Ottis

Don't mistake my point. I never said we needed to see a good guy fight a bad guy. I said we needed a conflict that was interesting. Wanda vs. her own mind isn't interesting, especially when it is due to the cliche or grief over losing someone she loves. How many times have we seen that across all genres? I like a thoughtful conflict, like B5 and its eventual reveal that That has nothing to do with a battle. That's pretty much what all good movies and TVs are about. The fight is the sideshow.

So, let me just ask a simple question: Who cares about any of this? Whether Wanda needs counseling and is controlling all this, or someone is controlling Wanda, what she is doing is confined to a small town. So either Wanda, as a hero, comes around and ends it, or whoever controls her has to do something outside the town and we learn more. Perhaps Wanda never decides to come out of it, but that wouldn’t be very Avenger of her. So we have been watching five episodes worth of annoying parodies of past sitcoms because ....? This show could start right now, in episode 6, with 10-15 minutes of set up, and we would have missed nothing.

Yeah, so here's the thing: I don't care. I am not invested in Westview. And the fact Wanda seems to be creating this bubble, to keep Vision alive, is disappointing. There's no conflict there. Let the woman live in dream world. or not. But it doesn't matter to me. I would have liked it better if someone was doing this *to* Wanda. Then we would have had a bad guy and a reason to root for someone. Right now I feel like Wanda just needs to go see a shrink. And the old sitcom bits do appear to just be an indulgence for the writers. Meh. Glad we saw behind the curtain. Just wish what we saw was interesting.

That was ... terrible. We have to endure a pointless indulgence as the plot crawls. I give it one more ep.

This whole thing felt off somehow. The audience seemed tentative. The jokes landed with thuds, for the most part. MGK gives off a Green Day plus Eminem vibe. I looked up his second song because it was touching and learned it was about his relationship with his prematurely deceased dad and aunt. Really well done. So I streamed a bunch of his stuff and was less impressed. He has a real “I never had a chance but I’ll show you all, and also, I’m tough” vibe. Very teenage male. I guess that is what Megan Fox goes for. i have no idea what the Fran L and Martin S thing was about. Too NY.

Don't feel bad, you're not missing anything IMO. I tried to watch it three different times. It is very broad and predictable, reminds me of stuff like King of Queens and According to Jim. I like my comedy Arrested Development, at least the first three seasons of AD. I only know MG Kelley because of his tabloid romance with Megan Fox. I thought he was a DJ-type, didn't know he had actual songs. Will need to check them out. Krasinski should be a hit, very Chris Pratt-like. I don't know the other folks, but that happens a lot to me these days with SNL. Always good to meet new TV people. I had never heard of LCD Sound System until they were on SNL, apparently like 10 years after they broke. I really liked them and ending up seeing them live.

That part I understood. The question was why this particular set up? If the villain named “Classic TV Man?” I suspect this particular set up is the vanity of the creator. Which would be disappointing.

If you raise funds from only the same people who are in your ladies club, I don’t get the point. i like that there is a central mystery, but I don’t enjoy how they are depicting it through cheesy sitcoms. Bewitched this time. So this is Wanda’s dream of a fantasy life, that she is using to protect herself from someone. I wish they would just show this normally as today.

No idea what I am watching here, except given their lack of knowledge of their past and a few moments where Wanda seemed lost, they seem to be held hostage somewhere living a fake life for someone’s amusement or gain. I’m not sure what we are supposed to do with this approach. I can watch reruns of Dick Van Dyke. Will this particular format lead to anything meaningful besides the amusement of the creator?

Hmmm. The moment the show positions Spence as taking on the NFL over health care for players, the show is cancelled. Shades of Playmakers.

That was ... not funny. Even the audience seemed disconnected. I fell asleep. And I would like to know where these homes are where the mom gets only a robe at Christmas. At our house, the mom gets better presents than anyone else. The dad is the one with socks and a tie. That seems much more common.

BTW, they blew it with the moment with Mando taking off his helmet so yoda baby could touch his face. It might have been the signature moment of the season... except they just had Mando take off his helmet an episode or two ago to be scanned, which could easily have been written around. Exceptionally poor plotting.

Aaaaaaaand back to pointless. How long has Mando been with yoda baby, anyway? Doesn’t seem long enough to have this kind of tie. Aside from plot needs. Given the imperial shuttle had two dudes as pilots, once it called in to the cruiser, and it was a woman, wouldn’t someone notice? You know, for once I wish the “dark _______” had something other than red eyes. A nice blue would have been interesting. It sure takes them a long time to get moving. And sending androids out an airlock? Uh, they seem to be missing something central to being an android. Luckily, they have a convenient weak spot... turkey necks. And their builders neglected to give them armor that would protect them against their most likely threat. When the yoda is involved, so is lots of fighting. Not so much interesting plot. Would like to hear more about Gideon’s plans. “It” wants your permission? Hmmm. Well, bye! Hoping for a child-less show next season.

Loved the Guardian reveal. Knew Mirror Michael would suck, wish the show would have said more about some things being fated regardless of attempts to change them. I have greatly enjoyed this season. It feels like Star Trek again. Though we need a “crew discovers planet and local issue” ep or two. Not everything should be the weighty stuff.

I haven't googled him yet, but I have no idea who Timothee Chalamet is. He said he has an acting career, and he also sang in this ep. Hmmm. I was excited when I heard the name at first because I thought they said Shalamar, and I liked some Shalamar songs in the 80s. Not his fault, but I FF through Tiny Horse. That's the first time I have done that through one of the musical parody skits, but I just didn't see any humor in it. I did enjoy the point of the Lexus Christmas skit. Many of us are capable of buying a car for Christmas for my SO, but really, who does that? The commercial with the couple buying the two trucks is especially galling. The Rona virus was decent but pretty cliched. Would have liked it to be more edgy. And the Dionne Warwick skit was charming. Don't know much about her today, but if that is how she is, I like it. Bill Barr as grown up Cartman ... bwahahahahahaha. Just an aside, the skits on WU where a guest just blathers on the same comment over and over, then acts inexplicably silly, are not funny, Dr. Weknowdis. Indiana Jones and The Tomb of the Jamaican nurse ... ha. Poor Melissa. I really like her, and yet they shoehorn her into WU as awkwardly as possible. Can they just have her do an impression in a skit? The baking skit *should* have been funny, but wasn't. The last time they did this skit it was hilarious. I think the problem was they had the contestants immediately acknowledge their cakes were bad, instead of be proud of them. The last cake should have been fun but they had the guy own up to what it looked like. This whole concept was off. Probably the funniest part of this episode was Springsteen wearing a rolled up jean jacket. Talk about 80s. wow. I wish there were enough Questloves to do that to everyone on Tik Toc. Heh, the Fox lies as sports was great and should have broadened to all sorts of lies beyond the election, and made the cold open.

Except, given his line of work, and likely the line of work of any Mando, there are likely many occasions when talking off the helmet might contribute to saving a life. Which means the show making the helmet thing a core tenet of a fanatical belief was kind of pointless. The actual reason it came off was to show the actor’s face, to make him more relatable and marketable.

100% better without Grogu. Lots of world setting and info about the Empire and its philosophy. Far more to think about and add to the overall story than "let's rescue the child .. again!" And ... a complex character, courtesy of Bill Burr. AND a cool new weapon from the Fett. THIS is what the Mandalorian could be without the silly marketing device known as "The Child." Too early, IMO. It was just another thing that was set up to be sacred and then discarded at the first opportunity. Except it was *scanned." That *should* mean it is now in the Empire's database. Because this episode was so much better, I'll ignore things like the Empire coming back and not changing its recognition codes, and the silly 1950s B&W monitors in the mining vehicle, and the general futility of having a massive refinery there that apparently is stymied by pirates to such a degree that when Mando and Burr make it. the stormtroopers say, "I can't believe they pulled that off." The base has tie fighters and a lot of troops, and it is foiled repeatedly by pirates? No matter. Burr was excellent.

This ep was weirdly paced. I thought it should have ended with Georgiou striding into the camera with her gown behind her (one or two breaks before it actually ended). Also, the odd mix of bad poetry and spectactacle with coronation was more comical than anything, but not comical enough to be fun. Maybe they were going with a samurai vibe with both swords and haikus, but it was cringy. And then the big genius murder plot was Stamets "sneaking up" on Georgiou in front of everyone ... none of those in the crowd felt it important to yell "watch out?" It mostly felt like the show was *trying* to have fun with a mirror universe, but wasn't going far enough. Even within that limitation, Georgiou is way too smart to not quickly transition and play her expected part. I know the point of it is "she's changed," but for her own welfare, she would know to be what she needed to be until she saw a different move to make. She seemed far too uncertain. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the ep, and am enjoying this season and the overall message that the Federation stands for something.

When you have the issues these people do, smoking weed should be pretty far down the list of productive uses of their time. They seem to revel in being anything but productive.

What exactly is Dan angry at? A lifetime of poor decisions? I can see sadness, or depression. But anger? We are watching the next generation of Connors make dumb decisions while the generation before then laments that the kids can’t afford to be stupid. And gets high in the driveway. I guess if Dan is angry at his own family, that makes sense.

I don't understand how people who no jobs and no money can choose to have a baby (at an advanced state of life no less), and then be upset when they can't have one. That whole storyline feel as flat for me as if Darlene wanted to be queen of England and found out she can't because she isn't a UK citizen. Then again, this family's priorities have never made sense. This show has a field day with gallows humor with the Connors, who never have much of anything but always have each other. I get it. But also, at some point, someone has to learn from this and make better decisions. Jackie's story was kind of cute. All it takes is to find the right guy who doesn't care about your baggage. Maybe this is it.

I know music is a highly personal thing, and I had never heard of that guy (or his music) before, and (full disclosure) I can't stand most popular country music (love me some Johnny Cash though), but that guy is the epitome of the worst kind of country "music" and the horror it has become. He is practically a stereotype, with his cut off sleeves and mullet, and his songs weren't fit for American Idol ("I live in a small town, and drink me some beer, and I won't be who I ain't! Closing my mind ... now!"). I usually just ignore music I don't like, but that was lowest common denominator. Cold Open: The two guys planning the kidnapping were great. "And then what were you going to do?" "Uhhh ... yell at her!" Sleepover skit was hilarious when Kate entered the room. I didn't really get why they either all covered for her, or all had a similar issue, and I wish they would have picked a different issue. Santa Eminem ... funny enough, I was just reading something yesterday that asked where Dido had gone. I don't know what the duo singing skit was, I immediately FF when anyone starts doing that "voice of actress from the 40s stuff" like Cecily did. The only lounge singer I ever liked was Bill Murray and "barrrrr warrrrrrsssss!" The Christmas Conversation is must-see TV for all the people who insist on traveling at the holidays. Yeah, it's hard, but if we love each other, we should stay apart for just a bit longer. WU: Loved Colin's white person joke about Hamilton, otherwise OK. I first thought Mall Santa was going to go somewhere gross and fun with the sanitizer in the elf's tummy, but instead it became a pedestrian Gerald Ford pratfall joke. Kills The Bit needed more set up. It was a great concept, it just was so underdone. I love Jason Bateman and think they didn't use him very well. Bring in the Arrested Development Bateman, or the Bad Words Bateman.

About 4 eps through the new season and it seems to be more about social issues and PC stuff than puberty. There is a whole song about code talking, but when Jessi has her oddly huge period and struggles with a tampon, she says she doesn't want one because it might break her hymen and the show just drops it. Hope the rest of the season gets back to puberty issues because as gross as this show can be, it does have an oddly educational bent that raises it out of the Family Guy muck.

Way too many characters in this season were cartoonish, from Odis to Oraetta to Josto to Gaetano to Crazy Escaped Con Sister. Arguably Swanee and perhaps Deafy, as well, depending on your perception of them. All they needed were old car horn sounds and bugging eyes. Even the more normal characters all were goofy or had some kind of odd flaws. There were no true innocents, except maybe the kids who were traded as hostages. As a result, I never cared who shot who, or when. Chris Rock tried mightily, but he always seemed like comedian Chris Rock with painted-gray hair and a glued on moustache to me. The one poignant note from his character was the fact he did have ideas (credit card, various alliances) and should have been given a chance, but because he was Black he never got one.

Yes, as acknowledged. But a 900yo can be a child for, say, 20 years, or 50 years, can be an adult for 700 years and can be elderly for 150 years. There is no way to know with the baby. AT some point an entity is able to understand and do things that may make them no longer a child. BY is pretty close, IMHO. I don't disagree that conflict has a wider definition. Being carried to a ship, set on a bench, and falling asleep isn't much conflict or combat, IMO. I felt zero tension, because BY wasn't in more danger than a dog left alone in a house. BY didn't even know about the handcuffs, yet. Hence it was pretty G-rated.