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peter-nergaard
Reviews
The Last Kingdom: Episode #3.5 (2018)
The Pete Davidson of The Last Kingdom
How has Uhtred bagged literally every single one of the hottest women in this show. Gisela, Skade and now Aethelfled. The guy DOES NOT MISS. The Pete Davidson of The Last Kingdom. Give someone else a chance dude.
And is it just me or was Uhtreds English pronounciation much better in the previous seasons? I know that he's half dane and therefore his English is a bit shaky at times, but I don't feel like it sounded like this in seasons 1 & 2. Once I noticed it I can't unhear it. He suddenly sounds like Erling Haaland.
Love the show so far though, looking forward to see how this goes. I want to see Alfred go. And R. I. P. Ragnar, you deserved better bro.
Oz (1997)
I've seen enough.
I always do my research before I start watching a tv series, life is too short for watching bad television is my motto. So I read about the show both on social media and on IMDB to try to get a feel on what the people thought of the show. The show is rated the 87th best TV show OF ALL TIME, with a rating of 8.7, which is excellent.
This is however, sadly, one of the very few times where I'm not going to finish a series that I've started. I just finished the season 3 finale, and I am done. Here is why:
So OZ chronicles the lives of the prisoners locked up in the experimental Oswald Correctional Facility. Nice. I love a good prison drama and I was very positive coming in to the first season. I was expecting a classic HBO type gritty, thought-provoking drama which would discuss controversial topics like capital punishment and life sentences in a mature way, when in fact, it's actually more of an R-rated high school drama show. It takes up some of the subjects aforementioned, but in a very lazy way.
First, some positives!
-Most of the acting is pretty solid, Dean Winters' theatrical high school bully-vibe is an exception though.
-A few interesting characters, I like Kareem Said a lot and the narrator/inmate was cool. There are more, but it doesn't really matter because the show focuses on so many characters that you don't really get emotionally attached to anyone.
-Some talented directors with cool visual shots at times.
Before I get to the negatives I must get this out of the way: I am aware that this was the first hour-length HBO drama, and that the idea of tv shows have changed massively since the show's first season in '97. This is why I won't treat the show too harshly. I haven't looked into it, but I assume the budget wasn't huge either.
Now to what annoys me about OZ:
1. Storylines just pop up out of nowhere. An example of this; the episode where the governor grants 1 muslim prisoner his freedom because it's Ramadan or something, and then Said rejects the opportunity. Where did that come from?? Is that even legal? Or how about the ridiculous storyline where «the digger» and the old guy all of a sudden have almost dug their way out of the prison, with no one noticing? Or when Poet is just granted freedom because he is a decent writer and because Said knows someone at his publisher or something. This was literally never mentioned before, it just happened over the span of one episode. Same story with the handicapped fella's re-trial after the judge was found to be corrupt. The examples of this are endless.
2. As mentioned, the actually interesting characters are victims of the fact that the show simply focuses on too many characters.
3. The background stories on how the characters actually ended up in OZ are hilariously sloppy. You never get any form of back story, it's just «here is a character walking on the street. Now he is stabbing an old married couple in the face. Cut to---«sentenced to life, no chance of parole»
4. Why do we have to see some prisoners square up to each other, only to be separated by either other prisoners or prison guards at least 3 times an episode. We get it, they are hot heads.
5. Have any of the characters had a breath of actual oxygen since 1997? Emerald City is an experimental prison facility which allows prisoners to mingle and gear up for drug wars, but they are not allowed outside in any way.
5. What happened to the dude who investigated the riots from season 1 and claimed he was going to become governor - only to never be seen again?
There are definitely more annoying things I've thought about in the 20+ hours I've spent of my life to watch this calamity, but to be honest, right now the only thing on my mind is to never think about this show ever again.
As mentioned, I am going to be gentle in my rating because this was a time where television was generally pretty poor compared to later years. My impression is that the show was structured in a way that if you just turned on the tv in the late 90s and found OZ on, you were able to be engaged in the story even if you've missed the last 6 episodes, because nothing is ever really built up in any way, stuff just happens. However, if this was the show that sparked the flame of the many many masterpieces to come from the infamous Home Box Office, then I can't be mad.
Okay I was about to wrap it up, but lastly, how does this show have an IMDB rating of 8.7?!!! I'm changing my initial rating of 7 to 6 to try and balance out this travesty.
I wish I spent 20+ hours watching Miss Sally to be honest.
No chance of parole.