Ozark always was kind of silly and got increasingly sillier. So I can't really fault it for going overboard on that in its final season. But damn did it get silly!
My only qualm with the final season, specifically with part 2, is that the cartel went from brutal and calculated to almost a Keystone Cops level of incompetence. I really felt like at least Marty should have died.
Or at the very least Sally. And is if they would believe the Byrdes when they claimed they knew nothing about it.
Outer Range on Amazon Prime is a show. That's about the only thing I can say for sure. If feels like an art/film student who thinks their idea is so groundbreaking and original that they didn't stop to think if it was going to actually make sense. There's a good show in there somewhere (maybe 2 or 3 good shows), and a couple of the story lines worked, but it's just too needlessly convoluted for its own good. Then there's the massive amount of "lighting" issues with scenes that are so dark nothing can be discerned with the human eye. I don't think it's been renewed for a season 2 just yet and it probably shouldn't be.
Candy on Hulu is feels like a 1980s prime time miniseries. It's decently acted, they're trying to hook you on episode one and then fill in the blanks, and the writing is good enough. I like being back to this format of an episode a day for a single week. I'm through the 4 episodes that were released so far and it's enjoyable. The one thing that somewhat takes me out of it is even as the kind of frumpy housewife with a bad perm, Jessica Biel still feels too attractive and fit for the era.
I wonder if the different set design for the Enterprise sets on Strange New Worlds is a reaction to the fan criticism after Discovery. Very different color schemes and different choices in lighting too.
I think it's a mix of that and trying to make it more similar to the original pilot episode that this is supposedly a continuation of.
https://deadline.com/2022/05/quantum-leap-reboot-pilot-picked-up-to-series-nbc-1235017782/ Quantum Leap reboot!
So many things are being rebooted on streaming that I haven't even been looking at the actual networks. Holy crap, NBC is going to have reboots of Quantum Leap and Night Court on this fall. What decade is this, and will this interfere with my viewing schedule for the Frasier continuation on Paramount+?
I had a few predictions about the final season of Better Call Saul, and they had all come true until tonight. Didn't see that mid season cliffhanger coming at all. Halo was enjoyable for me, but I'm not a (modern) gamer so I have no real idea what the story is supposed to be. I liked what I saw, but wouldn't care if a season 2 happens. The Offer is a miniseries worthy of The Godfather.
Got started on The Man in the High Castle, which I never checked out during its original run. Two episodes in, it's decent so far.
Set 20 years after the events of the 1988 movie. This looks like they're going to get it right, and when the theme fully kicked in at the end I got full body goosebumps.
Powered through both seasons of The Flight Attendant on HBO Max in the last couple of weeks. Season 1: The weird "internal monologue" scenes are better than the real world plot and execution. Season 2: The real world stuff is better than the ridiculously over used and over complicated "internal monologue" bits. Kaley Cuoco is basically her BBT character on its worst days with severe alcoholism. Rosie Perez is surprisingly pleasant. Zosia Mamet is someone I haven't seen much of before this, but she plays the manic commitment phobic friend excellently. The other various supporting characters are pretty good as nobody stands out as a negative. Cheryl Hines in season 2 was really good. If they get a season 3, I hope they find the balance of the two elements of storytelling. This is a show that could peak at about a 9/10 in quality but both seasons have been closer to 6.5/10. Worth a watch, but not a top of your list add.
Just finished off a little miniseries on Hulu called Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story. It's interesting to say the least. It covers the story of Steven Stayner who was kidnapped at 7 and then came back home at 14, saving a 5 year old from the kidnapper. They delve into how it affected the lives of his parents and his 4 siblings through Steven's marriage at age 20 and death at age 24. The final part is about his older brother Cary who, 10 years after Steven's death, confessed to murdering 4 girls in Yosemite park. I don't remember any of this even though the story of Steven coming home was around the time I was 10 and Cary's story would have been a year or so after undergrad.
Stranger Things season four (well the first seven episodes of it anyway) was okay. I would say probably a bit better than season three. Unfortunately it was dragged down somewhat by the Russia segments, which I found the least interesting to watch by far and deflated some episodes by taking us away from Hawkins. To me this is now primarily the Steve-Dustin-Nancy-and-Robin show.
Also got started on "The Man in the High Castle". Seven episodes into season one, it's okay. Decent entertainment. Some of its plotting is a bit hokey but that's part of its charm.
The biggest issue I had with the show is that it's not until season 4 that they get to the true plot in the book. They dither around a ton and often miss what was really driving the story. I don't really mind the new characters created for it, but it was too much of a miss for me for 3 seasons that by the time season 4 rolled around it was just a relief more than actual enjoyment.
So...there are two NEW seasons of Beavis & Butt-head ordered for Paramount+. Before the first one releases, which is scheduled for this fall, we're getting a brand new movie to explain how they look the same (travel through a black hole) on June 23. I've missed these little idiots so much.
So...there's only been one episode released, but if the debut is a picture of what's to come, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Ms. Marvel might be this generations Silver Age Spider-Man as far as influence on teens and tweens.
Written by former Navy Seal Jack Carr, I swear those guys are the most talkative military personnel on Earth, the book series has been a hit and he wrote the main character with a TV show in mind and Chris Pratt as the person he wanted playing it. I haven't read the books, but the official trailer for The Terminal List is now out and the show debuts on July 1.
What'd you think of the El in Hawkins Labs flashbacks? I hated that. I hate flashback anyway. So there was payoff in finding out who Vecna is, but I'd rather have heard in it 30 minutes.
Ms. Marvel was charming and was allowed its very own visual style. I like the use of animation to portray Kamala's vivid imagination. Also loved the tiny Adil & Bilall Easter eggs. (e.g. the story about the Pakistani-American girl who met a Belgian called Rob whilst backpacking in Europe is an obvious reference to the duo's cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert).
I'm not crazy about it either but I find it more interesting than Hopper in Russia. The problem with the Eleven stuff with Brenner is that we have seen this all before and the rehash isn't really interesting on its own. And as a means of introducing the villains origins, it's a bit ham-fisted.
It felt like Edgar Wright/Scott Pilgrim meets the MCU and it worked perfectly for the character. It also helps that the actress is literally a Pakistani-American girl from New Jersey who has been reading Ms. Marvel since issue 1 of the comics and dressed up as Ms. Marvel for a Halloween party when she was 15.