arc
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Posts posted by arc
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On 1/20/2024 at 7:37 PM, Kel Varnsen said:
And I was kind of annoyed that the whole use your powers and you switch places wasn't at all consistent and only happened (good or bad) when the plot required it.
It's not when their powers are used, but when they're used at the same time that a switch would occur.
(Which again, brings me back to the quibble I raised months ago in this thread: when people are light years apart, it's really hard to even say when two things occurring are "simultaneous".)
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With show forums like Community that got vaulted and converted into a single thread, could those vaulted forums please be un-vaulted and merged with the new forums for the show?
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6 hours ago, Raja said:
As I never saw Raid
The first is a classic. The second one is actually the story the filmmakers wanted to tell, but with budget constraints they decided to scale back and do the first Raid movie in a smaller setting. It's brutal but a martial arts masterpiece. The second one is still good but suffers a bit from losing a bit of focus.
6 hours ago, Raja said:I was left in wonder how Grace, and all the other Boxers was able to hold out as long as she did against June.
Well, this is a world where nearly everyone is a very skilled martial artist, besides Bruce and maybe Mama Sun. The Boxers overall have been some vicious killers, from the giant in ep 1 to the squad that attacked at Ka Spa. June is indeed apparently a major league assassin in her own right for someone who probably doesn't have expensive training -- given how poor she was growing up -- cause she murked that LA drug runner who was Sleepy Chan's LA guy. Maybe Grace made up for any combat deficiencies with sheer righteousness?
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On 6/19/2019 at 8:26 PM, paulvdb said:
‘Mixed-Ish’: Mark-Paul Gosselaar Joins ‘Black-Ish’ Spinoff On ABC In Recasting
He will play Bow's father
So catching up on this, just curious, given that Gosselaar is mixed, was Gosselaar's character white or mixed himself?
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17 hours ago, cdnalor said:
So was he the one behind the Boxers or were we never told who Grace was reporting to?
Yeah, it never made sense to me that Grace was head of the Boxers or even high enough to be able to promise not to hunt Charles or Eileen. But I never thought the Jade Dragons consigliere was behind them either, and we never even saw her reporting to anyone.
Who was the guy on screen left in the mid credits scene?
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On 1/4/2024 at 10:43 AM, aghst said:
The show runners are a couple so maybe they were able to do some work on scripts during the WGA strike.
My understanding was that the guild asked members not to write for struck productions during the strike, even if it wasn't going to be shared with the studios until after the strike resolved. Obviously this is next to impossible to police, but this mostly went on the honor system.
But in any case, if production had already started on s3 before the strikes, then writing would have been almost entirely done before filming began. (Yes, with network shows they'll start filming one episode while episodes due a few weeks later aren't even written yet, but for cable and streaming shows, esp with shorter orders, the tendency is for the entire season to have full teleplays written before filming begins.)
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4 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:
he is still way too much a moralistic coward for this kind of show.
That may stem from the producers wanting to keep things light. I've been reading a bunch of pieces since finishing the show, so I can't find it now, but I remember reading that they wanted some kind of balance leaning towards lightness*. So that may be why Bruce is conflicted about it all. Plus, this is a pretty short amount of time for a newbie to just dive in and fully commit to the gangster life.
(edit: found it:
QuoteThat emotional core and levity are what underscored the production, said co-creator Brad Falchuk. “We didn’t want any darkness in the show,” he said. “You’d watch this show and you’d feel good afterwards. You wouldn’t feel like you had been sort of beaten down in any way.”
)
But yeah, one thing they definitely could have done more with was earlier in the season when Charles said Bruce wasn't being a rebel, but just a coward because he was pursuing improv secretly, not in open defiance of his mom. That hit hard because it was valid.
Even so, he did change a little over the course of the season. He started off like a typical Asian American son, outwardly obedient but secretly slightly rebellious, but he ends up with no hesitation in aiming Xing at the Boxer who killed Blood Boots, he fully lies to the cops, and he doesn't oppose his mother when she firmly states her intention to take over the gang.
4 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:I was hoping Charles or mom would knock some sense or big truths into him but for some reason the show is making him out to be the moral center…..and it falls flat.
I love Charles and Eileen, but they're pretty bad people who are definitely not committing only victimless crimes. The Boxers may not have been good people themselves, but they had legitimate reasons to want to destroy the triads. I do agree that Bruce was too naive, even at the end, but I'm just not sure anyone had much of a moral high ground to talk to him about it.
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One last thing: I really liked how the Sun family showed off the skills they acquired in America. Bruce used his acting (improv) to get one over on Alexis, and his pre-med knowledge to shoot his dad to wound, not kill. Eileen used her nurse training, albeit to cause harm, in the end.
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The team on the show, esp the ending. Spoilers. https://www.salon.com/2024/01/15/brothers-sun-ending-season-2/
Quote"Damn, lady!": "Brothers Sun" team on that ending, Michelle Yeoh's "torture" input and what's next
[…]
While a mid-credits scene sets up a possible second season – […] – Wu hasn't solidified any plans yet.
"[Co-creator Brad Falchuk] and I have have talked about it and thought about it for a little bit," Wu said. "Knock on wood. Let's hope we can do it." -
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The Suns' lives and legacy hang in the balance as old wounds and hard truths come to light. Bruce makes a choice that could change the family forever.
Nah, Eileen is right. Bruce bringing the Boxers to the meeting was a colossal betrayal.
For a gangster action-comedy, I'm pleasantly surprised at the show making Boxers have very legitimate, justifiable grievances with the triads. (Rather than just triads vs triads or triads vs cops.) The Boxers' indiscriminate murder sprees did suggest an early corruption, though.
Haaaaaa, I knew it! I knew that assassination attempt on Big Sun seemed too neatly wrapped up by a fourteen year old Charles killing the assassin in single combat.
In that little outdoor breakdown Bruce had talking to Alexis, it struck me as just a hair too dramatic -- and then it was! Bruce was playing her! Nice. This is very nitpicky, but I've love to hear the thought process of the writers on when the family members say "Sun" like the English "sun" vs the Chinese, kinda more like "Suen". Certainly earlier in the series, even in English conversation, Charles would say "Suen".
If I was gonna kill my evil dad, maybe a waterlogged gun wouldn't be my first choice for a murder weapon.
It was probably for the framing of the shot that Big Sun sat facing away from the door, but come on, a career gang leader should know better than to sit with his back to a door.
Oh wow, I didn't think Bruce would shoot to wound. I thought 50% chance he takes Big Sun up on the offer to replace him and 30% chance he kills Big Sun like he said, and 20% chance he runs away or something. This was pretty diabolical, honestly.
... but not nearly as much as Eileen using her medical training to incapacitate Big Sun with insulin. Holy shit.
If there's a second season, I'd love to see Bruce continue being a fish out of water, by bringing him to Taiwan.
Aw snap, a mid-credits scene! And that Jade Dragons senior member who I thought was shady the whole season is shady! I really hope they do a second season.
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With the ghosts gathering in Los Angeles, the family regroups until an unexpected visitor disrupts their plans. A momentous occasion descends into chaos.
Ohhhhhhhh snap, it's Martial Club! They've worked on Paper Tigers, Shang Chi, Everything Everywhere All At Once -- just seeing them in any production tells me there's gonna be some good-ass martial arts scenes.
And then wow, Big Sun is up and walking! The mere fact that he kept up his fake coma while getting a needle stuck up his fingernail, much less that he's been faking his coma this whole time, suggests he actually was at least the co-brains of the Jade Dragons.
Big Sun: "You must always give good face. It shows the world that you are the best. Most powerful." -- so, whatever happened to that cloak of secrecy where no one knew who the triad bosses were? I really like this show, but the central conceit makes no sense.
Anyways, I like that Big Sun is a legitimate threat to Eileen. Positioning Charles as his choice for dragon head is a great way to undercut Eileen, way better than challenging his own wife head to head. It really looks like he's outfoxed her, though based on showbiz realities (Michelle Yeoh is an international megastar and Johnny Kou is ... not) I gotta assume Eileen will win out by the end. Still, I take back what I said last episode about the consigliere guy being the real evil. Big Sun is definitely rotten. I guess I should have known back when he told his 14 year old son to take out an assassin.
Did this interagency task force pin everything on Charles' phone? They're not staking out the hotel in person??? You have gotta be kidding me.
Oh come on, Bruce and Charles don't even take the same jacket size. But I gotta hand it to Bruce; most people would have stopped with a double cross, but he's done a triple cross, selling out the triads to the Boxers, and then selling out the Boxers to June and meanwhile the cops are also looking to bust everyone. Side note, did the cops ever realize they had a secret Boxer? Did they even know he blew himself up? Surely they must have pulled the security cam footage from Ka Spa.
OK, so Eileen did have some backup plans. Nice work maneuvering with Frank Ma. Actually, now I'm wondering where the Sun consigliere is. Did Big Sun leave him back in Taiwan?
This restaurant fight scene is nuts, but it does make me wonder about the triad opsec if the restaurant staff could be fully infiltrated by the Boxers on short notice. (I guess the alternative explanation is that the restaurant world is full of trafficking victims and so like-minded staffers at Golden Soup helped the Boxers.)
Ahahaha, after the gymkata pommel horse move, they transition straight to Charles doing a John Wick. And then Grace vs June is a Raid 2 reference? My god, this show has ambition.
TK saved the day! But come on, if cops are rolling up in force to a major gang meeting, they're not leaving any doors to be guarded by one single dude.
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Mama Sun travels to Taiwan and hears upsetting news. A celebrity's holiday home provides the perfect safe house for the brothers. Bruce bonds with Grace.
Eileen's taxi ride in Taiwan after ~17 years* of exile was really touching. Kudos to the show for having the confidence to let it play out without words.
* if Bruce left when he was five, and he's taking 300-level courses now, he's 21 and that means they've lived in the US for about 17 years.
The John Cho house is pretty good. Not hilarious, but some good chuckles. (I have a much lower bar for comedy if the show is a dramedy than if it's a legit comedy.)
Inviting Grace to the safe house is so dumb.
Aw, "have you eaten yet?" is a traditional Chinese greeting, roughly akin to American English's "how are you?" and I'm pleasantly surprised the subtitle team translated it more literally. (And of course in some contexts it's meant more literally too, and also can be more heartfelt or perfunctory too, depending.)
I was going to mention that the scene with Eileen and her mom is in Cantonese (interesting choice there), but then I was blown away by the photo album, because my family has spiral bound photo albums like that too. That may well be more a generational thing than an Asian thing. But either way, serious respect to the authenticity of every little bit of the show's set dressing and props.
This could probably go in a more general thread, but the very premise of the show -- that Triad leaders move in such anonymity that even rival heads don't know their identities -- makes no sense. But esp with the head of the Jade Dragons' nickname being "Big Sun", which is his real last name, it's not a great system of secrecy.
Wow, Charles' origin story. I figured it was a throwaway line to justify a nickname back in the first episode. And it's good this wasn't depicted as a triumphant moment but a traumatic one.
I stupidly spoiled things for myself earlier because I looked up some of the cast and it spoiled Grace's role as an eventual antagonist to Bruce, so I kept waiting for the shoe to drop and then it did.
Grace talks a good game about the triads turning corrupt, but the sheer murder frenzy of the Boxers suggest they're speed-running the same path. They couldn't possibly have ensured there'd be no innocent victims at the assault at the spa two episodes ago, but then in this episode they straight up murdered the two cops on stakeout.
The call from Charles to Alexis while she was sitting in on the electronic surveillance center was hilarious. Or rather, the call itself wasn't that funny, but the faces of everyone else in the room was top notch.
The driving range fight scene was phenomenal. Some of the most ambitious camera work I've ever seen in a fight scene. Not all of it worked, but I appreciate how hyper-mobile the camera was and they did some really innovative stuff.
Charles really needs a therapist.
I bet the consigliere guy prevented news of Eileen's sister from reaching Eileen. It coulda been Big Sun, but I just feel like that guy is super shady. But holy shit, I didn't expect that Big Sun wasn't actually in a coma. That's seriously impressive for him to not react to the needle, not even involuntary stuff like heart rate.
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Yeah, I figured Alexis was the one who picked Charles up at the end of last episode, but I'm a little surprised a deputy DA hasn't even moved in to her own place yet. Three years???
OK, so this is from last episode, but since she brought it up again, I'm still weirded out by her eating spicy Korean instant noodles dry, as a snack. Not that she does it, I can buy that as a snack. But first off, wouldn't that leave her fingers coated with super-hot spice dust? (Same problem as Flamin Hot Cheetos.) More importantly, I'm pretty sure that particular brand of spicy noodles she eats doesn't have a dry spice packet. It has a dry garnish packet of seaweed and sesame seeds, and a wet packet of very, very hot sauce. Maybe competitors have a dry spice packet. But of course, fighting off her attacker last episode would work better with spice powder.
I do drink Lipton tea sometimes, but I only use it to make HK milk tea, which blows away any nuance with milk and sugar and ice. Please don't judge me, Mama Sun.
... I didn't actually know those pineapple cakes could be made at home. I thought they were strictly something from factories.
I'll certainly buy that Alexis is way less rich than Charles, but a deputy DA in LA makes a floor of $97K, according to the most pessimistic of the first four results on Google right now. And she can afford an apartment in LA with in-unit laundry and no roommate.
Ah! "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice" was a diss in Shang-Chi as well. But the subtitles there translated it to "I've lived ten of your lifetimes", maybe because they expected an American audience to not generally eat a whole lot of rice.
Aw no, Blood Boots! I still don't quite get the motivation of the enemy. If they're not a rival gang looking to expand, then what is the motivation? Their slogan suggests a mission of vigilante violence and murders, I guess.
oh shit, Alexis was playing Charles!!
I understand the idea behind Eileen's information being a threat to every rival triad, but surely the value of it has degraded after fifteen years? Surely some of the triad leaders she knew back then have retired or died.
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Hah, CSUSG is (at least partly) LA City College, which I only recognize because Community also used LACC for exterior shots.
The color grading in these CSUSG shots is distractingly yellow. I guess it's refreshing for an American show to put the 'shithole country filter' on American territory instead of somewhere overseas.
I liked the pre-summit meeting in the Korean restaurant and the whole Chinese-Korean dynamic in there. Drowsy Chan was a terrific antagonist; shame he's gone after one episode.
Super petty acting quibble: when Grace handed Bruce a can (light beer?), he totally didn't sell that it wasn't empty. It's just about how he sort of looked at it and it tipped a little in his hand and it was obvious the can was empty in real life, even though it wasn't opened yet. I wish props would have cups and cans half-filled with sand to give them a little more weight.
Ka Spa is probably the fictionalized version of LA's Wi Spa, a mega-spa. The big box store of Korean spas.
Blood Boot's fighting was fantastic. And Xing's was really solid too, esp since I didn't think Jenny Yang had martial arts experience; I mostly know of her as a stand-up comic.
Holy shit, after a martial arts battle that killed about a dozen henchmen, followed up by a grenade that killed a dirty cop, this little anti-triad war might have also started a war between the triads and the Korean gangs of LA. Also, whether or not the two main triads of Taiwan had a secret common enemy or not, they'll almost certainly be at odds now with both Sleepy and Drowsy killed.
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The (unknown) enemy seems very cultish. It's one thing to have a catchphrase to say at assassinations, but painting it on the wall somehow seems worse.
Uhhhhhhh, if a rando walking to the restrooms could see the drug operations of the restaurant, maybe the drug ops room should keep the door closed.
The Jade Dragon's consigliere guy is super shady. I'd be surprised if he turns out to /not/ be evil.
I did like Alexis' explanation of how Chinese moms operate: "when our moms say they don't want you to do something, that means they do, they just want you to do it without them having to ask."
June (May's sister, oh, themed names for siblings) is as crazy as May. I didn't like the torture scene, esp for someone who becomes an ally to the Sun family like just a little later in the episode.
Oh hey, the scary guy from the start of the episode is a cop! A dirty cop! Wait, couldn't he have used his badge back at the giant's apartment? Him running away at the start of the ep made sense because it seemed like he was just a henchman. But now, I dunno.
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On 8/24/2023 at 7:14 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:
I'm really glad to hear about the re-ordering.
If memory serves, ABC did it because the show initially went too plotty -- trying to follow from the fallout of the wedding that blew up. ABC just jumped straight ahead into the more hangout sitcom episodes from later in the first season. But I think the show did do some light re-editing to accommodate the re-ordering, so I'm not sure there would have been a clean way to show them in the original order, unless Sony kept the original edits around.
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Charles introduces Bruce to his unique line of work while trying to get rid of a body. But he continues to be a moving target everywhere he goes.
The subtitle showing Bruce's shaky Chinese was so great. That is exactly how it feels to listen to a language one half-knows.
The title sequence is awfully short considering it's a streaming show with no particular need to hit a specific duration. But it was inspired to make it look like an LA/SGV (San Gabriel Valley) strip mall sign.
Call me naive, but I don't believe a dumbphone/flipphone has that kind of resolution, not even in 2024.
Oh wow, the authenticity is so high they had Chicanos in the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant! (If that sounds sarcastic, it's not. My understanding is LA is super Mexican and has Latine cooks in restaurants of every cuisine.)
The dinosaur fight was great, but between this and the masked assassins (and helmet wearing assassins) in ep 1, it's clear they have a relatively small number of fight/stunt performers and need to create the illusion of more by hiding faces. Huge kudos to the stunt team for fighting in those ridiculous costumes though; that must be so much harder than doing it with full vision.
Good move by Bruce to create a distraction. It's crazy Charles didn't think to take off his blood-soaked jacket.
A deputy DA is definitely a cop.
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A family emergency sends a ruthless killer from Taipei to LA. Cash-strapped Bruce takes a new gig. When a crisis erupts, estranged brothers reunite.
I'm amused by the idea that Bruce wants to do improv. Improv, esp the improv scene in LA, is dear to my heart. (but it's crazy to have spent $5K on improv in one semester! Upright Citizens Brigade classes cost like $500 for a class lasting eight weeks. Take two, that's a grand. Add another couple classes from other schools, plus admission to indie improv shows and coaching fees for an indie team, and that's still way, way below $5K.)
It's a bit dumb that the Sun triad, esp the father, is super paranoid but somehow didn't draw all the blinds or curtains before letting the big boss in the apartment.
It's really hard to believe Bruce basically forgot he had a brother. I'll guess this will be addressed a bit in future episodes? TBH it's also a little hard to believe Bruce was completely sheltered from the family business. And that Mama Sun just kept her gang life in the past while living in the US.
But I guess that helps explain why Charles had no local help in LA and had to go hire at a club instead of having a fixer arrange things: the Sun triad has no US presence at all, despite being renowned. Again, this is just hard to believe. Not that they wouldn't directly operate in the US, but that they wouldn't even have affiliates.
I did like the fight scenes, and the comedy was solid. TK was great.
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THR interviews Sam Song Li (Bruce) about this show as well has his first big break in TV (an episode of Better Call Saul).
QuoteOnce you read with Justin, was it obvious that the two of you were the right combo?
Yes, what immediately stood out to me was Justin’s ability to totally nail the humor in these tense, dramatic conversations. He had this playful undertone to his intensity that totally sucked me into the scene. Funnily enough — and apparently this was true for him as well — but the moment we both saw each other for the very first time in those chemistry tests, we both went, “Aww shit, we’re screwed.” We thought the other person was definitely going to get cast, and that we wouldn’t be a good match due to our height difference. I thought Justin was going to get cast and that I was too tall to play his younger brother, but he thought I was going to get cast and that he was too short to play my older brother. So it’s kinda funny how those thoughts went through our heads, simultaneously. (Laughs.)
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So here's AC Bradley on Strange Supreme: (I also posted this link in the Media thread)
Quote“When we were talking about bringing back Peggy, there was also about Strange Supreme and where would his story go?” Bradley details. “I was very adamant that we wouldn’t redeem him because he's made his choices. And he's a tragic character; the Shakespearean definition of tragedy is that they never learn to make a different choice. They repeat the same mistake over and over again, which is what I wanted for Strange Supreme.”
That stands in juxtaposition with Captain Carter, who will always make a choice that she thinks is for the greater good. “She'll always make the choice, even if it's at her own expense, which is why she's the hero,” Bradley says. “And why she is the one who had to go up against Strange Supreme.”
I kinda get what she's talking about, but Strange Supreme destroyed his entire universe and I think that's something that might shock even the most hardened tragic villain out of their loop.
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14 hours ago, tv echo said:
I was calling it ‘Children of Men with Spider Man.'”
Man, this really was the Sliders season of What If. Just stealth movie remakes all over.
Here's the whole IGN interview with AC Bradley that this bit was from.
QuoteSeason 2 was also fully the COVID season of the series, with all of the scripts being written between January 2020 and October 2020. They worked remotely for almost all of the script-writing, voice records, and animatic development, which inevitably impacted the tone of the second season.
“It felt like the world was already ending and we didn't need to add to it,” Bradley says. “And so it became kind of an escape and a fun release. However, I did write an episode, which is forever going in a drawer, that was very, very dark. I was calling it ‘Children of Men with Spider Man.’ “
QuoteBradley also praises actor Sam Rockwell for getting the homage immediately when he returned to voice villain Justin Hammer. “He was so great,” she says. “I wasn't at his voice-records, however, I was told that while he was doing the record, he had a moment where he went, ‘Wait a minute, am I Hans Gruber?’ There was a slight reluctance to tell him that this was a Die Hard homage but they said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘Perfect!’ “
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3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:
Ego just never knows when to shut up does he?
He has an ego the size of a planet!
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1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:
I wish we got some of the newer blood here like Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, Kamala, Kate Bishop, or Yelena.
Well, in the upcoming Marvel Zombies animated show that may be a spin-off of the What If s1 zombie episode (or may just be thematically related, not sharing alt universe canon)
Spoilerreports are Kamala Khan will be a main character there.
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Avengers, etc.
in Movies
These days, I like Avengers 1 except for all the distinctly Whedon-ish touches esp in the dialogue, and there's more than a few of those. But it's at least pretty good. I found Avengers 2 very disappointing. I get the sense most fans thought the Russo brothers did a better job overall with Civil War aka Avengers 2.5, then 3 (Infinity War) and 4 (Endgame) than Whedon's 1 & 2 taken together.