Emily in Paris season 2 (2021)

2021.12.29
It's more of the same junk food, but if that's what you're in the mood for who am I to judge.

I don't know what to call Emily's pathology (sociopath? NPD?) but she's a fun bubbly tornado that carves a path of destruction wherever she goes. And yet somehow she always comes out ahead, and there's usually some kind of happy ending. 

Mandalorian season 1 (2019) & 2 (2020)

2021.11.23
Got Disney+ yesterday, mostly to try Mandalorian. First episode OK; remaining hopeful.

2021.11.27

Up to #3 and it is still light and fun, but minutes and hours afterwards I start having those "hey, wait a minute..." fridge moments.

* minor spoilers *

The world building is fun, but they are really piling high the little bits of fan service. I do like the disgraced Imperials dirty uniforms, that kind of detail adds story instead of just service.

In episode #2 I can kind of forgive the whole Jawa hijinks, but in episode #3 "The Mandalorian" (I hope they just give him a name soon) goes from hardened bounty hunter to... what? Is this the first time he's ever handed over an innocent? Or a child?

2021.12.29

I've been hearing "Baby Yoda" for years now while avoiding spoilers - what was I supposed to think? I've also long heard the lore the Mandalorians are basically extinct so putting these together I thought this was some prequel to Yoda's youth. After a while the evidence piles up that this must be the "present" taking place soon after the destruction of the two Death Stars.

Summary: light adventure in a fantasy universe; original Star Wars fans must at least check it out. It's a rather violent but simple kids show that doesn't try and get dark and edgy for modern audiences. It's entertaining, and you sometimes feel like you're back in the Star Wars universe, which hasn't happened since at least the second trilogy.

I liked it. There's a line between exploitation and deep lore, and this did a fairly good job of keeping it meaningful. I'm watching the making of, and there's at least one guy there who really gets Star Wars, and it's like he's the soul of the show, maybe even more than the producer.

I've heard of internal struggles at Disney between the producers. Now I can finally find out more about that, and see what my favorite reviewers think.

*** TOTAL SPOILERS ***

* if you were a fan of Star Wars especially don't ruin season 2 *

2022.02.20

Finally got around to watching the making of for seasons 1 & 2. Seeing how much care and effort was put into it really elevated for me. At first I just thought it was so much fan service on top of fan service, but I appreciate now how much more it is than just that. The ending of season two only gets better the more I think about it, and see how much it meant to everyone. Watching people react on YouTube helped me realize how much it meant to me - I'm so used to being cynical about everything I didn't let it get to me at first.

It goes without saying but let it be written: I got more Star Wars out of any one episode of the Mandolarian than all of the 2010s Star Wars movies combined. And at the end of season two, it felt like going back to the source.

Midnight Mass (2021)

2021.11.23

Forgot to note this one. Netflix says I watched it 11/16/21 - 11/18/21.

It started slow, with lots of world and character building, then picked up speed somewhere in the middle of its 7 episodes. It did enough smart and interesting things to get me to binge it, instead of the preferred 1 a day.

At the end, there's not much to think about or remember, and it faded from memory so quickly I forgot to note it. But for a little while it reminded me of The Serpent and the Rainbow and The Seventh Sign. It was well done so I think it's worth seeing.

Squid Game (2021)

Watched this a few weeks ago. Started strong; totally shits the bed at the end.

* spoilers *

There are setups in the beginning that are not only not paid off at the end - they are horribly betrayed. One of the biggest motivations at the start is our hero is a deadbeat dad, and he'll do anything to fix it. By the end of the story he has different goals, and doesn't even seem to remember he has a kid who needs him.

The twist at the end was a terrible choice. It totally invalidates the old man character, and a lot of sacrifices made by various characters. I plodded through the end, and quickly forgot about this series.

I hear now remakes are coming. With this ending to build off, it will almost certainly be bad.

Handmaid's Tale season 3 & 4

2021.08.05
Finished watching.

Season one and two were kind of interesting, seasons three and four were a bit of a slog.

At first, June is very sympathetic. But as the story unfolds, you can't help but regularly thinking 'who will June get killed this episode with her wacky antics'.

I know how the book ends, but the season 4 ending doesn't help or inform that at all. No connection what so ever; not even a nod. The end of the series is just June's boring animal like hatred and revenge, over and over, forever and ever.

Overall good production and beautiful to watch, but disappointing.

Counterpart season 1 & 2 (2017-2019)

Overall one sentence review: starts off with a bang, ends with a whimper.

J.K. Simmons has increasingly been one to watch for years, but this might be his peak right here. Saying much more than that gets into spoilers, which could ruin things. So just watch the first few episodes; its worth it.

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OK, need more? It's got bits and pieces of "The X-Files" and "Dark", with a bit of old Cold War spy atmosphere, but its surprisingly not that supernatural or sci-fi at all.

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* * * * major spoilers * * **

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No really, just see it for yourself. The number one reason too see this is to watch J.K. Simmons in various roles doing various interesting things. What's with German TV sci-fi and parallel dimensions anyway? After watching Dark and this, I'm ready for whatever else they come up with.

It's good and worth watching, but ready yourself for disappointment. The first half or so is well written and well paced. And then something changes for the worse. It feels like this was going to be another season or two, but the word came down to wrap things up quickly and it really shows. Kind of like what happened to Babylon 5 - it was humming along nicely when it got cancelled, they had to condense, and then it got uncancelled and then they had to stretch. But there's no reprieve here; every piece is put back in its case and the board wiped clean. Lame tacked on fakeout ending notwithstanding.

There are some really memorable parts, but they're all in the beginning. By the time the show ends, I don't even miss it anymore. Still worth watching.

Emily in Paris season 1 (2020)

2021.03.21
Watching on Netflix. Yes, its junk food, but that doesn't invalidate it. Sometimes junk food is what you want.

The Go-Go's (2020)

2021.01.15 Watched some time in last week. OK, worth watching.