Philbert
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Posts posted by Philbert
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4 hours ago, CaptainTightpants said:
Vanessa= not a good person and not a smart person. I'm not finding anything to root for with her. She and Doc are very similar. Doc is more of a coward, but she and Vanessa are both utterly selfish.
The only defense I can come up with for Doc is at least she's aware of her selfishness and cowardice and is actively trying to be better. Yeah she's failing most of the time but she's trying at least. Vanessa...
Geez, what a self involved, clueless douchebagette of a character. I hope the writers realize how unappealing she is. Now it is just possible that they know exactly what are doing and are purposely writing her as a giant pain in the ass but if that's the case, they really needed to have cast a better actress. Kelly Overton is just not selling it. Honestly they would have done better to give this part to Melanie Scrofano (of Wynonna Earp fame). She's at least got a truck load of charisma and can handle playing a deeply flawed character with a bit of class and empathy.
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"I am Sam...Sam I am."
OMFG this episode was soooooo much better than the first two, although as I've mentioned I thought the second was considerably better than the season opener. See, show THIS is what we want from you. Loved the Julius backstory. I liked him as a vampire, really like him as a human. The opposite goes for Sam. I enjoyed him as just a human serial killer well enough but Vampire Serial killer Sam is made of win. The relationship he has with the new kid is very reminiscent of Mohammed but then again, it's supposed to be. Sam clearly has a 'type.' Speaking of Mohammed, yeah infected wounds suck....not as much as vampires but it's still pretty bad. Glad to see Phil got out in one piece. See this is the thing about Van Helsing. I don't really care about Vanessa or her (now truly deceased) daughter, although I actually saw a spark from the actress playing Vanessa tonight. It's the supporting cast I think most of us are tuning in to watch every week. Axel and the Doc are probably my favorite 'couple' on this show and they didn't disappoint either. This show is building a fairly complicated storyline with a lot of characters, and several competing groups of characters. That means the plot tends to develop slowly and sometimes it doesn't work well (as with the season opener) and sometimes it fires on all cylinders, as it did tonight.
8/10
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On 10/13/2017 at 8:15 PM, CaptainTightpants said:
You 100% hit the nail on the head with that one. As far as I can tell she is still the weak, cowardly, selfish crap-sack she was in season 1. They are going to need to do some massive redemption arc if they want to make her a bearable character. Still a better character than Vanessa though, and the actress is miles better with her performance.
In the show's defense, I don't think we're supposed to like Doc. She's weak willed and prone to cowardice and doesn't handle pressure very well. But I would imagine that describes a good chunk of the human population. After all, they're in the middle of the vampire apocalypse. Most people are already dead, and perhaps the majority of them were weak willed cowards. I think what makes her redeemable, and even interesting is she's not malicious or without guilt. I think she was genuinely trying to be a good person before Callie showed up. She's just really, really bad at it. I agree with you that the actress who plays Doc is much better than the one playing Vanessa.
Vanessa, on the other hand, you got me on that one. There are some shows where I really don't get the fanbase hatred of particular characters and their actors. Still trying to puzzle out the utter loathing for the character of Julia on "The Magicians" and her actress. Vanessa...I totally get the fan hate. I don't hate her myself because I'm giving the writers the benefit of the doubt that they're going somewhere interesting with her in the future (and we know they can write interesting secondary characters) but man, they need to step it up.
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On 10/13/2017 at 7:23 PM, CaptainTightpants said:
So im still on the fence with this show, but I'm glad I gave it another shot after that awful premiere! Thanks Philbert for your comments, I don't think I would have watched another episode without the recommendation.
No problem. I actually didn't begin to enjoy this show at all until the middle of season one, and mostly because of Axel and the other side characters. I agree with everyone that the season 2 premiere was well lacking and going back over it, the same thing happened with season one. The series premiere felt like it was in the wrong order and didn't make any sense until the second episode, and let's face it, the show lagged pretty badly until the gang got out of the hospital in season one. I haven't dumped it for the same reason I stuck with Dark Matter. It got better over time...although Dark Matter didn't improve enough to avoid cancellation after season 3. Let's hope Van Helsing continues to improve and makes it to a third season. I think we all agree that Vanessa is the weakest character (and actor) in the series and that it's the supporting cast that's holding our interest. Time will tell if that's enough.
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5 hours ago, snowwhyte said:
Axel's back? I might try one more episode then.
Oh big time and if you thought he was fun as a human, he's an absolute scream as a vampire. His scenes with Doc were totally golden. Callie is back too, believe it or not. We also have some new characters and factions (because so many of the old ones were killed off in the premiere). I was actually fairly impressed with the storytelling last night. No, it's not Game of Thrones (it's not even Z Nation) but it's improving.
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So "Gotham" slits a child's throat on Network tv in the 8 PM slot?
Umm, well done?
God I love this freaking trainwreck of a tv show. I really, really do.
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I think the second episode was far, far better than the season opener. Axel was one of my favorite characters from season one and he's just as fun as a vampire. It's also good seeing Doc back and desperately trying to make up for her previous cowardice. And of course.....spoiler (which was already given away by the season previews)
Julius is human again. That is going to be fun.
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3 hours ago, FishyJoe said:
I'm really disliking Vanessa. It's like she doesn't care how many people die to save her daughter. She doesn't seem to give a damn about anyone else.
As been mentioned elsewhere, Vanessa is probably the least interesting character on this show. On the other hand, I continue to think Phil is one of the better people in this crap sack world.
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On 10/9/2017 at 10:46 AM, bluvelvet said:
Anyone watch the premiere
Yeah I did. I thought it was okay. It was certainly eventful. I counted no fewer than 4-5 reoccurring characters from season one who got bumped off in the opening. That's not to mention the gruesome demise of those resistance fighters in the elevator.
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11 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:
--I was a bit underwhelmed w/ Little Finger's ending. I wanted something much more drawn out. I'll get over it. He deserved a horrible ending, yet as others have said, I'll miss his constant intrigues.
--I had convinced myself we'd get to see Clegane Bowl, so I was bummed that it didn't happen.
No but you got the Hound foreshadowing it. Clegane Bowl is on for next season for sure.
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1 hour ago, bmoore4026 said:
Can't have gay dudes on this show unless they're eunuchs, but blood relative sex is A-OK.
Well you can....and then you die a horrible death. See: Renly and Loras.
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11 hours ago, Jamoche said:
This show really needs a scene like Babylon 5's Vir getting his wish to make a little wave at Morden's head on a pike :)
Although Sansa walking away from Ramsey as he got eaten by his own dogs with a big ole smirk on her face was pretty damned close :)
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20 hours ago, Dobian said:
Theon: Westeros' Ultimate Survivor
Webster's just announced that they have changed the definition of "coward" in their dictionary. It is now simply a picture of Theon Greyjoy.
Having watched that scene three times now, I am beginning to think that there was more than a little tactical calculation in that 'cowardice.' At that point, Theon and Yara were fucked. At least now, he's got a chance to follow and get her back. He might very well be following the old adage, "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day."
Theon is due for one glorious moment before he dies in this show-I suspect it will come at Euron's expense.
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Yeah, I don't blame Theon for jumping ship. His uncle is freaking maniac. I know the show got a lot of criticism for making him something of a wuss...until now.
Well played, show. Well played.
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22 hours ago, call me ishmael said:
Hasn't the "let's release a virus into Gotham so they will tear each other apart" already been done in Batman Begins and by the same villain?
More or less but in the film, it was Scarecrow, aided by Falcone (who was unaware of what Scarecrow was doing) who did the actual releasing-at the behest of Ra's-Al-Ghul.
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14 hours ago, paigow said:
Nobody wants to recreate Halle Berry Catwoman......
Nobody even wants to be reminded of that film's existence...
14 hours ago, darkestboy said:Good enough episode.
Does anyone really care if Aubrey lives or dies? Anyone? Really? Yeah, not convinced to be honest.
Oh I do but only because I love Richard Kind.
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Bloody Hell, that so didn't go where I thought it would.
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On 4/20/2017 at 11:09 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:
Because OF COURSE Julia is that special.
Apparently "God-rape" is the gift that just keeps on giving...
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18 hours ago, GaT said:
So, Julia is just a straight out bitch, am I reading that right?
Without her shade, yes. But from what I'm able to glean what the show has said about it, everybody is. Somebody's shade seem to be equivalent to what many people would call a 'soul.' It's like the vampires on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Without a human soul, the can kill without any remorse-at least that was the case before the writers started fiddling around with the Spike character. The implication is that any of the Brakebills group would end up like Julia if the same thing happened to them. Kady pretty much says that when she tells Julia that it's not her fault.
But she's still really dangerous so they had to lock her up.
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10 hours ago, GaT said:
I've watched every episode of this show, & I didn't know this. When did she get rid of it? This show has gotten so convoluted, I have no idea what's going on with anyone.
End of the previous episode. They didn't show it. Julia just wakes up and Kady informs her that the child has been removed but there's been a complication.
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Yeah I think I agree that this episode was the weakest of the season so far but that doesn't make it awful. It was just rather "meh" and yes, the 'Heist" plot has been to death in films and tv shows and this one wasn't inventive enough to raise the episode beyond being just average. Again, I'm not on the "Hate Julia" bandwagon and I don't intend to be. I think she was sufficiently 'guilty' about Quentin's pain over Alice's death but YMMV. At this point her life is such a gaping sewer that hating her just seems to be dogpiling.
Love Niffin Alice. She's everything that real Alice was trying to cover up-a mean streak a mile wide and a bottomless well of anger and resentment at her parents and everything and everybody around her. The amount of damage she can do to Quentin and his friends is probably limitless.
As for the fight itself. I like Kady taking on the bank manager with her battle magic and Margo's streetwise persona coming to the foreground but that was about it. Too little Fillory and not enough Brakebills.
5/10
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53 minutes ago, wayne67 said:
Marina's death was gruesome, despite her moral failures, she was fairly young. Maybe 25? It's fairly basic to have some empathy for that kind of death, I don't think I've seen anyone say that retroactively makes her an angel of light and purity but she was a strong and complex female character and her absence makes the show a little more shallow. (IMO)
I wouldn't argue with any of that. I rather liked Marina, despite her occasional acts of brutality-she's the one who really screwed Quentin in Season One, although she used Julia to do it.
And while, I certainly agree about the show needing strong and complex female characters, I'd say that High Queen Margo is stepping into that role very nicely. God, she's scary.
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5 hours ago, KaleyFirefly said:
It was frustrating to watch because it did seem like they were cutting out scenes, there were too many commercial breaks, and the breaks were in awkward places like in the middle of a scene. SyFy channel does a terrible job with this show.
Having watched season one on Netflix without the censoring and without commercial breaks, I don't recall any difference between the scenes there and the version on SyFy, so I am not sure they are actually removing scenes. However the breaks themselves are absolutely hideous, without any warning and looking for all the world like characters were cut off in mid sentence. That scene where Niffin Alice refers to Quentin as an idiot was especially egregious. I've been trying to cut Siffy some slack lately, since I'm really enjoying shows like this, The Expanse, and Killjoys but dammit people, that's just sloppy and unprofessional. The breaks in the following episode of "The Expanse" were artistic perfection by comparison.
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35 minutes ago, wayne67 said:
Kady's mom's death after helping Julia raid Marina's stash,
Actually Kady's mother crashed in on Julia who was doing the spell herself and convinced Julia to let her help. If she hadn't it would have been Julia killed by that defensive spell. Julia looked pretty broken up about her death to me. It was fairly bloody and horrible. People who are weeping over Marina's death need to remember that her hands weren't clean either....not that it justifies her own horrific death.
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Season 2: Blood, Gore, We Want Some More!
in Van Helsing [V]
If it were up to me I'd cast Lena Headey, who absolutely nailed this type of character in "The Sarah Conner Chronicles" over a decade ago but I hear she's got another gig now :)