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mike-pratz
Reviews
Stranger Things: Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy? (2019)
This is an alternate reality
This episode must take place in an alternate reality in which all the characters have completely different personalities because somebody stepped on a caterpillar in 1955, or something.
And the American puritanic obsession over preventing teenagers from expressing their romantic relationships in a physical manner is ridiculous. Especially since this wasn't what the show was about; it's supposed to be horror, not poorly written teenage romance.
And don't get me started on how the show objectifies Billy. If those scenes had been with a female character, there would have been a public outrage.
Basically, you can watch the first 5 minutes, and the last 2. They set up the season's main plot. Everything else in this episode is pointless and boring.
Breaking Bad: Gray Matter (2008)
What talking pillow?
Walter lets his pride - and fear of chemo - get in his way.
Hank doesn't know how to talk to people who aren't butch like him.
Walt Junior and Marie speak their mind.
As usual, Skyler is manipulative and passive-aggressive. She insists on everyone respecting her right to talk and shutting up while she has the talking pillow, but whenever someone else has it, she won't stop butting in.
Meanwhile, Jesse tries to cook with a new partner, but working with "Mr. White" has raised his standards.
Great character-focused writing all around, with an emotional A-plot on the Walt side, and a more light-hearted B-plot on the Jesse side.
Oscar (1991)
A worthy remake
I resisted watching this for years because I am such a big fan of the Louis de Funès version, and I didn't believe a remake could do it justice.
Then I gave it a shot, and I was worried at first because the intro was completely new, and they'd changed his character - Sylvester Stallone's character - into a '30s mobster, but it turned out to be an inspired idea. Stallone definitely couldn't have done it in de Funès' style, nor could anyone else. But as a mobster trying to reform, he works. And the secondary characters actually have more depth in this than in the original.
This remake is worthy of the original. It's an underrated gem.
The Big Bang Theory (2007)
I've figured it out
When this show first aired, I couldn't decide if it was celebrating nerd culture or mocking it: the four male leads are so passionate about it, but many lines from the female leads (especially Penny) mock it, and the canned laughter makes it clear the showrunners thought of these as jokes.
Upon rewatching it, I realized that on the topics I know, they got things wrong, things that were easy to find out with even 10 min of research. Entire plots are impossible, e.g. Howard "cheating" on Bernadette by having sex in World of Warcraft. Which means they didn't care, which means they only wanted to mock nerd stereotypes.
There were funny moments when they used character traits as the basis of the plots, instead of stereotypes.
The Big Bang Theory: The Higgs Boson Observation (2012)
"I have an eidetic memory."
Sheldon often claims to have an eidetic memory, yet he forgets things even more often (and so do the show's writers). The whole premise of this episode's A plot is that he's looking for something he might have forgotten.
Leonard befriends a pretty scientist, which makes Penny and Raj jealous. Raj is desperate to find love, can't talk to women - still no character progression for him.
Howard is struggling to endure his stay aboard the International Space Station (which did not exist in the '60s, despite what he says).
Still a funny episode, far above average for this part of the show. That "Thrilla adjacent to the amygdala" joke, in particular, cracked me up.