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Reviews
The Witcher: The Art of the Illusion (2023)
Best episode to date of a dreadful season
This is, by far and away, the episode to date of what has been a dreadful season.
For the first two or three episodes this season, having seen all prior, I couldn't remember why I should care about anything going on. The writing in those was consistently atrocious. I almost gave up after the fifth "Your friend Yennefer" voiceover in the endless letters montage. And I'm struggling to even remember most of the half baked side quests and encounters they've had. We could have skipped the whole conveniently empty to conveniently empty house persecution, the entire bank/wyvern thing, the boat monster and probably half the scenes in Nilfgard. So after putting the series to sleep for a couple of weeks, I decided to power through to the last two episodes of book 1 and I'm actually glad I did.
This episode, while no masterpiece, has fun and intrigue and a good merging of storylines, even if we could tell from a mile away that the obvious culprit was being framed. The fun was not in the reveal but in the development. It's still unclear why the whole Wild Hunt scene a few episodes back happened, especially with it's too convenient ending. But now it seems someone has decided to actually move a coherent story forward. Maybe they can rescue this season yet.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Broken Circle (2023)
Carol Kane was fantastic
Aside from the tiresome cliché of the recalcitrant admiral who doesn't get it, this episode was fantastic especially for the introduction of Carol Kane's Pelia. She was outstanding: mysterious, funny and alluring.
Unlike bureaucratic admirals, the comic relief engineer is a formula that works. Tig Notaro's Jett Reno has up to now been the pinnacle of the form. But James Doohan's Scotty was no slouch in that department; with Simon Pegg's rendition of the character much more overtly comic to good effect.
Kane, who has already given the world at least one absolutely immortal comedic character (Miracle Max's wife Valerie in The Princess Bride), could give Notaro a run for her money. Have fun storming the castle!
The Expanse: Babylon's Ashes (2022)
Great except Laconia
So the guy from Laconia messages Inaros and we're supposed to take that as an ending of that storyline?
Otherwise great finale. I don't think Holden had to hand it off to Drummer but OK.
The Expanse: Why We Fight (2022)
Great if it weren't penultimate
This episode would have been great if it hadn't introduced an almost completely new plot line we had only had previews about, while still being the next-to-last episode in what was, up to now, one of the best sci-fi series ever made.
It's hard to rate it because it was good on its own. But there is no way they can wrap this up in the last episode unless we have a feature film coming that I'm unaware of.
Foundation: Preparing to Live (2021)
Good, with predictable problems for non-readers
This episode was good, though not as good as the first. And the reasons it wasn't as good are partly the reasons that, as a reader, I would have chosen to start the series on the Prelude to Foundation novel, instead of the Foundation novel.
People complaining about that last sequence simply don't get that its results are essential to the plot of the novels. But I get why they complain in viewer terms, and those problems would not have arisen if they had started with the Prelude novel. That said, in this, they are following Asimov himself and there is little to criticize about being faithful to the original.
Now I turn to a more essential problem stemming from the opposite choice. I have zero issues with the gender change (from the books) of the Demerzel character, but I certainly would not have shown THAT scene and the subsequent conversation scene since they give away a reveal that's supposed to be five books in. Anyone who has read the books knows what I'm talking about and anyone who hasn't, will have the books partly spoiled by the series in this episode, not by this review. The scenes change the behavioral essence of Demerzel (the Zeroth Law for book readers) and of the Cleons's motivations and behavior. And, worst of all, the change serves no discernible purpose. Of all the things that should not have been changed from the books this was number one. And it is for this perplexing choice that I take points.
Foundation: The Emperor's Peace (2021)
Masterful and respectful
I have read all the relevant books in this series, from The Caves of Steel to Foundation and Earth. This episode is as close to a masterpiece opening of the series as could be expected. It respects the original, perhaps more than I would have since I would probably have started with Prelude to Foundation instead of Foundation itself to ease viewers into it. But theirs is certainly a valid choice.
Now I want to address the review (and any others sure to follow) claiming that "woke Apple" has made the masterpiece "barely recognizable." That is absurd. First, using today's definition of "woke," Isaac Asimov was one of the wokest people ever to live on this planet. He made no bones about it. A New Deal Democrat, President of the Humanist Society, a feminist before it was cool, an anti-climate-change activist a decade and a half or more before An Inconvenient Truth, a critic of white-flight and the concomitant racial and ethnic ghettoization of cities, pro gay and lesbian rights. There is no reason to believe he would not be pro trans rights as well if that had been posed to him. Same thing with criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and any other issue today. You can bet your bottom dollar he would have been with the progressives.
I am not saying Asimov was perfect or even perfectly progressive. Despite being openly feminist, his behavior toward women would have gotten him shunned today, and rightly so. But he lived in a time when his behavior, very much similar to Andrew Cuomo's, was much more accepted, even if in retrospect, it was no more acceptable. The fact that it took him three decades to realize it, and he still publicly acknowledged his fault unprompted (unlike Cuomo), tells you what kind of human being he was.
So, claiming that Apple is making his masterpiece "too woke" is simply a gross misunderstanding at best, and a grossly disrespectful effort to subtract the writer from his work, at worst. I have no doubt in my mind that if you think this episode was too woke, Isaac Asimov would have not thought well of you.
EDITED: Hopefully you don't see two reviews from me. I had mistakenly written a paragraph attributing a scene to this episode when it appears in the second one. That's what I get for binging them. I have deleted the paragraph and changed the score accordingly.
Loki (2021)
It's great. Commenters should stop the misogyny
After watching two episodes, I read a few comments here complaining about the series being too woke without understanding what their problem was. Well, we all know what the complainers' general problem in life is but I mean what their specific gripe about the show was.
For a minute I thought their problem was it that it has two strong black women characters (even though two straight white guys are the protagonists). But no, one of the complainers let the cat out of the bag. Their problem is that the Loki variant antagonist is a woman. That's what's too woke for these people. Give me a break. Give the world a break. Please delete your accounts. Unsubscribe from streaming services. Get a vasectomy (yes they're incels but just in case). And then go back to whatever cave you like to come out of to thump your man boobs in the morning, and stay there.
After the second episode, this show is great. Far better than Wandavision was after the first two cringy episodes (it got better). For details as to why it's good several other reviews have done a good job. The atmosphere, the writing, and the acting. All top notch. I'm not going to say it's a 10 or perfect. But certainly worth your time if you like Marvel at all. I just needed to write this review because I've had it with these cavemen trying to ruin the comment thread on every sci-fi show I like.
Star Trek: Discovery: That Hope Is You, Part 1 (2020)
Hope wrapped in a cinema-level experience
This is Discovery's 30th episode and incredibly there are people posting here who have hated every prior episode and still watch (do they really watch?) just to post hate. Ignore them. This episode was fantastic.
It has made many attempts, but rarely has Star Trek (any Star Trek) delivered on its promise of racial equality, hope predicated on faith in a shared interspecies "humanity" and brotherhood, ecological consciousness, and the sheer joy of exploration better than in this episode.
I will grant that Sonequa Martin-Green's initial planetside scene was a bit overdramatic. But, if you can overlook an imperfect minute, the rest of the episode is a joy. In fact, other than that moment, her delivery is on point.
The action scenes are the best of any Star Trek, including the non-Abrams movies (that's the Abrams movies' only redeeming quality), tied perhaps with the mirror universe scenes in season one. Both the action and the effects are easily feature film quality.
The storyline ties-in well with the first four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise, which was always a concern given Daniels and all that.
If this episode presages the season's quality, we're in for a treat.
Star Trek: Lower Decks: No Small Parts (2020)
I had a smile the whole way through
Well, except for the hanging download moment, which was edge-of-the-seat stuff, this episode was such a joy to watch that I smiled all the way through.
This finale proved that Lower Decks was a great idea. I can't wait for season 2. I just hope that Boimler keeps his rank somehow.
Raised by Wolves: The Beginning (2020)
Enragingly bad
While I remained skeptical about the way atheists seemed to be portrayed as humorless and one-dimensional, taken as a whole, I was enjoying the series until this episode, which, as another reviewer has said, completely jumped the shark.
Open magma tubes directly to the center of the planet but from which no lava ever comes out, as if it was just happy as can be getting pressured into a molten state. Maybe there's no pressure and the magma stays molten by magic and that's why the lander could fly through it. The tubes do somehow spew formerly dead beings (or at least mice) back from the dead though.
The machine checks the developmental condition of the fetus and gets it right on the dot even though it's calibrated for humans and not for flying sucker eels and was being used on an android, so the fetus could be the only source of biologically coherent data.
Marcus, half in shock, delusional and literally crawling on all fours, with no food or water, his forehead veins threatening to become horns, manages to get to the tropical zone.
Nobody bothers to try to tell Paul not to shoot any human, regardless of the past.
The whole concept of "devolving" humans, as if evolution had a pinnacle to evolve to and devolve from, instead of many paths to fitness. And anyway, why would they evolve to lose language just to gain the ability to grab onto steep walls? Who was doing the sexual selection and why prioritize that to that extent? Is it the radiation? Does it ever rain, where's the water?
Was it the ghost of the decahedron with the milk-vomiting head (a broken mini version of the apparently-smart functional one in the desert) that somehow infiltrated the fallen pod and was in a position to impregnate alien tech with a flying eel? If it wasn't, why was Mother seeing it?
I love sci-fi. And I get sci-fi. I have watched and read copious amounts of sci-fi, hundreds of books, many of them hard sci-fi. Do not blame people who dislike this episode on them not getting sci-fi. This isn't Asimov, Clarke, Liu or Herbert. It's certainly not Reynolds, Jemisin, Corey or Howey. Clearly it's not Martine, Chambers, Meyers, Weir, Cline or Scalzi. I watched Westworld until the very end and enjoyed it. What has happened here is on the level of hackery of a warped version of JJ Abrams.
The Two Popes (2019)
Ignore the naysayers, it's worth the watch
Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce both deserve awards for this movie. Their acting is superb.
The directing and editing is also great. I loved the use of many languages to convey the international nature of the Roman Catholic Church. I also enjoyed the different editing and cinematography styles to convey the different times in which the movie's story advances.
Many are critiquing the truthfulness of the film. Some critiques here are clearly written by arch-conservatives for whom even Benedict was too liberal (incredible). Sure the writer probably has a soft spot for liberation theology and climate change. So what? Bergoglio/Francis still comes across as deeply flawed and fallible, if generally likable (as he is to most people who don't have axes to grind).
Many other invectives are written by people who seem to hate the Roman Catholic Church for its well-documented history of abuses and hypocrisy. Some of those take particular aim at Francis' past in Argentina which the movie addresses. In general all of these conclude that the film is a public relations stunt financed or somehow supported by the Church itself to bolster its dwindling numbers and decaying credibility. This is hogwash. Pure applesauce.
Take it from an atheist who was brought up in the Church and studied under Jesuits: you don't have to be blind to the wider truth to enjoy this movie, respect its subject matter, or understand that it is telling a credible clear perspective of a the slice of the truth that it addresses. I don't see anyone converting to Roman Catholicism or returning to the Church because of this movie any more than they should for seeing The Shoes of the Fisherman or The DaVinci Code. The Church is an incredibly powerful and ancient institution and it damn well should be portrayed as such. The conversations had by its leadership should presume that certain common understandings they all share will not be discussed, just as people don't go around discussing whether we should have laws or whether money should exist. You can't expect actors portraying cardinals and popes to behave like Cristopher Hitchens.
Yes, there is poetic license. Of course. There always is when dramatizing events, particularly when one is not privy to them and when those who were aren't talking. It's a movie. A drama. And it captures well its subject matter, the papal transition, and the personalities of its characters as well as of the institution they dedicated their lives to.
Luke Cage (2016)
A racist show with no need for super powers
Did you see Donald Trump in the first debate argue that African Americans and Latinos who live in inner cities live in hell? Did you see the reaction that line got afterward with people saying he didn't know what he was talking about? I'd like to see exactly the same reaction to Luke Cage, season 1, which is a 13-hour long paid advertisement for Donald Trump's vision of Harlem.
No super villains here. Just stereotypical black thugs and gangsters with a few Hispanics thrown into the mix for good measure. Every single relatively relevant male character in the show has some sort of criminal background or enterprise or is into some corrupt goings-on, including the protagonist. Would it have killed them to show just one normal non-corrupt professional black or Hispanic man? The only politician, a black woman, is a caricature of corruption with dreadful public relations. There are only two non-black or Hispanic characters, and they are an Asian couple who own a Chinese restaurant. Seriously?
I have lived in Harlem, and I realize it's not the nicest neighborhood in NYC, but the way its depicted in the show is way off base; even for a fictional Harlem. Had they chosen some less-specific setting, maybe they could have gotten away with it; but by being particular, the story strains suspension of disbelief. A person watching the show could be forgiven for assuming that walking around Harlem is a matter of learning how to sidestep people having loud arguments in the middle of the street or avoiding gangs openly bent on taking your money; or that some two-bit club owner who's barely worth $2 or $3 million and has a crew of fewer than 10 guys, could get away with extorting protection money from (literally) every business in a 25x5 block section of Manhattan. And that all this would happen and no reporter would denounce it, and nobody would call the authorities.
The main antagonist loses almost all his cash and that turns out to be $7 million. Do you know how far $7 million takes you in NYC in this day and age? I'll tell you. It's nowhere near enough to flash money around or act like you own the place. It's laughable. And the entire story-line hinges on this guy allowing his bartender (!!!) to learn about an illicit deal worth about 10% of his entire net-worth going down in some junk-yard and then being surprised when the guy calls-in sick the night of the transaction. Amateur hour.
And don't get me started on the absurd coincidence that the antagonist's main associate happens to have served time with the protagonist on the same jail in Savannah, Georgia and had previously tried to kill him. Yes. Savannah. Georgia. In Harlem.
Or the Councilwoman who manages a multi million dollar federal grant and moves the money around in cash, enough to give seven figure loans to her cousin, and then thinks everything will be well if she gets the cash back to "replenish" the account. (No mention of why a city council member is directly managing money instead of someone who reports to the Mayor.)
Do we really need a bullet-proof, super-strong guy to take care of this? Wouldn't any old TV cop worth his/her show have been good enough? And it takes 13 episodes? Columbo would have had it wrapped-up in 4.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Ghost (2016)
Ghost Rider is a huge misstep
I've watched Agents of Shield since the beginning but I was not aware of their announced intention to include Ghost Rider in this season. At this point it seems like a mistake.
The whole Ghost Rider mythology has never fit-in well with most of the Marvel canon and it seems like a particularly bad fit with Shield. There's really no way to address Ghost Rider well without getting into some religious discussion that can only serve to alienate at least part of an audience that is used to a pseudo-science-fiction show.
Of course, the whole overtly Christian overtones started in the last few episodes of the previous season with the incessant focus and closeups of that crucifix chain. But, as long as it was treated as a charm that people happened to be gifting around and wearing, it appeared to be harmless. With Ghost Rider however, the producers seem to have doubled down on that worldview.
I'm sure some audience members are Christian enough to feel comfortable with the new direction and yet not so religious as to feel it turns their beliefs into a joke. The rest of us, who belong to other religions or are non-believers, are now forced to swallow this dose of blatant proselytizing if we want to continue watching a show we've followed for several years now. I, for one, would rather not and I think the producers would do well to reconsider this, find some pseudo-scientific explanation for the Rider (a tough undertaking), close that chapter in a few episodes and move on to something more consistent with what the show has always been about.
They can always give Ghost Rider his own show.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars Is Back!!! (with some casting and story issues)
The seventh entry in the Star Wars saga accomplishes its most important task. It recaptures the spirit and the feeling of the original trilogy. The use of CGI is sparse, only really obvious when viewing planets and the main evil weapon from space and when looking at cavernous depths inside huge structures. Like in the originals, this gives the movie a sense of realism and relatability clearly lacking in the prequels. Gone are the feats of force use that made lightsaber wielders move at ridiculous speeds in the prequels and we're back to paced duels that hearken to those between Luke and Darth Vader. Gone also are the ship to ship jumps that Anakin made simply to unnerve Obi-Wan. The force-wielders here are not gods battling gods, their danger seems much more palpable.
The movie goes even further to capture some of what I felt when I played Knights of the Old Republic. For example, the Wookie rifle, I really can't recall the in-game name, is one of the best, if not the best, long distance weapons in that game. And, the concept of having force-induced flashbacks and insights when touching an object like the lightsaber gave me uncanny emotional flashbacks of Knights of the Old Republic 2 (with the restored content of course).
The movie also succeeds in introducing us to our new generation of heroes and relating them to the old heroes we love. Both Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) are a triumph of casting and believability, and, while BB-8 isn't R2-D2 yet, they did a great job with him too. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is amazing in this outing, easily his best and that's saying something. The script seemed to make Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) play somehow a bit off because we don't see any comic relief or great feats from him even though he seems to be in it for the long haul, but it's still a satisfying performance. The movie allows Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) to be more awe inspiring here than in any of the originals while keeping her at a suitable screen-time that still allows our new heroes to develop. She's Obi- Wan and Princess Leia rolled into one. Outstanding. Of Luke (Mark Hamill) I won't say anything except to say that the producers really took us for a ride with the promotional guess work. Finally Oscar Isaac (as Poe Dameron) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) don't get much to work with but they turn in good performances for what they get to do.
Now to the not so good parts. What's up with this New Order? Storywise they seem to have sprung up up out of nowhere. The explanation for their existence is flimsy at best. And why are the good guys called the Resistance when they are simply the New Republic's (the Senate's) army? I realize Luke went missing but why should there be such utter incompetence in his absence that a force like the New Order is allowed to gain power?
Voldemort, err sorry, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) is a huge question mark (as well as literally ridiculously huge) and a complete whatever in the whole scheme. Who is he? Why does he take title- naming advice from North Korean dictators? Considering that Sith traditionally take new names, why did he name himself Snoke? I've heard names more scary in cartoons for toddlers. Is he even a Sith? He has no Darth title and neither does his disciple who seems to be the head of some (unseen) commando force called the Ren Knights (if I remember correctly).
Speaking of which, Adam Driver is a disaster as Kylo Ren. It's the miscasting of the century. The way his character is written isn't that bad (except for the temper tantrums) but his performance is just cringeworthy. Mr. Driver seems to suffer from the antithesis of gravitas which is unforgivable when playing the main antagonist. He has nothing on Hayden Christensen. Every time he took off that ridiculous (unexplained) mask I thought of Rick Moranis in Spaceballs. But, of course, while Mr. Moranis was in on the joke, Mr. Driver seems to think he can be taken seriously.
Yet another miscasting is Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux in a performance that attempted to channel Peter Cushing's masterful Grand Moff Tarkin, but only succeeded in underscoring that Mr. Gleeson is certainly not Mr. Cushing. For a split second after he gives his big speech I thought the stormtroopers would laugh at him.
I sincerely hope both General Hux and Kylo Ren blew up and died, but I don't think we'll be that lucky regardless of how badly placed in the editing the scene that establishes the possibility of their survival may have been. Plus, of course, apparently Kylo Ren is the figure that must be redeemed in this trilogy. If we are to be subjected to their pathetic excuses for acting I seriously hope Mr. Driver gets a voice and acting coach or that at least he gets voiceovered by a better actor when he's wearing the mask in the next installment. In fact, I hope all three things happen. As to General Hux, Supreme Leader Snoke should force-choke him instead of behaving like the cuddling idiot he seems to be. There's no overarching reason to keep him around after he delivers Ren to wherever Snoke keeps that hideous (stone?) throne.
I realize those issues are not minor and would normally warrant a rating lower than an 8/10. But, the good aspects of this movie are so good that they more than make up for the bad. I hope the next one builds heavily on the good.