Jenniferbug

I'm not really sure what I feel about the season finale. I've liked this show more than many here, but this episode felt a bit disappointing. It's not that there weren't clues that Halbrand was Sauron being dropped (it was almost TOO obvious), but it feels less narratively interesting to me going forward. He was more interesting to me as a grey character- likely to fall to Sauron's influence or his own self-serving nature- not as the Big Evil himself. I wanted to see how he would rule the southern people and eventually fall, not future seasons of him...skulking around Mt Doom looking evil? I guess Numenor may recapture him and we'll get that story. It also seems far less likely now that we will end up getting to know many of the receivers of the rings since Halbrand was really the only clear candidate for one of the nine. I've always wanted to know more about who they all were, including the Dwarven lords. I can't imagine the Stranger not being Gandalf at this point either. The actor has been doing amazing in a difficult and largely nonverbal role, but as soon as he regained enough memory to speak with fluency, just about everything he said was very Gandalf-esque. I'm more indifferent to this than the Halbrand reveal, but it still kind of feels like a missed opportunity to explore other wizards. I still liked it, I'm still looking forward to the future seasons, but the finale was a little disappointing to me.

I'm looking forward to this one! I read the books years ago and enjoyed them!

That was...ok. I didn't feel too invested in the story and I don't generally like horror/monster movies so the homage means little to me, but I did come away liking Jack, Elsa, and Ted and would like to see them again. If this was meant to be their introduction into the larger Marvel universe then it worked, but I'd prefer if next time we see them it was in a more traditional Marvel setting than a cheesy monster movie.

I will join you on your bench. I thought it was a good episode and had good moments for many of the characters- Dixon signing, Shaw checking in and empathizing with their tech person, Jack's talks with Nolan, Maroun talking through the case with Nolan, and I thought Nolan on the train with the jury was effective- he sounded like he was struggling to keep it together.

Oh, I'm not terribly optimistic or hopeful for his future either, just was pondering what a happy ending could be for him. Going home to Numenor clearly isn't it. Random wishful thinking on my part, basically. Thanks for the insight into the King of the Dead!

Forever, with Ioan Gruffud.

Ok, Dev bursting into the hospital singing Salisbury Hill cracked me up 😆 I like DeeDee so far! She's vibrant and has good interactions so far with other characters.

I thought that episode was pretty intense actually! When they put a new character in danger (Bronwyn), I do actually worry they might die. I genuinely thought they were going for a plot twist where Arondir has to raise and try to keep Theo from darkness after his mother dies. I'm glad it didn't go that way because I like Bronwyn and she and Arondir are so very pretty together. I think they need to introduce Celeborn pretty soon...I'm starting to ship Halbrand and Galadriel together a bit (...assuming he's not Sauron, which I'm still hoping he's not). My vote is for Halbrand to be one of the nazgul or possibly that ghost king who ends up fighting alongside Aragorn (I don't remember the details so please tell me if that's not an option). Is Celeborn a fairly blank slate as far as canon goes? Despite posting in the book threads, I'm not all that knowledgeable of Tolkien. I know enough about the lore and world that posting here seems safest, but know none of the specifics that many of you do. I'd like Isildur's friend (Otamano?) who didn't enjoy battle but likes horses to go off with his fiance and found Rohan. I thought it was a bit odd that Miriel summoned Halbrand and was just like "here's your king" without having a conversation with him about it. And that all the people were like "yay! A king!" No one has questions about where the heck he's been? Maybe in story they already know, but it seems odd they wouldn't recognize him then.

I'm caught up now. Not sad to see Leo go, but I really don't get what they're doing with Stephen. Are we supposed to feel bad for him? All the angst and moaning...am I supposed to care? He's been repugnant since he showed up, and this story has dragged on too long.

Halfway through the first season and I'm still really enjoying this show and looking forward to it each week. It's not perfect, but I like it anyway. I agree it's looking more and more likely that the Stranger is Gandalf, whether it makes sense or not. I turned on Fellowship as background noise the other day and there are some mannerisms and framing that seemed very similar. I'd still like for him to be any other wizard or Tom Bombadil or something, but each week seems to point more to Gandalf. I'm personally hoping we haven't met Sauron yet. I know everyone thinks he'll be revealed on the show as someone we know now, but I'd prefer that he show up in the finale or early next season as a new character. I think the existing characters are more interesting if we're seeing their true selves and how they'll be manipulated by Sauron than if they turn out to be him (ex, I think Halbrand is more interesting as an Aragorn who falls and becomes one of the Nazgul). Probably my biggest complaint is Galadriel- not because she's abrasive and unlikable but because I am really struggling to connect these younger years with what we've seen of her later. I can see enough similarity in Elrond to see/guess how he becomes the weary and jaded Elrond of the trilogy later. I can see Isuldur already being impulsive and a little grasping to see how he will make the bone headed decision to keep the ring. But Galadriel is SO single minded right now that it's very difficult for me to reconcile her with the Galadriel who, when presented with the chance to destroy the One Ring and Sauron forever, simply gives the Fellowship some cloaks and a few weapons and remains in her magical forest. She must have really mellowed in her old age, and perhaps they'll draw that line from point A to B so it makes sense, but I'm struggling to find it for myself right now. Gil-Galhad and Celebrimbor both seem slimy to me, which is odd because I don't think either has been characterized that way before. I am a bit anxious about the fates of the new characters. I'm hoping the show doesn't kill off Arondir or Durin or Disa or even Bronwyn for shock value.

We have Hulu TV for live watching. The DVR through that service should have recorded the show but somehow it didn't (despite recording all last season). I've seen a few Reddit comments that people watching live TV through YouTube TV had the same issue, so I assume it's something NBC has done to try to drive people to pay for Peacock. It was free next day on Peacock last year buy they apparently changed it this season. I'll have to skip the homework next week. Sorry kids, you're on your own! 😆

It seems NBC has pulled their content from Hulu and also locked all L&O behind a paywall, so I will not be able to watch. Silly me, for not making the show a priority over my kids' homework. At least I know for next week that I need to watch live or not at all.

Sorry Tiggertoo!! Her leaving was referenced in a post above mine so I assumed it wasn't considered a spoiler.

I'm a few episodes behind still. I find it hard to get caught up when the major storyline features an actor who I know is leaving soon. I couldn't care about the Abi/Imran/Toyah stuff because I knew he was leaving, and now it's hard to care about Kelly/Aadi/Gary when she's gone soon too. Seems like they ramp up these major stories and then one of the central actors bails on the show. I don't blame the actor for that, but as a viewer it makes it hard to invest in what's currently on screen.

I thought it was bizarre that their remembrance chant was "we wait for you" when (at least in the case of Nori's family) they quite literally...don't. It took me a while to work out that's who the other captured elfs were too. One of them looked like Galadriel's friend who stood up to her last episode, and I couldn't figure out why he wasn't in the undying lands (?), but then realized he was the guy from Arondir's company. I'm not sure I understood who Halbrand is exactly? Seems like he'll likely end up as the head ring wraith someday (Witch King of Angmar, I think?), but I may need to rewatch to get what the deal with his family history is. My Tolkien bar is pretty low, so I'm still enjoying this but I wouldn't say I'm riveted. It's enjoyable and interesting enough that I'll stick with it.

Hilda has definitely grown on me! I didn't like her much when she first showed up but enjoy her a lot more where I am now. I need to get back to watching- work has been busy lately!

@politichick what decades past are you watching? I started watching old episodes again too and am up to May 1979. Audrey made her first appearance recently which was fun. No mention of Steven at all in the backstory given for her and Gail at that time. I'm not a fan of Yasmeen either. I think she's ok when they give her the rare happy story but her acting is atrocious when she is supposed to show strong emotions. They really need to tone down her over the top anger. At this point, I don't even know why Stu would want to be with her.

I took a bit of a break from the show, around the time that Emma/Faye/Craig had the hit and run storyline and it was revealed that Abi was pregnant with Imran's baby. I started catching up on the last few episodes and am enjoying the show again for the most part. I'm still hoping that Alfie will end up being Kevin's. Did they do a DNA test ever? Giving Imran a baby right before he was killed off the show just seems dumb. They should have had Abi pregnant by someone who was sticking around for future storyline if they didn't want her to have a baby with Kevin. Whatever happened to the little girl Toyah and Imran were fostering? I like Summer and the new boyfriend. They're each a big mess, but they're kind of cute together anyway. My current vote is to let Faye and Michael have a fling and see where that goes with the characters, and pair Craig up with his partner. Craig and Faye feel like they're together out of habit more than anything else and I've never seen much romantic chemistry between them anyone. This show seems surprisingly reluctant to break up pairings and test out new ones. I liked Fiz and Phill together and wish it would have lasted longer. I don't really see why they'd have her go back to Ty. Is it too much to hope that now that Ronnie has dumped Debbie, he and Jenny can get together? I don't like her and Leo together, but she and Ronnie had a lot of potential. Does this show ever write in the actress' pregnancies? I thought I saw something about Shona's actress being pregnant again and probably disappearing for a while, but sometimes I wish they'd just write the pregnancy in so as not to have to hide it until they go on maternity leave.

I liked it, particularly the early seasons. I do wish they had been allowed to write their own cases or deviate from the source material more, but it's still a good show. But I also liked Law & Order LA. I think going forward with it after canceling the original was a HUGE misstep, but the show itself wasn't terrible. Not great, but not terrible. I can't remember if Skeet Ulrich asked to be written off or was fired, but I liked he and Corey Stoll's partnership while it lasted. Alfred Molina was also great (but that's no surprise) but they should have kept him as an attorney. I think it would have been interesting to see how they would have handled a second season, and to see if the show would have found its footing.

@Morrigan2575 hard to say. I think most on that list not announced at SDCC have been confirmed but not formally announced (ie, Deadpool 3, a Shang-Chi sequel, the Wonder Man show). The "new" ones are Nova and a 4th Spider-Man but those have been speculated about so it's hard to say either way- could be someone trolling, could actually be true. And I didn't realize that the Okoye series was a separate entity from the Wakanda series. Isn't Wonder Man tied to Vision/white Vision in the comics?

I had hoped for at least another season of Bernard, since the law side of the show had finally settled into its groove with the characters. I wonder who will replace him. I hope Sam comes back. I don't think it would feel the same without him, even if it is in a limited capacity. Price is alright, but they need to figure out Maroun. Most of the season it felt like she was just there because there's always someone in that role and not because the character added much. I don't know if that's writing or actress or both, but it'd be nice for the order side of the show to feel more settled too. It pains me a bit to say that since there aren't a lot of female characters on the show, but she's the weak link on that side.

My biggest complaint about this season so far (and it's fairly minor really) is that every episode, Nolan comes up with some plan to go for bigger charges or people or whatever, Jack shoots it down, Nolan says please, and Jack says ok. I appreciate that Jack likes to collaborate and I know the show has time constraints, but it never feels like Nolan's arguments are quite strong enough that they should be convincing Jack to shrug and let him do whatever he wants (particularly this week).

I did not like this. It had some moments that I liked but they weren't enough to make up for all that I didn't. I think it's a given that we're going to get Billy and Tommy in the MCU as Young Avengers, probably within the next few years. So making Wanda into a mass killing machine, completely disconnected from the reality of her actions, AFTER all she went through in WandaVision seems like poor plotting. And yes, I know the Darkhold corrupts people, but I don't think this movie did that element justice so walking the character back now is near impossible. If they wanted Wanda to be the villain, I think using an alternate Wanda would have been the better move. She could have been acting on her own, and our Wanda ends up tempted to join her because she understands her pain and grief. Or maybe she's dreamwalking our Wanda, who isn't really resisting because again, pain and grief at losing her children. End result leaves our Wanda a viable character either way and doesn't undo the arc from WandaVision. Also Strange telling her multiple times her children never existed didn't sit well with me. It's not that he was entirely wrong, but it was incredibly dismissive and I've had friends who have experienced loss via miscarriage who heard the same thing and it gutted them when some idiot would say that to them. I agree with those of you who said it was really campy at moments. I don't like horror, but some of the shots and directing just felt really cheesy and campy. Some of Danny Elfman's Beetlejuice-esque music cues really took me out of the movie too. Also I may be alone in this, but I thought Clea at the end looked cheesy too, like a reject from a live action Jem movie. No thanks, I'd rather have Rachel McAdams' Christine back if we really need Dr Strange to have a love interest (yes, I know his love interest was Clea in the comics. I just don't care about her). I liked America Chavez. It was amazing to see Patrick Stewart again, especially styled as the Professor X from the animated series. I loved John Krasinski as Reed and am really hoping that means he'll be Reed going forward. Maria as Captain Marvel was also cool. I even thought the nod to Black Bolt from the Inhumans series was nice. I don't know. Those few good moments just weren't enough to outweigh everything I didn't like in this movie.

Me as well. Not thrilled about this at all. My plan is to rewatch the New Rockstars Easter egg videos. I didn't make it past the first 3 or so episodes of What If and watched those in place of the actual show.