[Wool vs Silo (Book vs Show)]

On 6/13/2023 at 5:53 PM, katysax said:

I don’t remember judicial in the books. If it was there it was not important. 

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.

[S01.E08: When We Are in Need]

On 3/6/2023 at 4:56 PM, izabella said:

Maybe I don't understand this world, but they were right there by a bunch of water.  Are there no fish for them to catch and eat?

And why aren't there thousands of animals roaming around?  I would have thought they'd take over after humans became nearly nonexistent.

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!

[S03.E07: A Mathematically Perfect Redemption]

On 10/7/2022 at 5:10 AM, QuantumMechanic said:

Mostly a waste of 12.5% of this season. Not a fan of this one.  If this were a 15 or 20 episode season it would have bothered me less.  But we get so little time with the real characters that sidelining them for an eighth of the season really grates.

You want to set up some "evil computers fight back" story?  Fine.  But how about doing it in a way that actually uses the cast.

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.

[S03.E10: Future Unknown]

12 hours ago, Zaffy said:

I hope for season 4, but please NO MORE Gordon singing mellow songs. He is not that talented, why on earth we have had him 3 or was it 4 times singing in this season? Is the actor going to release an album or something?  

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.

9 hours ago, blueray said:

First off what a weird episode. There wasn't a main story but a bunch of lose ends that were tied up but without any sort of reason. I guess the A story was Isaac and Claire getting married but it happened so quickly. Like you'd think that would be a few episodes as a B story. The random story at the be the Molcan mating ritual. Which I kept thinking okay something is going to happen but nope it went off without a problem. 

Then there was Lysella. Who I completely didn't know who she was for a few minutes then I remembered the episode but still not really her. I totally called she was steal a replicator, but I thought she would actually make it off the ship. I can see her joining the crew (next season) and it kind of like being a Jonas Quinn story where they are not able to go back to their planet because reasons but their planet is about to destroy each other. I'm assuming her planet got worse then when we last saw it. And meanwhile she is adapting to life on a union ship, maybe taking virtual classes, or working the ship cook or something.  Also it seemed weird that she was just signaling and the Orville happened to be there. What if it was another union ship?

Anyhow, clearly set up in case it is the series finale. I loved that we got to see Alara, even if it was just for the party. And I cheered when the egg salad sandwich appeared! And liked Gordon's speech. We never got the reason why Botus wanted to be best man, it came out of nowhere and the joke (no pun attended) got old really fast. 

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.

[S03.E09: Domino]

On 7/31/2022 at 2:20 PM, RedHawk said:

I liked your whole post but this summed up my feelings perfectly. I really miss the S1 and S2 versions of this show. S3 has been tedious, bludgeoning me with Messages, and although the look is impressive I’m personally not a fan of extended space battles. I always thought the look of the show was impressive, so not sure if spending further millions was necessary. I was pleasantly surprised and engaged in S1 when episodes would get dramatic and serious, and that is what hooked me. Now it’s all serious with tiny bits of comedy, and I struggle through most episodes. 

[snip]

And the overall editing/pacing this season has been bad. The episodes run longer so yay more story BUT then they drag. One example was a shot of boots walking through a corridor, the buildup to the reveal that Admiral Ted Danson was on the Krill ship, having brought the weapon. A shot of boots that went on many seconds too long. Seconds really do matter. It did not build tension, was just tedious. I’ve noticed several times over several episodes that shots took too long and told us nothing.

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. 🤞

[S03.E07: From Unknown Graves]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:37 AM, AnimeMania said:

When Isaac said his emotions disappeared, I thought maybe Timmis was lying about still having emotions and maybe killed Dr. Villka's father.

Too bad that when the Kaylons gained their sentience, they didn't realize that not all biological sentients were bad, even stupid Charly seemed to learn that lesson. The Kaylons killed a lot of people who couldn't afford to have robot servants and children.

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.

[S03.E04: Gently Falling Rain]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Charley's spatial genius could have been used interestingly in all of these episodes. It seems like the writers resent having to write for the actor.

Presumably in a post-MeToo world, an HR contract has been signed, so at least we can presume the tradeoffs are mutual, with, in the Charley actor's case: if she wants to stay on the show, she has to keep delivering crappy lines. 
Dear Seth and others: Next time you sign an HR contract with your paramour du jour, you really should get the writing team to sign on too, and by "get" them to sign on, I mean have a respectful conversation with them about it. 
Hrmmm. Maybe the Charley actor was thrown into the mix after the scripts were almost done???

It's been a long time since I've watched one of my scifi shows with one of my shapeshifter Jrs, but I imagine you replied: It is a fan film.

Same, and agree.

Wait. What? I missed (or already forgot, heh) any BrBa reference. Refresh my memory? 

• Quick BrBa side bar: Did you see in the news that the problem of creating fusion energy may be solved with f'in' magnets? LOL
   

Ooo, I wonder if they'll go for a French Revolutionary, Off-With-Her-Head! kind of plot where the next Krillian political circus barker goes after Teyela, and then Teyela shows up hailing the Orville with Gently Falling Rain and her nanny, seeking refuge from Ed, precisely at the moment that he and Kelly were about to propose to each other to get remarried and have a kid of their own.

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.

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I wonder if Ed made the quote because he watched the infamous Breaking Bad episode of the same.

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."

[S03.E04: Gently Falling Rain]

16 hours ago, chaifan said:

Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I really thought Charley was going to die in this episode.  It really seemed like it was telegraphing that, especially once she was invited to join the delegation.  Am I the only one who got that feeling?

I was a little bored, eye-rolling, with all the parallels to US politics.  A shoe-in moderate(ish) candidate bested by a populist blowhard; deep fakes in the media; religious zealots, xenophobia, politician hypocrisy...  I felt like I was getting hit over the head with a 2x4.  Subtlety isn't the writer room's strongpoint.

 All that said, I like the Krill as a counter to the Union.  

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.

[S03.E03: Mortality Paradox]

42 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Have you seen this episode 3.4 "Gently Falling Rain" yet? 
IMO it was much better and more like the earlier seasons.

Just watched it! Will discuss in the episode thread!

[S03.E03: Mortality Paradox]

On 6/16/2022 at 6:32 PM, shapeshifter said:

I love your post☝️, @marketdoctor (heh, the ❤️ icon actually does denote "love" now) except:

•  

Having "Fake" Charley not trusting "Fake" Isaac within the simulation made me think it was not a simulation, and I do think we were supposed to know it was, right? Or was it a triple fake-out? As in:

1. Fake out the characters
2. After the characters were already onto the simulations
3. And, fake out the audience

In other words, it seemed to me that the writers were too clever by half.
I can imagine the writers sitting around a table or on a Zoom enjoying the idea of having a fake-out within a fake-out. But then somebody should have put the kibosh on it because it's just confusing.

IDK.

Maybe it's just grumpy old shapeshifter who's confused and annoyed by it.
Everyone else here seemed to like it.
But, then again, there aren't very many here.👀

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.

[S11.E10: The Final]

8 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

Also frustrating? Prue allegedly not knowing it was going to be hot when she chose chocolate.

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 (

Spoiler

Rahul, 2019 David,

Peter) and who actually wins - this thing, my favourite in a competition winning, that usually never happens to me!

[S11.E10: The Final]

1 hour ago, cynicat said:

I'm on the same page that it was very close between David and Peter.  Their signatures were both excellent, the technicals were very close (but they never seem to count it anyway) so it came down to stodgy cookies vs. flat/under-baked cream puffs and over-baked babka.

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.

 

[The War of the Worlds - General Discussion]

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:

Spoiler

This is a doubled narrative, with the intro and attack timeline presented side by side with a timeline about 8 years later, judging by the age of a character who's a spoiler. And that puts me off even bothering with the second episode. Crap.

I'm going to try the other War of the Worlds, now.

[S06.E15: Return of the King]

On 4/26/2019 at 4:40 AM, saoirse said:

When Gina returns to the Nine-Nine,

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.

[S08.E02: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms]

3 hours ago, Affogato said:

Which means that while he is attacking  Winterfell another army could be marching to KL.  

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:
 

Spoiler

Jon: The Night King is coming.

Dany: The dead are already here!

Maybe Jon is waiting for His Icy Majesty to do the whole dragon thing, and Dany is like, dude. We are gonna get our asses kicked!

[S08.E02: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms]

16 hours ago, Andromeda said:

Oh wait! Is it the lake shown below King's Landing? The proportions are off because the city animations are so big on this map.

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.

[S08.E02: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms]

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

- Dany's boys killed plenty of Wights and I guess also some White Walkers.

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.”

[S08.E02: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms]

18 hours ago, DrSpaceman said:

Has everyone at Winterfell forgotten the enemy has a dragon now?   I didn't hear a word about strategy to defend Winterfell from the ice dragon -- or for that matter how to prevent the other two dragons from suffering the same fate as their fallen sibling.  Jon's big lecture -- they don't tire, they don't die, etc. -- made no mention that a dragon was even part of the equation. 

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? 

[S02.E03: Trouble the Water]

On 1/21/2019 at 4:02 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

That episode was really fun, especially when Frank made it outside it was ao satisfying. It had th right amount of tension and thankfully didn't interrupt it with too many Billy scenes.

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.

[S02.E10: The Passenger]

28 minutes ago, mac123x said:

Charlotte knew that it would flood the area, so why back in Episode 1 were all the Delos people surprised to find a new sea there?

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.

[S02.E10: The Passenger]

34 minutes ago, magdalene said:

Unfortunately for me they sent everybody to robot heaven like Ake, Teddy, I had an emotional connection with.  And going by what Nolan and Joy say those actors and characters are finished and gone. 

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.

 

[Spoiler Discussion Thread]

On 5/20/2018 at 5:31 PM, Chaser said:

Confirmed. Felicity shaves it off in the premiere. 

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.

[S06.E23: Life Sentence]

12 hours ago, tv echo said:

Spreading the blame credit ...

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.

 

12 hours ago, doesntworkonwood said:

Speaking of the directing, one of the reasons why the last Olicity scene annoyed me (besides Oliver being dumb) is that they were standing pretty far apart and that makes no sense to me. This is the last time they're going to see each other before Oliver gets put in Supermax, they're one of the most touchy feely couples on TV and I'm supposed to believe that they're okay holding hands across a table like she's visiting him in prison? That makes no sense! I doubt it's an acting issue, or else it would have come up before (plus the acting in the scene was great), so why would a director stage them like that? It doesn't fit the moment and it doesn't fit the characters either. 

 

11 hours ago, tv echo said:

Bamford probably wanted the minutes for his long, unnecessarily drawn-out rooftop fight in the dark between Oliver & Diaz.  

Btw, one reviewer said that, if Oliver didn't want to kill Diaz, he should've used his boxing glove arrow to knock Diaz out. Boom, and done.

 

 

9 hours ago, Angel12d said:

So there were some cuts made in the episode:

Imagine needing to cut 7 minutes and you decide to cut into the major emotional scene between the leads. If anything, that should've been the most important scene/moment. I mean, did we need to see that FBI lady freak out that she was gonna die? There was easily other things that could've been cut.

 

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. 

 

3 hours ago, bijoux said:

Plus, it failed. At least in my eyes. Because after the call my reaction was, cool, so now he can 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. 

[S06.E23: Life Sentence]

11 hours ago, KenyaJ said:

After the steaming pile of shit MG left her and his post-finale interviews, which add insult to injury, I will love Beth Schwartz forever if S7 begins with Felicity waking up and telling Oliver about the ridiculous dream she had.

 

9 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

I really wish we had a Quentin deathbed scene where he could say "It's okay, I'm going to go be with my daughter". That way I would know he at least remembered his Laurel. I also don't know why the bothered to bring Sara in if she wasn't going to get to say goodbye to her father. If he was going to die off-screen she could've found that over the off season break. Was it really to meet NotYanny? That didn't do much for me. She should've spent time with her real family. The only thing I liked was Sara hugging Felicity instead of her not sister. I was worried that's who they would have comfort her. 

I also don't understand how capturing Oliver was more important than capturing a crazed criminal that was currently murdering people. The Star City FBI has some messed up priorities. 

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.

[S06.E22: The Ties That Bind]

7 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

So people liked this, huh? It annoyed me for all the same reasons this show has annoyed me all season except now Oliver and Felicity are fighting for stupid, sexist reasons that are stupid and sexist. Felicity shouldn't go into the field because she's a parent now? Is he f*ing kidding me? He's the parent and he even swore to give up Arrow completely but he's still in the field!  This season has been all about creating conflict over nothing  and now it's even extended to their marriage.

 

6 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

You're right, I just felt the conflict itself was contrived. I also felt it in the way in which SA and EBR approached those scenes. These two know their characters so well, even better than the showrunners sometimes. It's as though even they didn't know why their characters were behaving that way and it showed in their performance. 

Also, now the newbies are back and they suck. 

 

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!