New stuff I've seen...

[Bravo]

I stopped watching TWD somewhere in the final season I guess. I really don't care that much. It got so trite. The spin offs look just as bad.

[Felix]

I finished the series, but I never saw more than the first season of Fear of the Walking Dead. Any other spinoffs I'm unaware of.

I swore I was done after the first season. I couldn't stand Rick and Shane's pissing contests. Andrea and Lori drove me bonkers.

I liked Carol's character development, but she was also a cross between a caring mom and a total psycho.

Daryl was the best, and he wasn't even an original character in the comic.

What I enjoyed most was when the group, or an individual seemed to escape from what appeared to be impossible circumstances.

Partly why when Negan kills Glen it's such a sad moment. His special ability seemed to be able to escape almost anything. Looking back, when they attack Negan's base first and he finds the picture on the wall...there's a moment where he see's a picture of someone beaten to death before he attacks...like deep down he knows there's going to be a price to pay for what they are about to do.

The best part of the series IMHO is when Negan shows up. He brings a sense of humor, albeit a sick one, but still....I like him.

I also like thinking about his perspective when he first encounters Rick.

He comes across a group that killed a lot of his people...without provocation or warning.

In response he only kills two of their group. Just saying...some previous group leaders would have killed them all.

But then there are SEVERAL other bad groups that show up...the Whisperers, garbage people, the lesbian beach community, the watchers?...I can't remember them all. Nobody seemed half as dangerous as Negan to me.

And the final corrupt society they come across is like a bad joke after everything they've all been through.

Top it all off they end it with Rick trapped in some military compound that garbage lady sent him to.

Yeah, I think they let the series go on bit too long.

[Bravo]

The female beach community seemed to have been forgotten. Not sure why they ever bothered with them in the first place.

The last stuff I watched was the every annoying Maggie against some ex-army mercs who were cult like jerks because everyone becomes cult like jerks in the apocalypse. I was like, who cares about these people?

I already forgot the name of the community with the faux-stormtroopers. The Commonwealth? They already tipped the hand with that sort of society with the spin off The World Beyond, which lasted a merciful 2 seasons.

[Swindle]

The final episode of Season 8 can serve as a series finale. Rick beats Negan, gives a speech about fairness, common ground, we need to work and learn to live together, points to the monster of all zombie hordes, that's the real enemy. The only thing you have to do is ignore Maggie's tenson with Rick over the fate of Negan. I will give Walking Dead credit, for all its problems, it told the story of people need to stop fighting/there are bigger issues (the dead) much MUCH better than Game of Thrones did.

[Bravo]

Futurama whatever season this is.

Episode 6: I Know What You Did Next Xmas - Return of evil Robot Santa and Professor's time machine. Bender and Zoidberg become friends, because for some reason they were never paired off alone together on an adventure/whatever before. It's all very okay. 6/10

Episode 7: Rage Against the Vaccine - The Covid-19 episode. Spoilers. Some video called it cringe. I didn't watch their review. It is part cringe and part strange, as the new disease that makes people get angry (sounds like Transformers) is cured via voodoo after Hermes goes on a quest to New Orleans. That's the better parts of the episodes. Oh, and Fry never asks what Covid-19 was. He was frozen 20 years before it was a thing. This is the type of episode that shows how lazy the show has gotten. It didn't have anything clever to say other than the twist of a virus cured by magic. And the humor was soft serve cliches as expected. 4/10

Star Trek Lower Decks season 4.

S4 E1 · Twovix - Voyager the ship is becoming a museum and they are supposed to fly it back to Earth but hijinks ensue. Gobs of Star Trek Voyager references but no appearances by Voyager cast members, and that hurts it a lot. Most of the ensigns get promoted. 5/10

S4 E2 · I Have No Bones, Yet I Must Flee - Another bit where some crew are trapped on space station fleeing a monster, a bone eating monster (Futurama did that!) and the ship is oblivious to what's going on while a remaining ensign tries to get promoted to LT (JG). It's too similar to the previous episode, but with less references Trek history. 5/10

[Felix]

Rewatching Game of Thrones.

This time, I see a lot of comparisons to the hidden histories of Tartaria (Targaryan), the Ice Wall (the conspiracy theory Antartic wall)...

I'm only in the middle of the first season. It looks like Ned knows he won't be returning from Kings Landing, he knows he is walking into the lions den...and does so willingly, but he leaves his son in Winterfell ready to take command should he fall. Even when he tells Jon Snow, the last time they speak, he tells him when he see's him next, he promises he will tell him about his mother...as if he already knows he is not coming back.

Interesting moments so far...

Arya has the chance to kill the prince before he becomes the evil King. She has to live with that regret.
The way the Queen and her son smirk at the Stark girls when the King declares the dire wolf to be executed...Sansa cries. Arya looks at them with disbelief and disgust.

Had the butchers boy been caught, his story would have matched Aryas. It's clear the Queen had the Hound kill him before he could talk.

Jamie Lanister is the villain.

The Nights Watch is freaking cool.

Tyrion has the best lines, and the only real comic relief. After scolding Jeoffrey, "I'm going to have BREAKFAST!"

I really dislike the mother Kathryn Stark for her hatred of Jon Snow. Even after how poorly she treats him, later on Robert asks him how it went, Jon says, "She was very kind."
Makes me like Jon Snow even more.

[Swindle]

I always thought a WHOLE lot of problems could have been avoided had Eddard taken the throne after the rebellion pre-show instead of Robert, but Eddard Stark had lost his father, brother, and sister because of a huge war and just wanted to go home. Robert was more a guy who should be a lord, but the responsibility of a massive kingdom(s) was beyond his scope.

----
I've started a re-watch on the Mysterious Cities of Gold.

Unscrupulous things Mendoza does in episode 1:
* Saving baby Esteban in the flashback, steals the core of his sun amulet around his neck
* Soldiers are after Esteban to bring out the sun, as he is seen as "The Child of the Sun", and Esteban is avoiding them, Mendoza splashes him with water so they can grab him (Mendoza wanting to know where Esteban is as opposed to running around the city)
* Kidnaps Zia who is serving as apart of the Queen's court on orders of Commander Gomez
* Sneaks Esteban onto the ship as well despite having no orders to do so (knowing his amulet is connected to the Cities of Gold and him being the Child of the Son is a good ace in the hole to have)

Mendoza will do heroic things, and finds himself in conflict with Spanish armed forces, and his actions usually involve keeping the children safe and under his care, but does he care or is it only in pursuit of the Cities of Gold? The children themselves are very suspicious of him, but they incapable of dealing with grown trained men, so in the early episodes which focus on the sail to the new world, Mendoza gets quiet alot of shine, as the ship Navigator and only one capable of sailing the Strait of Magellan.

Always thought this series was ahead of its time for its characters, animation and stories.

[Felix]

The Mysterious a Cities of Gold sounds like fun. Going on the "to watch" list.

Finished GoT season one, thoughts...

I'm convinced Little Finger is Lucifer.

Also Khal Drogo seems to most closely resemble Muhammad, even though some details are not in accordance with Muslim tradition.
Like burial vs cremation.
I remember the creators saying way back, that they had to kill him off because the actor had another movie offer.
While that may be the case, I suspect they were cutting it a little too thin, with all the extremism in real life about the subject.
It's just a theory.

Also, Rob should have kept his word with the Freys, jumping ahead a little bit in the seasons here, because I know what happens at the red wedding. I'm not saying Walter Frey was in the right, but the catastrophe seems it could have well been averted.

Arya actually kills a kid...in self defense...but still.

Sansa being forced to look at her fathers head on a spike. Jeoffrey is such a jerk.

[Swindle]

The deal with "King Rob" was two deals. The south couldn't defeat him, but he couldn't overtake the capital city, so there's no endgame to his war. Had he gone home and had the north fortify, the south could have done nothing because invading the North is like invading Russia. In this case, his going back on his marriage agreement with the Freys is more an excuse for their betrayal. Had he been able to win, they and the Boltons would have stuck with him.

Joffrey is very much out of the realm of a monster given power (Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, off with her head!), you can't reason with him and he just enjoys making people suffer.

I would definitely recommend Mysterious Cities of Gold.

[Felix]

I plowed through season 2, easy to do stuck in bed.

Thoughts...

It's weird to see the Boltons march with Robb Stark.

Sansa goes from bad situations to worse. If she had told the truth in Season one about Jeoffrey attacking the butchers boy...I think her fate is the result from one bad lie that cost an innocent life.

Theon Greyjoy...while he has taken Winterfell, and the Boltons have him under seige, the wise Maester councils him, and recommends he escape Winterfell and join the Nights Watch. While I am sure Theon later regrets not taking this course of action, it's understandable why he does not, he can't bear to face Jon Snow...or will always fear him if he goes. Even though the Nights Watch forgives all past crimes, it is doubtful Jon would let it slide.
Theons sister even showed up beforehand suggesting to him to return home. This was really his last chance.
Theon was put into a no win scenario from the beginning by his own father. He expects Theon to impress him, but nothing he does works. And Theon just digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself.
As soon as they wanted to attack the North, Theon wrote a letter to Robb, but decided to burn it instead of sending it.
This is really the moment Theon breaks his word and vows he swore to Robb. But this is what I love about the series, there's a cost to breaking your word...even if we can't see it at the time.
Also worth noting, the last woman Theon is with, he treats her poorly, while she is quite nice to him. This would be the last woman Theon ever gets to know intimately. Taking it for granted, not realizing what you already have, always wanting more.
Moral of this story is, don't end up like Theon.

Arya, surviving the prisons of Harenhall, she actual befriends Tywin as his cupbearer. It's actually quite charming to see the two of them interact together. It's also interesting to me, that the names she gives to Jaquen H'ghar are not any of the ones she chants at night for revenge. This shows Arya is smart enough to put survival before revenge.

Tyrion saves the Kings Landing, but receives absolutely no credit. In fact his sister tries to have him killed by one of his own men in the battle. Why does he even try? When Shea asks him to leave with her he says he can't. I think there's more truth to this than Shae and he realize, he's a Lanister, and he is easily identifiable. I don't think they would have been able to just disappear. And it might just have made it easier for Cersei to have him killed outside the capital than within the city walls.

Robb marries the nurse, his head is not in the fight anymore. He's thinking of himself, and not the kingdom. It still breaks my heart to see him break his word. Like Theon's fate, we will soon learn there is a cost for breaking your word...even for the King of the North.

Bran and his small crew head north. So much for the saying, "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell."
I do love the Wildling girl Sasha, she really has become like a mother to the boys, especially Bran.

Danerys acts like an entitled teenager in Qarth. Demanding they just giver her ships, because she says she is so important.
It seems almost everyone seems to betray her at some point.

Jeoffrey is just a jerk and a coward. Not a good combination for anyone, especially a king. But it does seem like these types do find a way to rise to power.

Too bad Stannis didn't try to have at least one ally. His attitude is just bend a knee or die.
He could have worked things out with Renly in some way. The Tyrells would also then not have aided Tywin at the battle for Kings Landing.
This seems to be the cost for murdering his brother, his own kin...with black magic. Whatever rights he had to the throne, are null and void now.
He could also have let the Starks rule the North, which it seems they kind of already did...and there would have been another ally.
The red witch manipulates him in all the wrong ways.

[Swindle]

Plenty of people do make poor choices, but Theon is one of the few who REALLY suffers for his actions in terms of not being given a clean death/instead tortured by a vile and evil man. In the books, you see the aftermath with him as "Reek" but not the real time process. I think the show did it that way because they didn't want to have the actor off screen for a season and its a good way to juice up Ramsey as a villain everyone would hate.

Stannis is one of the 'villains' I can at least understand in some respect. He is a stickler for the rules. But the issue with him as king, why it never would have worked is with him would have come Melisandre bringing a foreign religion to the kingdom and had he took the crown, in his ear. The land and lords just wouldn't have gone along with that.

I'm a bit into tMCoG.

One little exchange I like in the latest ep I watched:
Mendoza to Sancho and Petro: The cities of gold may be in our grasp.
(later, they reach just a 'temple')
Sancho: I thought you said the cities were in our grasp.
Mendoza: Its just an expression.
Sancho: .... That was just a lie.

LOL

[Felix]

I remember thinking, "Man, what they did to Ned Stark was really messed up!" And then we see what happens to Theon

I haven't read the GoT books, but I should...I started to when I was with my ex...she hated me reading them for some reason, so I kept doing it still, I never even finished reading the first one.

I seem to remember the show creators finishing the series before the final books were written?

It seemed to me, that a lot of plots were dismissed...

Gendry, seemed to be a potential heir...I don't remember what happened to him.

As soon as Bran became a warg/worg(sp?) I thought he would take over a dragon and become one permanently. Then he could let Jon Snow ride him whenever he wanted without fear...maybe even talk as a dragon. But, this never happened. Kind of seemed pointless to me then, for him to become a warg in the first place. Brans adventure seems boring and pointless for most of the series.

I haven't found anyplace to stream the tMCoG for free anywhere yet.

[Swindle]

There was definitely a sense in the book Bran was going to be something, do something greater than just come home and become king because 'he had the best story' according to Tyrion.

The zombies were an expression that all this fighting among humans was pointless, humanity surviving was supposed to be the finale struggle. But the show dealt with them first, so the family showdowns would be last. Also, all the prophecy didn't matter, Ayra killed the boss zombie, not Jon and/or Danny. Then Jon didn't even take the throne.

If George ever gets off his lazy butt and finishes the books, I think the ending would be much different than what the tv show gave.

[Swindle]

Still making my way through Cities of Gold. The last 3 or so episodes, the kids are separated from Mendoza/Sancho/Pedro. The kids end up at Fort of the Black Eagle and then a huge city the High Peak.

Two things the children learn: the medallions Zia and Esteban are in fact keys to the gates of a City of Gold somewhere in the region. The other is the backstory on Esteban's parents. A man who came from across the ocean and married an Incan priestess and had a baby boy. However, this angered the Sun God Inti who plunged the land into darkness. To appease the Sun God, the village priests seized the woman and scarified her, then put the man and the new born son on a ship (which would play out where the flashback in episode 1, Mendoza saves the baby Esteban as the ship is going down because of storm at sea and steals the core of the medallion).

Meanwhile, Mendoza and his two sidekicks join up Gomez and his men as a means to catch up to the children (the only thing that matters is the gold is said), but breaching that fort is not easy. Sits up a showdown next ep where Spaniards bring in more fire power and the kids need to backtrack to the fort because Esteban finally needs to somehow get the rest of his medallion from Mendoza.

It does lead to one of my favorite moments I think just next episode, might go ahead and watch it tonight.

[Felix]

Wow, I still remember that episode from my childhood. I only ever saw that one, maybe one other.

Pretty messed up they kill the mom :-(

The medallion is a very interesting plot device.

I just finished the trial in season 4 of GoT.
Everyone turns on Tyrion. Quite sad, it does prove he's had a tough life. Jamie knows he's innocent, but can do nothing.
Margery knows he is innocent, but can say nothing without throwing her mother to the lions (AKA Lanisters).
But Shae doesn't just tell some lies, her story doesn't just betray him, but gives him zero chance of being found innocent.
His own father barely lets him speak to defend himself. They all want him to take the fall. It's where Tyrion reaches the point, where he's had enough and demands a trial by combat, he really doesn't care if he lives or dies, but has simply had of enough of being their pawn to abuse.

This is one of my favorite moments.

I think I may stop after I finish this season.

Oh, and the whole adventure with Bran is dull and boring. Not a fan of pair of kids they pick up to help on the way either. Both of them annoy me, lol. I do like Hodor though.

Yara's rescue attempt for Theon goes bad. As sick and twisted as Ramsey is, he seems to be the only one who knows how to survive in the seven kingdoms. And as cruel as he is, he manages to have a sense of humor about it all. A sick sense of humor, but still.

Oh, and to discover the lady from the Eyrie and Little Finger, were the one actually responsible for the death of the first Hand of the king at the start of the series, puts a spin on things. Ned was almost right when he said something like, "She's just mad with grief."
While Jamie is certainly guilty of crippling Bran, it is interesting to learn they had nothing to do with the Hands death.
Starks and Lanisters really were just played against each other.