TV stuff
So, I realised there was actually more to my 2019 TV viewing than Lucifer season 4 - yay!, Carnival Row - mostly yay! and Game of Thrones season 8 - yeurch!
Slight spoilers behind cut for Gentleman Jack and His Dark Materials, plus mention of a couple of other things. Also proper spoilers for Messiah, which is actually 2020.
I realised this when I remembered that I hadn't even mentioned Gentleman Jack, which was probably the best thing I watched all of last year. I know I meant to write about it but then never got around to doing so. Everything about it was wonderful, especially the acting and the dialogue, but I also loved that it was filmed where it was set (except maybe the Denmark bit, I don't know where that was filmed). Also, apart from the occasional turn of phrase, there was nothing anachronistic about it. People's attitudes were very much of the times (as far as we can tell).
I loved it so much, in fact, that I was completely floored when someone I know declared that she thought it was 'dreadful.' I didn't know what to say, except to repeat how good I thought it was.
Just goes to show how subjective these things are.
Which I knew, because there're so many TV shows I can't explain the popularity of otherwise.
Also very well done was the BBC/HBO's season 1 of His Dark Materials. It was true to the books, very well cast, and the CGI was superb. I think including material from the second book in this first series was a good move. It certainly saves a lot of long-winded exposition scenes in season 2.
Other dramas I watched and enjoyed in 2019 and forgot to mention were Netflix's Delhi Crime - incredibly difficult subject matter but very well done, and Good Omens, which I enjoyed but I have to admit, didn't stick with me - mainly because the child actors were all so rubbish.
Then there's Messiah. I'd thought this was also released in 2019, but turns out it's this year. I've binge-watched it over the last week (well, that's binge-watching for me), because I desperately wanted to get to the end and find out whether Al-Masih was for real or not. However, they cleverly dodged that one and left it entirely open-ended, which works whether or not there's a season 2 - with every instance in which Al-Masih appears to work a miracle open to reasonable doubt, and the lives of many who believed in him ruined, or at least changed forever.
Which doesn't at all preclude him being who they thought he was.
I've seen it compared to Homeland and recommended to viewers who liked that show (though even the recommender admits that Homeland is racist whereas Messiah is..well, maybe that's a subjective assessment, but I don't think it is and this recommender seems to agree), but IMO they're not much alike, beyond the main female character being a CIA agent. Messiah is much more nuanced - also IMO- and actually seems to have done its homework, though it is - inevitably, I guess - still quite Amero-centric.
Anyway, I found the final scene quite mesmerising (which is amusing if you've seen the show), and will be quite happy if it ends there for good. And equally happy if there's another season, provided they don't balls it up completely, which could happen.
We'll see, I guess.
This entry was originally posted at https://shapinglight.dreamwidth.org/3797584.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Slight spoilers behind cut for Gentleman Jack and His Dark Materials, plus mention of a couple of other things. Also proper spoilers for Messiah, which is actually 2020.
I realised this when I remembered that I hadn't even mentioned Gentleman Jack, which was probably the best thing I watched all of last year. I know I meant to write about it but then never got around to doing so. Everything about it was wonderful, especially the acting and the dialogue, but I also loved that it was filmed where it was set (except maybe the Denmark bit, I don't know where that was filmed). Also, apart from the occasional turn of phrase, there was nothing anachronistic about it. People's attitudes were very much of the times (as far as we can tell).
I loved it so much, in fact, that I was completely floored when someone I know declared that she thought it was 'dreadful.' I didn't know what to say, except to repeat how good I thought it was.
Just goes to show how subjective these things are.
Which I knew, because there're so many TV shows I can't explain the popularity of otherwise.
Also very well done was the BBC/HBO's season 1 of His Dark Materials. It was true to the books, very well cast, and the CGI was superb. I think including material from the second book in this first series was a good move. It certainly saves a lot of long-winded exposition scenes in season 2.
Other dramas I watched and enjoyed in 2019 and forgot to mention were Netflix's Delhi Crime - incredibly difficult subject matter but very well done, and Good Omens, which I enjoyed but I have to admit, didn't stick with me - mainly because the child actors were all so rubbish.
Then there's Messiah. I'd thought this was also released in 2019, but turns out it's this year. I've binge-watched it over the last week (well, that's binge-watching for me), because I desperately wanted to get to the end and find out whether Al-Masih was for real or not. However, they cleverly dodged that one and left it entirely open-ended, which works whether or not there's a season 2 - with every instance in which Al-Masih appears to work a miracle open to reasonable doubt, and the lives of many who believed in him ruined, or at least changed forever.
Which doesn't at all preclude him being who they thought he was.
I've seen it compared to Homeland and recommended to viewers who liked that show (though even the recommender admits that Homeland is racist whereas Messiah is..well, maybe that's a subjective assessment, but I don't think it is and this recommender seems to agree), but IMO they're not much alike, beyond the main female character being a CIA agent. Messiah is much more nuanced - also IMO- and actually seems to have done its homework, though it is - inevitably, I guess - still quite Amero-centric.
Anyway, I found the final scene quite mesmerising (which is amusing if you've seen the show), and will be quite happy if it ends there for good. And equally happy if there's another season, provided they don't balls it up completely, which could happen.
We'll see, I guess.
This entry was originally posted at https://shapinglight.dreamwidth.org/3797584.html. Please comment there using OpenID.