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10/10 Shows I've Seen So Far (Not Icluding Miniseries)
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Six Feet Under (2001)
One of the Best Things I've Ever Seen
I don't think I've ever cried this much watching a show, especially its final episodes. Well, at least not since I watched Mr. Robot last year. That show had an amazing streak of final episodes that I cried to a lot. But Six Feet Under and especially its finale was just on a whole other level and I don't think I've lost this much eye fluid watching a show before.
The show is just life. Yes, the big premise is that the show is about death, as the title suggests, but ultimately the show is about living life to the fullest and being ok with the concept of death. It's also life in the sense that you practically live with these characters. By the time you finish this show, you feel like you've been a part of this family and you grew up with these characters and lived with them to the bittersweet end.
When you finish this show, you're gonna have such a profound and deep feeling about life itself that I only felt watching the finale of Mr. Robot. The conclusion to each and every character is so well done that I finally see why so many people say this show's finale is the best finale in TV history.
All those things about how you live with these characters and laugh and cry, a lot, with them, and how you can have such a strong emotional connection to them are all thanks to how well-written these characters are and how amazing every actor is in their role. Just like with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul actors, you're gonna know these actors like Michael C. Hall as David Fisher and Peter Krause as Nate Fisher. I haven't seen Dexter yet, but I bet I will never see Michael C. Hall as anything other than David Fisher after this. Just like how those Breaking Bad actors will always be the characters they played on those two shows to most people. That's how brilliant the acting and the writing are.
The show deals with death in a way I haven't seen done before. It does such a good job of mixing comedy, dark comedy, and dark and gloomy stuff with the serious drama and all the deaths that happen throughout the show. Sure the show is really over-the-top or soapy and even torture porn most of the time, but it's not always super serious or sad and gloomy about the concept of death. There's a lot of levity even in the middle of the saddest scenes, but it's never done in a way that disrespects the concept or to not take the subject matter seriously at all.
The show deals with death in the most realistic way possible. There are a lot of different deaths in this show and each and every one of them, even to the very bitter end of the series show the randomness of life. If The Wire is the most realistic depiction of how life with drugs is in Baltimore, Six Feet Under is on the same level of realisticness about death and life in general.
The show, just like any other show obviously isn't perfect in every way. It has its ups and downs, especially in the middle where it seems like there isn't any character in the show you like because you despise everyone for their behavior and actions. And I didn't really enjoy season 2 after finishing that amazing first season. I did not like where the story went in season 3 at all. And I thought season 4 was the weakest of the seasons (while having the best pilot of all the seasons ironically). But at the end of every season, the show really picked up and got better. And it all crescendoed with the final season.
But ultimately, looking back, I think even though I didn't like some parts because of characters doing unlikeable things, the fact that I still cared about all of them at the end was the point of the show. The fact that in life, we might not agree with everything our family members do and say and we may hate them for some things, but in the end we still love them and that's life. That's the human condition, how humans live together and try to make things work despite the fact that we're arguing and fighting with each other all the time.
This show may get exhausting because of all the constant yelling and fighting and arguing (I actually think 98% of the scenes with David and Nate with their partners are just them fighting over every single thing ever), and it even made me hate relationships and wanting to have children even more than I already do. Like it's absurd how much fighting and arguing there is all the time making me wonder why they are even with each other if all they do is fight, and the show actually addresses this too. But I think it ultimately does a good job of realistically depicting these characters and their relationship so that even the constant arguing doesn't get that much annoying or boring after 63 episodes. Not to mention how good the acting is that makes you believe these characters are real and immerse yourself into their lives.
The show is just great on every production level like the music choice and the camerawork and direction, but the greatest strength of the show is definitely its characters and how human and real they feel.
After watching Better Call Saul, I was so sure that I could never watch anything that could surpass its perfection. But since then two shows, Mr. Robot and Six Feet Under, surprisingly have surpassed BCS and BB as my number 1 and 2 favorite shows I've watched. And to be clear, the writing in this show isn't as insanely tightly written to perfection, nor is it as visually meticulous with its camerawork and montages. But honestly, it's on par with it even though it has its downs in terms of the writing (which I don't think BCS had any).
But just like with Mr. Robot, with how much closer and more emotionally connected I feel to these characters than the characters of Breaking Bad Universe, and how much this show made me feel and cry, I think I put this above Better Call Saul as my second favorite show ever.
I know that this show was probably big when it was airing, that it won many awards, and that it is definitely highly rated. And I don't want to use the overused word "underrated" which has lost all meaning at this point to describe this show, but it's definitely less seen and talked about when people are talking about "the greatest shows of all time". You always see the names of The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and all that all the time, but no mention of this brilliant show. But I think "less known" and definitely "less seen" would fit better for this show, because it definitely is and I hope that more people somehow come across this masterpiece and actually give it a try and hopefully watch it till the end and not judge it based on the first couple of seasons before fully finishing it.
It's an amazing show with some of the best acting I've seen, definitely do not miss this watch it before you die or you will regret it! I heard about the finale being amazing a lot and even with the expectation, it still shook me and it really was a great conclusion to the show and one of the best finales I've seen next to Mr. Robot's where you actually feel fulfilled and you get a real sense of conclusion where the show doesn't leave you wondering what happens after it ends of leave you unsatisfied with how it left things.
Dogville (2003)
Absolutely Brilliant
After 4 years of giving my last 10/10 rating to a film (Paths of Glory), I finally came across another movie that I could not think of a reason I shouldn't give a full 10/10 score to. (For reference, I have only given 7 movies a full 10/10 rating from 1211 movies I've rated on this website, so it's obvious I don't usually give 10/10 scores willy-nilly and random)
But what can I say about this film honestly? I can start at the ending because I actually was gonna give it an 8/10 instead of 9/10 at first, because the ending was going to go for a Dancers in the Dark ending for a second, and I was gonna hate Lars von Trier for the stupid and moronic ending that doesn't make sense again. But thankfully, he switched it up quickly and made one of the most satisfying endings to any film I've watched.
I was actually cheering and fist-bumping the air as if my favorite team won a World Cup or something. And yes, I understand what the ending is trying to say and the point isn't for the audience to to actually like the actions that take place at the ending and enjoy and cheer for it happening, we're basically "kinda" doing the same thing as the Dogvillers there. But I just do not care about that and I will defend and cheer for that ending until the day I die. The ending just will never not be extremely satisfying to me despite the point of it being the opposite.
The movie is 3 hours long, but surprisingly the pacing is so good that apart from a really few parts in the third act, you will not get bored or notice the runtime. At least I didn't. The first 2 hours went by so fast that I didn't even realize, because the whole thing was so interesting and the pacing was really good.
Dogville is definitely one of those movies that people will either hate or love. It's one of those that people like me will regard as genuine thought-provoking art and genius, and a lot of others will disregard it as a pretentious movie only film snobs think is a masterpiece.
And I do not blame people who hate this movie. On the surface, this film does not look like any other film you've ever seen before. It doesn't have the production, set design, actual physical locations, and components you've come to expect when watching a film. (I even guessed very early into the film that the budget must have not been more than $10 million and I was right!) And in its true essence, the movie is one of the most cynical movies I've ever watched. You can't get more cynical than this ever. Depending on your interpretation, this movie is misanthropic and literally challenges and eviscerates the very idea of human beings.
The movie is very unique in the fact that it looks more like a play than a movie, but it is not shot as a play at all, and even plays have more props and set designs than this! And this stripped-down version actually helps get the ideas across way better. It also helps the viewer to focus mainly on the drama and the characters. It's like if you took a normal modern movie and put a black-and-white filter on it so all the colorful distractions would go away and you would focus on the action/drama/characters or whatever is important in that movie. This stripped-down play-like atmosphere and location of this movie does exactly the same and even more for the context and the themes of the movie. And after a while, you're gonna get used to it and forget the goofiness of all because the drama is so well-written and acted that you're just entranced and focused on the characters and the story.
And these are some of the reasons I loved every second of this movie and think is one of the best films I've watched. It is so unique and something new for me, never mind how profound the themes are and how well-written the script is.
The movie can be interpreted in a lot of ways. It can be an attack on the American lifestyle and be about America and capitalism. It can be about any small community or society as a whole. It can even be about immigrants while we're at it. Or it just can be about individual humans and the core of humanity itself. Just the most cynical anti-human story ever. Or it can be a combination of all of them.
But whatever the collective or individual viewer interpretation or the actual intent of the director is, I can for creation say that this is one of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking films I've ever seen with such well-written story and characters and great performances even from the child actors. And the ending is just a cherry on top. Unlike Dancer in the Dark's ending (which I already hated the movie for being a musical which was too goofy and nonsensical for my taste to take the drama seriously), which was the literal opposite of cherry on top for me, this movie even enhances with the ending and creates one of the most satisfying and profound endings I've seen.
Overall, I went into this film thinking I might like it based on the ratings and the praises I'd heard about, but I did not expect to end up enjoying it so much that I would actually give it a 10/10 by the end. Definitely do not miss this film, even if you ended up hating it, it's better to have experienced the film and its thought-provoking themes and ideas than never experiencing the film at all.
Inside Out 2 (2024)
Meh
I am honestly surprised at seeing the amount of high ratings of 9s and 10s in the reviews making me question if we watched the same film or not.
Maybe I'm getting old and I'm not the target audience of these kinds of movies anymore, or maybe I was just too sleepy when watching this, but unlike the first one, I did not like this one much. It is not insultingly bad or anything, after all, I'm giving it an above average rating.
This movie compared to the first doesn't have the soul and emotional connection you'd expect. This movie in my opinion is just another unnecessary sequel solely made for grabbing cash, and cash grab it did.
The first problem with the movie is the pacing. The story is incredibly rushed even though it has the same runtime as the first, so it's weird how everything feels like needed more time to develop, while everything in the first felt adequate and enough. The addition of the new characters definitely needed a lot more time.
At the same time, nothing that interesting happened here in my opinion, and made the whole thing boring for me. The sense of exploration of different parts of Riley's mind from the first movie is gone and the film is more focused on the real-life story, so the whole Joy and the gang going through the mind is just that, a simple road trip story. Nothing interesting or of note happens there. I don't remember a single scene in this movie that stood out to me as interesting or creative at all, while I still remember Bing Bong, them going through that train station or room that changed their animation style, the scene of them messing with Riley's dreams and many more.
Just so much happened in the first film that it feels like that movie was over 2 hours. But I just did not find a single scene in this movie note-worthy.
The next problem for me is that I just don't care about these characters here, especially the new ones. There is no emotional connection, unlike the first movie. The real-life struggles of Riley in the first film were more relatable and the whole Joy realizing Sandness is necessary and the Bing Bong storyline were the soul of that film and made you actually care and have an emotional connection to them. This is nonexistent in this sequel.
It doesn't feel like they had an idea for a story and decided to make a movie about it, it feels more like a studio-mandated sequel that they tried to come up with a story afterward. The plot of this movie is so boring and so few things happen here that it feels like I'm watching Inside Out: The Series and just watching a random episode where Riley needs to get on the cool hockey team.
I understand that someone would like this, especially the younger generation, but what I don't get are the 9s and 10s, because this is so obviously and clearly inferior to the first film in many aspects that I don't understand how someone can say this is on the same level or even better than the first!
Overall, the movie is not that bad if you don't have anything better to watch, but I am disappointed that this movie did nothing for me after going in having seen the high ratings and the reviews. It is an example of an unnecessary cash-grab sequel. Inside Out is one I consider one of Pixar's greats and will rewatch it if I feel like it because it's a really enjoyable, deep, emotional, innovative, creative, and beautiful film. Very rewatchable. But Inside Out 2? I don't think I'll ever rewatch this one, one time was more than enough.
The Wire (2002)
Definitely One of The Greatest
I don't want to write a long review or an essay going into detail about why this show is a masterpiece. This show is 20 years old and thousands of people have already written long reviews and articles about the greatness of this show and its importance.
I'm just writing this review so that this masterpiece has one more 10/10 rating and review and I'll keep it short.
So I've been always nervous about starting this show because I was afraid I wouldn't like it or not understand why it is praised, but thankfully, despite its rather ok pilot, the show hooked me with only its second episode and I was interested immediately.
This show, as many people have said before, is extremely realistic and all of the characters feel real because of the show's impeccable writing. The show has some of the greatest lines of dialogue in any show.
And for someone who hasn't watched it yet, I gotta warn you that this isn't your typical police drama where there are shootouts between the police and the gangsters, or that it glorifies cops, or that it is the same kind of drama as the likes of Breaking Bads or the Better Call Sauls. It is not a dramatization like that where you get climactic or even satisfying conclusions where the good guys win in a glorified and climactic manner. In this show important main characters die like it's nothing and the show doesn't even attempt to make a fuss about it and just moves on like the real world does, because The Wire is the definition of art that imitates life.
I think I've read that in the whole five seasons of this show, no cop shoots their gun even once except one character only, which is really wild for a police drama. So do not go in expecting to get the same kind of dramatization as you'd get in Breaking Bad and typical drama shows where everything is over the top. The show tries to stay as close to reality as possible and show the raw reality of life in those areas as opposed to dramatizing and making the storytelling cinematic and melodrama, so raw that it's as if you're watching a near documentary.
And although this show is definitely one of the best shows I've ever watched, and I can see now why it has such high ratings and people say it's the best show ever, I personally still think Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are better in term of having a consistent quality throughout the entire show, and obviously I don't think I can watch anything that would top Mr. Robot for me ever.
So overall, this show obviously deserves all the praise it gets and even more. Definitely do not miss it if you want a super-realistic show with some of the greatest writings about the corruption that runs through every facet of society.
House of the Dragon: The Queen Who Ever Was (2024)
Season 2 Review
So first of all, this finale in my opinion is not a bad episode in itself and the ending is a good setup for the next season. But there is no war here, no action, even though the whole season was leading up to it and setting up a big war, so I understand why this episode has such low ratings and why people are frustrated. After all, most of this season has felt like a giant filler. I personally didn't hate hate this episode and liked the ending and how it set up the next season, however, I can still see what's wrong with it and why this doesn't feel as much of a finale for people, as (excluding the ending sequence) it feels more like the penultimate episode rather than the finale.
The problem with this finale is that it's the last straw to make the entire season is just a set-up for season 3, which is really weird compared to how the first season went.
I also don't understand what's with Alicent. Surely she's not like this in the book and doesn't act like this, right? Her scenes with Rhaenyra this season have been really weird and seem out of character, and the dialogue between them is really bad. What they agree upon is also really bad.
Not to mention that Daemon scene. Did Helaena forget about her son or something?
But anyway, this finale aside, I'm gonna make a short review of the season and just note my problems with this season.
The most glaring problem with this season is the pacing. The first season went by so fast that characters aged 10 years per episode. The decades flew by so fast and the characters grew into adulthood and had many husbands and children in just 8 episodes. But this season went by so slowly that it feels like only a week has passed and other than some major things like battles and such, not much happened. I would have rather they continued the story of young Rhaenyra in season 1 and then they started with the children in season 2 so we could have this season's storyline sped up and put in season 3. They went filler with the wrong season.
The second major problem with this season is the entire Daemon storyline. It is just a waste of time and a borefest. His "arc" in this season, if you can call it that, could have been achieved the same in 3 or 4 episodes. But for some reason (maybe to create fake tension for the finale?) they stretch that nonsense dream sequence that puts the audience to sleep into 7 episodes. Daemon basically does nothing this season and his is the worst and most uninteresting storyline of the season. And the end reveal for his little plotline also doesn't make sense considering what happened in the first episode of this season.
I also think it is really funny that they still talk about the "Winter is Coming" thing, as if it's a really big threat or something, and the audience should get goosebumps and do the Pointing Rick Dalton meme when they hear the references. When in reality, Winter died so easily by a teenager with a dagger, and I roll my eyes every time they reference the main storyline of this world. Although you can't really blame them for what D&D did to GOT I suppose, but it still grinds my gear whenever they talk about White Walkers with fear, when even half-burnt Aegon on his bed looks more threatening to me than White Walkers in season 8.
Another problem with this season is that I feel like the writers are trying too hard to make Rhaenyra seem like a morally just character and the main protagonist not wanting war initially, while apparently this is not the case in the books at all. And not even considering the books, even comparing the character motivations and decisions from this season to the first, characters like Alicent just don't make sense this season.
Apart from episode 4 (and excluding the last 15 minutes of the previous episode), the last 4 episodes have been all fillers and set-ups for the next season. Which is baffling to me. Even season 4 of The Boys had less filler and more action than this, and that season was giant filler and set up for its 5th and final season too!
Overall, this episode is not a bad episode, but it's a pretty mid finale. If this episode was the penultimate or the middle of the season it would've been an 8/10. If the whole season wasn't filler and we had more action and things actually happening, this episode could've been a good breather after 7 episodes of pure action and mayhem, but it's the opposite and the episode is just the 4th calm before the storm filler set-up episode in a row. This whole season has been a giant filler and really weak compared to the first season.
House of the Dragon: The Red Sowing (2024)
The Last 20 Minutes Saved This Episode
While watching the first half and some of the second half of this episode, I was beginning to worry that this is gonna be a filler just like the last two, and 3 fillers back to back for an 8-episode-per-season show is a really bad look, especially since the first episode ran through decades in like 2 episodes. But thankfully, the ending made up for it and it's a really nice build-up to the finale.
First of all, Daemon actually did something in this season? Who could've known! But they still couldn't help themselves not to throw another dream sequence in there. But admittedly, this one is probably the best of those useless dream sequences and they could've just shown this in the first half of the season instead of dragging this storyline for 6 episodes straight.
This episode is mainly Rhaenyra-focused and is a continuation of her attempts in the last episode to find new riders with Targaryen blood to have more dragons in her army. Basically hiring mudbloods to ride dragons for her. And we finally get a satisfying development into two lowborn characters we've been seeing from the beginning of the season.
Even though this episode is mostly filler again until the end, the episode as a whole is still pretty good. But I can't shake the feeling that these episodes don't really feel like the penultimate to the finale. It still feels like there are more episodes in the season and this was like the half-point of the season, not the second to last. This pacing would make sense if this show had 10 episodes or more like GOT, but even with the 1-hour runtime, 8 episodes just don't seem enough for the way this story is developing.
But nonetheless, the episode is pretty good and the only reason the first half is annoying is because the two episodes preceding it were also fillers, so if they weren't, this episode wouldn't feel as much of a filler otherwise. But like I said, the ending makes up for it a lot and those scenes are spectacles to watch and really satisfying and unpredictable, at least for me.
Great episode overall, but it feels like a 7th episode in a 10-episode season, not the penultimate to an 8-episode season.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Deadpool in the Multiverse of Exposition
So first of all, don't get me wrong. This movie is a lot of fun with great action sequences from start to finish and even though I hate relying on cameos and references, it's still surprising and nice to see some of those faces in the MCU.
But, this movie with 5 writers still can't escape the trap of post-Endgame Marvel scripts. This movie is actually the epitome of what's wrong with the last two phases of the MCU. They messed up with Doctor Strange 2 once by making the movie just 2 hours and not giving ample time to anything, and they somehow did the same thing here.
This movie is actually the Multiverse of Madness people were expecting. Fans will rejoice seeing what fanservice they're gonna throw at them in this movie. But all of them are the at cost of the plot.
Just like Spider-Man: No Way Home, if you already didn't see the problem with the writing of this movie and think it's great or a masterpiece because they did some cameos, you're definitely gonna see the cracks in the plot with the second viewing when you're not just focused on the eye-candy action scenes and cameos.
The biggest problem with this movie is exposition. This movie's dialogues have the subtlety of a hand grenade. It looks like the head writer of this movie is dyslexic and while reading the guide to writing a script, mistakenly read "Tell, don't show" instead. Because my God this whole movie is a big giant exposition. And no, being self-aware and meta about it doesn't excuse it when everybody in this movie is just expositing. This movie had a budget of $200 million, but they didn't have the budget to shoot more scenes for at the very least the Wolverine of this movie? Even he exposits his backstory as if his name isn't in the title and isn't one of the main characters. "I guess just saying some lines is enough for the audience to care about the characters", the writers thought to themselves. And I guess 70% of the budget went to the cameo actors.
At least with the Multiverse of Madness, we had the backstory of Scarlet Witch from WandaVision and it was the same character we've seen since 2014. This Wolverine is a whole new character that I already forgot about what happened in his universe, because guess what, they don't show you anything, just him talking about it. They rely on your beforehand knowledge of his character for you to sympathize with him and care about him. But sorry, it just doesn't cut it for me.
Even if we are to compare this movie to Deadpool 2, this movie still pales in comparison, and I didn't even like Deadpool 2 that much either. Now Deadpool 2 seems like a really good movie after watching this. Somehow this is the worst of all three Deadpool films. At the very least I can respect Deadpool 2 for actually having the semblance of a plot with a somewhat well-written villain and new characters like Cable, whom they actually Showed his backstory instead of him only dropping some exposition every 10 minutes! That movie didn't have to rely on 20 years of pop culture to trick the audience into thinking they were watching a competent film. They actually went and wrote a real plot for a movie that actually feels like a movie based on stories and characters from comic books, and gave them decent characterization unlike this movie.
But this movie barely has any plot. Just like Multiverse of Madness and No Way Home, this movie finds a lame excuse to throw multiverse into the mix so that we can have cameo galore. And I really really hate the whole world-ending plot every single superhero movie and show has. It was already lame and trite 10 years ago, and it still is. I roll my eyes every time the goal of the villain of these movies and shows is to destroy the fabric of the universe. I bet they're gonna come up with a world-ending plot for the finale of their new Daredevil show too, can't wait to see that masterpiece!
It is also funny that this whole movie revolves around the TVA and the Void, and the movie has cameos you wouldn't've even dreamt of, but they somehow don't even mention or involve Loki here. It's weird since with what happens in the finale of Loki, you'd think this would be the perfect movie to actually mention him or something, but nope.
Like I said, if this movie was longer and they actually developed Wolverine's character a bit to make us care about him instead of relying on previous movies and distracting us with cameos, and maybe instead of having Wolverine fight Deadpool every 15 minutes (which were really good nonetheless), you actually spent some time with that Wolverine and did more with him, it would've made the movie a lot better and more competent. But unfortunately, nothing's changed and the latest Marvel movie still suffers from barely having a plot and competent script.
Overall, while this movie is really fun to watch and has great action scenes and some surprising cameos, the plot is nearly nonexistent, the characters are one-dimensional, and the overall script and the dialogue are awful. You can basically call this film "Exposition: The Movie" and you wouldn't be wrong. If you're a hardcore superhero fan and MCU fanboy who still likes the movies after Endgame for some reason and only cares about cameos and pop culture references, you're gonna love this. But if you're tired of the same superhero movie with the same plot and are actually expecting a movie that feels like a movie that has a competent plot and decent dialogue and characterization, you're gonna be sorely disappointed.
House of the Dragon: Smallfolk (2024)
Good Episode, but for the Love of God...
...Can we be done with Daemon having an Ebenezer Scrooge moment? (I wish it were just a moment) Like can we finally move on from Daemon basically doing fk all every episode and having nightmares? Like surely I can't be the only one who does not care about this storyline at all and find it really boring? It's been 6 episodes of Daemon strolling through the halls of Harrenhal seeing the ghost of Christmas past and literally doing nothing! 6 episodes! Only 2 left. What is this pacing seriously? Season 1 went by so fast basically one episode they're 12, and the next they're in their 30s as if they had only one season to tell the story. But now the pacing (at least of Daemon's plotline) is so slow it's as if they want to do 10 seasons all of a sudden.
On the opposite side, I actually came to like Aegon as a character this season, unlike Daemon. At least Aegon has a character arc this season and when I started this season I didn't even care for or about the greens, but I found Aegon to be more interesting this season than Daemon. And you might think that Daemon is also having an arc this season but we're getting it slower and maybe his arc is that he's gonna become kinder and finally accept Rhaenyra as his queen because of his dreams. But I just do not care. The execution of his storyline is just terrible. Like 2 or 3 episodes of his schtick with the dreams is alright, but 6 episodes of this goober running around having hallucination? You kidding me? They literally could've told his story with 1 or 2 episodes instead of spreading the dreams to each episode to I assume stall him so the rest of the plot could catch up to whatever his little storyline's conclusion will be.
Daemon's boring plotline rant aside, just like in my last review, this episode is really good with the exception of Daemon. Really getting tired of him.
The rest of the episode is really good in my opinion and we see some glimpses of Game of Thrones' cunningness and politics and conspiracies.
Rhaenyra's new plan that she devised with her son at the end of the previous episode to make someone who is not a direct Targaryen ride a dragon fails miserably. But on the other hand, it balances her failure out that her propaganda and sending food to the common people works like a charm and she's turned pretty much most of the people against Aemond's reign. I really liked this part that turned the tides in Rhaenyra's favor after what happened at the end of episode 1 and in episode 2. Wars in this universe aren't always won by battles and dragon fire, you just need clever people beside you.
One surprising (or rather I should have seen it coming) turn of events is the dragon that refused Steffon Darklyn to put it lightly, flees to find the black-haired illegitimate son of lord Corlys. This also could mean Rhaenyra's failure wasn't much of a failure, provided that Addam Velaryon doesn't hold grudges against his father and isn't gonna pledge his allegiance to Aemond for some reason.
Overall I think it was a really good episode if not hampered once again by Daemon's boring storyline. The episode does a good job of giving ample time to pretty much every character and setting up some pretty interesting stuff for the last two episodes. My only hope is that the next episode starts with Daemon finishing up with whatever's going on with him so we can get over with it as soon as possible and the story move on finally.
I gotta say, if I can remember one thing from the first season, is that I think pretty much every episode apart from 1 or 2 episodes was interesting and really well-paced. And of course, now that Rhaenyra and Alicent are grown-ups, you can't really have the same time-jumpy pacing of the last season, but they could've at least made the Daemon plotline more interesting and more condensed. I wish they made season 1's story into two seasons so we spent more time with young Rhaenyra, because I think I still find the first season's plot a bit more interesting so far.
The Boys: Season Four Finale (2024)
A Great Finale to a Disappointing Season
First of all, finally! Was that so hard? Did we actually need that whole song and dance with Frenchie this season to finally get him and Kimiko together, you know, the actual two people who have chemistry instead of a random new character? Like I get that the characters needed the motivation to forgive themselves and their pasts, but they could've done it way better without throwing Colin in there. I was actually surprised when they kissed because I didn't think they would go there since they made them plotonic earlier this season. But I'm glad either way that the writer saw that Frenchie and Kimiko make more sense than any other people in their lives.
They also made Starlight actually interesting in this episode too! This episode really what The Boys should always be. Starlight has been annoying this whole season, but this episode made her actually interesting. Although I didn't really like the way they took out the shapeshifter, it looked way too easy and I was expecting her to come back and attack them again.
With Mallory screwing up and telling everything quickly to Ryan, resulting in her death, Butcher finally gives way to Joe Kessler seeing Ryan is far gone and can't really make him stay with them to work against his father Homelander. I think it's a good think that after a season full of blue balls and indecisiveness, we get these conclusions to pretty much most of the stuff. Frenchie and Kimiko finally make up their minds. Starlight gets her powers back for some reason, no one knows how her powers work, let's be honest. Butcher finally agrees with Kessler and stops fighting him. Victoria Neuman which was the prime target of The Boys this season finally meets her end and it seems we're done with her.
Ashlee also gets powers and gets away from Vought and I'm looking forward to see what they're gonna do with her in the final season. She kinda looked like The Leader from The Incredible Hulk for a moment.
One thing I was waiting for the whole season is the riots from the season 4 posters and I was sure I was gonna see it this episode, it being January 6 and all. But it seems like those posters were referring to that riot that happened in episode 2 or 3 this season. I honestly expected a really big riot between Starlighters and Firecrackheads, because I thought that riot we had in the beginning was, well just the beginning, and a small one, so I expected another riot this whole season. But I guess it's my fault for not getting the idea.
Anyway this whole episode is really great and one of the best episodes of the show. And yes, I probably would've given this episode a 10/10 if it was the finale of last season of the previous seasons. But I've become a little less generous with my ratings, especially considering the build-up to this finale has been a mixed bag. But either way this is one of the great episodes of The Boys, and Homelander didn't even tear anyone to pieces this episode!
The finale is great in the way it sets up the future season too and pretty much goes as you expect it. With all of The Boys scattered going their own ways only to get apprehended by supes anyway.
This episode is a great resolution for most of our characters here with Hughie and Annie, Frenchie and Kimiko, Butcher and Kessler, and MM and, well, MM.
It's gonna be interesting seeing what the next season will look like considering only Kimiko, Hughie and MM are arrested, and Annie and Butcher are still out there. It looks like Frenchie is gonna become a zombie puppet or something working against The Boys next season. And Ashlee probably will join them in the fight against Homelander. Soldier Boy will probably join Homelander when he sees his son finally found the cojones to rule the world.
All in all, it's a great finale and definitely a better finale than season 3 with less shoddy writing and underwhelming stuff. I think the average of my episodic ratings for this season overall is like 7.6/10 which is a bit generous to be honest because this season didn't have many great episodes that weren't fillers and only episode 4 and 8 got a 9/10 from me. But overall I would say this finale was great in pretty much every way and was a really good setup for the final season, but season 4 as a whole is a mixed bag and is mostly filler. Hopefully they will go all out in season 5 since they don't need to worry keeping characters alive for next seasons.
The Boys: The Insider (2024)
Good Episode with the Plot Actually Moving a Bit
So I gotta say that this episode is a lot better than the previous episode in terms of the plot progression where things actually happen and new developments occur. Like A-Train finally outing himself as the leak, so this song dance of A-Train pretending to be a member of the Seven is over and Homelander finally knows.
And first of all, I gotta say Frenchie and Kimiko's storyline must be the least interesting and forced and contrived plotline of this season honestly. I actually found the scene with The Deep and Ambrosius to be unironically way more emotional and sad than whatever's going on with Frenchie and Kimiko. If they got rid of Colin this season (or just make him have a platonic relationship with Frenchie and still have the impact of his family being dead because of him) and make Kimiko make an advance on Frenchie instead and try to kiss him or something, and Frenchie refusing to be with her because of his guilt, this would've been way more interesting. Because these two have formed a relationship throughout the first 3 seasons, and I find it baffling why the writers choose not to go romantic with it. And because of that, I feel nothing when watching their scenes (well, maybe except the last part where he's cutting her leg), and them trying to reconcile with their past is cheesy and forced.
I didn't expect to have an ending twist back-to-back in two episodes honestly, and unlike the last episode's twist, I did not see this one's coming. It's a really good twist because by the time you get to it, so much has happened that you forget the shapeshifter lady/dude/whatever it is was even in the episode. But I guess I should've known something was wrong when Starlight started acting like that because we really haven't seen her be like this before. Also gotta say this shapeshifter design and power is honestly really cool and one of the most creative things this show has done. I hope they don't get rid of that character soon (though there is only one episode left) because her/his power is honestly one of the coolest in the show.
The fight in The Boys' lair was pretty good and we finally get an answer as to whether the new Noir has any powers or not. But I gotta say, it's kinda getting boring when these normal human meat puppets fight these superhero gods and everybody comes out unscathed. I expected to see at least Noir get killed, but then they showed he's bulletproof like everybody else. I mean I get that the real Noir actually got killed last season, but they could've brought someone else to get him killed in there. Remember when in season 1 all The Boys wanted was killing one supe at a time? Those were the days.
Anyway, I'm glad A-Train is finally out of the Seven and not caring about others knowing his secret. Though I hope he joins the gang, because I doubt he's gonna dip. I also found his redemption arc to be acceptable and not cringey or forced at all. I think he's been having a pretty natural progression toward his change in character and motivation, and his redemption is not undeserved.
I also wish we actually got to see what Joe Kessler does when Butcher is out, but I guess they saved that for the finale.
Overall this episode was pretty good where stuff that impact the plot actually happen, though in no way does this episode redeem the weakest season of The Boys so far nor do I still know where the story is going and I find the virus plot to be very thin and meatless for it to be the overall plot of the season, but the episode is still a very enjoyable and one of the better episodes of this overall uninteresting and somewhat disappointing fourth season.
House of the Dragon: The Red Dragon and the Gold (2024)
The Dragons Are Dancing, and It's Not Tango
You know it's a good episode when it ends with Aemond killing one of his family members again.
So from the title of this episode, I was really excited to see what's gonna happen in this episode and it definitely did not disappoint.
So far not much has been happening in Daemon's little adventure into Harrenhal storyline other than new nightmares. They kinda slow the episode down.
The ending is perfect and it pretty much goes as you'd expect with no one, even Aegon himself being able to resist Vhagar as well as Rhaenys which was a pretty sad death but very much expected.
But for the other 70% of the episode, I think some of it like I mentioned Daemon's scenes were slow-paced and kinda made this episode a 9/10 for me instead of 10/10.
Aegon's frustration with no one taking him seriously as the king and not discussing important matters with him comes to a fiery climax, exacerbated by his mother Alicent telling him his role is to do nothing and let others be in charge of decision-making.
But not informing Aegon, as Cole comes to realize really quickly, is as disastrous as it can be. As Aegon said, he should've been in the know. I swear Cole must be the dumbest character in the whole show. You might think it's Aegon's petty frustration and childish arrogance that led him to his end, but it was actually Cole and Aemond's fault for not disclosing their strategies and plots for the attack. Cole's incompetence once again leads to ruin and I'm sure he's gonna blame others for the death of his king. I hope he gets his comeuppance this season because I can't stand his smug face much longer honestly. Although Aegon may very well be alive still, and though it would make his relationship with Aemond and what he will do to him very interesting, I doubt he survived the fall.
I also liked the fact that Rhaenyra actually told her people what she did and didn't resort to secrecy like everyone else. I wish her scenes in this episode were longer than whatever is happening with Daemon. I don't particularly care for his cursed castle and nightmarish storyline much for now.
I also should commend the creators and the director for the decision to have an actual CGI dragon fight during the daylight. I know it must've cost them a ton, and they're really brave by not doing it at night to lower the cost of CGI and to hide bad CGI. The fight is amazing and the CGI is great, it's probably one of, if not the best, dragon fight scenes put to screen. It just looks stunning and I'm really glad they didn't hold back and instead chose to have the fight in the daylight so we can see everything.
Anyway, I thought this episode was obviously great, because duh the dragons danced, and it's the strongest episode of the season so far. Aemond and Vhagar once again proved to be a very mighty foe, and unless Rhaenyra is gonna bring 10 other dragons with her to jump on Aemond or ambush him, there is no way anyone can 1v1 Vhagar and still have all their and their dragon's limbs attached afterward.
Great episode overall minus Daemon scenes and some other slow scenes, but with a fantastic ending and great dragon action.
The Boys: Dirty Business (2024)
The Real Dark Knight and Agent Spider
This might be the most uncomfortable and cringiest episode of this show yet. If trying to one-up Herogasm in the cringe department was their goal, they definitely achieved it.
So first of all, let's get the "big twist" of the episode out of the way first. Unfortunately for me, I read theories and speculations of Joe Kessler being the same as Becca, aka all in Butcher's head from other people's comments about last week's episode. And I say unfortunately because when you already see it coming, it makes it less impactful and "mindblowing". Although I was actually anticipating how they were gonna do the reveal without it being a really weak one. And I gotta say, though it's not the best of reveals nor the most mindblowing crazy good plot twist you don't see coming, they did a pretty good job with the reveal anyway. What I think makes it less impactful apart from already knowing it's coming, is the fact that we spend way too little time with Joe. If he had more development, this would've been a way better twist.
Anyway, for the rest of the episode, I think I expected something more chaotic considering Herogasm was the sixth episode of last season. Nonetheless, the episode is still pretty good albeit very uncomfortable and cringey in the first half.
The plot is still moving at a snail's pace and we get little development for the plot here. Not much happens here except for Hughie getting sexually traumatized for the rest of his life and a little more insight into Homelander and Sage's new world order plan for Murica. But regardless of the slow pace here, the episode is in no way not entertaining or a waste of time. Quite the opposite actually, I think it's also one of the funniest episodes of the show too.
I also love that it seems like the writers knew they didn't know what to do with Frenchie at this point and just said F it, let's just throw him into jail and don't show him anymore. It's interesting since if I had been watching this show many years after this season came out, I would've thought the actor didn't want to play anymore or had a contract dispute or something. But I'm interested to see how they handle this dumb little plotline and the hole the writers dug themselves into.
So far 75% of the season has passed, and this has been probably the weakest season of the show with a vague overall plotline, or rather an uninteresting plotline. I don't really know where this season is going, and not in a good way where you can't predict what happens next. I genuinely don't know what they're trying to do here with this season.
Even season 2 which is most people's least favorite actually went really hard in the last 3 episodes and had some genuine 10/10 episodes. But so far, apart from episode 4, this season has been the least interesting and the weakest season we've had so far. 7.3 is the average of my ratings to the first 6 episodes of this season, while every episode of season 3 was a 9 or a 10 for me.
So overall, it's not a really bad episode, but it feels like an episode that should've been in the first half of the season and not the second episode to the last. I'm hopeful for the next two episodes because surely they're gonna go all out with them at least in the action and gore department I'm assuming, but plot-wise? With this weak build-up to the story of this season and the characters we've had in these 6 episodes, I doubt the conclusion would be any different or something that could redeem the whole season.
The Boys: Beware the Jabberwock, My Son (2024)
Cloudy with a Chance of Sheepballs
This is another great episode, but an uneven one by the uneven season 4 of The Boys.
While the episode has its great moments, it feels disjointed and the pacing is kinda off and they could've edited it more evenly. The whole thing with the Boys going to the farm feels dragged for the first half because they're just walking a mile from a barn to another barn, and Starlight's power is for some reason not working again.
I honestly don't even know what her powers even are. I don't remember a time her powers were actually helpful in a situation, except maybe for the last episode where she knocked Firecracker down. Also, you can't convince me that the part where she's looking at her old self with regret and sadness isn't a kind of meta joke from Eric Kripke. Because it's really funny and ironic how she's looking at her beautiful natural face she used to have. If not that, at least I bet Kripke was laughing by himself thinking how accidentally ironic and meta this scene is.
Anyway, I think most of the scenes, if not all, of the scenes from The Seven and Vought are kinda forgettable, though not to say important stuff didn't happen obviously. There are some semi-shocking and reprehensible scenes like that PA slapping that dude really hard, or Ashley going full evil and throwing the news anchor dude under the bus. But other than these two scenes, I just think most of those scenes were just par for the course at this point.
The scenes with the flying killer sheeps were iconic and really fun too, but as much as they tried to exposit us to how in danger they are via Starlight's dialogues, there was not much tension as you knew none of the main characters would die to a V-ed up sheep. But funnily enough, I actually was entertaining the idea of Hughie's dad killing him by ripping his heart out for some reason. I actually had more anticipation of Hughie dying than any of the other ones dealing with the sheep. And also, as others have mentioned, I'm not sure why Neuman didn't just blow up those sheep brains. They could've at least thrown a little line in there saying their brains are too infected or something or she ran out of juice.
But speaking of Hughie's little storyline with his dad; I think it was a really nice subplot, but I wish we'd spent more time with the dad. Those scenes with him are emotional and sad, but unfortunately I'm just not as emotional and sad as I should be watching those scenes. Because we haven't seen the dad since season 1 or 2, and that was like what, 4 years ago?! How do you expect your audience to be emotionally invested in Hughie's relationship with his dad when they lack proper scenes together and you start your season by just making him have a brain injury?
Again, those scenes are great and tragic and all, but I just wish we'd seen more of him to actually have an emotional attachment to him so the last scenes with him would hit harder.
So after half a season of just doing this and that, this episode gives the season a direction we can finally look for and know where this is going and what the season's overall plot is going to be; Butcher's shocking (but understandable, considering everything) way of keeping Shah alive so he could make a supe-killing virus.
Though I do think making a virus to kill Homelander with is kinda lame compared to having Soldier Boy annihilate him, it does make sense since Compound V was also created in a lab and every poison needs its antidote I guess. But I seriously doubt the virus thing is gonna go anywhere, especially this season since there's another season and there is no way Homelander doesn't survive this season. (Maybe Butcher will take out Neuman this season)
I also don't like Frenchie's giving himself up to the police. I'm not sure what the point is to take this character here and it doesn't make sense for him to do it. I know that he's had guilt from the beginning, but this is a really dumb way to deal with it. At least his little plotline with Colin wasn't enough to convince me that Frenchie would do such a thing over that. This whole 4 seasons it feels like the writers don't really know what to do with Frenchie and Kimiko and they just do random things with them every season.
I also find it ironic that they're taking a jab at MCU and its dozens of movies and shows, while doing the same thing with The Boys spin-offs and animated shows.
Anyway, the review mostly consists of complaints about the episode, but I genuinely enjoyed it a lot, it just felt disjointed and the pacing could've been a lot better.
I also wish they went back to actually killing supes instead of just laser-focusing on Homelander every season. Hughie used to be the main character in the first season and The Boys just wanted to kill one supe at a time, but now it's just Homelander and Homelander only. It took them 5 episodes to give a somewhat direction to where this season is actually heading, but it still feels like we haven't moved a bit since last season, or even season 2 in terms of the progression of the plot.
The Boys: Wisdom of the Ages (2024)
The Boys Are Back!
While I found the last episode to be the best of the bunch next to two mediocre to just ok episodes, this episode just blows all of them out of the water. It's just really good. It's funny that my ratings for these 4 episodes have been gradually literally one-upping each other.
So as we expected from the final scene of the last episode, we get a really nice insight into Homelander's past and childhood and those scenes definitely don't disappoint. Those scenes will definitely go down as some of the most iconic scenes from the show.
I think even though this season started really weak, it's slowly becoming really enjoyable to me seeing the growth these characters are going to, heroes and villains, and confronting their pasts and getting over their past misdeeds.
I think this season will be the season where The Boys need to overcome the effed-up things they've done in the past and be ready for the final season. And I think I pretty much like all of their little plotlines about their pasts, though I wish they included that boss woman Frenchie had so we could have a conclusion to their relationship. But maybe they'll address that in the second half of the season of the next season.
Butcher's little mystery gets even more mysterious with what happens in this episode and makes it a little more interesting than just him seeing his dead ex-wife. Also, where is Negan? I was hoping we'd get more of him but he only briefly appeared in one of two episodes.
Starlight and Firecracker's beef really gets out of hand and I think they handled the social commentary focus of this episode way better and more subtle than the previous episodes. And like I said, it's nice to see them showcasing that our protagonists aren't good-guy angels and they've all done something to hurt others in the past. Well, maybe except for Mother's Milk, he seems to be the only dude in the group who didn't murder the entire family of his best friend or something.
So one of my little complaints about this season is that it seems like they don't really know what to do with MM's character. They could've - and should've - showed him at least talking to his wife or daughter about his wife's new husband. Everybody this season has something to do except him. Butcher has been out of the group for 3 episodes, (and it's nice that he's back again and the show feels like The Boys again), but he also had a lot of scenes with his wife or his son. Hughie has the whole thing with his dad, Frenchie with Colin, and Kimiko with her old "friend".
But somehow they couldn't come up with something to make us not forget he's also one of the main members of The Boys. I think all of the little subplots about The Boys confronting their past are interesting, and even Frenchie's clichéd little storyline which barely had any meat to it, had a nice and realistic conclusion to it this episode. But out of all of them, Mother's Milk is... just there.
Anyway, apart from my ranting about MM, the episode was really good and gave us insight into a lot of these characters, and most importantly, Homelander's. We finally get a lot of information as to how he was as a kid, and even a fetus.
Though I understand this episode is really good and so far the best episode of the season, I don't think it's a 10/10 and I kinda don't understand some of the other reviews claiming it's "the" best episode of the whole show. The episode has its moments and it's definitely one of the best episodes in terms of character study and iconic shocking scenes, but I just don't think it's on par with some of the best episodes of the whole show.
Overall, I thought the episode was great and the storyline is developing into an interesting showdown between Starlighters and Firecracker-heads and the next few episodes are gonna get even crazier and more chaotic. I just hope it can keep the momentum and gets better just like these four episodes got better and better, and hope that they don't disappoint us with a finale like last season's.
House of the Dragon: A Son for a Son (2024)
Great Start
This was a great start to the second season, and even though not much happened in this episode apart from the ending, you won't even feel the runtime and the episode goes by so fast because it's so captivating. But you definitely need to rewatch the first season or watch a recap of it because it dives straight back into the story without hesitation.
One thing I need to give this episode firstly, is that you can actually see what's happening in the night scenes! It's like the film crew finally discovered light between the seasons!
This episode does a great job setting up new plotlines for the season and telling you what to expect. The episode overall was good and I was gonna give it an 8/10, but that ending made it a 9/10 for me because it went even beyond what I was expecting was going to happen.
The acting is great too and surprisingly I was getting emotional in some scenes even though it's been 2 years since the first season.
The focus in this episode was mostly on the Hightowers and King Aegon, but so far the show has been doing a good job of showing that both sides have their errors and sins, and far more in this episode's ending scenes. Though one is clearly more power-hungry and stole the throne, and the other is rightfully angry about that and their dead heir. But it's not as black and white and one side isn't a saint while the other is the devil or anything.
Anyway, this episode sets up interesting stuff about Aegon's relationship with Otto and Alicent's with her children, but more importantly, it complicates an already complicated plot with another disaster that will have dire consequences.
Pretty good start, excited to see how this "war" unfolds into an even greater mess of both sides killing each other's as revenge.
The Boys: We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here (2024)
Best One So Far
This is easily the best of the three. Pretty much. This episode finally made me care about these characters again, and actually managed to create tension with that ice rink scene, unlike the scenes from the previous two episodes where they tried to be intense but failed.
The episode does a lot of great character work for many characters and character relationships and dynamics, giving more depth to them.
I really like what they did with Starlight here really driving the point home that these main characters we love aren't really that goody-two-shoes and they all have done horrible things in the past. And also surprisingly giving Firecracker more depth at the same time, and making her more than just a goofy new bad guy character who's just there for the audience to laugh at and just be the one-dimensional far-right mocking character.
Butcher and Ryan's relationship is developing in an interesting way too and pretty much every dialogue scene with the characters (even Hughie and his mom) is great to watch.
This is by far peak Boys for this season. It has a lot of funny gory scenes with people getting accidentally cut in half and mutilated, Homelander being scary again with another intense scene, great dialogue scenes between characters, and another iconic Homelander mirror scene which makes me more excited for where his plotline is going to more than the dawdling they were doing with him in the last two episodes.
It seems that the theme of this season is every character revisiting and confronting their pasts and the things they did in the past. From Homelander to Annie and Frenchie and Kimiko, it seems that we're gonna get more of their past this season and I ain't complaining.
Anyway, the first two episodes were fine, but this episode was a lot of fun and got me excited about the show again setting up interesting premises. Here's hoping the rest of the season is gonna get even better than this.
The Boys: Life Among the Septics (2024)
Peak Cinema
The scenes with the nude duplicator clone dudes were absolute cinema and will definitely be on the list of top iconic scenes from The Boys.
This episode pretty much has everything you'd expect from this show; a fight between The Boys and a supe with a weird power, Homelander's training scenes going unsurprisingly wrong, Homelander being petty and talking about normal people as if they're pets, nudity, violence, gore, and all the things you want from the show.
And although the fight scene was pretty good, I found the green screen to be really noticeable which is unlike this show, because the CGI work looked pretty good in previous seasons, but that scene looked like a low-budget green screen work.
Also gotta say Ryan's voice is really funny and I can't take him seriously when seeing sounds like an 8-year-old girl and an 80-year-old woman at the same time. No disrespect to the actor obviously, I just think it's funny that they decided to go with the voice.
And as I guessed from the first episode, we now know a lot about Frenchie's past with Colin's family. I mean they outright say what you're thinking about, they don't seem to be subtle with the dialogue this season. But I guess it's nice that they don't seem to stretch at least this plotline and don't reveal what actually happened. Nevertheless, I am still not sure why we need this Colin character here and his backstory when they literally can give that runtime to Kimiko's past (which they seem to be doing now) after 4 seasons.
And like I said in my last episode's review, the only reason I'm giving these a little lower score is because the writing and the scenarios this season feel off a bit. The dialogue doesn't seem to be as subtle and well-written as before and some scenes seem to be suddenly cut off and we jump to the next scene, when they feel like they need more dialogue.
And the scenarios aren't as unique and creative as before. It feels like they ran out of creative juice and they should've ended the show with this season. I'm still not sure what the plot of this season is and it seems to be setting up for the final fifth season, which is a shame because season 3 felt energetic and alive from its very first episode because you didn't know if they're actually gonna kill Homelander or not. That, and Soldier Boy. This season doesn't have that energy, at least yet, and it feels like a filler setup for the final season. So I hope it gets better from here on out, because the previous seasons peaked at the middle to end episodes, so I'm not gonna say this season is disappointing and bad until we get the whole picture.
So so far, this is the better of the first two episodes elevated by the clone fight, but still suffers from weak dialogue and weird plot progression. But I have hope this is gonna get better as the season goes on.
Civil War (2024)
Mid
Alex Garland really fell off, didn't he? First Men, and now this? At least Men tried to say something while being bad, Civil War says nothing while being mid.
The movie is just a nice montage of post-civil-war America and basically a driving simulator, and that's it. It's just shallow without a substance. And if you're trying to tell me that I'm the shallow one here and I didn't get the point of the movie, good for you for finding a point even in these kinds of empty movies. That must be nice to even find substance in a film like this.
Alex Garland has never made a typical and formulaic film before and I don't want him to, but his first two movies were so interesting and well-done, and Civil War is just... there. The whole movie is basically a montage showing what the USA would look like if a Civil War happened without explaining how it started. I believe that's the point of the film to not explain the hows and whys, and to focus on the aftermath of people living in these conditions. And I certainly don't think it is necessary to explain about how it started, or that it would've even made the movie better.
My question is, do we even need that? Do we need a movie just showing us what would happen if there was a civil war in the modern age without any other depth to its story, themes, and characters? We've already had a ton of post-apocalyptic movies and shows depicting these scenarios. Hell, we even had 11 seasons of The Walking Dead and that show is basically people having a civil war of their own, and it basically did every scenario and situation in this war-torn US you can think of. Do we need more of that if you don't really have anything to say?
The movie looks visually stunning, and I really liked the direction and editing here and how they integrated war photography footage into the film. And I think it's a really interesting decision to make a war movie from the perspective of war journalists. But unfortunately, everything else is just meh.
The characters don't really have much depth to them, and the movie is too short to have adequate time to give depth to them anyway. But on the other hand, the pacing is not great and that makes the short runtime feel really long. The movie gets kinda boring at times and you keep checking to see how much of it is left. Garland's Ex Machina and Annihilation were really fun to watch in addition to having depth to their characters and themes. But Civil War only has the good looks. It feels like it was made by someone who knows how to film a movie, but doesn't really have anything to say. And the dialogue isn't that great either.
Overall I think it's probably worth watching it one time for the visuals at least, but I didn't really find the story or the characters that compelling. The movie is kinda boring too. I think the only good thing that came out of this movie is Meth Damon's "What kind of American are you?" meme.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Amazing Concept Ruined by Bad Execution and Horrible Acting
Sadly another great concept that was ruined by terrible execution and surprisingly really bad acting.
So this is one of those movies where the difference between the Metacritic score and the IMDb's audience score is staggering. I thought maybe it's one of those movies where the critics got it wrong again, but honestly, after seeing it I can kinda get why it's so low. (Though it is way too low and harsh in my opinion)
Anyway, let me start by saying that this movie has all the ingredients for an amazing movie with a great concept, characters, emotional story, and a great ending (Director's Cut Ending specifically). So where did it go wrong exactly?
First of all, the first thing you're gonna notice that's wrong with this movie is the acting, and specifically the main character's mom acting. And pretty much most of the cast as the movie goes on. This is one of the main reasons why this movie gets such a low rating from me. The mediocre dialogue and the comedic deliveries make this movie age so badly and make it one of those over-the-top goofy 2000s movies that you laugh at the bad acting and the unintentionally funny serious moments. Even though the concept alone can make a movie or a TV show a timeless classic.
The other big problem is that the director just doesn't know how to handle the dark and edgy stuff in this movie carefully so as to not come off as if a 14-year-old boy directed and wrote this movie. This movie is surprisingly really dark and adult, but all the edgy stuff are just handled really clumsily with some terrible written dialogue at times.
The movie doesn't really do a proper job of making you care about the characters and the characterization lacks severely. So what happens when they try to do melodrama and have an emotional scene? Yeah, it becomes a really hilarious scene where you're thinking "Now cue the sad music" and then immediately the sad music plays to force you into feeling bad or sad and all that. But that only works if you actually care about the characters and these things aren't executed in such a goofy and corny manner. It's like someone with no directorial experience watched a movie and said "Yeah, sure, I can do that" and tried to emulate the movie he watched.
The movie is also boring at times, especially in the middle, and you just want it to end and keep checking the time to see how much there's left. Again, a better director and editor could've made this movie way more watchable. Though it's disingenuous to say the editing is bad here because the overall editing for the concept of this movie is pretty good, but the pacing needs better editing.
Again, the movie deals with dark and heavy subjects too, and pretty much every dark subject you can think of is in here. And the movie itself tries to take these stuff seriously too, but fails in that department too, and some of the dialogue they wrote for those sound so much like PSA commercials and so fake that makes you laugh instead of having the intended effect.
Again, the concept and the premise of this movie are amazing and I can see what they were going for. In the hands of a much more capable writer and a better director, this movie would've easily been a 9/10 for me and one of the best sci-fi films I would have watched. But unfortunately, the execution and the acting are so bad that they make this movie age badly and turn it into a 2000s schlock.
The ending is also really dark and sad and I love the ending surprisingly! I'm just a little disappointed that this ending and this concept weren't in a much better movie. Because it's one of those endings that can leave you effed up for days, but since you don't really care about the characters and don't really have an emotional connection to them, you're just gonna acknowledge that at least the ending was good and be more sad for the fact you really wanted to like this movie.
I usually don't really write reviews for every movie I watch, especially the older movies. Even for a lot of movies that I gave a 9/10, I didn't really have much to say. But I usually have a lot to say about the movie I hated. A movie has to be so good or so bad or disappointing for me to write a review for. And this is one of the "disappointing" ones. The concept of this movie was so good that it made me so frustrated that this wasn't done in a better movie with a better writer and director, that I just Had to write a review about it.
And it's not like this concept is a mind-blowingly new and original concept that hadn't been done before or in the past 20 years we didn't have multiple movies and shows with this concept. But the story itself and the characters seriously had the potential and deserved a much better movie. I love tragic stories and this is probably one of the most tragic and sad stories in a movie, but it doesn't feel that way because the movie itself, the dialogue, the acting, the editing and the direction was so goofy and corny and unintentionally funny, that it doesn't feel as tragic and emotional as it should be. This movie is more tragic for the fact that it wasn't a better movie.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Sadly Did Not Live Up to Expectations for Me
So Villeneuve is my favorite current-working director, and when I saw all the great ratings and reviews for this movie, I was excited about it thinking it must have improved on everything that was wrong with the first Dune movie. But unfortunately, the only thing that improved here was the visuals and the action, and they were fine even in the first movie too.
I rewatched the first Dune again before watching this because I didn't remember much from the first time I watched it 3 years ago. And I think I understood the story of the first movie better this time, but my overall enjoyment of the first movie and feelings about it were the exact same; it's a decent introduction to this universe and characters, but lacks the needed emotional connection of the viewer with the characters, and the characterization needs a lot of work. (And obviously, the story suddenly ending)
When I reviewed the first movie, I said hopefully a second movie would be made to complete the story and give a better characterization to these characters. But sadly, this movie continued with the same shallow characterization problem as the first film.
These movies aren't short either, they are nearly 3 hours, so they have all the time in the world to make you care about these characters and flesh them out. But most of the time is spent on "cool" visuals and action scenes. And don't get me wrong, the visuals are amazing, absolutely 10/10 visuals and cinematography. But the storytelling and characterization here is 6/10 or 7/10 at best. So how can a movie be a "masterpiece" if only the visuals are good but the story is lacking?
Many people compare these movies to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and that actually highlights the problems of this movie and also reinforces what a miracle it was that the LOTR trilogy turned out the way it was and no one has been able to reproduce the magic of those movies, not even Peter Jackson himself.
Comparing Dune to LOTR, you'll realize how much thought and work had gone into making LOTR and its characters relatable, easily making the audience familiar with these characters, and allowing them to form a great emotional connection to them. LOTR was written as an adaptation that the book-readers can enjoy, and the audience who hadn't read the books could also watch and still get the story and understand the characters and their motivations. You don't need to read the books to understand every character in the movie and why they did what they did, or having to read to make an emotional connection to them. The films already did those things masterfully.
But Dune? It definitely is a movie that's made for people who are already familiar with the universe and have already read the books. It's like a summary with cool action montages of the important plot points that leaves out the character-building and much-needed parts to make the audience understand the character arc of Paul Atreides.
Attack on Titan did that with Eren Yeager and you could understand the transformation of this protagonist throughout the story. But in this movie, Paul just changes suddenly toward the end of the movie and the movie does a poor job of justifying that. Instead of giving more time to flesh out this plot point and show what happened and show a gradual change in Paul, we are mostly shown cool visual effects and unimportant scenes with the villains that do nothing to help these antagonists become more than cartoonishly evil one-dimensional characters.
And I understand that Attack on Titan is a long anime/manga and definitely had a lot more time to make you care about its characters compared to two movies that are only over 2 hours. And I also understand that Dune is apparently a really difficult book to adapt to a visual medium, and that it's a miracle these two movies even turned out as decent as they did. But like I said, LOTR already proved that you can have the cool visuals, but also have the depth, good storytelling, and great characterization in your movie too.
Denis Villeneuve has said that he made Dune for himself, fulfilling his childhood wish. And as nice of a sentiment that sounds, that is the problem with Dune. It's made for himself and those who already know this story. It's not made for someone who wants to get to know this world and characters for the first time via the movies.
And like I said, it's not only the protagonists that suffer from a lack of good characterization so the audience can have an emotional connection to them. The villains even lack more. The introduction of Feyd-Rautha and the gladiator arena scene are definitely some of the most unique and iconic scenes in any movie I've ever seen. It shows you that "yeah, this guy doesn't eff around and is different" very well. But what happens after that? He just becomes another "bad guy who eats an apple with a knife and randomly kills his own henchmen because they said hello to him". Not to mention they don't show what he does differently than Rabban that makes him better and more dangerous. The only thing he does is shoot missiles at the Fremen, and Baron calls it "genius"? Really? If it was so easy, why couldn't Rabban do it before? Not to mention how disappointing Baron's character is too. You'd think he's an intimidating and powerful villain when watching the first movie, but you're gonna be unpleasantly disappointed by him in this one.
And it is sad because Villeneuve actually knows how to write good "human" characters and make the audience have an emotional connection with them. He's not Nolan. He's already shown he knows how to write good characters the audience can relate to with Incendies, Arrival, Prisoners, and many more. So I don't know if it was a deliberate choice or he was restricted from making the movie longer and had to cut a lot of scenes that fleshed out these characters more.
So I talked a lot about the negatives and I don't want to repeat myself and only talk about the problems I had with it. I still give the movie a 7 because the visuals and the music are too good to give it lower, but I could even give it a 6 because of the story.
So 7/10 is still not bad, but considering the rating and the raving, I expected more.
Like I said, the cinematography, the direction for the most part, the music, and the action are all 10/10 here and it's a quality blockbuster that more blockbusters should try to follow, but not the storytelling part though.
The movie is enjoyable and I didn't really find it boring, though some scenes could've been cut out or dedicated to better flesh out the story and characters. But it's a decent continuation of the first film.
When the movie came out and received all the great reviews and ratings, I kept seeing some people saying they liked the first Dune better and I was really confused about how they could like the first movie more if everyone was saying this one is a masterpiece and better in every way. But after finally watching it myself, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the first Dune more too, and I can't believe I liked this one less. Don't get me wrong, the first Dune also greatly suffers from characterization and better storytelling, but it was still a more coherent story than this film's.
Overall, it's not a bad movie, but massively disappointed me, especially after seeing the great ratings and reviews it received. It's a movie that's mainly made for the people who've already read the books and know these characters, and they can enjoy these movies more than your average movie-watcher who isn't familiar with this story and characters. I have the same emotional connection to these characters as I did before knowing them for the first time. 10/10 visuals and action, 6/10 storytelling and characterization.
Fallout (2024)
Another Gem From Jonathan Nolan
First of all, I did not expect this show to be this gory and gruesome! I mean, with how brutal the world of this show is, it makes sense for it to be this gory, and PG-13 just wouldn't be as realistic. If it had more gory and bloody scenes, I would think I was watching a body horror instead of post-apocalyptic sci-fi.
And I'm not saying that as a negative, exactly the opposite actually. I just didn't expect it to go as far as it did and I'm glad because boy do those scenes look good.
So as kind of a Jonathan Nolan fanboy because of Person of Interest and the first season of Westworld, I had no doubt this show would be good. But it actually surpassed even my expectations as to how engaging and well-written this was.
I honestly hate that TV shows nowadays only have 8 episodes per season and you have to wait 2 to 3 years till the next one comes out, and you will have already lost all interest or don't remember anything by the time the next season is out. But thankfully, the writers here managed to not only tell a somewhat full story in these 8 episodes but the finale wasn't rushed like every other new show with under 9 episodes.
Nearly every episode is an hour, so you'll get enough time to get introduced to the characters, the story, and the world. And they do a phenomenal job with the world-building.
From the very first episode, you immediately get thrown into this world and you'll get so immersed in it that you don't want to even get up to go to the bathroom. And yeah, of course, I just binged the whole show for 9 hours straight!
The storytelling here is great. The hero's journey and what she goes through is really well done. This isn't one of those situations where the protagonist has plot armor and nothing bad ever happens to her. She actually goes through some sht here and the character development here is great. Lucy from episode 8 is nothing like episode 1 Lucy.
The show is also a great adventure show too. The journey of the protagonist(s) throughout the show is great as they get thrown into these post-apocalyptic and weird survival situations that they have to find a way to get out of. And they are all engaging and you just can't wait to immediately watch the next episode when you finish one.
The visuals are amazing here. The production value here is top-notch and they build a really believable world that feels lived in with a great variety of characters.
This show might not be as deep and philosophical as season 1 of Westworld, but if they keep up the quality writing and don't do another Westworld season 2 to 4, this might end up being even better than that.
And sure, the villains' motivation here is a bit cartoonishly evil, but I think it kinda makes sense in the context of this world.
The storytelling here is great. Flashbacks are kind of Nolan's forte when it comes to storytelling and Fallout is no exception. They give us more character backstory and world-building through these little flashbacks, and they have the intrigue of Vault 31 that keeps you guessing till the last episode waiting for the revelation. They know how to keep the audience engaged and not reveal everything in episode 1 so there wouldn't be any mystery or intrigue to keep the audience invested in the story.
And like I said, the protagonist here is great. She goes through some pretty gruesome stuff in her journey through the wastelands and has moral conflicts about the situations she gets into. That's how a great protagonist should be. A relatable and likable hero that gets changed by her journey and evolves.
And yeah, the overall story isn't the most original one or one that you can't predict its clichés or anything. But when it's well done and well incorporated into the context of the story and the world, who cares if there are some clichés here and there? After all, you can't have a story without clichés.
And I almost forgot to mention how funny the little bits of comedy they threw in here are. It's not cringey Marvel level of jokes and comedy bits that ruin the tension or the serious scenes, it's actual funny moments that happen in the context of the story that are just well-done and well-placed.
So overall, this is one of the best, most well-made, and most engaging recent shows I've watched, or even all the shows in general. And also, not to mention that it is another great adaptation of a video game. I might even like this more than The Last of Us show honestly.
So here's hoping the next season doesn't take 3 years to make, and also doesn't end up like the rest of Westworld.
The Sinner (2017)
One of the Most Excruciating and Painful Shows to Sit Through
I have a lot to say about this show and how painful it was to actually sit through and watch all of it. But I try to be as brief as possible and not waste any more of my time on this show.
First of all, it must've taken me 4 or 5 months to actually finish this show. It took me nearly 2 months to watch season 3. For comparison, I finished Mr. Robot in under a month.
Secondly, the main character of this show, Detective Ambrose is one of the dumbest, most frustrating, and unlikable protagonists of any show I've watched. I honestly couldn't wait for this show to end so I could never have to endure his awkward interactions with everybody in his life ever again. Not to mention how annoyingly he grins and smiles all the time in every interaction and in any mood whatsoever. I thought maybe he would get better as the show proceeded, but his demeanor did not change at all. So there is that, the only constant in an anthology show, and he's unlikable and hard to watch.
The writing of this show is just laughably bad and cringey at most times.
Many say the first season is the best one and that it's actually good, and I guess you could say it's the best when season 3 was that abominable. But I didn't even like season 1 that much either. I could sense how shallow the writing is from the very first season, and it was obvious they tried to act like their writing was so deep and dark but it felt more like an edgy 14-year-old wrote it. And then they went and made that third season? Ooh boy.
If it wasn't for season 4, I would've given this show an even lower rating. Season 4 was surprisingly not bad at all and I was actually invested in the plot and the characters, to my own disbelief and surprise!
So season 4 is the saving grace of this show honestly. After the horrible season 3 (which I think the average of my episodic rating of that season was 3.6/10!), I'm glad they actually made a decent season and they didn't end the show with that awful third season.
Season 1 starts out with some pretty interesting stuff, but gets really mediocre and meandering in the middle. It just drags on and on for no reason other than to stretch the story to 8 episodes. But I think the ending was decent enough. The story drags for no reason and they could've solved the whole thing a lot sooner. But overall, season 1 is a decent watch but still made me want to drop the whole show and not watch the rest of it.
The only reason I decided to continue watching it was because of Carrie Coon in season 2. And wouldn't you know it, they made her the most annoying and frustrating character in that season! Season 2 was honestly infuriating to go through.
But nothing compares to the farce that was season 3. You can't believe how many bad decisions the detective and other characters make in that season. And the cringey pseudo-intellectual story of it was like it was written by an edgy teenager who just discovered Nietzsche and read some philosophy book for the first time in his life. I cannot emphasize enough how cringey and hard-to-watch those season's "deep" and "intellectual" scenes were to sit through.
Season 3 can honestly be used as a real method of torture. Alex was actually watching The Sinner season 3 in that scene of A Clockwork Orange!
Couple that with the worst writing of the whole show with characters making the worst decisions ever, and the story not having the potential of being 8 episodes, and the fact that there is no intrigue and no mystery to the story. And you'll understand why it took me 2 months to finish that season.
Now season 4 is another story. I actually binge-watched season 4's first 6 episodes in one day and finished it by binging the last 2 episodes the next day. Now the circumstances of me watching this season were different because I had no internet and all I could do was watch a show. So that's what I did and my God I couldn't believe my eyes. A The Sinner season that I actually want to willingly sit through, and am invested in the story? A season where there are very few bad decisions made by Detective Ambrose? Where the main characters aren't annoying like the last 3 seasons?
Anyway, I'd say I wouldn't recommend this show to my worst enemy, because that's how bad it is, but then again, I actually didn't hate season 4, so there is that too.
But overall, I really wouldn't recommend this show to anyone at all. Even seasons 1 and 4 which weren't that bad. But even if you're going to watch it anyway, just remember not to expect an actual well-written detective show or even a well-acted one. The pacing is also sluggish and the stories don't deserve 8 episodes, so it's gonna be a lot of borefests to go through. Watch it at your own discretion!
Curb Your Enthusiasm: No Lessons Learned (2024)
A Hilarous End to a Disappointing Final Season
Even though apart from episode 3 of this season I didn't really think other episodes were par for the course with the first 9 or 10 seasons, I actually enjoyed this episode a lot.
And of course, this finale is full of member berries and "remember this?", but this episode also has its own plotlines that affect the final outcome and I think this episode is really funny from start to finish.
Seinfeld has been mentioned a lot throughout this final season, and even though I haven't seen it yet, you can really tell what its finale might have been and why it's considered bad. Since I haven't watched that show, I can't really comment on the references and how this show ended and all that.
But I'm personally satisfied with how they wrapped everything up here and did some flashbacks to a time when this show was the peak of hilariousness.
Something that kinda disappointed me was that I was kinda expecting a final scene where everything comes together as the result of a hilarious misunderstanding or something like that final restaurant scene where everyone was cursing. But we got a generic one instead. Nevertheless, it was still funny.
I wish the role of Cynthia was a lot bigger because I expected bigger consequences from that plotline, but oh well.
I don't really remember the old season of Curb that well since I watched them a long time ago, and I haven't even watched Seinfeld yet. So don't think I'm giving it a high rating out of nostalgia and the references. I genuinely think this episode was funny (still not as funny as the first 9 seasons), and yeah, some of the funny stuff were the references to the funnier flashbacks, but this episode had new funny stuff and hilarious lines of dialogue too.
So overall, this is definitely the funniest episode of this underwhelming final season (I gave it an 8 at first but then I realized I gave ep 3 a 9, and this is better, so...) and a pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good finale to the show as a whole.
This show is still my favorite comedy show I've ever seen (even after watching Always Sunny recently) despite the last two seasons, especially the final season, not being even close to the funniness and the genius of the first 10 seasons.
Definitely watch this show if you haven't because it's one of the funniest shows ever, and don't let the low ratings of the last two seasons dissuade you from starting it, because the finale wraps up everything pretty, pretty, pretty good and it's worth finishing it.
Invincible: I Thought You Were Stronger (2024)
What a Villain!
Talk about making an incredibly memorable, brutal, and complex villain!
At first, at the beginning of the season, I was iffy about introducing the multiverse in yet another fictional universe, but what they did with the villain and his powers here is amazing. I was also complaining about how little we saw of Angstrom Levy throughout the season, but I think with this resolution, it might've been enough.
Basically, the first half of this episode does the heavy lifting for Angstrom Levy's characterization and turns him into an unforgettable and powerful villain. I wish they did the same for that lion dude in the first season. I don't know why he wasn't a bigger part and hasn't come back yet.
But anyway, the multiverse stuff are handled pretty well here, and apart from some (literally) Marvel-level references and nods to other media, that were few and funny enough to not have a problem with them, they did a great job with the whole thing.
Angstrom Levy is what a well-written and impactful villain should be. He's not necessarily evil nor are his intentions inherently evil, he's the evil that our hero directly or indirectly and inadvertently created, and now he does evil things to do what's necessary for his good intentions (at least in his own mind).
He's a villain who will challenge the hero physically and mentally. He's a villain who'll have a long-lasting impact on the hero and will change him forever.
This episode and what Angstrom Levy does to Mark Grayson is a character-defining moment for Invincible, and I think it's just one of many that will come. Angstrol's actions and their consequences send Mark into an existential crisis and an introspection journey.
So even though Angstrom Levy's screen time in this season was short and I usually hate it when movies or shows (especially comic books) only show the villain in the beginning and we don't see them until the final conflict and basically don't get to really know them, I love what they did with Levy here and I can turn a blind eye to how little we see of him here. It was worth it honestly.
Angstrom is a villain we can totally see where he's coming from and sympathize with him a little, but also can see he is obviously evil and revenge has blinded him. They create such a deep and complex character in a short amount of time and it's really great. I wouldn't even consider him a villain villain, to be honest, he's more like an anti-villain to me.
So this a lesson in writing, especially for comic book writers and especially the comic book movies we've been getting these past couple of years. Make your villains matter. If your antagonist doesn't change your hero and doesn't change his worldview and your hero still feels the same after encountering them, what's the point? Watch this episode and see how to do a good villain who'll leave his mark and is impactful as hell.
And they don't even have your typical Batman vs Joker interrogation or Daredevil vs The Punisher rooftop dialogue scenes where they challenge each other's methods and worldview. This is a more punchy punchy and less talky version of that, but it's still as impactful.
So overall this is a really great finale and the definitely best episode of the season. In this review focused purely on the first half of the episode and how good the villain was, I usually talk about all the stuff that happened, but the first half was so good that I don't even want to talk about anything else. The second half is about the aftermath and although it was also pretty good, as a whole, the finale wasn't really a 10/10 at least for me. I don't think I gave any episode of this season a full 10/10 rating unlike multiple 10s I gave to season 1. But that doesn't mean it wasn't good, just not as back to back surprises and brutality as the first season.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Ken/Kendra (2024)
Probably the Worst Season of Curb Yet
So Curb Your Enthusiasm is my favorite comedy show. Even after watching The Office and Always Sunny, it's still the best one for me and if I had to choose only one show to watch for the rest of my life, it would probably be this.
So the show till at least season 9 or 10 (I still loved 10) was a masterpiece and on par with the show's peak. But season 11 and 12 are just not it. And I don't think I've seen so many meh and mid episodes in any seasons before, not even the previous one!
Not only the situations they've written for this season are not as funny and genius as the early seasons and those iconic episodes, everything feels fake and lazy. And I get it, "Weel, obviously it's a TV show so it's scripted!". Well, yeah. But Curb was at its best when they just outlined what the scene was gonna be about and the actors just went with the flow and improvised every line of dialogue. This season just feels phony and forced and just not as funny.
I chuckled at some of the stuff in this episode, but they weren't as laugh out loud funny like it used to be. I only rated episode 3 of this season highly, and everything before and after that have been meh. I think the overall rating of this season from the episodes for me has been a 6, even considering I gave episode 3 a 9/10. A 6/10 season is a pretty sad rating for a 10/10 show that I deem my favorite comedy ever.
Not to mention them using the same voiced lines again and again when Larry's mouth isn't even moving and adding lines in edit after they shoot the scenes. It's so obvious and forced. Curb was funny when it didn't feel so overly edited and scripted.
As for the episode itself, like I said, there are some funny lines here and there, but the situational comedy isn't really there. The amount of chaos Larry would create at the end of each episode back then were funny because how unexpected and ridiculous they were. Now, you won't even remember half the plotlines or the ending an hour after watching the episode.
It's just such a shame. Curb is still my favorite comedy, I'll have to rewatch to confirm that this is in fact the funniest show compared to Always Sunny at least. But it's just sad seeing such a genuinely funny show with genius writing and iconic ending scenes, end with such a letdown of a final season.
Don't get me wrong, this episode isn't unwatchable or totally unfunny or anything, it's just not like it used to be and doesn't feel as natural.
Also, what a waste of Jackie Daytona. Daytona would've been an iconic character of Curb if he was in previous seasons.