Whatcha Bleedin' Watchin'?

[Dr. Insomniac]

The main highlight of Defenders was getting to hear Sigourney Weaver say "Tsk tsk tsk... Baka."

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The first episode of The Deuce was kind of slow for me and didn't really pick up until the last half hour, but it's an interesting enough subject matter that I'll stick with it for at least a few more episodes.

[Dr. Insomniac]

David Simon's shows are always slow burns that require a marathon watch over a week by week deal, which was why nobody cared about The Wire until after it ended. So I'll probably wait until the season ends so I can view it all.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just nabbed myself the Firefly Collector's Edition Blu-Ray. It comes in some really fancy leather packaging and it's a great item for the shelf. That said, it would have been nice if it came bundled with the movie as well, but at only $20 it was still a really good deal.

[Avaitor]

Halt and Catch Fire's series finale was excellent, a great reminder of how the show went from a wannabe to a better Mad Men successor than Better Call Saul is a Breaking Bad successor. Here's a good article that explains the show's latter triumphs, and another that details the finale's successes, while musing on other finales, and whether or not The Americans cans stick the landing.

On another note, I've only seen the first week of the DC shows, and I enjoyed all of their premieres enough, but if I'm not wowed by this season of Legends or Supergirl by my trip to Europe at the start of the month, I'm going to drop them. I;m having too many shows to catch up on, and not enough time for them, to stick to more mediocre ones.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm a bit annoyed that The Flash did a repeat of their mistake in season three by ending the conflict brought up from the previous season finale in just one episode. There was a lot of potential to expand the story-line of Barry's absence for at least a few episodes before bringing him back in instead of throwing in a quick and easy fix. One has to wonder what was even the point of locking him within the Speed Force in the first place if he was just going to return right away (in terms of the narrative) without any major issues. Other than that, it's too early to tell how the rest of the season will play out yet.

Arrow has mostly managed to keep its momentum from last season's improvements going strong enough, so I'm legitimately enjoying it for the time being, despite have some overall issues with the writing.

As I said before, I was dropping Supergirl and Legends, so I haven't been following either of those shows, but based on what I've heard, it's basically more of the same so far, so I don't really think that I'm missing much.

In other news, The Deuce, while still not quite great in my eyes, has certainly been growing on me with each episode. I'll definitely be sticking around with this series.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Season 2 of Stranger Things was all right. Doesn't quite reach the highs of the last season, and some characters like Mike get much less to do here. New characters were hit or miss. Like Max was okay even if it felt like she was only introduced so the gang could have another girl. But Billy was awful. Every 80s teen jock stereotype combined instead of actually making a character. And that's when Stranger Things loses me, the times when their pastiches of 80s movies stop becoming pastiches and turn into paper-thin ripoffs of other scenes and characters. It's what annoyed me about the teenagers plot from last season. Had all the annoyances of a John Hughes movie without any attempt to re-invent that kind of storytelling.

I also skipped episode 7 after the almost unanimous hatred of it on Twitter. It helped the beginning of episode 8 even picks up from the end of episode 6.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I enjoyed it for what it was, but if I'm to be honest Stranger Things, while fun, was a bit over-hyped for me. Even season one was good, not great, looking back on it.

Season two stumbles in places but is still a fairly decent watch. I honestly didn't mind episode 7 that much. It experimented with something different but kept it to a self-contained episode because clearly the Duffer Brothers foresaw that there could be some backlash so this was a safer way for them to test the waters without derailing the entire season, but as a result it also feels completely out of place and unecessary in the grander narrative. It doesn't quite work out the way it was handled but it shows some potential if it were to be reworked into a more compelling story. Honestly, though, if I could give it credit for something, at least it was interesting in how different it was from everything else while still having a Stranger Things vibe to it. My biggest problem with the rest of the season was that most of what worked about it was a rehash of what already worked in the first season, which is playing it way too safe. I mean it was entertaining, but you can't help but feel like it's the TV equivalent of day-old leftovers.

As for Mike being absent from most of the season, I'm suspecting that's due to scheduling conflicts since he was also in the middle of filming "It" during this season's production, leaving him less available for screen-time.

I will say that this season's stand-out character for me was easily Steve. He has the most consistently compelling character arc out of anyone in this entire series, and it's refreshing to see a Bully character develop into a fully fleshed out and well-realized human being. I'm also just a sucker for redemption arcs, and his chemistry with Dustin in this season was both surprising and genuinely adorable to watch.

[Avaitor]

Speaking of Netflix, they've cancelled House of Cards. Season 6 will be released as planned, but that will be the end.

Obviously this is due to the Kevin Spacey controversy, which if I recall right, this has come and gone in the rumor mill for years. That said, while I couldn't even get into the show during its peak years, from what I've heard, this sounds like an act of mercy.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I couldn't take the show seriously anymore after this scene.

[Avaitor]

There's something about Michael Schur's shows that rubs me the wrong way. I used to love Parks and Recreation, but the finale bugged me more than HIMYM's, and I haven't been able to go back to it that much. I think besides the notoriously rocky first season, the show started to show signs of wear when Leslie ran for office, and Schur's opposition to conflict became apparent. None of the show's attempts at antagonists have ever really worked. It made a good call by softening Ben down as season 3 went along, but if anything, that shows the problem with this show and Brooklyn 99, where everything and everyone is too damn agreeable. Issues are only briefly prevalent, and they always have a quick resolve. There has to be a fair compromise for everything. It feels inauthentic.

And going back to Brooklyn 99, I couldn't make it through that show, since it feels like it's written for tumblr. The show tries so hard to be woke at the expense of legitimate characterization that I can't buy it.

So I'm surprised that I've been sticking to The Good Place. And to be fair, aside from some great visual humor and game performances all around, I don't find it all that funny. But I really like its world-building and the core theme of what it means to be a good person. There's something good here that his other stuff doesn't do for me.

I'm thinking of doing The Leftovers and The Handmaid's Tale next, but I do also want to catch up on Tangled: The Series, so I can talk about it with my girlfriend. I'm also considering the new version of One Day at a Time.

[Avaitor]

I have a question- is The Return worth watching if you don't like the original Twin Peaks?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Maybe? The Return does expect you to watch the original show though in order to understand the plot, so that might be tough.

[Foggle]

I have a question- is The Return worth watching if you don't like the original Twin Peaks?

Do you like David Lynch's movies? More specifically, do you like Fire Walk With Me? If not, you should probably give it a pass.

Maybe? The Return does expect you to watch the original show though in order to understand the plot, so that might be tough.

Yeah, it won't make much sense unless you're familiar with the original series. You can skip the whole lame filler part in season 2 at least.

[Avaitor]

I have a question- is The Return worth watching if you don't like the original Twin Peaks?

Do you like David Lynch's movies? More specifically, do you like Fire Walk With Me? If not, you should probably give it a pass.

Kind of. I like his earlier short films, Eraserhead, and Elephant Man. And I'm hit or miss on Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story. I recently saw Lost Highway, and I thought it was bullshit. I haven't done Fire Walk With Me yet. I do intend to, but I wanted to finish season 2 first, but I can't. Super Nadine is the worst thing ever.

My problem with the original series is that I think it tries so hard to be weird that it actually ends up being kind of boring. Very little of it works for me, with the soap opera satire being a particular lowlight. I've tried on two different occasions, but it's just not my thing.