The Official Good Television Thread

TD s02, Narcos s01, Better Call Saul, Counterpart, The Terror, The Expanse, Bojack, Twin Peaks s03, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. All great to amazing. Not so dire times.

EDIT: Also Person of Interest and The Americans, which both had their later seasons air after TD s01.

I need to watch The Terror. Heard good things. And yes, Bojack is amazing.

Actually just started The Americans, seems good so far.

I hear Westworld is good.

The first season in particular.

Actually Orphan Black is probably a closer comparison.

Shit, forgot about Orphan Black. A bit heavy-handed sometimes, but that was also a good one.
 
Dont know what you saw in Counterpart tbh. Cool premise, but constrained in its execution and not much more than an Alias style spy gig. Maybe I was hoping for more Philip k dick mindfuckery.

Idk what to tell you, I love the premise and the execution and cast is great. Not sure how much of it you saw but I was pretty much sold after the "party" episode late in s01. It's not the best of the shows I listed but yeah I like it plenty and I've heard from a credible source that season 2 is even better (haven't seen it yet). Sounds like it's been cancelled though :(

And Alias comparisons are totally unwarranted, whatever you may think of Counterpart it is at least an attempt at serious, grounded drama (with a sci-fi twist) whereas Alias is a soap opera.

That said I love Alias too
 
they wanted to have their cake and eat it too, leaving everything inconclusive for the characters while wrapping up the mystery for us and putting a nice bow on it. i would've preferred if they'd kept us inside the characters' headspaces, really committing to keeping it an unconventional, frustrating procedural 'til the end instead of all that mundane, lazy exposition. i can't believe they thought the scene where he finally meets julie but then has a dementia attack was a good idea, such a hackneyed and obvious screenwriting trick, real bargain bin dime novel shit.
 
Can someone give me a spoiler free verdict on Twin Peaks: The Return? I got it for Christmas and am almost hesitant to watch it because I don’t want the love of my life (Sherilyn Fenn) to disappoint me...
 
they wanted to have their cake and eat it too, leaving everything inconclusive for the characters while wrapping up the mystery for us and putting a nice bow on it. i would've preferred if they'd kept us inside the characters' headspaces, really committing to keeping it an unconventional, frustrating procedural 'til the end instead of all that mundane, lazy exposition. i can't believe they thought the scene where he finally meets julie but then has a dementia attack was a good idea, such a hackneyed and obvious screenwriting trick, real bargain bin dime novel shit.

I agree with this but I liked aspects of the finale and thought it was one of the better episodes of the season.

Mostly I liked how the reveal of how the kidnapping and murder really happened recontextualized everything that happened prior. No child trafficking rings or grand conspiracies, just a mad woman kidnapping a child and accidentally killing another in the process. Still a terrible crime, but it makes everything that happened afterwards seem completely disproportionate - the killings carried out by Harris to cover up the crime, the police brutality on the part of Hays and West, the shadow the crime casts over Hays' life (to the point that it's like a second Vietnam for him), etc. The whole story turns out to be about how the actions of one woman mad with grief spiraled outwards and affected countless people over 30+ years and I think that's kind of beautiful, y'know?

But yeah the stuff with Mike and Julie at the end was so pointless, it felt like lip service to the people who just have to have a twist and I suppose you could also argue that it repeats one of the failings of s01 in forcing a happy ending. I wish the season had just ended with that scene with Hays and West reconciling and talking about hanging out more often, (though I do wonder why they fuck they put that ominous dark ambient music over the most heartwarming scene of the season??) but nooooo it had to be an 80 minute finale.
 
s. Still a terrible crime, but it makes everything that happened afterwards seem completely disproportionate - the killings carried out by Harris to cover up the crime, the police brutality on the part of Hays and West, the shadow the crime casts over Hays' life (to the point that it's like a second Vietnam for him), etc. The whole story turns out to be about how the actions of one woman mad with grief spiraled outwards and affected countless people over 30+ years and I think that's kind of beautiful, y'know?
but this is entirely a rationale you made in your head. the effect of the crimes Hays and West committed is mentioned, not emphasized. It has no depth in the portrayal of the show. Much like season2, it lacked sufficient depth in any regard. No idea was driving this season, it was a mess and the amount of shit episodes and unexplored storylines compound this
you could also argue that it repeats one of the failings of s01 in forcing a happy ending.
if this is real, lame. dark gritty crime drama must be dark and gritty!
 
I agree with this but I liked aspects of the finale and thought it was one of the better episodes of the season.

Mostly I liked how the reveal of how the kidnapping and murder really happened recontextualized everything that happened prior. No child trafficking rings or grand conspiracies, just a mad woman kidnapping a child and accidentally killing another in the process. Still a terrible crime, but it makes everything that happened afterwards seem completely disproportionate - the killings carried out by Harris to cover up the crime, the police brutality on the part of Hays and West, the shadow the crime casts over Hays' life (to the point that it's like a second Vietnam for him), etc. The whole story turns out to be about how the actions of one woman mad with grief spiraled outwards and affected countless people over 30+ years and I think that's kind of beautiful, y'know?

i get that, but that’s honestly a really common theme even in TV procedurals (albeit the multiple timelines give a greater sense of the passage of time and the waste) and i guess i was hoping for something more.
 
Late to the conversation, but I thought the season was good overall, with the only truly bad episode being the finale. I definitely don’t think a happy ending fits the mood of the show

I had a theory leading up to the finale that Wayne’s daughter had died, specifically that the kidnapper had done it. This was because his son and daughter in law seemed so squirmy when he asked about his daughter at the dinner table as they were clearly lying about her status/whereabouts. I personally think that if they had written it so that Wayne tried to make a move despite the warning from big bad limo guy (name escapes me) and gotten caught and lost his daughter as a consequence. Then in his dementia-riddled reinvestigation he’d rediscover that his daughter died because of him, and that his wife eventually committed suicide because of her death (with/without knowledge of Wayne’s hand in it). That would have been a dark and twisted end to the story that a sadistic evil fuck like me would have enjoyed. I want that sinking uneasy feeling like a Black Mirror provides