Last TV Show You Watched

been powering through the first series of arrow the last few days. series 2 starts on monday and i really want to catch up. i'm about 15 episodes in, and enjoying it a lot more than i would have expected. i watched the first half a dozen episodes or so last year when it first started and quite liked it, then missed loads of it. it's a definite rip off of batman, but i suppose if anyone can do that then it's dc. i find oliver queen a really interesting lead character
 
Hannibal season 3 started! so I'm pretty pumped up

(also, I've been watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia again, god that show is best)
 
I'm knd of divided by several shows at the moment,

Falling Skies which started so well but kinda tapered this last season, it's enough to keep me watching but not bothered knowing it is all done this season.

Defiance oddly still love this show, it's still as fast a furious as ever even if it seems to be over compensating, the game along side also makes this a real interesting entity.

The Last Ship is getting its groove and I silently hope it is renewed for a third season

Dark Matter actually surprised me in how good it's shaping up to be, it's little bit of a head spinner at times but still keeps me coming back, which I suppose seeing how it's most of the Stargate crew I shouldn't have been that surprised with its goodness. Definately worth a watch for sci fi fans though.

So yea that's me in a nutshell for TV these days.
 
Prison Break.

I'm currently going through the series on Netflix and just got onto season 3. I know it came out years ago, but never got around to watching it and now I'm hooked. I heard it kinda dies down in excitement after they escape from the joint at the end of the 1st season, but so far it's still got me intrigued.
 
Jessica Jones

Quick disclaimer: this post will indeed be filled with spoilers, so I'm wrapping the whole thing up in a spoiler tag. If you've yet to see the show and have somehow managed to stumble across this thread, tread carefully.

I've had a week to digest this show after a marathon of all thirteen episodes. As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the run and was very emotional engaged with (most of) what was going on, and the actors do a stellar job with the portrayal of their characters, exhibiting very convincing chemistry with each other that is vital for a show this character-driven. There are many strengths to this show, but unfortunately, its weaknesses and the squandered potential become very evident when thinking back on the episodes as a whole. The good easily outweighs the bad, but the flaws of the first season of Jessica Jones are egregious enough that I simply cannot ignore them. So let's go through some prime problems I had:

1) The Jeri Hogarth subplot. This seems emblematic of a wider issue with the show. It has a main story and a main conflict to tell, but what should be some tight laser focus writing often meanders into some subplots that feel oddly tangential to the whole package, leaving us to wonder what the point of that was. A lesbian love triangle/divorce case that turns absurdly tragic is a bold thing to include. The problem is less to do with its irrelevance (of which it has some, but only for Kilgrave's second escape from capture), but to do with the woman this love triangle/divorce case revolves around: Hogarth herself. She's less of a character and more of a caricature. She's entirely unsympathetic, completely governed by cold self-interest, and quite frankly, I have no clue what any of her lovers originally saw in her. It only takes betrayal of a dramatic personal scale for each of the lovers to finally walk out on her and the viewer is left with no different opinion of Hogarth than when they first encounter her. She is primarily written to be a blatant instrument of the plot when she helps facilitate one of Kilgrave's escape acts.

2) Will Simpson. Let's face it. The guy is here to set up a shadowy villain organisation for the second season, or maybe even for Defenders, who knows. Tertiary antagonists can be fine and all, but Simpson is the biggest showcase of a tangential subplot going on that perhaps the show didn't need to have...or at least not yet. He is simply here to pad the show out a bit, because an entire episode is dedicated to him as the chief antagonist right between Hope's death and the ultimate showdown with Kilgrave. I applaud the Jessica and Trish team-up against this guy within the confines of the apartment, but the whole episode screams "I AM HERE TO WASTE A BIT OF TIME AND FLOUNDER YOUR SHOW'S PACING". Nor have I ever found Simpson's transformation from a man with a terrified conscience believing he had personally murdered someone under Kilgrave's orders to a crazed pill-taking lunatic who shoots a cop to death in the head for...reasons, very convincingly executed. His madness just abruptly happens and the whole conflict with Jessica seems largely manufactured given circumstances.

3) Speaking of circumstances that seem largely manufactured, we have Kilgrave's many escape acts. I think physically introducing Kilgrave so soon was a mistake for a number of reasons. Firstly, both Kilgrave and the stakes are raised too quickly. The characters have to be pro-active in searching for ways to stop Kilgrave, so the first major confrontation with the villain in order to capture him occurs relatively very early on. As such, his escape has to be inevitable, especially if we're only four episodes in. His second major escape from the hermetic chamber relies on Hogarth as a plot instrument to happen, but it still works and really showcases Kilgrave's ability to cleverly and subtly manipulate even without the literal use of his powers. But it is his third major escape that lost me. The Robyn-led mob group storming into Jess's apartment, incapacitating her and freeing Kilgrave believing him to be a victim. How the heck did this mob agree to break into and attack Jess based on the mad ramblings of the mad Robyn? How stupidly contrived was this?! The word 'contrivance' is scarcely enough to describe this scene in how absurd it is, especially when you also consider the consequences this escape leads to. And the show has to rely on his numerous captures and escapes to fill the 13 episodes.

4) Somewhat related to the above is my disappointment that the mystery of Kilgrave is never prolonged a little bit more. The guy is much more terrifying when he's a phantom haunting Jessica and truly punctuating the extent of her PTSD. You can intersperse these moments by showing little scenes of Kilgrave in action without fully showing his face. Demonstrate what he can do and let the viewer bask in those teasers. It's unfortunate that the show makes his physical presence known a little too early and thus we rely on his handful of captures and escapes, with each one becoming more contrived than the last. And when he's introduced so quickly, the viewer is barely properly introduced to Jess. Her whole character is so defined by what her predator had done to her that we barely see anything else about her and anything wholly independent from Kilgrave, besides her relationship with Trish and her disdain for Trish's mother. It's why I think her genuinely human moments with her one close family are perhaps her most endearing and interesting scenes, because at last we see a woman who isn't currently all wrapped up about her own guilty conscience.

5) Robyn. Everything about her. I don't get her. At first she seems like a comic relief, then a foil, then a very real nuisance, and then well, a foil to Malcolm's egalitarian outlook.

6) Hope's ultimate fate both works...and yet frustrates me, because it negates so much of the show. Much of its run is spent wrestling with the fascinating handicap on the part of our heroes: Jess cannot simply kill Kilgrave without extracting sufficient evidence of his powers from him to convince a court beyond all reasonable doubt that victims such as Hope are innocent. The assuaging of her guilty conscience is very contingent on this result for Hope, so much of the drama in the middle episodes predicate on this situation and the desperate and stupid (the characters admit as much) plans that are concocted in a race against time. All of a sudden and with a few more episodes to go, Hope kills herself and Jessica winds up having to kill the guy anyway, dissolving much of the heavy stakes. It's what Simpson wants of her to begin with, so the whole before-the-climax confrontation with him in the apartment seems even more unnecessarily forced a situation for the show to be found on.

Now let's quickly go over the positive elements of the show!

1) Jess's behaviour at the very end of the show makes sense. I'm not sure why there's this insistence that she should suddenly be a willing superhero eager to answer the cries of the city around her. It makes perfect sense why Malcolm is the one left to take calls for her and to thrust some cases into Jess's reluctant face. He's the one who goes through the major character development in the show, from a man at his lowest to a man still determined to be defined by his egalitarianism. Malcolm has always had it in him to organically develop over the course of this season into a more hero-like figure, because there is a journey of self-improvement for him to take. This is not the same for Jessica. This season is never about how she grows and develops. This season is about her clinging on to that desire to keep on living, to revive the ability to control her own life, and all about managing and trying to get over that existing guilty conscience and that spectral shadow of Kilgrave that has festered in her for months. It's a season about Jessica starting at 1, going back into 0 and returning at 1 once the corpse of Kilgrave drops like a ragdoll on the dock pier in front of her.

2) I think every actor has done a phenomenal job with their roles. Krysten Ritter is perfect in the lead role and punctuates all the different nuances of this complex protagonist perfectly. Mike Coulter is a fantastic Luke Cage, albeit mostly stoic. But the climax at the end of the sixth episode when he has his first fight with Jess really sells a genuinely heartbreaking moment. Some dislike Tennant's style and while I agree that his prolonged presence and his chewing the scenery towards the end, I can't fault him otherwise for his delightfully bone-chilling performance as a delusional, obsessive, sociopathic control freak. He pulls the body language and the psychotic glares delightfully well. It makes the skin crawl when he begins to force Trish to French kiss him, because Tennant is so convincing as his character.

3) Ah, sod it. Let's talk about Kilgrave as a whole. I can sympathise with some people who feel disappointed in his overall motivations. He simply lusts for Jessica and end of, which helps explain why he lacks a greater, loftier supervillain goal. Because he's just an obsessive maniac. But it doesn't detract much from his creepiness and his status as a threat. It is entirely down to the unpredictability of his methods and the horrifying implications of his desires as the reason behind the complete removal of his victims' personal agency that cements this guy as the despicable threat he is. And let's think about it. If you have the power to compel anyone to do whatever you tell them to do and often down to the literal word, that completely stunts your ability to engage as a naturally social creature. You will never properly know whether another person is doing anything of their volition. Are their feelings as expressed towards you genuine or by sheer command of your own words? Is that person even the same person anymore? You lose sight of what it means to be human. You're easily detached from the world and the tragedy of Kilgrave is that he had no chance to begin with. His discovery of mind control powers doomed him from the very start. Furthermore, the show very appropriately explores the other horrific dimension of when the boundaries of consent are heavily obfuscated and are drained of all real meaning in a Kilgrave world. You see this clearly when Jessica proclaims that everything he did to her was rape, with Kilgrave's exasperated response to do with how it WAS willing consent from his point of view!

4) The show handles character relationships remarkably well. I've mentioned the relationship between Jessica and Trish as something that truly helps to humanise the former and I was absolutely rooting for the pair of them. It's one of the most heartwarming things about a show that is otherwise not afraid at all to be harsh and not hesitant to pull the punches. Then we have Jessica and Luke, which serves as one of the more complex character relationships I've seen. Malcolm's presence shouldn't be forgotten either. All these very different relationships come together as a web and do much to keep Jessica rooted, otherwise she too could well have become as detached from humanity as Kilgrave had become. As underwhelming as the end of Kilgrave is, it's satisfyingly appropriate that the final blow to hit him seconds before his neck snaps is the sight of Jessica professing selfless love to her sister.

Overall:

+ Very convincingly human character relationships
+ Main villain is terrifying
+ Uncomfortable themes to do with control, loss of self and abuse are explored without being too heavy-handed or on the nose
+ Excellent acting all around

- The season could have had its fat cut down to maybe 8-9 episodes, because it does suffer from loss of focus, uneven pacing and meandering.
- Certain unnecessary plot points, some of which lead to egregiously contrived results
- Second half of the season is a noticeable drag compared with the first
- Some action scenes are dire - the last episode in particular

7/10
 
Outcast

Kyle Barnes is a young man who has been plagued by demonic possession all his life. Now, with the help of the Reverend Anderson, a preacher with demons of his own, Kyle embarks on a journey to find answers and regain the normal life he lost. But what Kyle discovers could change his fate—and the fate of the world—forever.

It aired its third episode today, and I've enjoyed every single one of them. Main character has good charisma and so does the "priest" running along. Makers of the Walking Dead are behind this, so I have high expectations as I love TWD as well. Can't wait for next week's episode. :D
 
I've been watching Star Wars Rebels, just caught the season 2 finale.

Kanan is now blind, his apprentice Ezra is battling the dark side within himself. and Ahsoka found out Anakin is Vader.
 
I'm currently watching Suits, but before it, I watched the first season of Mr. Robot, and the Amazon-exclusive Bosch. Both are excellent shows, personally.

There are some other shows I want to catch on Amazon once I burn through Suits.
 
At work, my buddy was always telling me how amazing the show 'Dexter' is. I just started watching it last night around 12:30 am and I stayed up until 6:30 am. I'm currently watching it now and I'm wide awake.
He wasn't joking. This show definitely is pretty f'ing amazing.
 
Suits, Season 6.

Fun fact: Neal McDonough who plays Sean Cahill is the voice of Deadshot in Assault on Arkham. Kicking myself that I only realised it until now.

Also, I hope Cahill sticks around. His bromance with Harvey is pretty good.
 
Definitely forgot about Portlandia until I saw this clip. I died laughing again.

 

Batman: The Animated Series. Iconic. This is the only true Batman. Everything else is imitation waste.

 
I'm rewaching Stargate SG-1!:D I watched it earlier as a kid with my parents (my father doesn't really like tv shows, but Stargate is an exception xD), but I really wanted to watch it from the beginning. It's great, I love it so much! Tonight I will finish season 6, so I can start season 7 tomorrow. C:
 
I started rewatching Community slowly but surely before passing out at night but the biggest show I've watched recently is Westworld. Finished off the season the other day and I couldn't recommend it enough, shits crazy!
 
Today I started season 3 of the show Dexter. This is hands down one of the best shows to ever be created.

I'm trying to pace myself with Dexter because I don't wanna burn myself out. I love it though, great stuff
 
So an update here. I've been watching alot of the Netflix original series called 'House of Cards'. I highly recommend it for everybody to check out if you haven't watched it. Kevin Spacey absolutely nails his role as the ruthless politician(Frank Underwood)in Washington D.C. This show is fantastic and has an excellent cast of characters.
 
I really enjoy Big Bang Theory. I watch it EVERY Thursday night on CBS.

Sheldon is a great character that has plenty of behavior issues that make it hard on the people around him. His character is so funny that you will bust your gut laughing.

Leonard is Sheldon's best friend and one would wounder why someone would put up with a character like Sheldon for as long as he has. His sarcasm, which is not picked up by Sheldon, is great.

Howard is a little pervert that eventually gets married and still remains kind of a pervert but to the cheating kind.

Raj is a man that has a feminine personality and is Howard's best friend. They do things that make you go WTF.

There are many more to the lineup and all of their characters make up a funny geeky nerdy show that anyone can love.

Start from season 1 so you can follow the story and understand the background. At first I thought I would not like it but it has become my favorite show because I can relate to Sheldon in some ways. Maybe, you can find ways that you relate to one of the characters of this fantastic and funny show.

I give this show 4.5 out of 5 stars because you would think that it would be kid friendly but it really is not.

 
So Friday I finished 'House of Cards' for the 4th time. I then immediately restarted the show again and am watching it for a 5th time. This show is exactly why I'll never get around to watching the 2nd season of '13 Reasons Why'. 'House of Cards' is such an amazing show, absolutely fantastic.

I WILL make my way around to season 2 of '13 Reasons Why' eventually. There must be justice for Hannah Baker!!!
 
Title: Archer. It was like a month or so back but it still counts :cool:

Comments: I forgot what season it was (I wanna say 8) but it feels as fresh as ever. It's still getting quite a few laughs out of me each episode! I feel like they maybe wrote themselves into a corner with how they handled Archer himself in the previous seasons (and how it is affecting the later ones) but I'm still curious to see how they tie it all up. I think I read that it's ending at season 11.

Overall Score: 8.6/10. Would recommend.
 
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