magnum/Higgins where they'd do something without his knowledge, he'd give them a talking to, but eventually he'd get over it (plus they helped him with cases on occasion). I think that gradually they started looping him on things more often, though it felt like there were numerous episodes where the climax would be him arriving just in the nick of time to shoot the bad guys, thus saving Magnum/Higgins (which got repetitive after a while). Naturally, we just had to get the apparently mandated 'cops suck' episode that all shows seem to include these days, which was tiresome. I thought his son was pretty unappreciative of the effort his dad put into having some quality father/son time (all that food he'd prepared!) and his 'excuse' for lying/going off to party with his friends instead was pretty pathetic. Unlike Kumu's stepdaughter, I can't say I ever really want to see Katsumoto's son ever again (though I'm sure we will). Meanwhile, unlike some...I don't HATE the character of Jin (who resurfaced in a few episodes this season), so long as they keep his appearances to being in small doses and don't overuse him. Yes, he can be rather annoying, but occasionally he amuses me too (as do the other characters' reactions to the stuff he says/does). I'd mistakenly thought that this season was going to end in such a way that I'd accidentally spoiled myself for, but then it became clear that *wasn't* going to be the ending for this season...so I guess it must be Season 4's ending. Oh well, not sure when that season will be released here on DVD, but hopefully it will, as I've come to enjoy this show and look forward to watching more of it.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 18, 2022 9:38:27 GMT
Finished Season 1 of You on DVD. This was one of many shows I bought on DVD ages ago and only just now got around to watching. I didn't really know much about it other than Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl played a psycho killer in it and that Elizabeth Lail (who I last saw playing the live-action version of Anna from Frozen in Season 4 of Once Upon a Time) played the object of his obsession. For some reason I'd assumed he was going to be like Dexter and a professional at this whole killing thing, but it turns out that wasn't quite the case (he was sloppy as hell and it's through sheer luck/plot armour that he's even still alive, let alone out and about to continue doing his murder thing). One thing he *did* share in common with Dexter (other than the whole killing thing) was the voiceovering thing. After having watched Gossip Girl (the original version, that is. I've NO interest in the 'reboot' version or whatever the hell it's supposed to be) and seen how it ended (ie. not great), it's not much of a stretch to imagine Badgley's character from that show, Dan Humphrey, changing his name to Joe Goldberg (the name of the character he plays in this show) and deciding to embrace his inner creepo stalker. Seems he just can't give up the blondes. First, it was Blake Lively, and now it's Elizabeth Lail (who it's still weird for me to see as a blonde, since I got used to her as Anna in OUaT and to me the hair colour/styling makes all the difference - so much so that I keep thinking she looks like a completely difference person...though occasionally, if I squint, I can recognise Anna in her). Anyway, getting back to the voiceovering, it does allow us to hear just how skewed/crazy his internal 'logic' is regarding others, like how he thinks his victim, Beck, is doing things for *his* benefit/to entice him, when in fact she's just going about her normal day, not at all expecting to attract some nutjob. Like a lot of creeps, he sees things the way he *wants* to see them and rewrites events to suit his own narrative. I will admit that Badgley did a decent job of not making his voiceover too boring (unlike voiceovers by main characters in some other shows) and what helped with that was he'd occasionally make an amusing comment/observation about someone or something. I know from reading comments that seemingly quite a few people didn't like the character of Beck. I personally didn't hold the character's flaws against her. People complain about female characters who are too 'perfect', but then if they have character flaws, those same people hate on them for it. They can't win. Compared to the other characters who populated the first season, I didn't think Beck was too bad. Sure, she made mistakes and wasn't the most 'virtuous' person ever, but she wasn't as 'terrible'/'awful' as some made her out to be. And as for her being supposedly 'stupid'...given that she had no reason to think Joe was some psycho stalker, I'm not sure she can be blamed for not taking precautions to protect herself from him. As far as she knew, he was some nice guy she met in a book store who saved her from being splattered by a train when she drunkenly fell onto the tracks. He really did nothing that she saw/heard to alert her to the fact that he was a creeper. As for Lail's performance, I thought she did the best anyone could with a character who wasn't really her 'own person' so much as what others wanted her to be. She already had her own issues going on (with an addict father who she helped recover and then he repaid her by basically ditching her for a new family he was starting with other people). Adding to this was Beck's 'friends', all of whom were varying levels of horrible, the worst being the questionably-named Peach (seriously, was her mother Gwyneth Paltrow?) played by Shay Mitchell who I knew from Pretty Little Liars (again...the original version, not the reboot). Considering how manipulative she was, it's no wonder Beck didn't take too kindly to finding out she was basically stalking her (Joe's voiceover that acted all horrified at this stalkerish behaviour was morbidly amusing due to how ironic it was for *him* of all people to act offended about such things). I saw people praising Mitchell's portrayal of her character here...but, honestly, to me she just acted like her character from PLL (Emily) as if she was trying to be another character (Alison) on that show. It didn't seem like much of a stretch, nor did she blow me away with her performance. In the end, she rather foolishly tipped her hand to Joe which resulted in her demise. Peach was pretty bad, but there was an even more annoying character by the name of Blythe who was indeed a pretentious bitch just like her name suggests. I kept wishing she would be a victim of Joe's, but wasn't that lucky. Then there was a kid by the name of Paco who lived in the building where Joe lived. His mother was involved with an abusive a-hole, who Paco avoided by spending the majority of his time out in the stairwell which led to Joe befriending him and pretty soon he was gifting him not only with books, but also advice. This 'friendship' was all well and good for a while, but it soon became clear that Paco wasn't a complete innocent since he took measures to get rid of his mother's abuser (with a bat, pills, etc) until Joe finally offed the guy. Unfortunately, in the season final Paco turned into a real little shit when Beck was doing her best to escape from Joe (after she'd discovered the truth about him and he'd imprisoned her), she begged Paco to let her out, but the little turd only cared about 'protecting' Joe (who'd done him a favour by offing his mum's abuser) and so the bastard left her to die. And there can be no mistake about it - she literally *told* him Joe was going to KILL her...but he left her to die anyway. Future psychopath, that one. I resented him SO much that after her death, when Joe was saying goodbye to Paco (as he and his mum left to have a brighter future), I was sickened that we were supposed to *care* about this mentor/mentee 'relationship'. Honestly, when they were hugging, I wish a bullet would've just taken them both out - and since the final scene revealed that someone who we'd thought was a previous victim of Joe's (his ex g/f, Candace) turned out to still be *alive*, the shot fired could've come from her and I would've thought it a fitting end to psycho and future psycho. Unfortunately, I know all too well that even if shows like this one that pretend to be 'edgy' with their violence, cussing, etc...they're still pussies when it comes to offing any kid characters (even if they deserve it). Can't say I thought much of Candace (what little we saw of her), but the fact that she's going to likely be a thorn in Joe's side at least promises something interesting (though I don't doubt she'll eventually meet her end by his hands). I thought the show started out strong and was going along pretty well until about episode 7 or 8 when Beck and Joe briefly split up before getting back together by episode 9. Episodes 7 & 8 mainly felt like 'filler' to me and I think the season would've benefitted from being just 8 episodes rather than 10. The scariest part about this show is all the excuses people come up with for Joe's behaviour/actions and why they like him, but hated Beck. It's the same messed up 'logic' I see online from certain people who probably think the way Joe acted towards Beck was 'fine'/'justified'. I might be one of the few, but I truly felt sorry for her. Yes, admittedly, Penn Badgley is good in this role (maybe the casting people watched the Gossip Girl series final and thought to themselves, "Now there's a guy who can play a convincing creep!"), but I don't think he's doing anything Emmy-worthy like some seem to think he is. It's a good performance, maybe even very good...but I've seen better. Unlike Dexter, who offed bad people, Joe's offing bad people and non-bad people (ie. those who don't deserve offing) alike, so the fact that some viewers *like* him and want him to keep getting away with these murders is rather disturbing. I myself am mainly watching because A) There are actresses who I like who star in both this and the second season, and B) I already bought Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD, so naturally I was going to watch them anyway, otherwise it would've been a waste. The show ended up being not quite how I imagined it would be before I started watching. I've already watched the first episode of Season 2 and thankfully am still intrigued about where they can take the story. However, I still want Joe to get what's coming to him eventually. Whether or not the show manages to deliver that is another thing (I haven't read the books which this series is adapted from).
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 22, 2022 7:28:45 GMT
Finished Season 2 of You on DVD. Like with Season 1, which was a 'blind buy' for me, I bought Season 2 before I'd even watched the first season. Both seasons sat unwatched for quite a long time, but after having just finished Season 1 at long last, naturally I went straight onto Season 2. Because my memory sucks, the start of the season is a bit fuzzy as far as me remembering everything that happened, but I recall that Joe (Penn Badgley continues to have the most voiceovering I can think of in any show I watch. It was at ridiculous levels in the first season, though I think he didn't do it quite as much in this second season. I also wasn't as amused by his comments/observations that he made in his voiceovering this season as I was last season. There were a few funny lines, but last season they were funnier). The first episode of this season saw him moving to Los Angeles (which he apparently HATED) after last season ended with the reveal of Candace (who he thought he'd killed) still being alive. Unfortunately for him, she managed to track him down and promised to make him suffer. While I get her motivation for wanting to do that, it was immediately evident this was just about dragging things out until such time as she'd inevitably got offed. This is why when you know someone's a psycho killer, as much as you want to, fight the urge to torment them and just 'take care of' them (in the Mob sense) as quickly as possible so you don't give them the chance to 'take care of' you first. It was sad seeing in a flashback how Candance went to the police after Joe had bashed her head hard against whatever surface (it was weird how this was edited, like they didn't show it in clear detail) and then she dug herself out of her grave like a zombie...only to be informed that, without proof, she was pretty screwed. While something about the actress who played Candace kinda bugged me, I *did* feel sorry for her after all the crap she'd been through and the fact that she was told outright nobody would believe her. Sadly for her, she was outmatched in this game of cat and mouse and didn't foresee that Joe's new victim, who she was trying to help show that Joe was a monster, was in fact just as psycho as him and this led to Candace's untimely demise. If only she'd gone to Beck last season...things might've ended very differently for both of them. Regarding Joe's new 'victim' this season, the first episode made it seem like he was giving up his obsessive stalking behaviour (yeah right!) and he met the character of Love Quinn (yes, that's apparently her real name) organically. However, by the end of the episode it was revealed he *hadn't* changed at all (what a surprise!) and she was just as much of a stalkee as Beck had been. I first saw Victoria Pedretti, who plays Love, in the series The Haunting of Hill House on DVD, and it's still crazy to think that show was her first thing she'd acted in (besides a couple of 'Shorts') since she was pretty amazing in that series and gives off this feel of someone who's been acting for a long time. Like, her performances are WAY better than some actors who've been in the business much longer than she has. She'd already wowed me in that show, and so I was very happy to learn she would be in this one when I bought it on DVD ages ago. Her character of Love was complex, intense and as different from Beck as could be. Love also seemed to have a codependent relationship with her brother, Forty (again, YES, that is the character's *actual* name. I guess their parents, who we later meet in the season and are revealed to be a-holes, were avid tennis fans? Hence Forty-Love). Can't say I was a fan of his character. He annoyed the crap out of me, especially when things got to the ridiculous stage where he had himself and Joe seemingly kidnapped (complete with hoods over their heads) and stuck in a hotel with guards who'd been ordered to shoot if they tried to leave just so Forty and Joe could finish a script for a movie based off the book Joe completed/released in the Season 1 final under the guise that it was from Beck. I found this whole scenario pretty contrived and devoid of any sense of 'realism'. Added to this was Forty drugging Joe with LSD without his knowledge and it made it pretty hard for me to care when Forty eventually met his end in the Season 2 final (via bullet fired from a cop who thought he was protecting Joe and Love from Love's psycho brother). Still, if there was *one* 'good' thing to come out of the episode where they were 'trapped' in the hotel room, it was seeing Joe experiencing the effects of acid which caused him to see Love with giant anime eyes. Other new characters added to this season included sisters, Delilah and Ellie. I wasn't really a fan of Delilah, who just seemed like a more aggressive version of Peach from last season (as dumb-sounding as the names Love and Forty are...I still think I hate 'Peach' the most as an actual name for a person. Only Gwyneth Paltrow would think there's nothing wrong with it). She certainly loved to curse (speaking of, I think the show changed networks or whatever and doing so allowed them to get away with more, as although there *was* cursing in Season 1...it felt like there was twice as much this season - probably a third of which came from Delilah. There was also more gore in the second episode of this season than I think there was in all of last season. To me it felt gratuitous here, like it was just intended to SHOCK more than anything as we saw Joe cut up a guy and feed him into a meat grinder). I just found her very abrasive and she was unnecessarily harsh with Joe (leaving out the fact that he's a stalker/murderer - she didn't know that...well, not until towards the end of the season anyway). Her younger sister (played by Jenna Oretga, who I've only seen in the latest Scream movie) was slightly less aggressive, so I was able to tolerate her more. I thought she was maybe going to end up being this season's Paco (ie. the 'kid' character who Joe protected - in this case from a predatory comedian named Hendy who he ended up offing, albeit accidentally). She wasn't a little shit who aided Joe in murdering an innocent woman like Paco did with Beck last season, so that automatically made Ellie not as bad as that turd was...but she still came off as a jerk a lot of the time. In the final, yes, she learned her sister had died and Joe *was* in part to blame for it (even though it was Love who'd killed her), but considering everything he'd done to keep Ellie safe, it was kind of hard to like her when she was going off at him (considering she wasn't even aware of his stalkerish/murderous true nature). I think the thing that cemented my dislike of her by the end of the season was when she mentioned Beck and Candace dying...then proceeded to tell Joe she didn't care about any of that, just her sister. Way to think of other innocent victims, Ellie (as if it wasn't already apparent these siblings didn't give two figs about other people when they cut up and flushed the pics Hendy took of his other underage victims without letting those other girls know they even *had* the pics, let alone what they were doing with them). These sisters only really seemed to care about themselves/what they wanted, with little regard for anybody else. It was somewhat fun to see various actors I recognised from other things guest-star this season - the most prominent of which was the actor who played Penguin in the TV series Gotham appearing here as someone named Will, who Joe stole the identity of (so he could start fresh in Los Angeles) and kept prisoner in his plexiglass cage (which he somehow managed to transport to LA and reassemble by himself). While it seemed inevitable that the real Will would wind up dead, miraculously by mid-season he'd managed to convince Joe that he could trust him and Joe actually let him go (too bad Beck wasn't afforded this same courtesy). Other faces I recognised were the previously-mentioned Saffron Burrows as Love's mum, Magda Apanowicz as Joe's mum (I've seen her in a few things, but I'll always think of her as Lacey Rand from the BSG spin-off Caprica first and foremost) who we see via flashbacks, Kether Donohue (from You're the Worst), Madeline Zima (from The Nanny) and a guy I think was in the early seasons of Chicago Fire. Maybe there were others I don't recall. Honestly, I wasn't really fussed on anyone this season besides Love, who Victoria Pedretti should've been receiving the amount of praise for playing that Penn Badgley does for playing Joe. She brought so much nuance to her character and really sold the underlying feeling that something wasn't quite right with her. Unfortunately, I know what Love's ultimate fate will be by the end of Season 3 (having been spoiled for it) and I'm pretty certain I wouldn't want to continue watching this show once she's no longer in it. I felt this season wasn't quite as good as Season 1 which seemed to have a very clear path that the story was on, whereas this season's story seemed to veer off, at times feeling like it lost track of the main point - which was that Joe is an obsessive psycho stalker and he needs to be TAKEN DOWN. It's disturbing seeing all the ways people who like him (or the actor who plays him) blame everyone else for what he does to his victims whilst absolving him of any blame. It's pretty unhealthy. Also disturbing are those who think his female victims 'deserve' what they get. No, they DON'T. None of the ones he's offed have 'deserved it'. Some the guys he's offed, however, are a different story. Still, the fact that he thought he had found a new love in Love, only for her to reveal that she herself was just as unhinged as he is (and this shattered his image he'd created of her in his mind) shows that even when he finds someone who is a 'perfect fit' for him...he's still not satisfied. It's clear that what he enjoys is the hunt, as evidenced by the fact that the final scene of the season was him married to Love (with a child on the way), but he thought of it as 'hell' and was already eyeing his neighbour next door as his new victim. I don't see how they can keep dragging out this show without it becoming boring/repetitive. It's just more of the same - Joe finds a victim, stalks/obsesses over her, they eventually find out about him and then are offed. Even if they change things up and have a future victim of his get away, it still doesn't change the fact that characters who *should* have survived (Beck, Candace) are still dead. While others can handwave Joe's actions because they think he is 'charming', funny, etc...I just want this dude in prison and/or dead already. While Dexter offed people who deserved their fate most of the time, Joe's victims more often than not *don't* deserve it, thus making it hard for me to want him to keep getting away with it. Badgley's performance in the role is quite good, but it's not enough for me to ever forget what Joe is. I'm not sure if Season 3 will ever be released here (since it hasn't been so far), but other than seeing Love possibly out-crazy Joe, I think my interest in this series has greatly lessened. In a way, the Season 3 final's ending could serve as a 'series final' of sorts if I look at it as Joe being trapped in his own personal hell whilst still being up to his old tricks of finding new victims. Oh well, at least I have The Haunting of Bly Manor with Victoria Pedretti on DVD to look forward to watching whenever I find the time.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Oct 31, 2022 16:00:05 GMT
Stargate Atlantis season 3
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Nov 1, 2022 20:49:02 GMT
Bewitched season 4
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 9, 2022 18:00:19 GMT
NCIS season 19
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 15, 2022 17:14:32 GMT
Ghosts - Series 4 (BBC, British original)
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 19, 2022 22:31:08 GMT
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 19, 2022 22:49:51 GMT
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