Season Two Discussion

[Guest]

Premieres June 25th on CBS All Access

 

[Machiabelly]

Does anyone know if/when we will get this in Canada?

[skotnikov]

I'm 3 episodes in, and alas they all are very and very mediocre. The 1st season was not good already, and this one looks even worse. Peele is so overrated. The guy has no talent, no fresh ideas, and the show is a bore.  

[zibnchy]

I think the episodes are too long. Even the stories with interesting plots seem to die a slow death over 60 minutes.

 

[Annber03]

Well, I've only seen three episodes thus far, but I'm enjoying this season. 

Meet in the Middle - Good tension in this one. I like how the story kinda walked that line between the kinder, lighter side we did manage to see of Phil and the darker side he struggled to acknowledge that led to that awful ending. 

And I really liked that ending with Annie, too. It was fun to see Gillian Jacobs in something creepier. Will hear "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" quite differently now. 

Downtime - The premise for this one was intriguing, but it was also really weird? I just kept wondering why the guy picked this particular avatar of all avatars. I did like the moments between Michelle and the guy's wife, though-very bittersweet. And everyone just standing and staring at that big circle thing was eerie. 

The Who of You - This one probably could've been cut down a little, mainly in terms of how often they kept hopping around from person to person. But I really enjoyed this one, too. It was fun to see all the actors trying to emulate the other people's mannerisms and ways of speaking throughout, and Keith was an entertaining, interesting character. I liked him. And I liked the detective, too, and the way he kept trying to keep Harry calm as he went through each new personality. 

The ending wasn't too much of a shock, but it was still an "oof" moment in terms of what it meant for Harry going forward. 

Looking forward to watching the other episodes over the next day or two here :). 

[Avaleigh]

I feel like I should wait until more time has passed before I get into super specific comments about various episodes, but I will say right off the bat that this season feels like a huge improvement over last season.

I mostly hated last season so even though I only enjoyed about half of the episodes from this season at least it didn't feel like a gigantic waste of time. (Or it could be that the covid quarantine is making me feel more charitable towards new viewing material.)

I liked a lot of the concepts even if I didn't always care for the execution. Also, a couple of the episodes ran a little long for my taste.

Ethan Embry did a nice job in episode three. Must have been fun for him as an actor. I was also hoping for a little more Billy Porter.

Episode 9 (Try, Try) was very satisfying in terms of what happens with the lead characters. Topher Grace really brought the

menacing slime

factor. 

The small town episode felt like a genuinely old school TZ episode so it worked for me.

I imagine opinions on this will be mixed but I liked the boarding school episode even if I had to hand wave a few things out of disbelief. It kind of reminded me of Carrie and I liked the twist.

I read a lot of hype about the finale but it fell totally flat for me. I hadn't seen Gretchen Mol in anything since Boardwalk Empire so I was really looking forward to seeing her in this but I thought it was mostly boring and could have easily been a 30 minute episode. 

Downtime was a mixed bag for me. I liked the Black Mirror vibe as far as the technology angle but they missed me with the overall storyline and characterization. 

[Annber03]

7 hours ago, Avaleigh said:

The small town episode felt like a genuinely old school TZ episode so it worked for me.

Yes! I really liked that one, too, and I liked that Jason, despite the good things he was doing, had his own flaws that he had to overcome. The ending was a cute touch, too. 

Quote

I imagine opinions on this will be mixed but I liked the boarding school episode even if I had to hand wave a few things out of disbelief. It kind of reminded me of Carrie and I liked the twist.

Yeah, that one was strange, but also rather sad and an interesting twist on the "girl with special powers/trying to fit in" tropes. I liked the interaction between Madison and Irene throughout and the way the focus shifted as the story went on. 

Also liked "A Human Face"-very bittersweet in a lot of ways (also, kudos to the teenage actress who had to spout that lengthy monologue explaining what her purpose was, 'cause wow), and I liked the chemistry between Meloni and Elfman. And "Ovation" was good, too-the ending wasn't too much of a surprise in terms of the reveal, but it was still a gut punch in how everything ultimately turned out, and I like that the story didn't go where I thought it would initially, either. I also got a bit of a chuckle out of the scene in the operating room, and I liked the tension during the scene with Jasmine in the cab. 

"8" was...bizarre. And a bit on the gory side :p. 

Two more left to go. 

[Keywestclubkid]

Ovation is the first episode I have seen of this reboot ... while not perfect I dug it it felt like a episode of the original twilight zone to me... it reminded me of the diary episode of the original with patty duke a little bit

Edited June 27, 2020 by Keywestclubkid

[Annber03]

And catching up on the final two...

On 6/26/2020 at 8:52 PM, Avaleigh said:

Episode 9 (Try, Try) was very satisfying in terms of what happens with the lead characters. Topher Grace really brought the

  Hide contents

menacing slime

factor. 

I really liked this one, too. I love the way they dealt with the theme/message of the story throughout, and agreed on Topher Grace. I also loved how Claudia handled things, too (and side note: the sweater she wore was cute and I want one). 

"You Might Also Like" was...incredibly odd. And yet I liked it...? I liked the general weirdness of it all, and how off kilter everything felt. 

Spoiler

I also liked the reference to "To Serve Man".

And the music choices were good. The particular song Janet heard when she was on the phone made me laugh. As did all the immolation talk. 

Fun season. It's good to have the show back, and I love the variety of the stories. 

[ForeverPluto]

On 6/25/2020 at 8:22 PM, zibnchy said:

I think the episodes are too long. Even the stories with interesting plots seem to die a slow death over 60 minutes.

 

Agree with this! Even with the original TZ, I could never truly get into the hour long episodes. In fact, there were maybe a couple of those that I somewhat enjoyed. I think it's just as you mentioned above: the interesting plots seem to die a slow death. Either that or I just have a short attention span and I lose interest, lol. 

[Cotypubby]

I’ve only seen the first 3 episodes so far but wow, it’s like a completely different show! Thank God Peele has gotten rid of all the over the top “woke” political screeds that plagued season 1! The first three episodes were dark and disturbing and exactly what I wanted from season 1. I hope the rest of the season continues in this vein. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Finally finished the second season, having opted not to binge it. My short takes on the episodes:

1. So Annie tricked the guy into killing her abusive husband? Now that was straight up mindfcukery.

2. Lol, so in this VR world a presumably White Irish guy chose a Black American guy as his avatar? Sure, okay. I'm not familiar with VR games so maybe that's acceptable in that realm. Overall, not a great take on The Matrix concept, IMO.

3. Neat twist that the actor's wife was cheating on him with the detective but how did he know that?

4. OMG, when the unconscious body on the operating table started clapping. I'll never get that image out of my head.

5. Meh. TZ Mean Girls.

6. It was giving me a Deep Blue Sea vibe right off the bat. With some Alien on the side.

7. Cute how it was immediately established that the phones didn't work, thereby avoiding a huge plot hole. Anyhoo, why did they lock themselves in the bedroom instead of leaving the house? If I find some alien monster in my basement, I'm getting out ASAP, not trapping myself in a closet.

8. Okay, the current mayor apparently had the previous mayor killed so the freeway deal would go through? And then things went bad for the town just like the dead mayor said they would. This one really felt to me like one of the OG Twilight Zone  episodes.

9. Another Groundhog Day? Meh. But I'm glad he didn't end up getting what he wanted unless the whole point was to make the woman stronger.

10. Blunt nods to To Serve Man. Weak "Karen" references. This episode made close to zero sense to me.

I think for the most part this was an improvement over season one though the episodes got considerably weaker IMO after the 8th one.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Joimiaroxeu

[Brn2bwild]

On 6/28/2020 at 1:34 AM, Annber03 said:

"You Might Also Like" was...incredibly odd. And yet I liked it...? I liked the general weirdness of it all, and how off kilter everything felt. 

  Reveal spoiler

I also liked the reference to "To Serve Man".

And the music choices were good. The particular song Janet heard when she was on the phone made me laugh. As did all the immolation talk. 

I kept expecting Janet to learn that she was really an AI, the perfect neighborhood was all fake, and that the blackouts would come when she was being used by her "true" self for her intended purpose.  I've watched too much Black Mirror.