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aghst

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Everything posted by aghst

  1. Translates as Duty/Shame. A Toyko cop is sent to London to find his younger brother, who may have ignited a war between the Yakuza in Tokyo by murdering one of the nephews of a Yakuza boss. Kenzo, the cop, seems like a world-weary father, husband and dutiful son -- his parents, including his very sick father, live with him and his teen daughter in an apartment. Turns out that Yuto, the younger brother, tried to rob a Yakuza bookmaker, got his friend killed and came crying to Kenzo. Kenzo covers it up, by killing the surviving bookmaker, make it look like the dead friend shot him. But Yuto gets recruited by a rival Yakuza boss. First thing that I learned is that the Yakuza dress up. So the boss orders some custom made suits, fancy Italian shoes. Yuto starts sleeping with Eiko, the daughter of Fukuhara, the boss. He gets her pregnant, tells the boss, who tries to have him killed because he didn't want his daughter to marry a gangster. So Yuto flees to London where he gets into more trouble. Kenzo's cover for London is an exchange program for detectives, taught by Sarah Weitzman, a London detective (they didn't say what her rank was) played by Kelly McDonald. Kenzo befriends Rodney, a half-Japanese "rent-boy" who helps Kenzo track down Yuto, who's part of a London gang now. There are moments when Kenzo has this strong, silent vibe of the heroes in Kurosawa films. He speaks English well and he seems to have no problems navigating London, either physically or being street-wise enough to find his brother. Ultimately, the actor playing him may not have the charisma to carry the show. Eventually Kenzo and Sarah fall for each other. While there didn't seem to be a lot of passion between Kenzo and Rei, his wife, I don't know that this Kenzo and Sarah pairing is that convincing. Sarah has been in a rut herself, hooking up for random, joyless sex with random men since she dropped a dime on her live-in boyfriend Ian, whom she saw making some corrupt move in an undercover case. The plots moves forward well, even with a lot of backstory pauses for 4 or 5 characters. Big confrontation at the end in the finale, after which there is this set piece of all the characters doing some pas de deux signifying the complicated relationships that each two of them had with each other and with other characters. Every "good guys" character survive and probably sets up future season or seasons. They let Yuto go and he goes to Paris, rather than back home to Japan to be with Eiko and his infant son. He would also be in danger because some Yakuza probably would try to kill him, though they kill the gang on that rooftop. Yuto doesn't go back home to Japan, at least not right away.
  2. Probably just as well that someone like Craig and Austen not proffer opinions. They don't seem to be that into anything other than having a good time. But also, all of these members seem to know people around town who wouldn't be down with BLM, so they may not want to alienate them. I don't think any of them would display something like the Confederate flag -- they're more polished than that. But they may resent people from outside the state telling them they should remove the flag and other Civil War symbols.
  3. I don't get it, memoirs of reality TV stars sell? Maybe someone who won Survivor or something but Southern Charm?
  4. If they did U-turn the NFLers, that would have knocked them out. DeAngelo would still be working on the tile after the other teams have checked in. They would have probably U-turned the brother sister in turn so either way, brother and sister would have been U-turned, though the smart thing for the NFLers would have been to use the second U-turn on one of the other two teams, break up the secret alliance. But there probably would have been a confrontation too. The Beards and the NFL team arrived at the same time to the U-turn.
  5. Some places require a window to be considered a bedroom. I don't know about Madrid but I remember a Barcelona apartment building where a lot of the windows looked out into a central court. So you had windows on all 4 sides overlooking the court and usually there wasn't much to see in there. It did bring daylight into the apartments that way though. One thing I've noticed about a lot of places in Spain, the noise insulation between floors of a building and also to the outside corridors are poor. And you can hear people coming and going very late at night. Maybe I got unlucky with these vacation rentals but it was inadequate construction as well as people keeping weird hours. Maybe not such a big deal if you're from New York but if you're from the burbs, it takes some adjustment. Though many places in Spain are known for people going out for dinner starting around 10 PM.
  6. So the reviews so far have been pretty poor: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/your_honor_2020/97140/reviews?type=top_critics This is one of the few very positive reviews I've come across: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/04/941321597/your-honor-captures-a-horrifying-spiral-of-accidents-and-consequences
  7. If they didn’t at least show the protests or that a Calhoun statue was taken down we’d be criticizing the show for trying to sanitize or gloss over the unpleasant history, making it all about drinking and parties but avoiding what happened over the summer, especially as it involved a main cast member. Now the people who did take part on the discussions on camera didn’t criticize the cast members who did not. Or maybe they did but they were edited out. The protests were huge in June. Maybe not as big in Southern cities though. We don’t necessarily expect people like Shep or Craig or Kathryn to take part in them but you’d think they’d have an opinion since that video was played over and over in June. In previous seasons the only time they got topical was when they visited some places which were involved in the slave trade, noting that there were several such places in Charleston set up as historical monuments. Can’t recall if they fully addressed Thomas’ legal troubles last season or if they even bothered to explain why he was off the show. So they do tip toe around controversy in general but if they completely ignored the events of this summer, i think we’d be excoriating them even more.
  8. Maybe with her standup aspirations she hammed it up on this show, complaining about the apts. being too small or whatever. If, like a lot of other house hunters, she was planning to move only for a few months or a year at most, budget seemed to be what she prioritized. I don’t know how long or how well-paying teaching English is in Madrid. Europeans seem to learn English more from UK citizens than Americans. Though maybe by getting the dog, she did intend to commit to staying there for awhile. There must be a big enough English-speaking expat community for there to be a club for English-speaking stand ups?
  9. That scene at the park, beneath the statue, it seem they were just having a discussion there. Maybe a couple of local politicians who would have a vote but they were having an argument about what the statue meant to them. It's interesting that the only regular cast members who were there were Danni and Leva, who's new to the show and Madyson, who's appeared a few times on the show but isn't really a regular. But Danni is a minor cast member and Leva may become a major character but is new. And two of the people who spoke at length about the statue were the two black women who've never been on the show and for all we know, never will be again. Around this time, because of the protests, there was a lot of momentum about taking down statues all over the country but there was also pushback too. Did the absence of the other cast members indicate that they didn't agree the statue should be taken down or just wanted to avoid what could have been a controversial scene?
  10. Well that's what this show is largely about and these social gatherings are organized just for the purpose of creating content or scenes for the show. A few of the cast members may go out all the time but they make it appear like everyone in the cast is either going out or going over to other cast members, virtually every day. If Austen didn't test positive, they probably would have gone through with the party, largely instigated by the show. And in real life, by June and July, people who had quarantined for 3-4 weeks in April and May were ready to go back out there. So there have been weddings, church choir events, large parties, bar hopping, etc. in places where these public venues were open including for indoor dining and drinking, which probably included South Carolina. So they do probably reflect what the summer was like in Charleston and if not, I wouldn't put it beneath Bravo to urge them on to mingle. They weren't going to show the cast zooming each other all the time. I guess they were allowed to film during the summer in Charleston whereas in many jurisdictions, I don't think TV and movie production had resumed. Many shows were going to resume in the fall and around now but with the current surge, maybe productions have paused again.
  11. Because it's a common racist trope, to compare black people to monkeys or gorillas. It's completely disingenuous for Kathryn to say that she used that emoji because it had a cute pose or whatever. If she's claiming ignorance about the racist associations of that emoji, how is that any better than admitting she knew it was racist or interpreted by many people as racist? In Europe, people who own their racism toss bananas onto the soccer pitch when there are black players. But the Gwynn's manager said she let Kathryn go because there was a lot more objectionable thing Kathryn said in the chats than just that emoji.
  12. It's a hot tub. In a previous episode some years ago in Amsterdam, there was something similar, a hot tub boat.
  13. That was in Mitte which is very central. I believe parts of Mitte were former East Berlin. However, looked like a lot of the apartment buildings along the river, on the other side, looked like fairly new construction. Yeah that looked like an area which had been underdeveloped.
  14. Yeah the Berlin wife was either selling the negative Nancy role or she really is looking for reasons to hate. The husband seemed to have gotten a relatively modest job or maybe he didn’t go to some big time culinary school. She may get annoyed with him for not being ambitious enough.
  15. I like that they didn't put her in some palatial apt. that she couldn't afford, though it has a nice view. Though maybe if the company is rich, they'd give her a generous housing allowance like you see in HHI sometimes. They spent some money on the outdoor shots, including the gorgeous night shots. As for the series, well Emily is pretty to look at. Give her credit for putting up with all the resistance at the office. Yeah she doesn't speak the language or "get" the culture but she had this assignment dumped on her at the last minute. I've only watched 3 episodes, I gather she will have her triumphs in the end, to show the snooty French what's up. I'll keep watching for the pretty photography, especially of beautiful places since we can't travel right now.
  16. The NFL and the Bro/Sis teams couldn't figure out that the other three teams are conspiring to get themselves into the final 3. Should be obvious to the Bro and Sis since they saw that the Beards burned the second U-Turn. Not that it matters, it was too late by then and there are no more U-Turns. The 3 teams can't slow down NFL tam but they can share info. with each other. At this point, all the teams should be trying to get the Beards followed probably by the boyfriends teams eliminated because those are the strongest teams, the greatest threats to win it all.
  17. Elizabeth looked good in comparison to Izzy on the first charter so she's second stew. But she doesn't look so good compared to Ashling -- her parents did her wrong with that name. So now she's complaining to her friend over the phone. Really the BD writers should always set up these conflicts between generations because that's what it seems to come down to. Rachel should know better than to expect foodies after kids on the second charter. She should have prepped the Kids Menu but with large portions. This is the first time I recall them printing out menus. They could really make dishes seem greater than they are with florid menu descriptions. Even if the guests were true foodies, how would that be any better? Serving snobs is better for the crew?
  18. Sam in Nha Trang Vietnam was like that lounge singer in Thailand who wanted to get a lot more for his money than it would get in LA. My guess is $750 is at least double the average rent there so he figured he could get a baller place. So ocean view, space, amenities, etc. Who knows how long he ran his business. Nha Trang seems off the beaten-track. For instance, what would it offer that Da Nang doesn't already offer, though that cable car over the water looked cool. But they did say it was fast-becoming a tourist destination. So credit for being entrepreneurial in an up and coming place but mainly he seemed to be all about living in a nice but affordable place.
  19. As important as the alethiometer is, I have a feeling this knife is even more important since it's featured in the opening credits so much. Unbeknownst to Mary Malone it looks like the Cave may have its own oracular powers. Boreal crosses worlds but he doesn't stop in Cittigazze himself? He didn't refer to it by name but he knew the city. Never watched Paddington Bear. Lyra seemed unimpressed though Pan may have been curious. But she was impressed by the popcorn, so disgusting yet she could not stop eating it. Is that the case though? I don't remember cars in that world except maybe when Lyra went with Coulter to her high rise apt., which kind of looked Art Deco-ish. But the airships and the boats looked like something out of steampunk. It seems no computers or electronics of any kind, no aircraft capable of supersonic speed. When they went on the bombing run of the witches' lair, they were dropping drums manually, rather than like cruise missiles. So for Boreal, something like a Bentley may be more reminiscent of home, so mechanical and Old World, hand-built goodness. Then again, the gull wings of the Tesla made it seem like it swallowed in Lyra and then disgorged her back out.
  20. So the last episode, there's a prank to get all the females in the family including Angelina to the resort -- Lake Las Vegas. It must be ways away from the other casinos, I'm guessing. Are they going to spend all season making this reconciliation with Angelina? Still not convinced the dissing at the wedding was that big a deal. They seem to rely on social media blowups to drive the plots for these seasons now, so they have all the more incentive to make a mountain out of a molehill. Not a fan of manufactured drama but OTOH, what else do these "family vacations" have going for them? First two seasons, it was kind of interesting how much Mike turned his life and personality around, having to overcome his legal troubles and getting through country club prison -- I heard that was also where Michael Cohen spent his prison time. Was kind of a feel good story. But they became famous on the original show when Mike and the other cast mates were taking potshots at each other or snooze throwing bottles at him. Mike the Mediation could be mildly interesting if the girls were really at each other's throats. Now with the pandemic, they are deprived of the reality show staple, going to a club, getting drunk and then possibly get into confrontations vs. onlookers and haters, as happened last season or the season before that.
  21. But do they hide their sociopathic tendencies for decades? Maybe the doctors saw the switch being flipped and then flipped back. We saw how quickly he turned on Elena and then on Henry. But can he suppress it for years from Grace? In any event, regardless of her credentialing, Grace made a very good living being able to see through people. How did she not see Jonathan for what he is? Are we suppose to believe she didn't realize what Jonathan was until she spoke to his mother and then saw the hammer?
  22. https://deadline.com/video/bryan-cranston-first-clip-your-honor-showtime/ No reviews yet but should come this week since it's premiering on Sunday 12/6/20. Maura Tierney will also be in the cast. Given the people involved, probably worth checking out. I am not familiar with Moffat but if he wrote a lot of The Night Of, it should be well-written. Another American adaptation of an Israeli show ends up on Showtime? Lets see how it is compared to Homeland and The Affair.
  23. They may be overplaying the sex and drugs since it’s television. But in episode 4, Harper has a big night celebrating her birthday and people at the office notice she’s hung over and needed to shower the next day. However her questionable decision making on a trade can’t be blamed on the hangover. Rather, it seems most of these grads, less than 4 months into the job with RIF coming up, seems to make a lot of questionable choices, such as the sex and drugs. Harper makes a bad loss a horrible one and goes to the rich woman who felt her up. The woman sees that Harper is trying to cost her money to cover up another bad trade, Harper leaves, figuring she will get fired but turns out the woman gives her charity and more than makes up for the loss. Also her shenanigans with the transcripts apparently catches up to her but her boss apparently likes her enough to not fire her. Seems unrealistic, because fabricating her background is grounds alone for dismissal. Has she been making a lot of money for the firm otherwise? They haven’t shown that’s the case, though she seemed to have impressed a couple of clients.
  24. An OJ chase scene? Except instead of copters showing a live video feed, Grace herself is on the copter joining in the chase so they can have that preposterous bridge scene. So they never had much more story than the obvious killer, though if Jonathan is a sociopath, he’s pretty functioning one, ending up with a very prestigious career and fooling his wife of at least over a decade. And the wife is a trained psychiatrist who obviously didn’t have reason to believe that the father of their son could murder so brutally. The thing is, it’s not credible that he would behave in a way to spook his own mother yet there were were no other episodes of him getting out of control since his childhood to late middle age or maybe senior pat of his life when he bludgeons Elena? Either Grace is a bad psychiatrist or has been in denial for years. They managed to stretch it, with a nice cliffhanger at the end of the penultimate episode. Then undid it all with the stupid ending. I guess they wanted something climatic because him being convicted in the trial wouldn’t be dramatic enough. Ugh, it says season finale. If the ratings are high enough, they may try to do another season.
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