Ottis

I've decided this show is written for 10-year-olds. But first ... Agree, been saying that for two seasons. Weaver is all the things they tried to make Tom, who is a square peg in a round hole. Tom Mason should have been the advisor with a deep knowledge of history that propelled them to victory over an alien foe who didn't know about human tactics. Weaver should have been the tough, courageous leader who was smart enough to know when to turn to Tom for his knowledge. Instead, they reversed it, and the show suffered greatly. Tom Mason is a laughable action hero (he said once again). OK, so Maggie and Isabella escape. What is their plan? To sneak back into the camp and take on 6+ trained soldiers in a stupid attempt to free the gang. Hmmm. Maybe you should go back and tell the Volm. No, wait - only Tom is smart enough to figure that out! BTW, was this the first time that Tom Mason DIDN'T put saving his family above the needs of the rest of the group? I think it was. And I was convinced that, during the looooooooong period where Tom watched the capture of his family, he was going to turn around and come back to try to rescue them instead of get help. I guess that's character growth, finally. Weaver, whose prowess with hand-to-hand was already mentioned, elects to stab the possessed colonel to death? Vs. a takedown? Seems kind of dramatic. Speaking of, those Overlords have become giant wussies. Weaver stranged him with his belt?! Well damn, why haven't the 2nd Mass created a squad of belt-armed ninjas? At the end, one of the VA soldiers praises Weaver, telling him he "ran the whole operation like a puppeteer." What operation was that? If he means the entire takedown of the possessed colonel, I suppose that worked out OK, though one good guy (the guy with the two kids) was killed, and at any time a true believer could have shot our bound heroes or Cochise (bringing him out during that highly charged moment seemed ill-advised). If that was all part of a plan, there was a lot of risk. Yet another episode that didn't move us anywhere on the final battle. That's three in a row. BTW, whatever happened with Cochise's father dying during that ill-advised surgery? Did I miss that? Cochise seems to be the same.

Something has happened to this show. It has become "Cullen Bohannan: Medicine Woman." i can't pinpoint why exactly. My wife used to watch Dr. Quinn and I would sit in for bits and pieces. HoW now feels exactly like Dr. Q, when it didn't before.

If Balsalmo would have been a QB, then his hitting the camera man would have been funny as hell, and it would have tied directly into his admitting that he wasn't going to make it as a pro (his arm was so bad that now he can't even throw in the right direction). Or, since he was a Bill, if he had said he hated Dolphins and their fans, that would have at least provided a motive. But since Spencer introduced him as a RB, I have no idea what it was supposed to mean that Balsalmo hit the camera man. Is he a jerk? How will his kid view that? It was nonsensical.

This was the second episode in a row that was a waste of time. Why, with only a few eps left, are we not seeing something, anything, building to a final battle? I agree, the Enigma device (hey, the show read my comments last week, j/k) will be the secret machine that saves them all. Agree, this was far better suited for a couple of seasons ago. It's inexplicable why it appears now.

Let us count the ways in this episode: - Tom can bandage injuries - Tom can parent another person's child, and the mother is grateful and not mad as hell that he had the audacity to do it before talking with her - Tom is so hot the mom wants to bang him - Just the presence of Tom makes another family glow with gratitude, and give him a book "for the road" Absolutely nothing meaningful happened in this episode, aside from a suspension of disbelief the size of the Grand Canyon. And that's for a sci-fi show about alien invasion. Finding the Espheni device resulted in ... nothing so far. I suppose it will become the Enigma of the resistance. Tom will probably figure out how to use it through his presence alone.

You're not alone. True, when he had a cellphone, he didn't get a message to his family (which was puzzling, but OK, maybe he was still too focused on his "I am an Abuddinian" walkabout). But his self-confessed intentional choice to not tell his family he was alive? I missed that as well. Because what was his end game? To die fighting the caliphate? To show up back in the US in a few years and start anew? To eventually rule the country (hey, Tyrant!)? I don't get it. Getting a message to his family that he was alive and making his way back to them wouldn't have endangered anything, unless he said where he was. Except that, Barry told Sammy that he didn't let them know because he wanted them to move on, not get stuck. That makes no sense if his plan was to return to them. Also, I FF through all the scenes with Molly and the lawyer. I don't think it has caused me to miss anything important. This was the first episode where I liked Sammy. He has some balls, or he's stupid, or maybe both. But some integrity there.

Sorry, just catching up ... Oh the blaring hypocrisy, of Tom saying he has to go after Hal "this time." You have ALWAYS gone after your various captive family members, Tom, regardless of the needs of anyone else. It's what you do. Complete waste of time. Especially when Evil Pope often slips back into Normal Pope during a scene. There are so many better ways to wind down this series.

It went on way too long. I kept expecting a truck to ram him, Alias-style. I think you are missing the point of people comparing Ballers to Playmakers. The people behind Ballers have claimed publicly what you just said ... it's a comedy, not the same as Playmakers, and that is why it is only 30 minutes. But Ballers features: - Multiple players getting their last chance to hang on to a life they loved (or else), or who have retired and don't know what to do with their lives (and one off camera ended up dead) - Drug addiction - Failing or at least challenged marriages - Redemption arcs (Ricky, especially) - Concerns about brain damage from playing football Those situations are dramatic. You throw in an older player coming back from rehab, and anything about concussions affecting a family, and you just about have Playmakers. Ballers has been lighter the past two episodes overall. But the best parts of the show are the dramatic ones. The funny stuff almost seems odd at times because so much of the show is dramatic. That's why people make the comparision. If Ballers is supposed to be a comedy, it's practically a dark one.

Meanwhile, every time there is a battle and humans kill 8 balls, they are murdering humans who could be saved by Alex and his eviction power. Not even Alex is acknowledging this. Makes me dislike everyone.

Ha, I noted this in the first ep in which he appeared, and every time he shows up I LOL. He looks like Velentino in the silent movies. Still don't know why Rami left a job where he was successful and on his own to be part of the mess that is Abuddin. They needed to explain that better. He's been there 10 minutes and he can already see how screwed up everyone and everything is. If he is as smart as he was presented to be, he would flee, now.

The classic, a cliched, sci-fi aswer to that is that while those memories my be blocked right now, they remain - and eventually they will resurface. Probably in fits and starts, probably through buried emotional connections. At that point, the show will be about whether the people who we met will choose to be who they used to be, remake themselves and/or clear their names. I liked the surprise at the end of this ep, that three killed one's wife (allegedly). Though I don't think one should care that much right now.

I would argue that this article actually agrees with most of the criticisms of this show, including: "But the difference between True Detective Season 2 and more widely beloved iterations of the secrets-and-double-crosses genre is that True Detective Season 2’s twists and complications rarely had any impact on the aspects of its characters’ lives that we’d been set up to care about." I would add that there really wasn't much to care about, anyway. On VV, IMO it wasn't that he was a poor actor. It was that he wasn't right for that role, and the role itself was poorly drawn.

Let's take these suggestions of tragic flaws one at a time... This wasn't a tragic flaw. It was a plot point. Without his money, Frank couldn't pay his debts. He didn't return to crime because of a flaw. He returned because he had to. A better tragic flaw would have been something along the lines of "Frank is unusually smart for a street criminal, and as such is unable to forgive a perceived personal slight in life despite his genuine attempts to live legit," and his drive to "keep moving" as he said at the end would have tied to that if his goal was then to avenge a slight, but the show didn't go that way. This season had started, and Ray was already involved, before Ray killed the meth head in error. That wasn't a tragic flaw. And many cops drink. Nothing to see here. . This comes closest to a tragic flaw concept, but is way too general to be one. Many people have trouble getting close to others. What were Ani's reasons? There was something mysterious about her past, apparently she was raped, and yet she also said she was proud the the soon-to-be rapist found her pretty and she seemed more than a little interested in the present in sex and porn. Nothing there adds up to a tragic flaw. The fact these three (plus gay cop) met their fates seemed much more like random play developments than any kind of intentional film noir styling.

You keep interesting company. Most people I know are much more than that. And the lack of more with these characters meant no emotional connection by viewers. Aside from the fact that there was little reason to care about our characters, or the crime(s) being commited, there was no reason to think that any of them were inescapably doomed. The two cops in season one lived. And what were their tragic flaws? Frank's was ... he talked too much in a stilted, overdramatic way? Ray's was ... that he was an idiot (because not only did visiting his kid lead to his demise, but also it placed the kid further on the radar of any bad guys)? Ani was ... she liked sex too much? Your rationale doesn't hold up.

Awful. Awful.Could they fit any more cliches into the finale? As soon as Frank's wife said white suit and red flower, you knew the red "flower" would be blood. The women get away. Ray dooms himself by taking time to see his son one more time. Frank is harangued as he dies by the ghosts of his past. And the various people involved in the conspiracy inexplicably admit their actions even as they all seem to be aware and concerned that they may be recorded. This season had two huge flaws: - There was no reason to give a shit about any of the characters (except perhaps redheaded boy). They were a mixture of recklessness, baggage and damage, with no real significant others. Didn't care who lived and who died, aside from a general sense of justice. - The plot was presented so confusingly that it wasn't worth following. I FF'd through several bits of the finale, because so much was unnecessary. Perhaps that terrible and annoying conversation with Frank and his wife at the opening symbolized the season. It was like watching a show that you were sure was good on some level you couldn't quite see, while you had to listen to a crappy dubbed soundtrack.

I think this show has an identity crisis. Before it premiered, the people making it were quoted as saying it was 30 minutes because it was more a comedy, and wasn't supposed to be like Playmakers, the ESPN 60-minute per show that aired a couple of years ago, was very good and the NFL squashed. In other words, they were calming the NFL. So then the season starts and Ballers is more drama than comedy, and the 30 minutes don't work for that. I will be curious how it evolves. I don't get Spence. He seems to have a good heart, but he makes poor decisions. He's way too big for an ex-player.

The show moved too quickly on the "Crash EvilCorp, Save the World" plot. If Fsociety is successful, then what? We see that things still suck (which they will, BTW, but in different ways)? Anarchy? Zombies? The show can't go there. So instead, it keeps getting close, then backing off. And that can be frustrating for some viewers. The question is, what is the show actually about? Because it isn't about overthrowing EvilCorp. And Elliott isn't using his scales to correct individual social injustices. I thought Elliot taking apart poor Bill was way out of character, but then realized that Elliot used memories of his mom to channel her and attack Bill. Still, he should feel crappy about it afterward. Anyway, any company worth its salt would isolate Elliott the Billionaire immediately and connect him with someone up the food chain (or, if it was just Elliott with no billionaire bio, kick him out).

Ha! You're not the only one old enough. I saw him and right away my brain said, "Laura Palmer!" I keep expecting an overweight, redheaded adult character in a unique position of power over Ray (or the opposite, just the mailman or something) to be introduced near the conclusion.

That's what I figure. It's either that, or Cullen finds his dream house on the water with Fong, because that is all he has ever wanted and the "with who" doesn't matter so much. I didn't realize Fong was a girl at first, but I also didn't care that she was when I figured it out. I get that, in that era, people would be chauvenistic and shocked to find Fong was a girl. But why would they kill her? This show feels a lot like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman with Asians instead of Native Americans anymore and less about the railroad.

I find Matt to be the most reasonable Mason. I realize that isn't saying much.

This is the ep where I decided this season of True Detective is awful, and won't be rescued by a stunning finale where all the threads are tied together. Poorly thought out, and poorly executed. The music at the whore house was annoying and bizarre (and not in a "murderer plays a classic 60s song while being stabby" way) ... someone upthread described it as 80s, and that's about right. The whole scene felt like it came from a crappy USA Network movie from Up All Night. I care even less about these characters than I did before this ep. It's one thing to be reckless as a detective because something is driving you to know the truth. It's another to put yourself at deadly risk with a nonexistent "plan" because you ... are bored? WTH? Why do any of the three of them care about this case? The show cares far more about their personal lives. I don't think Chad is a dullard. I think, given the situation he is in, he is practically paralyzed with fear that anything he says or does may result in craziness or a change in his life. And I think his weight and eating is a symptom of that. The guy in jail for the rape(s) looks *nothing* like Chad. I think Col. Crittendun saves the day.

Whoever it was, they were following the direction of the applause sign, or whatever was being used. There was a moment when Obama said something and stopped, clearly expecting applause, as was JS, and nothing happened for a second or two - then a sudden eruption of en masse applause, which then died down as suddenly en masse. Obama is good at making his case, though the way he talks about conditions of the Iran deal being fact is a little surprising. i think one of the main objections to the deal is that some don't think the Iranians will honor many of its conditions, and the deal doesn't address that well enough. No discussion of that last night.

This outcome is the sole reason Sammy and his gayness exists. From the moment we met him last season and learned he was gay, he was destined to become a bargaining chip after being detained by someone. They seem to have Jamal running in place. He isn't quite good, he isn't quite evil (sudden bludgeoning of inexplicably incompetent Tariq aside). I guess the show is holding him there until Barry arrives and they have the dramatic reunion. I like the show. I liked last night's show more than most, because it had less of Barry's family. Barry is too tall or something for that desert outfit. He is really channeling Stilgar from Dune.

My issue is not that the show is about them. It's that Tom and Hal are complete douchebags, and Tom is a "do as I say, not as I do" leader. I wish the show would stop giving Tom the hero treatment, quit making him into a laughable action hero (I still chuckle when I remember Tom sliding to a stop on the motorbike as "The Ghost") and give other characters around the Masons the credibility they deserve when they call Tom and Hal on their bullshit. Pope actually has a point. Several, in fact. But the show immediately makes him into a crazed, murderous loon instead of making Tom face Pope's very good points ... not about Sarah, but about Tom's overall behavior. The puzzling thing is that Weaver has confronted Tom a couple of times, but the show has him drop it and Tom never learns from it.

I don't care about *any* of the characters, and as a result, the conclusion will be an intellectual exercise rather than the emotional one from the first season. If I have to draw a diagram at the end of how each major character was involved in the crime, I think it will be less satisfying. I found Ani's comments in the sex offender class predictable. Of course she was going to screw with the clearly unteachable male offenders. She thought it ridiculous that she was there at all. What else was she going to do?