arjumand

Yeah, I've read all three books, and I was pretty surprised by the way the show made Judicial into the main antagonist - now I think I know why, because of what happens at the end of episode 6. Judicial was a red herring so that non-book readers aren't spoilt for the real villain before the show reveals them.

This, so much. I just watched this last night and then I was annoyed at myself because I couldn't sleep thinking of all the ways they could have avoided cannibalism. And to be honest, the writing is starting to show cracks here - it's the usual dichotomy between the need for a 20 year time jump and what is portrayed onscreen not showing that. I mean, evil preacher guy was saying they were surprised by the harsh winter? WHAT. Like it was their first year there or something? I know the story was that they weren't there for the full two decades, but still. Come on. People have survived in harsh climates for millennia. "Nothing grows here . . ." Except the wholeass forest in which Ellie bagged a deer on her first try? And why were there only a few guys with guns - why not the entire population with slings and rocks and bats, actually hunting, rather than going for a stroll with guns? The reason why people in the past lived through harsh winters was that they spent spring summer and autumn working their asses off and building up stores, not sitting around waiting for the Lord to provide. Also, while I was sad about the horse dying, I kinda felt his days were numbered, because Ellie was feeding him snow? Besides that, I wasn't disturbed that they were going to eat the horse, I was more disturbed that they just dragged it in and left it, clearly preferring the hanging corpses they had there. So, they'll just let the meat rot. Ok. The final scene, with the preacher not caring that he's in a burning building, doing the usual stereotypical cartoony serial killer schtick - well. That was pointless. It would have been more poetic if he really turned after she bit him, like the cordyceps is dormant in her but strong enough to infect others. It would have been a great "where is your cordyceps god now?" moment, but no, we had to have another cliche. To date, I haven't seen a moment as great as the opening scenes to episodes 1 and 2, and I doubt that I'm going to anymore. Now I'm off to research if they could have grown potatoes - hey, my man Matt Damon grew potatoes on Mars!

Am with you. I mean, of all the one episode characters we met, we're going with Peanut Hamper's journey? Seriously. I'm starting to think the introduction of the 'emotional' Vulcan Lower Decks character was just a red herring. I just watched it an hour ago and I'm still shaking my head. Peanut Hamper, like come on.

OMG YES. NO MORE PLEASE. I will power through any number of Bortus doing terrible Elvis covers - at least that was funny, and bonus of Klyden looking misty-eyed while everyone else is bored. Thanks for pinning down what I felt about it: from the very beginning, I felt this episode was awkwardly placed. Look, the last episode ended with a funeral, of an apparently beloved character (yes, I hated her. I hated her SO MUCH. But the crew of the Orville didn't), and then in this episode, the theme seems to be "not a fuck was given that day, and all the days to come". That opening, with Henry Mancini in the background - was that actually in Isaac's head? That was bizarre. And it went on for. So. Long. It went past charming and straight into uncomfortable. But back to Charley - not even mentioned? It was one episode after she died - I thought it was going to be an escalation of the war thing, but no: wedding hijinks ahoy. Not that I didn't enjoy the wedding hijinks - that was the best part of the episode, to me. My favourite was Isaac inviting the entire Kaylon fleet to his wedding, and Claire's main complaint was that they wouldn't fit in the holodeck umm simulation room. And I'm always there for a good wedding dress tryout. Would have liked a longer montage, with correspondingly less of Lysella. See, I'd never seen the previous episode so all I saw was another Charley lookalike, and I was bored by the whole yesno thing. And then I watched the episode and really? She wanted to go back there? Whatever. I would have found it more convincing if when she kept repeating that they lived in a utopia, Kelly had mentioned the - you know- INTERSTELLAR WAR that was happening. And how one of their crew, who was Lysella's age, died just the other day, sacrificing herself to save her friends. It was tonally bizarre, compared to previous episodes. I could have thought that it had been broadcast out of order, except there was no Charley and there was a treaty with the Kaylons in effect.

YES TO EVERYTHING! Unpopular opinion - no more space battles! Especially the long and tedious ones where I just have sudden flashes of people sitting in front of green screens - the longer the battle, the more I try to see the joins, so to speak. And YES to complaints of about the pacing. So much YES. I thought Toupa's episode was the worst it's ever going to be, with the endless obstacle course and walk to rescue her - it just never ended! I was torn between MSTing it ("Nobody will be admitted during the breath-taking walking sequence!") and grousing aloud that she'll be long dead by the time they get there. And then this one came along. Not just the walking scenes, which managed to be exceptionally slow-moving: first we had all the little Orvilles getting into formation, and then boom! Then we had the let's convince the Kaylons space battle. Then we had the distract the Krill space battle. Then we had the bringing down the Death Star I mean, get to the weapon space battle. Then a fistfight, then a stand off, then the Starkiller base thing. I mean, I wasn't expecting it to go there - we just got the weapon! Now we don't have the weapon! - and I certainly wasn't expecting Charly to go boom. The problem here was that the weapon was just a mcguffin, it became moot instantly, because Charly and Isaac are the only engineer scientists who don't keep backups? I dunno. It just seems like we needed to be all ironic, and reverse last year's rapprochement, as has been said upthread - now we're allying with the Kaylon against the Krill. Unpopular opinion - I wouldn't have minded if the Orville had failed, and the weapon would have gone off. It would have been a more interesting result for Isaac, who seemed to be perfectly ok with wiping out his entire species. How might he have reacted if it really happened? But still with Charly dead of course - and I'm hedging my bets here. It seemed pretty final. 🤞

That bit with the kids was really overdone and hammering the point home - you're telling me these kids went from "I want to take K1 to school" directly to "Let's torture K1 for fun!" ? And yes, literally everyone had a robot servant? Everyone. What about babies, did they torture the Kaylons for fun, too? I felt like this episode's message was "Genocide is ok because they were asking for it, even the kids!" But it's wrong to kill all humans, because they weren't the ones who tortured them. And I still hate Charley. So much. Even though I kind of agree with her this episode (DAMMIT) - because no amount of sad robot collapses are going to convince me that genocide is ok.

Ozymandias, poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley : I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Also, Ozymandias, episode of Breaking Bad I never actually watched Breaking Bad (sorry! but I loved Bryan Cranston's reading of the poem for the trailer, and online someone set it to an animation of the poem, very useful to me once I get to that part of my teaching syllabus), but I understand the theme of the episode is a reflection of the poem: Time passes, everyone dies, even the most powerful. Oh, and all those things you built? Yeah, Time destroys them too. Yes, this answers a puzzled query I had, because Ozymandias is not the poem I'd choose to get a tyrant to reconsider their ways. Entropy is not the issue with the Krill, in my opinion- it's more about unchecked religious fundamentalism and insularity. Also, what's starting to annoy me is the casual way they just walk into these situations, without seemingly doing a teensy bit of research or a contingency plan - like, their amazing, never seen before, earthshattering treaty depended on an ELECTION?? What? The President of the Union and co. couldn't wait like half an hour for the results to come in? Ugh. Re. Charley, the idea that the writers resent having to give her dialogue is an interesting one: would certainly explain why she comes across as so annoying all the time. Still, where is the network? Or isn't Hulu really a network in that sense (not USian here)? Because I'd expect the network to come back with so many notes, all starting with "this character is unrelatable and annoying."

It was definitely wishful thinking, because I was wishing it too. I've reached bitch eating crackers stage with Charley, because every time she opens her mouth and something stupid comes out, I just yell at my screen, variations of STFU. I too found the episode heavy handed, though better than the previous ones this season. It's just that the attempts to shoehorn Charley in everywhere is ruining this season. In this episode alone, we had her piloting the shuttle not knowing who the all-important supreme deity of the warmongery planet you're going to is, because she's cool and breezy that way also it sets up an unfunny quip then she solves the entire Krill issue while sitting in jail: "but don't they KNOW that they're being stupid!" Just, enough. ENOUGH. SHUT UP, CHARLEY.

Just watched it! Will discuss in the episode thread!

Can't say I'm a fan either. Also, during that bit when we started to realise that they never got off the planet, and Fake Charley being as obnoxious as real Charley, I had a sudden inspiration: what if Charley was always fake? What if she was always a simulation planted by the Kaylons, and the anti-Kaylon sentiment was just a red herring? I was deeply wishing for this, only to be disappointed. I'm not feeling Season 3, at all.

Oh, this made my blood boil! Hey Prue, remember 2018, when, during the final, one of the bakers' storage jars SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODED because of the heat? Remember that? Let's see, what was Prue's bon mot at the time: "[Baker whose storage jar EXPLODED] seems to have got himself in a tizzy!" Got himself? gOt HiMSeLf? That year, they (baker and GBBO) were incredibly lucky he didn't get seriously hurt - there was glass everywhere. And last year's final week was also incredibly hot - so, again, what's with the bullshit? I mean, I've never joined in the GBBO is now canceled brigade, but seriously, Prue is getting on my last nerve. The only thing that's keeping me is that every year there's an amateur baker I would die for ( Peter) and who actually wins - this thing, my favourite in a competition winning, that usually never happens to me!

The thing is, I've stopped believing them when they talk about stodgy biscuits and whatnot, and I especially don't believe that it was at all close between David and Peter, because of the strategic way Hermine was sent home last episode, which mirrors what happened in last year's final. See, just like last year's final, you had two relatively calm bakers and one who was melt-down city, every time, and that's not a coincidence. Ever since the show came off the BBC, it's been increasing in the whole reality-tv factor and decreasing the competitive baking aspect. If Hermine had come through and Laura had been sent home, we would have had three bakers just doing their best, a bit of a flurry, but no major melt-downs. That clearly wasn't enough for the show production, who wanted DRAMA! and PEP TALKS! Hermine wouldn't have stuck her head in the freezer because her custard wouldn't set - she would have just got on with it. And Peter would have had some competition - I still wanted him to win, though: he was my favourite from episode 1. But don't nitpick some crap about 'stodgy' this or that, to make it seem like it was close. It wasn't close. David chose to redo all the bakes he'd failed in before - very commendable, but it set him up for failure in at least one. I've been rewatching the finale to Season 8 recently - even though it was already the new format, I feel it was the last one with a real, honest finale, containing my favourite Bake Off Winner, and the two other bakers who gave him real competition without the manufactured drama. Also, it has Sandi Toksvig, who blew Sue and Mel out of the water and was a much better foil to Noel than Matt. The only time I liked Matt this season was when he was either piling on the Scouse to imitate Paul or faking a Scottish accent to read the instructions to Peter, to his obvious delight (I love Peter so much!). The rest of the time his shtick was unfunny or even actively annoying - I know if I'd been trying to bake during the heat death of the universe (seriously, GBBO, stop baking in August and expecting it to be cool) and had been faced with this unfunny asshole I might have hit him over the head with a mixing bowl.

Anyone watched this? Hello? I was really enjoying the first episode - it's set in Edwardian England, and though there are a couple of slip-ups, it's mostly accurate - until I realised the following, which I'm putting in spoiler space: I'm going to try the other War of the Worlds, now.

Noooooooooooo. Come on. Also, seriously, show? You're gonna equate Gina Linetti with Aragorn, son of Arathorn, descendant of Isildur (you owe him your allegiance)? Miss me with that shit.

It's what I've been saying all along, reason being the Night King has a dragon now, and he can fight a war on two fronts. The two biggest armies (Unsullied and Dothraki) have conveniently marched to Winterfell so that he can throw all his White Walkers and Wights at them. The Night King can raise Wights whenever he wants, and we were told that a million people live in King's Landing. Also, I just remembered Dany's vision of the throne room and the iron throne: That whole scene shows the throne room broken open and snowdrifts everywhere. I would find it very weird if the whole NK thing would be done in episode 3, and now let's deal with all the politicking. Also, if the NK wanted to use Viserion on Winterfell, he could have done that already, no problem. And another thing (I'm feeling very Jake Peralta today!), in the Last Hearth (where the Umbers were) there were no signs of any dragon related damage. Everything was intact, and in the Hall, where young Umber was, there were still cups and plates on the table. They were overrun because they didn't listen when they were told to burn their dead, and brought someone in, not because a dragon blasted down their walls. The NK is somewhere else. And another thing! I think that might be the whole reason for this bit of dialogue in the promo:

Yes, that's the one. At least, that's what the people who analyse this stuff on youtube are telling me! Also, I just looked at a map of Westeros online, and the lake is supposed to be above KL, but I agree on the credits it looks like it's below (also, they move really fast). Anyway, if it's really the God's Eye, that sort of island in it is the Isle of Faces, where the Children of the Forest made the pact with the First Men (to stop wiping each other out). Ever since the Night King started making spiral designs with body parts (human or animal), and we saw that overhead shot of the spiral when the Night King was made, people have been theorizing that what the NK really wants is to kill his creators - and everyone else, of course. But he really hates those little buggers.

No, they didn’t kill any White Walkers. the only white Walker killed was the one in charge of the group of wights, either with dragon glass or Valyrian steel, before any dragons arrived. Once dragons came into play, it was only wights killed by dragonfire, and I’m pretty sure I saw either NK or WW walking through dragonfire. Like I said, I don’t know if that was a mistake, special effects dragonfire wasn’t supposed to be so close to WW/NK, a retcon, or Bran is like :”Well, I didn’t see it, so it didn’t happen.”

Yes, I was side-eyeing that whole war council scene, especially Bran’s “Oh, he wants me. He wants me bad.” And sam’s random “death is bad, y’all” was even worse. Basically, my theory is that Bran is either lying or just mistaken. Like Drspaceman said (and others) the Night King has a dragon now. The intelligent thing, when you have aerial support, is to cut off their retreat (go south, destroy that) not just strafe them. Those White Walkers and wights we saw in the last shot were quite enough to deal with Winterfell (or to keep Dany and the dragons busy while the NK dealt with his real objective). Also, in the previous episode, he sent a message (TM Beric): the statement Wall with spiral and impaled kid centrepiece. If he was really after Bran, that could have been made up of ravens. Instead, we have the spiral, and a child in the middle. That’s a message alright, and it’s saying: “I’m gonna get ya, you little shits.” Why else would we be seeing The Isle of Faces (island in the middle of a lake called the God’s Eye) in the new intro, when we’ve never focused on it before? That’s where the Children of the Forest are supposed to be, if there’s any left. That’s where NK is headed. It also links, in my opinion, with that vision of his, which hasn’t come true yet, the dragon over King’s Landing. Another thing re. Bran either lying or ignorant- the bit about the dragonfire and whether it affects WW or NK, and Bran saying that no one’s ever tried. But we do know because it has been tried, last season, when Dany rescued them: there wasn’t a direct hit as such, but I definitely saw one or both just walk through the fire set by the dragons like ‘ain’t no thang’. So are we retconning that now?

That was AWESOME! I loved watching Frank taking down those arrogant assholes. Personally, I'm over Russo and Madani. I was over them in season 1. So now I think I'll be skipping those scenes, hope I don't get too lost.

I wondered about this too, until it hit me: the Charlotte we see in Episode 1 is already Dolores in disguise, and she's just pretending to be surprised, because all the other Delos people were acting surprised. I think.

Dammit, really? Fuck it. I try to avoid watching BTS things cos I find they ruin the illusion for me, except tellingly enough, the Ghost Nation one, which was as awesome as the episode itself. This is shit. I loved Akecheta, and the whole of the Ghost Nation, especially the guy who I've been calling my tv boyfriend, Wanahton (see below). He's played by the super hot Martin Sensmeier, who was also in the remake of the Magnificent Seven. I loved that he got what he wanted, along with Akecheta (look, Ake was the bomb, ok? But he was too tragic and magnificent to be lusted over, at least for me), but dammit, my man! You essentially entered the Matrix, and I'm not even sure if Dolores deleted it or not. And now I learn that deleted or not, all those characters are done, and we're left with Annoying Murderous Barbie, Annoying Corporate lady, and Cut-rate Hemsworth? Ok, fine, Bernard is still there, but I can't go through another season of "Is this now?", combined with, I guess, 5 timelines this time. I was on the point of giving up the show when "Kiksuya" pulled me back in, and I enjoyed the season finale (in between bouts of I'M SO CONFUSED! WHAT IS HAPPENING?), but they're not giving me much incentive to come back for season three.

Oh, she'd better. Because I just read about this shit, and if it lasts longer than an episode, I'm done. I'm out. The goatee looked ridiculous in that future episode (I don't know what looked dumber, the old man makeup or the goatee), and it'll look even more ridiculous on present day Oliver. Fuck that shit. I don't know why this is making me so angry, but it really is. Hey, can the crossover be with the Brooklyn Nine Nine guys, and they can do the ceremonial shaving? Because that would be awesome.

Has anyone answered Jessie Murray with "Oh thank god! I mean . . . you go, girl!" Though I doubt that she wasn't just obeying the dictates of whoever failed to direct this episode. All of this. All of it. We've seen that ending fight at least twice, if not three times. "Oh, but this time it was totally different! It was raining, you guys!" James Bamford, village idiot. See, at some point someone (either MG or Bamford himself) watched John Wick and said "If Chad Stahelski (and David Leitch) can do it, so can Bamford!" How about no, asshole. How about the fact that these guys have thirty years of experience being in movies, and did some second unit directing etc before Arrow was even a twinkle in MG's eye. How about the fact that in the first John Wick, at least, we managed to experience actual emotions which are so heart-rending, there are scenes I still can't rewatch, and I've seen the movie 5 times (not counting the number of times I've watched the nightclub scene on youtube). So they cut 7 minutes of actual emotion between people who we care about, and then they give us Glorified Extra whining about the fact that she "doesn't wanna die, waahh!" I thought she was going to lose it, run for it and kill them all - because otherwise her interjection was POINTLESS. What the actual fuck. Oh wait, the reason was to give Annoying Puppy a reason to call his daughter. And then I really thought he was going to die. Exactly. It made so much sense, and mirrored the ENDLESS HANDSHAKES OF GOODBYE Oliver was giving. WE GET IT, WRITERS. WE GET IT. There wasn't much to get, but we got it. It got so bad that at some point, when Oliver was talking to Felicity, I wondered if he was going to shake her hand too. And then I had to hold back a laugh.

When Sara came walking down that corridor, all I could think of was: HEY GUYS, SHE'S A TIME TRAVELLER, RIGHT? I mean, you have a time traveller on the table in the third act, so you use the time traveller in the . . . . oh, what am I saying. These people care about narrative structure as much as they care about the law - whether it's criminal law or the laws of physics. I mean, when one of the noobs said "You can't arrest him, he was exonerated", and FBI lady said "It's federal", I actually burst out laughing. I mean, sure, ok. Just make up the laws as you go along, lady. And whenever someone calls you on it, just say "It's federal." I have nothing else to say about this episode. Except that this was bullshit.

Yeah, I don't know about this episode. I really had nothing to say, maybe because (at least the one I watched) they forgot to pay the sound guy again, and so I have to rewatch with headphones. I don't care about the newbies at all, and they were all over this episode. And not only was the conflict between Oliver and Felicity contrived, but also the temporary solution to their problem - Curtis rigged the place to blow? Suuuuuuure he did. And how did Oliver know that one of the explosions was so perfectly placed as to send Diaz flying but not injure them? Whatever. Having said that, that final scene, when Felicity gave him the detonator, was the only bit I really liked, and that's because it reminded me of an iconic scene in one of my favourite movies of all time: And then we had to see Oliver grovel at the feet of the smuggest tv FBI agent of all time. Having just rewatched some episodes of Brooklyn Nine Nine (which contains, IMO, the best romantic relationship on tv right now), I kept expecting her to say, "2000 push-ups!" I just feel tired - this season has tired me out. I can't even enjoy loving Olicity goodness, because I'm always waiting for the cockbIocking which MG seems to believe is essential for every tv relationship. I can't believe I used to complain about Prometheus and his whole schtick of "my meta power is that I can mine an entire island in an hour!" I'm sorry, Prometheus! Come baaaack!