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What If...?: What If... Strange Supreme Intervened? (2023)
The ending disappointed me
I like the series, but sadly, I do not think the ending delivers. It makes a weird turn in Strange Supremes' story. Instead of having to watch over two world enders forever as a sort of penance, he suddenly can go wherever he wants and just keeps the bad guys in pokeballs. This episode seems to throw all the rules out of the window and not in a good way. Cpt. Carter uses all infinity stones at once and lives. Seems like a spit in the face of Tony Stark who died forever once he did the same. Kahhori shluld be on a similar level to many of the characters that Strange imprisoned but somehow he cannot for the life of him catch her or defeat her? The story and powers just seem all over the place to me. I liked the 1st season finale much better.
Underwater (2020)
It doesn't get enough credit
I feel like critics are looking for flaws that aren't there. There are horrors that are plain boring and those get similar acclaim.
Underwater is visually amazing, has great cast, has an interesting premise and mainly, it's thrilling and fun to watch! It's not 10/10 masterpiece, but still. I recommend giving it a shot.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018)
Entertaining but not entirely consistent
Beware!
I might have rated this a bít too favorably because it reminded me of my childhood, watching Sabrina the teenage witch.
The costumes and effects seemed better, or at least more consistent than the Witcher. I believe that the practical effects and makeup made this possible.
Better actors than I expected. Especially Sabrina, Nick, aunties, Blackwood, Wardwell/Lilith, Sussie/Theo, Dorcas, and Agatha stood out to me.
The characters sometimes seemed devoid of logic, but most of them are supposed to be 16 so in a way that is entirely accurate.
The rules and/or physics of the universe did not always make sense. One moment someone or something is powerful, the next it is not a big deal. At one moment someone seems friendly, only to turn on his friends or allies without sufficient explanation.
I do not mind the advocacy of women or LGBT rights. But sometimes it bordered on ridiculous. I half expected an episode where somehow Sabrina defeats an opponent with her period (which would by the way be equivalent of a male hero defeating someone with a morning erection). Also, the words "strong women" or equivalent constitute about one-third of the script.
I felt that when you want to send a positive message about trans right, you should avoid doing the following. A trans man(boy) trying out for a school basketball team is being told that he is not a man therefore he cannot be on the team or even try. After an intervention from the headmistress, he is told that he will be allowed to try and if he is good enough, he will be let on the team. But then when he tries and fails miserably because he is like 150cm and weights some 50kg by the looks of him, Sabrina enchants him and he starts doing well (presumably she did not change his entire body structure but only helped him in that specific case). I believe that letting people on competitive teams just because they want to even though they do not have the skills or the physique is not fair. Telling a trans kid that they automatically deserve to be anything they want to be even though they can not get there on their own merrit is not a good message. I would not want that for my friends or my kids. Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.
Carnival Row (2019)
This show doesn't get enough credit
I'm not claiming that it's flawless, but the acting, effects, the slow uncovering of a mystery, the tension and sometimes horror, the sadness, the love, the mythology... It just works for me and while it doesn't already have world famous book as a source, like for example The Witcher has, it doesn't make as blatant mistakes. There is a certain disharmony for lack of a better world from time to time, but I would still put it far above most shows, fictional or not. If nothing else, the acting really makes it worth watching. Just look at the list of names attached to it.
The Witcher (2019)
A must-watch title but not entirely satisfactory
Someone said this before me but phenomenal Cavill is reason enough to watch the show. Without him, it goes down to 4/10. Yennefer and some other characters are also well cast and will not offend, they can even add value. This is the case for Jaskier who is also a great fit. The supporting cast, however, is often miscast and even if some of them do a good job I cannot really get immersed. An example would be Foltest who just does not look right for the part even though his acting seems fine and Triss who at the very least does not look like her character at all. The same can be generally for all actors who got cast as white characters while being of their ethnicities. I do not see the need. At least Zerrikans are not white.
The props and effects are dismal. Some are good but it seems like after creating a few they fired the person responsible and decided to portray a less believable and appealing world. Nilfgaardian armor and some of the spells are amongst the best examples of the worse ones while some of the other costumes like Geralts or some monster like the kikimora are amongst the good ones. I personally also liked the Striga.
The writing is unfortunately lacking. In fact many performances are hurt by a bad script and the time skipping while interesting at times is confusing or outright unpleasant to watch the rest of the show.
The fight choreography of Geralt is usually great and only sometimes hurt by bad cuts. Big battles are mostly letdown and apart from Viglefortz who is known as an exception in this regard, other mages should maybe use magic instead of weapons. It feels weird when Yennefer apparently prefers to fight a greater number of opponents with sword and dagger when later it seems that she alone is capable of destroying armies by a single spell. I know that at the time she discovers that she can unleash the power of friendship. Something she could not do before because she did not have friends. But it still feels wrong that she is almost as good of a swordswoman as Geralt and that Sabrina is sharpshooter first and a witch second.
I could do without most of the added content. Why would they cut some of the book material and replace it with worse one is beyond me. I must admit that sometimes it can do good and clearly, they wanted to add solo adventures to Yen and Ciri, but there was still perfectly good content that they could use and one if they felt like adding some of their own, they should have been very careful as that was something that can clearly upset people who read the source and even some people who did not.
Overall it is more of a disappointment that the show wasted so much potential rather than it being unwatchable. As I stated at the begining, Cavill alone is a treat to watch and there are many other aspects to like. I only wish they just made a reboot where my new favorite witcher is also producer and director since he obviously knows what the show should look like and cares deeply that the product is a quality cinema.