What show are you watching now?

I was totally hooked on Bodyguard from Netflix.
Has one of the best beginning of a series I have ever seen. Superb piece of television. Now watching Season 2 of Westworld. Hopefully will finish that before The Witcher arrives. I am slightly worried that might be a disappointment.

 

It never really escapes being a sci-fi TV show. Most of the main characters (mostly the young ones) are Syfy level actors (mediocre to bad) and because of that, I also struggled getting into it. I like the setting, the story, etc, and I WANT shows like this to succeed, but if you ever just can't get into it, you won't be alone.

 

Yeah the younger actors can be cringeworthy. Luckily the storyline and sfx are good enough to carry the show.

 

Would you say this compares to the Ron Moore Battlestar? Is that a fair comparison?

 

I'd still say Ron Moore shows are a notch above, personally.

 

Totally agree about BODYGUARD. Episode-1 really knocked me sideways. I was new to Netflix & that show was the 1st I actually binge-watched (2 episodes at a time). The lead actors were quite spectacular IMO.

I love how they grounded everything in the last episode--w/this poor PTSD'd guy getting the help he needed.

 

I'm deep into Season 1 of the Finnish police procedural, DEADWIND & really liking it. The 2 leads have really grown on me.

One of the guilty pleasures of this sub-titled series is trying (& failing) to learn any Finnish, no matter how minor. It's unbelievably hard; nothing in this language sounds familiar. I have "yes" and "no" nailed...but after that, nothing.

 

I have not watched that series yet, seem the are starting a second season though) The problem with learning finnish is that the language structure between what you read and what you hear are not related in sentence structure . Finnish language has almost no prepositions (postpositions, yes) and also no gender. Good luck!

 

"The problem with learning finnish is that the language structure between what you read and what you hear are not related in sentence structure ."

(wow--hard to imagine this, but no doubt you are correct).

This echoes something I recently read in Finnish detective mystery (sorry, can't recall name or author). The main character, a police detective stationed in a desolate place well north of Helseinki, is married to an American woman who is unhappy with the endless darkness & frigid temps of winter in this far away place; she despairs of ever fitting in with people who conceal their feelings. He urges her to try learning Finnish, assuring her this will help her "fit it." But he muses to himself that to outsiders, the language sounds impenetratable. And foreigners who learn Finnish, now matter how fluent they become, always sound foreign.

Regardless, I'm really liking DEADWIND. One of the subtle pleasures of watching subtitled TV or movies is matching the onscreen emotions & behavior to the spoken dialogue...trying to align the vocal emphasis with the body language. I'm working on it!

 

I am a foreigner living in Finland. Yes, I will never learn it fully although I can speak pretty fluently and I will always be an outsider. Fins emote very little (very much like Captain Holt in Brooklyn 99), so it takes some time to see and understand what is really meant. Keep at it though!

Too get back on track: I am rewatching Brooklyn 99 again. It is even beter second time around!

 

The Witcher doesn't disappoint. It does show that the budget isn't as grand as for GoT, but the scope is smaller so it kinda works. Some monster designs are kinda janky and contact lens work is a bit shoddy.

With that said, they've nailed the tone of the Witcher universe and Cavill is very good as Geralt. Some other castings are not as stellar and Triss seems be the worst offender in my opinion.

I do wonder, how the show will work for newcomers to the Witcher universe...

 

@Hrodulf I also feel that this lacks the polish and budget that GOT had. Watched the first couple of episodes: dialogue feels a bit clunky and the pacing a bit off. However when Geralt does get his sword out, he totally goes into "Wick" mode. Impressive! Cavill nails it and really becomes Geralt - instead of just Superman in leather pants. A fair amount of humour too. Definatly a learning of curve for the rest family members to go from the GOT ( drama with fantasy) to the Witches (fantasy with drama). Currently it feels to me it has more in common with the LOTR, than GOT.

 

Finished DEADWIND, the Finnish police procedural. Really enjoyed it & was pleasantly surprised by several episodes, particularly the final one, which took the viewer to unexpected places.

Now 3 episodes into Season 2 of JESSICA JONES. Enjoying that, as well, despite having read many user comments on IMDB.com point to a big quality drop-off from S1 to S2. I'm really not seeing that, though undoubtedly the absence of David Tennant's rather terrifying villain is noticeable at times. Guess I'm too invested in these characters to care. The overall darkness & alienated/hopeless vibe appeals to me.

Nice also to see Eka Darville's character come to the forefront in S2. There's something so watchable about this talented actor, who like many Aussies in U.S. productions, has no trace of accent (I didn't even know he was Australian until looking up his bio).

Also finally finished Season 2 of STRANGER THINGS. Still liking all these characters/actors, though starting to wonder exactly why such a monster shit-raft of horrifying fate has befallen this crew & their little town.

 

The Witcher is cheesy as hell, but I’m enjoying it. If you can make it through the first episode, it gets better.
Decided to rewatch The Expanse season 3, so I haven’t started the new episodes yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

 

Finally got a chance to start The Witcher. Love it so far. I have read the first book, played through the 2nd game, and really enjoyed, but didn't finish the 3rd game. Basically, I am familiar with most of the lore and characters, and really enjoy the world that it is set in. I think the show is doing a good job of capturing the Witcher world, with Cavill doing an excellent job with Geralt. You can tell he really wanted the role and is applying his best efforts to it. It definitely feels smaller than GoT, and probably intentionally as even as expansive and complex as the books/games are, they have always been focused on the small interactions between characters. My girlfriend is even looking forward to watching the next episode and she couldn't care less about the books or the game.

I definitely agree that it is more LOTR than GoT, and I like it that way. When I watch high fantasy, I actually want the fantasy part (of course, when GoT got all high fantasy, it completely fell apart *shrugs*).

 

Watched the first ep of The Witcher and really enjoyed it. The weapons work and choreography is just amazing. It looks so dangerous and real. Amazing work by Cavill and the other actors.

I'm not so into the bigger political, world-saving scale stuff. I wish it was more like Law & Order: Monster Hunter, but I will definitely watch the whole season.

 

Geralt's fight choreography has been superb. And I would love a Law & Order: Monster Hunter.

 

What is "Law & Order: Monster Hunter"? A video game?

I can't find a thing on imdb.com.

 

If you like Bodyguard I’d recommend the BBC TV series Line of Duty. Both were created by Jed Mercurio and have many of the same qualities. The first season of Line of Duty was pretty decent although some of it was a bit preposterous (not to be a fusspot but there should be some procedure in a police procedural). The second and third seasons were outstanding - they were gripping, full of great twists and cliffhangers, the characters and their development were compelling - and the acting entirely convincing - all of which is to say that I soon suspended my disbelief and got thoroughly engrossed in the story.

Thanks for the recommendation of Deadwind.

 

Since there’s been mention of a foreign-language police procedural with Deadwind, I thought I’d call out Spiral (“Engrenages,” originally) as a great show and one of the best of the past decade. It got a decent amount of attention in the UK but was almost entirely missed in the US, which is a shame as it’s remained consistently good over its six or seven seasons. It’s on Hulu now and has also been on Amazon and iTunes.

Part of the show’s appeal is that it combines the grittiness and careful pacing of The Killing with the suspense and drama of a police procedural. And it adds to this the devious ploys and machinations of the legal system (much like the original Law and Order series, although here, since the setting is France, the judicial authorities are closely involved in police investigations, so there isn't a clear divide between the two). The show is pretty dark; it makes much of the corruption of society and its institutions, and few characters emerge unscathed from compromises and lapses in moral judgment. For all this, though, the show strikes a good balance between realism, cynicism, and idealism, and it’s not depressing. Still, be warned: some of it can be tough to watch and not just because of unpleasant crime and morgue scenes. But the acting is really great, as are the characters, and the stories are gripping (at least for the first thee or four seasons, the last few have been less exciting but are still worth watching).