TV Shows

[Sambob]

Yeah its not for us mate, we are better than it. Probably watch one more though, just to make sure.

[DANGERMAN]

Is it the guy that did Hannibal, because that had a bit of a disconnect too 

[Hendo]

Just finished the latest episode of Saul. It was pretty good, some tense scenes, particularly in a flashback (or what I assume to be a flashback).

 

Ends on a cliffhanger though - I want to know what the plan is!

[Hendo]

15 minutes ago, mr lakitu said:

Yep. Bet Saul ever.

 

Also

  Hide contents

If it's his own tape and they've made him put that on record (and pay for it) when actually it's a duplicate surely that'll come into play?

 

I dunno. I'd have to go and watch it again (or it might be on their podcast - well worth listening to after watching each episode), but...

I think the point was more that he was paying for a tape that got destroyed, what was on it shouldn't matter.

I think it was more something that Mike found on his desk. Which could actually be the second tape, so if he found that and picked it up, and they admitted that he made a copy, then maybe the "Bingo!" is more that they have the only tape left.

[Duck]

Watched the first episode of American Gods too,  pretty pleased with how it's turned out. Seems like a faithful adaption. 

 

I like how they've just went for it. I thought there's no way they would do " that scene" but they did. 

 

But they've kept the main premise of the story a secret which i think they had no choice but to do. Excited for more. 

[DisturbedSwan]

Just finished 13 Reasons Why, it's one of the best TV series I've ever seen, cannot recommend it enough.

 

It is a bit twee at times and I don't think the actress that plays Hannah was very good in the first 5-6 episodes, but the actor that plays Clay is excellent and the whole mystery/drama surrounding who was complicit in

Spoiler

Hannah's suicide

and the events that led up to it is truly riveting, haven't been able to put it down.

It deals with lots of dark issues, shows people as 'real' characters with flaws rather than stereotypes and digs into American suburbia's dark heart.

 

A series that'll stick with me for a very long time, really hope it's renewed, but as a self-contained 13-episode series it's one of the very best out there.

 

Some of it reminded me of Skins quite a bit too, so if you dug that back in the day (like me) then I think you'll like this.

[regemond]

I keep meaning to watch 13 Reasons Why but keep getting distracted by other random shows/films at the minute.

 

I've seen it taking a little bit of flak in the last week or two for romanticising the idea of suicide - is this a fair assessment? It's not going to stop me watching it at some point, I'm just curious if it's as bad as I've heard.

[Sambob]

Just to add my 2 pence, I thought 13 reasons why was one of the worst things ive seen on TV for a long time, and should probably never have been made.

[DisturbedSwan]

How much did you watch @Sambob? I didn't love it until the last 5 episodes or so.

 

@regemond don't really think the controversy is warranted myself, as someone who has attempted suicide in the past I didn't really take that from it at all, the actual 'scene' itself is incredibly graphic and hard hitting too.

 

[Sambob]

Spoiler

Watched all of it @Blakey

 

One of my main issues was the writing whilst I actually thought the acting was very good. 

 

At times the main character was shown to be quite strong and independant and at other times the smallest thing would send her into an emotional tailspin. They relied very heavily on one or two storytelling mechanics over and over, and so much of the story felt overly contrived, one of many examples of that was the money left on the car roof, many situations required so many things to coincidentally occur in just the right way and for characters to show uncharacteristic behaviour that it made it slightly unbelieveable for me. 

 

Also lots of things to do with her playing the unreliable narrator didn't make sense considering she was meant to have made the tapes all at the same time, in the same night, the narrative was a bit all over the place. 

 

In terms of the criticism of the way it handles it's core subject matter I think it's naive at best and at worst it's kind of exploitive. It pretty much throws in every issue in the book and as a result some are grossly underserved - suicide, rape, depression and anxiety, substance abuse, homosexuality, anger issues, attachment issues, and a fair few others with some major major issues handled pretty poorly. 

 

It just rubbed me up the wrong way in many ways but I do think it was well acted in parts, just badly written and directed. 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Fair enough, can't say I agree with any of that myself, didn't expect it to be liked much on here to be honest.

 

It took a while to get going and some of it is a bit contrived but I ended up absolutely loving it.

 

Got very good reviews so I'm not the only one, still think it's very much worth a watch and a series that'll stay with me for a very long time.

[Sambob]

Spoiler

It did get some good reviews, but as Regemond mentioned, it also took a lot of stick from mental health groups and other such organisations for its irresponsibility.

 

The idea of Clay not listening to all the tapes just as the other kids did was a bit contrived, but mainly it just hamstrung itself by compromising its central character, Hannah. Part of its theme was that events can be interpreted differently depending on which side of them you are on, but by undermining her in the way they do, it takes away the impact of her suicide and makes you feel a bit like she was being melodramatic. Not to mention the fact that as a viewer you just dont feel it because she is in the show more than pretty much anybody else bar Clay, you never feel like she is gone in the same way the other characters are meant to be feeling.

I fundamentally disagree with the way the rape stuff was handled too, it felt very much written by people that didnt have much of a clue. If you saw your best mate raped by a guy, whilst hiding in a cupboard not doing anything about it, you probably wouldnt then go to a party at said guy's house, and then get into a hot tub having removed your clothes. That for me was the absolute line that meant I couldnt take the rest of it seriously....

I dunno, enjoyment of all of this sort of programme is subjective but the plot stuff aside, I just felt like it was an overly drawn out and contrived series, from the off I got a very Lost kind of vibe from the way it was building itself up and felt like it wasnt going to be able to deliver on the central premise.

 

EDIT: Also there were loads of unanswered threads that you wouldnt really expect from a 13 episode series. Why was Tony(the latino guy) beating somebody up in a car park?

 

[DisturbedSwan]

You're gonna ruin the entire series for people at this rate @Sambob please use spoiler tags. 

[spatular]

9 hours ago, Sambob said:

  Hide contents

Why was Tony(the latino guy) beating somebody up in a car park?

 

 

Spoiler

think they said the guy did something bad to his sister.

 

[Jimboxy]

2 hours ago, mr lakitu said:

 And have you seen any of recent movies to even know what I'm talking about?

 

Blimey dude, you could probably be a bit more patronising if you tried. 

[Hendo]

Great episode of Saul this week. A returning character and metaphorical explosions galore.

[regemond]

Not a particularly good show, but why is the Channel 4 series Car S.O.S. so addictive? I'm not even into cars, at all, but I can't help watching it whenever I see it's on TV. Is this one of the signs I'm becoming an old man?

[Hendo]

9 hours ago, mr lakitu said:

Master of None is back and so good. 

I watched the first episode. Not sure I can watch the inevitable awkwardness about to happen.

I can't remember anything that happened in the first series but I do remember I loved it.

[Hendo]

Just finished the new Saul episode. It's all coming together, we're so close to BB territory.

[DisturbedSwan]

33 minutes ago, mr lakitu said:

American Gods gets better. It was ok but now it's good. It's just very different from anything else happening. Akin to preacher. 

 

Yeah I wasn't too keen on the first 2 episodes, couldn't really tell what was going on some of the time and got a bit confused but 3 and 4 have been excellent.