Whatcha Been Watching?

[Combine Hunter]

Legend of Korra Season 1 on Blu-ray: Puts pretty much every animated TV show to shame. Can't wait for Book 2 this September.

Breaking Bad Season 5 Part 2: That first episode was great, directed by Crayston himself too.

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah, was a brilliant, tense new episode. Can't imagine where it's going to finish up

Blitzes through series 3 of Boardwalk Empire, which continues to be fan-bloody-tastic. Due to not having Sky I only get to see it when the DVD comes out. But it's always a joy to watch.

[Scrustle]

I finished watching Korra a while ago actually, and I wanted to talk about it, but I don't like to swarm threads posting over and over in a row. I guess enough time has passed to talk about it, and we're on a new page now, so it's not so spammy.

I'd always thought the finale of the show felt rushed, but seeing it a second time now I can see just how much of the whole series feels rushed too. The finale is still the worst offender, but there are plenty of things through the whole series that felt like they really needed more time devoted to them. I still love the show as a whole, but there are so many things that weren't explored and fleshed out, and plot points that were either unceremoniously dropped or just felt like they came out of nowhere. For example...

Spoiler: show

What the hell happened with Asami and Mako? In the finale Korra and Mako hook up, and that's great and everything, but the love triangle (or a square, rather) subplot just ended with no conclusion. Mako and Asami never officially broke up, and even if they did, I'm sure she would be pretty pissed that Mako went straight to Korra in the end. And what about Bolin? He seemed to get over Korra pretty damn quickly. While they didn't exactly have a long romance together, the way it just ended never to be spoken of again was a bit anticlimactic.

And on the topic of Mako and Asami, I never really felt like their characters were fleshed out enough. While there are still plenty of great, deep characters with a strong personality in the show, I struggle to think of even what the defining characteristics of those two are. There's certainly potential to flesh out those characters with their past and relationship with their parents, but I found them both to be pretty bland.

I think there are quite a few fairly significant things with the larger plot that were very underutilised too. For one thing, the conflict within the city never really made much sense. Not that it didn't stand up to logical examination, but because they barely tell us anything about it. I think it was great and really ambitious to have the plot focus around what is essentially a civil rights movement, but seen from the eyes of who would usually be the "bad" people. The authority figure. The "oppressor". While I also admire the way they took this premise and used it to show sometimes the rebels fighting for "equality" can sometimes be the far greater evil, they never really show what they are supposedly fighting against. What are they rebelling against? There is never any reference to or acknowledgement that non-benders are actually being oppressed, or any attempt to illustrate that isn't the case either. All we see is Amon seizing control through violent means. They really missed an opportunity to flesh out this conflict much more than it ended up being, and thus missing out on what could have been a much deeper and more involving plot. It could be argued that all that Korra is really fighting for is the maintaining of the status quo, whatever that happens to be.

There is a moment in the story where they showed potential to realise some of these ideas though, but it again was dropped before it could really develop. When we see Tarrlok beginning to seize more political power in the city, and starts abusing it and mistreating citizens. That could have turned in to something amazing! Like showing how more aggressively draconian governing in response to a threat of violence can lead to the alleged oppression arising in a place where it didn't actually exist before. It could create a second antagonist, and show how complicated these conflicts can be. Korra would not only be fighting against Amon, but also against a corrupt establishment, as well as trying to maintain confidence with the citizens that she's trying to fight for them, even though to them it looks like a mess and she could be on anyone's side.

Or they could have even woven a mystery subplot in there about how Tarrlok and Amon were working together in secret so they could gain power for themselves. That would have been great! And it would have made total sense too, seeing as how they were both brothers anyway. It would have fit their backstories perfectly! Well, apart from the stuff about Amon running away and keeping his identity a secret from his brother when he returned. But they were both obviously "bad", manipulative and scheming characters from the same family, both trying to gain control of the city at the same time. It would make perfect sense that they would work together, and it would have been a great reveal.

Then there's the bending-blocking thing. This one is less of a problem in my eyes, but it still feels like it needed more thought put in to it. While there are all kinds of crazy magical abilities characters can have in this world, Bloodbending that can permanently cut off connection to an element seems a bit of a stretch for me. I can buy Energybending, but doing the same thing with Waterbending seems too overpowered to me. Energybending is supposed to be something very powerful that only the Avatar can do, so doing the same thing just by blocking chi via Bloodbending doesn't seem like it should be possible to me. And how do you block a spiritual connection to an element with Bloodbending anyway? I fear the answer to that would start to get in to the realm of Midichlorians. It just doesn't really sit right with me. But this isn't as big of a problem to me as the other stuff, because this is all magic. They have artistic license with this stuff.

But that said, I did really enjoy the series as a whole, and it does a whole lot much better than the majority of TV shows out there. Not just cartoons.

Korra is a brilliant character. Really well realised. Even though you can see she's strong willed and ambitious, and somewhat hot-headed, you see other sides to her as well. Like her frustration with not being able to get Airbending, and her fear of failing and having her Bending taken away. Her vulnerability feels real there, because she's not a weak character at all.

I really liked Bolin too. While he's somewhat "the new Sokka" I think he still has a lot of unique qualities to him. Seeing his relationship with Korra evolve was great, even if some parts of it were dropped short as I mentioned before.

Tenzin is fantastic too. The way he always tries to keep a straight face and be the serious, stoic teacher when everything seems to be trying to break his composure is hilarious. But he doesn't come across as just the butt of the joke either. He still has an air of authority and respectability to him. It's just funny seeing him try to keep things together when he's got his wild children climbing over his face, or when he gets invested in the pro bending matches that he supposedly hates to much. His relationship with Lin is great too. She's another of my favourite characters. The way they handle these characters together is really good. How at first they still have that tension between them which they don't want to acknowledge, but as their past is revealed and they talk it over, seeing them work together is great.

But on the topic of Tenzin's children, I have mixed feelings about them. I mostly enjoyed them, especially the sisters, but sometimes it felt like the comedy they brought was a little too immature, especially for the tone of the show. It's funny hearing Ikki and Jinora talking to Korra about the troubles in her love life, and them causing more troubles for her therein, but Meelo just seemed way too much of a token "for the kids" comic relief character. He does Fartbending. In a show about a violent revolution, he explodes comically oversized farts in people's faces. Sometimes he had a few funny moments, like when he demonstrates how to "be the leaf", and his expertise at "meditating", but most of the time I felt like he didn't really belong.

But back on the positive side, the show itself looks absolutely wonderful. Stunning animation. Great detail and cinematography. That much is obvious. I really love how it's proper animation too. Although it's not so common now, when the original show came out, it was still in a period of time where almost all "animated" shows were using crappy, lazy CG methods. Characters were skeletons with hinges for joints, or just really simple and flat looking. I really hated that. Then Avatar came along using traditional methods, and was one of the best looking cartoons ever made. Korra obviously stepped that up, and it's breathtaking. Although I still think there are some things about the original show's animation that are better. While the choreography is great in both shows, I preferred the style of it in TLA. It used more exotic and traditional fighting styles, while Korra uses more modern styles. Far more emphasis on the pro bending style. Also, the finale of TLA is just mind-blowing with its action scenes. The scale of it rose to something so much further above what Korra ever did. While you can't really expect the events of Korra to rival the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the Sozen's Comet episodes just blow me away so much more than anything in Korra. And the sound design in those episodes too, my god. It would be so brilliant to see TLA done with the same level of resources as Korra, and also in widescreen HD, instead of 4:3 and artefacting SD.

But that's not to say the action scenes in Korra are bad. They're all bloody brilliant. The big fight in the stadium is one of the stand-out moments of the series.

The music is also stellar. Again, it's amazing in TLA too, but I think Korra has it beat on this one. It really adds so much to the show. It has a really great mix of styles too. Where else would you hear traditional Chinese instruments played alongside ragtime/jazz? My favourite pieces are the ones that mix the Chinese stuff with more traditional orchestral instruments though. They meld together so perfectly, and still manage to sound like nothing else.

I think there's a good chance that a lot of the problems I have with the series can be fixed in future series too. With what the story is focusing on this time around, the more traditional fighting forms are likely to feature much more heavily, and since they now have three series planned they have much more chance to flesh out characters and events more appropriately. Really looking forward to it, as well as the potential for a much more in depth looks back to the cast of TLA and events later in their lives.

I hope my rambling mess makes sense to people.

[JaySevenZero]

World War Z

*sigh*

[Todinho]

Yeah that movie is not that great the book is a good read though.

I Finnaly saw Pacific Rim and man this is the most anime movie I've ever seen and its fantastic

[Scrustle]

Saw the first few episodes of Legend of Korra Book 2. Great stuff! They set up quite an interesting conflict, and the way the story has progressed it seems there might be two separate plot lines going on at the same time. For the moment at least. But they showed Korra going in to the Avatar State several times, simply at will. I was pretty sure that should only be possible when her life in in danger, or some equally important moment. Not when she's just trying to win an Air Scooter race. Well, whatever. Magical world and all that. Things can change over time too, like lightning and metal bending becoming commonplace.

I've also watched the first three episodes of an anime called Psycho-Pass that I've heard people going on about. It seems interesting, and the episodes I've seen so far are good, but I'm not sure on it yet. From what they've presented so far, the premise of the show is pretty stupid. But given how much I've heard people raving about it, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. I just hope the "message" of the whole thing doesn't end up being that I fear it will be.

I'm waiting on the delivery of a box set of an anime series I ordered recently too. Serial Experiments Lain. It's four days late so far. It did come from Australia though.

[Flabyo]

Serial Experiments Lain is amazingly good, I really should get around to rewatching that.

[Dante Fireseed]

last night watched the most recent episode of Breaking Bad. That show is not only amazing, but now has gone into full on batshit crazy territory. Incredible drama.

[DomsBeard]

On the opposite end of the scale Dexter looks like it's going to end in a very damp squib sadly.

[dezm0nd]

Arggghentina!

[Scrustle]

Just watched the latest episode of Adventure Time. Super Hexagon is in it.

[Todinho]

So I caught up with Korra

Spoiler: show

yep im not digging it they basically decided to start fresh and forget the first season which is good but I kinda hoped they tried to fix that ending but ok my problem is Korra herself she has learned nothing! and that ties in with the ending of the first season too she just charges along stupidly into her problems,I hate keep comparing this to the Last airbender but Aang had to go a whole spiritual training to learn to control the avatar state I you want me to believe Korra can do it in a flash?also once again she just keeping giving Tenzin shit because he wants her to learn the airbender way(which she didnt learn and still managed to learn airbending anyway) and then she goes and tells him to take a hike because of this new guy(who is clearly evil) I was ok with in season 1 but now I just cant stand her and her whinning of "nobody understands me!" ,now the civil war plot in itself is interesting and im looking foward to see where it goes Im also loving seeing Tenzin with his siblings(can we have a show only about that?) also Asami was in a episode she's cool can we have more of her instead of whiny Korra?And one last thing Bolin scenes are not funny stop trying to put them everywhere

[Scrustle]

Been watching Korra too.

Spoiler: show

I don't think Korra is whiny at all. I get what you mean about her not really learning and still always doing stuff without thinking, but I don't think that makes her whiny. I don't get a "nobody gets me" feeling from her. She just reacts to things angrily a lot of the time. It probably would be better if they spent more time focusing on fixing that, instead of having her be angry at everyone to create drama.

Apart from what I've already said about this new series, there is one thing that's bothering me slightly. A lot of the new characters seem kind of pointless. Like those twins. They really don't seem to serve any purpose at all, except for to give Bolin something to do. So without them, he's kind of pointless in this story too so far. Tenzin's siblings don't seem to be very useful to the plot either. Definitely more so with the sister. At least Bumi is somewhat amusing. Although I think Tenzin dealing with family issues is a good idea, I'm just not getting the feeling that these two characters are fleshed out enough to make it feel genuine. And that "zany" businessman too. He's not even really that funny either. Even Mako doesn't seem to be doing much. They barely show him. I'm not too bothered about Assami not being around though. Never really liked her much as a character. She seemed kind of dull in the first series, and having her off doing something else is better than what could potentially be a retread of the same love triangle again.

I don't really know what to think so far. Although I like that they set up for what could be a pretty interesting plot, so far it seems a lot of it isn't really necessary. Hopefully it'll turn out well since they've planned for a three-series story arc, but with how many new worthless characters they've thrown in at this early stage, it kind of feels like they're still trying to rush things, like in the last series.

Maybe at some point Korra will walk away from this new teacher that she's snubbed Tenzin for and finally realise that she needs him for her spiritual training. But I think that having her caught between the two tribes could be an interesting place to put her in. And I suppose even though this new guy does seem kind of "evil", at first he seemed like he actually was a good choice to go with. He was offering spiritual training to Korra that was more relevant to the immediate problems.

[Todinho]

Been watching Korra too.

Spoiler: show

I don't think Korra is whiny at all. I get what you mean about her not really learning and still always doing stuff without thinking, but I don't think that makes her whiny. I don't get a "nobody gets me" feeling from her. She just reacts to things angrily a lot of the time. It probably would be better if they spent more time focusing on fixing that, instead of having her be angry at everyone to create drama.

Apart from what I've already said about this new series, there is one thing that's bothering me slightly. A lot of the new characters seem kind of pointless. Like those twins. They really don't seem to serve any purpose at all, except for to give Bolin something to do. So without them, he's kind of pointless in this story too so far. Tenzin's siblings don't seem to be very useful to the plot either. Definitely more so with the sister. At least Bumi is somewhat amusing. Although I think Tenzin dealing with family issues is a good idea, I'm just not getting the feeling that these two characters are fleshed out enough to make it feel genuine. And that "zany" businessman too. He's not even really that funny either. Even Mako doesn't seem to be doing much. They barely show him. I'm not too bothered about Assami not being around though. Never really liked her much as a character. She seemed kind of dull in the first series, and having her off doing something else is better than what could potentially be a retread of the same love triangle again.

I don't really know what to think so far. Although I like that they set up for what could be a pretty interesting plot, so far it seems a lot of it isn't really necessary. Hopefully it'll turn out well since they've planned for a three-series story arc, but with how many new worthless characters they've thrown in at this early stage, it kind of feels like they're still trying to rush things, like in the last series.

Maybe at some point Korra will walk away from this new teacher that she's snubbed Tenzin for and finally realise that she needs him for her spiritual training. But I think that having her caught between the two tribes could be an interesting place to put her in. And I suppose even though this new guy does seem kind of "evil", at first he seemed like he actually was a good choice to go with. He was offering spiritual training to Korra that was more relevant to the immediate problems.

Spoiler: show

I just feel a little cheated that we had to go through all of that in season1 to basically have no progress in character at all,yeah many of the new characters are a little odd and do dont really get the businessman either but I really liked tenzin siblings we had little time with them but I felt that they managed to convey the broad strokes of what they are going to be and I think it's a pretty clever way to show us some more of Aang's life but I would like if Zuko showed up at some point he's aparently alive and seeing an old and grumpy zuko would be awesome.
I also dont know how this civil war could possibly be drawn out for 3 seasons but I dont know it is promissing but then again so was the plot in season 1,im still looking foward for more on the sprit front though

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

I really hope we get to see the old characters again, especially Zuko. He was always my favourite from the old show. I think there's a good chance we'll see the old gang at some point though. They seem to be dealing with things that would lead them down a path to see them again, with Tenzin et al. They also kind of hinted at it at SDCC earlier this year. They gave out posters, one with characters from Korra called "New Friends", and this one too. I guess those guys would be a lot older than they are shown in that poster by now, but I think it's still a pretty big hint. If it is the case, it'll be interesting to see how they cast Zuko's older voice too, seeing as how Dante Basco is voicing the new Iroh now. Speaking of which, I was looking forward to seeing him become a bigger character in this new series too, and he's nowhere to be found!

I also really hope we start seeing more of the spirits too. I'm pretty sure that is coming though, given some more stuff they've revealed so far. That's what I was expecting from this series, not a civil war. That's what I want to see. Maybe it'll be connected to Korra's spiritual training or whatever is going to happen at the North Pole. If that's the case then hopefully we don't have long to wait.

[Todinho]

Spoiler: show

This poster just upped my expectations for the season in 100% I dont know if it's a good thing but it's something to look foward too,speaking of Iroh where's the whole united forces or whatever their name is when the southern water tribe is invaded!? maybe they dont know yet but they gotta appear this season,it would be also cool to see Iroh in a bigger role

[DomsBeard]

Now You See Me. Wish I hadn't.

Breaking Bad. I got excited when I saw a hat ffs. Heartbreaking and brilliant in equal measures.

Oh

Spoiler: show

Todd had better die painfully in the finale. Hate him

[Roy42]

I powered through the second half of the final season of Dexter last night. That was basically the stupidest thing I've ever watched. First couple of seasons and season 4 with John Lithgow as the bad guy were pretty good, though.

[DomsBeard]

I've got the last two Dexters to watch and I'm expecting little. The thing that annoys me about Dexter is the fact

Spoiler: show

Quinn suspended something was up with Dexter in season 5 or 6? and even had video evidence from Peter Weller but never followed it up and it hasn't been mentioned since. Pretty sure he knew Dex killed PW too.

[kappisun]

Re dexter. Nothing sadder than seeing a once great show run into the ground. With few exceptions most shows should end about S5