I quite liked it. A decent Murder Mystery, good pacing, interesting premise and good acting, they could have fleshed out a few of the characters more, but overall I thought it was pretty good.
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
We gave the first episode of 007: Road to a Million a try and it's kinda... boring? People doing James Bond-themed challenges for money seems like an easy concept to make entertaining, you have a wealth of death defying stunts and vehicle chases and crap that plays with people's fears. But this first episode consisted of them just walking around some places (that have appeared in Bond movies) and then answering a multiple choice general knowledge trivia question. The cast all compete separately too, at least so far, and the first episode mainly follows just one pair through their first set of challenges.
I quite liked it. A decent Murder Mystery, good pacing, interesting premise and good acting, they could have fleshed out a few of the characters more, but overall I thought it was pretty good.
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
I'm very, very much not up to speed on current TV shows out there, but I watched the entirety of the two seasons of The White Lotus in the last few days, and very much enjoyed it. It made me think a lot of Better Call Saul, in that pretty much every character is a bad person in some way, but I find them all very compelling and the writing does a great job of making you root for them even when you probably shouldn't. Like so many great works, I think this show excels simply because it draws on truths; I think in every single character in the show I've seen at least little bits and pieces of traits of real people I've known in my life. It's put them in situations in which their ####ty personalities and behaviour can be dissected, and in doing so makes me sad, angry, cynical, laugh out loud, shake my head in frustration, and cheer them on.
All that said, Jennifer Coolidge's 'Tanya McQuoid' ('Tonya'? not sure on the spelling...) I did not find redeemable in any way, and was a really difficult watch. I tended to zone out when her scenes took centre stage. A textbook case of someone with Borderline Personality Disorder who gets away with it most of the time because she's wealthy. It is a bang-on representation of some wealthy women I've met though... It's darkly comic that she actually does realize that most people do have transactional relationships with her, because otherwise there is no reason to associate with her whatsoever. Weird chicken-and-egg thing: is she such a basket-case because people only want to associate with her for access to her money, or the money the only reason a basket-case such as herself is tolerable whatsoever? Both are true, I think.
Other characters from the first season were lots of fun to watch and follow along:
Spoiler!
'Rachel''s end was one of the most frustrating things about the first season. This is a weird analogue, but I felt a lot like I did the first time I finished reading the book Nineteen Eighty-Four: I wanted to throw the book across the room I was so mad.
Alexandra Daddario does a fantastic job of playing a beautiful woman who has an existential crisis about people only liking her because she's beautiful (maybe one of the most perfect casting choices possible...?), and she quickly goes through a period of grief and despondence and I think realizes, deep down: "pretty privilege" is very very real, and she's been benefitting from it her whole life. When she tells Shane she's made a mistake marrying him I so wanted to cheer for her realizing what a petulant man-child her husband is and how soul-crushingly unfulfilling her life is going to be with him. She seeks comfort and solace in talking to her mother on the phone, who quickly brushes her off saying that she's out grocery shopping and has bad reception and will call her later: no comfort and solace there. She tries to find comfort and solace talking to Belinda, who, after feeling like she's been strung along like a fool by the flighty Ms. McQuoid, gives her nothing but cold shoulder. "Just another spoiled, rich, white twit..."
I think Rachel came away from that with the terrifying truth: nobody really gives a #### about her anyway. In the same way the vast majority of people you meet will never give a flying #### about you. And so, faced with the scary authentic life she could live wherein she'll never get recognized for personal achievement in her work (by all accounts Nicole Mossbacher's earlier assessment that Rachel is a crap excuse for a journalist anyway was entirely true), and no man will ever really want to get to know "the real her" because they're only interested in ####ing her and having her as arm-candy, and most women will treat her like dirt because they're envious of the spoiled life she lives: she chose to come crawling back to Shane the wealthy narcissist man-child. The choice was really not "live a boring trophy wife's existence, or live a 'real' life wherein people respect her independence"; it never was. It was "live a boring trophy wife's existence in the lap of luxury, or live the exact same sort of boring existence but poor too." She chose the money. She realized that her earlier assessment—that Shane just wants to #### her because she's pretty and will make a great trophy wife as such—was bang-on, and deep down she likely knows that as her youth and beauty fade he'll divorce her for someone younger and prettier, but she might as well get in on the luxurious lifestyle while she can. She's sentenced herself to a banal purgatory, but at least it'll be really nice along the way.
'Mark Mossbacher' (Steve Zahn) reminds me a lot of a really good dude I used to work with. Someone who is very... I don't know how to put it, very 'zen' about a lot of life? Someone who actually cares quite a bit about his kids and who I had some really insightful conversations about the nature of being a father and trying not to #### up his kids. But if I'm perfectly honest, and I think he'd admit it too: he's also a bit of a goof. I mean it in the most complimentary way possible. He's like a stoner teenager who grew up to actually not be a ####-up of an adult, and doesn't want his kids to have to go about life in such a roundabout way before figuring out what's important.
Mark is also "emasculated" by the fact his wife is the breadwinner of the family, and thus is left feeling listless and purposeless. He's a prisoner of the ideas he was brought up with about what it is that makes a man a man, and it's especially driving him into a spiral when he finds out his father was living a closeted life.
'Nicole' (Connie Britton) is like so many workaholic parents I know who means well but sacrifices too much of her personality and her life to work to make her a good parent and spouse. (I'd likely be one of the worst of the lot of these people, if I was married and had kids...) At the same time she's absolutely correct and entitled to the feelings she has about her husband and his infidelity, and her kids and their complete unappreciation for the sacrifices she makes to make their lifestyle possible. It's a catch-22: her daughter is a conniving, catty ##### and her son is a spineless goof in large part because she's an absent parent, but if not for the career their lifestyle would be far less privileged and there's a non-zero chance her kids would be similar anyway.
Speaking of the kids, 'Olivia' (Sydney Sweeney) is like so many spoiled, bratty rich-girls I've met, who entertains herself by being ####ty to other people because there are no repercussions for the little budding sociopath. She's like the Rachel character, in that she'll skate through life on "easy mode" because she's a pretty, rich, white girl, but where Rachel had to go through an existential crisis to figure this out Olivia already knows it. She also already knows that people have transactional relationships with her, but unlike Tanya she doesn't care. She gets fulfillment out of these relationships by "winning" said transactions, by twisting them to her favour. 'Paula' too realizes that she's getting access to a luxurious lifestyle she wouldn't otherwise have by being 'friends' with Olivia, and just goes along with it because she knows the alternative is poverty and poverty sucks. So Olivia gets to be a bitch to her and everyone else, and Paula gets to tag along on Hawaiian vacations, and they're both cool with it. Sadly neither are capable of deeper, healthier relationships at this point, so when Olivia confirms her suspicions that Paula helped 'Kai' try to steal her mother's bracelets, Olivia still ultimately forgives and embraces Paula. It's the exact same sort of crap Olivia would've tried to pull if the circumstances were different.
'Quinn' (the son; Fred Hechinger) is far too much like his father, in that he's wanting to be a lot more than what society things a young man ought to be, that he wants to be 'better' and just doesn't know how, but has the disadvantage of being a dopey teenaged boy that no one respects. His mother's analysis that "boys/men have it tough these days" is I think actually quite true in this respect: on the one hand traditional ideas about masculinity stifled generations of men and turned them into ####ty fathers and husbands, but not following that template doesn't lead them to better lives. It's actual quite sad that Quinn has basically already decided his life has no meaning or purpose, and so wants to just bum around Hawaii for the rest of his life. It's... maybe very healthy? One of the healthiest attitudes of any of these characters?
'Armand' (Murray Bartlett) was the funniest character to me. Irreverent to a fault. As much as Shane was an irredeemable narcissistic ######bag, he wasn't fundamentally wrong in any of his interactions with Armand: Armand was totally in the wrong, pretty much all along the way, and was actual quite terrible at his job. But Bartlett played him so well for laughs it was hard not to root for him. Even when he did something as off-the-rails disgusting as taking a dump in Shane's luggage, I couldn't help but laugh. (I also laughed when Shane was on the phone and exclaimed "I'm sure it wasn't my wife!" I mean... she had left the room completely despondent... so how would he know? Although I think Shane is the kind of oblivious doofus guy who's thoroughly convinced women don't poop, especially his pretty trophy wife. That and I don't think the production team would have the balls to film Alexandra Daddario or a similarly beautiful actress dropping trou and plopping a couple turds into a suitcase. )
Season two I finished earlier today and I'm still not sure whether I prefer it to season one or not. I had doubts in the first episode, especially with the Tanya character making a return. Like the first season almost any and all scenes involving her were a difficult watch and made me disinterested, but the addition of the 'Portia' character was a saving grace, and the interconnecting stories of 'Valentina' the hotel director, 'Lucia' and 'Mia' the hookers, the father-son-grandson trifecta of 'Dominic', 'Albie' and 'Bert', and the "frenemy" relationship between 'Daphne', 'Cameron', 'Ethan' and 'Harper' were great.
Spoiler!
Simona Tabasco played 'Lucia' so well I wanted to believe she really wanted to leave her life as a prostitute behind. I wasn't quite so mad as the first season finale's situation with Rachel capitulating and reuniting with Shane, but it was a frustrating thing to watch her snooker 'Albie' so easily and badly.
The ending scene with the three generations of Di Grasso men turning to ogle the young woman walking past them at the airport was just *chef's kiss*. Like the old man had said earlier, "like father, like son, like grandson" (or something to that effect). The grandson is almost certainly doomed to repeat his father's mistakes... or maybe he'll be more discreet like his grandfather? Either way he definitely isn't on the path to lead the idealized life of monogamy he thinks he wants now.
The Cameron-Daphne-Harper-Ethan ####-show is a fun one to try to dissect. Did Harper sleep with Cameron, or is she telling the truth? It's very heavily implied that Ethan slept with Daphne... Is Ethan and Harper's relationship healthier than it was before, as implied by the ending, or are they just content to lead the promiscuous lifestyle "rich people" live? Or both? Are they happy together because they're both now so cool about cheating on each other, like a "now that we've got that out of our systems..." situation? Or did they both come away realizing feeling it's crappy and unfulfilling, despite Cameron's assertions that all rich men cheat on their wives and Daphne's seemingly blasé "I just do whatever (/whomever) I want to make me happy" compensating?
I'm still not sure if Tanya foiled a legitimate murder plot against her or not; just as the writer's intended, I presume. The climactic scenes on the yacht were as madcap and manic as befit the character. I definitely didn't know where they were going with all this subplot, and they pulled it off well.
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I didn't even know The Witcher S3 had arrived six months ago. I'd wager a guess the news of Cavill quitting completely overshadowed everything?
Anyway, I'm watching the show over again for the first time like I have for the last four holidays, and the tone of the third season is totally different. No gore, no nudity, no sex, a lot of unfunny comedic lines.
Game of Thrones kinda went that way later on, but the Witcher dialed things down from an 8 to 2 and it's distractingly noticeable.
I didn't even know The Witcher S3 had arrived six months ago. I'd wager a guess the news of Cavill quitting completely overshadowed everything?
Anyway, I'm watching the show over again for the first time like I have for the last four holidays, and the tone of the third season is totally different. No gore, no nudity, no sex, a lot of unfunny comedic lines.
Game of Thrones kinda went that way later on, but the Witcher dialed things down from an 8 to 2 and it's distractingly noticeable.
I gave up on Season 3 after a few episodes. I feel like our current golden age of TV is winding down with so many good shows ending or turning to crap.
I gave up on Season 3 after a few episodes. I feel like our current golden age of TV is winding down with so many good shows ending or turning to crap.
I think what we're experiencing is the lull created by the strikes.
Its just a little gully. Just a gully.
Then again, because of the studios having to pay creatives more money now every streamer is screaming for more money and introducing ads.
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
Reacher is a total dumbass. He comes at Russo for being corrupt for basically no reason any person with a brain can see Russo is a good cop in a bad situation. Then does one better by putting a teenage girl in the protection of Russo. Of course Langston's goons kill Russo because they are ruthless and armed to teeth.
Meanwhile, Reacher takes his sweet time killing goons silently on a bus which gives time for the choppa to show up and rescue Langston. Brilliant. How about ice all the goons with the gun you picked up then shoot Langston. Problem solved.
I can look past a lot, and Gary Oldman is still hilarious.. but that last episode. Wow. I'm incapable of the mental gymnastics required to get behind that.
I mean it in the most complimentary way possible. He's like a stoner teenager who grew up to actually not be a ####-up of an adult, and doesn't want his kids to have to go about life in such a roundabout way before figuring out what's important.
