Rambling TV: Thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Westworld, and The Staircase.
Westworld
HBO has so much riding on this show I can't help but root for it. I want it so badly to succeed. I hope it does. I found the pilot to be fascinating. It's about an artificial reality where people can pay to go into this Western, so to speak. They interact with the "people" in that reality. They can love them, hurt them, kill them. The guests can do anything they want, but the residents can't do anything back.
Evan Rachel Wood is amazing, and she was great in the pilot. Ed Harris' character was on screen for about 1/4 of a second before I started wishing death on him. The always reliable Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden and Thandie Newton also star.
I'm not crazy about rape being part of the narrative, but I'm not surprised either. The morale is the most interesting part. Could you go into a virtual theme park and kill someone that looks just as human as you do?
Agents of SHIELD
Daisy is still annoying, her prodding of Robbie was the worst. I kept wishing he'd just set her on fire and free us all. My favorite part of the episode was Fitz actually calling Daisy out on her deserting. All the other characters still treat her like a lost puppy they must protect and Fitz tells her she's being selfish. That needed to happen.
May is still losing her shit because of the smoke, and it's hard to see her not in control. I don't know how I feel about the ghost story as a whole. Ghost Rider is still the best part.
We also found out the new director of SHIELD is an Inhuman (because Steve Rogers went AWOL) Realistically, I wish someone like Rhodey or Maria Hill or even Sharon Carter would fill the role. I know the show and movies don't often intertwine like that. (which is a blessing in a way, I'd hate Daisy to be in an Avengers movie) but I think someone like Hill or Carter would be good in that role.
The Staircase
I've been wanting to watch this documentary for ages. Ever since I finished Making a Murderer and went out looking for docs like it, this one was almost always on someone's list. Unfortunately, the discs on Netflix have been on a "very long wait" since I put it there in January. Lucky for me, I found all the episodes available to stream here.
I'm torn on this case. Mike Peterson doesn't seem like he would've killed his wife, but I don't believe she just fell down the stairs either. I just don't see how that's possible. Watching all 8 episodes, I kept expecting to go more towards Mike's side, like the doc clearly wants you do, but I'm just left with so many questions. (note to self: read up on the Owl theory)
The Staircase Part 2 is also in that link, it was filmed 8 years later. It's quite jarring to see how different Mike looked, but overall watching those two episodes felt a bit representative. There was really only about 20 minutes of new footage there.
Other TV ramblings: I watched the HBO documentary There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane, in which Diane Schuler's family tries to rationalize how she drove on the wrong side of the freeway killing herself, her daughter, three nieces, and three other drivers in another vehicle. She had alcohol and THC in her system. It really just made me sad. We'll never know what was going through Diane's mind when she did that, and it's hard to watch her family try to answer that as they deny that she would drink and drive. I'm still going to start Deadwood. I'm thinking about starting Luke Cage, but I want to see how it rates compared to Jessica Jones. If it's similar, I probably won't watch, despite enjoying the characters in it. I'd rather have another Daredevil than Jessica Jones.
Rambling TV is a series where I ramble semi-coherently about the things I watched on television. This week's was brought to you by cosmos, because I felt classy. Click those gifs to be redirected to their makers.
HBO has so much riding on this show I can't help but root for it. I want it so badly to succeed. I hope it does. I found the pilot to be fascinating. It's about an artificial reality where people can pay to go into this Western, so to speak. They interact with the "people" in that reality. They can love them, hurt them, kill them. The guests can do anything they want, but the residents can't do anything back.
Evan Rachel Wood is amazing, and she was great in the pilot. Ed Harris' character was on screen for about 1/4 of a second before I started wishing death on him. The always reliable Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden and Thandie Newton also star.
I'm not crazy about rape being part of the narrative, but I'm not surprised either. The morale is the most interesting part. Could you go into a virtual theme park and kill someone that looks just as human as you do?
Agents of SHIELD
Daisy is still annoying, her prodding of Robbie was the worst. I kept wishing he'd just set her on fire and free us all. My favorite part of the episode was Fitz actually calling Daisy out on her deserting. All the other characters still treat her like a lost puppy they must protect and Fitz tells her she's being selfish. That needed to happen.
May is still losing her shit because of the smoke, and it's hard to see her not in control. I don't know how I feel about the ghost story as a whole. Ghost Rider is still the best part.
We also found out the new director of SHIELD is an Inhuman (because Steve Rogers went AWOL) Realistically, I wish someone like Rhodey or Maria Hill or even Sharon Carter would fill the role. I know the show and movies don't often intertwine like that. (which is a blessing in a way, I'd hate Daisy to be in an Avengers movie) but I think someone like Hill or Carter would be good in that role.
The Staircase
I've been wanting to watch this documentary for ages. Ever since I finished Making a Murderer and went out looking for docs like it, this one was almost always on someone's list. Unfortunately, the discs on Netflix have been on a "very long wait" since I put it there in January. Lucky for me, I found all the episodes available to stream here.
I'm torn on this case. Mike Peterson doesn't seem like he would've killed his wife, but I don't believe she just fell down the stairs either. I just don't see how that's possible. Watching all 8 episodes, I kept expecting to go more towards Mike's side, like the doc clearly wants you do, but I'm just left with so many questions. (note to self: read up on the Owl theory)
The Staircase Part 2 is also in that link, it was filmed 8 years later. It's quite jarring to see how different Mike looked, but overall watching those two episodes felt a bit representative. There was really only about 20 minutes of new footage there.
Other TV ramblings: I watched the HBO documentary There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane, in which Diane Schuler's family tries to rationalize how she drove on the wrong side of the freeway killing herself, her daughter, three nieces, and three other drivers in another vehicle. She had alcohol and THC in her system. It really just made me sad. We'll never know what was going through Diane's mind when she did that, and it's hard to watch her family try to answer that as they deny that she would drink and drive. I'm still going to start Deadwood. I'm thinking about starting Luke Cage, but I want to see how it rates compared to Jessica Jones. If it's similar, I probably won't watch, despite enjoying the characters in it. I'd rather have another Daredevil than Jessica Jones.
Rambling TV is a series where I ramble semi-coherently about the things I watched on television. This week's was brought to you by cosmos, because I felt classy. Click those gifs to be redirected to their makers.
My coworker was just raving about Westworld this morning. I prefer to binge on shows so I'll definitely get on it once all the episodes are available. The premise definitely sounds fascinating, and I'm also curious because the creators are Chris Nolan's brother Jonathan and his wife Lisa Joy Nolan.
ReplyDeleteThe Nolan name is one of the reasons I looked into it as well. I hope you enjoy it when more eps are available!
DeleteWestworld is awesome as I love the pilot as Evan, Ed Harris, Thandie, James Marden, Jeffrey Wright, and Anthony Hopkins were excellent as usual yet I was more intrigued by the guy who played Evan's dad as well the other people working with Jeffrey Wright's character. I hope the rest of the show is good.
ReplyDeleteI was sad when she had the replacement dad in the final scene :( I hope we see the original guy again.
DeleteI am not sure Dolores was raped in that shed. But rape is for sure a part of the world there however it makes sense given that most people going there are probably hardcore depraved. We are gonna meet two new guests next episode and in one of the trailers one of them is banging like 3 or 4 chicks at the same time :lol:
ReplyDeleteI think she was definitely raped, everything the man in black said suggested it. Yeah, I saw that preview. I remember when the casting call went out for that scene a long time ago, people freaked because of the nudity involved. lol
DeleteI have nothing to offer here, knowing nuthin about nuthin.
ReplyDeleteBut thank you for visiting anyways. :)
DeleteI'm so happy you watched The Staircase and reviewed it. More people should see that. I agree, it doesn't seem like he wanted to hurt his wife at all, but that crime scene is so brutal. It's like, "Wait... how... huh?"
ReplyDeleteAnd There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane is one of my favorite HBO Docs. So, so sad. I mean, all the evidence is stacked against that woman, and the family just won't accept it. Also, I've always wondered why the director chose to show Diane's dead body. That's one hell of a bold choice.
That was awful. I really wish they hadn't done that. It caught me off guard. I feel so bad for that family though.
DeleteYeah, The Staircase crime was horrific. If I were his lawyer, there's no way I would've went with the "fell down the stairs" argument. I probably would've went with intruder.