I've watched a few episodes of Gen V so far and it's ok. Different tone from The Boys, the college setting I don't like as we end up with the usual young person drama shit, but I doubt I'm the main target demo for this show. Great effects though and I'm glad they're not really holding back on some of the antics that both a college setting and powers would provide. Especially with the shrinking girl
Dave Filoni is the one who brings balance to the Force.
I haven't watched the Clone Wars and Rebels much (just casually here and there while my son went through them it back in the day), but I think Ahsoka is exactly what it is supposed to be. Star Wars tropes so well executed that you don't get stuck into the stupid stuff like in Boba Fett and Obi-Wan. The casting of most roles is also perfect IMO.
Also in Mandalorian, I think the episodes where Filoni has been involved the most are easy to spot. In a positive sense.
Yeah well...
What the hell is the deal with every damn series having to use as many different directors for episodes as possible? Here the last 3 eps were again given to random nobodys to direct and the result was jarring to put it nicely. The characters started to make faces like idiots, bad guys turned into absolute impotents even on Star Wars scale, and everything felt almost as awkward as in Boba Fett finale. What kind of idiots make these decisions? Do they even watch through the stuff they put out?
But I have to say this makes me even more confident about Dave Filoni being the critical resource for Star Wars. Give stuff for someone else to handle and the likelyhood of it turning to another pile of crap is at least 95%. Such a shame.
Bits of it were very good up there with the best of the Mandalorian but overall very much meh & the last couple of episodes bordering on the worst of Boba Fett/Kenobi
We don't even get to look forward to more of Ray Stevensons' intimidating but maybe ultimately-not-a-bad-guy Baylan in S2
Ok, I've watched the 4th episode of Gen V, and understood why I don't like it.
The protagonist is Marie Sue: compared to others she's nothing, she doesn't do anything, her most active action has been to run away scared to death, whatever she does, any error she makes turns out to her advantage without any consequence, but anyone loves her, anyone wants to be her friend or lover.
The roles of supporting characters / b plot are left to Team Assholes: their first characterization is the equivalent of a hit and run while drunk, that's something that make me hate them in real life, and then the show tries to repurpose them as the Team Goodguys. In The Boys all the bad characters are shown as maybe complex and nuanced, but irredeemable.
FreeWilhelmina is shown as having the power to control other people, she can create an army of supes and take over the world, but she's responsible and doesn't abuse it, she's even reluctant to use it, unleeeeeeeeeeeees she want to use it because she wants, because she's angry, or just for fun.
The really slightly asian character, inserted so we can say that we have an asian character, identifies himself as a hetero female. Ok. And the drama is that his power allows him to switch to a female version of himself. Mhhh... How is his power called? "Problem solved"? Despite this being his main trait, he can't resist the power of Marie Sue, and falls in love with her. As a male. Fuuuuuuuuuuu
When Magneto Junior
takes the picture of Sam inside a strange jail, show it to FreeWilhelmina and the reaction is
- Oh my gosh he's Sam! Luke's brother!
- Yes he's him
while the correct reaction should have been
- Oh my gosh he's Sam! Luke's brother!
- Yes h... wait! wait! wait! How did you recognize him in an instant if you hadn't seen him for years and anyone thought that he was dead? And why you are not surprised of all the strange jail stuff?
After just a day or so that
Luke died they meet grieving and the conversation goes about like this
- he was my best friend, I'm so sad and lonely!
- I know! he was my boyfriend! IIIII'm so sad and lonely!
- Let's fuck
- Ok
I hate them.
At some point Marie Sue meet the Team Assholes and the conversation is
- You almost killed an innocent woman just because you all are drunk pricks and left her alone to die! If wasn't for me she would have died! Do you understand it? Do you even care? And then not happy with this you shifted the blame on me and made me expelled! Even if this means that I will end up in someplace bad that... I don't know really what it is but the plot says that it's really bad... Do you understand it you buch of selfish idiots? Eh? Why don't we become BFF?
- Yeaaaaaaaaaah!
The only redeeming characters are Emma and Sam.
Very good actors, very good parts, very nicely and consistently written.
They are the only human looking characters in that show.
I want a spinoff of the spinoff just about them.
Hashtag Team Emma and Sam.
The end of this episode is unexpected abrupt and good.
I had paid 0 attention to Gen V assuming it was some boring tween angst bs.
Upthread someone referenced the link to The Boys... 1 + 1... oooh and I'm in.
Why didn't they call it something like The Boys: Gen V or Gen V: A The Boys story or something?
Well...
The Boys ep 1 starts with the girlfriend being exploded by 'the flash' and immediately you know 'holy shit this is gonna be a hilarious schlocky play on the superhero genre'.
Gen V ep 1 & 2 are just gross bits between boring tween angst bs in a seemingly serious 'x-men academy' setting.
Only has a couple of schlocky laughs come in like ep3/4.
Gen V didn't really get better, ties in to presumably start of next The Boys season at the end but stayed mostly boring tween angst & gross bits.
Lower decks had a bit of a season plot line, dunno if it really worked out great but at least the season didn't finish with a massive battle where Starfleet operating in formation gets taken over by AI I guess
Otherwise great.
I watched Station Eleven, pretty neat.
I went into it expecting more of a sci-fi thing, dunno if I really liked the ending but was pretty cool how the plotlines came together.
I'm curious how much of the very topical stuff was in original script or added during production given it was based on a book written after the older Birdflu not-quite-a-global-pandemic, written and started filming before covid lockdowns, finished off during
I must disagree: Gen V improved a lot in the second half. It just started from a CW level.
The problem is that almost all are assholes, and worst sometimes it tries to portray them as good-willing heroes.
There's an episode where a secondary character dies. Didn't do anything wrong or bad, just happened to be there, and was just presented as a loser compared to team coolguys. Died as an indirect consequence of their actions. When all calmed down nobody minded to at least go check the body to make sure if was still alive and needed medical help. Our heroes.
Don't know how much is voluntary development of villains in becoming and shitty antiheroes, and how much is just bad writing.
I finally finished Downton Abbey with the 2 movies.
They did a whole lot of great characters, I think particularly endearing in that they're all villains to a greater or lesser extent but basically good hearted (or get there eventually).
The whole transition from 1800s with horses, candles & basins -> the 1930s with cars, phones, electricity & plumbing is kinda crazy & not often covered in media.
If there is one criticism it makes some very sudden & not clearly marked time jumps, sometimes quite significant length, to the point I've had to fairly often check if I missed an episode or accidentally skipped forward several mins.
A several second fade to black or something to indicate the jump would have helped comprehension a lot imo.
so im watching mr bates vs the post office and its wild, really wild
its about the horizon it scandal in the uk that has since 1999 been ruining the lives of affected sub-postmasters (basically people who run tiny post offices around the uk) and has resulted in at least one suicide. its because they are liable for all monetary discrepancies during end of day accounting and the system has really big issues that the post office and the vendor (fujitsu) are lying about
its also wild that the post office is prosecuting its own cases because of some centuries old authority granted to the royal mail
so im watching mr bates vs the post office and its wild, really wild
its about the horizon it scandal in the uk that has since 1999 been ruining the lives of affected sub-postmasters (basically people who run tiny post offices around the uk) and has resulted in at least one suicide. its because they are liable for all monetary discrepancies during end of day accounting and the system has really big issues that the post office and the vendor (fujitsu) are lying about
its also wild that the post office is prosecuting its own cases because of some centuries old authority granted to the royal mail
I've not seen the show (yet), but the problems with the Horizon IT system have been known about for decades - I remember reading reports from Computer Weekly magazine about it and I've not bought the magazine for probably 15 years or more! Private Eye have also been on the case for many years, but nothing much has been done and it has been grinding on and on with nobody held accountable.
The scandal continues as they've deliberately designed the compensation scheme to make it all but impossible to get a decent payout and those receiving compensation are also getting screwed over by the tax system. An absolute shambles that shows the very worst of this country. Little interest in justice or accountability from successive governments who are willing to bend over backwards to help anybody with a bit of money who isn't one of the 'little people' beneath their interest.
I've not seen the show (yet), but the problems with the Horizon IT system have been known about for decades - I remember reading reports from Computer Weekly magazine about it and I've not bought the magazine for probably 15 years or more! Private Eye have also been on the case for many years, but nothing much has been done and it has been grinding on and on with nobody held accountable.
