TV & streaming thread

[Zoraptor]

Good choices there. The Wire is an interesting comparison to GoT, S5 was easily the worst of its seasons in most people's minds but the final episode was one of the best in the whole series. I personally liked the end of the Sopranos too, though that's on reflection and it was certainly... polarising at the time.

1 hour ago, kirottu said:

Am I the only one who didn't find the final episode bad? Yes, there was lot of room for improvement, but I still enjoyed it. Same goes for the whole last season. In the end I still think it was good television show.

Thing is, it wasn't bad per se and the show overall does remain good, just disappointing. And that as someone who was never a superfan. Indeed, it not being bad is part of why it was disappointing; you're not going to feel disappointed watching an episode of Days of Our Lives because you don't expect anything from it. In general things like the cinematography, acting/ casting, costumes, general direction and the like were all still good and many were excellent the whole season even if I might have some specific criticisms. I personally didn't even find the Battle of Winterfell too dark (because I watched in a fully dark room maybe?). So it wasn't like the production values turned it into an episodes of The Hexer or Hercules. The only aspect which was genuinely bad was the writing- and more specifically the plotting- and even then it was bad at least in part because there was so much squandered potential. If you're giving it an aggregate score based on all its aspects you probably end up giving it a 7/10; that's just made up of a bunch of 8-9/10s and one, rather important, 1/10.

I have absolutely no qualms calling it stupid though.

Take the 'kingsmoot' scene. Bran getting elected alone is ridiculous- which could have been redeemed somewhat if it were obvious he'd been manipulating things all along or had actually contributed anything at all over the season- Edmure is played for laughs but his reaction is exactly what any lord's reaction would realistically be, the North gets independence (realistically done for meta reasons because they wanted a 'Queen in da norf' pay off scene) but Dorne which was never even conquered by Aegon the Conqueror doesn't immediately follow and

Asha Yara from the fiercely independent Iron Isles is suddenly a fierce Targaryen loyalist as well. Grey Worm goes from 'we hold this city, these are our prisoners' to 'yessir, certainly sir, westerosi law is paramount sir!' near instantly; and more. But most of those problems aren't insurmountable, it's just that apart from a fairly unconvincing speech from Tyrion (his previous one to Jon was far more convincing) you don't see any reasoning for any of it- which, ultimately, is the main problem with the last season and to an extent the show as a whole after it outran the books.

And it was an entirely voluntary problem too. Benioff and Weiss turned down more seasons, and they turned down more episodes in the seasons they got.

[Gfted1]

Dang it, Im jus now seeing this but Wrecked was cancelled. ;(

[majestic]

Do mini-series count? Because Jean Claude van Johnson was awesome.

Voyager and The Next Generation had good final episodes (not liking time travel or Borg villain decay nonwithstanding).

 

[InsaneCommander]

13 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

I have absolutely no qualms calling it stupid though.

 

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Take the 'kingsmoot' scene. Bran getting elected alone is ridiculous- which could have been redeemed somewhat if it were obvious he'd been manipulating things all along or had actually contributed anything at all over the season- Edmure is played for laughs but his reaction is exactly what any lord's reaction would realistically be, the North gets independence (realistically done for meta reasons because they wanted a 'Queen in da norf' pay off scene) but Dorne which was never even conquered by Aegon the Conqueror doesn't immediately follow and

Asha Yara from the fiercely independent Iron Isles is suddenly a fierce Targaryen loyalist as well. Grey Worm goes from 'we hold this city, these are our prisoners' to 'yessir, certainly sir, westerosi law is paramount sir!' near instantly; and more. But most of those problems aren't insurmountable, it's just that apart from a fairly unconvincing speech from Tyrion (his previous one to Jon was far more convincing) you don't see any reasoning for any of it- which, ultimately, is the main problem with the last season and to an extent the show as a whole after it outran the books.

And it was an entirely voluntary problem too. Benioff and Weiss turned down more seasons, and they turned down more episodes in the seasons they got.

 

Exactly.

 

It would be more convincing if the lords questioned Tyrion's suggestion and then Bran started telling his stories, revealing that he knows their past and suggesting better ways to handle problems they had in their realms in the past, something Bran could easily have learned studying history.

 

And if he saw the future (Drogon in KL), then maybe he manipulated things to get to power, even allowing everyone in KL to be burned. Give some indication of that.

 

I was planning on doing a rewatch now, but I changed my mind after seeing S8

 

The Long Night being a joke is enough reason to lose interest. It would be like watching the Return of the Jedi and have the death star easily destroyed in the first minutes, only to discover that Jabba the Hut is the real villain. Or the same with Sauron and the one ring in Return of the King, with everyone fighting against the uruk hai for two more hours.

Edited May 20, 2019 by InsaneCommander

[Zoraptor]

GoT spoiler of course

5 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

 

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- Daenerys properly mad, instead of telling Jon that she would liberate everyone, seemingly a perfect rational person before she dies

 

 

Disagree there at least. She's insane, she was just not Aerys style "burn them all!!!" foam at the mouth mad- but she's clearly lost most if not all of her empathy, while retaining the ability to think logically.

And while she wanted to liberate everyone she also wanted to rule everyone and remake the world in her image, with no dissent. You can barely get bigger red flags for insanity than that. I'd also note that Dany without her hair done in early ep5 is shot to look very similar to her- clearly bonkers- brother Viscerys.

[InsaneCommander]

GoT spoilers

For me she is a psychopath. That is not considered crazy, right? Whatever, madness is her family's specialty, so you can probably find all kinds of mental conditions among them.

[injurai]

4 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So what shows do you folks feel ended well?

I'd probably put Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield in my list. Weird how those are all a bit similar. I guess in less serious shows, The Office and Parks and Rec ended well too.

I agree about Breaking Bad, The Office, and Parks & Rec. Though The Office obviously suffered towards the end. Haven't seen those others. Band of Brothers was also really good.

Arrested development's ending is flawlessly immaculate in every sense had it truly ended at Season 3 instead of being brought back.

While divisive, I really liked the ending of Battlestar Galactica.

Also Peep Show. Probably my favorite comedy show of all time, a very fitting way to end.

edit: I almost forgot. Mad Men. Whew what a ****ing ending! Probably my favorite ending actually!

edit2: I'll add Cowboy Bebop and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood for animes.

Edited May 21, 2019 by injurai

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

GoT spoilers

 

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For me she is a psychopath. That is not considered crazy, right? Whatever, madness is her family's specialty, so you can probably find all kinds of mental conditions among them.

 

 

Yeah, iirc Psychopathy is definitely a 'proper' mental illness, though it may not meet the criteria for legal insanity. As I said a few pages ago, I've always thought Dany was a narcissist so I'm perhaps more inclined to see her going off the deep end fully (albeit even big N Narcissism doesn't mean outright insanity either) and being clinically insane. But, if she wasn't there then, she would have inevitably been so after the inevitable confrontation with Sansa and losing Jon; Grey Worm would then be her last trusted advisor and he's not exactly empathetic and well adjusted himself.

It's possibly also due to reading the books, because Aerys there developed a- quite literal- boner for fire. Don't think that was mentioned in the series though.

 

[ShadySands]

4 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So what shows do you folks feel ended well?

I'd probably put Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield in my list. Weird how those are all a bit similar. I guess in less serious shows, The Office and Parks and Rec ended well too.

Parks and Rec, TNG, DS9, Cheers, Seinfeld and I kinda liked the end of Community as well. I've not watched a lot of newer shows due to lack of interest so my list is somewhat limited.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So what shows do you folks feel ended well?

I'd probably put Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield in my list. Weird how those are all a bit similar. I guess in less serious shows, The Office and Parks and Rec ended well too.

Penny Dreadful.

[Lexx]

Just recently I've read that the Penny Deadful ending was horrible, because they had to quickly wrap up the show.

 

Six Feet Under had a super emotional ending that made people cry (not me, though, because I am a manly man).

[Malcador]

15 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So what shows do you folks feel ended well?

I'd probably put Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield in my list. Weird how those are all a bit similar. I guess in less serious shows, The Office and Parks and Rec ended well too.

Sopranos, Dinosaurs, DS9, B5. Beast Wars had a good ending, wrapped everything up neatly more or less. 

 

[Guard Dog]

16 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So what shows do you folks feel ended well?

I'd probably put Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield in my list. Weird how those are all a bit similar. I guess in less serious shows, The Office and Parks and Rec ended well too.

Cheers. The last 6 minutes of the last episode were absolutely masterful IMO. That is how you do it.  Law and Order had a nice wrap up. That show was definitely out of gas. I thought the last scene in Star Trek TNG was pretty good even if the last episode itself wasn't. The ending of Miami Vice has grown on my over the years. Now that I'm older and have dealt with futility it makes more sense. 

[BruceVC]

11 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Parks and Rec, TNG, DS9, Cheers, Seinfeld and I kinda liked the end of Community as well. I've not watched a lot of newer shows due to lack of interest so my list is somewhat limited.

I would add Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Dexter, Deadwood, True Blood and Oz just to name a few 

[Guard Dog]

Continuing to have a Nights Watch after the Wall is breached and the very thing it was supposed to do  is no longer needed is like hiring a security guard AFTER the bank burned to the ground. And that isn't even the most nonsensical thing about the way it ended. 

[BruceVC]

12 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Continuing to have a Nights Watch after the Wall is breached and the very thing it was supposed to do  is no longer needed is like hiring a security guard AFTER the bank burned to the ground. And that isn't even the most nonsensical thing about the way it ended. 

It looked like they were rebuilding it and the Night King may return as I think he has been seen before but there many illogical aspects to the plot and how characters acted. You can see George Martin wasnt involved in the last season and I doubt they based much of it on his forthcoming books 

[Pidesco]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

It looked like they were rebuilding it and the Night King may return as I think he has been seen before but there many illogical aspects to the plot and how characters acted. You can see George Martin wasnt involved in the last season and I doubt they based much of it on his forthcoming books 

First the Beatles now this!

[HoonDing]

Fresh Prince of Bel Air had great ending.

[Hurlshort]

I haven't watched Penny Dreadful, but I'm going to guess KP is being a contrarian.

[Amentep]

I did like TNG final episode.  And the Psych one.  Best ending for a series for me has to go to Newhart though.

 

 

[BruceVC]

32 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

I haven't watched Penny Dreadful, but I'm going to guess KP is being a contrarian.

I thought Penny Dreadful was excellent but yes the end did seem ...odd. But not enough to not watch it 

[majestic]

Interestingly enough I can come up with some TV shows that would have ended well - maybe even great - if they ended earlier. With existing episodes no less.

Stargate SG1, Lost City or Moebius: Both would have worked as series ending, but Moebius' final shot of everyone going fishing with Jack was as perfect a final scene of a TV show as it can get. Instead we got more seaons and the show was cancelled before wrapping up the new storylines - which resulted in two distincly average direct to video films, whose poor performance is direclty at fault for us not geting a proper ending to SG Atlantis at all.

X-Files, Two Fathers / One Son: The Syndicate wiped out, the Black Oil explained and the alien threat neutralized. It wouldn't have been ideal but move this from the middle of season 6 to the end and build the alien rebels up a bit longer and walla (*snicker*) we'd have a nice ending to a great show. But no, FOX needed to milk their top franchise some more. Understandable but unfortunate.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The End: Aptly named I'm guessing even the show runners expected it to be over with this eipside before having two more seasons dumped in them. Perfect ending for a fun show with a somewhat uneven, sometimes outright bad, first season. Coulson standing at a beach in (CGI'ed) Tahiti saying "Gotta say, it's pretty magical" was just so full of win. An odd example considering the show is still running, but I'm pretty certain the actual ending - whatever it may be - isn't going to be nearly as poignant and bittersweet.

Another show that ended really well was Braunschlag, but I'm not entirely certain that anyone else on this board watched it (not even other German natives like Lexx) but the level of absurdity in the series rivals that of the Coen brothers.  It's about a small, rural village located just shy of the border to the Czech Republic where the mayor, under pressure from a crushing debt to the Russian mafia, fakes a Marian apparition using a local conspiracy and UFO nut which leads to an influx of pligrims and money, a streak of bad luck thought to be a curse from an angered God and the revelation of illegally dumped radioactive waste. All of which eventually culimantes in an actual UFO landing in the final shot. Was actually adapted into an unaired ABC sitcom pilot titled Hail Mary.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

13 hours ago, Lexx said:

Just recently I've read that the Penny Deadful ending was horrible, because they had to quickly wrap up the show.

It's been a while and what I'm remembering could be them trying to save face, but iirc the series creator intended to end it at season 3.

 

[Maedhros]

The only episode of GoT I liked this season was episode 2. Bryan Cogman should've written far more episodes, it's pretty obvious he's the only one of them who really likes the books.

I think the characters endings will be similar in the books (if they're ever written), but with far better character development, and buildup.

When it comes to shows ending well I have Breaking Bad, The Wire and The Sopranos as the holy trinity.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

I haven't watched Penny Dreadful, but I'm going to guess KP is being a contrarian.

Not at all, without spoiling anything I thought it was great they had a definite ending without the need to chase down every loose end.