Amph What was the last tv episode you watched?

I binged What if...? Season 2 and really enjoyed it. I think I liked Season 1 better overall, although Season 2 had a stronger consistency. There were at least 2 episodes I didn't really like in Season 1 while pretty much all of Season 2 had me grinning. The animation, especially in the action scenes, is gorgeous, with just the right level of caricature on the character's faces so that they're recognisable but more emotive than live-action.

My favourite was probably episode 2, for the sheer niche levels of the hero teamup, the unique 80's setting, and the character dynamics at play. Really excited that Season 3 seems to be imminent much sooner after the long delay, and the Zombies mini-spin off too later this year.

 

"Final Arrangements", an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". A seriously henpecked husband (Martin Balsam) is being driven to distraction by his supposedly-sickly wife (who's actually quite well). One day, he goes to a local funeral home and arranges for a funeral & interment, but doesn't mention who the deceased is. Then, he mentions to a couple of friends about how he's planning on going on a long trip far away. Then, he's looking into buying some poison...
This was a pretty good story, with a fine performance from Balsam as a man who tries to keep his frustrations bottled up until his last scene, which provides a memorable twist. Without giving anything away, it also inspires a rare serious disclaimer from Hitch during his closing. Not the best episode of the series I've seen, but at least the twist ending didn't make me feel ticked off, as sometimes happens on this show.

 

The Gilded Age, S1E1

The moral of this show is that self-made billionaires are real people too, every bit as worthy as the people who inherited generational wealth. The show is so many levels of bad I don't even know where to begin, except that the cast is very talented. Why are they slumming in this Lifestyles of the 19th Century Rich and Famous? I hope they had to pay Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski a lot, but probably not.

 

Just finished up The Last Kingdom S5. Personally I really liked it. I actually think I liked it more than S1 so to me the show ended strong. S3-4 sucks. 2 is ok.

24 minutes in Seven Kings Must Die now.

 

For All Mankind, S4E7

Unionize!

It really is becoming a prequel to the Expanse, a show I also appreciate. Though For All Mankind has better direction, production design, cinematography, writing and acting (for the most part - a storyline or two is questionable, and some of the ageing-up makeup is bad).

Quit after 10 minutes or so.

 

Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen (1985). This thing is just weird. Colin Baker's second outing as the Doctor puts him up against the Cybermen, or at least the ineffectively dull 80's Cybermen who are basically macho robots. The plot is oddly structured with a large number of scenes meandering in the TARDIS before even getting out to explore the story. What story there is quickly becomes muddled. The Cybermen are hiding in the sewers of London but that's irrelevant as we jet off to their tombs on the planet of Telos to get 60's Cyber lore spewed forth onto us. Lytton, a side character from the previous season wanders around in a gangster subplot for about 25 minutes before being relegated to doing not much of anything. The Doctor's characterisation is also askew, this oddly amoral vagabond who you can't tell whether is acting the fool or just foolish. Companion Peri is at her lowest agency, dragged around against her will, complaining for the entirety. She gets the dubious distinction of the cliffhanger moment, shouting NO! half a dozen times in quick succession as the Cybermen lazily advance.

At times both moodily shot and unrepentantly cheap looking, mired in continuity but oddly compelling in how offputting and strange it feels. I can't describe it as 'good', but it has this habit of worming into my brain with some of its more arresting visuals and off-kilter style.

 

Will put here vs movie

Just finished Seven Kings/Die and it was just blah mostly. Bad camera work yet bloody scenes.

 

The Feathered Serpent series 1
I watched this on YouTube about a week ago. It's a BBC children's serial set in the Aztec empire and come across as a kid's I,Claudius. It's not what you'd call historically accurate or authentic in any way, but I found it enjoyable for what it was. The main point of interest for viewers these days is that the bad guy (the Aztec high priest) is played by Patrick (Doctor Who) Troughton, who despite his small stature was actually very good at portraying sinister villains.

 

I never watched the shows, but Herriot's books were like a warm fuzzy blanket for the soul.

 

Wth bruh I feel kinda weird.. I just saw a Billy Maze advertisement. I know I have to had a confused face on.

 

A Murder at the End of the World

This is a great little thriller series. It avoids many of the pitfalls that this type of story can fall into - too much padding, illogical twists, an unsatisfying resolution, doing dumb stuff.

A good cast for a sharp, smart story that has a lot to say about the world we're in, and who we are in it with. It's the kind of story best watched knowing as little as possible, then watch it spin out across seven episodes.

 

I feel we watched a different show.

 

Maybe? I can imagine if watched week by week it could be different, but watching in two blocks, eps 1-3 then 4-7, it worked for me.

 

Fargo S5 episode 4


Yes I'm behind several weeks, which is too bad because this show is really good

 

Band of Brothers, episode 8, The Last Patrol
February 1945, the grunts think they can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the possibility of surviving the war is becoming something more than a vague and distant dream, which brings its own problems. Replacements and returning wounded are struggling to find their places, and the veterans who have been there all along are struggling to accept the changing faces. As usual, these people and their problems are very very real.

 

Starting to wonder if I'll ever able to access S4 and S5 with subs. So erratic on streaming services.

 

Watched the short, 5 minute special Doctor Who: Destination: Skaro.

Shortly after the comic events of "Liberation of the Daleks," the 14th Doctor arrives on Skaro just after the first Dalek is shown. He inadvertently gives Davros's assistant crucial information about the Daleks' development.

 

Marvel's Echo ep 1
I'm not a fan of graphic violence, and I'm getting tonal whiplash going from Hawkeye to this. But Maya is an interesting character, and the sound design of the episode was different. I'll give the next one a chance.

 

Echo ep 2
I hope there's more to her plan than meets the eye. It's looking like all she's going to do is get people killed. OTOH, she had a radioactive spider bite moment, so I'm hoping we'll get a change of course soon.

Also, the old man in the souvenir shop makes me laugh.

 

Doctor Who: The Giggle. I really liked this one. The Toy Maker was very, very, very creepy. The Joker but Q but the Doctor. I take it from the shot of the gold tooth lying on the UNIT helipad that we may not be done with him.

 

Echo ep 3
Now it's starting to look less like a generic crime story. I'm liking the low-level "superhero" hints. Fight choreography was cool, with a few mildly Jackie Chan moves. I'd like it better with less blood and graphic wounds, though.

 

Well..

Spoiler

the gold tooth is believed to be the prison of the Master. So, it's the Master we may not be done with.

 

Echo finale
I liked it better than I expected to. Wasn't expecting that from the ancestors.

 

I've been watching the second season of REACHER. I like it, and think it is an improvement on Season One (which I also liked). Season One had a very weird feel to me - like parts of it were straight from a (very old) network detective show, like Barnaby Jones or Mannix or such (the evil mayor and evil son of rich guy felt like they were lifted RIGHT from 70s network TV), blended with modern R-rated violence and gore. I wish I could explain it better than that, but it just felt very tonally odd. This season has a lot less of that.

I do think this clearly takes place in the John Wick universe or some similar variant, where no amount of gunfire (no matter how prolonged or intense) or of hi speed car chases WITH gunfire ever draws a police response.