What'cha watchin' ?

[Abraham Smashington]

Finished The Curse. As mentioned on the discord channel, I both loved and hated the finale. Lesley flat out hated the ending and I can't argue. I'm just surprised they had the balls to do what they did with that whole series. One long fucking anxiety/panic attack and hardly any release. Emma Stone owned but Nathan Fielder brought the goods in a way only he could. I do recommend it as it's only 10 eps and self contained but your mileage will vary.

[Abraham Smashington]

First episode of Constellation on Apple+ was decent enough for 2 more eps. Knew nothing going in, still know nothing. Apple+ has the best shows about space lol.

[Matt]

get on SHOGUN if you haven't done so yet. First two episodes hit yesterday and are now streaming on Hulu.

it's everything I hoped it would be.

[Abraham Smashington]

Will have to check that out. Probably on my own as Lesley isn't big on that stuff.

Speaking of on my own, finished Halo season 1. I dug it more than I thought I would. Not high art, sometimes looks TERRIBLE, but for a fan of Halo and fun sci-fi stuff I liked it.

[Abraham Smashington]

Hulu dropped the full second season of Extraordinary this week. Still love this show and highly recommend it for a light hearted and fun version of The Boys.

[Matt]

Really enjoying S2 of TOKYO VICE.

[Abraham Smashington]

That is on the list still. So many shows. Curb killing it this season, Constellation KILLING it, HALO Season2 finale is today and fuck yeah this show is great, and even more shows I can't remember at this point.

Shit, still need to check out Shogun.

[Abraham Smashington]

Curb series finale was last night and I knew where it was going from the beginning and it nailed it. Considering the show was started back in 2000, it's crazy that it just ended AND I remembered enough of the episodes to get all of the ridiculous call backs. The shit with Leon finally watching Seinfeld had me dying... "I know Larry has the fuck tapes..You were just smashing ass I know it"

[Abraham Smashington]

2 eps left of Fallout and it's pretty great. Making

  Spoiler: minor and fun spoilers 

Goggins both as the face of the ghoul AND the Vault Boy

was a fun reveal. Thus far it's striking a good tone between silly and scary. "Why is this copying Silo?" is something I heard from someone who doesn't pay close attention to pop culture except if it is something that they have nostalgia for. If anything, dude played Fallout 1-3, had an idea to make a book based off of plot points from FO and made it their own thing. Doesn't take anything away from Silo just like the movies and books Fallout took inspiration from.

Fun for people who enjoy a good story, good acting, and some fun set pieces. Fun for people who enjoy all of that PLUS fans of the games.

[Captain Russ]

I kinda found it pretty lacking in terms of pacing and focus by episode 3 and gave it up. A lot of scenes just didn't use the opportunities given in the scripting to do much that was compelling and went with some pretty basic beat structures throughout (you could set your watch to each scene turn as far as the setups and the plodding execution are concerned).

I liked some of the art direction, especially the coastline areas where the chicken fornicator was found, but the set for Filly just reminded me of Camp Nowhere in a less than flattering way. Really uneven in that regard, and I lay a lot of the issues at the feet of the photography and post production handling of the material. It's all just too clean for the aesthetic to work to its fullest potential.

For example, the backstory of the ghoul scenes: they're the exact same shiny pre-war visual style as the current timeline's. You'd think some separation even visually would drive home the central concept being explored, but it is an extremely homogenous aesthetic at play and I don't think it fits too well.

Also, the tone still seems to be finding its footing with where I stopped, but it seemed to be trying hard to oscillate between slapstick and seriousness without firmly establishing either with the setups and payoffs.

The main thing that I think could have solved a lot of this--especially with 8 episodes to tell a story--was focusing on one protagonist. Dividing things so much has so far left the characters as pretty stock and at times just running through the motions to get from point A to B in really contrived ways.

One last thing, I promise: Goggins' makeup is half-done and it makes me seethe like a bitch with how ghouls are usually presented (just fuck his eyes up at least). He was certainly the highlight as far as performance goes though.

Not to be all negative or anything, but mileage definitely varies. If that stuff doesn't bother you, that's great.

I gave it a shot, and I really wanted to like it because I am a fan of the Fallout material (less the Todd Howard era than other installments) and hope others go out and discover for themselves the roots of it.

[Abraham Smashington]

I'm not going to pretend any of that is wrong but after finishing it last night I say bring on the second season. I try not to be too cynical on properties that I know would have either never been made or all put in to a 2 hour flick but the one protagonist thing was something I was getting sick of until the very end. It sort of made sense if not janky, and one thing they did was about the only thing that caught me off guard (but it also could just be me forgetting an old plot point) but if anything the payoff with the chicken fornicator was pretty funny. As you may not watch it

  Spoiler: chicken fucker spoilers 

he ends up being a "true" snake oil salesmen and turns Johnny Pemberton into a Ghoul after he runs into him with a destroyed foot

and if

  Spoiler: spoilers maybe? 

Goggins isn't the one in the suit that saved Maximus I'll be happy

because it was the only thing that I never thought of and when Lesley mentioned that may be the case it made sense.

Has problems, fix the second season with more money from that Lord of the Rings show that no one cares about, and gimme a goddamn SUPER MUTANT.

[Captain Russ]

Lol @ the Chicken Romeo reveal.

I don't want to sound cynical, I hope they iron things out for another season (and in the area they are in, there had better be some FEV fellas coming in). The Rings of Power is a dead in the water tax shelter though.

[Abraham Smashington]

I honestly forgot it existed until we started Fallout. Also, I wasn't trying to say you were cynical just that I was trying to focus on the things I dug. Best thing about it is that Lesley decided she wanted to boot up and finally try a Fallout game.

[Captain Russ]

Oh I thought ya meant my senile ass.

Nevermind, carry on lol

That's awesome she's got the fresh curiosity coursing through--which one is she going for to start?

[Abraham Smashington]

4 is the only one that she can sort of play with her limited use of her hands. I wish it was part 3 but we'll see what happens once the settlement shit begins.

On a better note: SEASON 5 ANNOUNCED FOR ALL MANKIND and SPINOFF FROM THE RUSSIANS POV IS HAPPENING. EEEeeeeeeEEEEEE