@Sam9s,
I like that you like Justified
. Looking forward to your comments on S5 and S6.
Lots of binge-watching of late.
Forbrydelsen (The Crime) / The Killing
I got interested in this because I loved Bron|Broen.
All through it's three seasons, it remains a dark mix of a political thriller and police procedural with a bit of family drama thrown in.
Personally, the first season was a bit too long. When you know that the season has 20 episodes, the suspect in ep #4 has a low probability of being the actual perp. From that point of view, my interest didn't get piqued until episodes #7-8. The next two seasons at 10 episodes apiece were more appealing for my tastes.
If I understand correctly, the US version breaks up the first season into 2 seasons (
Similar running time though, 19.5 hrs vs 20 hrs for the original) and then takes a life of it's own? It's not on my watch list yet. Should I watch it? Reading
this, I am not that tempted.
DareDevil and Jessica Jones
I binge watched DareDevil in two days and I watched Jessica Jones over a week's time. That should give you an idea. In the end, they are very different kind of series.
DareDevil is just about the best superhero show because it is dark (unlike Arrow), has really good action choreography and great performance by D'onofrio. It's really easy to be impressed by DareDevil.
Jessica Jones is an atypical "superhero". Her abilities are limited - as she says "It's more like a jump" rather than flying. Unlike other superheroes who want to find their nemesis and get it over with, she is afraid of opening her door and finding Kilgrave. She is a victim despite the super powers. She fails a lot, makes bad decisions and fights awkwardly. She is more of a normal, flawed, morally ambiguous person than a crime-fighting superhero.
I would also say that the capability of Kilgrave is scarier than Kingpin. You imagine the possibility of escaping an encounter with D'onofrio's Kingpin by appealing to his good side, but it's hard to imagine a nice outcome with David Tennant's Kilgrave.
DD is easy to like, JJ requires a bit of time to sink in. Most would prefer the former.
Mr. Robot
After years of being suffering mistreatment at the hands of Hollywood, nerds have their revenge (
Even after 20 years, I cannot figure out how an Alien computer gets infected by a human virus in "Independence day"). I was very relieved to see someone typing commands to hack. For that aspect, full marks to Mr. Robot.
In a way, none of the plot devices by themselves seem original. You have already seen most of them before. But, they mostly work. While the great enthusiasm I had after finishing the first episode waned a bit towards the end, it was still worth watching.
Also rans
American Horror Story Season 1
As a big fan of the horror genre, I wanted to watch AHS for a very long time. The eerie title music and the beginning were promising. But, it's just hmmm... not scary and a bit directionless. The reason I stuck with it was Jessica Lange's acting...nopes!... It's just glimpses of Alexandra Breckenridge, I am sure.
Supernatural
Five years ago, Supernatural was really interesting. Then came the terrible three seasons. I still don't know why I stuck with it (Dean? Castiel? Crowley? Certainly not Sam, he has a total of 3.5 expressions throughout the series). Seasons 9 and 10 were better, but they were predictable - they set out a goal and stuck to it. Nothing new. Either my brain is mushy due to all the binge watching or it's actually true - Season 11 seems to be better (
Rotten Tomatoes Audience score sort of agrees with the latter and science with the former. Take your pick).
Next on my watchlist:
- Borgen (First three episodes are really good)
- House of Cards (UK Original trilogy)
- Cosmos (both Carl Sagan's original and Neil deGrasse Tyson's)
- Das Boot (Have watched the Director's cut of the movie. Now, it's time for the full mini-series)
