Wilson Cat

Guess I'm the lone ranger here in that I find no meaning whatsoever in this show, feel it is tritely written, the acting is blah, and the story is ridiculous and frankly boring. I have no real idea why I stayed with it for 10 episodes other than it filled up some time while I'm working on a sewing project (hand stitching) and this kept me company. What I saw was dialog that consisted of deep breathing (Eddie) and sighing (Eddie) and wan-poor-little-me (Mary) and totally uncharismatic charisma (Cal) and plastic-humorless-robotic (Sarah). Oh, and all the angst!! Wow these people take themselves and their little world seriously!! I went from hate-watching to just bored by Episode 10. Will not tune in for S2. This show wasn't compelling at any time. And bottom line.......it was almost a cartoon of depiction of the inner workings of a cult. How anyone can fall for a "movement" this stupid baffles me.

I'm late to this party, but seriously wonder if I'm watching the same show the rest of you are watching. I am strictly hate-watching at this point, almost enthralled by how truly terrible this show is. The acting is awful. The script is a joke. Not a single character inspires an iota of sympathy. It is just a ridiculous cult and the actors are inept at even the slightest conviction in their roles as part of this ridiculous cult. Cartoonish characterizations of "real people" but nothing even somewhat believable about their behavior. I read "Going Clear". I know a little bit about the cult of Scientology (and in spite of the producers denials written into the script, this Meyerist Movement is simply Scientology written lite.) If you want a truly horrific story, read that book. Or watch the production HBO (I think it was HBO) did on the book. But this hodge-podge of "we're just a bunch of idealists" then "we're just a typical phony cult" is not cutting it with me. Have the rest of the haters left this forum? Because I cannot take seriously anyone who takes this show seriously!!

You took the words right out of my mouth. This show not only sucks.....no chemistry between any of the characters, the dialog is trite, the actors seem to be hearing their lines for the first time when the words come out of their mouths, and in spite of all denials this is just a piss-poor knock off of Scientology mixed with every other stupid cult since forever. It would be a parody, but it isn't even slightly funny. The only reason I'm watching it is because occasionally I hate-watch a show just to test my forbearance. Plus I'm working on a hand-stitched crib blanket for my sweet little Etsy shop which requires me to sit and stitch in stretches of an hour or so. And I've already gone through all the truly awesome stuff on Hulu and Netflix ("Engrenages" (Spiral), "Luther", "Vera", "Wallander", "Line of Duty", "Happy Valley") and sometimes it is enough to just watch something stupid just so I can shrug.

Not really sure where to put this, but perhaps this is the spot. Just finished watching S2. Kyle Chandler is always gonna be so Friday Night Lights Coach Wonderful, even when he's hiding the fact that he's murdered his bro. The one I watch with extra fascination is Leo Norbert Butz. I live in Seattle. His sister was murdered a couple of years ago by a mad man, and Eli Sanders (of the Seattle weekly newspaper, The Stranger) wrote an amazing, powerful story about the case. "While the City Slept". There is quite a bit about Leo Norbert Butz in the book. And just knowing the anguish he suffered personally for such a horrendous, atrocious loss in his own life, I almost feel I can see some of that come through in his acting. He has certainly come a long way from his role on SMASH. Wonder if, in future seasons, there might ever come a time when Kevin gets to sing. Butz has a gorgeous voice, has done Broadway. And with Eve having a bit of singing this season, mayhaps??

Just finished all 12 episodes of Saison Cinq. Come on....there must be some Engrenages fans out there! Come, let's talk. This really is la français version of The Wire. Amazing amazing show. When you get to the end of episode 12, you will need serious therapy.

Finally!! Engrenages is available free on Hulu online. http://www.impactnottingham.com/2015/02/tv-review-spiral-series-5/

I'm really late to the party here. Binge watched the entire series during the Comcast/Xfinity "Free Premiere Networks" week. And frankly......the ONLY thing that kept me going was Julien. Loved the character, loved the way the actor portrayed him. (Sorry, too lazy to look up the actor's name...) But I could hardly stomach Tony. The way James Nesbitt played his character was so off-putting to me that I could hardly watch him by about the 5th episode, and by the finale I found him disgusting. That angry glare.....not sure if it is just crap writing, but no character should be so one-dimensional. I felt like I was watching some perverse cartoon of what a missing child mystery should be. Compared with the French series "Engrenages" (Canal-Plus, Seasons 1 - 4 currently available on Netflix and I'm waiting for S5 to show up) I love that series. Caroline Proust is amazing, as are Grégory Fitoussi, Thierry Godard, Philippe Duclos and Fred Bianconi. Multi-dimensional, so side stories are gripping. But in The Missing, the side stories had me pulling my hair out. Boring. Tedious. Pointless. What the hell were all those dead ends for? I got so impatient with the sluggish story line and so put off by Nesbitt's version of Tony that I actually skipped Episode 7, and doubt I missed much. Vincent Bourg's character was one of the few exceptions, for me. There was some poignancy in his desperation and his suicide was very believable and affecting. Anyway.....doubt anyone will ever read this post since this show is very old news.

Abby Is the most Agressive Passive-Agressive ever. She puts unrelenting pressure on Sarah then chastises Sarah for putting pressure on herself and dancing "nervous". The amount of viciousness from Abby is so over the top (I'm skipping all the crap the mom's pull for the moment) that she seriously reminds me of the way Donald Trump is campaigning for the Presidency. Bullies, both Abby and Donald. Really think this show should be pulled as it is not good for children that age to be around that kind of behavior.

J'adore Engrenages..........anticipation en haut.

Just watched 2:1 This show......so damned dark, and yet the dry humor just saves it and you can't wait to dive back in. This seems to be the first post on the premiere episode of Season 2. Sarah Lancashire is so damned good. Think I will wait until a few have posted before I discuss the details, but the season looks promising. Are there only six episodes in the season? The opening was brilliant.......sheep rustling gone awry. And with that itsy bitsy spoiler, c'est fini pour maintenent. OK, I know it's a Brit series not French (am in so SO much anticipation for Season 5 of "Entrenages"..... Anyway, that poor sheep.

I don't ever remember seeing anything this powerful and emotional since the best episodes of "Homicide: Life on the Street" back in the day. When the sound went off during the confrontation between Taylor and Wes I literally got cold shivers. Everything about this painful, grueling, wonderful episode was spot on. Every actor (Lili Taylor is a goddess of acting) and every screen shot, the writing, the script, the silences....perfect. This powerful season has managed to incorporate so many of the issues we are facing in our world today. Sexual orientation. Adolescent angst. Gun violence. The way the wired world can ruin a life in an instant and go on ruining. School shootings. Private schools that are bastions of privilege and prejudice. The challenges of parenting. Sexual molestation, and sexual violence. I don't know what the final three episodes will bring, but seriously doubt that any one of them, or even all three put together will come close to the overwhelming hopelessness and sadness illustrated by this one amazing episode. And I was thinking...."Oh this show is moving so slowly....."

Haven't heard my complaint here from anyone else, but watching Episode 1 on my Mac Air, On Demand, the lighting was so dark that it was like trying to find the bathroom in a mansion you've never been in, with nothing more than a single birthday candle for lighting. Some scenes were almost entirely dark. My brightness is turned to the highest possible.....I even tried going to my flat screen TV and watching it there, but pretty much the same thing. Whazzup?

OK, I really don't have much to say about the finale, because unlike most of the posters here, I agree with the recappers that this is basically a stupid, shitty show. Alison is a caricature of a human being, and thank god I've never known anyone as narcissistic as her in real life. Except the writers then add a second, even MORE narcissistic caricature of a selfish jerk, Noah, and whoa......for me this was hate watching on a par with SMASH (and I didn't think I could ever hate watch a show with as much passion as I faithfully did that clusterfuck of a series). But you know what redeemed it for me? Scotty singing. That was awesome. It was like when Megan Hilty sang her gorgeous slowed-down version of Crazy Dreams in S1 of Smash, and it was all like, oh, please just do an entire show of this person singing. The writers even managed to ruin one character I actually liked, Helen, by making her guilty of the most heinous of deceits. I hope Cole and Luisa live happily ever after, and that Joanie comes to live with them, and maybe Whitney, too, because she rocks. She's a bitch, but a delightful one. And knowing all that we do now about her parentage, of course she's a bitch. It is the only way to survive in that stupid family.

Neurochick wrote: Indeed. I absolutely love Clarke Peters in everything he has done. The guy oozes integrity whether as Lester Freeman in The Wire, or The Chief in Treme (heartbreakingly wonderful) and now in Show Me a Hero. I struggled a bit with this series, but came around to appreciating that Paul Haggis and the writers did not lead us by the nose and explain every scene explicitly. At times it would feel like a scene just popped up part way done only to segue to a new scene that was just as ambivalent and arbitrary. It forced the viewer to think. And that's a good thing. I'd follow David Simon anywhere, as everything he has ever done has been top notch. HOMICIDE: Life on the Streets was astoundingly excellent. The Corner. The Wire. Treme. Show Me a Hero. I hear his cohort, Richard Price, is working on a project, the timing and subject still undivulged, but I look forward to anything these guys do.

Seeing the Road Show of Pippin tomorrow at Seattle's Paramount. Just got tickets to American Idiot in October at the tiny Arts West Theatre in West Seattle, but chickened out of the "Interactive" participation. How do you make a chicken sound with a keyboard.....anyway......cluck cluck cluck cluck, that would be me. Tickets to Come From Away at the Seattle Rep go on sale on September 1, and I can't wait to pick those up because I love Kendra Kassebaum. Oh, and Erik Ankrim, another Seattle local actor who was in ACT/5th Avenue's Jacques Brel this spring is directing American Idiot and will be in Come From Away. It will be a fun year of theatre in Seattle...got season tickets to both Seattle Theatre Group (Paramount) and The Fifth Avenue. Now if I could just find out what's doing in Paris in November when I'm there I'd be a totally happy cat.