Ottis

This was … boring. At this pace the season will end after they walk 100 yards out of the castle. We probably should have seen one of the adult Witchers successfully complete the obstacle course. Doing it 30 years ago doesn’t count. Also, a little surprised at some of the low budget stuff, like the paltry flame pots on stands outside the big gathering, and the shots of Ciri running from the creature with no creature in sight.

Add me me as one that has little idea what is happening. I thought Witchers traveled around doing odd jobs. Hanging around the castle is pretty dull.

I continue to question why R. Scott chose religion vs. nonbelief as the context for this story. It adds nothing - in fact it wastes a lot of time. Neither side is morally better than the other, and neither side acts like it is morally better than the other. The conflict could have been anything - capitalists vs. commies, one ship vs. another, hippies vs. police - it didn't matter, as long as there were two sides. Choosing religion cloaks the show in some sort of meaning that is so far empty, and keeps us from the actually interesting parts of Raised by Wolves, like how humans made it there before, what the "devolved humans" are, how androids can evolve and can then judge actions by humans, etc. Every time the characters start in with the "Sol" stuff I roll my eyes and occasionally grit my teeth - it's meaningless. Yes, with her face cut off, as she cut off the child android's face. Not sure why the android bothered to hang the body above the pit, though. I didn't see that at all, but as think about it, maybe a bit. I knew her from the show Dominion, where she was one of the key characters. Also, I don't understand why the alien in the cave at first looked and acted like a humanoid alien, and then mutated into the things we see on the planet. Putting aside the feasibility of that mutation, what was it when he found it?

The real question was why was it renewed years before this, with Lizzie dragging it down. This ep was once again a reminder of how The Blacklist can be interesting and entertaining if it just drops Lizzie. Aside from the gratuitous reference at the beginning (and Marvin, I totally agree with you), there was no Lizzie. There were bad guys, there was an interesting idea, a twist and there was a satisfying conclusion. NOW is the time to renew Blacklist. Can it use some better bad guys than those? Sure. And it should be able to get them. Let. Lizzie. Lie.

I don’t understand why Mother, and perhaps others, aren’t making the connection between Seven and the floaty snake we saw last season and this “new” giant floaty creature.

I’m with you. I posted this early in season 1 but, why the religion vs atheism world? Wars over religion seem dead and have seemed that way for decades. Resources, money, status, all would be more contemporary. So the fact they seek to be doubling down is disappointing. I’ll keep watching though.

So it has been long enough to talk openly, yeah? Maybe not. Well, just the conclusion, then. I had to search online for other perspectives to what happened at the end. I actually had noticed the trees changing during the shot as Tony, Lisa and the dog walked away, and then each disappeared. But ... so what? Anyway, I thought the series and Gervais were fantastic, but the end was lacking. A minor realization that kindness was meaningful, but that was almost like a weird add on and then Tony goes right back to being sad. It was lots and lots of touching moping and sadness and trying to deal with loss, and then ... nothing.

I *think* we were to believe that the vault where the water was "growing" was more fortified and could hold it back, but once it was released the interior of the structure wasn't made to hold it. Or it just took that long to break through. I'm not sure *why* it kept growing - didn't it need an organic host? Maybe the dead body provided enough energy? I think the answers to those questions were clear: Now ... why the other crew members didn't then do what Dr. Song had done to help them resist the water (i.e. the antibodies), or whether lunar water would help or hinder Earth flora and fauna besides humans, the show didn't answer. The moral question of whether the things that were done on the station, to try to save Earth, should have been done was interesting. I would have liked more of that, and less sneaking around the station.

I started out enjoying this, though I don’t know why they wouldn’t wear helmets/protection from viruses, especially when they found the first “drowned” person. I was less happy when they introduced a mysterious “monster,” and even less so when they revealed it. The show was much more interesting when it was about Earth, water and a shady space mission. Those were the best parts by far. I also enjoyed the Korean perspective on bad guys and gals, and good ones.

The music in this show is so, so bad. Every time a song comes on it’s like we are in Wayne and Garth’s basement. It completely takes me out of whatever mild connection I have with these characters. At least we have an actual plot with some urgency.

That's the point... without a reason, it was cliche.

My favorite part was how it continued killing off a lot of the annoying 20-something characters. The MTV Real World vibe was the most annoying thing about season 1. This is where I landed. The "Achians" we saw weren't the actual Achians, they were their AI creations that then went into the galaxy on a murderous mission. It was a version of "V'ger" from Star Trek. And so if the above reveal on the Archians is correct, here we are looking at humans creating their own AIs, and some of them are ... faulty. So now we have a little Terminator Skynet thing going on. The show hinted that the Archians wanted something more than to fool humans, but I'm not sure what it was beyond the murderous AI mission. On the crashed ship they were fighting over energy sources. Maybe the Archian AI needs humans as a sort of battery source, a la the Matrix? I thought this needed more of an explanation. Some of them clearly died, and the ship crashed as part of a fight over energy sources. But did a ship that big start off with a small crew, or was there hand-to-hand fighting, or what? I believe the guy who was "the president" and said if time ran out they would have to go along with the Achian proposal had a name plate or chron ID that said he was president of more than one country, like "interstellar" or "interplanetary." Maybe the weakest point of all for me was how Niko managed to defeat a much more powerful alien race, when so many other civilizations on other planets (who could open wormholes) couldn't. Niko didn't seem especially talented or gifted or even really strong willed. I liked her, but the show needed to do more with saying who she was and why she could win. Another Life had its flaws, but I love space shows and I liked its overall feel once the teeny bopper characters were killed. I'd watch another season. Katee was fun as well.

Annoying there are no episode threads. What’s it cost to create virtual threads? In midst of ep 5 now. Don’t like anyone they are waking up. Can see the coup coming from the two military buddies. And the leader of the colonists is too young and sassy. And the AI trio drama is annoying. Gabriel is clearly the failed early version, sewing doubts. I assume William will be saved by Lara. They should be interested in whether the Achia can actually transmit people. Also, aren’t they sending a message to Earth about neutrinos? UPDATE after finishing ep: Yep.

So, so bad. When this ep wasn’t stealing lines or scenes from Dune and The Godfather and King Kong, it was dealing out nonsensical actions. I was actually rooting for the Pike Syndicate. Gack.

However, if the name of the author were pronounced “Tolk-ee-an,” no one would have heard “Token,” and the plot would be moot. That was my point.

It's a metaphor for BOTH anti and pro vaxxers, IMO. And it does a better job than the COVID specials, which seemed like a hodge-podge of random things. I found the mocking in SP funny as hell, because I hate that commercial. Sometimes you don't succeed because of factors you can't control, not because you are a loser. Either way, you lose all your money, apparently! Everyone I have heard say the name through my lifetime has pronounced it "Tolk-ee-an." Now, it may well be wrong IRL. But it makes the whole premise of this "Token/Tokien" episode moot.

I think the show made a mistake having Kliner be the last guy standing, for the big pool battle. Kliner is half Reacher's size, and there is no indication he has any fighting skills. Yet he almost took Reacher out (failing to shoot Reacher while he was at the bottom of the pool). They should have had done of the Venezuelan hitters be a good-sized, ex-military guy, and had the two military guys face off. They have already hinted at the S American military angle. Then again, I doubt Reacher's skills as well. He seems to win simply because he refuses to die, vs. any actual ability. I mean, pulling the car driver out of the car, *right next to the easily pushed horn button*, was pretty dumb. That guy should have hit the horn by accident. Separately ... so Reacher had some kind of bizarre strength, even as a skinny kid? Is that part of the backstory? Is it ever explained, especially since his brother is right next to him, and is also a skinny kid, and I assume wasn't as strong.

The depiction of Luke in the new movies and shows has also made no sense to me, because of what you reason. I guess I have assumed that somewhere along the line Luke had to make a decision that sacrificed someone he loved and then went into self-imposed exile to deal with the emotional baggage, but I don't follow SW and all its outlets well enough to know that happened. Grumpy Luke makes no sense to me, though - he was supposed to represent hope. Ah, that is why he sounded weird. Like I posted earlier, he was creepy. The technology is amazing but it isn't like the real person.

I was not as impressed by the ending. Reacher never seems interested in asking the people who attack him questions, which I imagine might help, and the dude with the knife would surely have cut the tie before it was used to choke him. Also, Venezuela may want to send more than 2 people at a time, given their track record. I did enjoy some of the banter between Finlay and Reacher.

Reacher’s “surprise” attack on the two SA military guys was telegraphed for almost a full second when the actor braced his feet, pretty weak. As was Reacher’s complete non attempt to sound like Finlay. Still, I like this Reacher more than the Cruise one.

I want to like this Reacher. He is better than the Cruise version. But he’s too … cutesy. He was great until he started talking. Then he was too whimsical for me. Smartass is fine. He’s a bit… entitled.

Have you watched any of these SW shows? All they do is reintroduce characters, settings and plots from previous SW movies and shows. There is very little that is new here. It's all about 1) merchandising (hello, new ship for Mando, new light saber, Grogu, etc.) and 2) fan service. In fact, it has created a catch-22 for itself. Its approach is the easy path creatively - no need to create new worlds or characters or interesting concepts because everything is just more of what has come before, BUT all the fanboys are all wrapped up in details like why the gunslinger isn't the right shade of blue and the Jedi practice of no attachments BECAUSE it is more of what came before and it doesn't exactly fit. Deep Fake Luke is creepy as hell, all serious and uptight with no laughter or smiles - and then a jerk when he forces a choice. Everyone will come back. It's what SW does. The legacy of the Boba Fett show will be the trashing of the mysterious and used-to-be-cool-to-fanboys Boba Fett. There is no saving Boba at this point. But hey, now they can sell more Tuskan Raider and Jawa playsets, and Mando can push the space toys.

The fact that Mandalorian and (cough) Grogu felt like such an improvement over Boba Fett is testament to how bad this show has been. Why didn’t that predator eat Grogu before? Missed opportunity. Also, keeping machine parts on a sand floor seems unwise.

By the time the series ended, it all made sense. The show was about family and optimism and can do spirit. And it had a bit of camp, but not enough for me to really feel it until season 3.. For about 2 seasons, it just seemed like the Robinsons were masters at getting into trouble. Smith became bearable and was redeemed. Robot and Will lived happily ever after. Everyone made it to Alpha Centauri. I was sad the series ended just when it made sense. It would have been a nice touch if, after getting everyone to AC, the Robinsons took a Jupiter up to fix a shield and - uh oh! - were drawn into a wormhole and ... Lost in Space!

I spend more time reading instructions on how to connect my soundbar than Judy spent preparing to bring a human being out of suspended animation.