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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

Shut Eye - General Discussion

Meredith Quill

By Meredith Quill
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zxy556575

zxy556575

Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) stars as a failed magician managing a chain of psychic reading storefronts who starts to experience visions after being hit on the head. Ten episodes streaming on Hulu on December 7.

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Tara Ariano

Tara Ariano

Charlie Haverford is a scammer with a small chain of fortune-telling storefronts. A blow to the head from a client's angry boyfriend intersects with a hypnosis session while auditioning a new "clairvoyant," and suddenly, a man whose entire life has been based on fraud begins to see and feel some very real and fundamental truths.

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zxy556575

zxy556575

Dang, I really liked the trailer and have been looking forward to this for weeks. It's odd that Hulu is dumping it all at once, for whatever reason. I also seem to recall (?) reading that the release had been pushed back, which isn't ever a good sign.

Looks like reviews have been mixed.

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zxy556575

zxy556575

I'm halfway through and really enjoying this so far. The cast is good and the suspense keeps me clicking Next Episode.

I thought the tone would be more on the flip/glib/snarky side but it's darkly realistic. Charlie and Linda keep digging themselves in deeper and deeper. Get the hell out of the business and L.A., guys!

The "cool" therapist is annoying.

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zxy556575

zxy556575

Finale spoilers:

Spoiler

 

Was I supposed to feel happy that Charlie and Linda got away with everything and got the money? I thought they deserved some type of comeuppance, especially Linda considering what a lying conniver she was towards Charlie. The ending shot with Fonso and Eduardo being in cahoots was an interesting set-up for season two, if there is one.

If Rita had picked up the hammer and been found standing over White Tony's body, I might have bought her being charged with murder. As it was, she only found the body. Her fingerprints were on the murder weapon but she was with a crowd of people as alibi and there was no blood splatter on her. But I guess I can buy that the police were incompetent.

 

I doubt there will be another season but if so, I'd prefer more quick-witted flimflammery and less crime family violence.

The sets, wardrobe, and exterior locations were all really well done.

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ganesh

ganesh

(edited)

Jeffrey Donovan doesn't seem to have aged since Burn Notice. I enjoy seeing him use his charisma for more bad schemes though. 

The sight gag and callback with Gandalf/Merlin cracked me up. 

Edited by ganesh
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topanga

topanga

On 12/8/2016 at 1:26 PM, lordonia said:

I'm halfway through and really enjoying this so far. The cast is good and the suspense keeps me clicking Next Episode.

I thought the tone would be more on the flip/glib/snarky side but it's darkly realistic. Charlie and Linda keep digging themselves in deeper and deeper. Get the hell out of the business and L.A., guys!

The "cool" therapist is annoying.

Are you talking about the neurologist? The doctor who brings Charlie in the hospital for tests? Even if you're not, I'm chiming in to say I hate her, too. No way would a medical doctor be allowed to give a patient illegal substances with hallucinogenic properties. She would lose her medical license in a minute. 

That being said, I'm loving the show. Haven't finished the first season yet, but it's addictive. 

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bilgistic

bilgistic

I enjoyed it for the most part. The way the Linda dealt with Emma's death was stupid. Such a ridiculous trope--bury the body instead of calling the police. Linda might've served a year for possession (if she had no priors), but once Gina's crime against Nadine using scopalamine came out, Linda probably would've been exonerated.

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Pye

Pye

I opened an account here solely so I could comment here.

You are not alone. This show is hideously racist, as well as being totally nonsensical. I absolutely cannot buy the idea that a high-priced lawyer would put up with a conman husband in and of itself - unless there is further character development showing the wife to be a fly-by-night operator herself perhaps?

And there is nothing at all OK about ripping people off by playing on their superstitions, fears, and loneliness for lost loved ones.

This is not Michael Weston, helping people in need. This is just another nasty conman, ruining lives and battening off the blood, sweat and tears of people in need.

So this show was challenged BEFORE its blatant racism is thrust into our face.

I cannot imagine how anyone thought the portrayal of the Romani in this show was appropriate or anything even approaching OK. It's like turning on the TV to see an old time minstrel show, with the blackface and the pidgin English and the "Massa" this and "Massa" that. And if you think this is ok - it's not that you MIGHT be a racist.

You ARE a racist.

The Romani are a repressed and abused people all over Europe. During WWII, the Nazis decided to exterminate them right along with the Jews and any unfortunate people in Europe of African descent. They very nearly succeeded. From a starting population of less than a million Romani all across Europe, they murdered about half a million. In many places in Europe there were no Romani left. This was called the Porajmos - the Devouring.

Today all across Europe, Romani are abused and discriminated against. Their homes are firebombed while "racial purists" stand outside with guns and shoot them as they try to escape the flames. Men, women, children - they don't care. Romani women are sterilized without their knowledge or permission - 3 recently sued in the EU courts and 2 were awarded damages - the third had died in the meantime.

In the UK, they are the most hated of all minority groups, even worse than so-called "pakis" and blacks. European politicians commonly make racist remarks about them being thieves, dirty, smelly, subhuman - horrible things they say in public and on the record and get APPROVAL for it.

Their children are taken from them and put up for adoption to non-Romani families - the UK is notorious for doing this, snatching children for no or contrived reasons. Such as putting a Romani woman in a room with no furniture so the social worker can "write her up" for changing the baby's diaper on the floor and using that as a reason to take her baby from her and put it up for adoption. I've got news for those bigots - I ROUTINELY changed my baby on the floor, it was a lot easier that way. Wanna come and try to take my baby away? (Of course he's over 30 now so its probably a moot point - but it still makes my blood boil.)

Any time some piece of EuroTrash starts nattering on about our "racism" problem here in the US, just ask them how they treat Romani. If they've got a smidgen of a conscious, it'll shut 'em up pretty quick. If not, they'll probably launch a racist diatribe fit to melt your ears and make you wish you could not-hear that. Assuming YOU'VE got a smidgen of a conscious, that is.

Romani were actually enslaved in some places until 1864. That's right - they were slaves. Laws were passed making it legal to kill a Romani man. It was not considered murder. Eventually that "privilege" was also extended to adult Romani women in some places. You could kill a Romani without consequences. Children were to be taken away and raised in "hospitals" because they were vermin and had to be taught to behave like the "civilized" majority who were slaughtering their parents.

Even today these attitudes not only exist but are approved of by the white European majority.

Today - now - Romani are segregated in schools, just like we did with black children.

They are taken from their parents and given to non-Romani or sent to "re-education" centers - just like we did with American Indians. It's not the "gypsies" who kidnap children and steal them away from their parents - its the Gadje. It is us.

Their houses are set afire and people wait for them to come out so they can shoot them - just like we did with blacks.

They are refused regular employment and housing and forced to live in substandard conditions or turn to crime to survive, which they are then blamed for as if that is their first and only choice - just as we have done with many of our own minorities including Chinese immigrants brought here to be used as slave labor to build our railroads and our formerly enslaved black population.

Romani in Europe are incarcerated at 60 times the rate of the majority population - while they are only 20 times more likely (due to their status as subhumans who can't get jobs) to actually commit crimes. Just like we do with our black population here.

There is no way anyone should be able to watch this show without cringing through the entire thing, if you've got an ounce of simple humanity. While we don't arrange actual pogroms to go out and burn their houses down, we don't respect them any more than your average white European.

This is all happening now, today, all across Europe and in the UK. This isn't hundreds of years ago. It is NOW.

I loved Burn Notice, but this thing? This thing is not Burn Notice. This thing is a disgusting amalgamation of unbelievable, unsympathetic main characters with a thick overlay of blatant bigotry and racism.

Watch this only if you are a racist.

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millennium

millennium

(edited)
On 12/8/2016 at 11:08 PM, Lord Donia said:

Finale spoilers:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Was I supposed to feel happy that Charlie and Linda got away with everything and got the money? I thought they deserved some type of comeuppance, especially Linda considering what a lying conniver she was towards Charlie. The ending shot with Fonso and Eduardo being in cahoots was an interesting set-up for season two, if there is one.

If Rita had picked up the hammer and been found standing over White Tony's body, I might have bought her being charged with murder. As it was, she only found the body. Her fingerprints were on the murder weapon but she was with a crowd of people as alibi and there was no blood splatter on her. But I guess I can buy that the police were incompetent.

 

I doubt there will be another season but if so, I'd prefer more quick-witted flimflammery and less crime family violence.

The sets, wardrobe, and exterior locations were all really well done.

I just started watching this.   It's not bad.  Sad to see Mel Harris, who used to star in the number one network series thirtysomething, taking bit parts like this now.   Same goes for Isabella Rossellini.   But at least they're getting some kind of work. 

Hulu ordered another ten episodes last March.

Edited by millennium
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skd

skd

I opened an account here solely so I could comment here.

You are not alone. This show is hideously racist, as well as being totally nonsensical. I absolutely cannot buy the idea that a high-priced lawyer would put up with a conman husband in and of itself - unless there is further character development showing the wife to be a fly-by-night operator herself perhaps?

And there is nothing at all OK about ripping people off by playing on their superstitions, fears, and loneliness for lost loved ones.

This is not Michael Weston, helping people in need. This is just another nasty conman, ruining lives and battening off the blood, sweat and tears of people in need.

So this show was challenged BEFORE its blatant racism is thrust into our face.

I cannot imagine how anyone thought the portrayal of the Romani in this show was appropriate or anything even approaching OK. It's like turning on the TV to see an old time minstrel show, with the blackface and the pidgin English and the "Massa" this and "Massa" that. And if you think this is ok - it's not that you MIGHT be a racist.

You ARE a racist.

The Romani are a repressed and abused people all over Europe. During WWII, the Nazis decided to exterminate them right along with the Jews and any unfortunate people in Europe of African descent. They very nearly succeeded. From a starting population of less than a million Romani all across Europe, they murdered about half a million. In many places in Europe there were no Romani left. This was called the Porajmos - the Devouring.

Today all across Europe, Romani are abused and discriminated against. Their homes are firebombed while "racial purists" stand outside with guns and shoot them as they try to escape the flames. Men, women, children - they don't care. Romani women are sterilized without their knowledge or permission - 3 recently sued in the EU courts and 2 were awarded damages - the third had died in the meantime.

In the UK, they are the most hated of all minority groups, even worse than so-called "pakis" and blacks. European politicians commonly make racist remarks about them being thieves, dirty, smelly, subhuman - horrible things they say in public and on the record and get APPROVAL for it.

Their children are taken from them and put up for adoption to non-Romani families - the UK is notorious for doing this, snatching children for no or contrived reasons. Such as putting a Romani woman in a room with no furniture so the social worker can "write her up" for changing the baby's diaper on the floor and using that as a reason to take her baby from her and put it up for adoption. I've got news for those bigots - I ROUTINELY changed my baby on the floor, it was a lot easier that way. Wanna come and try to take my baby away? (Of course he's over 30 now so its probably a moot point - but it still makes my blood boil.)

Any time some piece of EuroTrash starts nattering on about our "racism" problem here in the US, just ask them how they treat Romani. If they've got a smidgen of a conscious, it'll shut 'em up pretty quick. If not, they'll probably launch a racist diatribe fit to melt your ears and make you wish you could not-hear that. Assuming YOU'VE got a smidgen of a conscious, that is.

Romani were actually enslaved in some places until 1864. That's right - they were slaves. Laws were passed making it legal to kill a Romani man. It was not considered murder. Eventually that "privilege" was also extended to adult Romani women in some places. You could kill a Romani without consequences. Children were to be taken away and raised in "hospitals" because they were vermin and had to be taught to behave like the "civilized" majority who were slaughtering their parents.

Even today these attitudes not only exist but are approved of by the white European majority.

Today - now - Romani are segregated in schools, just like we did with black children.

They are taken from their parents and given to non-Romani or sent to "re-education" centers - just like we did with American Indians. It's not the "gypsies" who kidnap children and steal them away from their parents - its the Gadje. It is us.

Their houses are set afire and people wait for them to come out so they can shoot them - just like we did with blacks.

They are refused regular employment and housing and forced to live in substandard conditions or turn to crime to survive, which they are then blamed for as if that is their first and only choice - just as we have done with many of our own minorities including Chinese immigrants brought here to be used as slave labor to build our railroads and our formerly enslaved black population.

Romani in Europe are incarcerated at 60 times the rate of the majority population - while they are only 20 times more likely (due to their status as subhumans who can't get jobs) to actually commit crimes. Just like we do with our black population here.

There is no way anyone should be able to watch this show without cringing through the entire thing, if you've got an ounce of simple humanity. While we don't arrange actual pogroms to go out and burn their houses down, we don't respect them any more than your average white European.

This is all happening now, today, all across Europe and in the UK. This isn't hundreds of years ago. It is NOW.

I loved Burn Notice, but this thing? This thing is not Burn Notice. This thing is a disgusting amalgamation of unbelievable, unsympathetic main characters with a thick overlay of blatant bigotry and racism.

Watch this only if you are a racist.

Thank you. Thank you for being a voice. Thank you for putting this comment here. Thank you a million times.

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bilgistic

bilgistic

This season was not as good as the first. The whole second storyline with the Roma families was woven in with the main family during the first season. This season, it was almost totally separate. Charlie's son was involved with the Roma daughter and Charlie's shop was in the strip mall that Fonso co-owned. That's it.

I really didn't enjoy Charlie's getting hooked into being a guru or whatever, and I thought it was implied to Linda (Charlie's wife) that Maggie(?) (Paz's/Charlie's partner) hypnotized Charlie into cooperating with her plans to build some self-help empire after Paz imploded. (And presumably to have sex with her.) But then Linda told Charlie to fuck off at the hospital, and I was scratching my head.

Charlie voiced his dissention with getting into the guru business several times, but kept going with it. It was just odd.

The Nora fake pregnancy reveal...whaaaat? What was even the point of that?

The flashbacks with Gina...enough, already.

I did like seeing Charlie's backstory and learning that his visions weren't new; he'd experienced them as a kid.

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ganesh

ganesh

(edited)

I'm actually enjoying the season. I don't mind the separate plots. I actually like Fonso better now. The relationship with Rita and the granddaughter is interesting to me. 

I'm on the episode where they go to the retreat though and it's grinding down for me. I don't like the guru plot. Though I liked the flashbacks. Great casting for the mom! 

Edited by ganesh
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ganesh

ganesh

(edited)

I rather enjoyed this season, but there were some way odd plots, like Nora. And it ended a mess with the FBI. 

I liked Fonso's plan, but I think he should have clued in to his partner that it was a set up to get rid of Big Jimbo. I think he would have probably wanted to help. That ended a mess though. 

I didn't see that the woman hypnotized Charlie. I think she didn't need to because he was the "real deal". 

I liked the son and Drina together. 

I'd be interested in another season. 

Edited by ganesh
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