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tartydoris
Reviews
Ms. Marvel: Crushed (2022)
What's the deal with adults playing teens in US shows?
The title of this review says it all. It completely breaks the immersion when you have someone who is 23, Rish Shah, playing a 16 year old. At least Iman Vellani, who plays the lead character Kamala Khan and is 19 in real life, is closer to the age she plays in the show and can pass for 16, maybe. But when she is flirting with Kamran, Rish Shah, the age gap looks massive because he does look like he's in his mid 20's. At least they could of had him clean shaven. It might have made him look a little younger but with all the designer stubble he just looks like an adult man.
It's so ingrained in US shows though and they have been doing it for so many years now that producers and casting directors don't even see a problem and will happily cast someone too old for a role.
Apart from the above I enjoyed the first two episodes.
Sons of Anarchy: Papa's Goods (2014)
Good show but zero replay value
I hate the fact that every single likeable character in the show died and horrible ones like Wendy, the drug addict, and Tig, the reason Opie perished, survived. I enjoyed the show and watched every episode, apart from the last 20 mins when I realised they were about to kill off Jax too. No replay value for me though. What would be the point in watching the show a 2nd time? It would just be a calendar of 'this is when your next favourite character dies'
This episode gets a 3 as Jax dies.
The Grand Tour: Unscripted (2017)
So poor I stopped watching the series
If the purpose of this episode was to be so bad as to embarrass the audience into realising that the show needed to be scripted in order to be good. Then they succeeded.
There was obviously a fringe element of the audience that believed this show was better when it was unscripted, off the cuff and spontaneous.
So the producers have made an unscripted episode so awful as to shame those viewers into never proposing this argument ever again.
In fact, this episode was so poor it has put me off watching the rest of the series as I'm writing this now after the season has concluded and haven't watched another episode.
I think they were a little too efficient in making this episode really poor!
The Red Pill (2016)
Illuminating, but don't expect much to change though
As an avid YouTube watcher I had random video appear on my recommendations about 6 months ago. It was called 'Feminist Fail'. It really was very random as I had never searched or looked at anything like this before. However, I was curious and watched it and found it really funny. So I looked at a few more of these 'Feminist Fail' videos and became really hooked.
Why were these Feminist videos so amusing? As a man, a rational person of high intelligence. It was so curious to see the 'Facts' versus 'Feelings' stand off. The man, the anti-feminist, would state reasoned arguments, listing various reports and statistics from peer reviewed journals and the woman, feminist, would completely ignore the statistics and rant and rave about feelings, ideologies, victim blaming, patriarchy, oppression, sexism, racism. Then in the most bizarre turn of events would become the victim themselves, when they were finally losing the argument, as their rants couldn't refute the logic.
The above is how I became aware of Feminism, more accurately 'Third Wave Feminism' and the Mens Rights Movement and MGTOW and The Red Pill.
So I was aware of the growing inequality in men's and women's rights in certain areas for perhaps 20 or 30 years or so. Particularly in the area of parenting and custody rights with the obvious bias in courts and civil authorities towards the mother or in divorce cases towards the woman.
My view on this was it is something society has to go through now in order to get to the other side. Equality in these matters will come eventually but we aren't ready yet. Women have to have their time in the limelight until things go too far the other way that a clear and obvious bias is apparent to the point it cannot be ignored anymore.
The only problem with this above premise is I don't think we are anywhere near that stage yet. Usually things only change when something so gross happens that it just makes everyone stand up and take notice. Like 9/11 did for terrorism.
But what can do that for Mens Rights? Well you hear stories about crazy women killing their kids so the father can't have custody. Or despicable celebs joking that cutting off a mans junk is acceptable if he has cheated on you or some other such 'affront' This only gets brief coverage, if hardly at all, in the media. The media, as highlighted in this film, is very biased towards women's issues and men's issues just aren't cared about at all.
That is why I say that society is not ready for equality yet for men. The women's movement is still on the climb and gathering momentum. This film is a great film to watch and helps, but unfortunately, it is just a drop in a very large ocean.
So I really, really enjoyed watching this film. Cassie Jay did a really good job. But don't expect anything to change. I'm not saying that men's right activists shouldn't keep having their say or trying to get their message across or that films like this shouldn't be made. All I am saying is that it's going to be some time before things change and it's going to get a lot worse before that happens. Because only when things are completely beyond reasonable are people really going to take notice or realize there is a problem.
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour (2010)
My favourite episode so far
A few weeks ago I decided to watch all 9 seasons of Doctor Who again. I really love this show and it's kooky narrative of time and space.
When starting over from the beginning though you really do notice the hit and miss nature of some of the episodes, story lines and characters, including the Doctor and his companions.
The most overwhelming impression from the first 4 seasons was what a terrible writer Russell T Davies is and how good Steven Moffat is. Steven wrote most of the stand out episodes from those first seasons and quite frankly I dreaded watching more RTD penned shows.
So at times, when watching the first 4 seasons, I was frequently bored with the lame scripts and sometimes found Doctor Who a struggle.
I liked Christopher Eccleston, though slightly resent him for only staying one season, because he was too afraid to be typecast. I like David Tennant and Billie Piper. However, I was not over keen on Freema Agyeman and even less so with Catherine Tate.
So season 3 and 4 dragged on a bit. Poor writing and average companions. So I was holding out for season 5 for such a long time. I knew that's when Steven Moffat takes over as lead writer/producer. Matt Smith takes over as the Doctor and Karen Gillan is the new companion. The trifecta of brilliance.
Matt Smith fits the role of the Doctor like a glove. The youngest actor to ever play the role and portray a 906 year old person at that. But he nailed it from the first moment. That is why he has been my favourite Doctor since the show rebooted in 2005. He's fresh and young and vibrant and brings some real energy to the show.
I really like Karen Gillan too and this first episode perfectly introduced her with some sassy sex appeal in a kinky police uniform. Showing that someone in the production team really understands the benefit of having some eye candy in a show mainly directed towards male viewers. She doesn't always dress as provocatively as this in subsequent shows/seasons but it was a stroke of genius to get that instant appeal to the male audience.
As for Steven Moffat then it is just a delight to watch any episode written by this man. He really knows how to write a script and have numerous complex elements tie together and he is excellent at sowing little narratives into the story arc that portray to larger happenings that play out over an entire season or more.
That is why I enjoyed this episode so much. I have been waiting for it for two seasons at least, perhaps even four. It wasn't just this episode, it's what it represents. An increase in quality from this point forward on so many levels.
Doctor Who: Midnight (2008)
The worst Who episode in the first 4 seasons
This episode took me about an hour and a half to watch. I kept having to pause it to take a breather it was annoying me so much.
It all came to a head at about the 30 minute mark when there was full on revolt as to who the bad guy was and how they should be dealt with. By this point I was already annoyed by the episode and thinking about a poor review and giving the show a 5. However the last 15 minutes were even more terrible and just served to wind me up even further and the episode lost a further two rating points.
I think one of the key factors at work here is I don't think I've ever watched a Who episode written by Russell T. Davis I've liked. The man is absolutely dreadful and was rightfully canned as the lead writer/producer.
When you compare this episode to the previous two-parter written by Steven Moffat. Then it is like chalk and cheese. One is full of plot depth, variety, ingenuity, clever twists and interesting characters and the other is lacking imagination. Take this episode and the 'repeating' everything that's said. Something straight from the mind of a child and what they think is clever and witty. The whole episode set in a 'bus'. The mutiny. There is nothing original or layered or clever. It's dumb beyond reproach.
My other main reason for struggling through this episode so badly is some of the actors. Namely Lesley Sharp and Lindsey Coulson. I've never been a big fan of either of these two actresses. They are just so bitter and unpleasant. Lesley looks like she's had a hard life and her experiences are written into her facial features and it makes her so f***ing ugly. Lindsey was my least favourite character in Eastenders which I watched for years. She was such a sour faced cow in that show and you could tell it was her own personality coming through to the character she played.
So as these two actresses became more and more obnoxious in this episode it became harder and harder to stomach.
Why then, if I hated the episode so badly, did I watch it through to the end? Despite it taking twice as long as the scheduled runtime. I didn't want to miss anything that might have relevance to later episodes and be confused as to what they are talking about happened already. Otherwise I would have tuned out at the 30 minute mark and gone on to the next episode.
Roll on season 5 I say when Russell T. Davies is no longer in charge and we finally get a better companion after two weak years since Rose Tyler left.
The Walking Dead: Last Day on Earth (2016)
Expectation vs Reality
Going into this episode I knew it was rated only 6.2 on IMDb. How? Well as an avid ready of user reviews and trivia on IMDb I found out from the 'Trivia' section of episode 6.09 that the highest and lowest rated episodes in the history of the show where in this second half of season 6. With 6.09 at 9.7 and 6.16 at 6.2. Something I was not happy to read then as it was going to potentially spoil my viewing, knowing that the season finale was probably going to be really rubbish.
So I went into this episode with low expectations and was waiting for it to disappoint. However, the more I watched I kept thinking 'Well it's not crap yet'. Half hour in, it was fine. 45 minutes down and it was still ramping up the tension and no real negatives.
Must be a shocking ending then I thought. Knowing how IMDb works. A shows rating lives and dies on what happens in the last minute or two. People love a good twist or dramatic death and go nuts for it with rating points, even if the episode was really average, or even poor, up to that point.
So our main protagonists manage to get themselves caught and we have the inevitable sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered. We all knew the 'Saviours' MO (Modus Operandi). If caught, captured or overtaken by the Saviours they would kill someone as a lesson to keep the rest in line. We learned this from the Hilltop bunch.
So this is what happens. Someone is obviously killed 'Inglorious Basterd' style with a club/baseball bat. The show ends.
I'm left thinking. Well that wasn't too bad. I'll watch season 7 tomorrow maybe and find out who it is.
Maybe that last line sums up my conclusion as opposed to many reviews giving the show 1 or 2 stars because they have to wait 6 months to find out who dies. Or from the comic book readers being disappointed because it didn't play out like it did on the page.
That is why I say 'Expectation vs Reality' as a header. I went into the episode expecting it was going to be rubbish and was pleasantly surprised. Others obviously were expecting this to be the best episode of the show 'ever' or at least a 'great' season finale and were disappointed that they didn't get paid.
Cliffhangers used to be a staple of television shows in the past. Perhaps in the modern society, of instant gratification, people have no patience for them?
The Walking Dead: Not Tomorrow Yet (2016)
A great episode that leaves a few questions unanswered
I really enjoyed this episode but it does leave you with a few questions and as there are 4 episodes left in this season then I guess that is a good thing.
The highlight of the episode was the attack on the Saviours base. Stealthily at first. This led to the first major moment when Rick and Glenn were cold-bloodedly stabbing the Saviours in the head as they slept. This wasn't kill or be killed in the middle of battle, this was something else and was so visceral it turned by stomach.
Our group seemingly killed everyone and was preparing to leave and then we suddenly find out, via walkie talkie, that all the Saviours aren't dead and they have captured Maggie and Carol.
So? This leads to two main questions. Where were all the other Saviours hiding and how did they manage to get from that hiding place to the outside, capture Maggie and Carol, and get hidden again? I can only assume there must be some sort of underground section to the base, which is very well hidden, as surely Rick and our group would have found it when they cleared the place out.
This leads to one final question. Is this where Negan is at? Or do the Saviours have other hideouts? This brings me onto a major gripe. Not with the show but people that review the show on IMDb. Too many people are prone to giving away too much in their reviews. Obviously with inside knowledge from the comics. They subtlety suggest stuff like this can't be where Negan is at as it looks nothing like what it does in the comics. Plus when Glenn was nearly eaten by walkers earlier in the season suggesting that isn't how it happened in the comics (if he dies or not).
I like to read the reviews on IMDb after watching a really good episode to see what other people think. However, too many people are leaving spoilers for upcoming plot lines and it is ****ing me off.
Doctor Who: Rise of the Cybermen (2006)
Pretty average episode
Re-watching some of the earlier seasons of Doctor Who you really do notice the hits and misses more clearly.
This was definitely more on the side of miss than hit. Perhaps the main reason for that is the terrible acting from Roger Lloyd Pack. It reminds me of one of those YouTube videos counting down the 10 most wooden actors. Now perhaps his acting is supposed to be robotic to a degree because he's turning into a robot himself and becoming less human. However, that still does not convince me that he's actually what he is supposed to be portraying and isn't that the point? He was awful in this episode!
The other thing that is really underwhelming, and has been mentioned by numerous other reviewers, is the way the TARDIS goes from dead to still alive and on a recharge cycle because of some lame glowing crystal. Surely something more inventive could have been thought of than this? There are in a parallel universe for a start. Which means perhaps there might be a parallel TARDIS and Doctor you could mooch parts off? It's just a lack of thought in writing. Someone should have surely flagged this as a terrible idea and reworked it to something more interesting during production.
I think that is the main problem, that is highlighted, with these earlier seasons is the quality of the writers isn't very high unless the episode is penned by Steven Moffat. Something I think they must have realised to a certain degree when Steven became the lead writer and more experienced quality writers were drafted in for other episodes.
The Walking Dead: No Way Out (2016)
The episode I've been waiting for since the start of season 1
This was the best episode of The Walking Dead since it first began.
You can always tell when you have a good episode on your hands when you go through the whole gamut of emotions. You had shock, awe, anger, despair, resentment, relief, elation, fear. I could go on and on. This episode had it all.
Even the first scene was probably the best start to a TWD episode. When Daryl blew up the biker gang with a bazooka. Awesome!
The best part of the episode though was the fight back against the walkers towards the end. Rick driven to pure anger at the potential loss of his son goes on the rampage. Killing walkers indiscriminately with his axe. Just like we've seen other characters do in earlier shows after a big trauma/loss.
The reason why I say in my post title though, that I've been waiting for this since the start of season 1 is, the walkers are slow and dumb. It doesn't matter how many you are against if you are organized and have the right equipment, strategy and mentality. Ideally you wouldn't go mob handed into the middle of such a big group as they did in this episode but it shows what is possible.
You would more likely funnel them somehow in a '300' type strategy into a bottleneck and kill every one of them. That's how 300 could take on thousands in that film. Filter them through and slaughter them all.
However, the way it happened in this episode was way cooler. But emphasizes the point. The walkers aren't smart or quick or clever. They are slow moving and easily picked off. Kill em all. Don't lead them away to come back another day.
Great episode. I might go and watch it again. Something I have only ever done after watching a really, really good Game of Thrones episode.
Ally McBeal: Being There (1998)
Really disappointing episode
This was clearly the worst episode of the first season so far.
The main premise concerns John and Ally defending Renee in court for her assault of Michael Rivers, earlier in the season, when she kick boxed him to the head, knocked him unconscious and broke his neck after their date turned sour.
It seemed obvious from the start of the episode how this was going to turn out and that Renee would get off with the charges. However, I really don't understand why or how and quite frankly I found it really annoying.
In all of the trials up to this point in the first season I have been happy about the results as they all seemed pretty fair. Renee's trial however, is just hokum. John and Ally made a terrible case/argument on Renee's behalf. The prosecution had a solid case and presented good arguments. Plus the fact she was guilty as hell and put up little to no mitigating circumstances to explain her over the top actions.
Now maybe things have changed in courts in the subsequent 19 years since this episode first aired. But can women still get away with grievous assault, breaking someone's neck and nearly killing them and get no punishment just because they are a woman and they attacked a man? As mentioned in the episode. If this was a man that broke a woman's neck. He would be in jail, 100 percent of the time and probably for a few years too.
The hypocrisy and double standard here makes me sick and that's why I really hated this episode. There were a few interesting moment's which is why I'm not giving it 1, but it loses at least 5 points for the terrible, unjustified verdict of Renee's case.
Doctor Who: The Parting of the Ways (2005)
Good episode but poorly written in parts
First off I'm writing this review years after it originally aired as I'm re-watching the entire series from the start. This does give one a uniquely lofty position in which to assess the relative merits.
My overwhelming thought from this two-parter is that it was OK but quite sloppily written by Russell T. Davies with little imagination. The premise was fine. You reboot Doctor Who for the modern age and you make the conclusion to the first season about the shows most iconic villain - the Daleks. With little teasers that have been sewn throughout the whole season. BAD WOLF.
This kicks off my first major gripe. The whole Bad Wolf thing was so esoteric that it made little sense. This is what I've gleaned from other sites it means: Bad Wolf was a message scattered in space and time to tempt Rose back to the Game Station to save the Doctor. Later the phrase 'Bad Wolf' became a warning, the TARDIS translated every word to Bad Wolf letting the Doctor know that the universe was in danger.
How did the Bad Wolf message do either of these two things with any great efficacy? It's not as if they had any great hidden meaning.
Secondly, the previous episode was so lame up to the point of realization that the Daleks were behind the space stations strange 'Games'. The idea that 200,000 years into the future that Big Brother, The Weakest Link and Trinny and Susannah are still the most popular shows on television. Judging that most shows have a life span of about 10 years. How did these last 200 millennia?
After watching all 9 seasons of Doctor Who. You know who the good writers in this show are and how poor some of the others are. It is no coincidence that shows with particularly low ratings on IMDb are quite often written by Russell T. Davies and, in my opinion, is the main reason why he was eventually replaced as lead writer by Steven Moffat, who's episodes were widely praised. Such as the two parter in this first season - The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. The two episodes, along with this final episode, that each scored 9.1 - the highest rating of the first season.
What I'm saying is that I just think Russell T. Davies is a very average writer and does not show much imagination with his work. Even the little underlying things, clues and mysteries that tie a season together are so ham-fisted and don't make much sense (Bad Wolf). Something Steven Moffat does really well.
I think the reason why this episode, and the previous one, rate as high as they do is because they were about the Daleks and the Doctor Who fans love the Daleks and were excited to see them so prominently. However, as a story goes I think it was pretty average and could have been written so much better and more competently.
House of Cards: Chapter 27 (2015)
A slow start to season 3
This season almost feels like we're starting anew with this show. All of Frank and Claire's adversaries they climbed over to get to the top are no longer relevant and no real conflicts from earlier seasons persist. Yes there are still people in the House and the Senate that Frank has beef with, it is politics after all. However, no scams and schemes persist other than the Rachel thing and to a lesser degree Gavin Orsay, aka HEROnymous Bot, and his relationship with the FBI.
I thought the problem with the first season is that Frank had no worthy adversaries. Everyone was too easily manipulated and controlled and it was like Frank was the only smart person in Washington. Frank was like the superhero but he had no arch-enemy/super-villain to overcome. Though perhaps that should read the other way around and Frank is the super villain? The second season was much better. The Underwoods had lots more worthy opponents to overcome. Such as Zoe Barnes, Remy Danton, President Garrett Walker and his wife (though he was still a little too dumb and easily manipulated for someone holding the highest office in the world) and finally, and by far the most worthy, Raymond Tusk.
So coming into season 3 we have no ongoing story lines from previous seasons, other than Rachel and HEROnymous Bot, and no worthy nemesis' for Frank to outsmart and crush. Hence my feeling that we are almost starting afresh with this show. We have to find new story lines and new rivals capable of stretching our protagonists to come up with more and more devilishly wicked schemes to out-think them and still get their own way.
Perhaps this was an oversight by the writers and producers that they didn't think beyond season 2 and that they needed more threads persisting into later series' to keep things tied together and the drama flowing more evenly as most of the suspense has gone and now needs to be rebuilt from scratch, almost.
The Office: Chair Model (2008)
Jim & Pam's relationship
I didn't particularly like this episode too much because I don't like how close Jim and Pam are now becoming.
One of the most endearing parts about this show was the unspoken love between Jim and Pam. The furtive glances, the hidden jealousies, the unrequited burning desire. It was so adorable to watch these two dance around each other.
As a big fan of the British series of this show I also liked the Tim and Dawn romantic dance too. Only they never got together until the final two episodes. In the first 3 seasons of this show they managed to keep Jim and Pam apart and I was hoping this would remain the status quo. So in season 4 they finally become a couple and the show has lost a big draw for me.
Yes I want to see Jim and Pam get together but I miss the forbidden love. I'm just hoping it's like a Ross and Rachel thing from friends where they get together in one of the early seasons but then break up and don't get together again until the end of the final season.
The Walking Dead: Try (2015)
Troubling story line holes
I enjoyed this episode for the most part but there was a few things that bugged me. Tuning in to the episode I was looking forward to seeing Glenn get back to Alexandria and telling Deanna what happened on their scavenger hunt for electrical supplies and how Aiden and Noah died. A missed opportunity for some drama I thought.
Also, I found it troubling that Deanna was only interviewing Nicholas on what happened and did not even ask Glenn, Eugene or Tara. This was obviously meant by the writers to introduce conflict into Alexandria within the new and old group. There is no show if everyone now is just safe behind high walls with no threat. So the twist is the internal conflict and potential struggle for control and power. The above oversight by Deanna though is just something I wouldn't expect her to do so is poor story telling, in my opinion, in a lame attempt to add a divide between the two groups.
The final point of trouble was why Maggie didn't reveal anything to anyone about what Father Gabriel said to Deanna at the end of the last episode. Surely she would have warned someone as this is a very real threat to safety of everyone in Rick's group. Now maybe they are leaving her relaying of this until the season finale, but if so then surely Gabriel's message should have happened in this episode and not the last and then completely overlooked.
Anyway, with the season 5 finale being entitle Conquer, I'm sure the burgeoning power struggle this episode foretold will be well worth watching.