What are you watching now?

[Loki]

Hanging in there with Fringe. It improved a bit. Will pause after Season 1

[Axtremus]

Recently finished an 11-episode series titled “(the) Daughter of Lupin.” It is worth putting up with subtitles (the dialogue audio is in Japanese only) as it’s a fun series to watch.

“The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” is also a nice “time loop” movie to watch. Sufficiently different from “Groundhog Day” and “The Edge of Tomorrow”, it introduces something different into the genre.

[George K]

Started "Peaky Blinders" the other day. Watched 3 episodes.

Interesting, but I'm not hopeful that it'll turn out to be warmed-over Sopranos in the 1920s. Sets, costumes, acting are all first-rate (and I love Sam Neill), but the storyline seems pretty recycled.

[Horace]

I watched Netflix's Murder Among the Mormons and really enjoyed it. Especially since I wasn't familiar with the story going in.

I am trying to get into The Expanse but having no success. I watched the first season twice because the first time through didn't do much for me and I wanted to make sure I was understanding what was going on. But I still can't get excited about season 2, a couple episodes in.

[Loki]

Promising Young Woman was really good. Loved the script, directing and editing. Very disturbing theme. I thought there was a very different message than what is most written/discussed.

[MainerMikeBrown]

I'm not watching anything on TV right now.

This morning though, I watched a little bit of an episode of Seinfeld. But I didn't watch the whole episode, as I had already seen it before more than once.

I haven't watched hardly any TV yet today.

[Aqua Letifer]

@george-k said in What are you watching now?:

but the storyline seems pretty recycled.

Exactly my feeling about it.

[Mik]

Been watching Emily in Paris with MFR.. Great writing, very funny fish out of water with great scenery. And Paris looks good too. Also The Expanse. Still in S1.

[George K]

@aqua-letifer said in What are you watching now?:

@george-k said in What are you watching now?:

but the storyline seems pretty recycled.

Exactly my feeling about it.

I gave up. The first series season was 6 episodes long, and it was entertaining, though predictable in parts. Basically, it did everything that The Sopranos did, which Sons of Anarchy recycled. Same setting, different era.

Did 3 episodes of the 2nd season and walked away, thinking "I've seen this before. Different people, different city, but, I've seen it."

Great production values and sets. Acting is pretty good too. Too much stuff that's just too predictable or hackneyed. This show struck me as hitting its peak in the third episode, and then wondering where it's going to go after that.

Meh.

ETA: Oh and another thing. The directors seem to be obsessed with the "we're going to shoot this scene from behind something so it looks like you're eavesdropping" idea. It's a catchy technique the first half-dozen times you see it. Then it just becomes hackneyed and a gimmick.

[Mik]

Just started Zerozerozero, that follows 5k kilos of cocaine purchased by Italian mafioso from the fields to the processors to the shippers.

Amazon original. Pretty good so far, intelligently written.

[Doctor Phibes]

Still watching The Expanse for the second time. I'm in the middle of Season 3.

It's actually better the second time, but that could be the VR goggles.

[taiwan_girl]

Finished another Korean drama - "It's Okay to Not Be Okay"

Link to video

Sounded like an interesting story. A young man has been taking care of his autistic older brother since their mother was killed with they were quite young, Due to the older brothers emotional problems and fears, they end up moving almost every year to a new place.

At the latest new place, they meet a children's book author, who has her own emotional problems from childhood.

The problems I had with this show

• Many of the characters are not really likable. They have many emotional problems so that they lash out and do things which are not really nice. It is not until about the last 30 minutes of a 25 hour series that you start to like them. (and yes, I watched the whole thing!! 555)
• they have these weird comedy moments that dont really seem to have much to do with the plot, and seem kind of forced. I guess they were trying to "lighten up" a pretty dark, depressing subject.

For a summary, I would not recommend it. The other two recent K-dramas I watched I would recommend above this one.

[George K]

I started a new Amazon Prime series this afternoon. I believe it's a limited mini-series: "Informer."

A very interesting premise and after one episode, I'm hooked.

The premise is this:

Reza, son of a Pakistani immigrant family (Dad, Mom, younger brother) is arrested for possession of MDMA (Ecstasy) at a nightclub. He is marked as a possible informant to help track the steps of a terrorist (now deceased) who was in London before being killed by a drone strike.

He is approached by the fictional counter-terrorism unit, and has zero interest in cooperating, even after charges are dropped. But then, the man who will become his handler (presumably) discovers that his mother is not really his mother, and is in the UK illegally. He uses that to pressure Reza into cooperating.

I have no idea how it'll play out, but it's a complex and interesting series.

[George K]

@george-k said in What are you watching now?:

I started a new Amazon Prime series this afternoon. I believe it's a limited mini-series: "Informer."
A very interesting premise and after one episode, I'm hooked.

It was a lazy Saturday, so I binged.

Complex and interesting indeed. A somewhat contrived twist at the end, IMO, but it really doesn't detract from the overall arc of the story. Some irrelevant side stories that I think were added as filler to expand it to 6 episodes, but they add to the complexity of the "recruiter" of the story.

Acting is very good (particularly "Gabe" and "Reza"). Directing is good as well, though a bit overdone in the "we're watching through a doorway that's just open" style that seems to be prevalent these days.

Worth a watch.

[Mik]

Still watching Expanse. Just into 9th episode of season 1. Now it starts getting deeper.

[George K]

@mik said in What are you watching now?:

Still watching Expanse. Just into 9th episode of season 1. Now it starts getting deeper.

The problem with The Expanse is that it's difficult to get in to. So much is laid out early on that makes you think, "What's the point?"

Martian stealth tech? Who cares - wait until season 5 when it becomes supremely important - the storyline rocks.

Jules Pierre Mao? Who cares - just another billionaire with money to burn for his kids (yes, kids). Who cares...wait until season 3.

I can see the authors with a huge storyboard, showing all these plots, and drawing lines, connecting them all.

Miller? Yeah. He becomes important, in a way, in season 4.

[Doctor Phibes]

I've just finished watching The Expanse for the second time all the way through.

It's become easily my favourite sci-fi series, surpassing Babylon 5. I'm so glad GK nagged me to watch it so much - it took quite a while, but I'm going to be lost when it's over.

[George K]

@doctor-phibes as much as I loved B5, I always found the "non-arc" episodes to be distracting. B5 was the first, as far as I know, show to take the "I'm going to tell you a story and it's going to take 5 years to do it" approach. However, in the days of a 26 episode season, B5 had to rely on a lot of "filler."

Every episode of The Expanse moves the story forward. It's lean, with no filler, and so well done.

The fact that the authors of the books are so heavily invested in the TV show certainly helps.

Like you, when the Amazon production of season 6 ends, I'll be lost as well. There are rumors of a movie which summarizes books 7-9, or another series on another platform. I won't hold my breath, however.

[George K]

Another thing...

One of the things I enjoy, on the TV series at least, is the fun/creative names of the spaceships that are in the series. Many of them require a bit of research.

Guy Mollinari
Jefferson Mays
The Weeping Somnambulist

And of course

Rocinante

I have to think that the authors of the books were the inspiration for many of the ideas that SpaceX has taken (Of Course I Still Love You).

[Horace]

I'm enjoying Loudermilk, available on Amazon Prime. It was created by one of the Farrelly brothers and stars Ron Livingston, one of my favorite actors since his first big role in Swingers. I think this show is hilarious.