The characters are fun and enjoyable to watch. It takes interesting twists and turns. The overall story is well thought out and kind of a unique idea. But man, it is paced soooo badly. Its like they had about 12 episodes worth of ideas but were told it had to be 16. The character's conflicts sort of just resolve themselves out of nowhere and then they just keep hanging around. It does keep you interested but not for the right reasons. You are like, wait so this person is just dead now? How is this gonna work? And then everyone just moves on to something else. At episode 6 I felt like I was watching one of the best k-dramas I've seen. By the end I was like, wow this was all kind of a waste of time. All the character flaws the protagonists have are essentially gone in favor of cutesy perfect people. Very little is properly explained and the ending, my god. Absolutely one of the worst endings ever written. They wasted so much time in the last 4 episodes on pointless drivel and then the last episode they rush through all these extremely important plot points. And the final 20 minutes makes zero sense. I enjoyed the ride but can't recommend anyone watch it. The disappointment I feel right now wasn't worth all the great things about it.
Reviews
5 Reviews
My Name
(2021– )
Hackneyed story done flawlessly
26 September 2022
This show's main plot is so bad that you can figure out whats going to happen from the first episode. It adds almost nothing to the genre. But, that being said, every aspect is executed perfectly. The action sequences are gorgeous, somehow both frantic and messy while also being fluid. The main character is gripping to watch, every fight is brutal and desperate and she pops off the screen every second. The cinematography is fantastic, it's dynamic without being excessive or nauseating. The actors were built for their roles. The villain and main character ooze with chemistry. The slow development of their characters is seamless from one episode to the next, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome.
Even though every beat feels stolen from every cop revenge film ever, it still manages to be tense almost constantly. This would be one of my favorite crime dramas I've ever seen if it weren't for the painfully predictable plot. If you aren't hoping for a deeply intellectual experience, I highly recommend this show.
Even though every beat feels stolen from every cop revenge film ever, it still manages to be tense almost constantly. This would be one of my favorite crime dramas I've ever seen if it weren't for the painfully predictable plot. If you aren't hoping for a deeply intellectual experience, I highly recommend this show.
The House
(III) (2022)
Criminally Underrated
6 September 2022
This is the exact kind of treasure that Netflix is likely to stop funding in the future. It's weird and creepy and beautiful and fascinating and every scene leaves you confused and intrigued for where the rest of it is going. And to find out at the end that it's at least partially REAL stop motion just blew me away. Stop motion has always been the one of the most underappreciated art forms. I could go into excruciating detail about what I think it's all about, but really I don't think it matters as much as how visceral my reaction to it was. I found myself leaning into the screen trying to absorb every detail, glean some pattern or hint or symbolism. It did feel a tad pretentious at times, and sometimes felt like it was losing the plot a bit. But overall, probably one of the best things to come out of 2022.
Better Than Us
(2018–2019)
Unlikable characters, about 10 hours too long
21 July 2022
I was originally going to give this 6 stars but Im docking it a star for wasting so much of my time. It has extremely strong undertones of misogyny throughout the series, but most notable in the first half. The women are duplicitous, cruel, and crazy, and are constantly shown in a negative light. Every character is a trope, literally every one. It has as much originality as a bag of rocks.
The entire Liquidator movement has no back story, no motivation, no stakes. In fact, partway through the show they sabatoge their own terrorist organization's motivations and origins. The characters make zero progress, waffling back and forth between their ambitions and their humanity until they happen to land on one of the two permanently. If you want to see a 14 hour exploration of this topic done properly, watch someone play through "Detroit: Become Human." In fact, I wouldnt be surprised if that was their inspiration.
Id love to write a whole essay on every way this show fails. But Im also not going to exaggerate just because I dont like it. The cinematography is good, the acting is good, the casting is spot on. The action is well done (although lacking, some episodes are a slog considering its a show about futuristic robots). Dialogue is pretty organic and the characters are relatively believable albeit one dimentional.
Absolutely do not recommend you waste 14 whole hours of your life on this woman-hating, derivative, bloated series. Extremely surprising to me how highly reviewed this is.
The entire Liquidator movement has no back story, no motivation, no stakes. In fact, partway through the show they sabatoge their own terrorist organization's motivations and origins. The characters make zero progress, waffling back and forth between their ambitions and their humanity until they happen to land on one of the two permanently. If you want to see a 14 hour exploration of this topic done properly, watch someone play through "Detroit: Become Human." In fact, I wouldnt be surprised if that was their inspiration.
Id love to write a whole essay on every way this show fails. But Im also not going to exaggerate just because I dont like it. The cinematography is good, the acting is good, the casting is spot on. The action is well done (although lacking, some episodes are a slog considering its a show about futuristic robots). Dialogue is pretty organic and the characters are relatively believable albeit one dimentional.
Absolutely do not recommend you waste 14 whole hours of your life on this woman-hating, derivative, bloated series. Extremely surprising to me how highly reviewed this is.
Kiss Me First
(2018)
The most perfectly 6 star show Ive ever seen
6 July 2022
Too many people want to give either 1 star or 10 stars to everything. But this is exactly 6 stars. The cast, amazing. Every actor (except maybe the woman who invented the game) did a fantastic job.
But then the writing for those characters, pretty bad. If they had literally just cut out episode 5 entirely, which added nothing to the story, and spent that time developing the characters, it could have been an 8 star. With a worse cast, could have been 4 stars.
The tone, very well done up until episode 5. It did a good job at explaining the premise, explaining the stakes, and showing character motivations organically. Then it goes so off the rails at the end its just unbelievable. The last episode literally makes no sense if you stop to think about it for 10 seconds. Even the geography and distance between things is nonsense.
And Im not ashamed to say that the nudity is, again, at first fantastic and becomes a symbol of character growth. Plus, not hard to look at. Then at some point (especially the ending, wtf was that even all about. I feel bad for the lead actress in the one scene tbh), its apparently under the assumption you will get bored without a boob or butt every 10 minutes.
Its weird to be passionate about a 6 star review, but it has so many fatal flaws with such a great premise. Its rare to find something where you arent grasping at straws to give it credit, theres a lot to like here. And yet I wouldn't recommend anyone watch it, especially someone struggling with mental illness. It builds you up just to let you down.
Final note. Seriously, someone please give all three of the lead young people great roles in the future. Such great acting. And to the director, dont try to be M. Night Shamalan or something. Character development goes a lot further than weird twists that go nowhere and ultimately dont matter.
But then the writing for those characters, pretty bad. If they had literally just cut out episode 5 entirely, which added nothing to the story, and spent that time developing the characters, it could have been an 8 star. With a worse cast, could have been 4 stars.
The tone, very well done up until episode 5. It did a good job at explaining the premise, explaining the stakes, and showing character motivations organically. Then it goes so off the rails at the end its just unbelievable. The last episode literally makes no sense if you stop to think about it for 10 seconds. Even the geography and distance between things is nonsense.
And Im not ashamed to say that the nudity is, again, at first fantastic and becomes a symbol of character growth. Plus, not hard to look at. Then at some point (especially the ending, wtf was that even all about. I feel bad for the lead actress in the one scene tbh), its apparently under the assumption you will get bored without a boob or butt every 10 minutes.
Its weird to be passionate about a 6 star review, but it has so many fatal flaws with such a great premise. Its rare to find something where you arent grasping at straws to give it credit, theres a lot to like here. And yet I wouldn't recommend anyone watch it, especially someone struggling with mental illness. It builds you up just to let you down.
Final note. Seriously, someone please give all three of the lead young people great roles in the future. Such great acting. And to the director, dont try to be M. Night Shamalan or something. Character development goes a lot further than weird twists that go nowhere and ultimately dont matter.
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