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Reviews
Marco Polo: Heirs (2016)
The best episode in the whole series
Deep and disturbing dialogue between the Polos, half an hour of constant battle with totally unexpected strategies, then a scene of birth so real and so true as rarely ever seen either in a TV show or on the big screen.
This is fantastic.
Love, Death & Robots: All Through the House (2021)
Hm - one good line, mediocre animation
There is one very good line in this short: at the very end, the children look at each other and say "but what if we hadn't been good?"
The rest is 3D character models out of the 1980s, animation that makes Wallace and Gromit look avant-garde. A storyline that is non-existant or extremely predictable.
Oh yes - there is a big scare: the monster has hundreds of teeth. Wow. How scary.
Maybe it's cultural bias: coming from a country where St. Nicholas (a.k.a. St. Claus) alway visits the children together with his "evil" counterpart, the whip-carrying "Krampus", the idea of getting not just gifts but also punishment is very natural to me.
Epidemiya: Episode #1.3 (2019)
Who is Who as of ep.3
I keep forgetting the names and relationships in this thrilling TV show.
Here's what I could figure out:
Sergey - torn between two women:
Irina - the one he was in a relationship with, they have a son: Anton
Anna - the one he's now in a relationship with. She has a son:
Misha - Asperger's syndrome. Very nice guy, has a crush on Polina
Boris - Sergey's father, an alcoholic (plus he and Sergey seem to have a difficult relationship)
Leonid - used to have power and money, and a beautiful wife:
Marina - six months pregnant
Polina - daughter of Leonid and Marina, likes music, stiff drinks, and ... to seduce and dominate Misha
Pavel - village dweller. Needs food, plus his whole family is infected. "No future" if I ever saw one
Snowpiercer: 994 Cars Long (2020)
too bad that the end collapses
That final episode was one of the weakest in the first season.
With the world as we know it collapses, everything is possible. But not necessarily credible. Or helping the story.
Ruthie gushes endlessly about her Mr. Wilford (who is still invisible), Melanie finds her deepest craving, Leyton faces another ultimatum, and LJ is disoriented with her parents gone.
So what else is new?
Up to now, it was action backed up by feelings, emotions, goals, betrayal ... yes, the whole show had it all. And lost it in the last episode.
And the script is incredibly bad:
The train is under attack from a train behind it. Best course of action? SLOW DOWN! Seriously, what were the authors thinking?
In the early episodes we learned that Snowpiercer must NEVER STOP. When it is stopped, nobody seems to care.
The most technologically advanced train in the world is pirated by an early prototype? Obviously there are much better engineers than Mel on the other side.
And all the vital communication systems to control the train are easily accessible from outside? No protection at all. Engineers unable to stop the hackers? Well if you expose all interfaces ...
This is a hastily thrown togehter bunch of very bad script plus no regard for continuity. I can accept suspension of disbelief in a Sci Fi movie. But not such utter nonsense
Snowpiercer: Trouble Comes Sideways (2020)
one of the best episodes
Finally, an episode where everything seems to come together. And ...
Lots of action.
We learn that Melanie is an engineer. A brilliant one. The one who designed and built the train. She does not have to look at schematics, she just knows.
But knowing is not doing, as the train develops a nasty glitch that takes the train to wthin minutes of disintegrating. Melanie saves the train, and ...
saves humanity from extinction.
That was her plan from the beginning: to save at least a few humans from frost death. And so far, she succeeded.
The rest is ... very exciting, extremely well executed drama.
10/10
Snowpiercer: Access Is Power (2020)
Slower than the first two episodes
In this episode there are quite a few mood (and other) shifts:
first of all, the crazy frantic pace of the two first episodes gives way to more peaceful human interactions. Romance, and bromance. Dealing information instead of extorting lies. There is actually a silver lining on the horizon: Miles made it to Third and gets an education with his food.
Nice.
Not so nice: First Class is getting restless. And a clue points to this club of untouchables. Will they be touched by Leyton (an "untouchable" himself, only at the low end of the spectrum) ?
I enjoyed getting some plot instead of permanent full throttle action.
Snowpiercer: Prepare to Brace (2020)
The plot broadens
This episode is even better than the first one. More characters, more difficult situations, reality-wise and psychologically.
Also, very rough scenes, mirroring the mountain area the train is passing through.
When it is lower than minus 160 degrees outside, there is little room for change on that train that contains the whole of humanity.
For the tailies, the rule seems to be:
You can't win
You can't break even
You can't quit the game
But in fact, there are opportunities. For kids going uptrain. For people getting killed, by violence or by ice through a broken window. Or by murder.
Which is why the "train detective" is still alive and conscious.
Again, flawless camera and acting.
Snowpiercer: First, the Weather Changed (2020)
Not bad at all
I watched this without having seen the film or anything. Clean slate.
Suspension of disbelief: is it realistic, a train with 1001 cars?
An ecosystem contained within the train?
Humans divided into classes?
Hm sounds more realistic the more I think about it.
But watching this first episode is much better witout critical thinking.
It is great drama.
And action
Yes, I like it.
Ragnarok: New Boy (2020)
Getting to know a few people
The first episode is all about introducing the characters.
The who-is-who of Edda, a (not so) small town In Norway - for future reference:
The newcomers. Well, not really. They left Edda, some ten years ago.
- Magne, the older of the two sons. Has difficulty reading, but wields a vicious hammer if needed. Also, seems to have supernatural powers.
- Laurits, the younger of the two sons. He is intelligent, but mischievous.
- Turid, their mother. Left Edda with her two sons when her husband died
The Jutul family. Jutul as in JUTUL INDUSTRIES. The main employer, and - as some suspect - the main polluter in Edda
- Vidal, alpha male. Boss of Jutul Industries, and God Emperor of Edda, or so it seems. Not averse to pagean rites.
- Ran, his very beautiful and very intelligent wife - Headmistress of Edda's High School
- Fjor, their son. Adored (supposedly) by all the girls in the school, but very worried about looking too old.
- Saxa, their daughter. Like Fjor, she is part of the "in" crowd. Blonde, attractive, of course. Like her mother. Looks like you'd only touch her with a ten feet pole.
Isolde: dark hair, smart, very much alive, and quite interested in why the water in Edda makes people sick. Or why the glaciers melt. in short: she is not "popular" at all. Except - with Magne. She has lost a parent, too. A girl to climb mountains with. Paraglider, too. Very dangerous. But, as Billy Joel used to sing: "only the good die young". YOLO.
Gry: not much to say from the first episode. Good looking. Kinda nice. On good terms with everyone, it seems.
Then, there is this odd couple, in their seventies (?). The seem to know more than meets the eye: Odin? struggling with his electric wheelchair, and Freya? warning Magne about climbing the mountain at equinox
I do wonder: is it only Magne and Vidal who feel superpowers luking within them?
Messiah: The Wages of Sin (2020)
Bottom Line
Final episode, time to draw the bottom line.
On the plus side:
I enjoyed the show - a lot. It is refreshingly realistic (except the few times when it isn't - see: Miracles), the main characters believable if not always likeable.
We see and understand their problems - too bad there is no redemption for them. At least not in real life, nor through supernatural means.
I think Rebecca, Felix's daughter, she's best off: escaped Dilley, met the Messiah, went to Washington, D.C. and immediately had a moment on TV. Not bad for a single week.
But back to the bottom line: Diversity.
This show is very international.
We hear English, Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, and a bit of French during the Algeria scene.
And we see the Messiah situation from the point of view of American Christians, the CIA, the press, the US government, the Shin Bet in Israel, spiritual leaders in the West Bank and, of course, the Messiah. We also learn the reaction to the Messiah problem from the different sides. On one side: a bomb. On the other side: a bomb. Interesting.
US and Palestinian decision makers seem to think remarkably alike, in this show.
We get to see the personal situation of the main characters, and - interestingly enough, not one of them is happy. Or at least content. Maybe the FBI agent, he seems cool with a short assignment and then going back to his lover.
All others - the job sucks, their partners are a pain. And the booze is never far away.
Even the high powered women in the CIA ... in the end, it is the men who wield the power.
Nice line here. Cameron Collier: "your job is to gather information. Our job is to do stuff with this information". That pretty much sums it up. Eva is pissed, of course. But that actually is the mission of the CIA.
on the minus side
Miracles: Seems that there are so many preachers of all faiths. Words are not enough to get attention. So, a miracle is needed once in a while.
One too many, for my taste. The writers should have stopped with the water walk.
Felix: he's just the dimmest candle for miles around. And stays the way he was, from beginning to end. What a miserable life his wife and his daughter must have had.
Still - all in all - a very good show
Messiah: God Is Greater (2020)
The messiah is deep - more than meets the eye. So are many others ...
This is the reward for sitting through the deceleration of the previous episode
Lots of threads sorted out (unfortunately, not entirely without violence - but then, that's what we were here for), Rebecca has her moment on nationwide TV, Eva finally takes off her wedding ring, Avi promisies to return to Israel "soon", and the Palestinian brothers Samir and Jabril reunited, at last, in the same room.
And the president seriously considers world peace!
Sounds almost too romantic. But is very suspenseful, really.
And many theories are shattered ... oh, BTW, where did the Messiah go?
We need you here, on television!
Good thing there's one more episode!
10/10
Messiah: Force Majeure (2020)
The calm before the storm
Again, like in episode 5, the pace of the story has almost grinded to a halt.
Super Slo Mo
Not for lack of activities, though:
Al-Masih and the President of the U.S. have a talk about world peace - without a result, yet.
Rebecca decides to come clean and talks to her dad. He refuses to accept realities, as always.
Felix sees that everything is slipping through his fingers - he, who never had a grasp of anything but was happy being at the center of attention. He needs to wake up.
Aviram phones home and talks to Ellie - but cannot say when he'll be back. Story of his life.
Eva is worried about her father, who's in Florida. She cannot confirm suspicions about Al-Masih's past, she cannot let go of her dead husband. Too many expectations? No priority for her own wishes?
Both Samir and Jibril are with religious scholars, not quite prepared to go all in.
The calm before the storm.
It does not feel boring, at all. More like the moment when the cat crouches and prepares for the final leap - the one that gets the mouse.
This is a good story, nuanced, and relevant. All of the sub-plots mean a lot to the people involved in them. Let's hope that the final two episodes deliver ...
without fake miracles, this time
Messiah: It Came to Pass as It Was Spoken (2020)
Illusions, illusions!
The previous episode left us with a miracle, and this one tears it up again.
So many doubts, so many ways to fake the "walk on water". All just an illusion?
This episode firmly establishes the difference between looking at individuals and looking at societies.
Washinton D.C. is in turmoil - just like the town of Dilley was a few days ago. Everybody talks about the new Messiah, and for every believer there is a doubting Thomas or Jack or Jill.
Then we see Al-Masih in action, and he is a very sensitive man, well tuned in to his visitors, he can see them, feel them at a deep level, and when he talks to them, their lives are profoundly changed.
So... is he a charlatan? A trickster? Oh, yes. He is a magician.
Is he honest? Oh, yes. Much more than anybody else.
Is he good for those who come to seek help? Definitely.
Is he good for the country he is in?
Hm ... probably not. Societies cannot cope with fundamental changes as easily as individuals. And even the human individuals find it very hard to change.
So, the CIA is probably right - he IS a danger.
And the Imams are right, too - better remove the young men from his reach. Too dangerous.
We don't see much from the Catholic Church - they have a well established procedure for finding out if someone was a saint (post mortem, of course)
Which leaves us with the uncomfortable question: is it GOOD if someone helps a few individuals while his mere presence incites riots, starts wars, brings about massive changes?
It is the same question Eva (the CIA agent) faces: you can't be indifferent. you have to make a choice. If he's GOOD, then let him live. If he's BAD, then ... eliminate.
Looking forward to the next episode. With more questions ...
Messiah: We Will Not All Sleep (2020)
Followers
The more I watch this in´teresting show, the more I am convinced that it is not about religion at all. Neither is it about Al-Masih, the "Messiah".
It is all about the followers.
Now that the crowd has swollen to a few hundred or maybe to a few thousand, this flock develops a "mind" of its own. And, like in Shaun the Sheep, the guy in front is more often driven by the sheer power of the herd than the other way around.
They are on the move now, after descending upon Dilley like a swarm of locusts, drinking the water that was brought for the residents who had lost everything, and pressing on Al-Masih to grant their wishes.
He's still smiling. Even speaks.
He's back to a few well rounded but otherwise unspecific words, and ...
back to the miracles, of course. In view of all the unfulfilled wishes, all the expectations piled up, all that energy built up in the followers
"it's about time he does something for me. I've waited long enough. I've travelled all these miles. I am ENTITLED to ..." Hm, what are you entitled to, dear follower? What bargain do you think you've struck with God? Or son of God. Or prophet or saviour or ... Let's just call him Al-Masih, the walking, talking projection area. As long as he performs a few miracles, people are satisfied. They are witnessing a holy man.
Or, like Mr. Tweedy in "Chicken Run": It's all in me head. It's all in me head!
Well done, again. And I like the new information that the guy who appeared in Damascus - out of thin air - has had a very real past on this planet. And quite real teachers. Now I'd like to know - what is his plan?
Messiah: So That Seeing They May Not See (2020)
Frustrating
This is a very slow episode.
And not just slow, but frustrating at the same time.
Everybody is disappointed:
The CIA agent - no progress at all. The Syrian refugees - no point in staying there any longer. Rebecca - still in that dump of a small town. Felix, her father - nothing to tell all those people seeking favors from the Messiah.
And - even Al-Masih spends his time alone in a tent, talks to no one.
Not a single miracle!
Messiahs are supposed to PERFORM!!!
And what's HE doing?
Frustration runs high, all around. Time to move on.
Good for the people of the tornado stricken town. Finally a chance to rebuild.
Real life instead of fantasies. Good for everybody.
Messiah: Trial (2020)
Nothing supernatural - still amazingly good
In this fourth episode we come back to the main characters from Syria and Israel, but mostly, the action is in Texas. Each one of them stays true to their personality, but somehow - and I cannnot praise the film-making enough here, the way a story is told by pictures, facial expressions, or even by not moving at all - something changes in each one of them.
"Al-Masih" says very little, but always in straight sentences. No mushy sermons, no Hallelujahs. And what he says, it makes a difference. It changes the way people behave. How they think. How they are.
He does not need a miracle.
That is what I like best in this show: the down-to-earth-, matter-of-fact-ness.
CIA officers behave like they're supposed to do, Shin Beth agents, too. Politicians, lawyers, even the judge - they do not feel out of character at all.
And still ... events turn out very different from what they were supposed to be.
Was it the few words from Al-Masih "... remember: it was fate that put you here", that made a man act so very differently from how he'd acted for 40 years?
Very well done! And fascinating to watch.
10/10
The Witcher: Much More (2019)
An amazing end to an amazing season
This last episode is indeed the climax of this first season.
And what a great episode it is!
Magic - for the most part
But so REAL!
And the scenes where real life meets magic - so well done, I loved it all the way.
A great script by Lauren Schmidt, focussing on the bare essentials: what makes reality? What makes a Mage? A soldier? A Witcher?
How did they become what they are in the stories we read?
I admit, I never cared much for the mages when playing the video game.
And again, no thought of them while reading the books, except maybe as healers.
This episode gave me a new way to look at them - Triss, Yennefer, and even the rectoress ... they gave everything they had. And stood their ground against an army. Quite believable, too.
10/10
The Witcher (2019)
I did not want to watch this - now I am enthralled
I do not know how many hours I played Witcher I, II and III. Hundreds, that's for sure.
And I read the first two Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski.
When I saw that Witcher was now a Netflix show, I was like "no way am I going to watch this. This cannot be anywhere near the game I've played"
But out of curiosity, I did watch the first episode. And I liked it, and then the second, and the third. All of them very good, and ... all of them added to the Witcher story. Not in a bad way at all. They did not change the story, and they did not take away from my choices - as a player - how to be Geralt of Rivia.
But there was so much - new - background. The court of Cintra (you never hear of Ciri in the game until she's a teenager at Kaer Morhen), the Guild of Sorceresses ... Triss and Yennefer before they enter the Witcher universe, ...
Very intense script, excellent cinematography, great actors and actresses.
The I-Land: The Dark Backward (2019)
Happy End
All in all, not a bad ending.
Sure, none of the characters in the film are going to be very happy.
Except, maybe Taylor. From what I've heard, she seems to get along well with her host.
I wonder - will the Warden be redeemed? Aw, well. I guess not. He's - what do they call them? - "irredeemable". I'm sure Cooper and K. C. will have a lot of fun with him. But ... will they find their way back?
See ... even after the final "real world" scenes, I am actually more interested in what could happen next in the sim. And that is indeed something good stories do: "Tell us what happens next! Please!" Maybe we could have a story without the whole mind bending and external interference? Yeah, I'd like that.
Still, I do not believe there should be a sequel. Once is enough.
7/10.
The I-Land: The Great Globe Itself (2019)
out of control
The simulation seems to have reached the boundaries of stability.
But that's what tests are for, right?
Right?
Or maybe the writers of this episode really didn't have a clue how to get out of the mess. It was supposed to be about choices - conscious choices.
But really what is going on in this episode is a frenzied descent into madness.
Bullets fly, flares go off, poles and machetes whirl.
Plenty of action, but no coherent battle plan.
Then - boom - back to the lab.
Hm. This episode smells badly of "how to get rid of all characters, fast"
Why?
Why did the mass murderer just wait to be killed? Where was his choice?
Why did the nurse kill this time? Not in self defense, that's for sure.
A gun goes off in a memory flashback and it kills the terrorist. Where was his choice, except being nice all the time? And the soldier - he was not aiming at the victim at all ...
Too many loose ends, for my taste.
4/10
The I-Land: The Cloud Capp'd Towers (2019)
Good or evil? Or - "unintended consequences"?
While we watch the events unfold, the questions become more difficult.
Assisted death - euthanasia - is illegal. But is it wrong?
That abusive husband - what would he have done to the kids?
Why did those people have to be in the vicinity of a bomb going off for a "just case"?
What did Cooper and Chase have to do with that farm in Texas?
Only Taylor does not ask questions, she is happy to find some hospitality on the other island. She gives a nice tip. Or two. Or three.
We - the audience - cannot help to be drawn into those back stories.
Would we - as the Warden - let them live?
But wait! It is not their past actions that determine the outcome of this experiment - it is their actions in the present "simulation". The simulation seems very real to me.
"It's all in your head, Mr. Tweedy" (Chicken Run)
The I-Land: Many Goodly Creatures (2019)
Back to the group
The cinematography is as lush and sun drenched as in the episodes before, but now there is an added edge to everything: whom to trust. Nothing is to be taken for granted. And it is not a game.
Strangers appear and claim to be in the puppetmasters' pay. But none of the group except Chase believes them, until ... well, let's just say justice is served.
The group splits up into singles and pairs to look for a better place, and we finally get to know the characters better. What they did, or what events led up to those deeds.
Who will be successful and get their lives back?
Just one? Or all of them?
Would we even want for some of them to succeed?
The film does indeed ask interesting questions. No wonder the scientists in the lab had kept arguing.
Definitely a TV show to watch with friends and talk about it over a glass of wine.
7/10
The I-Land: The Insubstantial Pageant (2019)
Action Action
There's lots of fights in this episode. Almost a Martial Arts film.
Chase is a tough woman, well trained.
The story now turns away from pure tropical landscape and bare handed survival, into the real world stuff behind the illusion.
Or is it only an illusion? No other real world?
Kind of a Zen question.
"Anyhoo ...
Y'all gonna find out what you did, and then ... maybe have a chance to survive.
But I guess not." (not a real quote from the film)
Action is good, and the events on I-Land are bound to become much more interesting after this "rearrangement".
Can't wait to get back to meet the rest of the group.
7/10
The I-Land: The Gorgeous Palaces (2019)
Dangerous Island - not the creatures
More discoveries, and more violence.
Nerves showing.
It is getting more dangerous to fall asleep - you never know what'll await you in the morning.
Nice chemistry between Chase and Cooper, K.C. talking for the first time.
Weapons appearing here and there.
Nature shows its thunder side, but the animals on the I-Land seem to be docile. Or are the dangerous ones locked away?
In the end, it is never the aminals vs. the humans (remember "The Lord of the Flies?"), the humans can do it to each other nicely.
It is these tensions among the group that provide the energy, it is the unknown ways in which this energy will be released that keeps us guessing.
Feels like sort of an Encounter Group. But no coach around. Or is there?
Sometimes the guesses are wrong...
8/10
The I-Land: Brave New World (2019)
Good Start
A bunch of people, suffering from amnesia?
Whatever the cause, thy better find a way to survive this. Different personalities clash, and most of them seem to have half remembered abilities that could contribute to the common goal.
The first episode introduces the setting and the people. It does so like it would happen in real life. Some of them more fiery, some more dreamy. Some water, some wood, some flintstone.
And at the very end of the episode - for those who had not seen the trailer: a hint.
I liked it. Can't say it was too slow or boring.
7/10