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Reviews
Loki: Glorious Purpose (2021)
The Best Opening Episode
Loki's opening episode was by far the best out of the three latest Marvel shows.
It was fun, dynamic, sassy and dramatic, not to mention fabulous visuals and fantastic cast.
I have to admit, I was never much of a fan of Loki, but I suspect judging by this episode, that I'm going to be.
Owen Wilson looks amazing in his role as Mobius and I hope there will be a lot more of him in the show.
A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
I honestly thought I missed something...
When the movie ended I was left with the distinct feeling that I must have missed something, because Quite Place Part II seemed to me the exact same film as Part I, albeit with some new characters added to the cast.
The ending was especially dissapointing - oh, we now know how to kill these things!.. yeah, but didn't you end the first part with the exact same scene?..
Star Trek: Discovery: Far from Home (2020)
Snoozfest
Okay, so the first episode I liked very well - it was fun, dynamic and interesting.
This episode though... is pretty much the opposite of that.
This is the kind of filler episode where you continue checking how many minutes remain to the episode every ten seconds and keep hoping something interesting and worth watching is going to happen any minute now.
As much as I would love to see an episode dedicated solely to the crew of Discovery, this one was just... meh.
And of course Michael saved them in the end, which adds to the long list of her epic Mary Sue moments.
Anyway, didn't like this episode, thought it was boring and stale...
Tenet (2020)
Meh
So, basically "Tenet" is just "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" sprinkled with Christopher Nolan's usual blend of pompous, pseudo-intellectual rubbish.
P.s. Oh, except the girl is villain's wife, not hero's.
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
A mess, not a Star Trek
TNG might be my least favorite of Star Trek installations, but I'm still a Trekkie and would give a show named after a famouse Starfleet captain a chance.
Unfortunately though Star Trek Picard was a dissapointment.
It is a serial rather than an episodical show, and although the idea for the plot is interesting, it both simultaniusly both simplified and stredched out for ten episodes.
A plot that would have taked a couple of episodes in the old days, now takes a whole season to tell. And what dreadful pacing! The entire show had only two truly engaging episodes (the first one and The Impossible Box), the rest was shoozfest.
And whats with this new tendency to take beloved old characters that had their happy-ednings in their own tv shows or movies and turning then into these bitter and hollow shells of their old selves?
We've seen it done recently with Luke, Han and Leia in Star Wars, and now it Star Trek's turn it seems...
I'm talking about Seven of Nine, of course. Instead of being happily married to Chakotay, she is now some sort of space mercinary and a lesbian too. And so that Seven would be completely and totally miserable they brutally killed Icheb as well.
Some of the new characters were promising though - I think Rios, Soji, Elnor and Narek would have shined in the old style Star Trek series.
As it is though, it's a mess - boring, tedious mess.
The Witcher (2019)
Utter garbage.
This show is an utter garbage for a number of reasons, here's some of them:
- its plot is boring as hell;
- its timeline is confusing as hell;
- its characters are totally miscats.
Star Trek: Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 (2020)
Loved this episode.
Loved this episode.
Super intrigued what will happen next.
Star Trek: Picard: Nepenthe (2020)
Real is not always better.
After the action and drama packed sixth episode, we got an episode that is mostly slower in pace and more reflective.
I loved watching Soji coming to terms with who she really is and that even after everything that she's been through, she's still the kind and trusting girl she always was. Obviously she learned her lesson, but that still didn't change the essense of the person she truly is.
Picard's reunion with Riker and Deanna was a joy to watch. Their family are great people which I believe was very important for Soji to meet in order to retain her humanity.
The adventures of Elnor on the Borg cube were also pretty interesting. I think it's great that he broke away from Picard for a bit and is growing as a character on his own. I felt really sad when Hugh was killed, he was really a great character.
"Nepenthe" was a great episode, but I still wish there was a bit more plot moving forward.
Star Trek: Picard: The Impossible Box (2020)
Nearly perfect episode.
As I predicted (and definitely hoped for) this episode was packed with interesting stuff and we finally see the plot moving forward.
Star Trek Picard so far follows a very similar plot structure to Star Trek Discovery.
Just like STP, STD had a solid first episode and then fell into stagnation for half a season. And by stagnation I mean despite stuff happening, the plot wasn't progressing and each episode felt like a prevew to the next. And then exactly in the middle episode Michael finds Spock and Picards finds Soji and plot finally starts progressing again. It is a pretty unsatisfying model to be honest.
"The Impossible Box" was the second episode, after the "Remembrance", that left me excited and interested rather that frustrated and bored. I can only wish the remaining four episodes would be just as great.
Star Trek: Picard: Stardust City Rag (2020)
I just don't get it...
If you subtract the "Previously on..." and end credits, each episode of Star Trek Picard should be about 30 minutes long. It's not awfuly a lot, but it's enough to make a good engaging episode if you have an interesting plot developing at reasonable pace.
Now lets do the counting - 5 episodes 30 minutes each makes for a 2 and a half hours of material. That should be more than enough time to develop a solid plot and a good story.
Do we have that in Star Trek Picard? I'm afraid not. Not yet, anyway.
And it's all the more frustrating, because the premise of the story itelf is pretty interesting and intriguing. The production is great. The actors are fantastic and I even really like most of the characters.
But. The way the story if unfolding is just... torturous.
Certain plot elements that could have taken a couple of minutes at most take up nearly quarter of the episode. It's frustrating as hell.
I had the same feeling with Star Trek Discovery season 2 where they had a solid start and then half the season felt like one big filler episode until Spock finally showed up and the plot started to unfold. And even then it wasn't at all perfect.
I truly do like Seven and am genuinely pleased to see her in this show, but I honestly don't like the way the creators of the show continue to take away attention from the main plot point - who Soji is, what she's up to, what't the deal with her being the Destroyer and all that - and diverting it to everything and everyone else. There should be a certain balance between developing all the charaters in the show - there should be main characters whose development should be a priority, otherwise the plot is all over the place. If STP was an episodic show I would totally understand such an approach, but it is a series show and a constant steady development of the story is requared.
EDIT: I re-watched the episode and I have to say that it did improve upon a second viewing. Maybe because I wasn't expecting to see what was up with Soji and could appreciate what was going on more. This is a decent episode and the best thing about it is definitely acting. I especially liked Seven and Elnor.
All that said I still believe STP should move at a bit more energetic pace and stop with all that over-explaining.
Star Trek: Picard: Absolute Candor (2020)
Mixed feelings.
You know, there is a reason why the first episode of Star Trek Picard is rated higher than the following three. And the reason for that is that stuff actually happened in the first episode and I thought "We're off for a great dynamic start, I hope the entire series is just like this first episode!"
It's not. My hopes were in vain... Picard spent the entire second episode just talking to a bunch of people. I get it that the show is introducing it's characters, but... the characters should be introduced while the plot is actually unfolding and stuff is happening. Otherwise it's just boring and frustrating to watch.
Going back to episode 4 - Absolute Candor - I both liked and disliked it.
I liked the introduction of Elnor, he seems like a great and interesting character.
I didn't like Picard much in this episode. Frankly, I don't understand the guy. Why didn't he just left Vashti after Elnor refused to go with him? He had seven minutes left on Vashti and he thought it prudent to spend this time provoking Romuland by acting all noble and all that. And that after he didn't go through with his promises the first time. Couldnt he just left the Romulans alone to sort their stuff out themselves since he is not going to stick around anyway. And then he rebuked Elnor for killing that Romulan guy. Maybe I didn't understand fully Picard's motives but he seemed to me to be a pompous sanctimonious ass.
Also didn't like the plot line of Narek and Soji in this episode. Simply becasue it's stomping in one place an not evolving. We already know that Soji is an android and is unaware of that. We already know that she is a supposed Destroyer from Romulan epic tales or whaterer. We already know that Romuland are after her. We already know that Narssia is evil and creepy.
It was frustrating to watch, honestly.
That said I think STP is a great production and the actors are fantastic. Whoever is responsible for casting in this show is doing a great job.
Although I do find Picard and Raffi to be somewhat annoying.
Star Trek: Picard: The End Is the Beginning (2020)
The plot drags slooowly.
After the wonderful first episode I'm sad to say but Star Trek Picard's plot has been dragging slowly and tediously.
The second episode, which I didn't review, was basically Picard talking to a banch of different people throughout the entire episode. It had it's Soji/Narek and Narissa moments which I enjoyed and that was it.
The third episode is the worst so far. Why? Because nothing new and interesting happens!
It was once again Picard talking to people - Laris being cautious, Zhaban being helpful, meeting old Starfleet buddies, Romulans attacking...
It was like a long and boring review of the last two episodes:
we already know that Jean Luce is at odds with Starfleet and his old buddies;
we already know that there is a conspiracy underway in Starfleet that has something to do with Romulans;
we already know that Laris is against Jean Luce going onto this mission and that Zhaban is supportive;
we already know that there is some mystery surrounding Soji and her sister Dahj and that Romulans are looking for them both to kill them or extract information or whatever;
ect ect
In the end I'm not saying it was a bad episode - Star Trek Picard is a great production with lovely sets and fantastic actors.
But honestly though, don't drag the plot and make it into a tedious frustrating mess. Id rather have less episodes with more happening in them than more episodes with stredched out pointless non-action.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Pointless trilogy.
The Force Awakens wasn't a perfect film, but it was interesting and exciting anought to be a great start to a great story.
Then The Last Jedi wasn't an altogether terrible film, it had it's moments (mostly related to Reylo), but it still felt dull and rather dissapointing.
Not that I've The Rise of Skywalker I cand say that this trilogy is basically pointless.
It acomplishes nothing, absolutely nothing.
The final sotry of Rey was basically a rip-off of Luke's story (while simultaneously making Luke himself into a bitter miserable old hermit) and the whole point was stolen from Anakin. It was Anakin who defeated Palpatine and brought back balance to the Force. There was absolutely no need to retell this story.
Im not sure if it's all JJ Abrams' fault, but he isnt exactly known for inventing new stories... Its worth remembering that Star Trek Into Darkness was in large part a rip-off of The Wrath of Khan.
The saddest thing about all of this is that this project had potential. It had great actors playing interesting (as of TFA) chacarters, the story could be done into something truly great.
Instead it was made into a poinless rubbish.
I still think the actors did an amazing job with their characters - I especially love Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac.
Star Trek: Discovery: Such Sweet Sorrow (2019)
Lots of teary goodbyes, not enough plot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for sentimentality, but only when it is justified and carefully dosed.
And the saddest thing about all of this is that despite this episode being almost entirely dedicated to the Burnham/crew saying goodbye to each other repeatedly and making teary promises, it still doesnt go beyond the general level. There is a scene between Ash and Michael, but we've seen the exact same scene between these characters for the past several episodes. Same goes for Stamets and Hugh. Nothing changes, nothing evolves in this episode.
Discovery has a serious problem with pacing. This weeks episode sadly joins the list of those episodes that you watch and just can't wait for all the talk and tears to stop and action to begin.
There were a lot of conversations and teary speeches and not nearly enough to move the plot along. I expected a battle between Discovery and Enterprise and Control's Section 31 ships becase thats what the last week trailer teased.
Another thing that keeps bothering me is that it seems that every important decision that it taken on Discovery is taken by Burnham with Pike serving only to give the final orders to the crew. It leaves one baffled as to who is the comanding officer here and if Pike is even needed considering that Burnham is enough to solve any problem and make every choice and decision.
The show is beautiful, the actors are amazing -- esp SMG, Ethan Peck, Anson Mount and Michelle Yeoh (I was also happy to see Rebecca Romijn return in this episode) -- but when the episode leaves you annoyed and baffled, instead of amazed and excited, the show has problem. And sadly there are too many episodes in this show that fall under the former category.
The last weeks episode was amaing, this one is a pass.
Star Trek: Discovery: The Red Angel (2019)
The Red Angel
You know, when we all came up with theories about who the Red Angel really was, I was actually considering the idea of it being Michael's real mother.
But I always dismissed it because I thought that making another mother-figure character for Michael would be just too much - there would be Amanda, Michael's adoptive mother who raised her, there would be Phillipa, who loved and was proud of Michael as if she was her own daughter, and now Michael's real mother is here too.
I don't know... I thought making Michael's real mother the Red Angel would be almost as cheesy as making it Michael herself.
To be perfectly honest Im kinda disappointed with how things are turning out as of now. As much as I love the character of Michael and Sonequa Martin-Green, there is just too much of her - she caused the Klingon war, then she ended it and now the future of the Galaxy is all about her again.
Seriously though, by this point the show probably should be renamed into Star Trek: Michael Burnham. It's not about the ship or it's crew, it's all about Michael and her life and her family. And once again, as much as I like and appreciate this character, this is just going too far for my liking.
I've always supported this show, I really don't want to write a negative review by the time it ends. There's still four episodes to go. We'll see how it goes now.
Star Trek: Discovery: If Memory Serves (2019)
What an amazing episode!
"If Memory Serves" is one of my favourite episodes of ST Discovery! What an amazing episode it was.
I absolutely loved Ethan Peck as Spock - I was a little doubtful when I first saw pictures of him in character, but to actually see him portray Spock - I was blown away by how amazingly well cast Ethan Peck was.
Everything about this episode was great - Spock and Michael's relationship, the Talosians, Pike and Vina, Discovery's crew is delightful as usual.