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Reviews
The Traitors UK (2022)
Guilty pleasure
As a family we're not big reality tv fans. And as a basically decent human being I don't enjoy watching 'social experiments' which aim to pit people against each other and cause hurt and upset, which is precisely what this show does.
Odd then that I'm quite as glued to it as I am. Perhaps because it's all so overwrought and the storms are all very much in little teacups, with all the players guaranteed to be out of the castle in a few days and back to their humdrum lives. After all, you can win as much money on Michael McIntyre's The Wheel and that can be cruelly random at times - it's not like there's a million pounds at stake or anything.
So maybe that's the magic. It's sick, it's twisted, it has a cast of fairly recognisable 'normal' but flawed personalities, and the twists are well thought out and well executed. Claudia is enjoying what little she has to do and doesn't seem to mind the psychological trauma her victims are going through. Slightly odd perhaps that all of us in this house are rooting for the traitors rather than the faithful, although maybe that's the aim?
Anyway, I feel guilty watching these people crying and shouting at each other, but it's a little too easy to enjoy it I'm afraid. Mea culpa.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The Eye (2022)
So confusingly bad.
I've really tried to like this show. It looks incredible and has some great actors, but oh my goodness the writing and plot are just unspeakably terrible.
Characters change fundamentally from one minute to the next, say and do things which are not only objectively ridiculous, but flatly contradict what they were saying or doing a few minutes ago.
Nobody talks, they just speech at each other. Their lines don't flow one to the next, they fight for attention. No one seems comfortable with the dialogue, with the exception of Durin, Disa and Elrond.
It's still possible to enjoy it for being a depiction of something almost but not quite entirely unlike Tolkien, and ultimately I will of course watch every episode because I am enthralled by the power of the ring just like everyone else, but I will probably turn into a wraith as a result.
Best hope is that Amazon hear and listen. The writing needs to improve.
Invincible (2021)
Boring and childish
A 13-year-old's concept of 'dark'. The whole thing seems like it was dreamt up by Beavis and Butthead, like: "and then his head explodes, like there's blood everywhere and it's all dripping down his face and there's bits of brain everywhere and it's really sick, dude". Grow up. I love a bit of beautifully choreographed violence, but this is just childish and pathetic. Most of all it's simply boring and unoriginal, with episodic plot lines which are straight out of Justice League (as are most of the characters), and tedious teenage romance filling the gaps, badly scripted and poorly animated. Watched the whole season because the reviews said I should, but it was an absolute waste.
Star Trek: Discovery: Point of Light (2019)
Last week was the best yet, this week the worst. Wtf?
Just awful. Every turgid dialogue-heavy Klingon scene drags this show down. I thought they'd learned that lesson after this season started so much better but no, this was a dreadful, boring return to the worst of last season. I think I might have to give up on it.