We just started the Consultant. Christof Waltz plays a mystery man who shows up to run a gaming company the day after the CEO is murdered. It’s super strange but really interesting and Waltz is a fantastic like always. I can’t tell where it’s going yet, but I can already tell I’m hooked.
It’s a bizarre show that you’ll really like.
I said this last week but I don’t think they could’ve done the finale of The Last of Us any better! From the symbolic use of Ashley Johnson to our last bits of nostalgia bait to how truly horrific Joel unleashed is, everything was really well done. Also, once again, the additions really benefited the source material. I will say that last week was probably my favorite episode and I kind of wanted them to tie the finale into the second part more. However, the cannibals are the best part of the game and I’m not going to knock something just because it didn’t cater to me specifically. Also, now season one can stand on its own and anyone who doesn’t like Joel’s choice and/or how the second game deals with the ramifications of it can check out at any time.
Just want to finish off by commending the producers for their use of moderation throughout the season. I know there’s quite a few people who want more violence and/or infected or human encounters but, while that sort of stuff might work in video games, it doesn’t translate so well to television. First, it takes away from the realism and, second, the more violence/infected, the less impact they have every time they show up. I can only dread how much less moving tonight would have been or how much less awesome the horde a few weeks ago would have been if things like that happened on a regular basis.
Just excellent work all around and I can’t wait to see what they do with season two. (Maybe Abby will learn how golf actually works and Ellie and Dina will live happily ever after on their sheep farm? Probably not but a guy can dream.)
That finale was every bit as intense as it should be. (That damn giraffe 
gets me every time. 
)
And I didn’t catch it in the moment, but it was neat to see that Laura Bailey was credited as one of the nurses.
That finale to The Last of Us was pretty great! They got all the major beats I expected them to, and all-in-all was a pretty one-to-one adaptation of the final chapter in-game.
It was a sad, heartwarming, tense, uncomfortably hopeful ending.
Great cold open featuring Ashley Johnson in an I-can’t-not-hear-you-as-Ellie performance for me lol.
The hospital sequence felt a bit rushed however, IMO due to the massacre montage. It was sad and scary, yes, but it all felt a little unbelievable. Would have preferred a bit more over-the-shoulder, tense, frantic hiding escaping, and avoiding the odd patrol, rather than killing literally everyone pretty quick.
Also, I think there was a bit of a lack of mushroom infected throughout the series. Could have at least done with at least one more encounter in Ep8.
Other than that, it was good! Really great adaptation overall. Now to wait 2 years for another season.
Hopeful this might catch a few Emmy noms later this year.
What @TheChicken said sums up my thoughts about the finale. I can’t understand the sad part about the giraffes though 
Which is kind of why I’m glad they didn’t do more encounters, human or otherwise; one or two one man army scenes (even with Joel’s description and characterization) is pushing believability, several with little to no more weight than “we need more video game action” would have been too much. Also, I think some things that may have felt rushed through the season might have been because they were large(ish) gameplay sections that aren’t really necessary and/or don’t make sense in a television setting. For example, in the game the hospital is an encounter that follows the typical video game thing of the plot waiting for the player. In the show, however, Joel is kind of on an actual time limit and is uniquely focused on his objective, not to mention showing just how dangerous people have been saying he was. And, my last point is something I’ve been saying for years: the fireflies are incompetent at basically everything they do (the show perfectly encapsulates this by that one guy not even trying to follow the simple and direct order of “cover the baby’s ears”). If Joel was fighting people with more proper military training here I could see the scene benefiting from more use of tactics but, as it is, these are people that were described as “barely able to do their one job” mere minutes earlier.
Just a touching moment of humanity in a relatively bleak world, particularly a glimpse of the Ellie we knew before all the traumatic things that happened to her. You may have noticed she was particularly subdued this week except when she saw these things that she’s never seen before and may have not even heard of. Basically, it’s to remind the characters and viewers/players there’s still beauty even in the darkest times.
Finished The Consultant up. @schatenjager was right. We loved it. I highly recommend it.
The deliberateness of the consultant character, especially when he is choosing his words will remind you a bit of the Constant.
Ok now, this is a series I’m glad to have discovered : Tulsa King on Paramount+, with Sly.
He interprets a mafioso, an alternative of the mercenary (Expendables), killing machine (Rambo) or champion (Rocky) that he was used to play. He talks a lot more, which gives him depth.
It’s a very entertaining nine-episode season, set in the American Midwest, where the main character must set up a business with the locals and, of course, defend himself against a biker gang and the betrayals of his godfathers in New York.
I finally saw episode 9 of Last of Us last night. I don’t like that he lied to her, outright, and to her face like that. I know he was protecting her but it feels creepy, like he’s trying to make her his surrogate daughter but it feels off to me. I guess we’ll see what happens next season.
Netflix doc about Pam Anderson is fantastic!!
She kept a diary her whole life which makes it so much better. They mix her narrating stuff along with a younger voice reading her diary entries.
I disliked the finale but for the right and wrong reasons, the shooting sequence wasn’t good at all because it felt like a translation of gameplay to show, it felt unnatural and rushed, I really didn’t liked it, that was the correct reason, the wrong reason is that it was all leading for the next game’s plot with no changes and considering how people were torn with that game’s plot, and me personally hating it… well it made me upset, goddamn
Idk if anyone’s seen Umbrella Academy Season 3, but I’ve been going through it recently, and uh, I got a lot of mixed feelings about certain things this season… character choices, group dynamics, a whole time-travel lecture that one specific person needs…
A lot of it, I’m having fun with, but there’s a good chunk there that’s just… uuugh cringe-inducing.
I haven’t seen the latest season yet, but from reviews and friend discussions I’ve got negative or mediocre opinions at best.
In my opinion Umbrella Academy hasn’t been great since season 1 but hey that’s just me.