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What Have You Watched Recently?


Susano

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Fair enough.

 

Whether this is an intentional leak or bad security at Cartoon Network is an open question...

 

 

Many times Steven Universe is released in week-long bursts of one new episode a day, referred to as "Stevenbombs". They are anticipated events. But it seems they usually end up getting leaked. So the latest Stevenbomb has been on Youtube about three weeks before the actual episodes are going to air. What follows is of necessity a spoiler for previous episodes as well -- if you don't know who the Diamonds are the Stevenbomb will make little sense.

 

I refer to this Stevenbomb as "The Zoo". That is actually the title of one of the episodes, but all five revolve around this theme.

 

 

Thanks to Steven's curiosity about his mother's past and a particular incident in it, he finds himself having to rescue his father from a Space Zoo where humans are kept. Apparently his captor believes the destruction of the Earth is imminent and thought she could save him from it. (In actuality, Steven had prevented the emergence of the "geoweapon" that was going to destory the planet, but she had no way of knowing it.) Steven and his fellow Crystal Gems pack into a stolen ship and fly there (about 70 light-years), and then attempt to bluff their way through a rescue, which involves Steven  himself being delivered to the zoo.

 

And that's where things get interesting on the intellectual level. Humans had not been brought into the zoo for millennia, but the descendants of the original collection still live there, seemingly in perfect bliss. Everything they need is provided for them, and they are kept free from suffering of any kind. For them, it's like heaven, but to Steven it's a virtual dystopia -- a dystopia he and his father manage to break, enabling their escape. For a young teen (who still looks a lot younger) to make that sort of mental leap is surprising, but then again this is Steven Universe we're talking about and he's known for his keen insight (but not necessarily keen judgment....)

 

It reminded me a bit of the Genesis story of Eden. Steven probably didn't intend to destroy the pseudo-utopia -- he just wanted to get out with his dad -- but it seems the repercussions of his visit will be felt long after he leaves.

 

 

It's also interesting to see a major new character in the series with a design modeled on Picasso....

 

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My wife and I watched The Expanse starting on Tuesday, one episode per night. By the end of Thursday's episode, I was considering deleting it from my watch list. Then, we watched episode 4 on Friday...then 5, 6, and 7. And suddenly we'd stayed up way too late, and wanted to stay up later and finish the season!  But we were good and didn't. Looking forward to finishing it up, though!

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My wife and I watched The Expanse starting on Tuesday, one episode per night. By the end of Thursday's episode, I was considering deleting it from my watch list. Then, we watched episode 4 on Friday...then 5, 6, and 7. And suddenly we'd stayed up way too late, and wanted to stay up later and finish the season!  But we were good and didn't. Looking forward to finishing it up, though!

 

Well it did stumble a little in the first season and they did need to firm up the effects.  But once it got it's feet under it, I think it really took off.  

 

The only really crappy thing about it was I wrestled me down and twisted my arm until I bought and read the rest of the books :shock:

Now I know what is going to happen :weep:

 

They did do a great job keeping with the book though, my favorite scifi TV series in the last 5 years.

Edited by Spence
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Season 2 of Dark Matter. This season was much better, with more character development, better stories, and a resolution to the irritating Paladin vs. Chaotic Evil Gun Bunny dynamic over-explored in season 1.

Finally finished Season 2. I mostly enjoyed Season 1, but this was much improved - more tightly written, better character dynamics, more interesting McGuffins, etc.

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Last night I watched Red Lights, mixed Spanish-American mystery/thriller about academic paranormal debunkers starring Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, and Robert De Niro that I'd seen absolutely no marketing for when it was released a few years ago. It kind of falls apart at the end, but the performances were very good and it keeps the tension up for most of the run time.

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We watched Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. It was pretty good, starting out as a fish-out-of-water story about a behind-the-scenes TV journalist (someone who, as she says, "writes stories for stupid, pretty people to read") who travels to Afghanistan to do war reporting in 2003, but the story became something more as time went on. It's worth watching for free (it's available free-to-stream on Amazon Prime and on Hulu Plus).

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Binged Season 1 of The Magicians. The first few episodes were weak and consistently tried to juggle too many different plots. Once it got past its "Hogwarts for Sexy, Drunken 20-Somethings" premise and the plot got going, there were some nice stories. But then the season finale just completely dissolved into WTF. I think I'll wait for the reviews before watching Season 2.

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Yeah, they did kindof go back and forth between Loving Homage and Vicious Send-up. I was never really a Narnia fan, so that part didn't particularly bother me.

 

What really bothered me was in the season finale when they had Julia

literally gain powers from being raped. I mean, usually when feminists complain about rape being portrayed as "empowering," it's not quite that literal. Especially since they has already danced close to that line with her in the pilot (the assault in the bathroom that initially triggers her powers). That's just all kinds of fucked up.

 

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Sherlock. The new series was kind of meh. Mother felt it was too dark. And the last episode will really upset purists.

 

 

 

Mycroft and Sherlock have a sister who has been locked up because she is psychotic. It turns out that she hid Redbeard which initially you are led to believe is Sherlock's dog. This is wrong, Mycroft hid the fact that it was a young playfriend of Sherlock who she drowned. She also had access to Moriarty thanks to Mycroft which explains why he kept appearing in the series. She plays a game which is psychologically disturbing and makes for uncomfortable viewing. At the end you also meet Mummy and Daddy Holmes which again is going to needle the purists.

 

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Sherlock. The new series was kind of meh. Mother felt it was too dark. And the last episode will really upset purists.

 

 

 

Mycroft and Sherlock have a sister who has been locked up because she is psychotic. It turns out that she hid Redbeard which initially you are led to believe is Sherlock's dog. This is wrong, Mycroft hid the fact that it was a young playfriend of Sherlock who she drowned. She also had access to Moriarty thanks to Mycroft which explains why he kept appearing in the series. She plays a game which is psychologically disturbing and makes for uncomfortable viewing. At the end you also meet Mummy and Daddy Holmes which again is going to needle the purists.

 

Funnily, the spoiler wasn't what bothered me, a somewhat purist. What bothered me was the distrust/separation of Holmes and Watson, something that would NEVER have happened in the book. The 2 men were loyal to each other to a fault. I have liked this series and the portrayal of both characters up to that point. I liked that the 2 immediately in the first episode seemed to forge that bond.

The spoiler was just a substitute for Moriarty to me.

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