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Reviews
Bosch: Legacy (2022)
I feel embarrassed for Titus Welliver and Michael Connelly, especially in season 2
How did Harry Bosch become so incompetent? It's exhaustingly annoying and frustrating to watch. I loved the original series and recommended it to friends. Bosch Legacy started off ok but soon turned into a pale shadow of the original. The second is also worse than the first. By the middle of season 2 I was actually hoping Harry would be killed due to his stupidity and lack of caution, and someone else, anyone else, could finish the case. Even Maddie.
Somehow Bosch is now oblivious to bad guys following him. He leads them to people who they then kill. Oopsie! He doesn't care. Bad guys he knows watch him from open windowed cars, 30 feet away from him, but he never notices. Once he knows the bad guys are out to kill him, he still doesn't bother with any kind of cameras or security system at his house.
He's now a detective who does virtually nothing on his own. Basically everything is done by his uber hacker friend, who can hack any system anywhere. Without him, Bosch is useless.
All the bad guys are comical caricatures. The FBI agents are laughably over the top.
Obviously a lot of people still like this show, but if you're the type of person who finds that gaping plot holes ruin your enjoyment, and/or you can't just overlook characters being stupid, you'll start to hate it.
The Witcher (2019)
Season 3 is painful
6 out of 10 overall after a 9 for season 1, 7 for season 2, and 3 for season 3.
Season 3 finds about 5 different groups looking for Ciri. Different kingdoms, who are at war with each other, and Elves, who are at war with at least one of the kingdoms or maybe humans in general, not sure, and Mages, who I think are secretly at war with all of the kingdoms. There are at least 4 or 5 characters in each group we're supposed to care about. So many names. Just way too much to keep track of. Ruining the enjoyment of the show. It's like they decided they needed to change The Witcher into Game of Thrones.
Geralt himself seems to barely be in it, and when he is he is just brooding. He fights a few monsters but you don't find yourself caring much since you know he'll do a few dramatic sword swipes and it'll be over.
I'm only on the third episode but I'm struggling to continue. Sadly it's just boring, due to there being so much I don't want to care about.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Subspace Rhapsody (2023)
Really great musical episode that tone deaf nerds will hate
Musical episodes are really hit or miss. The Buffy one was great. The Flash one was pretty terrible. So when I first heard Spock start singing I was skeptical at best. But the songs tied into the season's storylines well and supported the premise that in this altered reality, people would spontaneously sing to express their hidden emotions and feelings. Kind of like what singer songwriters do in our world.
I was initially surprised, but then just saddened, to see so many 1 star reviews. I suppose it makes sense. The typical hardcore, serious sci-fi nerd doesn't want to accept anything different in the ST universe. Even if it's just one episode. They likely hated the Lower Decks crossover episode too. Ironic, given that ST ToS had quite a few fun, goofy episodes. The Trouble with Tribbles, anyone? ST was never supposed to be hard sci-fi. More just interesting stories.
As for the songs themselves, they were better than I expected. It's not easy to write a musical, and I'm guessing this was written in what, a few weeks? I was also genuinely impressed with most of the singing. Christina Chong was a standout though - that girl can siiiing!
Sweet Tooth (2021)
I rated the first season as 8, second is season is a 3, WTH happened?
I really enjoyed the first season. The second season was just painful. It was extremely bleak and disheartening. Every time the protagonists had a plan, it was foiled instantly and easily by the bad guys, just by virtue of lucky timing. Over and over. The xenophobia was on full display for the whole second season, and it felt like that was maybe the whole point - showing how awful people can be. I guess if killing children is your thing, you'll like it? Simply put, it is not enjoyable to watch, at all. Apart from being depressing, season two also felt very stretched out. Sadly it ends with a clear lead in to a third season, which I'll avoid.
Outer Range (2022)
Must have been greenlit based on the first 2 episodes. Off the rails after that.
I loved the first two, slow burn, not knowing what's happening style of sci-fi/supernatural intrigue. The second episode ended with a great cliffhanger that promised a lot of enjoyably confusing revelations to come.
But then what happened? It turned into a western soap opera and (pretty boring) murder investigation. There should have been a lot *more* about the hole and disappearing mountains and alternate timelines, not a lot *less*. Did the writers somehow have to scramble to write episodes 3 and on?
Another problem is the characters. Who am I supposed to like? Who do I root for? Pretty much everyone becomes an a-hole. The camping woman, Autumn, started out as interesting and mysterious but becomes just plain annoying. The older, constantly brooding brother seems miscast. He looks almost as old as his father. The evil neighbour is a too over the top.
Anyway I'd say the first two episodes were a 8.5/10, the next two a 7, and the two after that a 5. Obviously it's not a 1 or 2 overall (I mean a 1 is essentially "worst show of all time"), so ignore those reviews as they are mainly from bigots and racists and the easily triggered right wingers. But the show definitely going downhill fast. If the last two episodes coming this week somehow regain the novelty and feel of the first two, I'll look forward to a second season. Otherwise I hope it wraps up and is done.
A show that did this kind of theme much, much better is Dark on Netflix (watch it with original audio and English subtitles).
Lost in Space (2018)
Annoying. Could easily have been so much better
The series is basically "unexpected bad thing happens, and when trying to fix it, more bad things happen, until a Robinson miraculously comes up with an ingenious soltuion and saves the day."
Which in and of itself isn't a bad theme for an action/survival series, but two things in particular really make it hard to enjoy.
The first is the overbearing soundtrack. Loud and about 30 minutes per episode of relentless over-the-top, fast tempo, "omg this is the most suspenseful action sequence ever!!". Really unnecessary.
The second is the characterization of Dr. Smith. It's unbelievable that she'd be a drug-addicted loser on earth and then suddenly be the smartest, most conniving, evil villain who can mentally manipulate anyone, over and over, even when they know what she's done. It basically makes everyone else seem like complete idiots.
Remove or fix those two problems and it could be a great sci-fi adventure series.
Outer Banks (2020)
Almost really good, but ruined by stupidity
I remember the first season as being a generally fun, rich kids vs. Poor kids, teen drama/adventure/treasure hunt. The biggest downsides were the overly old cast and quite a few cringe-worthy situations and choices. Like a lot of "teen" shows, it would have been better cast with actual teens (or just have them be in college instead of high school), but it seems typical to cast 27 year old guys as 17 year olds in grade 11 these days.
Unfortunately the second season ramps up the stupidity to comical levels. It is literally the definition of a "comedy of errors": an event or series of events made ridiculous by the number of errors that were made throughout. Middle schoolers will still like it, as will people who can completely turn off their brains (or have none to begin with). Really basic things like travelling times and distances, the weight of $500 million in gold, and recovery time after surgery to repair a gunshot wound to the gut, plus the incredible number of stupid things the main characters do, make it beyond frustrating to watch. I'll finish it because the overarching treasure hunting plot is kind of fun, but it's definitely at the "so bad it's good" stage now, at best.
Could have been great with better writing.
Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet: Peter (2021)
Two old pro showing how it's done.
Fantastic acting by F. Murray Abraham and William Hurt, wow. This and the previous episode combined made for a great two episode arc. Both were more drama than comedy, and had tenuous ties to the main dysfunctional video game office sitcom, but if you love good tv, these are a must see.
Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet: Please Sign Here (2021)
Please have Katie McElhenney write more episodes!
Suddenly, Mythic Quest turned into a really great comedy! The writing and the comedy acting - timing, expressions, physical comedy - all were excellent. The negative reviews here complain that it was not about video games. That's the point: even at a video game company, real, mundane life intrudes and you have ridiculous performance evaluations to deal with and conflicts over trivial nonsense.
I used IMDB to find the details of this episode just so that I could discover who wrote it. So now I'll go back and re-watch "A Dark Quiet Death", also written by Katie McElhenney, and I look forward to "Backstory!" tomorrow!
Happy Death Day (2017)
This movie surprised me
I'm giving it a 9, not because it's Shawshank-good, but because I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting to.
I read some of the other reviews and it seems people are divided. People who did not have preconceived expectations liked it a lot, while people who were expecting a scary gore fest were disappointed. There also seem to be a lot of people who are inordinately upset about it sharing the "reliving the same
day" idea with Groundhog Day and they give it 1 star because of that. What?
I did not see the trailer (and having watched it after the movie, I'd say avoid it) so I knew very little other than it was about a girl who kept repeating the same day - a day which ends with her dying. I thought the lead actress was great. Good comic timing, a very expressive face, and definitely telegenic. It was also a really nice change to watch a "teen" movie that isn't non-stop swearing and crude humour. I wouldn't say this movie is necessarily "sweet", but it does have charm. I was thinking "I'll watch a horror movie tonight" and what I got was much more of a fun movie that held my attention throughout, and ultimately made me happy. What more can you ask for?