2.5 episodes into the new season of Black Mirror. This show hasn’t been good in so long, and so far this ship has NOT righted itself, but there is an episode with Balatro in it, lol.
I liked the first few seasons of this show so much that I feel duty bound to keep watching it no matter how bad it gets, unfortunately.
I love the new season.
I could see not liking Bête Noire and Hotel Reverie, but you didn’t like Common People?
The last two episodes are two of the strongest of the season, so maybe you’ll change your mind when you finish the season.
Common People was definitely the best of the first three, but I still wasn’t crazy about it. It’s Black Mirror in that classic miserabilist mode, and it did depress me, but it didn’t really work for me beyond that. It kept throwing more ideas into the mix: streaming service business models applied to the already fucked up US healthcare system, “advertising tourettes” (I thought this bit was effective), the evil Twitch where you hurt yourself for money (didn’t land for me at all), the ability to boost your emotions via a phone app, etc. Any single one of these could have been the premise for a whole episode, but instead each got a pretty shallow treatment. I also thought the central couple’s descent into medical finance hell didn’t feel as lived in as I’d like.
Bête Noire I felt was watchable enough but didn’t really have anything interesting to say. Very silly ending, but I’m not gonna lie, that was kind of my favorite part. I get the feeling Charlie Brooker would really rather be making some kind of urban fantasy show, and he keeps putting a translucent little sci-fi tablecloth over that genre to fit it into this show that’ll actually give him a budget. See also the last episode of the previous season, and Hotel Reverie in this one.
I’m only halfway through Hotel Reverie but so far this one’s a stinker. I like the premise of “modern actress goes inside a classic movie to play the main character, but then immediately fucks it up and has to improvise a new plot to get to the end credits in one piece,” but my main problem here is that this classic movie looks like absolute dogshit. All the modern day characters keep talking about it like it’s The Third Man or Casablanca, but every time you see a clip of it, it’s the goofiest, most poorly written, acted, shot, and edited Animaniacs-level pastiche, like to the point that it feels like the episode has a weirdly chauvinist perspective on old movies.
I’m glad to hear the later episodes are better. I’m very interested in the one about a 90’s MMO for obvious reasons. And I liked that original USS Callister episode, so I’m pretty curious about the sequel.
Well, I just watched the rest of Hotel Reverie and it turned out to be a hackier San Junipero with less compelling leads. So far this season is like all retreads of better episodes.
this term reminded me; i’ve been watching season one of severance and holy shit this show is way too depressing. like i just feel really bad when i’m watching it! i like the story and the acting and stuff but wow it makes me bummed out. maybe i should stop watching RIP
today’s the day i try this i think
haven’t seen the show since the mid 90s reruns here
Whoever cast the student doctors for the Pitt deserves a raise.
seriously!!! it’s so good
also I think this is the funniest possible thirst trap of sorts that a male TV actor could ever post. plus he’s an LA live theater guy!
The Pitt rules, watch The Pitt
severance got way less depressing after episode 3, the balance really shifts toward comedy after the ones stiller directed himself
I wish someone had told me that in the last few years! I’ve literally only made it through an episode a year because every time I’ve tried I’d been like “this is so miserable”
you could honestly mistake it for not being a comedy at all in the first few. but it’s very obviously a dark comedy thereafter (finishing up season 1’s finale today)
s1 balances it better s2 gets drearier (and more tedious)
I thought S2E2 was hilarious. Still haven’t finished the rest though.
yes season 2 starts pretty strong which is what makes the latter half disappointing
this seems like one i may just never pick back up sadly ;-;. s1 hit me at exactly the right time for reasons i don’t really understand, and even though i really was looking forward to s2 at this point i just dont know if i really care. sad! i wonder if i’ll feel the same way about peacemaker s2, which i watched around the same time. the strike really just drained a ton of momentum out of a bunch of this kind of stuff didn’t it
The Rehearsal season 2:
I like to rate a show by how closely its creator’s shoes match mine. So far, this one’s knocking it out of the park.
William Shatner is in two episodes of Columbo.
was really cheered up when they showed two back to back fall guy episodes and the first one was the one where the actors who play cannon, mannix, and petrocelli play themeselves behind the scenes at a crossover special and then the next episode was the one that starts one with elvira blasting the fall guy with magic fire powers (in a movie)
