TV Shows

[Pikman]

He did seem rather gullible! (we still didn't see more than 2 episodes yet, the guy is mad, it's too hard to watch)

[Nag]

I watched 3 Body Problems on Netflix over the last couple weeks or so during lunchtimes... I'm unfamiliar with the source material but for what this was I quite enjoyed it, there were some major jumps in logic (is it easy to put 300 nuclear bombs in space?) and in my opinion it could've done with a couple of extra episodes but yeah, good... just hope it doesn't become a one and done like Netflix is in the habit of doing.

[shinymcshine]

I struggled with that nuclear bomb propulsion thing - in so much of how they were intending to get them into position, when their function was to propel something else even faster & further away (so beyond the initial bombs they'd likely be spaced further & further apart without any obvious way of getting them all the way out there).

 

TBH "3 Body Problem" got a bit less interesting once they'd 'solved' the VR part.

 

There was also that super illogical bit where:

Spoiler

The guy had been targeted by hacked remote vehicles and nearly died - then the 'so let's tell you all about it and get you to safety' was by jumping in an aeroplane (where electronic systems are far more susceptible to outside interference and risk to life...)

 

[Pikman]

I REALLY hope everyone reads the 3 Body Problem as well as watch it. I've read it all twice now and although the first book is a bit slow (almost just an introduction to the trilogy), I think it should be compulsory reading for us all
The show was OKish in comparison. I'd give it something like a 4 or 5/10, I can't imagine how poor it was if you don't know the story.
The staircase project works better in the book too, it's more of the huge project it would be in reality - the series makes it look so simple!

[Nag]

Isn't the original stuff Chinese? Is that right?

[Pikman]

It was originally, yeah. The translation is fine though

[one-armed dwarf]

I've not seen Baby Reindeer, but was reading that the real woman that the show is based on has been identified and Piers Morgan was interviewing her and everything. I've not watched any of that, but it sort of seems like these are expected consequences from making a show out of something like this*. 

 

I dunno, the whole thing seems super problematic and exploitative to me, even just the show itself before you get into the Piers Morgan stuff. Maybe I'm wrong, again I've not watched it

 

*edit and to be clear I mean this specific real life event, not the subject of abuse and stalking, which is absolutely a theme worth exploring. 

[shinymcshine]

Let's wait until Darrien (the exploitative TV writer & producer) comes forward for an interview too.......

[Maryokutai]

It's something I started thinking about after watching it, too. The writer and actors went out of their way in interviews to move the dialogue away from the real people, but I guess it was always unavoidable that someone went digging for the drama. I have no real opinion on this, but it's a tightrope for sure. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Its the lack of self awareness by those internet sleuths that makes you sad. Like I'm dimly aware that one of the points the show must make is not to do that, but they did that anyway.

[shinymcshine]

The other thing, without going too deep into internet sleuthing, was the narrative and chronology in the TV series were somewhat out of sync with actual events, as his stage shows came in 2016 (about sexual assault events occurring around 2012) and 2019 (stalking events from 2016 onwards) - but mushed together in the same TV narrative.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/22/richard-gadd-edinburgh-festival-fringe-comedy

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/sep/10/richard-gadd-stalker-baby-reindeer

 

Whatever actually occurred and when, it's pretty awful whichever way you look at it (i.e. whether the narrative is broadly true or not - there's individuals that are demonstrating severely traumatic traits).

 

[one-armed dwarf]

So on the back of that Assassin's Creed announcement, an interesting thing happened a while back where it looks like they actually are looking at continuing Shogun. Hiroyuki Sanada is set to possibly return as Toranaga

 

https://deadline.com/2024/05/hiroyuki-sanada-deal-shogun-renewed-season-2-fx-emmys-drama-1235911076/

 

They've adapted the story from the book, so it's anyone's guess where they go. Hopefully they don't Game of Thrones it but they have real historical figures to adapt into their fictional representations here

 

I think a prequel would be more interesting though. Then maybe do a sequel later on

[Maryokutai]

Watched the last three episodes of Sugar yesterday. I honestly don't know what to say about it because it's an interesting case of defying expectations and I really don't want to spoil anything.

 

So I'll just say that I rather liked it. Farrell's character is the right blend of likeable and mysterious and it's a visually splendid production while the story moves along in a very comfortable pace that keeps you engaged without losing touch of its central cast of characters. I would have preferred for them to be more subtle in some areas, but overall I think I'd recommend it. At least to those 0.5 people here who have Apple TV I guess.