A few recently-watched TV shows
I've been catching up on some TV shows lately. Here are my opinions of them, in no particular order:
Marvel's Luke Cage, Season 1 (Netflix): Rating: ✭✭✭✭✩ - There's a lot of opinion about this show being slung back and forth on the internet right now, and I don't want to add to any of the ill-feeling going around. I'll just say that I loved this show . . . except for the main villain, Diamondback, whom I thought was just fucking ridiculous. I seriously could not help rolling my eyes every single time he was on screen. It's like they were trying to make him the Joker, just without the clown makeup.
All of the other characters in the show, even the villains, are awesome! All are well-rounded characters with complex motivations. All have sympathetic qualities (no matter how vile they are) and serious flaws (no matter how virtuous they are). Each of the heroes has strong convictions, and there are times when you think one or more of them might start doing the wrong thing for the right reason. And each of the villains has at least one moment where you think, hey, maybe this guy/gal isn't so bad after all.
Except Diamondback. He's just a caricature of the bat-shit insane villain all the way through, and that really diminishes the show in my opinion. I hope they don't bring him back in season 2.
The Flash, Season 2 (CW): Rating ✭✭✩✩✩ - The sweetie and I were watching this as it came out via iTunes for a while, but we only got up to Episode 9 (the Christmas episode, with the Trickster guest-starring for the second time) before she said, "This is getting too silly. I'm done." It was getting pretty silly for me, too, so I just waited for it to become available on Netflix's streaming service. Then I binge-watched the rest of the season.
My review in a nutshell: Enh.
I mean, it's fun, yeah. But it's also just . . . really, really stupid in places. And the major storytelling device seems to be "stretch out the pathos for as long as we can so we can avoid resolving anything and keep viewers watching." I mean, I understand that some tension drives the show, but if you can't keep it going organically, it's just bloody obvious when you try to extend it artificially.
Season 3 just started on CW, but I have no desire to continue watching.
Preacher, Season 1 (AMC): Rating ✭✭✭✭✭ - Wow. Seriously, just wow! I'm on tenterhooks waiting for season 2. This show is truly amazing. No, it's not the same story as the comic book, aside from the very basic overall premise and the fact that it starts in Annville, Texas. But it is just as compelling, maybe even more so. All of the characters from the comic are there, but all of them are different-some only slightly, some more so. However, all of them are recognizably the same people. Jesse Custer is Jesse Custer. Maybe not as badass as in the comic, but still Jesse Custer. Tulip O'Hare is also still Tulip O'Hare . . . and if it's possible she's even more badass than in the comic!
But my favorite is Cassidy. I mean, Cassidy was bloody awesome in the comic, but he's super bloody awesome in this show. More complex, more badass, more likable, but also more despicable in some ways . . . and somehow that just makes him all the more compelling.
According to AMC, season 2 starts in March of 2017. Those five months can't go by fast enough.
Supergirl, Season 1 (CW): Rating ✭✩✩✩✩ - I hear that season 2, with the debut of Superman as an on-screen presence, gets better. It has to, because it can't get any worse. I watched the first episode when it first became available on Netflix, and I could barely get to the end of the thing. It was truly awful. Then I heard about season 2 and Superman and watched the 3-minute preview clip (which was quite good), so I thought I'd give season 1 a second chance. But no, episode 2 was just as bad.
Maybe I'll just skip over season 1 entirely and start watching with season 2 . . . but only if the rest of the episode is as good as the 3-minute preview clip. Otherwise, forget it.
Marvel's Luke Cage, Season 1 (Netflix): Rating: ✭✭✭✭✩ - There's a lot of opinion about this show being slung back and forth on the internet right now, and I don't want to add to any of the ill-feeling going around. I'll just say that I loved this show . . . except for the main villain, Diamondback, whom I thought was just fucking ridiculous. I seriously could not help rolling my eyes every single time he was on screen. It's like they were trying to make him the Joker, just without the clown makeup.
All of the other characters in the show, even the villains, are awesome! All are well-rounded characters with complex motivations. All have sympathetic qualities (no matter how vile they are) and serious flaws (no matter how virtuous they are). Each of the heroes has strong convictions, and there are times when you think one or more of them might start doing the wrong thing for the right reason. And each of the villains has at least one moment where you think, hey, maybe this guy/gal isn't so bad after all.
Except Diamondback. He's just a caricature of the bat-shit insane villain all the way through, and that really diminishes the show in my opinion. I hope they don't bring him back in season 2.
The Flash, Season 2 (CW): Rating ✭✭✩✩✩ - The sweetie and I were watching this as it came out via iTunes for a while, but we only got up to Episode 9 (the Christmas episode, with the Trickster guest-starring for the second time) before she said, "This is getting too silly. I'm done." It was getting pretty silly for me, too, so I just waited for it to become available on Netflix's streaming service. Then I binge-watched the rest of the season.
My review in a nutshell: Enh.
I mean, it's fun, yeah. But it's also just . . . really, really stupid in places. And the major storytelling device seems to be "stretch out the pathos for as long as we can so we can avoid resolving anything and keep viewers watching." I mean, I understand that some tension drives the show, but if you can't keep it going organically, it's just bloody obvious when you try to extend it artificially.
Season 3 just started on CW, but I have no desire to continue watching.
Preacher, Season 1 (AMC): Rating ✭✭✭✭✭ - Wow. Seriously, just wow! I'm on tenterhooks waiting for season 2. This show is truly amazing. No, it's not the same story as the comic book, aside from the very basic overall premise and the fact that it starts in Annville, Texas. But it is just as compelling, maybe even more so. All of the characters from the comic are there, but all of them are different-some only slightly, some more so. However, all of them are recognizably the same people. Jesse Custer is Jesse Custer. Maybe not as badass as in the comic, but still Jesse Custer. Tulip O'Hare is also still Tulip O'Hare . . . and if it's possible she's even more badass than in the comic!
But my favorite is Cassidy. I mean, Cassidy was bloody awesome in the comic, but he's super bloody awesome in this show. More complex, more badass, more likable, but also more despicable in some ways . . . and somehow that just makes him all the more compelling.
According to AMC, season 2 starts in March of 2017. Those five months can't go by fast enough.
Supergirl, Season 1 (CW): Rating ✭✩✩✩✩ - I hear that season 2, with the debut of Superman as an on-screen presence, gets better. It has to, because it can't get any worse. I watched the first episode when it first became available on Netflix, and I could barely get to the end of the thing. It was truly awful. Then I heard about season 2 and Superman and watched the 3-minute preview clip (which was quite good), so I thought I'd give season 1 a second chance. But no, episode 2 was just as bad.
Maybe I'll just skip over season 1 entirely and start watching with season 2 . . . but only if the rest of the episode is as good as the 3-minute preview clip. Otherwise, forget it.