Orville took the second season to improve itself, curbing the lead romance to great relief, the McFarlane worship (somewhat), knowing it could use humour as and when it was needed rather then nervously throwing it out as didn't have belief in itself as sci-fi. It had found what it should be and worked with it well, again some good thoughtful episodes (Moclus based ones continue to be thoughtful), willingness to be brave with themes, mixed with nice adventures and humour, balances characters fairly well though felt Malloy and LeMaar slightly to background when not their episode. First two-parters had the traditional two-parter problems of second episode not as good as first as it tries too hard with the second episodes for big impact when build up is better.
It's main romance was divisive and certainly not new idea but I liked it
=====
Watched half hour gaming comedy Dead Pixels. Premise: To the puzzlement of Allison (Charlotte Ritchie), her friends including room-mate Megan (Alexa Davies) are obsessed with fantasy MMORPG Kingdom Scrolls. When new person at Megan's work Russell (David Mumeni) wants to join in, Megan's group has mixed reactions...
First two episodes are great thanks to Russel's eager enthusiasm for all the new things he was finding vs the cynicism and seeking to win of the old guard like Megan and Nicky (Will Merrick), finds the sort of silly mistakes and silly little joys that can be found with a sense of humour. After that, it loses a bit of spark as he focuses on Megan and Nicky who can veer towards the little annoying every now and again, it gives glimpses and some sense of why gaming draws people in while acknowledging fans can be toxic. Does play into the social awkwardness with the main two but other members of the group do have a bit more of a life (would say any season 2 probably needs to do a better balance though), a good sense of wider world we are only glimpsing like the relationship between Megan and Allison which has clearly lasted a long time.
Enjoyed throughout the glimpses we got out of Usman's (Sargon Yelda) home life, only glimpses but done in humorous fashion and builds it up well in those moments, often the shining points of episodes. Builds up well to a pretty good finale that uses the way relations have developed to good effect. Would watch second season.
=====
Caught up with Orange is the New Black, made big and much needed changes to shake things up in last season as had felt idea's were running out. Allowed a shake up, new setting, new guards, dynamics changed and it which worked well, the new characters were intresting enough, guards had different relations, good ending to season though felt two key figures were under-explored despite a clever idea
As a show remains strongest when showing the casual inhumanity of prison system and America's flaws (ones we share) via the lives and past lives of the inmates. I find Piper a bit annoying and sometimes show goes odd directions but when it feels realistic, or a form of realism, it works well. Had lost it's way a bit but latest season had recovered things by going for major chances.
=====
Saw BBC comedy Ghosts from Horrible Histories team. Premise: Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) are surprised when Allison inherits grand Button Hall from distant relative. Excited they go to visit and make plans but when Alison has an accident, she finds she can see the ghosts that linger in the old house....
Their first post watershed comedy and they don't really take full advantage but does allow them some more adult jokes. Tendency in first half to focus on the social embrassment for Allison of talking to ghosts and is better when it weans off that onto things like why some of the ghosts died, plots, the wider impact of now being able to see ghosts, the generation gaps. A decent cast of ghosts and likeable enough human leads and at times it really lands the jokes, needs to drop the headless character as that joke wore itself thin within first episodes. Decent enough show
====
Saw final season of Game of Thrones, had not gone in with particularly high expectations as has been a lesser show since it got past the books but hoping for a last hurrah, left it with a "meh" feeling. It was an... erratic season that fell on the decent side of things but will put rest in spoilers
As a show overall, I think it will be seen as a great show that also changed things and one wonders if this will be the last "everybody watches that week episode extremely weekly" mega hit. Perhaps isn't as ground-breaking quite as much as is being said right now but it has changed studio's and critics attitudes towards fantasy (I remember guardian was having difficulty trying to work out how to persuade people to watch it), apparently it has also brought "not quite hitting" shows more time as GOT only became a mega hit with season three, the ruthlessness. Also felt like a symbol of a shift to where the performances of child stars are a lot better nowadays then in my youth.
We tried it as we liked fantasy, it had Sean Bean but we hadn't heard of George Martin particularly, first episode was "ok this seems nice, we will give it a second episode" until the ending scene really really really pulled us in, we had to see the next one. It pulled us in for more then the shocks, it had great characters with very few pure and very few outright evil, it explored what made the characters, excellent dialogue, it's willingness to have us sit and just watch conservations really worked becuase it was enthralling. It was a brutal, realistic (with magic) world full of politics and powerplays where one could see Martin's interest in history pay off, various types of romance, friendships and rivalries. The cast nearly did an excellent job and show did a very good job creating a sense of world with costumes and sets.
It also had George Martin's idea of twists, ones which make sense afterwards becuase of dynamics and paths led but one you don't see coming in the moment, usually perfectly executed with atmosphere sometimes and sometimes utter shock in that moment, knowing how long to linger. It never felt like "shock for sake of shock" (which given the huge publicity these moments created, could easily have done so) but it was right and where Martin did better then others is these involved characters who, in most shows, are plot protected. So much so that one of the first such moments
It was far from perfect, the need to juggle the cast led to some characters popping up an odd episode here or there but generally they did well with the juggling, there was however always a strand that didn't click and could slow things down each season. The phrase "boobsition" came into being for a reason and seems to have put off a fair few and was a good thing they faded that out as actresses got my power after the initial "what are you complaining about" attitude to critics. Some were frustrated at lack of battles for awhile, there was one strand for a season that was badly messed up
When the show got to the point where Martin hadn't written, that was always going to a huge challenge, the handling of that wasn't a disaster but the dip became notable. There were still excellent scenes and stronger then plenty of shows but logic became more questionable, they didn't seem keen on some parts of the universe
Still, even if declined, GOT gave me great stories, characters, thrills, sadness, magic and humanity. I'm sad it has gone and I suspect the spin offs won't, unless based on the author's work like the early seasons, bring back the magic. I am so glad we gave it a try and will always be a favourite show.
)