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TV Series Thread

Started by PickelledEggs, August 26, 2014, 06:28:36 PM

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SGOS

Watching the first season of Fargo.  It's a delightful symphony of cop/criminal chaos and incompetence.  I never looked into it before because I didn't think the original movie could ever be bested, much less by a TV series.  But I think it's better than the original.

drunkenshoe

Quote from: SGOS on March 01, 2021, 11:54:29 AM
Watching the first season of Fargo.  It's a delightful symphony of cop/criminal chaos and incompetence.  I never looked into it before because I didn't think the original movie could ever be bested, much less by a TV series.  But I think it's better than the original.

It's really good. You won't be disappointed by the following seasons.
"science is not about building a body of known 'facts'. ıt is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good." - tp

Hydra009

Watching a Wandavision analysis video and something stuck out to me:

[spoiler](Paraphrased) "Wanda created the hex and enslaved a bunch of people, and unless something changes, this show will make her out to be the villain, which I refuse to believe.  A lot of other Marvel characters have done bad things and remained sympathetic - like Bucky and the Hulk.  I don't think we can have another Avenger we can consider good while overlooking all their bad deeds.  Those two did bad things while they weren't in control of their powers, while Wanda did bad things while in full control of her powers.  So she can't call herself a 'good guy' anymore because she did bad things intentionally.

Therefore, I hope that Hayward is revealed to be more villainous and more responsible for the hex than previously thought, because it takes some of the moral accountability off Wanda and onto him."

I knew it!  I knew people had it out for Hayward and apparently, it's from an inability to see Wanda as villainous (they can't reconcile Wanda the hero with Wanda the anti-villain - see black-and-white thinking) and therefore needing to shift culpability from Wanda to Hayward in order to continue to see Wanda as good.

I wondered why Hayward was getting huge flak from his intro scene on, and this is why.  Gotta shift that blame somehow and onto the guy you like the least.

Don't get me wrong, Hayward has done some mildly bad stuff himself - but he's essentially dealing with the world's toughest hostage situation - so a lot of it is pretty understandable.[/spoiler]

Blackleaf

[spoiler=WandaVision finale]Interesting. I didn't know what to expect, and I'm not disappointed. This finale was very clever. Still don't know for sure if Agatha was working with Hayward, or if her involvement was just a coincidence. I think it's the latter, but their goals seemed to align very well. In either case, I like the resolution between them. The giant runes in the sky was a twist they set up in an earlier episode, yet it still surprised me. And now she's a mind puppet. I have a feeling she'll be freed from her mind control at some point. I feel like she had a point, but went about this the wrong way. Wanda has the power, but not the knowledge, and that makes her dangerous. Agatha's solution was to take Wanda's power for herself, but what she should have done was offer to be Wanda's mentor. After all, if you meet someone who's supposed to be this super powerful witch of prophecy, why the fuck would you choose to be her enemy, dumbass? lol

I also love how the dispute between the two Visions was resolved. So now Vision is fully restored, seemingly with all of his memories returned to him. So...where did he go? I was hoping one of the two after-credits scenes would address this, but he just kind of disappeared. I assume he'll be back later, but does he not have a thing for Wanda anymore? Does Wanda not realize her Vision is alive again? Maybe it would have come across as heartless if Wanda witnessed the erasure of the Vision she created and then immediately ran into the arms of the restored Vision, but I can't imagine they'd stay away from each other.

The final after-credits scene seems to show Wanda studying from Agatha's black book, so she's likely increasing in power by quite a lot. It's also implied that she may have found a way to bring her children back somehow. She doesn't need to bring Vision back, because, of course, SWORD already brought him back. They seem to want us to believe that Wanda will return later as a villain, but we'll have to wait and see about that.[/spoiler]
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

SGOS

Quote from: Blackleaf on March 05, 2021, 12:00:59 PM
Interesting. I didn't know what to expect.
Very nice episode.  Tied everything together neatly.  I'm fonda' Wanda.  Always have been.

Hydra009

Wandavision final episode

[spoiler]Okay...I concede that Hayward is the bad guy.  Shooting at kids is no beuno.  Even if technically, they were assaulting federal agents (big felony right there).

Still, his goal of keeping The Vision as a combat servitor isn't a bad idea.  Remember that the Earth got wrecked by Thanos and the Avengers are toast, so having a weapon on hand to defend the Earth (Tony's original idea, btw) is understandable.

Wanda's head-crushing moment reminded me a bit too much of Game of Thrones and a certain Mandalorian.

The wicked witch's boots sticking out under the rubble was a nice touch.  I understood that reference.  :P

And I guess they're saving Mephisto for Multiverse of Madness.[/spoiler]

Hydra009

#1086
Quote from: Blackleaf on March 05, 2021, 12:00:59 PM[spoiler=WandaVision finale]Still don't know for sure if Agatha was working with Hayward, or if her involvement was just a coincidence. I think it's the latter, but their goals seemed to align very well. In either case, I like the resolution between them. The giant runes in the sky was a twist they set up in an earlier episode, yet it still surprised me. And now she's a mind puppet. I have a feeling she'll be freed from her mind control at some point. I feel like she had a point, but went about this the wrong way. Wanda has the power, but not the knowledge, and that makes her dangerous. Agatha's solution was to take Wanda's power for herself, but what she should have done was offer to be Wanda's mentor. After all, if you meet someone who's supposed to be this super powerful witch of prophecy, why the fuck would you choose to be her enemy, dumbass? lol

I also love how the dispute between the two Visions was resolved. So now Vision is fully restored, seemingly with all of his memories returned to him. So...where did he go? I was hoping one of the two after-credits scenes would address this, but he just kind of disappeared. I assume he'll be back later, but does he not have a thing for Wanda anymore? Does Wanda not realize her Vision is alive again? Maybe it would have come across as heartless if Wanda witnessed the erasure of the Vision she created and then immediately ran into the arms of the restored Vision, but I can't imagine they'd stay away from each other.

The final after-credits scene seems to show Wanda studying from Agatha's black book, so she's likely increasing in power by quite a lot. It's also implied that she may have found a way to bring her children back somehow. She doesn't need to bring Vision back, because, of course, SWORD already brought him back. They seem to want us to believe that Wanda will return later as a villain, but we'll have to wait and see about that.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]It's a coincidence.

And Agatha's gameplan wasn't a bad one - a power-stealer typically wants to be the target of attacks as much as possible.  But the problem is that any wrinkle in that plan, and it's all over.  Definitely a case of overreliance on a single move.

Yeah, it seems like they kinda forgot about Vision.  Though I still have Multiverse of Madness before I have to eat crow.

The Scarlet Witch was initially more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme and now it looks like she's only increased her power since.  Though it seems like she has more innate power but only some training, while Mister Doctor has a much smaller amount of innate power but has honed it with lots and lots of training.  So perhaps they might be much closer to equal than it first appears.[/spoiler]

Hydra009

#1087
Quote from: SGOS on March 05, 2021, 03:13:59 PMVery nice episode.  Tied everything together neatly.  I'm fonda' Wanda.  Always have been.
I'm not super big on the magic side of Marvel (iirc, the only comics I read with Wanda were some Avengers West Coast) but I respect Marvel for giving an otherwise secondary character a much more expanded role.  And for characters who have gone through a lot, it's good writing to pause and address that instead of keeping all that stuff offscreen.

Now if they could just do Secret Invasion, Annihilation with Nova and Warlock, MCU X-Men with 90s Rogue, and anything with Doctor Doom that isn't awful, I would be so happy.

SGOS

Quote from: Hydra009 on March 05, 2021, 04:26:14 PM
I'm not super big on the magic side of Marvel
I'm still holding to my contrary position that Dr. Strange is my favorite character, even though there is so much supernatural and borderline religion in his character. 

But I'm watching Wanda for the second time, and it's even more fun knowing more about what is going on and catching the things that didn't make sense before.

[spoiler]At the end of the first episode the couple settle down on the couch together making kissy faces as the canned audience sighs and fawns.  As the fake Wanda show ends it's broadcast on the black and white TV, there is a 2 second WTF of full color that is just a view of a high tech observation station with a panel of snooper monitors observing the goings on.  I remember seeing that and wondering about it the first time around, but it portends to something sinister that is in store for us.  I like watching for this little clues.

Also, when we first meet Agnes she acts peculiar in a way that I took for overacting, but it's now obvious now that she has special insight into Wanda's motives and who she really is. [/spoiler]

Shiranu

Quote from: SGOS on March 06, 2021, 01:13:36 PM
I'm still holding to my contrary position that Dr. Strange is my favorite character, even though there is so much supernatural and borderline religion in his character. 

But I'm watching Wanda for the second time, and it's even more fun knowing more about what is going on and catching the things that didn't make sense before.

[spoiler]At the end of the first episode the couple settle down on the couch together making kissy faces as the canned audience sighs and fawns.  As the fake Wanda show ends it's broadcast on the black and white TV, there is a 2 second WTF of full color that is just a view of a high tech observation station with a panel of snooper monitors observing the goings on.  I remember seeing that and wondering about it the first time around, but it portends to something sinister that is in store for us.  I like watching for this little clues.
[/spoiler]

I'm still waiting on another Dr. Strange movie, because he and Capt were probably my two favorite characters.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Hydra009

Quote from: Shiranu on March 06, 2021, 01:56:48 PMI'm still waiting on another Dr. Strange movie, because he and Capt were probably my two favorite characters.
Strange was amazing in his movie.  That Contact-esque dimensional boat ride got my attention, but that final confrontation really won me over.  I'm hoping that Black Widow gets similar success and audiences really latch onto her character.

I'm also looking forward to What If? (summer 2021) and Armor Wars (features War Machine prominently, no release date, starts filming in a month or two)

drunkenshoe

Teenage Bounty Hunters. The name is not chosen good though I think. It's a comedy and surprisingly entertaining. Satiric... Southern US. Rich, religious community. It's telling the story of twin sisters and the community they live in. They meet someone from real life...
"science is not about building a body of known 'facts'. ıt is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good." - tp

SGOS

#1092
I remember watching the trailers for Dr. Strange and not being too impressed, but I think one of the things that made the movie was the actual story.  The very nature of trailers is they can't tell a story.  You see dissociated clips.  Trailers excel at action events.  Clever story lines are much harder.

And just when I thought I had a handle on Dr. Strange and his ability to create portals, along comes an Avenger movie were he's not just making portals that he can walk through anymore, but throwing a portal like a lasso at enemies, and whisking them gone to some unknown dimension.  Can you imagine how disoriented an enemy must feel when he's about to blast Dr. Strange, but suddenly finds himself standing alone in a quiet glade or in front of a charging band of Wakanda warriors?  If Spiderman needs to be someplace else in the battle, Dr. Strange can just portal him to where he can do more damage.

Hydra009

Quote from: SGOS on March 09, 2021, 09:49:45 AMAnd just when I thought I had a handle on Dr. Strange and his ability to create portals, along comes an Avenger movie were he's not just making portals that he can walk through anymore, but throwing a portal like a lasso at enemies, and whisking them gone to some unknown dimension.  Can you imagine how disoriented an enemy must feel when he's about to blast Dr. Strange, but suddenly finds himself standing alone in a quiet glade or in front of a charging band of Wakanda warriors?  If Spiderman needs to be someplace else in the battle, Dr. Strange can just portal him to where he can do more damage.
The support class is the unsung hero of RPGs and superhero movies.

trdsf

Quote from: Hydra009 on March 09, 2021, 03:57:32 PM
The support class is the unsung hero of RPGs and superhero movies.
This, and this, and this.  The number of supers tabletop RPGs I've fucked up for the GM by just realizing I can put Resource A at Point B and not really do anything myself other than facilitate that happening is a large but still finite integer.

I used to live for a GM glaring at me and saying, "God damn it!"  :D

The Balance class in Wizard101 is this writ large: they have a few decent attacks of their own, but their main stock-in-trade is massively buffing their team (or at least their team's Designated Nuke) and weakening the opponents.  And since my highest level character is typically the Designated Nuke, I can attest to the difference the support class makes.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan