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Recent TV (April 2019)

I’m not quite sure what my love of Killing Eve‘s Villanelle says about me.

In recent years, the majority of my TV watching has been of the streaming variety, mostly binged from Netflix. I did notice that I’m watching a few series on a weekly basis this month, and here they are.

Doom Patrol. I thought the Titans series was pretty good, and my favorite episode from its first season was the one that starred the Doom Patrol. Because of that, I was incredibly hyped for this series, and so it’s a bit unfortunate that it just didn’t land for me. I still have the last 2-3 episodes of the 10-episode season to watch, and I will watch them, but I don’t think I’m in for a second season if they do end up making one. I don’t like that they went less funny and more just plain weird with their stories, and I thought the addition of Cyborg was incredibly lame — or maybe it’s just that I really don’t like his portrayal in this series.

Game of Thrones. Certainly one of my favorite series of all time (like everyone else), and following this week’s episode (the battle of Winterfell), I’m now even more excited to see how things are going to fall out over the final three episodes. Let’s see who wins this goddamn game of thrones.

Killing Eve. I loved the first season to bits, and I’m enjoying the second season (so far) just as much. Never mind Eve though, for me it’s all about Villanelle, I just can’t get enough of her. I’m definitely happy that they’ve already announced that they’ll do a third season.

Twilight Zone. Before watching the first episode, I was a bit bummed by the headlines I’d seen that suggested this new take on the classic franchise was a bust (at least based on the first four episodes, that had been made available to reviewers). Maybe it’s because I went in with lowered expectations then (after my initial excitement at the thought of Jordan Peele taking on the series), but I’ve enjoyed all of the episodes so far (the first four). Sure, they’re not all amazing, and some could have been cut in half, but I’ve enjoyed them none the less, as well as the weird Twilight Zonian twists we get in all of them. It’s maybe not for everyone, but it’s working for me.

Warrior. Produced by Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shanon, this is based on an idea Lee had in the 70s for a series that he never got to make, but that later inspired David Carradine’s Kung Fu. I’ve only watched the first episode, but I dig the setting (late 19th century San Francisco, focusing on the Chinese communities), and the fights are fun. I’m in for at least a few more episodes.

What We Do in the Shadows. The movie this is based on is one of my all-time favorite comedies, and so I was incredibly excited at the thought of getting a series based on it, and from the same creators. Five episodes in, I’ll say that I like it, but I’m not overly in love with it. It has its moments — some brilliant — but for the most part it’s so-so, making me think that the insanely fun premise of the movie isn’t really enough to sustain a series. I’ll keep watching it though, for the amazing cast at least.

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Game of Thrones (Season 6)

Did the season premiere live up to the hype? Well, it was fun to be in that world again, no matter how interesting the episode ended up being. Sure, I would have liked more development in regards to my namesake (is he fucking dead or what), but I don’t know how much we could expect to happen. Things are being set in motion, it’s nice to see Brienne finally engage in the job she wanted, and we’ll see how Daenerys gets out out her predicament. I have a feeling (and hope) that episode 2 is going to be much more interesting.

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Game of Thrones

During last week’s PSN holiday sale I picked up telltale’s Game of Thrones for a steal (as well as Tales of the Borderlands), and started playing episode 2 last night on PS4 (I played episode 1 on iPad when it first released last year). I quite enjoyed the first episode, story-wise, and what I’ve played so far of episode 2 seems to be good as well, but the one thing that bothers me is that I find the game to be ugly. I quite like the comic book esthetic that Telltale has used on The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, but here, the game looks really muddy and dirty, with character models that look like they’ve come out of early Telltale games – which were fine back then, but you expect things to look better now, especially on PS4. I’m sure I’ll continue to play through all of the episodes since I want to experience the story, but I wish they would have used a more interesting look for the game, even if it was just a retread of the Walking Dead model.

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The Walking Dead: Season 2

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I used to play all of the Telltale games, but finally got to a point where I was burnt out on them – it even happened before, and then I felt a spurt of interest when Game of Thrones and Tales of the Borderlands launched, but after playing through the first episode of each, even though I enjoyed them, I didn’t feel the urge to play more. When it comes to the second season of The Walking Dead, I had played the first episode, then around the time I was playing those other games played the second episode, but again, I just didn’t continue with it – and let me add that I’ve always played all Telltale games on iPad. With the entire season 2 becoming available as one of the free PS+ titles this month, I decided to start episode 3, and not only am I having a good time playing it, but I quite like playing it on a TV screen (on PS4). I’m going to at least play though all of season 2, and then we’ll see if I still want to play more and jump back into Game of Thrones or Tales of the Borderlands (or both).

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Game of Thrones

I remember the days when fall was when you’d get excited for new TV seasons, and now, for me, it’s always this time of the year, as I get all of my favorite shows in one go: Mad Men, Louie, and Game of Thrones – and this year I got the fantastic Daredevil as well. The first episode of Game of Thrones was a bit slow, but I was totally sucked in, loving being back in this world, seeing these characters scheming again, and excited at the prospect of what’s to come (Tyrion meeting Daenerys, oh my).

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Game of Thrones

One of my most anticipated games this year was Telltale’s take on Game of Thrones, and the other day I played through episode 1 on iPad (I play all Telltale games on iPad, my platform of choice for that type of game). It starts out slow, and at first I wasn’t digging the aesthetics at all, as everything was just coming off as muddy – I much preferred the illustrated/comic aesthetic that Telltale used for The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us (yes, those games are indeed based on comics, but still, no reason they couldn’t continue to use that look). But I eventually came to appreciate it a bit more, and wow, the ending caught me completely by surprise – my jaw literally dropped – which is a very good thing indeed. I always found myself having to make a lot difficult decisions throughout the game, which is also in keeping with the world of GoT. Can’t wait for episode 2.

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The Wolf Among Us

I finally got around to playing the last 2 episodes of this series this week, both in one sitting, and wow, what a great end to what ended up being my favorite Telltale game so far. The reason I took so long to get to the end is that I think I finally got burnt out a bit on Telltale games earlier this year – up to that point, I’d played every single episode of every single game they’ve released on iOS, as well as a few others. The break did me some good though, and now I’m reading to also go and finish season 2 of The Walking Dead (only played through the first 2 episodes), and I absolutely can’t wait for the Game of Thrones series to start next month.

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Mad Men

So yes, my other favorite show is Mad Men, so right now I’m dealing with the issue of which one to watch first (Game of Thrones usually wins). It’s been a slow start to this final season, but I’m enjoying it so far, and especially enjoyed this latest episode, with Don bonding with Sally. I do think we’re about to get a lot of office turmoil fairly soon through, and I can’t wait.

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Game of Thrones

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Don’t worry, I won’t mention any spoilers, but 3 episodes in, this is certainly a great start to a season so far. I won’t say anything else other than this continues to be my favorite show (along with another series that just started its final season).

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The Walking Dead: Season 2

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The first episode of Season 2 has just come out – thankfully on iOS at the same as all the other platforms this time – and I just played through it in one sitting (as you should). Wow. Just as good as the first season, and it already made me feel extreme sadness (the dog sequence) and made me wince (the suturing sequence). I’ve played through pretty much all of Telltale’s games that have come out over the past few years (Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Law & Order, Puzzle Agent), and am constantly amazed at how each new release keeps getting better and better. Just makes me that much more excited for next year’s Game of Thrones and Tales From of Borderlands games (on top of the next Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us episodes).