Reviews

Reaching for emotional reaction is a poor way to prove a point, dear show writer. Especially, if your point is flawed and based on false analogy. "The Measure of a Man", "Drummhead" and "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" did far better job and these episodes happened decades ago . Invoking laws that justified slavery/holocaust/take-your-pick as an attempt to justify Illyrian's arrogance is pathetic. Childhood sob stories do not work either. Illyrian's laws are aggresivly supporting genetic engineering, while Federation forbids it (for a good damn reason). Illyrian wanted to serve as a Starfllet officer - not vice-versa. To compare violation of Prime Directive in order to save a civilization with a simple case of an individual that lied and thus betrayed the very organization she wishes to be a part of is hilariously unprofessional.

Humanity bled because of Augments. They were cursed with insane ambitions and desire to rule. Nature (twisted and genetically modified) not nurture - as was shown in the ST:ENT season 4 Augment-story-arc. But Illyrian lawyer , blinded by ignorance and delusion of grandeur (their traditions and laws matter, Federation must obey, cause... reasons) , fails to see that.

A "prejudice" that is based on history, facts and logic is not a prejudice, but common sense. Lawyer's empty demagoguery is not a brilliant closing statement, but simply empty demagoguery.

Sometimes being different is just being broken. I know, not the most political correct thing to say, but it is the truth nonetheless.

I wish i could say that i've enjoyed this episode's message - is it woke or anti-woke i do not know - but the episode itself is oozing with humans arrogance. "You are basically allowing the Moclans to dictate human rights policy!" - is an actual non-sarcastic line. Excuse me? Human rights? Moclans rights. You are forcing humanity ideas of right and wrong down entire alien species throat! Not vice versa!

Hubris.

Arrogance.

Downfall.

... and since i am not, for now this (4 episodes in) feels like a poor man's "Punisher" (one of the few good shows Netflix produced). Chris Pratt can't hold a candle to Jon Bernthal's acting abilities - rage, grief, desperation, e.t.c - which is rather sad, since mr. Pratt can act. Well, maybe this is simply not his genre.

Writing is meh. The line "There's evil in this world. It's our job to look it in the eye" (end of episode 3) is hilariously bad and i wonder if protagonist even understands the level of hypocrisy of him saying that. Probably not, though - our hero is not that deep of a charactrer, it seems.

Yet again - only 4 episodes in, maybe situation will change for the best.

Or not.

I mean, the light side is not that light, you know?

First things first - i am glad that they did not kill Dean Winchester... i mean, Soldier Boy. Excellent character, great actor, i, personally, would love for him to endure through the entire series.

R. I. P. Black Noir, the only thing that lacked in the very end is a visit from a flying blue unicorn named Happy.

Maeve has a chance to shine and she does. Brave girl. Knew, that she stands no chance against Homelander and yet still she fought him. Lost her eye, but gained her freedom. For how long? Who knows.

Oh, and Homelander. Loveable psycopath with split personality (well, sort of... kinda... remember the mirror scene?) is... he won. Yup. Got Ryan at his side, finally killed some annoying shmuck and recieved nothing but adoration right after. Awesome!

What else... Hughie is whining and apologizing to Starlight (though he did nothing wrong, i insist), Butcher has from 12 to 18 months to live, MM is mending relationship with his dauhter, Female is killing innocent Vott guards while listening to some cute music and Frenchy stands up for himself.

Now, was this episode great? No. Good - not great.

From time to time it feels repetitive. Last season Ryan hated Homelander and have chosen Butcher, now Ryan hates Butcher and have chosen Homelander. AA-train story is not going anywhere - he can run, he has problems with his borther; he can't tun he has no problems with his brother; he can run again and he has problems with his brother once again... Deep is a pathetic mess - as always. You know, maybe they killed Black Noir off, cause they did not know what to do with him? Cause his character in the show has nothing to do with his character from the comics? Who knows...

Anyway, Newman is VP and turning into main antagonist for the upcoming season. Oh maybe this is all but a red herring.

To conclude. An OK final for a mostly excellent season. Was it (the season, not the finale) more political (cause this show was always political, in case you missed it) this time? Yup. More than usual. I mean, mr. Kripke simply can not control it anymore and this is sad, for it does more harm than good.

But for now "The Boys" still got it.

7/10, easily.

Yeah, spoilers ahead.

Dear Eleven.

You've been inside "Vecna" mind, you know it all. This "child" brutally kiled his own mother, little sister and almost killed his father and before that slaughtered plenty of smaller living things just... well, because. He liked it. He loved the power. He sees himself as god among insects and ALL OF THAT BEFORE "PAPA" DID AYTHING TO HIM AND TURNED HIM INTO "ONE". AND HE TOLD YOU ALL THAT JUST BEFORE YOU CAST HIM AWAY INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION.

Ahem. For Mind Flayer's sake girl, you've been there.

Who is writing this?

Sometimes being different is just being broken. I know, not the most political correct thing to say, but it is the truth nonetheless.

The tragedy of these series and of this final is quite simple - lazy and bad writing. Ancient curse, that killed Game of Thrones, came for the Kenobi-show from the get-go and poisoned it. The show was dead already - it just did not know it yet.

Now, were there good - hell, really good! - moments in the 6th episode?

Sure.

Ewan McGregor acting was sincere and powerful, "You did not kill Anakin. I did!" line was clever enough (you are more than welcome to disagree, dear reader, and call it a fanservice), duel between Obi and Darth was well done and two cameos were a suprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. Both Emperor and Qui-Gon Jinn paid us a visit.

The rest... was bad. Or mediocre, at least.

Are we suppose to feel sympathy for Reeva. Sorry, i can not. Now, besides her amazing healing abilities and the divine gift of teleportation, she is rather predictable and poorly-written character. Good thing that actress finaly has a chance to, actually, you know, act at the very end of the show, but... Too little - too late.

Force ghost of master Qui-Gon should have been used as a motivator and propper reason why Obi all of a sudden regained his skills and force abilities.

There are oher "small things" (no tie-fighters in pursuit, "escape vessel" that is like 1/5th sieze of the ship it is escaping from, Reeva's ability to get to the Tatooine while Vader still pursuits rebels rust bucket... e.t.c) but i will stop.

Master Kenobi, you deserved better.

We all did.

Well done. In this very episode we finally see lord Vader. A sith. Maliscious being of tremendous power, that toys with the prey and sees right through enemies plots and plans.

Lovely.

The rest of the episode was... well, uneven. There were some painfully stupid scenes - shoot out at the point blank range, for example. Reeva, that is plotting with Kenobi right in front of Storm Troopers, e.t.c. But - uneven, remember? - there was other good stuff. Like flashbacks towards Obi and Anakin training. Oh, and Anakin did learn THAT lesson eventually, it seems.

Another briliant moment was Reeva being stabbed by lord Vader (and i cheered, not going to lie), but... alas, she will survive. Yup, darksiders did not finish her off. Stupid? Sure thing. But her character will endure, it seems. A pity.

And AA-guns. No PD whatsoever! And no officers with common sense, propper training and good hearing. Also, this base has no shields, cause, you see this stronghold, this fortress is so scary that no one will ever dare to attack it.

Do you like this explanation? If you do, then "Obi-Wan Kenobi" is for you!

If not... well, let us grieve together.

Now, my commentary on previous episode got deleted (was it because of RLM Nerd Crew refrence and some "true SW-fans" got their panties in a bunch?), so i'll try to be as blatant, inoffensive and boring as Disney SW (with Mandalorian and R-1 being somewhat of an exception). Which is super easy, barely an inconvenience.

Ben is reflecting some blaster bolts. Finally, a tiny glimpse of an Old Kenobi. Not there yet, oh no, not by far, but i guess this is a start. Disney, you do remember that this is a man who slayed Darth Maul with a single sweep of a lightsaber? And no, i am not talking about tPM. What is canon to you, lord Mouse?

Ellaria Sand is fighting two fully armored troopers while using her bare hands and Element Of Surprise, disarming one of them (troopers, not her hands) and then killing both. She is also Master Of Silent Assassinations, capable of smothering dude, while his comrades are sitting in a few meters away.

Third Sister is trying to look tough while interogating (if you can call it that) little girl, Darth Vader is in the episode for a few minutes and Brother In A Dorky Mushroom Helmet is whining again. We have a scene that tries to copy certain moments from "Fallen Order", but where video games excels, this high-budgeted tv-series failes.

In the end... well, dear reader, in the end the carnival of absurdity reaches it's peak, with Kenobi smuggling Leia out of base-on-high-alert by simply covering her with stolen imperial coat. And no one saw anything, till Third Sister started to raise some noise. Aferwards two rust buckets are attacking the compound - a heart of Inquisition, i would like to remind you - and thus saving Benny, Annoying Brat and Oberin's Paramour. Yes, yes, Indira Varma is a terrific actress, with plenty of roles under her belt, but i'll stick with GoT refrences. Now, where was i... Ah, yes - our heroes are saved, but sneaky Third S-s-s-ister bugged Lola The Merch, to trace the terrori... i mean, brave rebels and Ben. Wow! What a twist!

You know what is trully sad? Some of this - some, not everything - could have been fixed without spending of a budget a cent. Like make Dornish girl to put some virus into the base's systems (since she had full access to the mainframe). A virus, that will mess with alarms, disable watch droids and defences... And allow Ben to use Force to mask Leia. You know, cloud vision of weaker minds. Simple illusion, jedi suggestion. Yeah, this is taxing for ol' Ben- but he does that and thus imperials in his way fail to notice the little girl...

But nope. *sad sigh*

This show needs script doctors. Or better yet - a physician team. Better them, than autopsist, you know.

Since the ultimate goal of Mando was to deliver Grogu to "his people" a.k.a. Jedi. And what now?

Did Luke allow a child to actually decide? What? THE CHILD. A kid. It is not up to him to decide something as crucial as this!

He, potentially, can become on of the most powerful force users that ever lived. Don't you think that to trully restart Jedi Order you are going to need someone like him?

Or was it done storywise only to keep the child alive, since we know the dark fate that awaits Luke and his students, thanks to the abysmal hellish vomit, also known as "Disney Star Wars Trilogy"?

In any case, the series final (it does NOT need season two) was tolerable. Unfortunately, cyberpunks on flying colored scooters survived the battle - oh, how i wished for them to be gloriously slaughtered by Cad Bane! - Boba finally has a chance to shine - and he does shine, in a way - lots of cgi, special effects in general and pew-pew. Story and dialogue wise... Well, lets not dwel on any of it.

Rancor was great, marshal is alive, spice must flow, but not on Tatooine. Thank you "Book of Boba Fett" for episodes 5 and 6, but the rest... the rest should have remained unwritten. Or, at least, written by someone else.

Bunch of cybernetic chavs on anti-grav scooters are lousy choice for a propper brigade, my man!

Jabba Almighty, Boba! You need an army, loyal grunts, not some hoods with bad attitude. How will you command respect with this... ahem... crew? They look like lackluster content removed from Cybepunk 2077.

Yuck!

There were some nice moment, though. Black-and-white wookie was charming as ever and young rancor will surely become the goodest of bois.

For now ,though, series are lacking.

Not hate 'em. Just... meh.

... and this is the point. Leslie is a wonderful human being, loyal friend, honest worker, e.t.c. But she is ignorant - sometimes beyond measure. I mean, look at certain women in politics that she is admiring - some of these women are certified monsters, but she does not care or, probably, know. Yet again - ignorance.

Flawed characters are the most believable and this show has amazing characters. And almost all of them are deeply flawed. Like Ron - same issue. Awesome person, loyal friend, extremly talented - and yet so ignorant sometimes (like his outlandish comment during his visit to England, about "history started with USA" - so ridiculous and for this very reason hillarious).

Such approach to writing was done deliberately.

And this is great.

Side note - i am yet to read the saga. And I am definitely going to read it now, cause so many book readers are lamenting the far superior quality of the RJ's work, when compared to this adaptation. And yet, I think I can understand their pain and frustration, can relate. For I've read "Witcher" and "A Song Of Ice And Fire" and saw the slow collapse of the "GoT" after season 4 and "Netcher" collapse after... well, immediately, from the very first episode of the very first season.

By The Wheel, what a long introduction. But i am done whining and rambling, I promise.

Now, back to the last episode of the first season.

While there was no hilarious stuff, like pregnant redheaded terminator from previous episode, there still were some things that you may call amusing. Like army of the dark storming the defenses head-on, without any rams, ladders or other siege equipment. The defenders are not in a better mental or physical shape - crossbows only, no moats, no boiling oil, no deep moisty pits filled with wooden stakes. Good thing that some trollocs (I think...) are caring torches, so crossbowmen could hit them with bolts easier. How thoughtful of them! Still, defences are being demolished by the invader, ripped apart and horde is pressing forward.

Only to be obliterated by five ladies that can do magic lightning. Now - sure thing, these fine brave women basically sacrificed themselves (two survived, though... well, one, another got resurrected later on), but I just have to ask... could not you like, begin with this? Like get your channeling-capable asses to the ramparts and do the lightning storm BEFORE the men had to die? Start with this shtick, do it from the get go? Hell, maybe combine magic offensive with non-magic defensives? In that case casualties could have been kept at the minimum and you all could return to the city.

Cause in the city... Well, fellows, in the city the darkfriend merchant (tall thin black dude... don't remember his name... come to think of it, I don't remember the names of majority of characters...weird) is running amok in the company of two nazguls (or whatever they are called). He is stabbing ogre-dude with a dagger, he is stealing some neat horn, he is provoking widowed-smith-dude into joining the dark side (it has cookies, it is known). Fabulous douche! Actor did a really good job, truly!

And now... not it is time to talk about The Dark One. He reminded me of a sketchy salesman who is trying to foist you a discounted vacuum cleaner or timeshare to some fine tropical island that just endured through major outbreak of leprosy. Not. Convincing. At all. I mean, actor is doing not bad of a job, but the lines and the scenes were kind of... meh. The Dark One is attempting to lure and seduce Redheaded Dude (who found out that he is Dragon Reborn like yesterday and was not taught how to channel and use magic AT ALL) to do his biddings, but Redheaded Dude eventually sees through the not-so-elaborate-veil-of-lies and uses the deus-ex-machina-plot-device to seal The Dark One back.

Oh, and The Dark One took Rosamund Pike's abilities to hocus-pocus, so she is all out of batteries. We have one good humane and sincere scene with her and Stoic Samurai Dude, while Redheaded Dude is leaving his friends behind to deal with upcoming madness alone (and he will go mad, since the source of male magic is poisoned, if I understood correctly).

In the end an armada of warships is arriving to the shores and ship mages do a tidal wave to slay a lonely girl, that played on the beach. Sheesh. Talk about overkill!

Whate else... ah, the scene that i really liked! In the very beginning we have this 3000-years old flashback. And - ta-da! - we see the original Dragon, before the breaking of the world and contamination of male's source of magic. He is talking in some forgotten tongue with main lady mage and through the windows - my, oh my ! - we may witness some trully high-tech civilization, you know like Star Gate Ancients level, or at least 23-th century Star Trek Earth stage of development. Neat! That gives the audience all the right idea of how much humanity has lost and how much it has yet to rebuild. Sheesh! Very well done.

That's it. This is the end. Of the first season. Well, it was... confusing.

You want some grey morale? How about that - elves were not natives to the Continent, they are newcomers, just as men. And these newcomers were hunting actuall natives (like gnomes) with bows and arrows. Yarpen Zigrin, well known krasnolud/dwarf can confirm, if anyone will bother to ask. And it was not elven kindness and inability to fight offensively (oh, they can fight offensevly... and do genocide, if need be) that made them lost to humans, but elven bottomless arrogance and delusions of self-grandeur.

Why change that? I mean, "Netcher" already twisted and desecrated 80% of source material, can showrunners at least keep some crucial world building element intact?

Never read the books, have no idea if this scene was true to the original material or not (though i've read Witcher-saga and saw what Netflix did to the source books, so i can relate to the pain of these viewers who disliked tWoT adaptaion), but the begining of the episode was hillarious! Heavily pregnant lady jumping, blocking strikes, performing acrobatic feats and slaying armored soldiers! This is "Naked Gun" territory, i sh@t you not!

The rest of the episode was less funny, but kind of ok.

The red head dude is a Dragon, sassy healing lady gets the D, stoic samurai has a family (of sorts), sneaky merchant is following the group and Rosamund Pike is cute as always.

Yeah-yeah, i know, Sapkowski himself said along time ago that he is willing to sell Geralt for toothpaste commercial if paid enough. Yeah, he did praise Netflix for the adaptaion... well, i assume cause he was paid enough. And he earned that right, good for him. Really.

But Netflix, why do you feel the need to screw with source material even more?

So, the destruction of Kaer Morhen is kind of witcher's fault now? And it's no longer ignorant mob, brainwashed by religious zealots, that are attacking old castle, oh no! Now the mob is being led by sorceress (with a grudge), that summons army of monsters. Yeah, great plan. People that hate everything unusual and supernatural will surely show her their full support. And... yeah, they actually do.

Solid writing.

Boys, that did non even endure through mutations and did not get at least a few months of training are being sent to a swamp riddled with monsters. Why? Well, to die or be maimed. One-handed kid will become a great witcher. And i am not kidding. He will. What is next? Witcher in a wheelchair?

Solid writing, yet again.

More whining about poor elves and "cleansing". I wonder if they ever mention that elves were hunting down other "elder folk", before humans arrived on the continent. Just ask Yarpen Zigrin, if in doubt.

Solid writing... ahem.

Bald Geralt and way-to-young Vesemir (who loves to behave like a clown... not always, thankfully) are not helping either, but all right.

I could rant longer, but this is not going to be helpfull, so i'll shut up.

You can enjoy this animation, though. There are some good and sincere moments, not going to lie. But ten or even eight out of ten? Please, curb your fanboyism/fangirlism.

So long, and good luck on The Path.

... do not look for a hero here. Wanda is clearly on a dark path and she cares quite little about pathetic little us. Humans are nothing more than a painkiller for a soul trauma and can be used as "meat puppets" casually. And casted aside, without propper appology. A perfect villain for dr. Strange upcoming movie.

Or not. You know how scripts can be these days.

Good show, good acting, great cgi, Agatha's song is catchy and splenind... but you are already know that, right?

Why Chuck is nothing more than a twitchy vengeful neurotic this season? What happened to Chuck from season 11? What happened to Amara from the same very season? What happened to that God, who was willing to sacrifice his very existence to save the Creation? What happened to that Darkness, who has willingly choosen to reconcile with her brother? Their relationship was ancient, strange, bitter... and yet hopeful. The beautiful poetic ethereal ending of season 11, with them uniting and leaving Earth behind, to talk and understand each other was the last time we saw true Amara and true Chuck.

Now... it's just that. Bitter looser with broken toys; a poorly skilled writer, that burns his drafts and starts anew. Human-hating disappointed selfish prick. "That Chuck from earlier seasons was never real!!!!" you may hear some of "true fans" screaming. "He was faking it all the time!!!!" they insist. Sure thing, fellows.

That was the plan from Season 1, yup.

I still hope for a twist. Still do. If not... well, my "Supernatural" dvd and blu-ray will go directly to the trash bin. Boy, did I waste my time.