[Reply]

I thought the best thing it did was stick the landing. The last episode tied things together sufficient to make prior reservations or resistance somewhat moot.

I had a particular [as in specific and probably not all that universal] aversion to the narrative, as I hate the 'let's put on a play' narrative of comprehensive problem-solving. And I hate this notion that great works performed with heart will unlock truths in every hardened heart. It smacks of creative types jacking themselves off, and it happens everywhere.

And that narrative was as central to this show as it could possibly be, but I didn't mind overly in the end, and it even managed to acquit that thesis fairly well.

Overall a worthwhile experience.

With that said, I think it's somewhat of a pale imitator of The Leftovers, which the production team oversaw just a couple years back. Not as apocalyptic, but every bit as emotional and resonant its themes.

And I agree about MacEnzie Davis. She is not a 'stunner' but she is very engrossing, and it struck me she's a good deal like a young Meryl Streep. Pretty in a plain honest manner, but so expressive and engrossing that you lose yourself in her performances. Watch Meryl in The Deerhunter and see if you aren't thinking the same things about her you are MacEnzie in their respective performances.
[Reply]

That's probably an astute observation. Trying to work through what it looks like with a strung out ending, and it changes the view pretty substantially. In fact, I didn't realize it was ongoing yet, and thought when I got through episode 9 I thought it was the end, and certainly episode 10 changes the overall view of the story. Seems fairly obvious, but I figured what was coming was in season 2.

Long, bumblefuck way of saying good point.

I didn't hate it as much as you. Total guess, but I bet I've been exposed to it less than you. I typically manage to avoid things that go down that road. And let's be real here, my hayseed ass isn't the the most seasoned art critic so they can lob some garbage meatballs by me and I'd never get it. But I thought it was well done. Wasn't what I was expecting, but it worked for me.

I think it did a nice job of not getting lost in the dystopia of it all. I mean, it went into the hardship for sure, but it would have been really easy to go all disaster porn like so many shows do and deserves credit for telling that story better.

My opinion - and I'm open to being wrong here, but I think it is a tighter, more elegant version of The Leftovers.

The Leftovers didn't work as well for me as this did. I caught the first 2 seasons of Leftovers, and didn't bother with the third. I thought it did a nice job on the character stuff and right as it got in there it would dive back into weird ass shit, in my opinion needlessly. But maybe the 3rd season unfucks it all, but whatever. I thought this was a better, more refined story, or at least approach.

Davis has earned some rope from me. I'll watch her stuff.
[Reply]

Just finished Station Eleven. Very eclectic. Slow, but the acting and character development was great. Totally unexpected story, felt pretty fresh compared to all the sequels and reboots we're usually complaining about.
[Reply]

Single Drunk Female has your usual Loudermilk vibes for the gal set.



Big fan of Sophia Black-D'Elia from that show with That Big Bird Lady Kaitlin, The Mick, and Ally Sheedy is back for the bratpack set.
[Reply]

This COULD actually be brilliant, first premise is Arnett is an investigator who always gets assigned celebrities as sidekicks who are 'doing research' for a role, . . . second premise is, the celebrities go into the scene with no direction except be yourself and go with it. Could be a trainwreck, could be a masterpiece.

It's an adaption of a popular show Murder in Successville on BBC, you can track down so clips of it to get a flavor of what's the what.


[Reply]

Holy shit - Poor Tim Baltz . . . BJ in that post baptism champagne velour romphim-uxedo, complete with cummerbund. . . :-) :-)

trivia


[Reply]

Looooved last nights episode.

That’s because he took my ass off the market bitch. :-)
[Reply]

Butterflies, . . . butterflies they start out as Caterpillllllls.
[Reply]

You know what? Edie Patterson's voice ain't too bad.
[Reply]

Ever caught her on Comedy Bang! Bang!?

She is effortlessly hilarious. Tim's pretty good too.
[Reply]

Never seen that show but I remember her from way back. She was on a brief series that the Wayans brothers created called The Underground It aired on showtime I think. It didnt last long but she was funny and made quite an impression. I was stunned when I saw she was doing McBrides shows.
[Reply]

anything spooky to watch? Been a drought - thought it was getting better but availability and selection still suck.
[Reply]

Trying to watch Dark on Netflix. This thing is really taking its time.
[Reply]

I just started a Mike Flanagan series called The Haunting of Bly Manor.
[Reply]