We’ve been watching the new season of Black Mirror. It’s okay. The first episode was good, the second one was a murder mustery with a very thin tech angle, the third one with Aaron Paul dragged quite a bit but was an interesting premise, and the fourth is also pretty good but had a very thin ‘tech’ hook. I can’t say much more without spoilering stuff.
Started The Terminal List on Amazon Prime. Pretty formulaic revenge movie with Chris Pratt as a Navy Seal who’s been done wrong by his government.
Finished this - the first season ends on a gratuitous cliffhanger. I’m not sure there’s enough here to sustain a second season but we’ll see.
Started on episode two of the new Endeavour season, but about an hour in it went off the rails. The first hour had several murders to be investigated, then all of a sudden they’re talking about investigating a case from a prior season. Since it’s been a minimum of two years since the previous season, I had no idea who or what the hell they were talking about. Too confusing. Shut it off.
After a seven year wait, wrapped up the final season of Happy Valley and it was worth the wait. If you feel like binge watching a perfect series and watching an amazing amount of outstanding acting performances, this is the one.
Good to know! Thanks!
I came in to post exactly this. What a beautifully crafted series, consistently excellent throughout, and they managed to avoid all the usual cliches of the genre. Keeping the same antagonist throughout the entire series was genius. They did it without getting cartoonish with the character, and the crisp writing kept the tension high. James Norton was brilliant in a cast of amazing actors.
This week, I’ve been watching the second season of The Bear on FX on Hulu. It’s really good.
Not to mention that he meets everyone even slightly famous for inventing something around that time. Tesla, Edison, Bell …
One up on me, I gave up early. And I actually like the lead actress.
Tried The Watchful Eye on Hulu, but gave up after three episodes. It’s either too slow moving or I’m too impatient.
Luckily, The Bear Season 2 dropped on Hulu. Loved the first season, looking forward to this.
I loved it, too! This is a series that kept up the quality (the acting, the writing, the intensity) throughout. That final scene where they wrap up the one remaining loose thread was so nicely done. It didn’t need anything more dramatic than that, but it was a good way to end that sad sub-plot.
Yes, I agree- I liked how I was expecting…
…a really dramatic police showdown, possibly involving Ryan and/or Catherine being held hostage but though we still got the showdown, it went down completely different. And yes, Catherine practically solving the final thread of the missing drug addict very casually, not even saying it directly and you know if she had one more day, she’d have a murder charge on Faisel. The look of awe on her colleague/I think boss’s face said it all. Also, I loved that Ryan told the police when you would expect him to hide Tommy’s communication with him and that is what Catherine needed to realize that Ryan was turning out just fine.
Also, I can’t not express how relieved I am that Catherine lived. I was not expecting her to survive the series…
Your last point? Oh, yeah.
That was the cliche ending I was expecting, too.
Having watched up to the current episode of the onerously-titled I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too, I decided to give the similar In Another World With My Smartphone a try. And it’s basically the same show - character from our world ends up in a fantasy world with magic and monsters and is immediately granted extraordinary physical and magical abilities as well as attracting a large coterie of adoring young women.
Where Smartphone differs is that it is considerably creepier. The obsession with boobs that I had initially written off as puerile humor just gets worse as the show goes on (to the point where there’s an entire conversation where all you see of each female character is their breasts, each of which has its own bouncy sound effect). In the last episode I watched, two female characters immediately flashed their panties at our hero. He strenuously objects to all the sexualized attention, naturally, but it’s pretty obvious this is all intentional wankfodder (and that’s not even getting into the episode in the castle with the slime that dissolves clothing).
In addition there’s a disturbing thread of pedophilia throughout - for example, one of the “adoring women” is a princess who immediately decides that she wants to marry and have babies with the protagonist, and everyone except the protagonist (but including her parents) is absolutely fine with this. The princess is 12. TWELVE. And there are unpleasant overtones to the interaction with even younger girls.
So I’m done. I gave it a try but it just keeps getting more unsettling.
Seek help, writers and animators of this show. And soon.
So, new to anime, are you?
Yeah, yeah, I know. But this is pretty bad even so.
I’ve never subscribed to Crunchyroll, but I got curious about browsing their catalogue. Quite a few good choices (and some conspicuous absences). Such a long list is intimidating, I’ve made a somewhat shorter long intimidating list of series I’m familiar with from manga, anime, or both that I think would be worth checking out. They are mostly in the order that I saw them in the catalogue (hidden for length).
Summary
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GEXH3WK52/mieruko-chan
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G6GG38246/spice-and-wolf
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G6WEV3WM6/noragami
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G9VHN9P7W/gleipnir
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GR3KVPQER/cells-at-work
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GR24PVM76/nichijou---my-ordinary-life
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRWEW95KR/laid-back-camp
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GG5H5X3Z9/space-battleship-yamato
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G649J4XPY/a-certain-scientific-railgun
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRVNZK5PY/a-certain-magical-index
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRGG7701R/the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GDKHZEJVG/the-disappearance-of-haruhi-suzumiya
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G68V4NDJ6/junji-ito-collection
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GR9P3GD46/tonari-no-seki-kun-the-master-of-killing-time
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G63K4W296/space-dandy
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYQ42D876/ergo-proxy
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYVDV1N0Y/sing-yesterday-for-me
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G6X0P133Y/karakai-jozu-no-takagi-san
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G63VMKVQY/yamada-kun-and-the-seven-witches
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GNVHKN75X/life-lessons-with-uramichi-oniisan
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYGG92K7Y/erased
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G4PH0WPV2/oddtaxi
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYMGD89VY/barakamon
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GY5PDD4PY/a-certain-scientific-accelerator
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G65VP5ZK6/polar-bear-cafe
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G1XHJV22X/lucifer-and-the-biscuit-hammer
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G65VE2G36/flying-witch
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G69PVE29Y/space-brothers
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYVNE7QD6/yakitate-japan
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYDQN15K6/dagashi-kashi
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRP8PGDWR/arakawa-under-the-bridge
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GMEHME8EZ/diary-of-our-days-at-the-breakwater
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GR751MQ4Y/moyashimon
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G649445JY/kumamiko--girl-meets-bear
I want more One Punch Man, dammit.
I see “Space Battleship Yamato” is on your list but the link is to the film. I wonder if they have either of the series on there - I was a huge fan of the 1974 one (under the “Star Blazers” title) when I was young.
I’ve been bingeing SWAT on Netflix. Just finishing season 5, and learned there is a season 6 and soon a season 7. I’m actually kinda full of SWAT.
Well, for some reason I thought there were only three or four seasons of Foyle’s War. Turns out there are nine! I’m not sure we can take that much of it.