Current TV Boxset Addiction

[Dandontdare]

Gotham seasons 4 and 5

I lost interest towards the end of season 3, but picked up again halfway through 4 and thought it was okay

all the characters act arbitrarily, switching motivations and personalities on a dime

I only really noticed this with Lee - she seemed to flip-flop from episode to episode, depending on the needs of a particular scene - no coherent characterisation at all

James Gordon is utterly useless in the face of these villains and can never, ever figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman

Oh he knows. I think that rooftop scene with Alfred heavilly implies that he knows exactly who this new "friend" is. In all Batman comics, unless it's a specific part of the story, I've always assumed that Gordon has worked out who Batman is and just goes along with the pretence, and I think a lot of writers hint at it subtly.

The best thing about Gotham is the plausible backstories for many of the villains, especially the Penguin who was the best thing about the show by far

[Hawkmumbler]

Gotham was always incredibly naff. Dark, edgy fodder for people who grew up on scene and Death Note and thing Charles Manson is some kind of god.

Anyway I watched the dark, incredibly not naff, but edgy as all hell Deadwood Season 2 and oh my goodness, this show is SUBLIME. That final scene with And almost echoes 'The For Watch' from a 15 years earlier, and I'm not ready for the third and final season.

Oh wait theres the movie now too WAAAAAAYYYYYY! 

[Professor Bear]

James Gordon is utterly useless in the face of these villains and can never, ever figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman

Oh he knows. I think that rooftop scene with Alfred heavilly implies that he knows exactly who this new "friend" is.

Lots of writers in the comics give winks to the idea that Gordon knows who Batman really is - the seeds of it are sown in Year One, though H*ck knows if that's canon this week - but similarly, in many other stories we see that Gordon does not and cannot know who Batman is.  Batman: RIP and its follow-up issues pretty much come right out and state that because Gordon's role is as a perennial straight man across multiple media and their respective depictions of Batman, he understands that Batman is a malleable fiction played by multiple characters (that are sometimes Bruce Wayne) and that it doesn't matter who he is.

Having said that, it is utterly impossible for James Gordon in the television series Gotham not to know Batman and Bruce Wayne are one and the same, except for the minor mitigating factor that we've just sat through five years of programming dedicated to establishing that he is completely shit.

[The Legendary Shark]

Grinding through Season Four of Sons of Anarchy. This must be the worst MC on the planet. Simple jobs? Screwed up. Hits? Wrong victim. Alliances? Invitations to betrayal. Lies to protect the Club? Acidic. Secrets to protect other members? Ticking bombs. Relationships? Doomed. Waiting for it to get better? Probably pointless. If this was a comedy it'd be brilliant. As it is, I'm not sure I'll be bothering with S5 - or even finishing S4.

Sons of Arsery, more like.

[Rately]

Grinding through Season Four of Sons of Anarchy. This must be the worst MC on the planet. Simple jobs? Screwed up. Hits? Wrong victim. Alliances? Invitations to betrayal. Lies to protect the Club? Acidic. Secrets to protect other members? Ticking bombs. Relationships? Doomed. Waiting for it to get better? Probably pointless. If this was a comedy it'd be brilliant. As it is, I'm not sure I'll be bothering with S5 - or even finishing S4.

Sons of Arsery, more like.

I really tried to stay with Sons Of Anarchy, but when they travelled to Ireland I was finally given good reason to give up on it.

[Apestrife]

Sharp objects Outmost surprised how much I liked this murder mystery starring Amy Adams. She plays the reporter Camille who (--who has a big trunk of trauma and problems) goes home to her hometown Wind gap to cover murders of young girls. A place drowned out in self annihilation.

After a while, bit like Twin peaks, the murder mystery loosens it's grip of the story structure and things becomes more a slowburn descent into the personal hells of Wind gap. Where anyone can become an advocate of horror at any time. But it's not all dark, there's also alot of dark humour and the smallest of light shines fantastically bright.

So good I even watched the recap before each episode. Amy Adams is fantstic (Really FANTASTIC). The ending had me applauding. Can't wait to watch it again

Teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgljcMqPG98

[Professor Bear]

The Twilight Zone - more like The Twi-SHITE Zone.
So bad I often couldn't believe it, certainly not when the reviews were generally positive.
There is one unquestionably good bit in the entire series and it comes in the last minutes of the final episode when they recreate the setting of the final scene of the very first TZ episode from 1962, but they immediately fuck it in the ass with a horrendous CGI mannequin and a muddied message about the show itself, which turns the entire final episode into a meditation on the fact that not only do the people who are making the television series The Twilight Zone in the year 2019 not even remotely understand the original show*, but they also don't know the difference between "an ironic twist of fate" and a callback, which is probably a great paradigm for a show that has literally nothing going for it except brand recognition and the success of another show in the same genre - Black Mirror - to leech off.  Hey - as a gameplan for the network, it worked out great with Star Trek Discovery.
Oh yeah, Black Mirror's shadow is cast long and deep across Twilight Zone.  The Twilight Zone could easily have differentiated itself from BM's reactionary conservatism, but instead it tries to replicate it and fails.
I will give the show this much: I was genuinely surprised by how bad it is, and perhaps it can be argued that a show that can genuinely surprise you in this day and age can't really be all bad.

* I have a strong suspicion they either only know TZ by reputation, or they're painstaking making a show for people who only know TZ by reputation.

[Tiplodocus]

Just finished Season 4 of the sublime THE AMERICANS.

Outwardly, the pace has slowed; much less in the way of capers and heist action. But what has replaced it is brilliant character stuff focusing on family and trust and faith and, as ever, identity.

Matthew Rhys and Noah Emerich are superb; Kerry Russell is even growing on me but Frank Langella just sits dishing out gravitas like he's carved of the stuff.

Three things I really like:
- the thematicly perfect perpetual winter they inhabit
- the fact they will kill and write out key (favourite) characters
- sticking to the proper languages again as befits the idea of identity.

[karlos]

Surely I can't be the only cat on here who's watching Carnival Row?

[Jim_Campbell]

Surely I can't be the only cat on here who's watching Carnival Row?

Reviews were fairly terrible, and Orlando Bloom has the acting ability of a plank, but after a sluggish couple of opening episodes it's building up a bit of momentum. I'm quite enjoying it.

[karlos]

I'm slightly surprised that reviews have been so harsh, but I can see why - it's a great looking show (one of the very best I've seen), good cast (Orlando seems to be trying to channel Sean Pertwee at times), and cracking premise - but the overall plot is hard going and cliché-filled.

Well worth sticking with, though, and I have a feeling the second season will be much better.

[broodblik]

So far I am enjoying the show.

[Theblazeuk]

I thought the Twilight Zone was poor and disappointing but not the worst thing in the world. Kind of liked the Comedian episode and the Timetravel Camera was fine until the last moments where it all got a little too symbolic but still, thought it was good. Shame they wasted the Terror at 20000ft episode.


Mind you I've stalled midway through so... clearly not so good.

Rewatching Gravity Falls. Boy this was great.

[Hawkmumbler]

I've not seen the Twilight Zone reboot/continuation/meta narrative wank fest and i'm extremely reluctant to do so, i'm such a big fan of the original series, and I even have considerable time for the 90's sequel run though it rarely holds a candle, that i'm almost certain from what i'be heard it'll just make me angry.

[Professor Bear]

The Blue Scorpion episode is as good as the latest TZ gets.  Check that out and if it doesn't float your boat, best avoid the rest of it.
The final episode's desperation is possibly pretty funny if you remember that old Future Shock about the guy who looks like Rod Serling.