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Killing Eve: Hello, Losers (2022)
"Hello, Losers" Indeed
This series finale is namely "Hello, Losers." That's the writers talking to US, the audience, calling US losers. What chumps we are for having watched this show for years to have it end like this. What contempt these writers must of for us to do this. Disgusting.
Lisey's Story: Jim Dandy (2021)
The list of glaring absurdities to force the plot just keeps growing
Dear Hollywood:
I went waaaaay out of my way to suspend my disbelief thus far (esp. In the previous episode), but the list of glaring absurdities to force the plot just keeps growing. I can't overlook this crap anymore.
The latest one: the plastic-bag-over-the-head nonsense. Do you not understand basic physics or basic human instinct? It's a freakin' plastic bag! You can just tear it. If you've got one (let alone both) hands/arms free, then your immediate and overwhelming survival instinct would be to...oh, I don't know...poke a damn hole in the thing, tear it off your nose and mouth, kick, try to walk backward/forward, flail, fall, hell, anything at all, not just stand perfectly still and rest your hands on the very thing being used to suffocate you!
I just can't anymore. It's just so damn stupid, and it's a shame, because this could've been done well, but it would've required way more attention and effort than apparently anyone working on this show was willing to put in. I can't believe that of all the people involved in this, not one every said, "This (and this, and this, and this) doesn't make sense at all!" Oh well. Another show that's gonna be a one-and-done. Next.
Sincerely,
Enough Already.
The Mosquito Coast: Calaca (2021)
Now I KNOW It's Doomed
Dear Hollywood Writers:
Maybe you haven't heard: television is a visual medium. But an amorphous heady character like an algorithm - especially one that your own principal character says exists only in his mind - by definition isn't visual. So it doesn't work on television. And relying on your eye-candy actors to do the heavy lifting for you - using a script that's already lazy, sloppy, confused, meandering, and nonsensical to begin with - also doesn't work. If you want to see how to do it right, look to Breaking Bad, where one of the de-facto main characters was chemistry, or to Mr. Robot, where it was hacking. Those shows were nearly flawless, a far cry from the porridge that is your show.
P. S.: The moment you start to make us like an unlikable character such as a CIA agent is the moment we know you plan to off him in the same episode.
Another show that has sealed its own fate and is doomed to be a one-/two-seasoner. What a shame.
Master of None (2015)
Season 1 & 2 are excellent; 3 is contemptible
Season 1 & 2 are fantastic but 3 is an ad campaign for adultery. It's contemptible, actually.
Master of None: Moments in Love, Chapter 5 (2021)
So...yay for adultery?
So the takeaway for this season is yay for adultery/infidelity/betrayal? Ugh!
Mare of Easttown: Illusions (2021)
Unforgivably Contrived
The final, climactic scene is utterly contrived. Here, I'll prove it:
First, Mare (and Zabel, for that matter) knew she wasn't armed. Yet they're okay going door to door looking for a suspected killer? Okee dokee.
Second, why didn't the kidnapped girls just scream when they heard people (Mare and Zabel) come into the house? After all, the episode went out of its way to make a point of telling/showing us that on the Van Driver's poker nights, which were on Fridays, he'd come down and bind and GAG the girls so they couldn't scream. Well, when Mare and Zabel surprised the Van Driver, he hand't bound and gagged the girls. So why didn't they just scream...or at least, scream AND shake/bang on the pipes? Don't answer that - it was so the show could create fake suspense with the the whole pipe melodrama. SMH
Third, Zabel's shooting...where do I begin? Okay, so Zabel unclips his pistol holster on his right hip. He keeps his right hand on top of his pistol, ready to draw it, all the while keeping his eyes on the Van Driver. Meanwhile, the Van Driver has his right hand wrapped very tightly around a pipe that he's trying to steady/silence (because it's fake shaking), which pipe he's also looking at, so he's not even looking at Zabel. Yet somehow, the van driver is able to lift his shirt (which is hanging over his pistol), draw his gun, AND fire it with head-shot accuracy ALL faster than Zabel is even able just to DRAW his own pistol? Okay then.
Fourth, did you notice that the Van Driver actually drew his pistol from from his RIGHT HIP (you can tell based on how little he reached for his gun), even though moments ago, we saw him place his pistol behind his BACK and UNDER his shirt? So to draw it, he would've had to let go of the pipe with his right hand, and then using either one or two hands, reach behind his back, lift his shirt, draw his gun, aim it, and pull the trigger, all with head-shot accuracy. Only, that's not what happened.
And fifth, did you notice the direction of the blood spatter from Zabel's head wound? The gunshot came from Zabel's left (that's where the Van Driver was), which means the blood spatter should've traveled behind him but to his RIGHT toward the door opening, not turned LEFT toward the wall. Of course, it's much more of a spectacle to show blood spattering on a wall rather than just going through an open doorway and landing on the ground. Logical and physics be damned. Ugh.
This is so insulting to the audience's intelligence, but then again, based on how well this episode has been received as of this review, maybe not so much. I'm done with this show - everything that comes next will have been built on this farse of a scene just so they could turn the antihero into a hero.
The Nevers: Hanged (2021)
Turned to Complete Trash
A little trashiness here and there isn't necessarily a bad thing. But the entire opening of this was so dripping with filth and vulgarity, and most unforgivably, none of it advanced the plot. Maybe they exhausted their special-effects budget for the season and thought this'd be a good replacement. It wasn't. It seemed desperate. I'm done.
Stowaway (2021)
Not boring at all, but it needs a real ending
So many commented that this was boring. It's not. It's actually quite captivating, even if somewhat predictable. It's a good story, and it's told well. But my main problem with it is that it doesn't have an ending. After the characters sacrificed so much along the way, the least the audience could've had was a meaningful ending.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Final Mission (1990)
Contrived Many Times Over
First, a shuttle is sent to pick up Picard and Wesley from the Enterprise and take them to Pentarus V. But why send a shuttle? Not only is the shuttle that's sent in terrible shape, it's also entirely unnecessary, as the Enterprise has multiple shuttles, which are in excellent condition to boot. And that same rundown shuttle, which is going to be ferrying the captain of the flagship of the federation somehow passes an inspection personally conducted by the chief engineer of that same flagship? On top of that, by sending the shuttle, you're taking what would've been a 2-leg trip and making it a 4-leg one. Besides, given Picard's mission is to mediate a dispute that's expected to be contentious (Picard's word), why wouldn't Picard take along Troy? While we're at it, why wouldn't he take Worf and/or a security team? Why wouldn't the entire Enterprise go, given that captains are rarely supposed to go on away missions anyway? Of course, all this logic was ignored to force a plot line, and force it they did. Yikes!
Second, when Riker is forced to tractor the radioactive garbage freighter, why doesn't he just do it for a few seconds and then release it and move to a safe distance? They're in space; it's a vacuum, which means the freighter wouldn't encounter any resistance, and the momentum would carry it the rest of the way. There was no reason to stay close, keep tractering it, risk radiation poisoning the Enterprise crew, and risk not reaching Picard and Wesley in time to save them. Again, contrive conflict. Stupid.
Then when Picard, Wesley, and the shuttle captain are in the cave, and Picard runs to save Wesley Crusher from getting crushed (ironic) by the falling boulders, Picard still has enough time to look up at the falling boulders. Why wouldn't Picard just keep running WITH Wesley after pushing him?-he was already headed in that direction. If he han enough time to push Wesley, look up, AND see the boulders falling, then he had enough time to just keep running out of the way along with Wesley. Again, forced drama. Stupid.
Bonus: why would any species have webbing blocking their mouth? C'mon! What's the evolutionary advantage of that?-keeping you on a diet?!
Family Guy: Stewie's First Word (2020)
Oh, how I needed to laugh this hard.
The episode was dense with original snappy and sadistic satire (that any fan of the show would love), yet it all still remained coherently constructed around a main narrative that answered a longstanding question. I really needed to laugh like this.
Lovecraft Country: Meet Me in Daegu (2020)
When you learn one of the heroes is actually a villain
Let me analogize for a minute: Remember the movie Passengers...when you learned the protagonist Jim (Chris Pratt's character) isn't a hero but actually the villain who dooms Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence's character)? Remember how you thought it was such a shame that an otherwise visually and musically flawless movie was rendered unwatchable just by this hero-villain revelation?
Well, that's what happened in this episode of Lovecraft Country. Turns out Atticus (Jonathan Majors' character) isn't a hero but actually an unspeakably cruel villain who terrorizes, abuses, and summarily executes defenseless women. This is all I can think of now when I see (or even imagine) Atticus. I'm done with this series.
Dear writers: Stop, just stop doing this...stop having your male protagonists flip from hero to villain by ravaging female characters, and stop expecting us to forgive them for it because you think it makes the characters "complex." It does't make them complex; it makes them contemptible. And I don't forgive them, and I can't stand to watch them. So just stop insulting your audience's intelligence with this perpetual dehumanization of women. It's old, cheap, lazy, and repugnant.
The Politician: New York State of Mind (2020)
10
More authentic and far less affected than any of the first season's episodes. Really sharp, so hilarious, and very well-paced. The elements (writing, directing, acting, etc.) are all on point. This episode's acting standouts include Bette Midler, Judith Light, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jackie Hoffman (the receptionist), and Ryan J. Haddad. Gotta watch the rest of the season now to see if this level of quality remains.
American Dad!: Brave Noob World (2020)
Unwatchable
Lazy, sloppy, confused, and convoluted. Done with this show.
Family Guy: Holly Bibble (2020)
Best Episode of the Season
This is one of the storytelling-style episodes about the Bible. Hilarious. Clever. It's gonna be a classic.
American Dad!: A Starboy is Born (2020)
Insufferable
Not one episode this season has been watchable, including this one. Over the past SEVERAL seasons, the show has grown hackneyed and confused. The last good episode was Rabbit Ears (14.04). Time to pull the plug. What a shame.