shrewd.buddha

Wendy came off pretty harsh. Where is the evidence of Dr. Carr's extensive education in psychology? I understood that Wendy was very lonely - the phantom laundry room cat - but it seemed as if she jumped at the first lesbian she came across in VA. Dating a bartender never seemed like a realistic fit, just considering the hours, lifestyle, etc. Holden is oblivious to many things but he was correct about Bill not being of much help in Atlanta. Bill has a difficult situation but his part time appearances are not helping his wife or the FBI. Bill's blowup at Holden could have been avoided if Bill had given him the same trust he gave Wendy Carr. It was basically a jerk move to unload on Holden in an outburst. Holden shouldn't be expected to be a mind reader. The bureaucracy, politics and personal agendas in Atlanta are frustrating but interesting to watch. I would prefer the show lean more into those type of things instead of Bill and Wendy's manufactured personal dramas. I can understand that the showrunners want to give their main characters dramatic scenes but some of it feels forced.

I am sort of tolerating the storyline of Tench's son Brian being a potential serial killer. It feels a bit too melodramatic, bringing the very thing Tench is investigating into his own family life. What are the odds? It wouldn't seem so 'on the nose' if maybe it was a neighbor's son that Bill became involved with. As for Brian: it seems as if the key to helping him would be to get him to open up and explain himself. What exactly was he thinking/feeling when the child was killed? Why didn't he get help or tell his parents? Brian is clearly distraught and upset. But the showrunners appear to want go for the potential horror story angle with Brian being unnaturally quiet and creepy. As for bad parents creating bad adults: there are so many parents who have children they never planned to have ... and seem to think that parenting just happens by nature ... and appear to let public school, television and other children do most of their babysitting. It's a crap-shoot, but not everyone becomes a criminal. I tend to think that young children naively expect their parents to make them their highest priority. I think a child would feel abandoned to a certain degree by a divorced parent who chooses to live somewhere else or start another family which will take up the majority of their time. Basically, young children crave stability and security both physically and emotionally - and parents tend to screw that up a lot. (Even tho that's sort of how life goes..)

My impression of that scene was that the rest of the team members were surprised, and begrudgingly impressed, that Agent Smith had something relevant to add. Plus, he had some historical, psychological insights. I had thought they would try to dump him from the team after the tape incident.

Yes. It seems as if the new FBI director recognizes that Holden is reckless but has a talent that the team needs. Holden needs to be pointed in the right direction and monitored. My impression of Holden interviewing the Atlanta prisoners was that he was bored and not at all impressed with their pedestrian, haphazard killings. He seems to want to interview the serial killer superstars who are intellectual and use elaborate schemes ... and people like Manson.

I was disappointed as well - and dreading this development since season 1 with the focus on the son's adoption and social issues. For me, it teeters the show towards typical soap opera. On shows like 'Criminal Minds', at some point every main character has to have some personal drama connected to a serial killer - or it is revealed they had worked undercover as a spy, had been tortured, etc. Very over-the-top melodrama. I hope this show does not go that route. I did like how Dr Carr and Agent Smith got a reality check by getting out of the office and trying an interview for themselves. The idea of pulling out a questionnaire and getting the killers to get right to answering seems pretty naive. But it also seems as if the interviews are never quite the same in what type of information is being gathered ... which I believe is due to the showrunners not wanting to bore the audience. It seems as if it would be very useful to get the childhood history from every killer. It looks as if physical and emotional childhood abuse is a key factor in producing serial killers.

While Holden certainly has his own issues, I felt that Shepard tripped over his own feet: the mole he planted in the BSU (Smith?) was the cause of his downfall. Smith was the one who lied to the oversight committee (Holden never directly lied). Then Smith sent the tape to them without telling anyone. Smith felt he was being morally correct, but did not have the courage to admit sending the tape. Lying is a big no-no when it comes to the FBI (ask Martha Stewart). Shepard wanted to keep the FBI in the black-and-white era: changing all those dirty words in the reports. The world was changing and passing him by. I like the show a lot, but had not bothered with the first season because I had thought it was just another serial killer show, ala 'Criminal Minds'. (We have since binged season 1.) I like the more realistic, yet historical fiction, approach. Although it can become confusing with what the showrunners decide to change for their own purposes versus actual events.

I catch this show occasionally .. but, ugh .. what a load of tropes it is. This episode featured over-the-top reiterations of being a BFF, friends being there for one another, and friends needing to trust one another. I suppose at a certain age, the friendship thing becomes sort of an obsession (the CW target audience age?). I think a version of this scene was repeated about three times: Jax comforts Pillar in their room. Jax tells Pillar that she will 'figure this thing out, no matter what'. Then Jax leaves or falls asleep or something so Pillar can once again disappear. It's the future - yet people can't be located any better than in our current time? Pillar is supposedly the arrogant (confident?) type who doesn't understand that it is considered rude to talk about yourself as being beautiful and smarter than others. Yet we don't see much evidence of Pillar being very smart. (Probably because the show is obligated to have Jax save the day, every day.) Would not a truly smart person understand that creating more friends than enemies (intentionally or not) is the smart move? Nitpicking this show is so easy it seems unfair - - and Pandora is clearly not aimed for people like myself. Maybe eons ago I would have thought this was the best show, ever.

Just saw this and enjoyed it - for what it was - but it was difficult not to be distracted by the Dad's incompetence and the fact that he seemed to have just lived on, and exhausted, this own parents' estate. So, at some point the Dad was an aspiring artist (slacker?) and drew on the back of the very valuable stock certificate (he only had one?). Later, while actively looking for the stock certificate, the Dad throws the drawing into the trash .. but Mary Poppins orchestrates things so that the youngest son finds the drawing and keeps it ... then cuts it up(?) to patch the kite. Thus, Mary Poppins has known where the stock certificate has been the entire time, but chose to let things play out on their own, to the point of the family moving out of the house, with only minutes to the midnight deadline. Really, Mary?!? In the original movie, Mary had more conversations and confrontations with the original Dad. It was apparent that her mission was to help the Dad be a better parent - maybe more so than being a nanny to the children. In this movie, Mary just stands back and does not interact with the Dad and his sister very often. (And did they feel obligated to have the sister Jane, return - to the point of making Michael a widow?) It seemed like plotting and character development took a backseat to the huge musical productions and big name stars. There were not any really catchy tunes in the movie - and most of them, while clever, felt overdone. I was impressed with the cast's ability to deliver all the lyrics while dancing. Lots of rehearsing and retakes, I guess..

It is hard not to compare this to the first season - and not to be skeptical since the original showrunners are not involved. 'The Terror' had a lot going for it, being a historical mystery with actual people being represented by some very good actors. Knowing that everyone was doomed from the start and watching as the noose slowly tightened, while everyone ignored good advice from better captains and the local natives, was the reason for the fascination. The supernatural element was not that big a factor. While this first episode seemed well made, it did not feel as if it had any great hook to it. Instead of historical fiction, it is complete fiction within a time period. It seems as if the supernatural element of the vengeful spirit is the main element of the story - and we are not left with any doubt that things are happening because of the supernatural. The Perl Harbor attack and the Internment camps do create an oppressive atmosphere but at this point it is difficult to tell where any of it may be going. We will continue to watch .. and hope for the best ..

Has anyone discovered the reason the series is named 'Another Life'?

It occurred to me that this would have been a first for Earthlings: landing on a planet/moon with a hospitable environment. It was only six months ago when they had confirmation of intelligent life in the universe with the arrival of the Artifact. So why would they be so casual? They treated it like a Star Trek landing party - as if they had done this type of thing thousands of times before.

The Salvare crew went from making first contact with an alien intelligence to learning there are over 300 inhabitable planets. Too bad they cannot communicate any of this information back to Earth .. because they are so busy with the sex and the cleaning and the meal planning to fix the communications systems. Niko would have benefited from spending a lot more time with the multi-language "explaining" machine in the alien cave. The Achaia ships that showed up looked the same as the Artifact ship on Earth. Are they all ships and Artifacts? Do they use the Artifacts/ships to control planets by remote control? When Niko destroyed the Artifact, did that signal to the Achaias that the planet had the means to fight back and therefore needed to be destroyed? ... so many questions .. but I'm not sure I care if they get answered ..

I had not realized that "Another Life" had been reviewed by Rotten Tomatoes. .. Not good results - only 6% at this point. (Tho I think RT's thumb's up or thumb's down rating system average isn't the best.) From what I've seen online, it seems as if Netflix sort of dumped this out without a lot of fanfare or support. Guess they were not too thrilled with how the series turned out, either.

We finished over the weekend. It was not truly bad - but could have been a lot better. I expected a dangling ending, given that Netflix gives shows at least two seasons. But I doubt the Salvare will be allowed to make it back to Earth. How would they ever justify sending the same crew back out into space? Was this the episode where AI William did his magic on the alien brain spider? Isn't AI William non-corporeal? Why did they need to open the glass box? The idea that the Akarie (sp?) aliens just want destruction for the sake of destruction is weak. Almost any other angle would make more sense. Such as -- the aliens mine a planet's resources to the point of destruction. Why is it that every sci-fi show seems to think they need weapons capable of destroying a planet? Maybe the special effects needed to destroy a tiny ball from a distance is cheaper.

It seemed somewhat obvious that once they had Sasha subdued, they should keep him subdued. ..But instead, they run out of the room and leave him to make mischief .... so they could have more catastrophe to deal with. Good thinking, space cadets.

What kind of AI is 'William' supposed to be? From what I can tell, here are some of his distinctive traits: You have to yell 'William!!' a few times in order for him to appear. Is he an AI or a genie in a bottle? Can you imagine the reaction if people had to yell multiple times for Suri, Alexa, Cortana or Google in this day and age? He cannot be in two places at one time. (from the dance club scene: dancing with Niko, then talking with Sasha, leaving Niko dancing alone ). Sucks for anyone who needs him when he is babysitting Niko. He has strong, unfamiliar emotions like loneliness and love. So there is also probably depression and paranoia. Did no one see how that worked out with Hal in '2001: A Space Odyssey '? Is there some reason the other crew members do not have their own personal version of William?

I am not getting some of logic this show is trying to use for emotional drama. When Niko and Cas are being totally stoned and totally honest, Cas accuses Niko of abandoning her daughter and Niko agrees. Really? What happened to Niko's original reason for going?: to potentially save her daughter and everyone on Earth? I am actually very tired of Niko's constant obsession over her daughter, Jana. To a point, missing her daughter is understandable - but Niko has gone far beyond that. And mops and buckets of suds on a space ship? Where did that idea come from? No Roombas in this sci-fi future?

I was surprised they bumped off Michelle - probably because I had wanted her gone from the first episode. It would have helped to make her demise a bit more tragic if she had been a more like-able person. Either bad acting or bad directing made her character too over-the-top to be considered a candidate for a space program.

That took an odd turn. Why did notStarbuck space captain woman tell the crew that she killed 2nd-in-command douchebag as if it was not justified self-defense? I did not even hear her mention the knife he was holding. Do the writers think that the Salvare crew needs the additional drama of the captain being a premeditated murderer? The Earth-side stories are already wearing thin. The gossip blogger woman is a big turn-off, but I fear she is going to be prominent since the show's opening scene had her in it. And it looks as if Scientist Single Dad is going to be having the occasional eureka moment in between heartfelt moments with Cute Kid. Speaking of Cute Kid - I don't think I have ever noticed so much hair and makeup styling on a child character before. As with the Salvare crew - it stand out - and not in the good way.. It is probably not a good sign that no character's name has stuck with me as of yet. Okay, I do recall Niko..

We gave this a shot .. for lack of other options during the summer (but 'The Boys' was great). You could tell from the preview that it was not going to be great - sort of B-movie, CW network type show with an emphasis on pretty people with problems. The crew of the Salvare is especially off-putting. They may be the reason I ultimately bail. Everyone looks as if they just stepped out of the extreme makeover salon - how will they maintain their highlights and fresh cuts after months in space? (But they will, of course.) And they are all mostly jerks. At least they hinted that there are others to wake from sleep mode, so maybe some of the jerks won't stick around forever. They tried to talk around the absence of uniforms on the ship - but that still doesn't explain why they went for the lingerie look for most of the women. It is odd that the crew is gender and racially diverse - but they happen to be a bunch of ageists. The mutinous second-in-command was over the top. His actions in the last five minutes just felt forced and unnatural. Not a bad actor, tho. The bickering and backstabbing looks to be the type of drama we are in for.. The husband's situation on Earth isn't written any better. He has a jerk, naysayer boss and is apparently one of very few scientists studying the artifact. The unseen government officials who are picking these teams must be really incompetent.

It was a good episode, tho it did feel stretched out longer than it needed to be. This could have worked just as well in 30 minutes. What helped -slightly - was that the material used to stretch it out was well acted and directed: the kidnapping misadventures, the police bureaucracy, the tech company's bureaucracy, etc. But I feel the idea of addictive technology was undercut because the main character seemed to really be dealing with his own secret guilt of being responsible for his fiance's death. The only person he ever told the full story to was the tech company founder. It came off as him trying to shift some of his blame onto someone else. And where does the real blame belong?: The social media apps or the mobile phone industry? Would everyone be indoor media consuming zombies if mobile devices were not available? He could have blamed the sugar industry if he had been obese or the tobacco industry if he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. In the end, it seems as if all corporate industries, technology included, would like their consumers to be addicted to their products.

Yes, the concept of total physical sensation being transmitted thru a tiny dot placed on your temple was a huge sci-fi leap of logic. Did Karl and Danny have to 'clean up' afterwards? As others have pointed out: why would the game programmers create sexual options in the game? And once the sexual aspect became known, why not have a cyber sex hook-up alternative without the pretense of a game (that they did not bother to play any more)? The ending was somewhat happier than many of Black Mirror episodes ... but the option taken by the wife, Theo, seemed a bit sadder and not as hygienically safe, quick and convenient as the cyber option for Danny. I did take issue with Karl pushing Danny with the argument of "the best sex of your life." Yeah, so? Danny appeared to be experienced enough to know that intense sex is the icing on the cake of a relationship. You cannot make a meal of it. And sex between the same two people, or avatars, would not realistically continue to be new and mind-blowing forever. Karl and Danny were still in their honeymoon/infatuation stage. If their hookups were really just for sex, at some point one of them would eventually chase after bigger highs.

It wasn't exactly bad .. but it was't great, either. It was a bit too much of everything - like a literal assault on your senses. It was as if you said you liked ice cream and at first you get ice cream, then even more ice cream - and then they just start throwing ice cream at you like snowballs. Here are some takeaways: I'm tired of the trope of estranged family members who have to deal with their drama in the middle of a crisis. Constant bad weather (rain, snow, etc) ... maybe to make it easier to hide the CGI? Godzilla is dead? Oh, no!! Please come back, Godzilla! Does Godzilla take a 'death' time-out in every movie? Lots and lots (and lots) of people die during the massive destruction(s) ... supposedly. The filmmakers keep all the bodies and unpleasantness discretely under the rubble. This is another one of those movies that takes place during 'the longest day ever': the action starts after a seemingly normal breakfast scene - and after that, there is not a coffee break or bathroom break or change of clothes until the end. And during that time we, and Godzilla, go from China to Antarctica to undersea trenches and to Boston without stopping.

There is no way GrayWorm would have let Jon and Tyrion live long enough for a trial. (Even with the jet packs that Sansa and Bran seem to have used to get to King's Landing.) I was not particularly moved by Tryrion finding the bodies of Jamie and Cersei. And I was not moved by Brienne's attempt to rectcon Jamie's history in the big book of historical assholes. So, Bran bears no responsibility for setting the whole tragic chain of events in motion? And never sharing any of his omniscient information in an attempt to save innocent people? He served up Jon Snow as the fall guy - the supposed rightful heir - and Jon gets shipped off to the north to never marry or have children. Bran and Sam ended up doing pretty well for themselves after just a few weeks of getting the Rightful King rumor mill started. And lastly, Tyrion pushing Bran as leader because, instead of gold or weapons, stories and storytellers are the most reliable, enduring means of binding people together? ...what a BS way to try to suck your own dicks, D&D...

I also wondered why no one suggested checking to see that Coulson's presumably dead body was wherever May left it. The avoidance of mentioning what happened in the past few months feels forced and unnatural. I don't know ... I gave this episode a shot but I may not be on board for yet another season of "WtF is happening ?" - - and waiting for TPTB to piece things together over six or more episodes. Maybe I'm not one of those people who think not knowing what's happening is half the fun. While I do sympathize with AoS not getting to sit at the big kids table of the MCU, I still think there could be much better storytelling than this. Even if they cannot afford to have SkyeDaisy use her abilities, they could at least make some effort at some sci-fi tech-y gadgets for the SHIELD agents. ...And perhaps an occasional win instead of an entire season arc of losses and near-misses that culminates in a barely survived finale that requires a major sacrifice. Let AoS be the smart ones sometimes.