no country for old wainds
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- Nov 23, 2002
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The Official Good Television Thread
- Thread starter Satanstoenail
- Start date
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Yeah and not some gay modern season writer either, Lee Sung Jin worked on the entirety of season 4. Also Jake Schreier who directed most of Beef did a couple eps of Brand New Cherry Flavor.
Everybody I know watching it loves it.
Everybody I know watching it loves it.
rms
Active Member
Just goes in a different direction than what it led on and I think that direction sucked. Daniel Choe was hilarious though
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
rms
Active Member
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
If he didn't like the first episode and it goes in a different direction later, wouldn't that be an argument for continuing to watch?
rms
Active Member
Lol maybe, but I don't think the pivot was better in any way. Thought it'd be a funny chaotic rival kind of show, the writer(s) thought otherwise
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Finale of The Mandalorian ruled. I really liked the 3rd season, felt much more solid and epic than the 2nd. After that and Andor were so good, I think Star Wars is due for a bed shitting.
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Almost halfway through the final season of The Sopranos. It's been a wild ride.
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Here's a thought, A.J. Soprano is the most hateable TV character I've ever come across.
no country for old wainds
Active Member
- Nov 23, 2002
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The Last Of Us
note: i've only played a small portion of the game so i'm mostly just treating this as its own thing. it's made me want to play it again so maybe i'll report back with a revised opinion later once i know what they added to/subtracted from the source.
i didn't have any kind of particularly strong reaction to the polarising episode 3; i thought it was decent enough storytelling, probably too detached from the main narrative given the season has so few episodes, but also kind of admirable for its ambition i suppose. can't say it moved nor annoyed me too much, so whatever. i didn't feel strongly about the show in general through 4 episodes; this kind of thing is always gonna be comfort food for me and i appreciated how it was quite linear and stripped down (instead of getting bogged down in endless soapiness like TWD did at times) but it wasn't anything i hadn't seen variations of before, and my biggest criticism of the show in general (aside from the finale, which i'll get to) would be it's all a little too well-worn, too easy, too lacking in ideas or complexities. in its defence though, the emphasis here is less on the intellectual than the emotional and that's pretty successful by the time it gets to episode 5 onwards. that's the one where i really began embracing it, probably because it's the ep that feels most like one of the telltale walking dead games (always a compliment from me), with an ending that thankfully doesn't pull any punches.
and then there was episode seven. i fucking adored this episode. sad queer YA melodrama set in a beautifully lit abandoned mall is always going to be my shit, but i was slack-jawed at how fucking well bella ramsey performs the whole thing. my initial reaction to her was oh great another sassy potty-mouthed tomboy, but holy fuck she shows incredible range in that episode, she seems so far inside of the character at all times. an absolutely great child performance in my book. and it's perfect set up for what follows; i was so invested in ellie's wellbeing by the time of episode 8 that scott shepherd's excellent villain unnerved the absolute shit out of me, i was all in on that even though i've obviously seen that kind of arc before.
and then there's the finale, which is truly bizarre and utterly ballsy.
i hated how this episode made me feel and i give the creators a ton of credit for that, whether it's primarily down to the game devs or the showrunners. i'd give the season a 3.5/5 overall, i will return for s2 although without having knowledge of the games i'm curious about where it can possibly go from here.
my next post here will be about chernobyl, which i'm halfway through.
note: i've only played a small portion of the game so i'm mostly just treating this as its own thing. it's made me want to play it again so maybe i'll report back with a revised opinion later once i know what they added to/subtracted from the source.
i didn't have any kind of particularly strong reaction to the polarising episode 3; i thought it was decent enough storytelling, probably too detached from the main narrative given the season has so few episodes, but also kind of admirable for its ambition i suppose. can't say it moved nor annoyed me too much, so whatever. i didn't feel strongly about the show in general through 4 episodes; this kind of thing is always gonna be comfort food for me and i appreciated how it was quite linear and stripped down (instead of getting bogged down in endless soapiness like TWD did at times) but it wasn't anything i hadn't seen variations of before, and my biggest criticism of the show in general (aside from the finale, which i'll get to) would be it's all a little too well-worn, too easy, too lacking in ideas or complexities. in its defence though, the emphasis here is less on the intellectual than the emotional and that's pretty successful by the time it gets to episode 5 onwards. that's the one where i really began embracing it, probably because it's the ep that feels most like one of the telltale walking dead games (always a compliment from me), with an ending that thankfully doesn't pull any punches.
and then there was episode seven. i fucking adored this episode. sad queer YA melodrama set in a beautifully lit abandoned mall is always going to be my shit, but i was slack-jawed at how fucking well bella ramsey performs the whole thing. my initial reaction to her was oh great another sassy potty-mouthed tomboy, but holy fuck she shows incredible range in that episode, she seems so far inside of the character at all times. an absolutely great child performance in my book. and it's perfect set up for what follows; i was so invested in ellie's wellbeing by the time of episode 8 that scott shepherd's excellent villain unnerved the absolute shit out of me, i was all in on that even though i've obviously seen that kind of arc before.
and then there's the finale, which is truly bizarre and utterly ballsy.
it doesn't work in any kind of conventional way dramatically, but then that sort of feels like the whole point. for this sweet little surrogate father-daughter story to end like this, descending into an eden built on the back of a sickening lie and narcissistic literally world-destroying violence is so fucking cool to me. it's one of the least satisfying endings i've ever seen, and it's aggressive about that. it says: oh, what's wrong? isn't this what you wanted? and it was what i thought i wanted, especially after those last two episodes which had put me firmly into the headspace that joel was obviously in as well. i wanted nothing more than for these two to start some kind of new life together. and i think it's fantastic that they serve up exactly the desired happy ending on a plate but lace it with poison, making it almost impossible to digest and honestly faintly nauseating. you totally understand his decision while simultaneously despising him for it.
my next post here will be about chernobyl, which i'm halfway through.
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Last night I watched the final 2 episodes of The Sopranos. I loved how it ended. I'm still processing everything, but now that it's all over I only have one real complaint; I didn't like how
Other than that, I can definitely see why it's a lot of people's GOAT show. I liked how it never held the audience's hand too much, while dishing out a lot of quite complex themes. The constant references to psychology, philosophy, pop culture, current events. Everything felt so rich, like each episode was a movie in its own right, and I never once felt like I was sitting through filler.
Uncle June's story arc was probably the saddest for me, although he's hardly a sympathetic character, but seeing someone who's so sharp and vicious at the start turn into an incontinent, forgotten bag of bones riddled with Alzheimer's (the irony was of course, gold) was surprisingly devastating. Such good writing across the board at making such shit people sympathetic in the right moments.
Tony Soprano being the most interesting case. By the end his pile of sins is so huge that I think most viewers are either for or against him, with little middle ground, and they set you up for the ultimate judgement to be handed out to him. But that ending was perfection. Personally I believe Tony lived beyond that day and died of natural causes. I'm choosing to ignore all the breadcrumbs.
Christopher was killed off, felt cheap and unsatisfying for some reason.
Other than that, I can definitely see why it's a lot of people's GOAT show. I liked how it never held the audience's hand too much, while dishing out a lot of quite complex themes. The constant references to psychology, philosophy, pop culture, current events. Everything felt so rich, like each episode was a movie in its own right, and I never once felt like I was sitting through filler.
Uncle June's story arc was probably the saddest for me, although he's hardly a sympathetic character, but seeing someone who's so sharp and vicious at the start turn into an incontinent, forgotten bag of bones riddled with Alzheimer's (the irony was of course, gold) was surprisingly devastating. Such good writing across the board at making such shit people sympathetic in the right moments.
Tony Soprano being the most interesting case. By the end his pile of sins is so huge that I think most viewers are either for or against him, with little middle ground, and they set you up for the ultimate judgement to be handed out to him. But that ending was perfection. Personally I believe Tony lived beyond that day and died of natural causes. I'm choosing to ignore all the breadcrumbs.
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
It's funny that you feel that way because
Anyway, I'm glad you liked it. Personally I didn't get how brilliant the show was until my second viewing, but I was pretty young when I saw it the first time. Nowadays I have to stop myself from rewatching it annually.
Christopher's death is one of the most haunting moments of the entire series for me. It comes out of nowhere and has no real bearing on the plot of the season, and that's kind of the point. Killing Christopher is just something Tony did on a whim because he saw that he could get away with it and benefit from it.
Anyway, I'm glad you liked it. Personally I didn't get how brilliant the show was until my second viewing, but I was pretty young when I saw it the first time. Nowadays I have to stop myself from rewatching it annually.
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