Random TV Show Thoughts

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Anyone watching Fallout?

I have never played any of the games, so I can't tell how close the show reflects the game. Only watched about 20 minutes so far, but it's pretty enjoyable and has its own quirky tone. \

Also, it took me about 30 seconds to recognize Kyle MacLachlan. I guess we're all getting old.

I think the stress of being Mayor of Portland aged him considerably. It probably wasn't easy being Kwizatz Haderach, either.

 

[The Cat]

I think the stress of being Mayor of Portland aged him considerably. It probably wasn't easy being Kwizatz Haderach, either.

At least he got some damned fine coffee and cherry pie along the way.

 

[SensEye]

Anyone watching Fallout?

I have never played any of the games, so I can't tell how close the show reflects the game. Only watched about 20 minutes so far, but it's pretty enjoyable and has its own quirky tone. \

Also, it took me about 30 seconds to recognize Kyle MacLachlan. I guess we're all getting old.

I've started watching it. They do a pretty good job of capturing the atmosphere of the games - sets, costumes, landscape and that.

I suspect the plot will be pretty basic (seems that way so far) but I enjoy that it doesn't take itself too serious with it's deliberate campiness and over the top gore.

 

[The Cat]

1983 television.
Commercials not from the early 80's​

 

[Totenkindly]

GO RWBY!!!! And with the regular creative team involved in production!! *holds breath* [Creative team = mainly the writers, showrunner, and maybe art directors -- all the animation artists probably have new jobs by now]

 

[Totenkindly]

So I watched a few episodes of Killing Eve before, but this time it is sticking, I blew through 5 episodes already and will finish off Season One over the weekend. It's got great banter (sometimes Phoebe Waller-Bridge quirk works for me, sometimes not, and this time it is), it's interesting and fun to watch, and Jodie Comer is just radiant. I'm really enjoying this -- especially with some of the unexpected plotting.

It's a shame it looks like later seasons took a hit from less-qualified/well-known showrunners, but I'm looking forward to Emerald Fennell's season as well.

Also, I haven't watched Sandra Oh in awhile, for awhile it felt like she was getting typecast as the cold bitch sorts, but despite Comer taking most of the attention, Oh's actually providing a stable, yet quirky and unique performance here -- and I love how she can spin from amusing to intensely serious and back.

This is actually reminding me most of a far more serious-toned show (although with its own moments of flamboyance) -- "Hannibal," which had the same weird "love/obsession" bond between Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy. Comer and Oh also have this same kind of obsessive fascination with each other that so far borders on queer. When they both get in the same scene, they kind of take your breath away.

 

[SensEye]

Killing Eve is a great show. Jodie Comer just killed it as a psychopath. Her often humorous disregard for murder and mayhem never failed to crack me up. The last couple of seasons drop off a bit, but not too much, and the creators were wise enough to stop after four, so it never feels like it jumped the shark.

 

[Totenkindly]

Killing Eve is a great show. Jodie Comer just killed it as a psychopath.

heheh pun intended?

Her often humorous disregard for murder and mayhem never failed to crack me up.

I'm kind of impressed with her accents and multilingual dialogues. I can't say I'm very versed in it, but she sounds like she's actually capturing the nuance. I get a kick of her normal speaking voice outside the show too.

But such a tour de force. Like when she gives Eve that sob story and seems entirely convincing, but Eve doesn't buy an ounce of it and Villanelle then slowly smirks. Or the way she both flirts and antagonizes her handler at once. She really is tapped into the character.


EDIT: Finished it this morning (Sat). I really love the unexpected / non-conventional plot twists. Kind of like the craziness of the cafe scene in the finale:

Villanelle takes Konstantin's daughter there in public to meet Eve and Konstantin for the tradeoff. Usually this is all to KEEP people from creating a scene -- who wants to attract all of this attention?

Instead, as soon as Eve and Konstantin run down the steps into the cafe, Villanelle leaps up, pulls out her gun, and shoves it again the girl's head. Immediately all the diners in the cafe scream and leap up to try to find safety. Everything is total chaos. It's because that is what Villanelle thrives on, not because she's stupid, but because she gets a rush feeling like she has that much power. The whole thing becomes a huge public clusterf*ck.

I kinda like Eve's blowup in the Paris apartment too:

Talk about the other lesbian overtones aside from when they are talking to each other. Eve is full of such confusing emotional energy over Villanelle, she pitches all of her clothes on the ground, shatters all of her perfume, starts smashing champagne bottles on the floor. It seems to be the cliche of lesbian relationship anger. She seems to be liberating herself somehow and/or expressing her frustration -- until she hears someone come in and completely flips the switch on it. But I like how it all fits patterns of things that are known, yet still feels fresh when you see it in the show.

 

[The Cat]

spoilers​

 

[Z Buck McFate]

So I watched a few episodes of Killing Eve before, but this time it is sticking, I blew through 5 episodes already and will finish off Season One over the weekend. It's got great banter (sometimes Phoebe Waller-Bridge quirk works for me, sometimes not, and this time it is), it's interesting and fun to watch, and Jodie Comer is just radiant. I'm really enjoying this -- especially with some of the unexpected plotting.

It's a shame it looks like later seasons took a hit from less-qualified/well-known showrunners, but I'm looking forward to Emerald Fennell's season as well.

Also, I haven't watched Sandra Oh in awhile, for awhile it felt like she was getting typecast as the cold bitch sorts, but despite Comer taking most of the attention, Oh's actually providing a stable, yet quirky and unique performance here -- and I love how she can spin from amusing to intensely serious and back.

This is actually reminding me most of a far more serious-toned show (although with its own moments of flamboyance) -- "Hannibal," which had the same weird "love/obsession" bond between Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy. Comer and Oh also have this same kind of obsessive fascination with each other that so far borders on queer. When they both get in the same scene, they kind of take your breath away.

Villanelle has got to be on my top five list of TV villains. I haven't seen Comer in anything else. I don't know if she is really just naturally that charismatic, but she is amazing in this show. The script has fantastic dialogue, and the well-chosen cast delivers it perfectly. Fiona Shaw is best with characters that have really dry wit. And the guy who plays Villanelle's supervisor, he's a perfect fit for that role too (if I go to a new tab to look up his name, I might lose what I've written). I wasn't a big fan of his - or Sandra Oh - before this show. But everyone is so well used here. eta: Konstantin! Kim Bodnia is perfect as Konstantin./eta

It has a great ending, too. I was actually worried as the show went on that the ending would suck. Because how can you possibly give THAT situation a grand finale? I always feel that preemptive ending anxiety when there's a really charismatic villain who has been humanized with backstory - but still, has done terrible things. If they're let off the hook, even a little bit, it feels icky. But giving them any standard form of justice feels like lazy writing (compared to the complex writing that created the character in the first place). They managed a great ending though. It's just an impressive show, from beginning to end.

 

[Totenkindly]

I will have to stick it out to the end. (Won't be hard so far.) You know the finale is seemingly controversial? Apparently people love it or hate it. It has a 3.4 on imdb. But if you vouch for it, then maybe it is a good end.

Yup great casting. Fiona Shaw is so effortless. She was great in Andor too.

Edit: I've only seen Comer in a few things. She was great in The Last Duel, and even added some life to a kind of throwaway film called Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds. She's got game.

I was considering basing an RPG character for an upcoming campaign on Villanelle lol.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

No more NCR And they fell the same year New Vegas took place, so did the Legion succeed in conquering them, then collapse under its own weight? (I still have 2 episodes left, maybe this is going to be explained). It would be just the Legion M.O. to send a suicide mission to detonate a nuke within the NCR capital. Or maybe Mister House had them destroyed. There is no evidence (yet) that Caesar's legion ever made it to california. That said, I never got the sense the Legion was sustainable in the long term, so they very well could've achieved this, then succumbed to splintering and infighting after Caesar's cancer took him. They are basically a glorified army of raiders/slavers that come through, absorb local raiders and settlers, then move on to conquer new territory. How do they go about administering and controlling the territory they already have, let alone without a strong central authority? You're not going to maintain an empire of that size without a strong infrastructure of roads and transportation methods.

The western BoS also seems to have grown since New Vegas. I wouldn't be surprised if they were somehow involced in the NCR's demise. Then of course there's the enclave remnants

I like how they referenced the Fallout 3/4 theme when she unfurled the old flag. Goosebumps. I was hoping to hear some classic FO music.

This show is really making me want to go back and play New Vegas. They've done a splendid job of capturing the look and feel of that universe (usually game adaptations only get one or the other right)

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Oh, and uh, great job with that next gen Fallout 4 update, Bethesda. Perfect timing to break your game right when a whole bunch of new players are buying it after seeing the show. IT JUST WORKS?

Fallout 4's most popular mods are now ones that remove Bethesda's disastrous 'next gen' update

They just work.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I will have to stick it out to the end. (Won't be hard so far.) You know the finale is seemingly controversial? Apparently people love it or hate it.

I didn't know this, but it's not surprising. It wasn't Mr. Robot good, but it felt like a relief, like it couldn't have ended any other way. Kinda want to say more, but I don't want to spoil it.

Yup great casting. Fiona Shaw is so effortless. She was great in Andor too.

This just bumped Andor up a couple notches on my "to watch" list. I love her in the right roles. She delivers dry wit SO well. I've seen her play adle-minded crackpots - like in True Blood - and it's such a waste of potential.

edit: I've been rewatching Arrested Development, having similar thoughts about Jessica Walter. Goddamn, that woman was funny. Her delivery was impeccable. Both as Lucille Bluth and Mallory Archer. She didn't really hit her potential until almost retirement age. I can vaguely remember her as a bland character actress - the kind who would show up on Love Boat or Fantasy Island as background cast - and not much more.

 

[Totenkindly]

I didn't see Walter in AD, but damn she was so delicious in Archer. That's like the funniest show I still haven't finished.

 

[The Cat]

I didn't see Walter in AD, but damn she was so delicious in Archer. That's like the funniest show I still haven't finished.

They're very similar characters. Sometimes I like to imagine that Lucille Bluthe was one of Mallory Archer's last field assignments before getting control of Isis.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]