The TV Series discussion thread

As selfish as it may be, holy shit: Bob Odenkirk in Stable Condition After Suffering Heart Attack on 'Better Call Saul' Set

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zx348GOywQ

Speedy recovery!

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I know people who gave up after season 1 of Mr Robot

I am one of those.
Everything about that show is completely wrong and if it wasn't for the lead actor who turned an unwatchable garbage into a watchable one, I'd have dropped it sooner.
Still, there was no chance I'd continue watching - IMO it should have been cancelled after season 1.

Originally Posted by joxer
I am one of those.
Everything about that show is completely wrong and if it wasn't for the lead actor who turned an unwatchable garbage into a watchable one, I'd have dropped it sooner.
Still, there was no chance I'd continue watching - IMO it should have been cancelled after season 1.

I feel sorry for you, that you couldn't enjoy this unique and masterpiece of a series. It's not perfect. But it's so unique and special. Anyway, such is life.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I feel sorry for you, that you couldn't enjoy this unique and masterpiece of a series. It's not perfect. But it's so unique and special. Anyway, such is life.

Well, if joxer had such a strong negative reaction to it, that's another good reason for me to give it another try.

I struggle to think of a better recommendation than that guy's lack of appreciation

Watched the 3rd episode of North Water. Even better than the first two.

It's only 5 episodes total, and I worry about the ending - because it'll have a hard time living up to the tension it's building.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I feel sorry for you, that you couldn't enjoy this unique and masterpiece of a series. It's not perfect. But it's so unique and special. Anyway, such is life.

It's not unique enough for me. Even if the trash script went with trash scenography instead of boring mediocrity it just can't catch up to classics like Greasy Strangler.
Masterpiece? Not gonna happen.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Well, if joxer had such a strong negative reaction to it, that's another good reason for me to give it another try.

I struggle to think of a better recommendation than that guy's lack of appreciation

Works both ways. As every danish movie you commented "meh" turned out to be a mustwatch gem.

Btw… You do remember my lack of appreciation for Titanic?
Make sure to watch it. I refused to.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Watched the 3rd episode of North Water. Even better than the first two.

That one belongs to drama/history/biography/war combination, stuff I avoid like a plague.
Not that I don't know anything about it as it's based on a book. The book is drama and not whodunnit crime/thriller about rape, murder, paedophilia and pointing fingers of ignorant fools while whaling.
I have no idea what anyone can find interesting in that.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Well, if joxer had such a strong negative reaction to it, that's another good reason for me to give it another try.

I struggle to think of a better recommendation than that guy's lack of appreciation

Yeah, what I don't understand is where the strong reaction comes from. And I see this frequently in his posts, I think. Something is usually either the greatest masterpiece, or the biggest piece of shit. And he also doesn't want to moderate when voicing his opinion.

Anyway, if that's his opinion, so be it.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
Yeah, I have no idea where the strong reaction comes from. And I see this frequently in his posts, I think. Something is usually either the greatest masterpiece, or the biggest piece of shit. And he also doesn't want to moderate when voicing his opinion.

Anyway, if that's his opinion, so be it.

Paying attention to nuance is uncomfortable and takes practice to deal with. Some people want things simple - and you either have the same opinion or you are wrong and should be told in the most abrasive way possible

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
Yeah, what I don't understand is where the strong reaction comes from.

It shouldn't be hard to understand.

For a century till about a decade ago everyone was sentenced to watch only what some "wise men committee" decided to be distributed or licensed if from another country.
Doesn't matter if it was tv or cinema.

In short - every bloody year reprisal of the same stupid and irritating ripoff gimme drugs Macaulay Culkin vs some couple of schmucks.

And then the technology made a huge leap.
Such leap where all you do is go online, browse a catalogue, click and watch anything you want, not something someone else decided for you.
Okay, it's still not possible to choose from everything ever filmed, but eventually it will be.

In such times when people plain refuse to adapt to it, for whatever reason, excuse me, but I can't pretend I don't care.
So many titles out there, each better than another, and you get stuck with such a lousy show I have a hard time to call it mediocre it's that bad. But hey, it's mainstream. Was.

Well, good luck with mainstream. If it makes you happy, go for it.
But sorry, I will not keep silent when I disagree on a show quality. Because I respect your time and believe you could use it on better titles.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Paying attention to nuance is uncomfortable and takes practice to deal with. Some people want things simple - and you either have the same opinion or you are wrong and should be told in the most abrasive way possible

I wish I had a similar little universe of my own where life follows only those rules I've set as true.

Originally Posted by joxer
So many titles out there, each better than another, and you get stuck with such a lousy show I have a hard time to call it mediocre it's that bad. But hey, it's mainstream. Was.

Well, good luck with mainstream. If it makes you happy, go for it.

Dude, are you really saying that your opinion is fact? If you say it's lousy, then it's factually lousy? Jesus, the ego.

But yeah, Mr. Robot was so mainstream, it never made it into mainstream. Heck, the subject matter alone (hacking/a great economic reset/a depressed main character with mental issues) will keep it from going mainstream. Or is anything you don't like mainstream?

Also, it's so mainstream, almost nobody every heard of it when I mention it. It's only small pockets of people, mostly either software engineers or people working in sofware/it security. But yeah, it's definitely mainstream.

About Dark, seems deciding to just let go of any nitpicks I had was a good idea. Just finished S02E02 and it's still sufficiently intriguing to keep going. But yeah, aside from the bigger scope it's not really anything different than most time travel movies. At least not different enough. But I am curious how it evolves, so I'll keep to it.

Mr. Robot was great. I thought the first season was "okay", but not that special. Enjoyed the later seasons much more because the series found its own footing. I also really liked Elliot and Darlene, so there's that.

If the first season wasn't enough to keep people interested, the show just wasn't for them. I don't think the new directions that followed would help much in that respect.

I thought Mr Robot was superb, in fact one of my favourite shows of the last decade, but even then I was a little disappointed in the ending. I was thinking "this better not be another <insert thing there>"; but it was.

Yeah, the ending for Mr. Robot was weak, many shows seem to find it difficult to nail that final segment. A few have truly pulled it off, like Sopranos, the Wire, Six Feet Under, Mad Men, Halt and Catch Fire, and a few others. I also thought the first series was a tad weak, then it picked up nicely.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
I thought Mr Robot was superb, in fact one of my favourite shows of the last decade, but even then I was a little disappointed in the ending. I was thinking "this better not be another <insert thing there>"; but it was.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Yeah, the ending for Mr. Robot was weak, many shows seem to find it difficult to nail that final segment. A few have truly pulled it off, like Sopranos, the Wire, Six Feet Under, Mad Men, Halt and Catch Fire, and a few others. I also thought the first series was a tad weak, then it picked up nicely.

Just curious about your guys’s understanding of the ending. Actually, I’m most curious about Shagnak’s statement about “this better not be another�. This might or might not apply to Carnifex.

Warning to others: do not read this spoiler, if you haven’t seen it to the end, as it pertains to the ending of Mr. Robot.

I put The Expanse in pause for my comparison with the book, since I've caught up and it's so different that it starts confusing me. I can't find a good reason why they did that, except its director having a bad trip

I started Mr Robot again, since all episodes are available now and I won't have to wait for a next season or episode. Trying to watch it with a more critical point of view (I'm usually too immersed for that the first time I see a movie / series).

Originally Posted by Redglyph
I put The Expanse in pause for my comparison with the book, since I've caught up and it's so different that it starts confusing me. I can't find a good reason why they did that, except its director having a bad trip

I keep saying that I'll start the Expanse, after I've read the books. I've done neither yet. I have a feeling it'll be on my to-do list for some time yet.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
I started Mr Robot again, since all episodes are available now and I won't have to wait for a next season or episode. Trying to watch it with a more critical point of view (I'm usually too immersed for that the first time I see a movie / series).

If you do manage to get through it all, I'll be curious to hear your opinion on the second watch.

I've reached about halfway through season 2 of Dark, and I still like what I'm seeing. It still managed to build on top of itself, and still remain intriguing. Also, I like the complex situations that people are put into due to the various temporal iregularities. Really makes you think how would that feel, to be in that situation. It'd probably break your brain to be in that situation.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I keep saying that I'll start the Expanse, after I've read the books. I've done neither yet. I have a feeling it'll be on my to-do list for some time yet.

I'd encourage you to read the books, they're very good for anyone who likes the genre and appreciates the care for details. I've almost finished the 2nd one.

But if you wish to do both, I think it may be better to start with the TV series. Both are great, but I appreciated the book version better after watching it. When I watched it again after the book, I still enjoyed it, but less because of those unnecessary differences.

I had the same feeling with The Queen Gambit but for another reason, the TV show clearly misunderstood critical parts of the hero's personality, so there I'd say read the book, skip the series. This is not the case for The Expanse fortunately, the TV show doesn't miss anything, it just lacks this legitimacy by departing regularly from the excellent original story. So, no big deal, perhaps it's just me

@danutz_plusplus
No, I'm referring just to events in the last episode that the article is also referring to (except I think the article is being a little generous with that "just the end of the last episode" as the events it is referring to are more of the last episode than "just the end").

I'm 2/3 of the way through season 2 of Mr Robot now, and it's getting a little better but still not blowing me away. There's way too much focus on Elliot and his inner turmoil, and I don't find those parts very interesting.

I really liked the addition of Craig Robinson to the cast. Unfortunately, it seems like his story arc is already over…

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm 2/3 of the way through season 2 of Mr Robot now, and it's getting a little better but still not blowing me away. There's way too much focus on Elliot and his inner turmoil, and I don't find those parts very interesting.

That must be part of why some people are not connecting with it, like others. I find Elliot and his troubles the most fascinating parts. That's basically why I went through it all, more or less. I also liked the great economic reset, as a backdrop. But the series is most definitely a character study for Elliot.