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Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 3:56 pm
by Sparky Prime
The Falcon and Winter Soldier finale
Spoiler
Sam formally takes on the Captain America mantel, with a brand new costume provided by Wakanda. I'm guessing this new suit has vibranium wings now, considering he takes some hard hits from helicopters without a dent, making them much stronger. The Flag Smashers go ahead with their plans to kidnap the GRC members who are about to vote on forcibly relocating those displaced by the blip. Walker returns, with his own homemade shield to help Sam and Bucky. Ultimately, they save all the GRC members, and Sam gives a speech that he thinks they shouldn't go ahead with the vote.

Very surprised to find out Sharon Carter is the Power Broker. I figured they'd reveal their identity sooner or later, but I didn't expect the twist of it being her. True to his word, Sam gets her a pardon, making her an even bigger threat. Sam gets Isaiah his own section in the Captain America museum, which is really nice. And Walker officially becomes US Agent, complete with his new costume. Also cool to see the end title of the show becomes Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series. With the finale, Captain America 4 was announced, it'll be very nice to see where they take the story with the plot threads they laid in this series.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:42 pm
by andersonh1
Great ending, glad to see Sam still has his wings, even as Captain America. Glad to see John Walker paying attention and hopefully learning a few things. It's been a good series, and I would say there's plenty of room for a sequel. Sam and Bucky make a good team, and the actors seem to work well together. I thought the scene where Isaiah was shown his display in the museum was really moving, and well played by all.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 11:01 am
by JediTricks
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series thoughts
Spoiler
This show felt so lifeless. The series villains, Karli and the Flag Smashers, never felt clear what their real goals were or why they felt justified in murder after murder yet the producers still tried to portray them as sympathetic - Karli blew that building of people up for no obvious goal, and killed Battlestar in a way that every other character has been hit and not killed, so are we supposed to think she's not trying to kill everyone or that this was the only accident? Every MCU hero has hit non-powered people that hard once or twice that should have killed a normal person yet doesn't. It also gives the brown villains plenty of comeuppance while letting the white villains (John Walker and the Power Broker whose reveal makes no sense given what Sharon was doing in her earlier episodes) totally off the hook while Zemo still gets what he wants and really doesn't seem to mind his temporary fate.

There was a lot of ping-ponging about, going from place to place to get another piece of information and another action scene, it felt very rote. Zemo became the only likable character whose convictions were consistent throughout. Bucky would be the second-best character in my mind, he got a real character arc, but his storyline lost thrust too early. Sam seemed to want to have it both ways, deal with the issues that black people are suffering in this world while also not answering questions about how he expects to get a loan without an income - that was framed as some sort of societal injustice but the writers couldn't get there at all, and it loomed over the whole series as he vaguely tried to save his sister's business. I guess that was just a backdrop for him to montage his way into becoming the new shield-slinger, and then thankfully he didn't have to do an ounce of work on the suit since some random entity who has no reason to just hands him a new Falcon-as-Cap suit anyway. I didn't mind for a moment the Dora Milaje "disarming" Bucky, though, he's an unknown quantity who seems mentally fixed but could still be a sleeper, he doesn't even know for sure, it's only reasonable that when they give him a weapon they might want to build in a failsafe. This show also had more endings than Return of the King.
As for other shows...

Netflix's Disenchantment is finally starting to find its footing and speak with more of its own voice. It's not the must-see of Futurama or the first decade of Simpsons, but it's finally something I actually want to go back to instead of just feel obligated to suffer.

Got HBO Max and fell in love with Doom Patrol, but unfortunately my girlfriend also likes it and is putting a lot of time into her college studies so I'm only up to ep 10. Great show though, really comic booky.

I'm not sure if I've given up on Superman & Lois, but I notice I have zero drive to watch more miserable teen drama and adults complaining about paying the bills, so it's probably gonna be summer filler for me which sucks.

The Flash is now the dumbest thing on television. They literally saved the day with the power of love, that was going to be their big finale for last season but got held back for this season due to COVID. I hate-watch this show almost as much as Grant Gustin hate-acts on it, you can tell he desperately doesn't want to be there.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 2:14 pm
by Sparky Prime
JediTricks wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 11:01 am The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series thoughts
Spoiler
This show felt so lifeless. The series villains, Karli and the Flag Smashers, never felt clear what their real goals were or why they felt justified in murder after murder yet the producers still tried to portray them as sympathetic - Karli blew that building of people up for no obvious goal, and killed Battlestar in a way that every other character has been hit and not killed, so are we supposed to think she's not trying to kill everyone or that this was the only accident? Every MCU hero has hit non-powered people that hard once or twice that should have killed a normal person yet doesn't. It also gives the brown villains plenty of comeuppance while letting the white villains (John Walker and the Power Broker whose reveal makes no sense given what Sharon was doing in her earlier episodes) totally off the hook while Zemo still gets what he wants and really doesn't seem to mind his temporary fate.

There was a lot of ping-ponging about, going from place to place to get another piece of information and another action scene, it felt very rote. Zemo became the only likable character whose convictions were consistent throughout. Bucky would be the second-best character in my mind, he got a real character arc, but his storyline lost thrust too early. Sam seemed to want to have it both ways, deal with the issues that black people are suffering in this world while also not answering questions about how he expects to get a loan without an income - that was framed as some sort of societal injustice but the writers couldn't get there at all, and it loomed over the whole series as he vaguely tried to save his sister's business. I guess that was just a backdrop for him to montage his way into becoming the new shield-slinger, and then thankfully he didn't have to do an ounce of work on the suit since some random entity who has no reason to just hands him a new Falcon-as-Cap suit anyway. I didn't mind for a moment the Dora Milaje "disarming" Bucky, though, he's an unknown quantity who seems mentally fixed but could still be a sleeper, he doesn't even know for sure, it's only reasonable that when they give him a weapon they might want to build in a failsafe. This show also had more endings than Return of the King.
Spoiler
I kinda feel like we watched very different shows here... I felt they were very clear about the Flag Smashers and their goals. I mean, they did outright say what their goals were a few times throughout the series. They liked the world better during the Blip, when people came together to help each other out, regardless of boarders and governments. Following the Blip, things started to go back to the way it was before. Boarders were starting to be enforced again, and the governments were starting to take control again, and weren't helping them. They weren't getting enough supplies anymore, which they felt governments were hording, and those governments were starting to kick them out of the places they'd settled, leaving them with no where else to go. So, the Flag Smashers were trying to fight back, to maintain what they'd built to survive during the Blip. Karli wanted to send a message by blowing up that building with people still inside. She thought it'd convince the governments to back off. Instead, that backfired, with the GRC pushing forward with their vote to relocate people by force instead. They are sympathetic villains, in that they're just people caught in a bad situation following the Blip. Not that it justifies them murdering people, but, as I said, that backfires, showing what Karli's methods of fighting this battle is not the right way.

Battlestar's death did seem a little convenient, when we often see people (with or without powers) take a hit like that in such action series and survive without even a scratch. But it goes to show how vulnerable people without powers are in a fight against people with powers, as well as served as the tipping point for Walker to cross that line heroes aren't supposed to cross. And yes, that death was accidental, Karli didn't intend to kill Battlestar.

There's a simple reason why Power Broker doesn't get any comeuppance. None of them knows Power Broker is Sharon Carter. I'd also disagree with you that her reveal didn't make sense given what she was doing in earlier episodes... She wanted the Super Soldier Serum back. It was within her own interests to help Sam and Bucky go after the Flag Smashers that had stolen it from her.

Sam wasn't handed his new suit from "some random entity who has no reason"... In their last meeting together, Bucky asked Ayo for a favor, which would turn out to be the new Captain America suit for Sam.

Also wouldn't agree this had more endings than Return of the King... Granted, they had a few different loose ends they touched upon, but I thought it flowed together pretty well. It's not like they faded out multiple times making you think that was it, like Return of the King did.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:34 am
by andersonh1
Loki episode 1 - Not at all what I expected, though admittedly I can't say I had given the possible storyline of Loki a lot of thought.
Spoiler
Loki gets arrested by a group that polices the timelines to prevent timeline conflicts and a multiverse from forming, so I presume the next big storyline is being seeded here. There's a lot of humor at Loki's expense here as he can do very little to fight back against the time police. But an agent spends time trying to figure out what makes Loki tick, and it's fairly interesting. In the end, Loki is recruited to help capture... another version of himself.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:37 am
by andersonh1
JediTricks wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 11:01 amI'm not sure if I've given up on Superman & Lois, but I notice I have zero drive to watch more miserable teen drama and adults complaining about paying the bills, so it's probably gonna be summer filler for me which sucks.
I hadn't noticed that the show was back, so I'm a few episodes behind, but watching the first episode after the break reminded me just why I enjoy this show. I did not expect the stranger in the armor to be
Spoiler
John Henry Irons
, but it makes perfect sense. I need to get caught up, because spoilers for the show are hard to avoid.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 10:56 am
by JediTricks
Loki was really excellent right up until the very last reveal, which knocked it down only slightly. The reveal had the issue of...
Spoiler
the standard Marvel Studios gimmick making the villain the evil version of the protagonist, this time as literal as it gets. Someone pointed out to me that we just had this happen on WandaVision too.
But the cast was outstanding, there was really interesting character and story stuff without a bunch of boring fight scenes *cough* Falcon and Winter Soldier *cough*, it looked fantastic, and Owen Wilson was a delight in this role. Hopefully the follow-through will be just as good, but honestly, this was a shock after the first 2 Disney+ Marvel shows left me cold.


DC's Legends of Tomorrow keeps circling the drain, there really doesn't feel like anything else in the tank as they keep firing the best actors and bringing in randos with bad writing. Separating Sarah Lance from the others also doesn't do it. It's become the slog that The Flash has been for years, except more flippant about its bad writing.

I'm not even keeping up with the other CW shows right now, they're on the DVR but I just can't bring myself to invest an hour in any of 'em.


Star Wars: The Bad Batch just keeps getting worse as well, watching new episodes is a chore because the main character, Omega, doesn't learn and keeps getting the same character beats over and over, while the titular bad batch characters get nerfed every episode to make room for Omega. The most recent episode includes 2 of my absolute least-favorite characters in all of Star Warsdom, so I am not sure I'm going to bother giving this much more time.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:58 am
by Sparky Prime
Loki's premier was pretty good. The Time Variance Authority is not something I've ever heard of before. Which, with all the time travel and reality hopping that happens in the comics, why haven't they turned up more often?
Spoiler
At any rate, here, the TVA works to preserve the "Sacred Timeline" by cleaning up branches. I like this idea of an extradimensional agency that cleans up the timeline, such as Loki escaping when he wasn't supposed to. But I'm not a fan of this "Sacred Timeline" explanation. I feel it conflicts with what has been established about the multiverse and time travel in the MCU... seeing as they say the mutliverse was cleaned up into this one timeline following a mutliverse war. It's interesting that at his trial, when Loki explains he's only become a Variance because of the Avengers interference in the timeline, he's told that was meant to happen. Really? Whether the Avengers meddling in time was "meant to happen" or not, it was still because of their mistakes that allowed Loki to escape. And what about 2014 Thanos traveling to 2023 where he (and his army) is killed? Wouldn't that have caused a branch? Or Steve staying in the past? Why are these events apparently ok to leave be, but Loki's escape isn't?

I like the character development they cover in this episode. With where in the timeline this Loki came from, he's still bent on conquering. But with Owen Wilson's character's probe into his motivations, and seeing what was supposed to happen to him, it's great to see Loki admit why he plays the part of a villain, and that he doesn't actually enjoy hurting people.

It was interesting to see Infinity Stones apparently are commonly confiscated by the TVA, and outside their normal reality have no power. It was pretty funny seeing Loki in awe of seeing so many of the stones just forgotten in an evidence drawer. Speaking of which, the comedy in this episode was great. Every joke and gag was excellent.

I'm not so sure the other Variant they're after is just another version of Loki. For only the first episode, that seems like too fast and easy of a reveal. I get the impression there is more to it.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:14 pm
by andersonh1
Watched the two most recent episodes of Superman and Lois today and I'm caught up. They are including more Superman-centric plotlines, which is what I've been wanting to see. Plenty of good material for Lois as well, and even Sam Lane. I feel sorry for Jordan constantly being blindsided by yet another new super power and having his life disrupted yet again. I am really enjoying this show. I just hope it keeps up the quality. These CW DC shows always seem to have a good first few seasons, and then go downhill after that. This one feels like the best of the bunch though, maybe the best one since those first two Arrow seasons.

I did not expect that cliffhanger with Max Lord... now that is interesting, and could explain why the Superman from Irons' universe sided with the Kryptonians.

Re: TV shows are awesome

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:21 am
by andersonh1
I'm really enjoying The Bad Batch. It's very much "guest star of the week" from the Clone Wars, but done well enough that I really don't mind. The last two episodes were very good, with the team trying to escape from Crosshairs and his squadron in the starship junkyard, and then Omega caught between Cad Bane and Fennec Shand. I wonder if Shand's presence on the upcoming Book of Boba Fett and the fact that here she's being paid to protect Omega, who is a second non-growth accelerated clone of Jango Fett (and thus Boba Fett's "sister") are related in any way? Or is it just a case of an opportunity to connect the animated and live action Star Wars even more?

Superman and Lois - this show continues to move right along, with one plot turn after another. They're not dragging this story out, which makes for some good storytelling. I enjoyed the flashback episode and more of the Fleischer suit, as well as an expanded look at Superman and Lois's relationship. I figured it was all Morgan Edge trying to understand what makes Clark tick. That cliffhanger is a great one, but not for a moment do I believe that Superman has actually gone over to Edge's side.

Loki - the Time Keepers look fake because they are. There's more going on here than we know, still. And how about that mid-credits scene. I recognize 60s comic book Loki, but not the others. Best episode yet.