Ozark and Valhalla
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Ozark is brilliant and groundbreaking, much in the same way that Breaking Bad was. "I've never seen anything like this!" right? It's full of compelling characters, both Byrdes are not what you expected, and watching Ruth grow in power has been awesome. So many surprises and twists - like the poison coffee - yikes!
Valhalla suffers from a lack of everything that Ozark and the original Vikings had. No one was a more charismatic and compelling character than Ragnar, and Travis Finnell was perfect in the role. He dominated every scene he was in, and after he left the show Lagertha stepped up to the plate. "I've never seen anything like this!" - right? Sadly, with Valhalla, there are too many players, and none of them is dominating the storyline. The story of C'nut, Leif, and even Edward would be a great tale, told individually. But this mashup of stories is distracting and confusing. And the whole Freydis goes mystical crap is...crap. The battle scenes, though well-staged, are too long and contribute little to the story. They should be half as long as they should be.
But yeah, I'll watch it.
Oh, Season 3 of Das Boot is coming in April. Loved that show.
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Ozark takes the SOA 'things just keep getting worse no matter how I try' story and makes it immensely more interesting. Its exploration f American corruption, while a bit far fetched at times, is compelling TV. The way Jason Bateman plays Marty is brilliant.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@Mik said in Ozark and Valhalla:
Ozark takes the SOA 'things just keep getting worse no matter how I try' story and makes it immensely more interesting.
I found myself getting bored with SOA. I don't even think I watched past season . Just constantly more of the same.
The way Jason Bateman plays Marty is brilliant.
Absolutely. And, of course Laura Linney is wonderful in everything she does. I first saw her in Mr. Holland's Opus, and loved her as Abagail Adams.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in Ozark and Valhalla:
I found myself getting bored with SOA. I don't even think I watched past season . Just constantly more of the same.
Me too. Mistakes and doublecrosses one after another, all going nowhere. Mayans is going much the same direction. It started out with an interesting premise but is fizzling.
The way Jason Bateman plays Marty is brilliant.
Absolutely. And, of course Laura Linney is wonderful in everything she does. I first saw her in Mr. Holland's Opus, and loved her as Abagail Adams.
Wendy is definitely the more violent of the two. Interesting juxtaposition of those roles.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@Mik said in Ozark and Valhalla:
Wendy is definitely the more violent of the two. Interesting juxtaposition of those roles.
But she wasn't in the beginning.
Once she accepted Marty's "job," she blossomed, if that's the word. And the kids? FFS.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in Ozark and Valhalla:
@Mik said in Ozark and Valhalla:
Wendy is definitely the more violent of the two. Interesting juxtaposition of those roles.
But she wasn't in the beginning.
Once she accepted Marty's "job," she blossomed, if that's the word. And the kids? FFS.
Wendy was always compromised. They both thought they could make a deal with the devil.
The problem with Ozarks is that there is no character anyone can sympathize with. Marty and Wendy don’t work as anti-heroes in way that Tony Soprano or Walter White do. It’s just a dark slice of humanity.
Valhalla was meh.
For a really well done, creepy, binge worthy series, M Knight Shymalan’s “Servant”.
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The second half of the final season dropped last night. I haven't watched.
But guess what I'm doing this weekend...
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Told you I was going to binge it...
...and I did.
It's a cloudy, rainy, day here in suburban Chicago, and I have nothing better to do.
Wow. What a sad, depressing, but, somehow satisfying ending to the story. Up to the last episode, it wasn't clear what was going to happen to the principal characters, and they managed to wrap it up in just over an hour (or less, if you're watching at 1.25 speed).
Nobody changed, nobody was redeemed (except, perhaps, Ruth), and pretty much everyone suffered.
A very satisfying conclusion to a show about terrible, horrible, unlikeable people.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
