ribboninthesky1

This series started out not great for me, but it's growing on me. Unlike say, Reacher, which lost my interest during S1. There are some parallels - cringy dialogue, lead who is hot, but kind of miscast. I like Aldis Hodge, but I'm not entirely convinced he's the best fit to play Cross. He's better than Tyler Perry, but that's kind of a low bar. I will give Ryan Eggold credit - he's playing the hell out of the psychopath Ed Ramsey. I really feel for Shannon - she was trying to tap into Ed's psychosis to try and dissuade him from his "art." I'm hoping she comes out of this alive. Anyway, now that Cross is on to Ramsey, I'm interested in seeing where this goes.

I binged this over a few days, and it started out well enough. But I think it was too many characters and so I wasn't that invested in any of them. By the season finale, there were still names I couldn't remember. Best part for me was the 80s music, some of which I'd not heard in forever! And I know I'm supposed to care about the deep, pure, abiding love story of Taggie and Rupert. Alas, I didn't. I've not read the book, but I assumed Cameron Cook was NOT a black American woman in it. She was easily the worst written for me (nothing against Nafessa Williams, who was wasted, IMO).

Right? I hope we see him again. Gregory was UPSET about his pet rock. Poor thing. I was ambivalent about Janine/Gregory as a couple and I'm usually not a shipper, but I like the way they're handling it so far. Yeah, after all, only she got the fancy SFX software on her PC. Plus, it's not like she was the one who got the country club lawyer to donate the PCs, she just benefited from it. That was all Jacob, Melissa, and Barbara. Sweet Cheeks chilling in Melissa's hand as she was driving off was hilarious! She fell hard. The students always nail their scenes.

The terrible wig is putting me off from watching this. Probably not fair and I'm sure there is an in-show explanation, but it's distracting. Plus, it's been so long since I watched the first season (which wasn't great). I wonder how much of a money pit the overall series will turn out to be.

The phrase is ubiquitous now, but every time I hear or see it, I think of this song. Another notable quote from the note: "I'm not the 1 or the 2, so please send my child home at 3." 😄 I loved the group dance - Gregory and Tariq were smooth with the moves!

Yeah....I couldn't tell if the show was using CGI on his face to emphasize he was a figment of Jax's imagination, or if the actor has had some work done in real life that hasn't, um, settled. In any case, that scene fell flat for me. Another misfired scene was Jax's absence during the Naima and Lewis conversation. Not sure why Jax and Naima have barely interacted this season. I just knew that JT's mom was going to kidnap the girls in retaliation for Shanell's freedom, and that would be the legal drama for the next season. I did appreciate Shanell cursing her out, nonetheless. I'm not sure how Lucy going to the judge without her boss' knowledge is supposed to help her keep her job, but okay.

I suspected Sally, but Natasha makes sense. Jax getting the revelation while talking about Spencer points to that. We haven't seen much of the daughters, and I can't imagine that the girls never saw the abuse. It also makes sense that Shanell would take the blame to protect her. Naima is definitely feeling neglected, so agree something may happen with her. I can't see her being happy about another child entering the family dynamic.

Eh, I didn't feel that sorry for Lewis. Even the therapist seemed to be kind of over his whining. I wasn't particularly moved by his speech at the end, either. On one hand, I appreciate showing a long-time married couple working through their issues and fighting for the marriage. On the other hand, Jax and Lewis seem fundamentally incompatible, so I'm not invested in them. I know all of this was for maximum drama, but if Lewis could have just been straight up with Jax once he found out Toni was pregnant and they take it from there. Seemed to me that Jax was more upset by his deception and the way she found out than the affair itself.

Good points about binge watching, although I do think some shows are better for it. With more precedural, episodic TV, watching week to week makes for a better experience for me. For genre shows, where character arcs or world building is key (which often includes pacing issues), I prefer binging. Agree, it's much easier to notice it and it is annoying!

They were also in a movie with Sanaa Lathan from several years back - A Perfect Guy (2015). I just started watching season 2 and one change I appreciate is Emayatzy without a wig. The short pixie has always been a good look on her. Some of these natural hair wigs look as ridiculous as the straight hair ones.

I thought this was the finale, only to find out there are two more episodes? This was about 5 episodes in before I started watching, and I've caught up. I find the pacing to be glacial, so I may just wait until the last two episodes are available to watch and tune in. This episode was probably the best to date, especially since we got more of Claire than we've seen previously. That she was the one who noticed the white girlfriend's demeanor in the police interrogations was interesting. Doubly so that she pressed to go through with the murders. I rolled my eyes that Garland was so keen to cast suspicion on one of the young black men who were at the party. I guess Garland gave the Abby eulogy he was too bereft to give at the Trellis boy's funeral. Also, I like Forest Whitaker well enough, but he is a miscast here for me.

I've not read the book yet, so not sure how difficult this was to adapt to TV. But I feel like this would be been better as a movie or limited series with maybe 6 episodes? Feels like there is a lot of padding, and the annoying trope of nothing happening in the episodes until the last 5 minutes or so. Finally, things got interesting in this episode. That the judge went to the funerals of the two people he had murdered was cold-blooded.

I....was not prepared for the Fauci Bobblehead. Too cute! Maybe Jean is better written in the comics, but whether in live action or animation, I've always found her to be whiny. Even in the latest TV adaptation, I preferred Madeline Pryor. But then, I believe very few male writers know how to write women (in general), so there's that. Yeah, he's as annoying as Jean is for me.

Sad end to Harvey Dent, but going out saving Barbara's life was redemptive. I was a bit confused on his desire to become mayor and clean up the city when he ignored all kinds of corruption as DA. Guess that was a way to show his two-faced nature. I enjoyed the series and appreciated most of the character twists of known allies and villains. There were some I was unfamiliar with like Gentleman Ghost, Natalya, the assassin who wasn't Deadshot. I'm no expert on animation styles, but I much preferred what we got in this series compared to the latest DC animated features. I wasn't familiar with Hamish Linklater before this. I wasn't completely sold on his voice acting, as I think he tried to do a version of Kevin Conroy that didn't land. On the other hand, I prefer him to Jensen Ackles. The other voice actors were on point. I was pleased with no Joker, but I should have known better. UPO: Joker is the least interesting Batman villain for me. Still, I'd watch another season.

Right? I liked Raymond's wife. They certainly leaned into the "nagging wife" bit (though I almost always agreed with her POV). In truth, I was kind of rooting for her to leave Raymond as much as I wanted Barbara to leave Rusty. Let the man have his existential crisis alone and go enjoy your own life, Lorraine. For me, staying for the kids makes sense when they're younger. But teenagers? I oscillated between disgust and pity for Barbara, and ultimately landed at disgust. The series tried and failed to flesh her out, because I really didn't understand her at all. Especially knowing the damage that Rusty's affair and obsession had on the kids. Yeah the 180 on him trying to "protect" Barbara really fell flat when 90% of his scenes before the end showed him as a selfish asshole with anger management problems. I assumed it was the daughter a couple of episodes back because she was the only family member that wasn't shown as "suspicious." It still made no sense because the police only searched Rusty's vehicle? Why wouldn't they have searched both? Not to mention the fact the Rusty managed to tie up Carolyn's body without getting a spec of blood or fiber on him? And I was laughing at how Jaden conveniently knew where Tommy Molto lived to leave the poker? 🙄 This was a mess of a series.