jay-95578 Reviews

Hijack: Less Than an Hour (2023) Season 1, Episode 5

Shut the door!

[1/10 · 6 August 2023]

When the first officer is on her own in the cockpit and all the hijackers leave, why doesn't she shut the door? Shut the door, land the plane. Problem solved. She must have a good reason I suppose. But now, having descended to 6,000', we don't have fuel to climb back up and get to London, guess that's not really worth questioning either. Also, why is the first officer in the left hand seat when she's trained to fly from the right hand seat? - and why didn't they use her headset to talk to the fighter pilots in the previous episode? - or the hand held microphones, for that matter? - and why don't the air traffic controllers do any controlling? - and why did the captain need to turn on the in flight entertainment system to work out where he was? - I'd have thought the nav display and the FMGC would give him slightly more usable information, no?

I'm sorry. I usually have a lot of patience for shoe's which stretch the truth so long as they're self consistent, or at least artfully made, but I can't abide with this trash.

Succession: With Open Eyes (2023) Season 4, Episode 10

Four Seasons of Solitude

[10/10 · 1 June 2023]

"The history of the family was a machine with repetitions, a turning wheel that would have gone on spilling into eternity were it not for the progressive and irremediable wearing of the axle." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

An almost perfect finale. Probably not quite the absolute best in the series (I think that title still belongs to the climactic episode, "Connor's Wedding", which delivered on the promise of the pilot); however, "With Open Eyes" was a finale that put everything in its natural resting place and reached the series' uncontrived judgment concerning these people and their lives: "We are bulls**t. You are bulls**t. I am bulls**t. We're nothing."

The big game continues and its self destructive cycles go on and on. It doesn't make any of its players happy - it forces them to live in a gilded prison of emotional abuse and nihilistic emptiness. But why do we, on the outside, care? Because of episode 8. That's why.

Succession: Connor's Wedding (2023) Season 4, Episode 3

Destined to become one of the great episodes of television.

[10/10 · 10 April 2023]

I think we tend to set too much store by Series Finales. Admittedly, where any story finally lands is very important, and, accordingly, the finale will effect the final flavour that any series, in its totality, leaves on the palate. That's inescapable. However, in the same sense that the last page of a novel is less important than its last 25% (usually the bit of the book that contains the meaty climax), generally, the last season of a series matters far more than its eventual conclusion.

If we think back to Breaking Bad we can see a good example of this. Breaking Bad was probably the finest example of a narrative driven drama series ever made (The Sopranos is more of an anthology of thematically related episodes than it is an ongoing series telling a single story, and The Wire doesn't have one overall arc, but rather 5 separate arcs - one per season). If you forget what happens in the last episode of Breaking Bad and, instead, think of its final 8 episodes as one long novelistic style climax, its overall shape feels very different. Its single greatest episode (and undoubtedly the climactic one) is not the finale (not even close) - It's the one three episodes from the end: "Ozymandias". The reason "Ozymandias" remains the best episode of TV ever made is because it just feels "right" as the main conclusion to the events set up way way back in the pilot. It is the episode the whole series was working towards from the beginning far more than the finale ever was/will be. There's a sense of inevitability to it, and even if we couldn't have guessed exactly how things would go down when when we did finally reach the place we come to in "Ozymandias", we knew those dominos had to fall, one way or another.

I think the same can be said for "Connor's Wedding". It's the one episode we've been waiting for since the beginning, and it will, I imagine, go down as the singular episode most fundamental to the Succession viewing experience. It was the series climax (even if it came sooner than expected). It's the one that blows the whole series wide open and which alters it beyond repair. Everything that comes after will now be composed of beautiful falling action; the bomb has already been dropped, the rest is fallout.

Given that it carries this hefty weight, it is just as well that it is so bloody good. It's a close to perfect hour. Very few series have got their main climax so right: Breaking Bad did it with "Ozymandias" (by far the greatest example), The Leftovers did it with "Certified", the final season of The Shield did it, Better Call Saul did it, Six Feet Under did it, and that's probably about it. That was the exhaustive list until today...

Atlanta: White Fashion (2022) Season 3, Episode 6

Neither good nor bad. Just disappointing.

[5/10 · 27 March 2023]

Not convinced by this one. I think it's the low point of the season so far (I actually quite like the anthology/side episodes that most others seem to be a bit sceptical of). This one felt like an episode of a tired sitcom - the kind of fare you might see in season 8 or 9 of Frasier or Friends where each character goes off on a little adventure before a very obvious moral materialises semi-abruptly out of nowhere at the end of each of their mini-arcs.

It all feels too simplistic and unrealistic to me. Just rewatch the press confence scene: Paper Boi tries to be vocal about what he really thinks and then gets cut over and "rescued" very unsubtly; the audience seems not to notice anything strange, instead, they rise up to clap ecstatically at the on brand, blatant corporate nonsense spewed by those sharing Al's platform. That's not how audiences, especially ones composed of journalists, behave in real life. I use this small example, but I could use many others. There is a tackiness that runs through the whole episode. Give me an invisible car any day, but mawkish writing, regardless of the correctness of the morals, isn't why I'm interested in art.

Cancer Attack remains the season high so far.

The Leftovers: It's a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World (2017) Season 3, Episode 5

Don Quiboaty

[10/10 · 29 July 2021]

Don Quixote was not a knight. He was a man who was afraid of death, who needed to believe that he was a chivalrous knight so that he could give himself something important to hold onto and which gave his life meaning. The world laughs at him for his ridiculous pretence but still he holds onto his delusion. Eventually, however, he is forced to come to terms with reality, and (400 year old spoiler ahead) after his illusion is shattered he goes home, renouncing chivalry, to die.

Like Don Quixote, Matt is a man who desperately needs to believe in something - anything -, and that he is at the centre of it all. But in the end, he too is forced to reconcile with the fact that, either way, he's going to die, and that he was never special. It's a Matt World may not be one of the most flawless episodes of the leftovers, but it's definitely one of the most riotously entertaining, until the end when it's suddenly one of the saddest.

Matt's zealotry has annoyed me over the years, but seeing his certainty stripped away is heartbreaking.

Normal People: Episode #1.10 (2020) Season 1, Episode 10

The episode which hurt the most

[10/10 · 12 July 2020]

I often list my favourite episodes of the year as we head towards Christmas because I'm weird like that. When I first watched this I wouldn't have presumed it would be up there, but it's stuck in my mind, haunting me a bit, and I've watched it 4 times over now.

To say it cut me to the core is a bit of a simplification. As a young man in my twenties the idea of a mate of mine committing suicide is terrifying, and as a look at a young person's depression it feels all to real and close to home right now, as many of my generation come to terms with our difficult new reality. As ever with this program it's all presented with such cutting authenticity, not hammy or overdone, just raw, believable emotion. It gave me chills.

Ozark (2017–2022)

Art designed by an algorithm

[5/10 · 18 June 2020]

Ozark is fine. It's nothing more than that. It wants to be clever and gritty like breaking bad, and to have the red knecky charm of justified, but the sad reality is that it is neither of those things. It is all plot with no substance. There's no point where you ask yourself "why is it interesting that these things are happening?". Instead, the shows philosophy is the more basic "here is a bunch of stuff that happens". The creators hope that if they make the production slick enough then we'll be strung along despite it all being pretty meaningless. For me, I'm sure that I would have fallen for Ozark had I not seen other better shows, like Breaking Bad, or The Sopranos, which exemplify how serious TV can be as an art form, but I have seen those shows, so now I can't look at Ozark without rolling my eyes.

Furthermore, I find the visuals depressing and monotonous. Why is everything blue and dark in Missouri even when it's sunny? ...Because they took a basic visual metaphor and applied it to 30 hours of television without thinking and without variation, that's why.

Having said that, Jason Bateman and Laura Linney do some fine acting, but for me it's just not enough to keep me interested. Sorry.

Alex Rider (2020–2024)

A compelling remix of the first two books of the series

[8/10 · 10 June 2020]

I slapped a bit of this on half interestedly. I was a big fan of the books when I was younger but hadn't thought about them in a while. Before I knew it I was my fourteen year old self again. This isn't Shakespeare, but Anthony Horowitz knows how to write a popular, fast paced, easy reading story, and the makers of this series have captured that energy very effectively. This adaptation melds Stormbreaker's first few "origin story" chapters with book number 2's mission, completely skipping most of the first book's story. That's fine by me as Storm-breaker was never my favourite. I imagine the thinking here was just that a film based on stormbreaker already exists. Also, with 12 books to cover and our Alex Rider (charismatically played by Otto Farrant) already looking closer to 20 than 14, they don't have time to waste. Other aspects were amped up and some parts of the story were completely different, but what's important is that it felt like Alex Rider much more than the 2006 movie ever did.

Cardinal (2017–2020)

A solid atmosphere piece

[7/10 · 6 June 2020]

Cardinal could be yet just another noir detective series but what it lacks in originality as far as writing goes it makes up for with its bleak atmosphere. The deathly plains of frozen Canada are made terrifying.

Normal People (2020)

An authentically emotional triumph

[9/10 · 1 May 2020]

This absolute stunner of a TV series crept up on me in the way only the best stories do. Initially it seemed like an honest but moderate enough coming of age story, however soon the sweep of time takes us further along in these people's lives. We watch them grow as their world around them evolves. The melancholy atmosphere, yearning soundtrack, Misty Irish setting and expansive time span lends the whole experience an epic quality, like a modern War and Peace. It feels incredibly rich for a series only 6 hours long and at times left me as an emotional jelly. Let it wash over you and enjoy.

Devs: Episode #1.4 (2020) Season 1, Episode 4

Episode 4 reveals Devs to be the real Sci-Fi deal

[10/10 · 20 April 2020]

Speaking as someone with a degree in physics I've been really impressed with this show so far. This week particularly. I realise that most viewers won't understand what the characters are talking about half the time, and some viewers will smugly think they understand but actually don't. This show is not giving us standard nonsensical Sci-fi babble like you might see on doctor who. The ideas they talk about are genuine philisophical and physical problems thrown up by quantum mechanics. The machine itself is at least theoretically possible, although I'll concede that it is absurd that a thing with such power might exist.

I'd go so far as to say that the plot around Lyndon's code which allows the machine to accept many world's into its algorithm is nothing short of masterful. The machine is not magically seeing into other parallel universes, instead it's creating a simulation of possible pasts that could have converged on our present by extrapolating back from present conditions. The machine cares not whether what it's seeing is accurate or not, it simply calculates. It's not too different to saying "okay, there's a cricket ball on the floor in my living room, my window is broken, and my son is in the garden with a cricket bat looking sheepish, therefore I can extrapolate back into the past to work out that my son probably broke my window". Except the machine uses data at the quantum level, and unimaginably vast amounts of it.

Lyndon's idea was basically to make the code so that the machine can simply disregard working out a solution to the problem of whether Schrödinger's cat is alive or dead. Instead it simply picks an option at random as it interpolates back in time. That this might make the picture clearer than running a code which has the burden of assessing the state of the metaphorical cat for every quantum interaction through history is a stroke of inspiration. The only problem then is that what the machine calculates won't be the past that we actually lived. It'll show us a past that might have been - hence why Forest says that every time they use it they'll get a different Jesus. In a sense he's right to call it a "party trick". What use is having a machine that shows you what could have happened in the past (or what could happen in the future for that matter) but out of an infinite number of possibilities?

That writer Alex Garland has managed to weld these Qunatum Physics conundrums into something genuinely emotional is impressive. Watching Forest slowly witness the clear image of his daughter's face appear through the fog gave me chills. He stands there knowing that what he's seeing isn't real but it feels so real that he can't resist connecting with it. As he says: "It's dangerous because it's seductive". This is simply Sci-fi of the highest order.

Sadly, I don't think you'd properly understand this show unless you actually know a thing or two about physics. Hence why some of the professional TV critics' reviews have been mixed (and some of the IMDb-ers' reviews, unaware of their own ignorance, have been scathing). Perhaps making a show too dense for someone without specialist knowledge to understand is a fault in and of itself. For me though, I'm just delighted that we've reached the point where a TV programme can strive for the same unpopular realms as art film and yet still be commercially viable. Barely 5 years ago that would have been nearly as unthinkable as the existence of Forrest's machine.

Band of Brothers: Why We Fight (2001) Season 1, Episode 9

Among the most upsetting episodes of TV I've ever seen

[10/10 · 18 April 2020]

Objectively speaking I think Bastogne (episode 6) is probably the strongest episode of Band of Brothers. Its just such a tight piece of writing and directing. However, Why We Fight is simply an emotional tour de force. I first watched it a good few years ago now but it remains seared into me.

With not a mention of Nazi ideology all series prior to this episode, the reveal of what was in the woods comes as an absolute sucker punch. It's just an utterly spine chilling hour. Rarely can a piece of art leave you stone cold silent after you've experienced it, but that's exactly what Why we fight does.

The use of Beethoven's string quartet is a particular master stroke. That music is so full of quiet longing, it's a sonically sparse plea to the heavens. The episode seems to be asking "how could the same society that gave us Beethoven also give us the depravity of the final solution?"

The question is always the same: what the hell did they think they were doing?

Better Call Saul: Bagman (2020) Season 5, Episode 8

Better Call Saul delivers an instant classic

[10/10 · 16 April 2020]

There are some episodes of TV that you just know will stand the test of time. They must have a memorable deviation from the standard formula and deliver a big payoff in the space of an hour and yet feel part of the series' overall catalogue. From Lost we have "the constant", from The Sopranos we have "Pine Barrens", from Breaking Bad we have about 10 episodes that fit that description, but for the sake of argument let's go with "Ozymandias". And now from Better Call Saul we have this. When we think of better call Saul in 10 years time no doubt we'll remember Chuck's outburst in chicanery, Mike's revenge in Five-O, and we'll remember Jimmy and Mike lost in the desert. At least I know I know I will. It's got iconic stamped all over it.

Giri/Haji (2019)

A thoroughly enjoyable adventure

[8/10 · 16 April 2020]

Giri/Haji is a TV series that's absolutely packed with everything and the kitchen sink. I feel like the writers had a lot of fun mixing in everything they could think of and finding a way to make it work. No idea is too outlandish and no trope too overused but Incredibly it all seems of a piece. This is just a great deal of fun all presented with a high production value. It's a wild ride of a series and at no point does it drag.

I especially enjoyed seeing my own city as the setting of someone else's adventure. It's funny how it might feel so alien to an outsider but to me so familiar.

I wouldn't say I don't have a few minor reservations. Realistically, you can't have this much plot without some of it feeling a little unbelievable (or at least not fleshed our in a way that makes the narrative fit as comfortably as it should). As a result I feel like a few big moments don't quite land as powerfully as they could do.

Ultimately however, I watch enough TV where nothing much happens (but in a really convincing way) to not be refreshed by something which gives me "everything happens, but sometimes you have to hold your nose and ignore the ever so slightly exposed plot mechanics".

The Shield (2002–2008)

One of the great dramas of the 2000's

[9/10 · 28 February 2020]

When I first started watching the Shield I underestimated it. It's aesthetic is so rough and ready, and it's episodic pace so fast and unforgiving that I didn't fully expect it to be disciplined enough to pull off an epic, carefully constructed overall story. I thought it was just another procedural police show, albeit a dark and pretty good one. However, as I went further into the series The Shield's masterplan was slowly revealed. This is the story of a self destructive man's world gradually collapsing around him set in motion from the Pilot, and unraveling over 7 extraordinarily consistent and hellishly compelling seasons which culminate in one of the strongest final stretches of episodes I've ever seen. Despite how it may appear at a glance, The Shield ranks among the best TV ever made. I hope we don't forget that.

The Leftovers (2014–2017)

The Dark Side of the Moon of TV Series. Truly Special.

[10/10 · 28 February 2020]

The Leftovers is a very different take on the post-apocalypse genre. Usually these shows are focused on survival in a world so far gone that society has crumbled. However, the apocalypse in The Leftovers is more subtle. Superficially, society carries on as normal but the disappearance of 2% of the human population can be explained by neither science nor faith and has thrown a spanner in the works of every culture and philosophy on Earth. In that sense the world is just as broken as the world of 'The Walking Dead', except that it is an emotional and intellectual death.

The Leftovers focuses itself on emotional turmoil and human grief rather than trying to explain the inexplicable. Given the rate at which our world is changing and the absurdity of life, The Leftovers exploration of what it's like to live in an inexplicable world feels very much like a document reflecting the 2010's. Like all great art, it is a mirror reflecting the times and the people that made it.

Sadly, nobody watched it (literally nobody except me and a handful of ecstatic TV critics). However, if you can get through the somewhat dour 1st season, you'll be rewarded by the best run of episodes ever produced by HBO. 'The Leftovers' may only be 28 episodes long, but flippy Michael Phelps does it pack a punch! Hours of television like 'International Assassin', and 'Certified' could stand up to the best of cinema on their own, but placed in the context of an ongoing TV series they become even more powerful. What's more, The Leftovers gave us one of the best series finale's ever made.

For me, now the dust has settled I'm ready to say that this is perhaps the greatest TV drama I've ever seen, and I've seen too many. It's either this or breaking bad. No joke.

The Sopranos (1999–2007)

The Original Bible of TV Drama

[10/10 · 28 February 2020]

'The Sopranos' is a behemoth of a TV series. Running for 86 episodes, it may not be quite as long as the likes of 'Mad Men', 'The West Wing' or 'Lost', but there is a heaviness to it. Each episode is like a stand alone film which is just a small piece of a huge catalogue. Bit by bit 'The Sopranos' creates one of the deepest, darkest, and most defiantly nihilistic explorations of modern middle class suburbia in all literature. Nothing else can match it for its breadth of existential themes, from love, loyalty, legacy, and depression, to crime and morality. It's like the bible of TV drama. Throw in James Gandolfini's iconic central performance as charismatic and possibly sociopathic mob boss 'Tony Soprano', and it becomes really not difficult to understand why people hold 'The Sopranos' in such high esteem.

To remind yourself of its greatness I recommend my personal favourite episodes 'Kennedy and Heidi' and 'Long Term Parking' or the classic 'Pine Barrens'. However, there are plenty of other super options to choose from.

Better Call Saul (2015–2022)

A Small Sad Tragedy Writ Large.

[10/10 · 23 February 2020]

While Better Call Saul might never match breaking bad for the shear blistering weight of its themes, insane tension and epic sweep, it still manages to be one of the very best TV shows currently airing, and somehow steps out of the Mt. Everest sized shadow cast by the older show. Its run so far has been an incredible leisurely paced meander through Saul Goldman's development, the story has gradually flowered into a complex morality play about the self fulfilling prophecy of how the person people perceive you to be could eventually over time become the actual you. This is told to us via a heartbreaking story of sibling rivalry which touches on mental illness along the way.

Better call Saul has retained the visual storytelling style of breaking bad which I loved so much. Minor details are given large amounts of screen time and conversations play out in real time so that it might take 4 episodes of Saul to get through one episode's worth of plot. The result is that it feels "real", much like breaking bad used to. In that way it becomes fully immersive to an extent very few other shows are capable.

It wasn't until season 5 that Better Call Saul really ascended up to the rarest "canon worthy great" level of TV series that Breaking Bad always occupied, for me at least. However, season 5 is as borderline perfect a run of episodes as you'll see. The melding of the show's two halves (Mike and Jimmy), the raised stakes, and inspiration from the clever people who dream this stuff up made the later half of season 5 absolutely riveting television.

I genuinely believe that the scriptwriters behind this show are the best in the business and that now we've reached the final stretch of episodes they'll be reaping the rewards of laying a solid emotional foundation earlier on in the series. It's going to be glorious payoff week after week from here on out if season 5 is anything to go by.

BoJack Horseman (2014–2020)

One of the most remarkable series of the last 10 years

[9/10 · 5 February 2020]

Why Bojack is the greatest animated TV series of all time won't be apparent to you for at least the first half of season 1. It starts fine, but it would fall under the "easy entertainment mildly amusing" banner occupied by family guy and American Dad. However, gradually Bojack and his companions become fascinating characters, and the creators gain the confidence to explore themes and ideas of a far more serious nature. The themes of addiction, mid life malaise, Holywood culture, inter generational trauma, and the difficulty of breaking your cycle of mistakes have rarely been tackled in more depth, or more with more creativity.

I can't think of many series in the last decade which have been as inventive as Bojack. There are many many episodes which stand out for being unique and memorable taken on their own, but which are even more powerful in the context of this bizarre comedy animation set in a world inexplicably filled with human animal hybrids.

When I think back on an old TV series I generally remember individual scenes or music cues which moved me at the time. With a particularly great TV series those images and memories will continue to move me just as much at the mere thought of them years after the fact as they did when I first saw them. Bojack is as filled with as many of those special iconic long lasting moments as almost any other series I've seen in the last few years. That says a lot for a series I initially didn't take second glance at.

Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

A TV Classic that still hasn't been topped

[10/10 · 28 January 2020]

Most TV series exist in a state of enforced stasis, minor changes to the status quo and a character death here and there keep might keep things fresh but ultimately as a viewer you might watch them on an episode to episode basis without thinking too far ahead. There are however a select few series which have set out trying to tell a complete unified story in which every event has a bearing on the overall picture of the tale, and everything from episode one to the finale might feel planned. I'd include Game of thrones, Mr Robot, The Americans etc. in this category. This means that you get this sense of falling further and further down the rabbit hole as you watch each episode. For creators, this is the hardest thing to pull off, it must take incredible discipline and patience. To this day I'd argue that there's only one TV series that has achieved this huge novelistic structure without losing momentum or going astray at some point in its long run. I am of course talking about Breaking Bad. From the first episode Breaking Bad knows what it's about and from there on it unfolds like a great big pulpy novel. Each season doesn't end in a finale which wraps things up only for the story to have to find a new beginning in it's next outing, but instead ends with just an episode (Invariably an incredible one) that raises the stakes for the next season and subtlety moves the story into the next act in a way that feels natural. There's a beginning, a middle and an end. And the protagonist's arc is clearly sign posted all the way through to the story's astounding, devastating final act.

When you reach the end of Breaking Bad you feel as though you've completed a long journey in the best way possible. Few series (or even movies for that matter) can match it for being just so stuffed with artistic craft. Everything is just tip top from the writing to the acting. Even while the visuals may not be able to match some of the bigger budget blockbuster series like game of thrones or Westworld for shear spectacle, they are instead meticulous in their creativity in a way those other series don't quite match. We're treated to beautiful wide angle shots of an omnipresent New Mexico desert, but also with close ups of little details most showrunners would simply ignore. Attention to these details is perhaps the thing which makes breaking bad so compelling. I personally always loved the look of the show for its grainy, high contrast, natural lighting style of cinematography. It's notably shot on film in a world increasingly turning to the clear look of digital. This all (alongside directing which is always imaginative) helps to bring out a wild western pulpy quality reminiscent of the work of Leone or Tarantino.

There a few series I hold closer to my heart than all the rest (The Leftovers, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Mad Men etc.), but still, 7 years after I finished Breaking Bad, it remains my ultimate TV experience and the only series I've seen that never put so much as a foot wrong over its 5 season run. I recommend giving it the most cinematic viewing you can. Find a big screen with a good sound system and settle in for a rare top to bottom TV masterpiece.

Watchmen (2019)

A Magnificent Season

[10/10 · 16 December 2019]

I went into this without much knowledge of the Watchmen universe and furthermore I'm not a person who usually enjoys superhero fiction. I am a big Damien Lindelof fanboy (showrunner on Lost, The Leftovers etc) so I thought I'd give this a go. The first few episodes were slow and steady but I found them to be of at least enough interest that I went away and read the original comic, which as promised turned out to be a near masterpiece. As this new season went along it became more and more apparent that it too, like the original, is a near masterpiece. It's rich in character development and exploration of its universe. It's full of exciting visual and musical choices and manages to be entirely self contained.

As a non-superhero story person I think this works as "an exception which proves the rule" for me. None of the superheroes (barring Dr Manhattan) actually have any powers - they're just vigilantes - and the series sets out to be an interesting take on why some people would want to be a vigilante, hiding their face to take justice and moral philosophy into their own hands, whether it's because the system has failed them, or because they're so narcissistic that they feel they have the right to personally dictate their own vision to the world. The one superhero who does have powers is essentially so powerful that he's a god, but owing to his ability to see all time, he's just as helpless as the rest of us to shape his destiny (maybe more so?).

Overall just a great very well crafted series with as much depth as it is entertaining. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants a bit more thoughtfulness in their superhero fiction and who doesn't mind the more nebulous storytelling style of Damon Lindelof.

Watchmen: A God Walks into Abar (2019) Season 1, Episode 8

Watchmen continues to amaze

[10/10 · 9 December 2019]

Dr Manhattan remains one of the most fascinating characters in comic book history because of his unknowability. Superficially, he is a bundle of contradictions. He says he finds human matters uninteresting, he can even see his entire life at all times spread out ahead and behind the present. But as ever what he says and what he does don't quite add up. Why he does anything if he is already resigned to the future is a philosophical conundrum. He acts apparently spontaneously even though he already knows what happens. He says in the original comic that he is just a puppet going through the motions of whatever actions his strings tell him to perform. By extension I suppose that if the strings tell him to love, that's what he does. He is both a cold calculating machine god, and a warm hearted human. A contradiction that somehow makes perfect sense.

The War of the Worlds (2019)

A Missed Opportunity

[4/10 · 4 December 2019]

I'm not usually one to complain about having a woke agenda thrust upon me, but if you're going to take a classic work of literature and change the story almost entirely you need to make sure that you bring something intelligent to the arena, especially if you're going to be pining to the people viewing about how immoral their ancestors were. The parallel between the Martian invasion and colonialism isn't a bad realisation exactly, but it's not explored intelligently here, instead the characters just have a very on the nose conversation about it which annihilates any nuance or subtext. Look to HBO's Watchmen for a real quality adaptation of a classic work of literature that has been reworked to explore the moral ideals of our time, and next to that The War of The Worlds looks a bit tragic.

I'd be happy to let the expository woke-ness slip if the dialogue and character development had swept me along, but it's all weirdly amateur, and the big moments just sadly aren't convincing. If you're going to hold the camera for extended periods of time on a single shot with intense music playing you need to have really earnt that indulgence, but that just wasn't the case here.

On the upside I'd say Eleanor Tomlinson gave a fine acting performance even if some of the other performers were a little wooden.

A lot of money and craft went into this, the visuals were often excellent, so it makes me feel a bit sad that it's turned out so forgettable.

Watchmen: An Almost Religious Awe (2019) Season 1, Episode 7

Trieu dat!

[9/10 · 2 December 2019]

Chandler shouldn't have complained about being sent to Tulsa. It all seems to go down all up in there.

After last weeks masterful detour, this week we're back in the here and now which allows the story in Tulsa to move along nicely for us. At first I was feeling accepting that this was just a piece moving episode that was setting up the stakes for the season's endgame, necessary but ultimately not a chapter that would be remembered even if it was presented this inventively.

...but then Regina King opened her husband's skull with a hammer and revealed that he seemed to have the soul of Dr Manhattan inside his head. I can't say I was expecting that shizz.

Mr. Robot: 409 Conflict (2019) Season 4, Episode 9

We're galloping towards the finish and it's thrilling!

[10/10 · 2 December 2019]

There's nothing better than when a TV series nails it's final season. It's a rare occurrence that takes years of setup and the writers need to have the confidence to withhold big moments that they could have otherwise dropped into earlier seasons. It's like the Hare and the Tortoise. Some series are great at first but then blow themselves so wide open that there's nowhere to go and they inevitably crumble away or vanish from in front of you like sand falling through your fingers as the seasons progress (I speak of Dexter, Lost, The Walking Dead, Homeland...) because they've been too focused on episode to episode thrills and run out of runway. Others (like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, the Americans, or The Shield) use each season to raise the stakes, laying the bedrock for future stories as they go. They use an overall long form structure like a sprawling novel so that when the final season arrives the dominoes are lined up and the writers can simply knock them over for our viewing pleasure. Mr Robot seems to be doing just that to hair raising results.