A Lounge in the Wind

[KRYPTON INC.]

This is ancient Earth's most foolish program. Why does Ross, the largest friend, not simply eat the other five?

 

[Perfect Cell]

I finished watching that Jack Ryan series. It's decent enough, even if it is basically a diet version of Homeland.

Spoiler

I did enjoy the character of the drone pilot though. He went from winning tens of thousands of dollars by magically picking the right roulette bets over and over, to having sex with another man's wife, while the man watched, to then being beaten with a belt by said man. This was understandably concerning for the drone pilot, but he then went on to save the day by sniping a villainous character with a damn missile, and then travelling to Syria to give his roulette winnings to a child of a Syrian man he had previously mistakenly blown up. That's a hell of an arc. A baffling, insane arc.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I finished watching that Jack Ryan series. It's decent enough, even if it is basically a diet version of Homeland.

Spoiler

I did enjoy the character of the drone pilot though. He went from winning tens of thousands of dollars by magically picking the right roulette bets over and over, to having sex with another man's wife, while the man watched, to then being beaten with a belt by said man. This was understandably concerning for the drone pilot, but he then went on to save the day by sniping a villainous character with a damn missile, and then travelling to Syria to give his roulette winnings to a child of a Syrian man he had previously mistakenly blown up. That's a hell of an arc. A baffling, insane arc.

Okay, I need to watch this now.

 

[Perfect Cell]

It's also important to point out that:

Spoiler

The villain who the drone pilot hits with a missile SURVIVES, and then becomes a terminator whose sole mission is to hunt down a woman and her two daughters. He later gets sparta kicked by the woman into a literal pile of human ****.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I finished watching that Jack Ryan series. It's decent enough, even if it is basically a diet version of Homeland.

Spoiler

I did enjoy the character of the drone pilot though. He went from winning tens of thousands of dollars by magically picking the right roulette bets over and over, to having sex with another man's wife, while the man watched, to then being beaten with a belt by said man. This was understandably concerning for the drone pilot, but he then went on to save the day by sniping a villainous character with a damn missile, and then travelling to Syria to give his roulette winnings to a child of a Syrian man he had previously mistakenly blown up. That's a hell of an arc. A baffling, insane arc.

Spoiler: Here's what I thought...

I understood the reasoning why they felt the need to add something like the drone operator story to the overall narrative, but looking back on it I think it was there to add commentary when, as much as I might agree with the commentary, I think it maybe wasn't suited to a Jack Ryan show. I liked the first season but didn't love it. While Krasinski has talent and charisma I think for too much of the season he was the least interesting character on the show. This isn't to say that any version of Jack Ryan has been super layered or anything but I think both Ford and Baldwin were able to imbue this straight laced character with their own charisma. Krasinki didn't exactly do that for some reason and it wasn't until late that they started to take a real peek under the hood of Ryan.

That said, I still liked the show and am very much looking forward to the second season.

I started MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE two weeks back. Any opinion on that Cell?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

It's also important to point out that:

Spoiler

The villain who the drone pilot hits with a missile SURVIVES, and then becomes a terminator whose sole mission is to hunt down a woman and her two daughters. He later gets sparta kicked by the woman into a literal pile of human ****.

Spoiler: Oh right...

Yeah... That was a bit much. They already were punching holes in my suspension of disbelief balloon when the mom walked away from the drone strike like 15 feet away from detonation but fine... I'll go with it. HIM living too? **** you TV show.

 

[Perfect Cell]

Yeah, I finished the third season of Man in the High Castle while waiting for my ankle to stop failing me and heal. I really like the show, but I feel it veers too hard to sci-fi. I would have preferred a straight alternate history story. But, all the same, I enjoy it quite a bit.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Yeah, I finished the third season of Man in the High Castle while waiting for my ankle to stop failing me and heal. I really like the show, but I feel it veers too hard to sci-fi. I would have preferred a straight alternate history story. But, all the same, I enjoy it quite a bit.

I'm digging it. I enjoy it as it's all about the characters as they are without TOTALLY abandoning any kind of morality. It's all incredibly complex morally and politically and frankly two of my favorite characters are Kido and Smith. The actors for both knock it out of the park.

As I understand it the original book has some sci fi elements to it. In fact I recently read that:

Spoiler: Man In The High Castle book spoiler

Dick was planning a sequel to MITHC but he was reluctant to get back to the world as it required a lot of historical research into the Nazis and Imperial Japanese and that was a lot of heavy stuff to process. In the proposed sequel though Hawthorne Abendsen, the literal Man In The High Castle escapes his fate in the book by the intervention of what Dick described as "BETI" or Benevolent Extraterrestrial Intelligences.

I haven't finished season three yet

Spoiler: Season three spoiler

I've just finished Julianna "killing" Joe Blake via razor blade to the throat... I'll have to see if that takes or if an alternative Joe shows up at some point... I'm guessing one does given the conceits of the show.

But I am enjoying this season so far. I will say... I was happy Daredevil season 3 was so good because it gave me a break from High Castle which I didn't realize I needed. It gets heavy with the oppression and depravity of the world that I didn't notice plowing through all the seasons was starting to bring my own mood down. DD was the fanboy pick me up I needed.

 

[Perfect Cell]

Season three is my least favourite so far, but I still enjoyed it. I can't remember when this happens, so I don't know if you've seen up to this part yet, so...

Spoiler

One of the main plots of the season is the Nazis building a portal to travel to alternate realities, in order to conquer them. My initial reaction to that was "this is getting to be a little too much like Wolfenstein at this point", but it also makes sense. As far as I know, the book only referenced alternate realities in abstract terms, using the I Ching as a reference point. But the show is going full out with it. It's a bit jarring at times, but it's still a well-made show. And yeah, Rufus Sewell deserves more praise for Smith. He's an evil man, but he's not cartoonish. It takes skill to pull that off when you're playing a damn Nazi.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Season three is my least favourite so far, but I still enjoyed it. I can't remember when this happens, so I don't know if you've seen up to this part yet, so...

Spoiler

One of the main plots of the season is the Nazis building a portal to travel to alternate realities, in order to conquer them. My initial reaction to that was "this is getting to be a little too much like Wolfenstein at this point", but it also makes sense. As far as I know, the book only referenced alternate realities in abstract terms, using the I Ching as a reference point. But the show is going full out with it. It's a bit jarring at times, but it's still a well-made show. And yeah, Rufus Sewell deserves more praise for Smith. He's an evil man, but he's not cartoonish. It takes skill to pull that off when you're playing a damn Nazi.

It's strange. I'm not rooting for Smith, but I respect his will, ingenuity, ruthlessness and cunning. I'm not on his side, and find his allegiance to the Nazi way abhorrent but there's no denying he is a formidable personage. And yeah, the show isn't all black and white, considering that in a way our own POV of morality may not quie be applicable to this fictional world's circumstances. The Japanese Empire and Reich are the two dominant forces and while they oppress their colonial subjects in North America it's also sometimes the role of characters like Kido and Smith, absolutely oppressors by any account, to take the general welfare of the populace into their scheming, sometimes even betraying their own governments in the process. Sometimes the "Resistance" is shown in unflattering shades. To my mind the show invites lots of personal speculation about how we assume we and others would react to a theoretical situation that the show presents. It's not "the greatest show ever" and it's got a few issues but I find it a lot more intriguing and engaging than a lot of other programs.

 

[Perfect Cell]

Smith's backstory itself even lends to the idea that there are shades of grey. It's hinted that he embraced fascism because he grew up poor and hungry due to the Great Depression. He started off as an American military officer, but switched sides because he felt the Nazis were the best option to provide stability and security for the society. Especially after personally witnessing the destruction of Washington. He's completely wrong, but the viewer can at least connect the dots to how he arrived at this point. I do wish the show got more attention. I still feel like the Amazon shows get lost in the shuffle, because Prime Video still doesn't have the cachet that Netflix does.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Smith's backstory itself even lends to the idea that there are shades of grey. It's hinted that he embraced fascism because he grew up poor and hungry due to the Great Depression. He started off as an American military officer, but switched sides because he felt the Nazis were the best option to provide stability and security for the society. Especially after personally witnessing the destruction of Washington. He's completely wrong, but the viewer can at least connect the dots to how he arrived at this point. I do wish the show got more attention. I still feel like the Amazon shows get lost in the shuffle, because Prime Video still doesn't have the cachet that Netflix does.

I think TMITHC and Jack Ryan are emblematic of why that is though. I am not totally endorsing the critique 100% but there's a sense to a lot of Amazon content that there's a parking brake on these shows, and it's not yet REALLY embraced the freedom of streaming, the chances you can take. It goes beyond just cussing and sexual content. It's breaking the mold on every level of the usual network TV formula. Amazon wouldn't have made an ALTERED CARBON or a HOUSE OF CARDS. There's still a very middlebrow desperateness to their shows and I think it accounts for the way even good things just miss the mark by a little. With say Jack Ryan I think that's why Krasinki's Jack is so bland for so long. Can't have a hero with too many sharp edges or the like if you want that four quadrant audience. MITHC too has certain network vestiges. Look at the guy playing Joe Blake... Dude is straight out of procedural network TV central casting, as is a lot of performers on the show. I'm not quite as critical as others but Sewell, Cary Ogawa, and Fuente are the stand outs in comparison to others on the show who while good or at least serviceable, mostly aren't really superstar talents. GAME OF THRONES it is not in terms of cast.

And I get it... It's easy for me to just throw this out there without getting how hard it is to make anything of even the quality of these shows. It's a miracle movies and TV shows get made at all given what it takes, much less what's required to make them even passably good, much less great. I'm just giving my observations here.

 

[Perfect Cell]

Yeah, which is why it'll be interesting to see how their Lord of the Rings show goes, or how The Expanse changes now that it's on Amazon. The Expanse in particular would be a good litmus test to see what Amazon is willing to allow for scripted shows, since we have a baseline to compare it to with SyFy.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Just realized we haven't seen @KevanG around these parts in forever. I hope all is well with him.

 

[Perfect Cell]

But in the end, it doesn't even matter (Park, Linkin, 2001). What with the cacophony of Star Trek series about to show up, other TV shows are now irrelevant.

Spoiler

Watch Star Trek: Discovery

 

[Perfect Cell]

Us Canadians are a precious resource, and must needs be protected.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

But in the end, it doesn't even matter (Park, Linkin, 2001). What with the cacophony of Star Trek series about to show up, other TV shows are now irrelevant.

Spoiler

Watch Star Trek: Discovery

It's insane but... I still haven't seen it.

Spoiler

But no really, I know I'm missing out.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Us Canadians are a precious resource, and must needs be protected.

 

[Perfect Cell]

I love Discovery, but it has flaws. Pretty fundamental ones. And a lot of people just don't care for it. So your kilometreage may vary. But it's still Star Trek, and all Star Trek is worth a chance to disappoint you.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I love Discovery, but it has flaws. Pretty fundamental ones. And a lot of people just don't care for it. So your kilometreage may vary. But it's still Star Trek, and all Star Trek is worth a chance to disappoint you.

 

[Perfect Cell]

Rick and Morty... in SPACE.

So, Rick and Morty.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Rick and Morty... in SPACE.

So, Rick and Morty.

 

[Reek]

which one of you guys kidnapped jokesonm3

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

which one of you guys kidnapped jokesonm3

Trick question... It was you Reek... It was always you. You couldn't live with what you'd done so you hid the truth someplace deep inside yourself that you thought you'd never remember... But then you saw that child on the street in the anime' T-shirt and the cracks started to show. Don't you understand? The killer you've been playing this game of cat and mouse with these past few weeks has been YOU! (Dramatic music swells)

 

[Iceman]

jokes' twin brothers have just joined the Hype today to commence their search for v3ngeance.