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ChineseDownhill
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:19 am
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:53 pm 
 

Not having read the comics, I don't know what else the writers can do with The Walking Dead. It still gets huge ratings so I'm sure AMC will keep it on for at least a few more years, but even in season 4 I was often asking myself "Haven't we already covered this before?" Two quick examples:

Spoiler: show
The girl who thought zombies were still people reminded me of Hershel's attitude at the beginning of season 2. And Ginger Ron Perlman's sidekick is a scientist who has valuable info about the epidemic, although he claims he can fix everything, so I guess it's sort of different from the CDC guy from season 1.

I'll still be watching season 5 though.
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Wilytank
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:32 pm 
 

Spoiler: show
A friend mentioned that the comics had a sort of cannibal cult that could be shown on the series as the Terminus group. The unknown meat being cooked by the lady is certainly suspect as are the human remains briefly seen during the chase scene and their wanting to keep the gang alive.


Should make things interesting in the coming season.
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Scorntyrant
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Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:55 am
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:33 pm 
 

darkeningday wrote:
I'd say the best thing about House of Cards is how it brings to light the masterful BBC series from the early 90's.

That said, the remake is inferior to the original in most every way. The fourth wall breaking is incredibly tired, twee and done to death, and even at its best the show just feels like a second-string Sorkin project.

Just another sub-par American remake of a groundbreaking British series with three times the budget and one fifth the talent. Yawn.


Well, you might very well say that. But I couldn't possibly comment.
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Immortal666
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Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:32 am
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Location: Philippines
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:56 am 
 

Wilytank wrote:
So how about that Walking Dead season 4 finale?


Spoiler: show
I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't any major character that was killed off in the season finale. I previously read a 'supposed' spoiler where the episode ended with Rick and Daryl seeing Beth's severed head on top of a table in Terminus. And I thought it was real what with a lot of build up and foreshadowing in the previous episodes about Beth probably being killed.

I just found Rick's escape too OTT though I know it's based from the comic. I guess the Marauders were too shocked to react and pull the trigger on their guns.

And where the hell is Carol, baby Judith and Tyrese? I guess we'll have to wait till October. There's GoT to keep us busy beginning next week anyway.

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Immortal666
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:11 am 
 

I've just started watching The Following and I'm 2/3 done on the first season. I like it so far.

Spoiler: show
But it's becoming clear that Joe Caroll's network of followers is wide and I guess it wouldn't shock anyone that he may have followers in the FBI, CIA, NSA or any other government agency.


I've stumbled upon Helix which is like Resident Evil in the Arctic. Is this series worth following?

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Erdrickgr
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Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:44 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:29 am 
 

The Walking Dead...

Spoiler: show
While I preferred the mid-season finale in most ways, I am nonetheless glad they were a bit more low-key for this one. The main thing that bothered me about this episode was how they were being herded in a particular direction but just went along with it. I guess you could say that in the moment all they could focus on was running and escaping, but when I watched the show it just came off like another example of characters making dumb mistakes they ordinarily wouldn't make, but did so because the plot needed them to.

But anyway, still enjoyable enough, and has me looking forward somewhat to next season.

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Nahsil
Clerical Sturmgeschütz

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:38 am 
 

I want to pick up The Shield again but I can't remember the last episode(s) I watched. I guess I'll try to comb through wiki descriptions.
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aaronmb666
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:36 am 
 

I enjoyed the Walking Dead finale. My only disappointment was they probably couldve gotten away with
Spoiler: show
Rick saying "Theyre fucking with the wrong people", instead of screwing
, considering it is M rated.

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CGB_Spender
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2013 11:14 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:05 pm 
 

Anyone watch Sons of Anarchy? Just finished the last season, and I honestly was expecting the series to come to a close.

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Erosion of Humanity
Destroyer of the Gods

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:39 pm 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
About halfway through X-Files Season 8. Some thoughts:

Spoiler: show
It's really a mixed bag. I actually like Doggett and the new Scully/Doggett dynamic; the hand was forced where Scully essentially has to own up to the fact that paranormal/alien/occult or whatever shit did actually happen throughout her years on the X-Files and she observed it to be true. I kind of like that Doggett's more of a regular joe, "good police work" character who is skeptical of the validity of things that happen in the X-Files because he's just sort of stubborn, rather than the more contrived and somewhat silly earlier examples of Scully trying to deny the existence of aliens "because science!" or whatever.

Also, season 7 pretty much sucked, so it's kind of refreshing to leave most of the mytharc stuff behind (no more CSM, no more syndicate, etc.) and sort of get back to the show's roots. It also helps that the writing and episodes are stronger in season 8 than in season 7, so far anyway. They also play the Mulder card really well; his brief appearances make for really effective nostalgia that helps to render the lameness of season 7 unimportant. It does, however, highlight that his charisma and charm is sorely missed.

All in all I'd say anyone who stuck through season 7 and still found things to like will likely still enjoy season 8, despite Mulder's relative absence.


I'm also in the middle of season 8 but I've pretty much stopped watching due to a complete and utter lack of interest, some thoughts:
Spoiler: show
They kind of shot themselves in the foot as far as I'm concerned, you can't just go from 'end of the world/fighting off alien invasion' to 'ohh look more random and quirky x-files things whilst completely ignoring the impending invasion'. It just doesn't work, also I dislike Doggett's whole character. More in next spoiler.
Late season 8/ season 9 stuff-
Spoiler: show
MY main issue later is that douche bag Chris Carter was trying to turn it into a scifi soap opera. Getting rid of Scully? You already let Mulder go and now you wana do away with the other half of what made the show so good just to keep it going and be fresh? Get real dick.



Immortal666 wrote:
I've just started watching The Following and I'm 2/3 done on the first season. I like it so far.

Spoiler: show
But it's becoming clear that Joe Caroll's network of followers is wide and I guess it wouldn't shock anyone that he may have followers in the FBI, CIA, NSA or any other government agency.



Season 1 was great, season two is pretty boring and highly predictable at least IMO.

Now on to my How I Met Your Mother fanboy rant. Last night was the series finale, now I generally have an issue with the way things end, actually more often then not I'm slightly frustrated to down right irate (the latter being the case here) and I almost never see an ending that I like. In this case I feel that I'm justified though: (warning I pretty much recap the episode here, nothing left to see) :guns: CBS.
Spoiler: show
Firstly HIMYM is one of those shows that I just fell in love with, the kind that you know all the characters and how they act, you tune in every week to make sure things are going well, and you just feel like you're part of the group (I'm not crazy I know it sounds like it though), either way here goes. So this whole season has been based around Barney and Robin's wedding and it's just been plodding/meandering along with not too much excitement. Now I didn't really mind because, you know, tying up loose ends and making a happy love story for all involved right? Fucking wrong. Couldn't be more wrong. What is the point of spending an entire season on a wedding for a marriage that only last three years? That's right mother fuckers, they were divorced before the half hour mark. WTF?? Why do this to me CBS? What did you watch That 70's Show and take a lesson in how to suck? Must be. Moving on, we get yet another 'Barney needs to grow up and have a real life' lecture from Lilly, and what happens, oh Barney knocks some poor girl up right after he's done saying how he'll never meet anyone and fall instantly in love and dedicate his life to her.

Fast forward 5 minutes, Barney's kid is born, shocker here, it's a girl and he professes his undying love and dedication. Moving on to poor Teddy Westside, ohh Teddy you poor bastard you. So he finally meets his wife, who's name, btw, is Tracy (Finally!! we know her name), yeah she dies. They have kids and she dies. Fuck you CBS, fuck you. You know what the real shit of it all was, Ted and Robin end up together. Fucking horse shit! Barney and Robin were perfect together and why build up this whole show, the whole damned premise is how Ted meets the Mother, and then just kill her off and end him up with Sherbatsky? Nah fuck that. The only redeeming anything about the episode was that they showed pictures of the main cast from the first season so that was kind of fun to see how much they've all grown up and changed, except Josh Radnor who looks exactly the same unsurprisingly. Anyways, again fuck you CBS, fuck you very much for destroying HIMYM with this shitty ass shit ending. :finger:
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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:56 pm 
 

Re: X-Files:

Spoiler: show
I'll have to double check, but I thought Anderson was thinking about leaving the show herself. Anyway I could also see that there'd be some interest in essentially rebooting the show with new leads altogether, since it's clearly a struggle to continue on with Scully constantly dogged by Mulder-related drama. They could've potentially completely ended the alien mytharc, established the two new leads, thrown some interesting MotW episodes at us then started some new plotline involving some non-alien related paranormal phenomenon or something like that.

I dunno though, I've really found Season 8 to be enjoyable stuff compared to 7. Really a breath of fresh air, imo. We'll see how 9 fares in a few weeks, I guess.
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Erosion of Humanity
Destroyer of the Gods

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:06 pm 
 

X-Files:
Spoiler: show
It's possible that she was, I really don't know, either way the way they handled season 7 and the Mulder drama was way off putting. They took Anderson/Scully from a decently strong female lead and broke her down to a sad shell. It was really disappointing to see the decline in her character. I would have been ok with the show continuing on (well not necessarily ok but better with it) in a new direction had they just tied off the world ending invasion/ Mulder and Scully drama and just started anew. But no, they had to try and tie it all together and just fail. Do tell if 9 gets better, plus they did that 2md movie that I need to watch too, supposedly it ties off all the loose ends? Not really sure.
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Immortal666
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:31 pm 
 

@Erosion Of Humanity: I didn't follow HIMYM although I did like some episodes that I was able to watch. Reading from your rant, yeah I would feel the same way too. I didn't realize they made twist endings for comedies too.

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volutetheswarth
Our Lady of Perpetual Butthurt

Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:37 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:42 pm 
 

aaronmb666 wrote:
I enjoyed the Walking Dead finale. My only disappointment was they probably couldve gotten away with
Spoiler: show
Rick saying "Theyre fucking with the wrong people", instead of screwing
, considering it is M rated.

Spoiler: show
Apparently the actor who plays Eugene pointed out that Rick did actually say that several times, but for whatever reason the director went with the other. I'm glad we at least got to see inside Terminus and the characters contained, as they could have easily dragged it out longer.

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aaronmb666
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:33 am 
 

CGB_Spender wrote:
Anyone watch Sons of Anarchy? Just finished the last season, and I honestly was expecting the series to come to a close.


I think the next one is the last one.

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Diamhea
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:38 am 
 

Erosion Of Humanity wrote:
X-Files:


Spoiler: show
All the second movie does is clarify what most fans of the show knew already after the series finale. It comes off like one big, isolated monster-of-the-week episode, and other than some lapses in intelligence and attempts at reaching a bit too far, it has some cool moments. I still prefer the first film, that was at the height of the show's potential and it tied seasons 5 and 6 together nicely and gave up what was (at the time) some of the goods regarding the mytharc before everybody just gave up on it entirely. By the way, I just noticed today that some random channel (I have Comcast) is airing all of the old episodes. I'm flipping around and the series pilot is on, I haven't seen that on syndication since it originally aired in 1993.
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why
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:59 pm 
 

Star Wars Episode 1-3
Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Metallica after Justice
The final "How I met your mother" episode

What do these things have in common?

Spoiler: show
THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE BETTER OFF PRETENDING THEY NEVER EXISTED

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Under_Starmere
Abhorrent Fish-Man

Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:00 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:36 pm 
 

Woohoo, Orphan Black returns on April 19! Didn't realize it was coming back quite that soon. April's going to be good watchin', what with GoT returning and all.

Vikings has been pretty good, definitely worth watching, at least. They do combat really well on that show. The choreography feels really visceral and believable and it's shot really well. Not like Game of Thrones' retarded "let's stand at a safe distance from each other and hit our blades together" swordplay. Ugh, one of the only parts of GoT I dislike as much as Littlefinger's overdone speech inflection.
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Erosion of Humanity
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 9:54 pm 
 

why wrote:
Star Wars Episode 1-3
Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Metallica after Justice
The final "How I met your mother" episode

What do these things have in common?

Spoiler: show
THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE BETTER OFF PRETENDING THEY NEVER EXISTED


Spoiler: show
Your handle also fits my feelings of the end of HIMYM.
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Nahsil
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 2:02 am 
 

yeah I've been enjoying Vikings.

just started Fringe, because I'm in a mood for something scifi. Hmmm.
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Napero
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 3:40 am 
 

We ran out of newer Doctor Who series to watch, so I decided to get some Torchwood as an ersatz extension to enjoy with the daughters. I accidentally got the 3rd season, or, rather, the Children of Earth miniseries because I'm a lazy ass who never does his research in advance, and I must say that based on what I've heard people say about the series, it was a pleasant surprise. The mood and the angle are off course way different than on Doctor Who, but the setting and the choices given to mankind in that particular story arc were bloody brilliant. No spoilers, but I think it was a worthy thing to watch.

It might be that the forced LGBT stuff that seems to be one of the complaints against the series are more pronounced and force-fed in the earlier seasons. I'll see soon, I got them, too. Because they were there.
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why
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:19 am 
 

Erosion Of Humanity wrote:
why wrote:
Star Wars Episode 1-3
Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Metallica after Justice
The final "How I met your mother" episode

What do these things have in common?

Spoiler: show
THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE BETTER OFF PRETENDING THEY NEVER EXISTED


Spoiler: show
Your handle also fits my feelings of the end of HIMYM.


Spoiler: show
1. The confusing time jumping:
Sometimes when I looked away for a second and looked back and missed the caption that showed the year, I was totally lost. No show should at any point have to rely on captions appearing for a second on screen to make clear to the viewer what the hell is going on. The time jumping becomes especially problematic when taking into consideration the change of pace that the show has taken with the last season. The original format (season 1-8) described circa one year of the character's lifes per season, while season 9 expanded the weekend of Barney's and Robin's wedding to 22 full episodes with flashbacks/forwards that seemed like tacked on leftover ideas thrown into the story. Because, you can't really have HIMYM without scenes in the bar right?
This was somewhat hard to get used to in and of itself. The finale however once again throws this concept of pace away and instead of having the story peak with him meeting the mother after this very wedding (as the title of the series suggests), even before that they show the most dramatic, contradictory and rushed character "developments" I have ever seen, taking place in confusing time segments the viewer has absolutely no relation to, with years between them. Cutting back and forth between moments that might have seemed relevant and valid, had they been told with the proper pacing and buildup, I was baffled beyond belief that they just crammed them all into a few minutes of chaotic character destruction.

2. The chaotic character destruction:
Every interesting character development was destroyed in this frenzied mess of a finale. Barney was the quirky supporting character in the first few seasons who secretly carried the show, but they made him mature and even gave him and Robin their own dedicated wedding season, just to throw it all in the trashcan and make him go back to his partying lifestyle, only finally maturing after a FACELESS ONE NIGHT STAND GIVES BIRTH TO HIS CHILD? It nullifies the value of every interesting development that happened with him so far. And by "so far" I mean "everything that the viewers were truly invested in". Who cares about his totally out of place "perfect month" ending with some woman we NEVER SEE and resulting in a baby that doesn't make sense in making the character mature AGAIN all of the sudden. What made him mature was for example the search for his father, the dedication he brings up for Robin and laying down his playboy lifestyle for her, all things the show spent significant amounts of time unfolding and attaching the viewers to them, all apparently for nothing, as is sloppily and half-heartedly revealed.
Robin suddenly travels the world for career purposes, dissolving her marriage. Fine. That happens. But not right after two seasons of build up leading to that marriage. Not within five measly minutes of "yep it's over and also I'm not in the group anymore". This all just happens to arrange the final, super-misplaced travesty of plot destruction.
People die. But the death of the mother (WHO CARES IF HER NAME IS TRACEY NOW?) that was slapped into the plot even before it is shown how she first talks to Ted is so bitter. Not because I cared too much her and was sad about her death. The exact opposite is the case. It's just bewildering to see a character that was surrounded by such mystery (by being the shtick of the whole fucking show) and was finally revealed in a respectful and fitting manner, being killed by sudden death for only one reason. To cram in a fucking twist the creators of the show were wanking off to since the show's conception:

3. The cum-icing on the shitcake
Ted reunites with robin. I don't even want to go into the details of how that ruins every character development Ted made in an instant, I will only say this: The main plot of the series was constructed in such a way that you could have also called the show "HOW I FUCKING LET GO OF ROBIN". All ruined. All dead.
At least they kept Lily and Marshall alive, but in the unbelievable mess that's happening around them, even they don't feel quite right anymore. Also I guess it's because they had their most dramatic changes during the earlier seasons, afterwards defaulting back to the more or less constantly happy couple going through some comparatively minor issues at times. They could have ruined this too, though, I'm just glad they didn't.

No, this didn't happen. It's not like all these events are unrealistic in any way in the time frame they supposedly happen in, but from a storytelling point of view they disrespected everything the series stood for in nine long seasons and threw it in the garbage bin.

After the wedding, he met her near the railroad tracks and that's the simple end of it for me. Then the kids say something like "That's it?" and Ted replies "Yes. But I want you to realize that it was about the journey all along" or something cheesy like that. Better cheesy than the super destructive shitfest it really turned out to be.

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Erosion of Humanity
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:20 pm 
 

Nahsil wrote:
just started Fringe, because I'm in a mood for something scifi. Hmmm.


Fringe is fantastic and one of the only series I wouldn't mind watching again. My only complaint is that the show didn't go for longer.

Re HIMYM:
Spoiler: show
totally agree with you, why. Almost everything that happened in the finale was completely out of character for everybody. It felt like they were just trying to hit all the main jokes one more time. I really have no idea what the writing process for this was unless they were trying to figure out how to completely usurp 9 years of story and character building in the span of an hour and thereby alienate all the loyal fans.
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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:57 pm 
 

Only two episodes left and I'll have finished the first season of True Detective. Absolutely worthy of the praise I'd read here and elsewhere; brilliant performances by the two leads (and the rest of the cast), utterly captivating cinematography (that long take at the end of episode 4 :o ) and of course the excellent writing make it hard to convince yourself not to watch yet one more episode. Can't wait to see how the rest of the story plays out - I get a feeling things are soon to be turned topsy-turvey when the shit inevitably hits the fan.
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failsafeman
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 8:45 pm 
 

I just finished True Detective actually, great series, but I have to say the whole King in Yellow thing seemed rather forced and unnecessary. It was essentially a name-drop and nothing else; in True Detective the Yellow King is portrayed as some kind of pagan forest deity, with Carcosa being his realm, when that's nothing at all like what Robert W Chambers envisioned him as - the tattered, rotting king of a tattered, rotting city, whose story brings insanity to those who read it. You can draw incredibly general parallels, but aesthetically the presentations are nothing alike. I think they should've just come up with their own names for things and their own terms, instead of referencing source material they didn't even bother taking actual influence from.

Not to say True Detective is bad or anything, it was good, but with all the literary references I feel like I was promised something that the show never intended to give me. It was a serial killer story, and a good one, but definitely not cosmic horror.
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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 9:23 am 
 

I argued with failsafebro a fair bit about True Detective last night:

Spoiler: show
I actually really liked that there were subtle hints of the possibility of cosmic horror. Everyone who ever had any prolonged contact with Childress went insane in some way or another; though there are "real" explanations in each of these cases I think that was still some sort of hint at larger, darker forces at work. Cohle's semi-insanity is well documented throughout the show, especially his drug-induced waking hallucinations, but again I think the scene at the end where he sees that portal open up before him right before Childress attacks him was ambiguous enough that the possibility of some sort of cosmic forces were at work. Perhaps Tuttle and his evil devil-worshipping, human-sacrificing pedophile ring actually did manage to summon something from beyond, with Childress as its avatar?

Not saying that that's definitely the case, but I do think it was meant to be a possibility that helped elevate it beyond a cut and dried "fucked up serial killer who believes in weird shit" story.
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Nahsil
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:56 am 
 

TD:

Spoiler: show
I think it was pretty obvious the show was going for a realistic/naturalistic world, but the cosmic horror stuff was psychological and metaphorical. I mean, Lovecraft is psychological and metaphorical. He wasn't really afraid of fish creatures, they're a symbol for some hideous, hostile, alien other. Same with TD for me, the cosmic horror stuff is symbolic of an actual hideous human evil.
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Under_Starmere
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:47 pm 
 

Why would one expect True Detective to be cosmic horror just based on a literary reference?
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failsafeman
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 6:28 pm 
 

Maybe because it's not just one literary reference but many, including multiple direct quotations, and the Yellow King is made central to the cult's entire theology? I'm not dumping on the series, I enjoyed it, but I just thought it was really lame that they so heavily namedrop stuff without having anything to do with what they reference at all, beyond the super generic theme of 'insanity'. Why not just make up their own stuff?
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volutetheswarth
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 7:12 pm 
 

To me it was a good because it made viewers search out The King in Yellow and research various clues in the hopes they'd get a better insight or potentially piece it together, only for the rug to be pulled from under and Coyle to always be one step ahead of the viewers.

It encouraged detective work and that's quite fitting.

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niix
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 9:58 pm 
 

True Detective..
don't you recall LSD and meth shuffling around the victims? now.. sneak that into peoples' system and convince them otherworldy shit.. i think Childress and the 'Others' were influenced by the King in Yellow, and i feel it was a great reference.. Cohle seeing that 'portal' was him probably sensing that 'this is it, it is here..it's gonna go down'..like a gut feeling, sensing you are about to get clocked in the jaw, kind of sensing.. the
'black star..' and 'time is a flat circle' references were so, moving..
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Under_Starmere
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 11:32 pm 
 

Spoiler: show
Firstly, I don't think many people would even know the King in Yellow as a literary reference in the first place (I'm a Lovecraft fan and wasn't even aware of Robert Chambers before), so I'm not sure how much "promise" was even wasted on the wide majority of people. You'd have to be a pretty big fan of weird fiction to even know that was a thing. For me, the Yellow King never seemed to be anything but a ritual alter-ego, or perhaps a metaphor of sorts, nothing literal per se. Perhaps just some sort of megalomaniacal fantasy or poetic image devoted to the death cult, definitely nothing more than that. Childress was clearly a well-read man (evidenced by the piles of books in his home) and it seemed he'd just latched onto that image or that tale as some sort of deluded locus for his ritual/personal fantasies and had constructed his own little decaying "city" to go along with it. Does it have to be anything more than that? Don't crazy people often fixate on literary stories/characters and identify themselves with them (Biblical themes being the obvious example)?
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niix
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:59 am 
 

Under_Starmere wrote:
Spoiler: show
Firstly, I don't think many people would even know the King in Yellow as a literary reference in the first place (I'm a Lovecraft fan and wasn't even aware of Robert Chambers before), so I'm not sure how much "promise" was even wasted on the wide majority of people. You'd have to be a pretty big fan of weird fiction to even know that was a thing. For me, the Yellow King never seemed to be anything but a ritual alter-ego, or perhaps a metaphor of sorts, nothing literal per se. Perhaps just some sort of megalomaniacal fantasy or poetic image devoted to the death cult, definitely nothing more than that. Childress was clearly a well-read man (evidenced by the piles of books in his home) and it seemed he'd just latched onto that image or that tale as some sort of deluded locus for his ritual/personal fantasies and had constructed his own little decaying "city" to go along with it. Does it have to be anything more than that? Don't crazy people often fixate on literary stories/characters and identify themselves with them (Biblical themes being the obvious example)?

Spoiler: show
..that, is a great point. yet, Childress himself states that his family has been around a long time.. he could not have even been the one that started with the Chambers book and references at all.. it seems he was brought up by the 'family' to merely incorporate the Mad Yellow King in the life of his 'circle' to the full effect.. it really is not about what the viewers are familiar with or with not, it was about what particular group incorporated certain literatire to the, again, full effect.. as i mentioned, lsd and meth man, gets you obsessing over anything in no time, if you have been growing up under a, Mad Yellow King..
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niix
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 1:05 am 
 

**double post- edit on phone is gruhh.. forgive me, 'literature'..
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Scorntyrant
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:00 am 
 

Under_Starmere wrote:
Spoiler: show
Firstly, I don't think many people would even know the King in Yellow as a literary reference in the first place (I'm a Lovecraft fan and wasn't even aware of Robert Chambers before), so I'm not sure how much "promise" was even wasted on the wide majority of people. You'd have to be a pretty big fan of weird fiction to even know that was a thing. For me, the Yellow King never seemed to be anything but a ritual alter-ego, or perhaps a metaphor of sorts, nothing literal per se. Perhaps just some sort of megalomaniacal fantasy or poetic image devoted to the death cult, definitely nothing more than that. Childress was clearly a well-read man (evidenced by the piles of books in his home) and it seemed he'd just latched onto that image or that tale as some sort of deluded locus for his ritual/personal fantasies and had constructed his own little decaying "city" to go along with it. Does it have to be anything more than that? Don't crazy people often fixate on literary stories/characters and identify themselves with them (Biblical themes being the obvious example)?


Spoiler: show
Well, I have to say that first and foremost I am a massive fan of weird fiction. The first tip-off was in episode one where Cohl's monologue in the car is lifted wholesale from Thomas Ligotti, probably the foremost exponent of the cosmic horror genre. The Chambers references cemented it, and the interviews with the writer which surfaced about halfway through where he admitted to the Ligotti influence cemented the impression that that was the direction it was going. Ok, I will admit that Ligotti is even more obscure than Chambers, but among the cognoscenti he's more or less "the man", and I had hopes that they would take it in a direction along the lines of Laird Barron's stories. Hard-drinkin', noir-ish backwoods detective stories except oh-fuck-something-completely-disturbing-just-happened that's never really explained but casts all sorts of really sinister implications of otherworldly cosmic horror.

The problem, as I see it, is that in most cosmic horror stories the characters are cyphers. They are usually just plot devices to uncover the "unspeakable truth". It's really difficult to reconcile that with a character-driven series. In a genre focussed on the insignificance and futility of individualism in the face of cosmic forces, how do you make a sympathetic character study? I remember being really opposed to Lumley's Titus Crowe books because the protagonist manages to fight back against the dark forces. The point of cosmic horror, in a sense, is that it cannot be opposed, cannot be fought, is so overwhelming that it''s like the tar baby - the more you struggle, the further you are drawn in. Effective in written form, but the paucity of decent film adaptations is evidence of the difficulty in conveying it in film because of the way the viewer tends to need to identify with the protagonist. Even something like "They live" , which on the face of things is the perfect example of the plot construct, has to give the protagonist way more of a fighting chance than a literary version of the same story would
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Wedge_Antilles
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:18 pm 
 

Mad Men tonight! Just watched the season six finale to refresh myself. Sad it's only 7 episodes until next year though.

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Wedge_Antilles
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:22 pm 
 

Also, just finished the third season of The Wire. I was totally not expecting
Spoiler: show
Stringer Bell to be killed.

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CoF
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:50 pm 
 

Mad Men's back already? I somehow thought it would continue in July... too bad it's not an HBO show, then I could probably watch the new episodes on Sky Atlantic tomorrow already. I'm curious how they'll integrate the Moon landing into the show, they've always been good at using historical events for single episodes (e.g. the Kennedy assassination).

But since I've still got plenty of stuff on my plate, I guess I'll can wait... just recently started with The Newsroom and Treme, also got one season of Deadwood left to watch.
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Necroticism174
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:59 pm 
 

Hannibal is just blowing my mind this season. This might be the best show I've ever seen.
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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:06 am 
 

Watched through Season 3 of Sherlock last week. It wasn't as bad as I was led to believe from the general chatter, though the first episode of the three was by far the worst. Some of the things about the show that I sort of liked before just seem rather forced and grating now, such as the generally choppy, fast cuts, super stylized camera work, etc. Why is it that British TV is always either really dreary, low budget and 80's looking or way over-the-top and Hollywoodish? The dialog and chemistry between Sherlock and Watson is still great stuff and could really stand on its own and be enjoyable watching. I do also think the show really benefits from the miniseries format; each individual plot line can get a bit more involved with the 1.5 hour episode lengths and I do think the show would start to wear out its welcome in a more traditional 12-13 episode season.

I also started watching the other, much more maligned X-Files spinoff series: The Lone Gunmen. This is also much less terrible than I was expecting. The lack of real charismatic leads is definitely felt (Zuleikha Robinson is good, but doesn't get much screen time so far) but it's refreshing seeing where all of the humor that was utterly lacking in seasons 7 and 8 of the X-Files went.
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