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pingpongsam

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #825 on: May 17, 2017, 09:57:55 am »
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Watched Ep1 of American Gods and I really, really liked it but my viewing partner not so much so it will be difficult for me to find the time to continue it since the shared viewing time requires some degree of mutual consensus and it represents 95% of all my viewing (which probably averages less than an hour per day).
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Kuildeous

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #826 on: May 17, 2017, 10:28:32 am »
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Watched Ep1 of American Gods and I really, really liked it but my viewing partner not so much so it will be difficult for me to find the time to continue it since the shared viewing time requires some degree of mutual consensus and it represents 95% of all my viewing (which probably averages less than an hour per day).

Yeah, friend of mine said that his wife pretty much watches it only because he's into it. He really loved the book, and he's digging the show (as most fans of the book are wont to do).

I think my own wife is having her doubts. She never read the book either.

The issue I've heard is that there are so many seemingly random events that happen, and there's no context in why these things are happening. Who is this person talking to Shadow now? Considering that Shadow is confused as to the nature of the conversation, of course the viewer may be a little confused too. Who is this woman having sex, and why is she important? There is a payoff for these scenes, but some people are not interested in waiting for it. It could even contribute to the downfall of the show.

I was reminded how much I like weird things. Of course, there's weird stuff in American Gods, but I really got a heaping dose of weird while watching Dirk Gently. In that show, the payoff came much more quickly.
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #827 on: May 17, 2017, 10:31:35 am »
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What are watching options?  You pretty much have to have Starz?
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pingpongsam

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #828 on: May 17, 2017, 10:50:15 am »
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What are watching options?  You pretty much have to have Starz?

Usenet or RealDebrid?
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #829 on: May 17, 2017, 03:24:19 pm »
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eHalcyon

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #830 on: May 18, 2017, 02:52:47 am »
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Binged Sense8 season 2... I think it's my favourite show now.  The cast is phenomenal, the mythology is intriguing, the action sequences are tight, its very concept is enough to elevate simple and generic plots into something unique and compelling.

Really surprised to read you say this. I really thought it just wasn't a good show, once you get behind the very expansive production and cool setting and mature approach and eight different story lines (and the opening credits!)... which admittedly takes about a season. But once you do and it has to rely on the actual writing-

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simple and generic plots

- ... yeah, exactly.

I'm curious, how much of it did you watch?  There's one particular part in the first season where it really just clicks.

I really like shows with neat concepts, and the concept behind Sense8 is just one of the most interesting I've seen.  Season 1 was just the characters beginning to explore the concept while Season 2 is where the show really starts to dive deep into the mythology of the world, which I just love.

Simplicity of the individual characters' plots isn't a bad thing, and they are only generic so far as the individual; it's the ties between the characters that offers the unique twist and makes the stories compelling.
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silverspawn

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #831 on: May 18, 2017, 04:15:25 am »
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I watched the entire first season. I dropped it halfway through S02e01.

I also like the concept. I like the idea of eight different people who are all totally different and good at different things, but all work together and help each other out. There was this one scene where the lesbain hacker girl tries to escape, and is helped out first by the korean fighting women, then the cop guy, and then the bus driver. That's kind of inherently cool.

But the finale was really weak. They had the odds stacked against them and just had enough luck at each step to pull through anyway. What kind of stakes are supposed to be left after that? It's pretty clear that the show isn't willing to let anyone die. It is, on the other hand, quite willing to have some of them kill lots of other people, and pretty much gives them all a moral pass.

I'm also increasingly frustrated with the gay actor guy's story line. The beginning of his arc is great, where his publicly held girlfriend finds out and you think okay she's going to be mad and stuff and instead she's super into it. Then she messes up, but takes responsibility for it, as she should. But his BF breaking up with him and he trying to commit suicide and failing I thought was super lame. And the german guy is worse, he's just an awful person (and murderer), and the other just continue to support him without questioning whether they really should, which comes back to the moral issues.

ashersky

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #832 on: May 18, 2017, 09:39:23 am »
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I'm wondering what The Flash season finale can do to redeem itself.
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Re: TV shows
« Reply #833 on: May 18, 2017, 09:55:40 am »
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I'm wondering what The Flash season finale can do to redeem itself.

I don't think it can do much.
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jonts26

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #834 on: May 18, 2017, 10:51:41 am »
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I thought the penultimate episode was good, idiot ball plot points aside. That may just be because I love captain cold. The season as a whole has been weak though. Also, I'll eat my hat if Iris is actually dead. Theres a lot of reasons to think that was actually HR getting stabbed. .
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #835 on: May 18, 2017, 11:09:30 am »
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I thought the penultimate episode was good, idiot ball plot points aside. That may just be because I love captain cold. The season as a whole has been weak though. Also, I'll eat my hat if Iris is actually dead. Theres a lot of reasons to think that was actually HR getting stabbed. .

There are just so many side things that seem completely unnecessary.  I always find people complaining about 'filler' episodes in discussion forums and such, and usually it seems like complaining for the sake of complaining, and I find the kinds of episodes people label as such are the ones I like the most, because they include character development, setup for future juxtapositions, etc.   But this show seems to be legitimately guilty of filler plots.  Having that girl deny them the deus ex machina they need for their plan, only to allow them to have a heist subplot, only to ultimately have it fail and have her decide to give it to them was extremely contrived.*

Plus I'm tired of the whole, villain discloses their plan James Bond style and gives the heroes plenty of time to figure out how to respond to it, instead of just doing something.

*Note, that whole thing does have a character 'payoff', in that Flash is still a good guy when all else is lost, and the part with Snart telling Barry that is his strength (which presumably will have a payoff later), but it was still too contrived.
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ashersky

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #836 on: May 18, 2017, 11:43:40 am »
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I thought the penultimate episode was good, idiot ball plot points aside. That may just be because I love captain cold. The season as a whole has been weak though. Also, I'll eat my hat if Iris is actually dead. Theres a lot of reasons to think that was actually HR getting stabbed. .

There are just so many side things that seem completely unnecessary.  I always find people complaining about 'filler' episodes in discussion forums and such, and usually it seems like complaining for the sake of complaining, and I find the kinds of episodes people label as such are the ones I like the most, because they include character development, setup for future juxtapositions, etc.   But this show seems to be legitimately guilty of filler plots.  Having that girl deny them the deus ex machina they need for their plan, only to allow them to have a heist subplot, only to ultimately have it fail and have her decide to give it to them was extremely contrived.*

Plus I'm tired of the whole, villain discloses their plan James Bond style and gives the heroes plenty of time to figure out how to respond to it, instead of just doing something.

*Note, that whole thing does have a character 'payoff', in that Flash is still a good guy when all else is lost, and the part with Snart telling Barry that is his strength (which presumably will have a payoff later), but it was still too contrived.

That girl was Lyra, from Arrow.

I think all of that was an excuse to include King Shark and the Jaws joke plus the Wonder Woman Easter egg.
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jonts26

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #837 on: May 18, 2017, 11:53:44 am »
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The flash is never going to have "good" storytelling with tight plotting and whatnot. It's just not that type of show. It can have fun storytelling. Snarts over the top ridiculous scenery chewing is fun. And as long as you're having fun it covers a lot of plot holes, idiot plots, unnecessary side plots, and inconsistencies. This season for the most part has forgotten to be fun so all the storytelling problems that it's always had are a lot more visible.

And there's still time for the speedforce gun to have plot relevance. It does seem fairly useless otherwise. It could be something like the running around bit while Barry was firing it to have time for HR and Iris to switcheroo. Then they retool the gun to account for whatever reason it didn't work. Though that seems like a fairly boring resolution.
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #838 on: May 18, 2017, 12:03:48 pm »
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The flash is never going to have "good" storytelling with tight plotting and whatnot. It's just not that type of show. It can have fun storytelling. Snarts over the top ridiculous scenery chewing is fun. And as long as you're having fun it covers a lot of plot holes, idiot plots, unnecessary side plots, and inconsistencies. This season for the most part has forgotten to be fun so all the storytelling problems that it's always had are a lot more visible.

And there's still time for the speedforce gun to have plot relevance. It does seem fairly useless otherwise. It could be something like the running around bit while Barry was firing it to have time for HR and Iris to switcheroo. Then they retool the gun to account for whatever reason it didn't work. Though that seems like a fairly boring resolution.

The showdown would have been more impressive if Barry or someone had absconded Iris to safety while Salvatar was avoiding the gun hits---which by the way was proven to be completely unnecessary 30 seconds later; he could have just stayed there and taken the hit.  Instead it's like, Barry is just far enough away to not be able to get to Iris in time, just to add a phony sense of drama.
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jonts26

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #839 on: May 18, 2017, 12:12:13 pm »
+1

If anyone on the show did the most reasonable thing in any situation there wouldn't be a much of a show. I mean they just told us Argus had a metahuman power dampener that is confirmed to work on speedsters and immediately talk about where to hide Iris. I dunno how about there?

But like I said these sorts of plot issues are nothing new for the flash.
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eHalcyon

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #840 on: May 18, 2017, 07:28:27 pm »
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I watched the entire first season. I dropped it halfway through S02e01.

I also like the concept. I like the idea of eight different people who are all totally different and good at different things, but all work together and help each other out. There was this one scene where the lesbain hacker girl tries to escape, and is helped out first by the korean fighting women, then the cop guy, and then the bus driver. That's kind of inherently cool.

But the finale was really weak. They had the odds stacked against them and just had enough luck at each step to pull through anyway. What kind of stakes are supposed to be left after that? It's pretty clear that the show isn't willing to let anyone die. It is, on the other hand, quite willing to have some of them kill lots of other people, and pretty much gives them all a moral pass.

I'm also increasingly frustrated with the gay actor guy's story line. The beginning of his arc is great, where his publicly held girlfriend finds out and you think okay she's going to be mad and stuff and instead she's super into it. Then she messes up, but takes responsibility for it, as she should. But his BF breaking up with him and he trying to commit suicide and failing I thought was super lame. And the german guy is worse, he's just an awful person (and murderer), and the other just continue to support him without questioning whether they really should, which comes back to the moral issues.


Hmm, I don't remember much of Lito's plot in season 1, but his relationship with Hernando is still solid in season 2 FWIW.  I don't know that the group really supports Wolfgang.  He's the most removed from the rest of the group in that he rarely asks for help in his day-to-day stuff.  The others don't outright condemn him because (1) it's pretty tough to condemn somebody who is basically a part of you and (2) I think their connection affords them greater insight into why he is the way he is and why he does the things he does.  Yeah he does some horrible things, but the others naturally understand his POV, and people rarely see themselves as villains of the story.

I don't think death needs to be on the table for there to be dramatic stakes.  There are plenty of other things to be concerned about and invested in.  But even if you need the possibility of death, I never got the sense that any of the characters have plot armor.  None have died yet, but I don't feel like any of their survival is guaranteed.  Not sure why you got that feeling.

But I dunno.  If it's not for you, it's not for you. :)
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silverspawn

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #841 on: May 19, 2017, 03:42:14 am »
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Hmm, I don't remember much of Lito's plot in season 1, but his relationship with Hernando is still solid in season 2 FWIW.
Yeah, they choose to suffer the other consequences, which are making his orientation public knowledge.

Quote
I don't know that the group really supports Wolfgang.  He's the most removed from the rest of the group in that he rarely asks for help in his day-to-day stuff.  The others don't outright condemn him because (1) it's pretty tough to condemn somebody who is basically a part of you and (2) I think their connection affords them greater insight into why he is the way he is and why he does the things he does.  Yeah he does some horrible things, but the others naturally understand his POV, and people rarely see themselves as villains of the story.

If that's a thing, it's a season 2 thing. In season 1 they support him pretty unquestioningly. In fact, the gay guy saves his life once, and the indian woman saves his life at another moment, and there's really not a mention of "is helping him actually a good idea?"

Quote
I don't think death needs to be on the table for there to be dramatic stakes.  There are plenty of other things to be concerned about and invested in.
I think you can make a fine story without the fear of death being a thing, but the show is really trying to make us fear for them by putting their life at supposed risk, and for the final third of season 1 at least it was failing.

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I never got the sense that any of the characters have plot armor.
uh, I have no idea how you couldn't get that feeling!

Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #842 on: May 21, 2017, 12:13:59 pm »
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Today is the day!  For Twin Peaks.  I don't technically have access to Showtime, though.  It looks like I can add it to my Hulu; does anyone have Showtime on Hulu?  Do you know if you can watch shows at the same airing time as regular Showtime network?
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Kuildeous

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #843 on: May 21, 2017, 06:48:09 pm »
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So seven episodes of 12 Monkeys just showed up over the weekend. I haven't looked at any of them other than to determine they are season 3. Normally, shows have a weekly format. To show seven first-run episodes in a weekend is unorthodox. Is this the final season, and they're just releasing it to get it out to its fans?

I suppose the Syfy website might provide some answers. Thought I'd pose the question and see if anyone knew.
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #844 on: May 21, 2017, 08:54:40 pm »
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So seven episodes of 12 Monkeys just showed up over the weekend. I haven't looked at any of them other than to determine they are season 3. Normally, shows have a weekly format. To show seven first-run episodes in a weekend is unorthodox. Is this the final season, and they're just releasing it to get it out to its fans?

I suppose the Syfy website might provide some answers. Thought I'd pose the question and see if anyone knew.

I've watched the first four.  They're releasing the entire third season over this weekend (three or so episodes a day). 

I'm not sure why they're doing it.  My bet is just a decision from scheduling people at the network.  I kind of like weekly airings because it gives time to think about stuff, read up on other people's ideas, etc.  Also something to look forward to.  But, binging is fun too.
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Kuildeous

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #845 on: May 21, 2017, 11:43:25 pm »
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So seven episodes of 12 Monkeys just showed up over the weekend. I haven't looked at any of them other than to determine they are season 3. Normally, shows have a weekly format. To show seven first-run episodes in a weekend is unorthodox. Is this the final season, and they're just releasing it to get it out to its fans?

I suppose the Syfy website might provide some answers. Thought I'd pose the question and see if anyone knew.

I've watched the first four.  They're releasing the entire third season over this weekend (three or so episodes a day). 

I'm not sure why they're doing it.  My bet is just a decision from scheduling people at the network.  I kind of like weekly airings because it gives time to think about stuff, read up on other people's ideas, etc.  Also something to look forward to.  But, binging is fun too.

So my next question is, "How is it?" You didn't say that your eyeballs melted, so that's a good sign so far.

I felt the second season was starting to get a bit muddled. Not enough to give up on it obviously.
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #846 on: May 22, 2017, 09:07:33 am »
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It's entertaining.  Doesn't get less muddled, though.
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #847 on: May 22, 2017, 09:32:47 am »
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So, uh.. Twin Peaks premier.  First four episodes came out last night, and then it's weekly (after an absence next week).

Watched all four last night... wow.
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Witherweaver

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #848 on: June 05, 2017, 10:20:08 am »
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So Leftovers finished last night with an absolutely amazing finale.  I wasn't crying, it was just raining on my face.
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ashersky

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Re: TV shows
« Reply #849 on: June 05, 2017, 11:20:25 am »
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I guess we never got to the Flash finale.

Like, the episode was fine most of the way through.  I know the self-sacrifice ending got scorched by just about every reviewer, but it didn't offend me.  I mean, we all know he'll be back out in an episode or two anyway.

I think the biggest issue is just that it was so forgettable as an episode.  Let's kill him with love...no wait, Iris can shoot him.  What?  We get to return to grumpy Wells, which is cool, and I assume Jessie Quick will find an excuse to return to our Earth soon enough.  Kid Flash will come into his own as well.

I haven't finished Supergirl or Arrow yet, those episodes are just sitting there to watch.
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