mejjmurphy

Cang Lan jue (2022)

It starts to get really good at episode 9

I've watched this show twice. Once by myself, and the second time I forced my significant other to watch too. The beginning episodes are important for exposition. It'll set up all the relationship dynamics and that's when the protagonists start bonding. It is on the slow side though, Orchid's voice is very annoying at the start as she is portraying a naive cutesy fairy and sounds like a child. However, it gets better as the Orchid becomes less naive and grows with experience. I think it starts picking up at episode 9. I wish the graphics were a bit better for the fighting scenes. Because seeing Donfang's hellfire (with better graphics) against the high immortal fairies would've been visually cooler. I like the relationship development and character development in this show. I loved all the scenes in the mortal realm and after. I think the women's costumes were much better than the men's. Only Dongfang, Xunfeng, and Shanque had cool outfits/armor. Changheng's armor looks more comical to me, and the armies' outfits could've been better. But then again, I'm new to Chinese romantic fantasy genre. The settings though were very cool. This show has a lot more depth than a lot of American tv shows that are getting released today. I enjoyed how they had Orchid in the fairy realm at the start, as a hardcore fan of Changheng, and heard of the scary Donfang Qingcang and only knew that the Moon Tribe was full of awful people. And even though she always remains loyal to the fairy realm, she realizes that the Moon Tribe is full of families and good people who want their soldiers home from war but want to be protected from the fairy tribe. She learns as she switches bodies with DQ what it takes to rule a nation that is scared of the fairy realm. That the fairy realm even has assassins that intrude into Moon Tribe territory. It's not just the Moon Tribe who attacks the fairy realm. I just love when she begins to realize it's not all black and white. I like DQ as well. The actor did an amazing job. I've watched other tv shows with him in it and I think this is my favorite. I like how the show touched on the idea of being emotionless and how DQ grew up believing emotions are hindering, but through Orchid learns how they're actually valuable and allows one to experience a more fulfilling life. I love how these characters try to balance duty and their selfish wants, it adds a lot of complexity to the show. I know this is all over the place, but ultimately I think anyone who likes a good romance should watch or just a good story in general.

The Midnight Club (2022)

Decent but dips at ending

I really enjoyed the idea of bringing all these kids together with terminal illness bond and figure out a mystery together...I liked the connections made and the relationships, but I didn't care for their stories shared during the midnight club. I was more intrigued by overarching mystery of the cult. I disliked how whiny the main character became, for someone how touts her intelligence, her thinking/feeling about participating in cult behavior isn't very logical. Even after talking to the main caretaker lady, the girl acted like she was different than the loony people that almost died during the ritual because she's "smart". When in reality she was just as loony as believing that this ritual was going to work in her favor. She should also have known from the journals or from reading the history prior to going to the house that people died from the ritual. The main character acted like she was more concerned about her new friends living, like Anya, but then risked everyone's lives by participating in a possible blood ritual that could've killed them all. Even though I think Julia didn't give her the full steps to succeed in such ritual so that Ilonka would come back to her and think she needs Julia for the ritual. Regardless, it bothered me when Julia acted like it was all about her needs to be cured vs the risk that it could put anyone in. I agree with the users here who said the show was a bit childish. Ilonka just straight up became mean because she wasn't the one going home and took her rage out at Kevin's girlfriend because she was also jealous and wants Kevin for herself. At moments like these it makes it difficult for me to even like her. I thought she was okay at the start but it really dipped at the end. Also the plot to unfold that the stranger in the mountain was Julia really wasn't surprising, even the character told Ilonka that she probably knew already. I wish we got more about the head caretaker's relevance with the cult group but I guess that is a season 2 thing. Overall, I liked thr actors they did a great job, specifically Anya, her acting stood out to me more than the others, all did well. But the writing could've been better at the end.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Poor Writing Ruined The TV Show

I was very excited for this series. But the writing was so bad that I only became frustrated with what this show could've been. My favorite parts of this show was Obi-Wan, Vader, visuals of the planets/backgrounds, and Obi-Wan vs Vader duels (but even those weren't as exciting as I had hoped). There were many plot holes, an example of one is Reva being stabbed by Darth Vader at the end of an episode but somehow is healed and found quick transportation to get to Tattooine by the next episode? Honestly, Reva wasn't my favorite character. I think the writing, directing, or acting wasn't very good. Not sure which one is to blame. At the start they made her annoying. They wanted to portray her as intelligent and strategic, they tried to make her menacing...but it was a poor surface level attempt. I think if she was more subtle in her advances to undermine her fellow inquisitors to become grand inquisitor and ultimately to try to kill Vader, it would've showed her as a more calculated individual. Her recklessness and passion (which was over the top) didn't make me impressed by the character at all. I wish I was though. I can't tell if it was the directing or acting but I wish I felt more intimidated by her character. Overall, I was disappointed by the quality of the show's writing. I think we all would've loved this show 10x more if the writing was as good as The Clone Wars series.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part II (2022)

Okay...

Liked:

• Original actors
• Plot
• Kenobi realizing Anakin is still alive, and has been hunting him.

• Unlike the Book of Boba Fett, everything about the planets are consistent to what you would believe to be on that planet. No stupid teenage gang with their fake cyborg appearance and shiny vespas in tatooine. No stupid Pokémon Machamp creature to fight on tatooine. The costumes are perfect. The people of Alderaan looked like they were from Alderaan. The people of Tatooine looked like they were from Tatooine.

Dislike:

• The writing and acting for Reva and Leia. I think I get annoyed with Leia because I just want her to stop talking and escape and maybe that's why I found her inconveniently annoying. Reva is just...not scary or menacing? In appearance she looks pretty bland in comparison to the rest of the inquisitors. When they are trying to make her seem scary by trying to solo catch Obi Wan, her undermining the rest of inquisitors makes her seem a try hard and not in a good way. It's the kind of try hard that is trying to be better than the rest but really messes up the team's ability to tactfully achieve their objective. The entire righteous behavior doesn't make me root for her at all. For Anakin and his righteous behavior made more sense with the prequels and the clone wars. Reva made the inquisitors embarrassing. She could kill the grand inquisitor quickly? But he's supposed to be the best of them. Also the Grand inquisitor saying to Reva that he'll show her how it's done (to catch Kenobi) just seemed like stupid dialogue...ESPECIALLY since she murders him before we even get to see how scary he can be. For someone who hasn't watched Rebels, her killing him meant nothing to me. It doesn't make her more powerful or fearful, because she weasels it. It wasn't a full on fight between the two displaying their abilities at all. It was a quick stab in the back (or front). I hope they either improve Reva's character acting and dialogue or kill her off.

Overall I still have hope. I really want this to do well. I just hope Disney gives a crap and doesn't give us crap (ex: Star Wars movies 7-9, like what in Lord Vader's name was that mess?!). So far the TV show is doing much better than that. It's doing much better than The Book of Boba Fett...can it surpass The Mandalorian? I don't know. They'll need to pull more than just nostalgia to make this good.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part I (2022)

A good start

I'm very excited for this show. I love how they brought back the prequel actors (I grew up with the prequels). I'm not impressed by the inquisitors. They don't feel menacing to me or threatening. I think they should've set them up better.

The Book of Boba Fett (2021)

I Want More Mando - Not Whatever This Is

Is it bad that the only exciting parts of this entire season were the episodes with Mando? I think this season made me more excited for The Mandalorian season 3 rather than The Book of Boba Fett season 2 (if there will be). There were too many times where the director or producer or whoever chose to keep elements that seem very out of place. An example of this is the first episode with the monster that looked like a Pokémon, and not a creature you'd find on Tatooine. Another example was the teenage biker gang. Their costumes made them look like they're from a steam punk band in England and not in Star Wars. Terrible costume execution, their robotic parts looked like a Halloween costume decoration rather than being part of the characters. They really liked to highlight the main British biker girl who looked like a wannabe Joan Jett. The blondie in the biker gang looked like a preppy school boy, and was dressed like one too. They tried so hard to make them look cool on vespas (that looked like they could barely pass being transportation on Coruscant). Those vespas were way too shiny and vibrant for being on Tatooine, let alone in Star Wars. Although these may seem like small details to the directors or producers or whoever chose to do this, it takes away from the entire show and experience of Star Wars. I can't tell if it was the writing, acting, directing, or producing that was the most disappointing aspect of this TV Show, I guess all four. Who decided to make Boba Fett so weak? Yes he might be old, he's gone through some challenging trials, but everyone seemed to be kicking his butt. He's supposed to be this big bad bounty hunter, but this season proved otherwise. Then finally he was able to defeat Cad Bane using the techniques he learned from the sand people? Well, then Cad Bane must've really lost his game, to be defeated by this Boba Fett, because it seems like anyone can kick his butt. While watching the Book of Boba Fett weekly, my boyfriend and I were watching The Clone Wars daily (which has much better writing). In one short episode The Clone Wars achieve more depth than this show had accomplished in an entire series. Waste of time.

The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tatooine (2022)

I liked the first half

I enjoyed the first half of this episode, the potential politics of running Jabba's old territory. However I didn't enjoy the second half as much. While I did like the character spending time with the sand people and helped their tribe...I felt a bit bored with it after a while. I don't mind if they kept switching back and forth, but frankly spending so much time on the sand people made this episode just strange. Yes, they're making them seem more civilized, less savage...but wasn't that the point of the sand people? Like their reputation in the desert is supposed to be scary/terrifying even, you don't want to mess with them. But in this episode they were getting bullied by other individuals. In the other movies and in the mandalorian, everyone feared them...which makes them a daily threat for those who live on Tatooine...a group of individuals to fear besides the worm creature (mandalorian) or the Hutts. It just added to the complexity of Tatooine life.

The dance at the end was very weird to me. Like when did he learn how to do this dance and when did this tribe ever dance? It just seemed very theatrical...and not realistic. I know the sand people have their own culture...their own language and way of life. But to see this dance for the first time at the end just seemed very out of place. Maybe if Boba Fett had seen the tribe do this dance while he was still a captive, and observed it. Then later when he was part of the dance it would seem like now he is one of them too...but because we've never seen them dance it was just weird/strange/odd, I just felt confused.

The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land (2021)

What was that Pokémon doing on Tatooine?

Overall it appears to be a promising start. But one thing that bothered me was during the mid to the end of the episode where Boba Fett is digging for milk or water bulbs. We see them accidentally awaken this creature from underneath the sands, which turns out to be Machamp from Pokémon? Was this supposed to be a Boba Fett x Pokémon crossover? In all seriousness, this creature didn't look like something that would live on Tatooine let alone be in Star Wars. Maybe it would if this creature didn't have 12 pack abs. From previous movies/tv show (Mandalorian)...creatures on Tatooine were more animal like (ex: the creatures in Attack of the clones, one looked like a spider, the other a wild cat, and the last one was like a rhino)...keeping the proportions similar to real animals made it seem more realistic. In the mandalorian they had this ginormous worm creature, and it looked like something you'd find on a desert planet. But the Machamp creature? Absolutely not. It just didn't look like Star Wars to me...made me more confused than invested in the scene.

The Guilty (2021)

Waste of time - crying crying crying, shouting, yelling, angry angry

The main character is a huge jerk, an emotional ticking bomb that constantly blows up. Makes him a very unlikeable character.

Constant crying, no character development (until the last bit of the movie, I guess). Waste of my time.

You (2018)

Very conflicted

First off the protagonist is very charming and seems like a great guy, excluding how creepy and stalker-like he can get. You begin to start rooting for him, even though he has done terrible things. But he's not the character I have a problem with, it's Beck. Her character seemed okay at the start, and Joe and her seemed like a very cute couple, even though she came off as annoying at times. She definitely isn't a character who knows how to be her own person or stand up for herself, and always needs Joe to help her see situations more clearly. My biggest irritation with her is that in the end she is not right for Joe. Rather Karen would have been a perfect match, and it is upsetting that once Beck seduced Joe back into her life she goes on a "Who's Candice?" Obsession. I know the past with Joe is ugly but it bugs me that Beck is the way she is as a character. I get that people would be curious about their significant others past, but how the writers make her seem, she just comes off the wrong way. She can't seem to focus on the good in her life and is too focused on everyone else, when in reality she needs to better herself as a person. She's obsessive, and in the end, was never the right girl for Joe.

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

Why can't we have more paranormal TV shows like this?

I wish they had more paranormal TV shows this good! I loved how they incorporated actors from previous paranormal films.

Vanpaia naito (2008)

The protagonist makes it hard to watch

The main character, Yuki, makes this show difficult to watch. She comes off as naive and clingy. Her interactions with the other characters will make you cringe.