tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday

I watched this week:
Death Note: Still binging this one. I'm on the edge of my seat! (First-time watcher here.)
The Gilded Age S1: Watched four episodes. Thought it was a little boring.
Murderbot: Still my favorite show at the moment!
Taskmaster UK S19 Finale: Funny as ever.

Movies: 28 Days Later (still solid after all that time!) and 28 Years Later (liked several things about it, but I would never have understood that ending without the people on the internet)

I'm glad you're enjoying Death Note! It's an absolute classic. Light is so awful, but I adore him; he's just such a compelling character.

Haha, I'm currently watching the Yotsuba arc and *really* missing Light's terrible self.

Let's see?

I finished S4 the Bear last weekend - binged it and already miss it. Good news (for those who also love it - it's not to everyone's taste - is anything?) - it's been Renewed for a 5th Season. I may do a rewatch. I find it comforting in how it depicts the messiness of being human and how everyone struggles with relationships. Also, it most likely helps that I have a weakness for food preparation shows, shows about running a restaurant and find these types of shows comforting. And I prefer character driven shows to plot driven. The Bear is hyper-realism, and its based on an acclaimed NY chef's experiences trying to start a restaurant from his family's restaurant, and turn it into a success in Chicago. It's kind of like The Pitt - except it takes place in a restaurant, and focuses on the emotional arcs of the characters. It also may well have the best character arc of any charcter that I've seen in a very long time - Cousin Ritchie's arc is amazing.

Working my way through "Murderbot" - I want to call it The Murderbot Diaries - like the books. I don't remember the books, which were actually a series of novellas, well enough to know how closely it follows them? So couldn't tell you that. I remember enjoying the books more - which makes me think that some of the humor worked better in book form? Part of the problem, is in the books, we're only in the Murderbot's perspective - which works really well, actually. But television doesn't do First Person Close POV well. We need to see the other characters perspectives as well? And part of the satire of Muderbot is the humans are idiots. This works really well in the books, but on screen? It's kind of grating after a while. I'm at the point in which I keep wishing the Murderbot would either leave them, or kill the humans off. [I'm on episode 8 - there's not that many episodes left.]

Gilded Age on Max - it's slow in places, but I'm starting to enjoy it, and find it also comforting. It's written and directed by Julian Fellows (Downton Abbey) and is a lot like Downton Abbey, except in the US. Focuses on three families, The Russells (new wealth - train and mill baron) & their servants, The Van Ryns (old wealth and class) & their servants, and the Wilson's (upper middle class Black family in Brooklyn). I'd say that while it delves into other themes - it's heavy on class much like Downton Abbey.

Poker Face - an episodic mystery series, kind of the Fugitive (except the detective isn't really a fugitive so much as a drifter, running from the mob) meets Columbo by way of Murder She Wrote - via the guy who created Knives Out. It's very tongue in cheek - created by Rian Johnson (known for Knives Out and The Last Jedi). Has some snappy and clever writing here and there, and fairly satiric, and is into subverting the mystery of the week format.

Andor S2 - which has too many story threads for its own good. Two, I'm enjoying, okay make that three, but there are two that are losing me. The Forrest Whittaker story thread has lost me completely - I've no idea what he's doing or why, I didn't know in S1. And it tends to put me to sleep. The Mothra Wedding Reception story - is also losing me. How long is this wedding? It seems to be going on for a year maybe longer? I think it's finally done. Because it got swapped out for the Forest Whittacker one - I'd rather have it back, at least I could follow it. Andor's story thread I can for the most part follow as I can Syril and Meers. But the others are confusing things. Luthan seems to be in his story thread, which appears to be somehow manipulating the other story threads.
Confused? So am I. This isn't helped by time jumps, and dark lighting. Or that Ghorman is a spider planet (although they don't look like real spiders so I can handwave for the most part.).

I'm on episode 7 now. I might as well continue with it. But it's plodding, not a lot happens, there's a lot of talking about what should or shouldn't happen. And every once and a while we have a battle.

**

On the fence, but considering trying:

Sirens
On the Waterfront
Sandman S2
Electric City (I think that's the name of the Molly Brown/Chris Pratt flick)
Iron Heart

Looking forward to:

Foundation S3....

Yeah, Saw's part were never my favorite on the show or in Rogue One. At lot of times he feels too campy compared to the rest of the show. Shouldn't the other characters act more like he is not all there? They take him too seriously or his mental/addiction issues not seriously enough.

The thing with the spiders really worried me. I'm glad they turned out like that lol

Yup. I was really worried about the spiders too - but eventually realized by about the fifth episode that they were going the fake/metaphoric spider route, making them just weavers and metaphors for the political manipulations, which I can handle. Or I would not have been able to continue watching.

Saw = Forrest Whittacker? I couldn't figure out the name of the character either. I have no idea what he is saying half the time. Or is Saw - the kid working with FW? Still have idea what is going on there. At least, I can figure out what is happening with Mon Mothra. But the Saw bit - I'm completely lost (and I have it on close captioning).

That was really clever. The only spiders we really get to see are Syril's souvenirs.

Yes, his character's name is Saw Gerrera. I keep wondering if that is just another weird Star Wars name or is supposed to remind as of the word guerilla.
It wasn't as bad for me on the show, but his role in Rogue One was always ??? for me.

Yeah, what they did with spiders is very clever. We see them under the glass weaving, or dried up souvenirs with hard shells. I'd cringe when they appear - and then think, no this isn't a problem, this looks like the cartoon spider in Charlotte's Web, I can deal with this. It's not the realistic looking spiders in Lord of the Rings or Doctor Who.

I didn't even know the FW character's name (I just know the actor) - you're doing better than I am. Of course, it probably doesn't help that I'm not binging it - I watch an episode or two every six or seven days. (I can only watch it at night or when it is dark outside - because the cinematography with few exceptions is mostly dark and I get enough natural light in my living room during the day not to require any lighting. (It's indirect sunlight - so no heat, just light.)

Saw makes me think of the Saw horror films (which I have not seen, and just know about). That's the first thing that came into my head.

This week I've mostly watching tennis, tennis, tennis and more tennis. Wimbledon, of course. The matches start at 6:00 a.m. EDT and sometimes finish close to 6:00 p.m. so basically 12 hours of tennis a day. Best effin' vacation ever.

And somehow, I've also managed to squeeze in a few shows as well. I finished watching The Glass Dome, a scandi noir mystery thriller (Netflix). Behavioural scientist and criminologist Lejla returns to her small town in Sweden from the United States, where she has been living and working, after her adoptive father, retired police chief Valter, phones her to say that his wife had died suddenly. The place evokes mixed feelings in her, as she had been abducted there by an unknown perpetrator as a little girl, and held captive for some time. And then another girl goes missing.

I also watched a 3-part documentary called 7-7: Homegrown Terror about the July 7 tube and bus bombings in London twenty years ago.

And I started watching Smoke, the new mini-series on Apple about an arson investigation. Only 3 episodes out thus far, but the Guardian was right about sticking with it after the first two. Looking forward to the next ep! I also started watching season 2 of Silo, which I know has been out for ages, but it was one of the shows my husband kept insisting we'd watch together (after it took us eons to get through season 1) and that just wasn't happening, so I started in on my own.

And this week's eps of Murderbot and Criminal Minds. And baseball! Jays are actually doing really well!!

As for what I'm looking forward to, apart from more tennis (week 2 of Wimbledon), there's Ballard starting this week on Prime -- a spin-off from Bosch: Legacy following Maggie Q's character who was introduced in the final Bosch season. And like Dept. Q, she heads a cold case squad. Also this week, season 3 of Foundation on Apple. Will most likely wait until that one has all eps available before tucking in, however.

I'll have to pick up Foundation in October when we'll get Apple again. Glad we'll be able to see that too. I saw the promo for Smoke but wasn't sure I'd be that interested. However I'll try that out then too.

Guardian review if interested: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/27/smoke-review-dennis-lehane-taron-egerton-apple-tv

The Residence was canceled. While I don't think that it is too bad, because the season was self-sufficient, I thought it did really well. Didn't it have one of Netflix' best week 1 numbers?

I really enjoyed the most recent Poker Face episode, it was a good set up for the finale. I like Charlie's friendship with Alex.

The episodes of Murderbot really feel too short and rushed, especially getting closer to the finale.

I think I liked the second half of Ironheart less than the first. In the end it feels like the show should be consequential, but won't be, like Secret Invasion. They added a character that people have talked about a lot (I remember when it what speculated that they would be added to a show or movie and it was a huge deal) and I feel like we'll never see them again. TVLine released a whole article (SPOILERS for the ending of Ironheart!) about MCU shows' loose ends. I have forgotten about some of these...
Zelma is such a cool character, I would watch a whole show about her. She would also be a great addition to a Doctor Strange movie. Yet I feel like we also don't see the side characters again.
One thing the show absolutely had going for it though was not setting it in New York.

Edited 2025-07-05 16:28 (UTC)

Agree on The Residence (it is self-sufficient, and I'm not sure another season made sense?) I liked it. But I'm not sure it grabbed a lot of other people? It reminds me a lot of Knives Out - which people either love or hate.

Also on Poker Face - although I'm still on S1. Good to know the second season has on-going character relationships. Alex - sounds familiar - is this the FBI agent introduced in S1 or someone else?

Thanks for the review of Ironheart.

I've been noticing this as well with Disney +. I think Iron Heart was originally meant to take Tony Stark's place in the MCU, as Falcon was meant to take Captain America's place - but it's not quite gelling? I'm not quite sure why?

Oh, the reason all the superhero flicks from Marvel get set in NY with few exceptions? Marvel is based in NYC, so it's kind of ...writing and drawing what you know?

Netflix puts a lot of money into followup movies for Knives Out though. It would make sense to also have a show like that on the service. I don't know anymore with Neftlix. The whole streaming market is far too crowded by now.

Alex is a new character that Charlie meets halfway through the season and joins her for some shenanigans. The FBI agent also plays a role in a couple of episodes.

If Ironheart/Riri is supposed to be the new Iron Man, they bit off far more than they could chew. A general audience will not care about the character or even care enough to watch the show.

Makes sense. Ant-Man was set in San Fransisco which was a nice change. I guess I'm not really counting the Washington/politics stuff from Captain America.

Ah, now I really want to continue watching Poker Face. Charlie has grown on me. She's adorable and I like how she's kind of messy. Reminds me a lot of an old detective series called Columbo.

Agree - the whole streaming market is far too crowded. I don't know what to watch most of the time. I've not enough time to invest in half of this.

If Ironheart/Riri is supposed to be the new Iron Man, they bit off far more than they could chew. A general audience will not care about the character or even care enough to watch the show.

Yup. They'd have been better off following up with either Stark's daughter, or Paltrow, or the kid Stark met up with in Iron Man 3 or was that 2? I can't remember. Introducing a character the audience barely knows, and who was introduced in the very busy Wakanda Forever - which had one too many characters in it, is not a good idea. Their heart was in the right place, but the audience misses Tony Stark - and isn't ready to accept another character in that role. They had the same problem with the Falcon as Captain America? They miss Steve Rogers.

Audiences don't like it when you replace a character they loved with another one. Similar issues with Black Widow, although Florence Pugh's character is actually more entertaining than the Black Widow was, so Thunderbolts did better than expected, although not quite as well as previous films.

The main difficulty is superhero films have always had a nitch audience, for the most part, and that audience is getting burned out. Also, people don't like going to movie theaters any longer - movie theaters in NYC are expensive, uncomfortable, and the audience is annoying. I don't go to movie theaters any longer - I wait for the flick to pop up on streaming. And by the time it does? I've lost interest, and moved on to something else.

I finished my run with Apple+ and zoomed through quite a lot. I did write ups for Disclaimer, Surface S2, Careme S1, The Big Conn, Cowboy Cartel and Wolfs.

I also watched The Super Models which covered some ground I'd seen before in a doc on Kate Moss. But it was an interesting story of changes in the industry along with info on their childhood and career trajectories. I did like how it mapped out an enduring female friendship among four women in a career cohort.

The Pigeon Tunnel was an interview and doc on the life of the writer known as John Le Caree. Rather fascinating background and I liked his insight into human psychology, such as that there is no real center to people but just a conglomeration of characteristics.

The documentary Sidney on Sidney Poitier raised more questions than it answered for me. It was mostly a tribute to him and his significance in the entertainment industry and regarding U.S. civil rights, but I was really intrigued by various things that were glossed over. Not least a child who had never seen a car or a mirror until he was 10 years old. I was just fascinated by the culture shock he experienced several times in his life.

I finished Your Friends and Neighbors which I am assuming was a miniseries but could be just the first season of a series. I found myself frustrated with it in various parts because I didn't find almost anyone engaging, and the way it ended up was rather too neat to me, despite the turn in the final minute.

Sort of saw The Velvet Underground documentary and have to congratulate the makers on creating a doc that really reflected the music and ethos of the group. Unfortunately their music is very much not my thing which means I forwarded through at least half of it.

I quite liked Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson though. Each episode focused on the history and relevance of different musical tools such as autotune, sampling, drum machines, synthesizers, distortion and, my favorite, reverb. It's a pretty fascinating look at how sound is used for musical recordings. For example I never knew that in the underground levels of Capital Records they had three echo chambers. They would feed sound down from the studio into the chamber and then coming back up record it with the reverb. They also went down into enormous abandoned tunnels once used for oil storage to make recordings. Then they input the sounds to a computer so it could replicate the echo for any sound tracks it was applied to. They also looked at cultural aspects, such as how the movement forward in technology empowered underrepresented members of society so that they had more power to create.

Were all the documentaries on Apple? Because some of those look intriguing - particularly the ones on John Le Carre, Watch the Sound, and the Velvet Underground. I may need two of them to a friend.

Yes, in fact I finished another one this morning on Louis Armstrong, which was fine. It used material from an autobiography he wrote.

Hmmm, while Apple is hit or miss on Sci-Fi, it appears to be good at documentaries.

I watched S2 of Bay of Fires - an australian show about a town full of people in witness protection. S2 was quite good imo.

ironheart - last three eps. It was ok. I wish it had been a bit more stand alone and didn't lean into the MCU, there were a few things that assumed knowledge.

Rizzoli & Isles - doing a rewatch of this, Im up to season 4. I really miss this show but rewatching it my take on a few things seems to have changed. Like, I'm not finding it as queerbait-ish as I used to. I mean, its still there, just a lot tamer than I remember. I've gotten used to it in other shows maybe? And I remember being a whole lot annoyed by Hope when I first watched, but don't feel that anymore. I'm also finding Jane a bit of a bully - but thats something I found in my SG1 rewatch too, with Jack always cutting Sam off when she got super excited about science. Jane does that to Maura, gets snarky when Maura is excited about history and science, and I know Jane doesn't mean it in a hurtful way, but it still grates on me. Might just be me? I dunno lol I still love the show. I feel a wave of sadness though every time I see Lee Thompson Young (Frost), and I'm coming up on his last ep. :(

It's interesting how shows can strike you differently well after the fact. Hadn't heard of Bay of Fires but that sounds like an intriguing premise!

I started watching Dr. Who for the first time, completely blind! Currently on Season 6 - the show is so lovely, I love how it feels like the sci-fi version of a fairy tale. Matt Smith is very talented at going from quirky and silly to deeply threatening at the drop of a hat.

A Place Further Than The Universe is still my next to watch anime. Nearly done with Bocchi The Rock, but haven't quite finished it yet. Maybe that will be tomorrow's show.

Always nice to discover a new favorite that has a long run 🙂

I haven't been watching much lately (been in a bit of a "nothing is enjoyable" level deep depression pit the last month or so) BUT I did manage to crawl out a bit the last few days and actually watched a BUNCH of stuff in that one short timespan thanks to some friends coming over on Saturday + my Spanish studies + being dragged to a social outing last Thursday, so! For TV:

☆ Game Changer S07E06-07: I finally caught up on the two most recent eps on Sat and they were so much fun. Thank You Sam Reich.

☆ Avatar: The Last Airbender (OG Cartoon) S01E01-06: The show is not new to me, it's an old favorite, but I've been studying Spanish for the last 7.5 months and so I started watching it in Spanish this week. I tried this like ~2 months ago and wasn't quite there yet, but have been pleasantly surprised this time around. I'm still not fully catching everything word for word but at about 75-80% comprehension and that + already being very familiar with the show, it's actually been really enjoyable.

☆ Poker Face S02E09: Current show I've been watching over FaceTime with my parents (they live over 3k miles away and we watch TV together on Friday evenings). LOVE this show. A New Lease on Death was great. I've been really enjoying S2 in general, like. This episode in particular was definitely a shitty person and a fucked up murder but I have really liked that, overall, a lot of the S2 episodes have been more morally grey/out of the box than S1.

And for Movies:

☆ Sense & Sensibility (1995): have never actually seen the film and watched it with friends on Saturday in preparation for our upcoming ACoFaF inspired regency fae D&D game. I love Jane Austen and really enjoyed this adaptation.

☆ Piaffe: deeply bizarre and also fantastic. Visually fascinating, incredible sound design, and weird as hell in the best way. Especially loved watching it with a group of people. But also @ the hot lady bartender maybe if you’re going to suck blood out of someone’s wound, maybe remove the broken glass from the wound first? I wish you had shown up literally ever again though.

Other/Misc:

☆ Dreaming Spanish Stardew Valley Series: I'm not a gamer and I usually don't have any interest in watching streamers (I'm not really a fan of watching other people do stuff like this, I'd rather just do it myself if I'm going to do it), but for Spanish input, I've been giving it a try. It's honestly infuriating lmfao Shel and Pablo keep making terrible decisions to the point that even I, a person who has never played SDV and has previously only really played ACNH, Smushi Come Home, and Hades, was like "god even I would do this better" and it got me to start playing the damn game lmfao. And it's been good to play! I have continued to watch Shel & Pablo's series just for the input when I don't have the energy for focusing on something like ATLA in Spanish but still need to do my daily hour, but yeah I need them to start paying attention to the time and stop passing out in the mines or on the street bc they didn't leave the mines until 1:30AM. And also to stop trying to gift Penny Joja Cola or fucking HOPS jfc. Among other things lmfao. Anyway much love to Shel & Pablo/all of Dreaming Spanish this is loving frustration 😂

As for shows/films I'm considering, there are several things on my radar but I have a hard time with New To Me things. I love rewatching my comfort shows but my latest show/hyperfixation (MASH) has not been all that comforting lately thanks to feeling incredibly isolated from the rest of the fandom so I've been considering trying something new just to maybe find a fandom that I might actually be able to have some kind of community with even though I don't really want to lose my current hyperfixation 😢 But here's my list of maybes:

☆ Murderbot: QPP really wants me to watch this. I'd like to read the books first (at least the first one) and I have them but reading has also been a mental struggle for me lately so it's just kind of on hold. It does look like something I'd enjoy though.

☆ The Pitt: been actively avoiding this one so as not to lose my current hyperfixation but I've been considering it more and more lately for the above reasons. Based on what I've seen/heard about it from friends, it seems exactly up my alley.

☆ Yellowjackets: Been hearing such good things about this for years and I keep considering it. I almost bit the bullet semi-recently but then I heard that S3 (i think is the most recent season?) has kind of shit the bed and ruined itself so now I'm not sure if I should bother.

☆ Bridgerton: Been wanting to watch/rewatch more regency stuff in preparation of the aforementioned D&D game and Bridgerton is one I've not seen before but am considering. TBH it has never interested me before despite enjoying regency/period dramas, it just seems VERY soap opera-ish from what I've seen, but I do love Nicola Coughlan and am intrigued by the fact that her character has seemed to become more of a prominent focus in the latest season?

☆ Conclave: Have heard nothing but good stuff about this film and I've been meaning to watch it for MONTHS. Perhaps someday I will get around to it.

Edited 2025-07-08 03:59 (UTC)

Glad you're feeling a bit better. I love what you're doing with Avatar! I did the same with Buffy as part of a rewatch years ago. It was fascinating hearing it in Spanish, partly because I could see how much didn't translate and partly because some things were amusing.

For example, I picked up this icon because in the episode Halloween, Xander says to Willow that her outfit is a "Buen Boo." I never think of it any other way now!

That version of S&S is one of my favorite movies. Such excellent casting and very warm.

Nice about watching Poker Face together. My partner watches original Perry Mason and lately Ironside with his sister in another state on Sunday afternoons.

Thank you! I'm hoping I can keep this forward momentum going 🙏🏻 But I love that about your icon/Buffy 😂 Thats one of my all time fav shows and I rewatch it every fall - I don't think I'll be at the level of being able to watch it in Spanish this fall, but maybe next year, that sounds so fun 🥰

I know what you mean re: the translations, my fav one so far in ATLA is "Gran Gran Abuela" 😂 like, I would have assumed they'd use "Abuelita" or something like that which, from what I understand, would serve the same/a similar contextual purpose of something like "Gran Gran" in English, so hearing "Gran Gran Abuela" every time makes me laugh 😂 I love it. Also: 🔥 El Señor de Fuego 🔥 I would have expected "Don Fuego" or something but "El Señor de Fuego" does make sense, I suppose I just have previously heard "Don" used in a more formal context. Ex. in The Hacienda/some other books I've read that take place in Spanish speaking countries, I've seen Don/Doña used in a way that felt more like Lord/Lady so it's what I would have expected, vs "Señor" which I have always associated in the context of like "Mr." in English. Anyway, it's really fun to see the way things are translated, especially when it's not what you would have expected!

But yes! I really loved that S&S - I've never actually seen any other adaptations either, but I really feel like they nailed this one. And re: watching stuff long distance w/ family, it really is a lot of fun! I hope your partner and his sister continue finding great stuff to watch together!

I was just thinking that the El Señor de Fuego probably gives a different context than "Don Fuego". Using Don would make it more of a name, whereas The Man of Fire makes it more of a skill/aspect of him as a person. And yes, Don could be meant as more like Sir, either a class signifier or a title of particular respect.

aaaaahhhhh, that totally makes sense re: it being a title vs Don making it more of a name!

Speak Up Saturday

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