MagnusHex

Guess humanity just has to find some other ways to amuse themselves. Like arguing on the Internet. That just sounds like a luddite's point of view. Even if AI is as bad as these doomsayers are claiming, it's still a piece of technology that can be used to humanity's advantage. Hell, if it becomes smart enough, it could even be an ally rather than what the cynical technophobe might say.

And actors losing their jobs aren't my problem either. That's THEIR problem. What does it have to do with me enjoying myself? Tough luck, buddy. Not really. But I also have no reason to put extra effort to care about those Hollywood elites just because of some stupid AI art. Point is, you defending these actors and this whole conversation surrounding it just because "oh no, those poor actors are suffering because I watched a movie that might take away their job" is dumb. "Oh no, what will happen if those actors lose their jobs?" Nothing. The world will keep spinning just as it always does. Actors aren't really an important world shattering career in the world, and there have been far worse crimes than supporting AI art that go unchecked (like pollution that's literally killing our planet).

Big fucking deal. African children are starving and no one gives a shit. Here I am going broke while billionaire actors live luxuriously in their penthouse. I don't give a fuck about actors. They can pump the gas if they're out of work. Human beings still do that. No, this isn't about human rights - this is about their billion dollar paycheck that you're defending, which is hilarious unless you're their agent or something. And people arguing about actors or defending them on an Internet forum of all things ain't gonna change shit anyway. If I don't support an AI generated movie, somebody else will. This whole self-righteous crusade is honestly rather silly. I'm gonna do what I want to do, watch what I want, and all anyone could do is offer their empty criticisms feeling good about having lectured this one stranger online (who's probably not even living in the same country as you or any of those actors, therefore not even supporting the economy of the country those actors are from anyway, making this whole conversation even more irrelevant if we're talking about livelihoods). If there's a difference, I couldn't tell. The movie was entertaining all the same.

Art is subjective, and its beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 'Nuff said. The Spider (2024) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-tc2YlCqCk Finally, the live action take of "What If's" "Metamorphosis" issue we never got because Disney pussed out. The effects are scary enough for a fan film and the actor looks just enough like Tom Holland to pull it off. The idea that getting bitten by a radioactive spider giving you super powers worked well enough in the '60s, but as a Spider-Man fan who had read almost all the Spidey comics up till the Dan Slott Spider-Verse era, I really dug Metamorphosis' subversive take on "What if something went wrong and the radioactivity just made you mutate?" All the power in the world ain't gonna give this any sense of responsibility because he would be too hungry for blood. And they say Spider-Man is for kids (while Batman is for adults). 5/5

I think the worst part is that Dean gave this impression immediately before the final scene that he trusts him now (letting him drive his Impala as a seeming gesture of goodwill), that he regretted using the word, "freak." And then he said "the other shoe will drop" to Amy, the same phrase he used to describe Sam when he thought that Sam would just lose control again. Fucking disappointing, Dean. All that goodwill you displayed for your brother, your flesh and blood, in the scene immediately before this one - poof, gone. All so the writers could stir up the usual angst conflict nonsense between them. So much for character development.

Late Night with the Devil I'm just going to come out and say it: I don't see the big deal with using AI technology as long as the movie proves entertaining. Sure, it might affect the billion-dollar Hollywood industry in the future, but that's hardly my problem. Sorry, but this middle-class (soon to reach lower-class) dude has zero fucks to give because I've got bigger problems and just want to sit down and enjoy a movie, not debate AI. And for what it is, it is an entertaining movie. We've all known that these Hollywood celebrity schmucks have dealings with scientology and god knows what other Devil cults there is, so this movie isn't too farfetched. I just love how cynical the entire movie is, up till the feel-bad ending. All of these are unlikable people, even the lady who brought the child to a late night show in the first place. For all her good intentions, she signed up for this gig, so. I also love the unique '70s late night show aesthetic that was brought to the film. True crime documentaries have been trending for the past decade or so now, so a gritty live television style of storytelling does fit for the modern movie-goers' sensibilities. This has easily been one of my most unique film experiences, period, and it's exactly what I live for: creative horror experiences. Nice job, AI. 4/5

Well, that sucked. And after everything I said about episode 2 too. Jesus Christ. One of you could have said something. lol I don't know. I get why Dean ended up killing Amy because he's always been a knight templar about monsters, but this is just so disappointing after the terrific bond Dean and Sam has built up over the past two episodes. Now Sam is hiding shit from Dean - again - and Dean is also lying to Sam as well and perhaps doing what he thinks is best for Sam and everybody, coming off like a real tool. It's just one of those annoying CW tween drama that I guess will never really go away. All my high hopes for this season are now gone. What frustrates me even more is how Dean left the kid alive. Look, if you're gonna go all knight templar on all monsters, then go all the way. Don't be a hypocritical bitch about it and ending up letting the kid (who has now lost his source of food) become the next serial killer. And it's even more frustrating that Sam would have gotten a nice spotlight episode on him showing his tracking and hunting skills. Ever since season one, I've always wanted to be #TeamSam over #TeamDean because his character's more sensitive, nerdy and insecure side just resonated more with me, so even when his character became a big tool and a big fool, I kept waiting for his redemption to come. This episode could have been it, showing Sam in control and trying to make the best moral decision without being a dick about it. At least Leviathan remains smart. Tracking credit cards and the Winchesters' aliases. That's probably the smartest thing the writers wrote this episode. Unfortunately. 3/5

2x6: The Doomsday Machine What an intense episode. This episode is action-packed and moves at a great clip, rarely letting the audience take a breath of relief till the very end. Part of that reason is due to the titular "planet killer" and its unique design. It just feels so epic like a vicious mystical force of destruction, somewhere between a cross of Eye of Sauron, Unicron, Galactus and perhaps the Gates of Hell from the Doom games because goddamn, that sure looked like a portal to Hell. All my fanfiction headcanon started going crazy when I learned that there's a planet killer fighting against the Enterprise. Imagine if it was Unicron. How could they kill a literal chaos god (in the comics, he's a god)? But I think that's what ultimately help this episode: that it's not just another god-like being again toying with the crew of the Enterprise, but a threat that's more straightforward and primal in nature, something you could immediately recognize as a big threat that one needs to duck and run away from. Of course, the meat of the episode here is the Moby Dick inspiration it took, with William Windom starring as Commodore Decker. Despite being a recast replacing writer Norman Spinrad's initial choice of Robert Ryan, William did a fine enough job expressing the obsession and crazy eyes that convince us that this man is off his rocker (even if William initially didn't know that the story is a Moby Dick tribute, and merely thought he was starring in a silly and cartoonish plot with a planet killer). I'm not sure how the original Moby Dick ended, but I'm glad they made it so that Decker ultimately just wanted to redeem himself and was carrying this massive baggage of guilt with him (rather than merely being motivated by his ego that might have been symbolized by the size of a certain sperm whale). Even if he was foolish and pretty much caused the deaths of Kirk's own crewmen as well, I feel that his sacrifice worked with the right poignancy (not to mention being the key to saving the day), particularly due to the fact that Decker's entire intention the whole way through was just to stop this planet killer that would wipe out the entire Rigel system (perhaps wiping off Earth in the future as well if the Starfleet didn't respond soon enough). This episode also shows why Spock isn't as suited for command as Kirk (even if he does make a fine commander): Spock is too rational and by-the-book, resulting in the ship being commandeered because of loopholes in the rulebook. Kirk, on the other hand, would have just punched out Decker and forced him to take a medical reevaluation to classify him as mentally unsound. Something also worth mentioning is the redshirt that tried to stop Decker when he was escorted for a medical exam. Most redshirts are cannon fodder, but that redshirt put up a fight with a Commodore long enough that he earned my respect. 5/5

Okay, I take back what I said about last episode where things were starting to return to status quo: Sam is finally truthful towards Dean (about freaking Lucifer), the bad guys are finally smarter, a likable strong female character doesn't return just to get killed off, and for its budget, the Leviathan actually looks pretty terrifying. Reminds me of Pan's Labyrinth. And then there's that pacing of the episode which picked up immediately from last episode's final scene, feeds us plenty of juicy plot involving Leviathan's brilliant and successful plans (with cut vocal chords) before dropping us off at a chilling cliffhanger. The episode just moves at a great clip. It just feels like things are finally improving in Supernatural after the wonky season 6. The one thing that really convinced me that the writers are learning from the flaws of previous seasons (or rather, season 6 specifically) is that Dean actually got Sam to pull out of his delusion, asking Sam to use his trust in his brother as the foundational rock to keep him rooted in reality - and Sam just accepted that and beat Lucifer the delusion. It's great stuff and showed the bond of the two of them (as opposed to just milking angst for angst's sake and dragging out the whole delusion thing for an entire season, with Sam and Dean constantly mistrusting each other). And it 's like, after everything they've been through together, their brotherly bond should really be their strongest weapon. 4.5/5 Can't wait for next episode.

From what I can see in mainstream media and what I heard from second-hand accounts, it's a lot better nowadays than the decade before. I will submit that this episode might still be relatable to Americans today as I'm not an American so my opinion is skewed, based on the third-party accounts I see across social media where fat-shaming is largely frowned upon. If you are either a fat-shamer or a racist or a sexist or a transphobe or a homophobe or just plain alt-right, you're done. Witch hunts will be performed, you will be shamed by TikTokers, many YouTubers will profit off of your scandal, and you might even appear on the CNN (because Christ, they eat that up). And of course, just about every TV show and movies nowadays are celebrating diversity and inner beauty and everything the society of communist pig-fish people here have frowned upon. I didn't really see that kind of progressiveness in the 2010s or the 2000s, at least to such a radical level. No, I believe that while shallowness and persecution still exist, they are not the loudest voice in the room anymore. The meek has risen. You know what relates to me more in our modern cultural landscape? White Bear. From Black Mirror.

2x6: Eye of the Beholder Unfortunately, this episode is one of those that has such an iconic twist that I still remember it long after I've first seen it. I could still admire the brilliant execution, but that adrenaline and shock were no longer there. I think that's the reason why I don't bother rewatching most mysteries or shows that are over-reliant on a twist ending to be quality; once the truth is revealed, it's just not the same anymore. But Eye of the Beholder is more than that, to its credit. As I said, the execution holds up adequately, the way everyone is shrouded in darkness and the sympathetic gestures the doctor offered in an extreme communist world. The only problem that detracts from the nice camera work is the title. It should have kept the original title, "The Private World of Darkness". Not only would the title have made more sense seeing how everyone is shrouded in darkness (perhaps expressing the world Janet Tyler [Donna Douglas when unmasked; Maxine Stuart's voice when not] was seeing beneath her bandages), but it wouldn't have given away the ending easily, thus making the twist that much more shocking. One other thing that irks me about the title is when Walter Smith (Edson Stroll), the representative of the "deformed people" here to take Janet away to be segregated, repeated the title of the episode in such a blatant way that it made the episode kinda campy and goofy. As if Serling didn't hammer home enough the sledgehammer that's the title itself, he felt the need to shove it down our throats again at the end of the episode. It just felt so cheesy, like one of those parodies of a TV show on Futurama. As it is now, rewatching this, my entertainment mainly came from speculating just how someone who look like Janet could live in a world like this. Many have said that this episode rings even more true to life today than the 1960s, but I don't see it: communism is no longer as big of an issue in most countries except for North Korea, China and Russia. In America, freedom has become taken a far more extreme form than the '60s, with everyone having so much freedom that the individualism has become a problem. The only "relatability" would be people judging others by their appearance, but even then, with our progressive culture in America where ugliness and obesity are celebrated while beauty is still recognized as beauty (rather than the distorted opposite world extreme displayed in this episode), that doesn't fit quite well either. It's a shallow and skin-deep comparison at best. The problem permeating America today isn't the chase of beauty; it's the pursuit of those few minutes of fame on a TikTok video and various forms of social media. Vanity and pride are the sin of the day, not the persecution of appearances. That being said, this episode might have been more relatable a decade earlier or so when plastic surgery among celebrities was a bigger topic, when people were still trying to fit in as "normal" due to their insecurity about their appearances, when fat-shaming and shallowness still reigned over the western culture. The fact that this society in the episode is a communist culture doesn't really detract from the fact that people were made to feel like we have to fit in or be persecuted. Maxine Stuart perfectly conveyed that desperation when Janet was still under those bandages, that fear of not being treated like an equal just because of some physical defect. It's in her brilliant performance without the use of her face that made this episode excel, much like many, many episodes of The Twilight Zone where the actors' performances carried the entire show. It also gave this episode that unique aesthetic where the performers' body language told most of the story. 3.5/5

2x5: The Howling Man Here we are with two back-to-back classic episodes of The Twilight Zone, fondly remembered for their horror elements. First being The Howling Man. Honestly, when I first watched the episode, I was expecting a Wolf Man instead of the Prince of Darkness himself due to obvious reasons relating to the title. It really didn't help that there was a wolf's howl as well, making me think that Robin Hughes was gonna transform under the moonlight as soon as he was let out. There was another thing that disappointed me: the characters were idiots. Who would leave the door to the Devil unguarded like that? I could only imagine that if this was in a modern setting and there's a real Brotherhood like that, there'd be maximum security under heavy lock and walls to trap what's literally the most dangerous entity in all of existence. Maybe with a lot more machine gun turrets and space marines. And finally, there was the problematic element of blaming all the major wars on a supernatural entity (instead of people being fallible or selfish dicks). I don't know the exact timeline when David Ellington (H.M. Wynant) finally captured the Devil, but I'd imagine it's around the time the episode aired, 1960, which means that this second release of the Devil would be the reason for the '60s Civil Rights tragedies and all of the assassinations and all of the bloodshed that followed. Let's blame all racism and fascism on the Devil. I remembered that, writing a review for Mad Men (it was an episode near the end of season 3, I think, when JFK was assassinated) when I said that "it was as if someone opened a doorway to Hell" when describing all the horrific events and assassinations that occurred in that decade. I didn't mean it literally, Serling. All that being said, you would only feel that way if you take the episode literally instead of as a metaphor for the evil in man's heart, and on this show, many episodes should be taken metaphorically because they just don't work if you take them on face value. After my above tirade, it's understandable if you felt that I hated this episode. But in truth, I think it was quite brilliantly executed for a '60s show of such budget. You do have to work a little to appreciate its brilliance, however. For example, the Dutch angles. While such camera work is awfully silly now no thanks to the MCU (specifically Kenneth Branagh's Thor), it worked in this episode's favor as it made it feel like a classic Universal Pictures horror film. Even the Brotherhood's castle feels like Dracula's castle (another figure whom I had assumed Robin to be playing due to the cape and Dracula's associations with Satan). Unlike your traditional Twilight Zone episodes, director Douglas Heyes decided to do something a little more special by expressing Ellington's fever as these tilt angles where both him and the audience would be unsure whether we're walking through some nightmare. And that's another thing: the whole story feels like a fever dream. It feels like an artistic expression of man falling into the temptation of the Devil in their weakest moments, doing horrible things despite having what were in their minds their best intentions. In accordance to Serling's WWII background, I'd say Ellington might have represented Oppenheimer and his similar remorse of "What have I done?" when he released the Devil that's the Atomic Bomb, or similar men who inadvertently doomed the lives of countless others due to their skewed values. As for accidentally letting the Devil out, I feel like that's expressing that you can keep the Devil locked away for a little while, but eventually, your inner demons will get the better of you. Always. It's an awfully cynical point of view, but then again, Serling had a low opinion of humanity as a whole, so that makes sense. By the way, that Devil costume did seem goofy, but I like how they played it straight without irony or a wink to the camera (unlike postmodern horror, which would have someone commenting, "This goofy-ass Halloween reject is supposed to be the Devil?"). Like I mentioned, my first thought was that this was Dracula, and not just any Dracula but THE Dracula played by Lugosi. It's only been a few decades since that movie after all. And that staff stopping the Devil from coming out would make more sense if you pretend that it's made of oak or ash, the Vampire's hated type of wood. I think the fact that they played the haunted castle trope so straight really helped built the horror movie elements as well, what with man wandering into a creepy building late at night with the storm thundering at his back. It's as pulpy as you can get, but it also gave that otherworldly atmosphere that would have you really believe that tonight, Satan has been unleashed on Earth. 4.5/5

2x5: Amok Time Finally... finally, I get to post these two clips as a direct reference (rather than just randomly pointing out a reference outside of its intended context). PLEASE RISE FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM: It's been such a long time coming. When I first watched The Cable Guy around the '90s or '00s, I just fell in love with that battle theme ("Ancient Battle" was the track's name, I think) way before I even knew what Star Trek was, or whom Spock and Captain Kirk were. It's just such an iconic piece of nerd culture, albeit not as well-known as the music pieces over on the "Wars" side of things like Duel of the Fate. Even with all the hype aside, this was such a well-written episode where the script is tight and the tension/stakes feel real, not to mention the important expansion of Vulcan lore (first Vulcan salute!), which feels appropriate for a 2nd season of the show. Everything from the start of the episode served to push forward the one plot element without distraction: something is wrong with Spock and Jim will do anything in his power to help his friend. The stakes felt believable as the wheels kept turning to the shocking third act ending. It's a bold move for them to broadcast this as the season 2 premiere because if someone had turned off the TV right before the ending, they'd have thought that Kirk had remained dead for the rest of the series while Spock was court-martialed. I love how authentic everything felt too, with Bones angrily telling Spock to remove his hand from their captain, or the way Leonard Nimoy conveyed his remorse at what he had done in a subtle Vulcan manner. The one groan I did let out, however, was when T'Pring was referred to as "property." I thought that the episode was doing such a good job of holding up until that moment. But on the other hand, you have to consider that the Pon Farr is such a primitive and archaic ritual contrary to the Vulcans' seemingly civilized and intellectual society that it'd make sense that such a dated and problematic term is used in said ritual. Though of course, I'm not sure if this term was intentionally implemented that way. I'll give Roddenberry the benefit of the doubt on this one. I kept thinking back to Star Trek: Into Darkness writing this review because, while I was watching the episode, I came across a clip from that movie (which I've never seen) where Spock told Kirk that no one escapes death, or something along that line. Of course, this was an intentional foreshadowing in that film, but man, if that dialogue appeared right at the start of this episode as well, I'd have really believed that Kirk died. 5/5

2x2: Metamorphosis Welp, this certainly didn't age well. Initially, I was gonna praise the episode for being one of the few episodes where Kirk actually acts like a diplomat instead of shooting somebody. Bones' quote regarding him as a diplomat was memorable and almost sold me on the episode. But then the alien cloud possesses the body of that bitchy shrew who couldn't find love until she becomes a subservient man-pleaser for Cochrane to fuck (reminds me of Wonder Woman 1984 and Buffy, both of which had a woman possessing another person without consent and fucking someone else in their body). That might be a little crude, but Cochrane pretty much went "Ew alien" until the cloud transformed into the one human he had the hots for. Also, fuck that war, right? Who gives a shit about peace when satisfying your pent up sexual energy is more important. 2.5/5

I was surprised to hear that the budget for this season was the lowest of all series because I had assumed the opposite. You had some terrific shots here (like when Castiel massacred all the angels or when Leviathan's veins popped up on Castiel) that I had thought the budget had been raised. It just goes to show that with great cinematography and maybe some cheap post-production editing, you could take advantage of a small budget to have some unforgettable shots. Buffy did this beautifully after all. Speaking of which, I was kinda hoping that Supernatural would follow the vampire slayer's route of milking as much as you could from a big bad that spouts philosophical musings. I wanted to see more of Godstiel wielding his god powers and stopping evil in the world, but in turn making us question whether Castiel was doing good (the KKK disbanded; 'nuff said). On the one hand, he did cause a lot of collateral damage in the corrupted politician's office, carrying his punishments too far by killing those who've merely ran her campaign, not to mention those hypocritical priests (or whatever the deal was with those "motivational speakers"). On the other hand, the Old Testaments were pretty bloody too, and the measurement of morality when it comes to religious texts is rather murky. And again, the KKK. C'mon. Also would've been cool to see Godstiel go against Lucifer, perhaps starting another war on heaven against the spawns of Hell (think Spawn or any of Neil Gaiman's Sandman-related literature). The show probably wouldn't have the budget for it, but I wouldn't mind settling for a one-on-one match between Godstiel and a series of Helldemons and their minions across season 7 (kinda like how they did the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse). That said, maybe it's a good thing Godstiel was gone so fast, because the free-will supporting Cas doesn't seem like much of a power-mad authoritarian who punishes people Old Testament style. It did seem out of character, and you could at least blame it on him being drunk on souls when his powers were gone so quickly. The appearance of Leviathan seems promising, but everything else in the episode did drag a little due to how routine it felt; Dean's despair of how everything has gone to shit again, Sam causing problems for Dean again (albeit inadvertently), Sam hiding shit from Dean again, hitting the books to beat the Big Bad again, them finding a MacGuffin to beat the Big Bad again. I get that that's the show I signed up for, but I did tune out a little bit because I was waiting for something more exciting to happen. But honestly, it's somewhat of a nitpick because (as I've said before) I don't watch Supernatural expecting these flaws to go away. I do like the show for what it is, campy fun. It's just that, I was ready for Sam and Dean to go back to being brothers just saving people, hunting things, doing the family business again without dumb tween drama that could've been resolved if they bothered to talk to each other, so I was a little disappointed that Sam felt compelled to lie (because of course he just happen to stumble onto Dean at the right moment without Dean realizing his presence, which is unlikely given how sharp Dean's instincts can be). Seeing Lucifer again was kinda fun though. He reminds me of The Joker from Patterson's Batman: being this renowned Big Bad that's just floating around in the periphery rather than being the main star. Mark Pellegrino really chewed the scenery here, but he made the scene work and kept me engaged. I hope they don't overuse him and just keep him at a distance for now. Let's call it 4/5 for the short but great use of Godstiel. Can't wait to see what Leviathan's all about.

Daria: Is It Fall Yet? Really solid topper to end season 4 of Daria. I like the wholesome closure to the love-triangle arc, but especially the nice developments of Daria and especially Quinn (returning them to status quo but with more layers in their established personality). 4.5/5

Talk to Me (2022) I really love this neat spin on possession flicks, but I don't think it quite work perfectly as a drug abuse allegory. I was initially thinking it was supposed to be such an allegory at first, but as the film went on, there is just one detail that didn't quite fit: I guess you could kinda say that a drug could induce paranoia enough in an addict that she would be compelled to kill someone thinking that she's helping him... but I don't know, seems kinda like a loosey-goosey line of logic. But alright, I'll bite, just because the rest of the film is so well-executed and intense: let's just say Mia is having a schizophrenic/paranoid episode due to the "drugs." Must be representative of cocaine or some hard stuff if it could induce that kind of hallucination. LSD maybe? I don't know drugs. That said, I'm more interested in the horror and supernatural side of stuff. As others have said, this was a pretty scary film compared to other "elevated horror," mostly because the stakes feel so real due to its drug abuse allegories. The characters are realistically flawed and fleshed out enough that you could picture them as dumb teenagers being dumb teens (as opposed to TV/Movie World dumb kids that are unrealistic levels of idiotic). And how about that spin on the possession sub-genre? When I first saw the trailer, I was immediately intrigued because it felt like such a fresh concept. Not only that, but I love how it showed just how callous teenagers can be. You hear stories of kids performing seances and other ethically dubious stuff like visiting a graveyard for kicks, so it's not that surprising, especially in our TikTok world, if someone were to upload a video of a possession and some dumb idiot would think, "Hey, I wanna give THAT a try." I heard that "Bodies Bodies Bodies" touched on similar elements regarding kids of the modern generation, so it's not the first time A24 explored how our youth has now an excuse to become even more reckless towards ethics and morals thanks to the existence of social media mass-spreading (mis)information. Great watch. Can't wait for the sequel. 4.5/5

7x25: Stench and Stenchibility Zoidberg does deserve to be happy, I agree, but this was still a poorly written episode. Marianne (Daenerys from GoT everyone) literally has no personality minus the very last scene, and even then, the whole "I never learned a bad smell from a good one" excuse felt contrived and illogical. That's not how the human brain works. It's instinctive, not learned. For a sci-fi cartoon, getting the science wrong is a major sin. Bender's B-plot is even worse as it's the two same generic plots we've seen a dozen time: 1) Bender being evil Bender, and 2) cute character turns out to be evil. Yawn. Ending of the B-plot kinda makes up for it, but not by much. 2.5/5

2z12: Out to Sea "Everyday it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day; that's the hard part. But it does get easier." I picked up this show because I wanted to keep fueling my own addiction for watching shows about broken people as I relate to them, but that line above, it just hits so close to home for me as well. Realest shit ever indeed. Also, this episode predicted AI actors! (although people have said this technology has existed for a long time) BoJack rescuing Todd hit right in the feels, especially his speech about the first time they met. It really showed that BoJack is trying to be better. Even if he fails about 90% of the time, it's the effort that makes it engaging TV. 4/5 Just saw the planetarian scene in the season 3 trailer, and I read the comments about the trailer spoiling and yet also subverting the planetarian scene and its tone, so I'm going to make a prediction based on what little I know about season 3: If I'm not wrong, I don't see anyone sitting with BoJack at all at the planetarian, and from what I heard about Sarah Lynn and the "That's Too Much, Man!" episode... yeah, seems possible the above scenario will play out, especially when others have compared that episode to "Escape from L.A." Really wish I am wrong because I really feel for Sarah Lynn, but I'm pretty sure I got spoiled about her ultimate fate.

I haven't been this excited to confirm anyone's death at all, but OJ is probably my first time. I've only heard snippets of what went down, but then I saw American Crime Story and was just infuriated at the injustice of it all. Hope the afterlife will serve as a better judge wherever Simpson's damned soul is at now (preferably somewhere eternally burning).

1x3: The Darkest Secret This got much, much darker than what I was expecting. I was under the impression that it was a one-time thing, perhaps Brian flashed his dick and whatnot to a young Drake. I didn't really follow the news on Drake Josh (besides the infamous "child endangerment" case I came across), so I was rather shocked to hear that Drake could have gone through something so vile and horrible and it would still seem like this actor on a kids comedy had a mundane life. I mean, if something so traumatic had happened to me, I wouldn't be able to function normally in my daily life, let alone perform on any kind of TV show. Perhaps it's because he had something to escape to, as he mentioned, having fun on the set of Drake and Josh letting him forget the horrible nightmare that was his childhood, at least temporarily. My abuse growing up was nowhere even close to any of the victims on the show, but I could definitely understand that escapism, even a brief escapism, from your abusive life, even years after the abuse has stopped. It gets stuck with you. I couldn't imagine what it's like for Drake's father to just find out about something like that. I mean, if it's that shocking for the rest of us, it must have been like going through a living Hell learning about what your son had gone through. I believe he tried his hardest to protect Drake, but I doubt he felt the same way, thinking he could have done more. You gotta love Drake's girlfriend's mother for being sharp as tacks. If it wasn't for her, god knows how much longer it would've gone on for. Anyway, I just feel emotionally exhausted watching this episode. My heart sank when Drake said, "And it got worse, and worse. And worse." And I was like... I don't know how much of this I could take. And when Drake left it to the audience's imagination what acts could have taken place, I was already thinking that it must've been pretty nasty stuff. But goddamn... when the episode showed that the freaking filming of child porn was involved, I was just speechless. It just goes to show how powerful these Hollywood elites really were to be able to be able to commit such a horrendous series of affairs and still get hired.

I read in a Reddit post that Mark's argument to Alissa was pathetic, and I initially agreed. I groaned when he went the cliched "Well at least I don't kill people" route. Facepalm-worthy. Lots of people don't kill people, like Joe Biden and Trump - doesn't mean they're saving the planet from destruction. Here's the list of counter-arguments Mark could have provided, according to the Reddit post: "If you really care about saving humans or the betterment of the galaxy you could offer them the climate saving technology without the threat of conquest." "Just as many humans would die in a planetary war against a race of mass murdering super beings." "The Earth would likely end up just as screwed up in the aftermath of the planet killing Viltrumite's stomping around it then it would be in a climate crisis." Or if you prefer Mark give an emotion argument. "Says the lunatic who threatened to murder dozens of humans just to have a conversation with me. You very obviously would end up killing humans at the drop of a hat if you ruled Earth." All that being said, looking back, I came to realize why Mark's reasoning skills suddenly dropped to 0 that point: Amber was almost killed. I'm sure all Mark could think about at that point, in his own words, was how to kill this bitch. Hardly a rational mind capable of logical thinking or even producing the so-called "emotional argument" IMHO. Furthermore, Mark did call on Alissa's bluff; he knew they needed him to conquer Earth as Nolan is AWOL, so he was probably stalling for time until he came up with a solution and therefore wasn't thinking straight about his conversation with Alissa. But with that being said, I do agree that the writing team could have handled that dialogue better. "At least I don't kill" is one of the dumbest counter-arguments you could have come up with, especially in 2024 when fiction-writing should have evolved, not rehashing old tired tropes. The scene with Amber and Mark breaking up was nicely handled though, better than Amber and Mark's relationship scenes from season 1. It made sense and it was inevitable. So here comes the MarkEve ship! Allen was powerful af. In a lot of "who would win" debates I've seen on Reddit, no Viltrumites could even come close to facing a Kryptonian, but Allen might, or at least DCEU Superman maybe. 4/5

1x12: Days of Future Past (Part 2) *Rogue calling Mystique "Mama"* Me: "WHAT?!" I guess they couldn't use Kurt in this cartoon maybe. Glad X-Men: Evolution rectified Mystique's spawn later though. Also, one of the most powerful mutants, if not superheroes of all time, Jean Grey: *lifting the broken section of a building* "IT'S TOO HEAVY." WTF?! lmao No wonder the memes made fun of Jean. Those goofs aside, I quite enjoyed the intrigue of the episode (even if I accidentally spoiled myself whom the assassin for this series is since I thought that this DoFP would be different from the Fox movie version; I never read the comic version). That episode ending punchline is also quite nice: "Because it's been magnetized." 3.5/5

2x11: Escape from LA Jesus fucking Christ. WTF BoJack. Curses aside, I was nearly as shocked as everyone else going into this (love seeing all the jaw-dropped shocked reactions of The Normies watching this) because this kind of dark depressing shit was what I signed up for when I first picked this show up. It's kinda a fucked up thing to say, but I relate to characters like this, people who are broken inside but not knowing how (or unwilling) to fix it. I was watching Dexter and House M.D. back then and needed a replacement show, so BoJack fitted. But damn, this is probably the darkest episode - so far (can't wait to see upcoming episodes others have raved about, like "That's Too Much, Man!"... oof, poor Sarah Lynn). BoJack's horrible actions aside, you gotta love how this is the anti-sitcom episode of the show. BoJack the show has always subverted comedy tropes, but this episode went out of its way to subvert (or rather, deconstruct) all the usual shenanigans sitcom characters get into: Quirky sitcom opening? Literally warned you things are gonna get uncomfortable. "Nothing's gonna be alright, be alright! Oh no!" Older adult going to a highschool prom? Oops, it's creepy because BoJack brought Charlotte's daughter there and also no one thought the old guy was cool. Heartwarming scene of BoJack sending balloons to the sky with Penny? Bad for the environment and also BoJack only did it for his own selfish purpose of reliving his time with Charlotte. Getting drunk? Oops, almost died of alcohol poisoning. Quirky hospital setting (the kind that randomly pops up in a sitcom)? Not gonna happen because BoJack is an irresponsible adult. Responsible adult rejecting a kiss from a minor? Oops, they almost have sex because he left his door open. Kissing your old flame who's already married? She rejects you like a good married spouse would in real life, asking you to GTFO. And a lot of scenes here pretty much boil down to "reality ensues" for sitcom situations, which I love as a fan of deconstruction in fiction. As a fan of the show, I just love how it doesn't disappoint when it comes to not holding punches in tearing down your usual comedy show routines and procedures, being this uniquely depressing show that can be as dark and somber when needed without disrupting the mood or tone with a wisecrack (like a certain cinematic universe that everyone's been imitating). And what about BoJack the protagonist? How far deeper could he sink down to from here? Because I think we've pretty much hit bedrock in the bottom of the barrel of morals and ethics. Any deeper and he would've pulled a Weinstein or Epstein. Yikes. Looking forward to seeing just how far the show could push us before we would truly hate the character. 5/5

I wasn't as much of a Nick-kid growing up (was more of a Disney Channel kid, and I'm also waiting for Disney Channel's own day of reckoning to come if what I'm hearing about the staff is true), but I remember watching some of their live action stuff like The Amanda Show and All That (specifically the 2002 season 7 revival starring Giovonnie Samuels). Watching episode 2 of Quiet on Set where I got to see Giovonnie, Bryan Hearne and Kyle Sullivan talk about their horrible experiences had a similar "hard to watch" effect on me, and it really made me look back on my childhood thinking, "How did I not catch this? How did I find this ever funny?" Hindsight is 20/20 I guess as they say, plus the fact that I was probably too young to catch all those innuendos, particularly by "Pickle Boy". I was always kinda slow when it comes to catching subtle details like that, so I took those jokes literally than saw the hidden and appalling metaphors they stood for. It was really surreal seeing Brian Peck in this new light during the viewing of the episode because out of all the things I vaguely remembered from All That, Pickle Boy was weirdly one of the things I remembered quite distinctly.