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netgirl_y2kBeen watching some good shows recently, chaps.
I watched Adolescence the week it was all anyone was talking about, and it was both as good as people say, I watched all four episodes when I'd only meant to sit down to watch one, and immediately became hugely overhyped. Netflix offered it to schools to show for free, and I can't think of much more likely to radicalise teenagers against a topic than making them watch a four hour drama that their parents/teachers think is worthy; also pretty ironic given that protracted subplot in episode 2 about how terrible it is that schools are just dumping kids in front of videos rather than actually teaching/interacting with them. Like, it is a very good show and I would recommend it to the three (3) people who missed it when it came out, but it did immediately fall into that peculiarly British political trend, last seen with Mr. Bates vs the Post Office where having watched a TV show about a difficult problem becomes a substitute for doing something.
"Minister, does your government have a plan to deal with Horizon IT scandal/online radicalisation/insert other crisis?"
"No, but we did have a group viewing of That Show and hope it winning a bunch of Baftas will solve the problem for us."
Anyway.
I watched the new Disney Daredevil, which first of all reminded me that I am still using the Netflix account of someone whose password I borrowed 'for a weekend' to watch the first season of Daredevil a decade ago, and second of all was really quite good. I do know that they changed showrunner halfway through because their first attempt wasn't landing, which is a step in the right direction for Disney whose output has recently tended towards the 'fuck it, that'll do' so that was obviously the right decision. It did mean that we got a bunch of pretty meh episodes in the middle (honourably excepting that one with Kamala Khan's dad, which was adorable) bracketed by a brilliant opener and finale.
I watched Cap 4 Captain America: Brave New Bird a while ago and it was a movie whose main message seemed to be 'The Walt Disney corporation has no stance on current politics, or indeed anything else' so it was a nice surprise to see Daredevil taking such bold stances as 'criminals seeking high political office for personal enrichment is bad' and 'cops cosplaying as the Punisher to enact extrajudicial violence are clowns, per Frank Castle.'
I did have a little giggle at that bit in the last episode where they were showing that Kingpin has all the vigilantes locked up in cages, but they have to pan really fast to disguise the fact that there's no one we know. That said, I am really looking forward to the next batch of episodes.
I had fallen off Wheel of Time after season one which I thought was...fine, but I was persuaded to catch up in time for season three and I'm so glad I did cause I had so much fun watching this. I've not read the books so I was frequently confused, although the show kind of makes me want to. Well, not read them, obviously, I have but one brief and wonderous human life, but at least listen to the audiobooks Rosamund Pike narrates. My favourite character continues to be Liandrin, who, yes, made a very literal deal with the devil, but under the circumstances, wouldn't you? I also think a lot of the gang's problems could be solved if people would only stop having sex dreams about Lanfear, although, again, perfectly understandable.
I really hope there's another season, although I do wonder if there's a spreadsheet somewhere at Amazon flashing red because this season looked astonishingly good, especially as Amazon has apparently decided that a bunging a bribe to the White House for the dubious honour of making a Melania documentary that no will watch is a good use of money.
My reaction to season two of Yellowjackets was mostly 'Oh No' so I was pleasantly surprised to find that season three was much more my jam. Although, making Hilary Swank wear that backwards pink baseball cap so people knew she was adult Melissa has got to be an example of not trusting your audience so egregious that it's going to be taught in screenwriting classes for years. I enjoyed the finale so much that I immediately went back and watched the pilot, and really appreciated the reframing/playing with memory of watching those two episodes back to back. Thinking back on season one it is pretty weird and cool that I am now firmly in the 'Misty is the only one of the adult characters who deserves the gift of human life' camp.
So, my friend Louisa was telling me her mum has been watching Yellowjackets and not really getting it, and has asked her to explain it, and, honestly I don't know how you explain this show without going: IT IS ALL A GIANT METAPHOR FOR LESBIANISM.
I am a big wimp when it comes to anything scary, so I belatedly watched The Haunting of Bly Manor, by which I mean I tricked people into watching it with me and telling me where all the scary bits were. It was excellent and not too scary.
Speaking of too scary. I knew, I knew, that The Substance was going to be too much for me, but I wanted to watch it anyway. Well, when I say 'watch', my eyes were closed pretty much the entire time. It was, as far as I could tell, a very good movie made up exclusively of a series of increasingly upsetting sound effects.
Also, some shows I was hyped about have come back...
Andor has not lost a step. Which is cool, because some people I know were really relying on this show to get through our current trying times. Not me, I have anchored my metal health to the new Superman movie being good. You know, like a normal person. Also, Mon Mothma getting blotto and trying to dance the fascism away...like, mood?
I was pleasantly surprised that the internet did not go insane at THAT bit of The Last of Us season two, which just goes to show that the howler monkeys last time were lunatics who should have been bullied off the internet at the very least. It is nice to see Bella Ramsey back as Ellie, although I do wish I was more on board with Kaitlyn Dever. I hope to like her more as the season goes on, but at the moment she feels as likely to beat someone to death with a golf club as I do (to whit, not likely).
The new series of Doctor Who continues delightful.
I watched Adolescence the week it was all anyone was talking about, and it was both as good as people say, I watched all four episodes when I'd only meant to sit down to watch one, and immediately became hugely overhyped. Netflix offered it to schools to show for free, and I can't think of much more likely to radicalise teenagers against a topic than making them watch a four hour drama that their parents/teachers think is worthy; also pretty ironic given that protracted subplot in episode 2 about how terrible it is that schools are just dumping kids in front of videos rather than actually teaching/interacting with them. Like, it is a very good show and I would recommend it to the three (3) people who missed it when it came out, but it did immediately fall into that peculiarly British political trend, last seen with Mr. Bates vs the Post Office where having watched a TV show about a difficult problem becomes a substitute for doing something.
"Minister, does your government have a plan to deal with Horizon IT scandal/online radicalisation/insert other crisis?"
"No, but we did have a group viewing of That Show and hope it winning a bunch of Baftas will solve the problem for us."
Anyway.
I watched the new Disney Daredevil, which first of all reminded me that I am still using the Netflix account of someone whose password I borrowed 'for a weekend' to watch the first season of Daredevil a decade ago, and second of all was really quite good. I do know that they changed showrunner halfway through because their first attempt wasn't landing, which is a step in the right direction for Disney whose output has recently tended towards the 'fuck it, that'll do' so that was obviously the right decision. It did mean that we got a bunch of pretty meh episodes in the middle (honourably excepting that one with Kamala Khan's dad, which was adorable) bracketed by a brilliant opener and finale.
I watched Cap 4 Captain America: Brave New Bird a while ago and it was a movie whose main message seemed to be 'The Walt Disney corporation has no stance on current politics, or indeed anything else' so it was a nice surprise to see Daredevil taking such bold stances as 'criminals seeking high political office for personal enrichment is bad' and 'cops cosplaying as the Punisher to enact extrajudicial violence are clowns, per Frank Castle.'
I did have a little giggle at that bit in the last episode where they were showing that Kingpin has all the vigilantes locked up in cages, but they have to pan really fast to disguise the fact that there's no one we know. That said, I am really looking forward to the next batch of episodes.
I had fallen off Wheel of Time after season one which I thought was...fine, but I was persuaded to catch up in time for season three and I'm so glad I did cause I had so much fun watching this. I've not read the books so I was frequently confused, although the show kind of makes me want to. Well, not read them, obviously, I have but one brief and wonderous human life, but at least listen to the audiobooks Rosamund Pike narrates. My favourite character continues to be Liandrin, who, yes, made a very literal deal with the devil, but under the circumstances, wouldn't you? I also think a lot of the gang's problems could be solved if people would only stop having sex dreams about Lanfear, although, again, perfectly understandable.
I really hope there's another season, although I do wonder if there's a spreadsheet somewhere at Amazon flashing red because this season looked astonishingly good, especially as Amazon has apparently decided that a bunging a bribe to the White House for the dubious honour of making a Melania documentary that no will watch is a good use of money.
My reaction to season two of Yellowjackets was mostly 'Oh No' so I was pleasantly surprised to find that season three was much more my jam. Although, making Hilary Swank wear that backwards pink baseball cap so people knew she was adult Melissa has got to be an example of not trusting your audience so egregious that it's going to be taught in screenwriting classes for years. I enjoyed the finale so much that I immediately went back and watched the pilot, and really appreciated the reframing/playing with memory of watching those two episodes back to back. Thinking back on season one it is pretty weird and cool that I am now firmly in the 'Misty is the only one of the adult characters who deserves the gift of human life' camp.
So, my friend Louisa was telling me her mum has been watching Yellowjackets and not really getting it, and has asked her to explain it, and, honestly I don't know how you explain this show without going: IT IS ALL A GIANT METAPHOR FOR LESBIANISM.
I am a big wimp when it comes to anything scary, so I belatedly watched The Haunting of Bly Manor, by which I mean I tricked people into watching it with me and telling me where all the scary bits were. It was excellent and not too scary.
Speaking of too scary. I knew, I knew, that The Substance was going to be too much for me, but I wanted to watch it anyway. Well, when I say 'watch', my eyes were closed pretty much the entire time. It was, as far as I could tell, a very good movie made up exclusively of a series of increasingly upsetting sound effects.
Also, some shows I was hyped about have come back...
Andor has not lost a step. Which is cool, because some people I know were really relying on this show to get through our current trying times. Not me, I have anchored my metal health to the new Superman movie being good. You know, like a normal person. Also, Mon Mothma getting blotto and trying to dance the fascism away...like, mood?
I was pleasantly surprised that the internet did not go insane at THAT bit of The Last of Us season two, which just goes to show that the howler monkeys last time were lunatics who should have been bullied off the internet at the very least. It is nice to see Bella Ramsey back as Ellie, although I do wish I was more on board with Kaitlyn Dever. I hope to like her more as the season goes on, but at the moment she feels as likely to beat someone to death with a golf club as I do (to whit, not likely).
The new series of Doctor Who continues delightful.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-27 06:49 pm (UTC)I had been vaguely interested in Andor, but since the spouse, surprisingly, declared their interest I guess I have to look for ways of watching it for real, haha.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-27 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-28 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-27 08:41 pm (UTC)I'm sure you'll have the whole internet lining up to proselytize about Andor to you, so I shall restrain myself and just say thatI hope you and your spouse have a good time if you do watch it.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-29 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-29 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-30 03:55 am (UTC)Really looking forward to watching Andor S2!
no subject
Date: 2025-04-30 12:04 pm (UTC)