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Season 2 dropped a week ago, I talked some sugar about it in the TVIV chat thread but I figured I should bump the thread too. As someone who enjoyed season one more than a lot of people but still felt like it had some flaws, season two is a noticable improvement and I would definitely recommend anyone willing to give it a shot. Number one with a bullet is that the episodes are shorter. Like a lot of people my biggest complaint with the first season was that even the episodes I enjoyed felt like they could have been tighter and some particularly egregious episodes like the premiere just draaaagged. this time all the episodes are now in the 30-40 minute range and there's a good amount of variance from episode to episode, it seems to actually be taking advantage of the lack of a TV timeslots to fill to make each episode just as long as it needs to be and considering that even the original 60s show was at its worst when it had an hour timeslot to fill it's a welcome improvement. Secondly, it's a lot funnier. The majority of the episodes this season seem to hit a horror-comedy tone and even the serious episodes land a few good chuckles. Considering the comedy episodes of the original show are some of the consistently worst ones it's pretty surprising, but it's welcome especially compared to the bleakness and dreariness of its contemporaries like Black Mirror. Lastly, it's more consistent. There's nothing even approaching the nadir that was episode four of the first season, and while episodes still touch on serious themes they tend to be more universal and less direct themes on humanity and society and morality like the original show rather than the direct "this is an episode about Black Lives Matter where the main character gives a speech about police violence at the end" commentary of the first season. So yeah, I might do see write-ups/rankings later but I would be happy to hear if anyone else is still watching and what they thought. I'm hoping the show keeps going because even with anthology shows not being quite as rare as they were in the recent past it's still a genre I love and it would be a shame for this to get cut down when it's finding its feet.
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Jul 3, 2020 01:54
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I just find it bizarre that CBS didn’t really promote this season at all. No news about casting or writers or anything until a week before the whole thing dropped.
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Jul 3, 2020 03:33
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New season feels... generic? I just went from "fame is actually bad" to "thing ripoff." I miss them swinging for the fences even if I just revisited Get Out through a podcast that highlighted how certain scenes hit differently depending on your race and experience, how so much of it's power comes from messing with expectations of all sorts. This...feels the opposite of that. God I hope Ovation is the low point.
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Jul 3, 2020 03:46
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:New season feels... generic? I just went from "fame is actually bad" to "thing ripoff." I miss them swinging for the fences even if What podcast?
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Jul 3, 2020 04:04
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:New season feels... generic? I just went from "fame is actually bad" to "thing ripoff." I miss them swinging for the fences even if I think Ovation is as much about impostor syndrome as it is anything else; Jasmine gets recognition and the career of her dreams because of a lucky break but doesn't feel fulfilled or properly recognized or that she's earned it and throws it away only to recognize too late that she gave up her one shot and prefers it to the alternative of being alone and forgotten. Compare that to Black Mirror's Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too which takes almost twice as long to impart the message that fame is bad because...your family will poison you and your consciousness will be trapped in a robot forever against its will. And 8 isn't really a ripoff of The Thing because there's no conflict about who is real and who isn't. If anything it's a Deep Blue Sea ripoff because it's about an intelligent creature going ham on a base full of scientists studying it, only in this case octopuses really are intelligent and the way it seeks out and kills people is way more cool and creative than just a giant creature chomping on someone. Maybe not the most thematically or metaphorically rich episode but it was a cool creature feature and I don't recall ever seeing a regular-sized cephalopod be used like that. Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:God I hope Ovation is the low point. I think s2E10 You Might Also Like is my least favorite episode of the season. I appreciated the fanservice of seeing the design of the Richard Kiel aliens from To Serve Man make an appearance and there's a reading to be made that the entire plot with The Egg is a metaphor for how corporations weaponize the concept of motherhood in their marketing and the cognitive dissonance people feel when they don't want children but all of media and society is telling them that it's the most important thing in the world and they're crazy to not want it, but it's just not very funny and it doesn't go nearly as meta as I would have hoped based on the title + the goof of the character being aware that a commercial break had happened. Especially since I really liked the season one finale and how it addressed its own struggle to live up to the legacy of the original Twilight Zone in a meta way.
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Jul 3, 2020 04:42
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Posted in the couch chat thread, but I thought all the episodes with them trying to do “aliens” have been the weakest between both seasons. I guess they keep trying it because it’s a Twilight Zone staple, but the moment they try it I get pretty bored. Episode 3 and whatever one with the ||Groundhog day Incel guy|| were my favorites personally. Just the general idea of taking a flawed guy and giving them superpowers just seems fun. I thought the Small Town one could’ve been better too, but the ending was pretty lame. Also just me or did the color balance of the show seem off? I get why they’d do that kind of blueish desaturated tone, but everything felt kind of ugly to me.
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Jul 3, 2020 05:21
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oh finally found a hot take metaphorical episode: A Human Face is about coming back from college and weaning your dad off Fox News. Chaotic Flame posted:What podcast? Episode 5 of the Scaredy Cats Horror Show. It's a mini-series by the guys who do Reply All. The premise being that P.J. is a scaredy cat who doesn't watch scary movies but he doesn't like being left out of the conversation on significant cultural touchstone films like Get Out. His co-host Alex and a series of guests attempt to desensitize him exposing him to gradually scarier and scarier films. It's not deep study, its just entertaining movie chat and laughing at the expense of a dude as he gets throwing into the deep end way too quickly. Edit: "You May Also Like" was generally meh, but the conversation with the vaguely menacing automated message system hit me in just the right spot Chef Boyardeez Nuts fucked around with this message at 06:12 on Jul 3, 2020 |
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Jul 3, 2020 06:02
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Goddamn, Among The Untrodden cut me deep. I was kind of expecting the twist, but expected it to be presented differently my guess was that Irene was real, but actually died when she fell and Madison brought her back to life at that point. I expected Irene to start crumbling bit-by-bit as a reveal earlier on, instead of at the very end. I also spent way too much time trying to analyze the very end. My take on the 2nd blonde girl showing up is that Madison did actually have most of the powers on the list, including seeing the future, and the Irene she created was based off a vision of the 2nd girl from the very end, which is why she shows up and enters in almost exactly the same manner as Irene did at the beginning. It might not be super-relevant to the point of the episode but it made me feel a little less sad for both Madison and Irene. Also, at the science fair, did she kill those girls outright or just knock them into some shock coma? That was loving intense.
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Jul 3, 2020 16:23
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I absolutely hated season 1, but I recently finished watching the second season of this and it is significantly improved.
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Jul 3, 2020 16:41
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TheOrange posted:
Yes!
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Jul 3, 2020 16:45
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Posting here since it's Jordan Peele related and there isn't a generic HBO thread, Lovecraft Country will finally premiere on HBO on 16th of August. Really looking forwards to it.
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Jul 3, 2020 17:24
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I bounced off season 1 due to it seeming mediocre after like 6 episodes, decided to give this season a go. I'm 5 in so far, and...meh? I'll probably finish it, which is more than i can say for S01. "Timeout" and "Ovation" seemed so generic. I was surprised to see Peele wrote one of them. The body jumping one was fun. "What if ghosting, but with mind reading?" was a fun concept, but again, the twist didn't do much for me. 5, the one about a girls' school was maybe a bit too long, but I liked it. I was ready to hate it because it was just a Carrie rip off or whatever, but it managed to surprise me. I like how 2 of Community main characters got a chance to do some serious acting again. Let's see if Joel has a larger role than the woman.
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Jul 3, 2020 22:56
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(First, my season 1 opinions from last year)JazzFlight posted:Great: Great: A Small Town Try Try Good w/ some problems: The Who of You Among the Untrodden A Human Face Okayish/Bad: Meet in the Middle Downtime You Might Also Like Just Trash: Ovation 8 Overall, a better ratio than what I thought about last season. I binged them all this time instead of watching only one a night, so maybe I have lower standards and just accept them as a "good" episode if I'm not pissed at the screen. It's still not a great anthology show. I still much preferred Black Mirror (not the bad last season though), Electric Dreams, and Tales from the Loop.
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Jul 4, 2020 21:13
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What the hell is wrong with 8? I can't put it into words but it just feels so bad. It doesn't help that the main character is an exposition machine.
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Jul 6, 2020 01:12
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Mr. Nemo posted:What the hell is wrong with 8? I can't put it into words but it just feels so bad. It feels like too much, shoved into too little time. And then instead of trimming and editing to give it a normal pace, they just shove everything in there and stuff happens non-stop. It's like that recent movie Underwater, it's composed entirely of final acts. It doesn't help either that the science on display is dodgy as all hell. Even if we ignore the super intelligent octopus learns human tech and science in seconds, what exactly was the octopus supposed to do with the resequenced genome info? Even with the info, you can't just resquence your genome by thinking about it or wishing really hard, you'd need physical gene-editing tech. Was the octopus going to go visit the Bikini Bottom Gene Lab? I don't know, maybe I missed a throwaway line about these new octopuses being super-special and they could edit their gene-sequence at will.
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Jul 6, 2020 05:11
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JazzFlight posted:(First, my season 1 opinions from last year) As for the Who of You, I had a hard time believing that the cop didn't recognize the boyfriend. Or if he did, was he just hiding it and I missed something?
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Jul 6, 2020 06:21
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:It feels like too much, shoved into too little time. And then instead of trimming and editing to give it a normal pace, they just shove everything in there and stuff happens non-stop. It's like that recent movie Underwater, it's composed entirely of final acts. Yes, I'm not sure whether I missed something about the technology and the octopus somehow used a machine there to alter itself. That would make sense, in universe, but it's kind of super science fiction in a mostly "real world" setting. Coming from that episode the next one, "A human face", seemed stellar. I really enjoyed it, in comparison to the rest of the season. I'll power to the last ones becaue why not. I'm enjoying this season more than the first one, the lenght certainly helps.
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Jul 6, 2020 17:42
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Mr. Nemo posted:Yes, I'm not sure whether I missed something about the technology and the octopus somehow used a machine there to alter itself. That would make sense, in universe, but it's kind of super science fiction in a mostly "real world" setting. I didn't catch if they explained it or not, and the average viewer shouldn't be expected to know this, but amazingly enough, octopuses can actually edit their RNA at pretty astounding rates: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)30344-6 https://www.popsci.com/octopuses-can-basically-tinker-with-their-own-genes-on-fly e: IMO the most unbelievable thing in that episode is trying to cast Tim Armstrong as someone trustworthy enough to be a tech on a cutting-edge antarctic research facility Snow Cone Capone fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Jul 6, 2020 |
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Jul 6, 2020 18:07
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I’m still working through the season and I’m enjoying it (for the most part) more than the first season, but I also appreciate that they’ve toned the references to the original series down a tad instead of just literally shoving gremlin toys and Mystic Seers into every episode. I’m on “A Human Face” right now and the moving company in it is named after one of my favorite “dumb” episodes, “Mr. Dingle, The Strong”. It’s not a reference I ever expected to see.  I swear I also saw a toy of the clown from “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, but I may be wrong.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:07
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I've been watching the original Twilight Zone series with someone who never saw it growing up and is only just now turned onto it by the new series, and woof there are a lot more clunkers and just "eh" episodes when you go through the entire show instead of watching a curated best-of selection as part of a SyFy Channel marathon. It's easy to forget that even GOAT anthology shows weren't a slam dunk every time and it makes me glad that this revival wasn't a one-season wonder.Big Mean Jerk posted:I swear I also saw a toy of the clown from “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, but I may be wrong. Same here, it was definitely intended to be seen as such. And I do like that while the direct references have been toned down it's continuing with the gently anachronistic design ethos of the first season with the logos and technology and Americana like diners and suburban neighborhoods. Even if the HAL eye was a little  the baby monitor in You May Also Like looking like something from the 60s that Techmoan would be dissecting on YouTube was wonderful, same with the wood-paneled MP3 player from Nightmare at 30,000 feet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Qr0wNTFHA A part of me wonders if this was done to distance itself from the cold sleek futurism and "what if phones but too much" moralizing of Black Mirror considering even the technology that isn't designed for the show is out of date, like using a handheld camcorder or an MP3 player or a physical book instead of a smart phone.
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Jul 10, 2020 10:28
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That baby-monitor was completely HAL-9000, even beyond the glass lens. The entire panel, speaker, and trim, was pretty much an exact match, other than the dimensions. Also spotted this guy, from the old episode "The Invaders". I think it was on the girls desk in A Human Face. 
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Jul 10, 2020 10:34
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Sleeveless posted:I've been watching the original Twilight Zone series with someone who never saw it growing up and is only just now turned onto it by the new series, and woof there are a lot more clunkers and just "eh" episodes when you go through the entire show instead of watching a curated best-of selection as part of a SyFy Channel marathon. It's easy to forget that even GOAT anthology shows weren't a slam dunk every time and it makes me glad that this revival wasn't a one-season wonder. Who knows how much these choices are directly Peele's baby, but both Us and Get Out are dense with those retro-tech motifs as well, specifically in connection with the antagonists of both movies. I think it might be a visual theme he finds compelling and scary.
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Jul 11, 2020 03:11
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Of course i just got done praising their restraint on directly referencing the original series... and then You Might Also Like happened.  Random thoughts on each episode: - Meet in The Middle: This one played it straighter than I expected, to its own detriment imo. Instead of having Gillian Barnes manipulate Jimmi Simpson into killing her husband, I kinda thought it was heading towards an allegory about toxic guys trying to "save" women in bad relationships expecting to play The Hero. Average episode, a bit on the dull side though. - Downtime: This one felt like it was constantly in search of a larger plot. The big reveal came way too soon and should have been saved til the very end with Tony Hale's character. It only paid basic lip service to any of the issues raised within the episode, like what value Morena Baccarin's character's life had disconnected from her user, or the morality of a company forcing a sentient AI to sign away liability in that situation, etc. And then it just ended with a big storytelling shrug. I was shocked to see this one was written by Peele, but I guess he's an extremely busy dude and sometimes you just have to phone one in. - The Who of You: This one was solid, and the goofy premise and somewhat bleak ending felt appropriately Twilight Zone. - Ovation: Felt very underbaked beyond the surface-level "fame is a double-edged sword" message. - Among the Untrodden: Liked this one quite a bit. It would have been very easy for this to veer too far into Carrie territory, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it avoid that pitfall. - 8: I have no idea what the gently caress this episode was trying to say. Glen Morgan always turned in solid X-Files scripts, but I guess a lot of that must have been his writing partnership with James Wong. Just a giant mess that Joel McHale sleep-walked through. - A Human Face: Another solid one, but the resolution felt a bit rushed. - A Small Town: This would be the best episode of the season (and the revival series thus far) if not for the episode that came after. I've never seen New Girl or Happy Endings, so I don't think I've ever seen Damon Wayans Jr in anything before this, but he was great. This fit right into the long pantheon of quirky small town Twilight Zone episodes and I really enjoyed it. - Try, Try: This one worked perfectly. I found the opening act charming as hell and it suckered me in, so that slow reveal of what a creep Mark was really upped the tension in each scene. "Groundhog Day, but used as a metaphor for toxic partners and white guy privilege" is not a plot I expected to work this well, but Mark's descent into incel menace was really well done and Claudia beating the piss out of him felt genuinely cathartic. This is the kind of episode I was hoping the revival would lean into more. - You Might Also Like: This episode could have been improved with one simple change; exchange the Kanimits for some other alien race. They add nothing beyond a "Hey remember THEM? Remember THAT episode??" factor and actively distract from whatever this episode was trying to say. It even grinds to a halt in their big reveal so that they can make a bunch of aggressively unfunny KFC jokes. Their plan doesn't even make sense if the show wants us to believe they're the same aliens from the original episode. Why bother with all the subterfuge just to kill humanity off with a convoluted marketing scheme when the whole thing they're remembered for is that they loving eat us? Why bother? Still, it's definitely a better crop of episodes than season 1. The near-total lack of marketing for this season has me a bit worried about the show's future but I'm really hopeful it'll be renewed. It feels like the show has finally found its groove.
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Jul 11, 2020 03:31
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Where are people watching these? My google-fu is failing me, I just keep getting linked to the original series or the Forest Whitaker one.
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Jul 13, 2020 21:00
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It’s on CBS All Access
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Jul 13, 2020 21:04
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