I thought daredevil was mostly pretty boring and what was the point of making their superhero show Gritty and Real when they’re just going to fill it with ninjas, but introducing frank castle as just some mass shooter in a hospital from the perspective of the patients and workers was good
How much legal drama does Daredevil have and how much PI drama does Jessica Jones have?
Season 2 of Kimmy Schmidt is up today. I liked the first episode, mostly because of the random Redskins burn and I like that they didn’t drop any of the threads from the first season finale. Titus feels more like a character now even if they resolved the marriage thing rather quickly and I’m glad there’s more Dong. I kinda enjoy the race humor that’s still sticking around as well.
Man Tina Fey can make some really sharp and clever jokes about race but when she can’t they are the fucking pits. Episode 3 of Kimmy Schmidt Season 2 is at an Aaron Sorkin level of Online Criticized Me.
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Oh holy shit, you weren’t kidding. That episode is sour grapes congealed into script form.
(I laughed at the trans-racial quip, being of actual mutt status)
Yeah I just finished watching the first two seasons of Halt and Catch Fire, because I did not have sufficient self control and hoped that it would get significantly better. The second season was an improvement but still basically complete shit.
It almost feels like a parody of the prestige drama format, only there were no jokes. All of the characters are uniformly despicable, and as much as I didn’t like Computer Chess, I wish this show focused on a bunch of Computer Chess-esque weirdos instead of 4 sociopaths and a good ol’ boy texan.
What a pointless, stupid show. I guess I’m free to never watch it now that I’m ‘caught up’.
I just finished Jessica Jones. She is a PI for about the first 3 episodes. Though the finale hints that the next season will be a more episodic thing where she takes “cases” (although they did also set up a new overarching villain since they [spoilers]killed the other one[/spoilers].)
watched Making a Murderer
jesus christ
so i’ve been watching Stranger Things I guess like everyone else, it’s good and everything but I feel like the main thing it is doing is making me realize all over again all of the stuff Twin Peaks does extremely well beyond just being weird and funny. I haven’t read a ton of stuff about ST, but what I have seen mentions most of the 80s movie influences, but afaik people aren’t talking about how it is kind of just an inferior Twin Peaks, only with 80’s kid/YA movie kitsch instead of 90’s soap opera kitsch.
Like, within a few episodes of TP you’ve been introduced to a staggering number of really well-defined characters, whose relationships with one another are also complicated but pretty clearly illustrated. Every episode that goes by without being introduced to the parents of the protagonist’s best friends just makes it weirder and weirder. Isn’t this supposed to be a small town? Shouldn’t everybody know each other? I’m more than half way through at this point, so I guess it’s just not going to happen? Because the show reminds me so much of Twin Peaks, I keep expecting new connections between characters that have already been introduced to emerge, and it just doesn’t happen, which makes the show feel really shallow. But I guess I still haven’t finished yet so maybe I’ll be surprised.
It also compares unfavorably to one of its more obvious influences, The Goonies… ST has some really serious tone issues that come I guess from them trying to mash up all their influences at once, and I usually end up having too much anxiety about children in peril to experience what I am assuming are meant to be light hearted tales of adventures and whatnot…the whole thing is just too creepy. The moments of comic relief feel kind of forced and are only rarely funny, while the dark shit that is going on just becomes increasingly miserable.
Ugh I always do this, even when I essentially Like A Thing the only way I can write about it is to talk about all of the things I don’t like about it. The girl who plays Eleven is great, and they get bonus points for casting people who actually look the correct age. I also really like the parents of Mike and Nancy, especially the Dad. I know he is like the most minor character on the whole show but that is Perfect. He’s the one I keep feeling should be a Twin Peaks-style ‘suspicious character’ but that never happens, and I almost like the show more for continuing to have him show up to do absolutely nothing of any importance to anyone. I really want him to be like a boring office worker at the evil matthew modine megacorp and still sort of suspect that this will happen, but please don’t spoil it for me either way i’m only on episode 6
I suspect the main reason people have been so receptive to ST, even people who are aware of its shortcomings, is that it doesn’t tumble down the hill of LOST-esque mystery box writing (you see the paranormal stuff early on, and the viewer understands the basic premise/rules of what’s going on before the characters do), nor do you get the sense that the creators are deliberately leaving things on the table in hopes of pulling out a recurring gig that goes on for an eternal amount of seasons. Instead you actually see story beats that pay off in mostly logical (but not always expected) ways, with a cast of likeable and familiar archetypes that are still relatable even if you haven’t seen any of the 80’s movies that they’re based on.
And TV and film has been NOT that for so long (like, as consistently good as something like Breaking Bad was, it was still a lot of writing into and out of corners) that ST feels kinda refreshing in comparison. I still think it’s okay to be critical of ST, though. I would add caveats to some of what I just said, but you’re not done with the series yet. I don’t think it aspires to be anything like Twin Peaks despite a lot of superficial similarities because Lynch’s involvement seems to give it a way different agenda.
Whaaatt… I just rewatched the goonies and thought it was unbearable crap the whole way through. At least ST always maintained base watchability. What exactly is supposed to be good about the Goonies?
Ok I haven’t seen it in years so grain of salt and all that but in my my memory at least it puts the kids in situations that are harrowing enough to feel like an adventure but not dangerous enough to be de pressing or anxiety inducing. I brought it up because stranger things got back and forth between this kids on an adventure vibe and genuinely horrific nightmare fuel so rapidly I end up not really being sold on either.
Also I appreciate that in the goonies the jock teens and nerd kids learn to overcome their differences and work together to find curly’s gold or w/e.
I hate that Cool Kid Steve is just a one note douche, I feel like an 8 hour miniseries should be able to humanize everyone. His friends are even more cartoonish. The Nancy / Steve subplot is the worst, I wish they were able to tweak 80s teen rom com formulas as well as they do other things. Like basically they smush John Carpenter Steven Spielberg and John Hughes together and the Carpenter stuff just overpowers everything and makes the whole show feel … Sad? I dunno
Poltergeist is maybe a better example of a good mix of horror comedy and adventure that works better than this show than Goonies, but I haven’t seen Poltergeist in years either. Didn’t a remake of it come out a while ago?
Anyway, I get that it is lame in a way to compare ST to its obvious influences, but I just feel like they paid attention to the general plot arcs and aesthetic but didn’t really grasp on to the more subtle character/writing details that are what made the most memorable movies of that type actually memorable and endearing
Winona Ryder is cool tho
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Yeah, twin peaks and stranger things are concerned with very different things. Actually, I feel like the comparison doesn’t hold up all that well. Twin peaks revolves around lynch’s usual suburban-existential-cockroaches-made-manifest metaphors, though in this specific case you could call them existential forest owls instead.
Stranger Things is about, well, power fantasies. but without being one itself. Its about the relationship between said fantasies and reality. And it’s very, very good in that respect. I won’t go into to specifics on that cos spoilers and I’m on my phone rn but could elaborate if asked.
Stranger things is really generous with its characters though and that’s my favourite thing about it. It has the kind of balance between humour, terror, and empathy that is typical of Mother games, which is the only example I can reach for cos I’m an idiot drunk
Sure, but in this case I’m just pointing out that Twin Peaks to me creates a much more palpable image of a small town reacting to the disappearance of a teen. It’s not at all a realistic one, but it’s just… Better
Enh. I like twin peaks more but that’s cos I’m a seasoned lynch sycophant
The major difference between the shows plot wise is that the protagonist in one of them is an outsider and the other has no outsiders among the main cast
I get your point but Cooper is both the protagonist and an outsider
yeah exactly that is what i am saying
Oh I thought you were talking about the kids being social outsiders and that being the reason why it doesn’t matter that the broader spectrum of characters don’t seem to have that much to do with one another
i just finished stranger things this morning and i pretty much think it sucks? it’s fun sometimes and it’s easy to watch and it’s paced very well. i sort of think it’s just another nothingy winking fanservice machine, probably. man, that main kid was insufferable. i really hate the father character! i feel like someone is chuckling and nudging me every time he shows up. like that jokey bit in one episode where he’s like, they’re the government, they’re here to protect us - who is that for? i don’t know. it’s sort of insulting. filled with cringey dialogue and groany flashbacks. scene with dresses and little boys applying makeup was intolerable.
i think it’s worth comparing to twin peaks! i’m sure whoever made it was thinking about twin peaks. besides the plot beats i think a sort of nostalgia is a central part of both shows, though where it becomes insidious in twin peaks stranger things is happy to just fart it out wholesale. i don’t know, man.
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Honestly one of the main reasons I can’t help but do this is because the theme song has a bit in there right at the end that sounds exactly like part of the Twin Peaks theme, it’s like they are inviting comparisons
Oh my god maybe the upside down is the black lodge
maybe Stranger Things is a stealth prequel to the new Twin Peaks
maybe it is Frog Fractions 2