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Ludwig (2024)
If you can get through his Don Knotts phase, you'll like it
The first 3/4 of the show deals with the subject's social anxiety. Maybe these people seem like an amusement to some, pity object to others, but I felt like slapping the guy. But, since we are spawning an entire generation like this in real-life, I suppose we should get used to it. The story concerns a man with a twin brother who is a detective. The detective has gone missing (though none of his colleagues are aware of it) and the hyper-timid brother agrees, at the behest of the detective's wife, to investigate what has happened to his brother. The timid brother is a puzzle-setter and uses his analytical abilities to solve a murder with his brother's team at the police station, who think HE is the actual Detective Chief Inspector he is pretending to be.
Now, less apprehensive about what he's doing, he decides to stick around while he works on why his brother disappeared.
They've played some of this for laughs, but they could just as easily have going completely straight with the premise and I think if they keep up the comedy, it will likely have less gravitas since we know a major plot will be revealed at some point.
High Potential (2024)
A decent start to this show.
First of all, it's not a clone of "Bones" or other cop shows dealing with people with marketable abilities when it comes to police work. Like most shows starting, it's a bit wobbly. The girl is good, obviously though acting manic can't go on like it has in the first ep. Cops are not going to use someone that strung-out. Unlike portrayals of the lab techs and such in other shows that show them as just about "off their meds." Second, the actor playing detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) is formidable, he was very good in "Manifest." As shows like this smooth out and the characters are fleshed out, they tend to get better, the flow starts to work. As for the gifted Morgan, it's hard to believe someone with her abilities hadn't been snapped up by a tech company, or a financial firm, but I suppose there are people out there that despite their talent, they couldn't make it work in the regular world.
Kaos (2024)
Not a great show, it's absolutely not as good as "American Gods" was.
The characters are weak, even Zeus who is portrayed as a reactionary neurotic. Would be good if they'd been able to actually DECIDE if the show was to be comedy OR drama, but not both. Zeus's son is a bisexual weakling, looking desperately for daddy's approval. The women are lack-luster (while they last) and if I were to come back here in a month, I'd likely have forgotten much of what I saw, it being as substantive as eating a soda cracker for dinner. I think the real problem is the execution. Remember "Star Trek's" version of if Ancient Rome as a power had never fallen? Very well-done episode and could have been a kind of template for this show. I've only seen ep. 1 so maybe it'll get better, but it would need some electricity injected into it.
Twisters (2024)
Does not match original for enterainment value.
Why? Because of two things; cast quality and taughtness of script. The original movie had a likable cast of misfits (including the scientists) who nevertheless did their jobs well. This one tries to be original by making the button-down group of storm chasers (the black-hat enemy in the original) the "good guys;" at least initially. Though the cast improves its presentation later in the movie, the beginning features "stand-offish," somewhat unlikable Gen-X characters who just do not seem to have the enthusiasm of the original movie's cast. Nothing against the acting competence, but the cast initially come off like they stepped out of a Tik-Tok video, kind of off-putting and aloof. Creepily, the blond-haired good old boy storm chaser reminded me of a real-life one who later went on to kill himself. The original movie did what a good movie should, somehow fleshed out unique characters well (about 10 people) very early on, setting the stage for the tornadoes to make their mark. The script also just kept moving, there were few if any dead spots and yet it was rushed like a lot of scripts are these day. There were a few scientifically-ridiculous situations, like the first movie, but that didn't matter too much. Also, these people all looked a bit to well-scrubbed all the time to have been doing what they do, but that's Hollywood.
Despite the effects being more detailed, I didn't feel the menace from the tornadoes I experienced watching the original. Hollywood unfortunately, is highly averse to producing movies with real shocks and thrills these days. Maybe they think if someone even gets flustered by a movie today, they'll face lawsuits? Lastly, these Gen-X songs on soundtracks detract from listening to the people speak and whatever seen they are used in. An orchestral score is always better in a thriller movie, or music that fits the situation or location, but ideally, MINUS any singing. Singing sometimes clashes with actor's dialog or the actual action happening in the scene being watched. Especially lame light-pop tunes.
A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
All this great CGI, and the movie is a re-tread
So, we are stuck seeing CGI wasted on more crappy superhero movies, while opportunities like this are squandered. Was it a bad movie? No, but it wasn't revelatory either, which it should have been, being it was DAY ONE!
The two major problems were people within hours turn into scared zombies (even one of the main characters) and GOD help them if they EVER had to fight in a WAR! The second problem was that the army, navy, air force seemed virtually absent from this film. Is that how the U. S., or whomever is going to respond at the start of a violent alien invasion? Why wasn't Manhattan the subject of a massive bombing campaign, once they blew the bridges? Creatures running around at will, on an island? Why weren't helicopter gunships blasting them? Of course we assume this was probably U. S., and/or world-wide, but we don't know that, except for the hindsight provided by the previous movies. In any case, the lack of action was ridiculous. Thousands of New Yorkers have guns, did anyone see even ONE being used? As for the invasion, no evidence as to any reason for it. Nothing disclosed except for feral creatures killing people. Were they the advance of an invasion to take over the planet? Kind of like loosing attack dogs first? We aren't told anything. I doubt they rode on meteorites and just happened to land. They were no more sentient than the average pigeon so they didn't plan it. Also, we all know movie makers often screw-up science badly. But the big, heavy aliens running down the sides of glass buildings? Even if they could stick to the glass, their weight would shatter it, sending them to the pavement. When heavy animals fall from a height, they don't break bones, they explode, which is what Native Americans knew when they drove Bison off cliffs during hunts.
For what it was, a quest (except quests usually involve some fighting, for a grail, or golden fleece, etc.) it was passable, but if there is a future movie, I would like to see how the aliens were met and how and if they totally defeated the armed forces on the planet.
Those About to Die (2024)
Poor, poor person's "Rome" or "Spartacus"
It's all the same today, everything is skewed in history by a warped, agenda-driven interpretation. Females with ridiculous, outsized influence they DID NOT HAVE in those days. They had to shoe-horn in African characters and give them major roles including a female gladiator, few of whom existed in real-life. Female gladiators were banned in 100A. D. Lots of weak CGI of course, they still do not have the motions of living creatures down pat at all. Acting and dialog is not that great either. What it lacks is the presence of its predecessors. "Rome" was realistic and hard-core. "Spartacus" was a violent, crazy blood-fest but very well-done. What can be said about some of this is that it sticks to history, at least partially. Who Vespasian was is clear. But the rest...? Hollywood's prissy little writers and directors now only feature naked male backsides, female nudity is verboten. Make of THAT what you will. Chaste, sheets between them love scenes. NO nudity, in a Roman brothel?!!! THIS is a series about Ancient Rome?? PG-rated. Also, there was no indication of mass hunger in Vespasian's time in office, yet the cliched, tired Marxism of "revolting" peasants is there, including an attack on a the emporer's palace. Did that ever really happen?
The chariot race was just about the most non-involving thing I've seen. Snippets of bad CGI (chariots nearby are blurry, like if they were viewed from 500 yards away, poor understanding of optics by the CGI crew), like watching a 60's movie where the showed someone driving a car when they clearly were not on a road. The cutaways during the race to tedious soap-opera conversations amongst the royals (that are boring) and almost ZERO crowd noise. 50,000 in a stadium screaming? Where ARE they?? Do NOT compare this to the race in "Ben Hur," whatever you do! I can't watch the rest of it, what came before was just too much better for me to stomach stuff like this now.
House of the Dragon (2022)
If you like it slow, meditative and medieval, watch an ep. of "Cadfael"
"Cadfael" was a TV show where the great actor Derek Jacobi played a late-to-the-game monk who solves crimes in his neck of the woods. Very thoughtful and interesting, but not a lot of action. This is "House of the Dragon" where the magnificence of the dragons has been watered down by good but mundane CGI. Notice also that the scenes are often very dark ("all the better to hide the cost-cutting from you, my pretty") where they do not need to be. Setting a mood isn't solely about lighting. This time round, it's about the GoT predecessors. Problem is, where have the purely defined characters and regions gone? The carved in granite magnificence of the Winterfell cast, and the grandeur of. King's Landing? For some reason, this sequel seems more sequestered than "Game of Thrones." Unfortunately, the characters do not have the power and are frankly, not as attractive as those that came before. Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy are not a patch on Emilia Clarke and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Or John Bradley or Peter Dinklage. What set "Game of Thrones" apart was that it could literally say to movie-buffs, SEE what television has to offer when provided with enough talent and skill. Lastly, the dialog is rote in "House of the Dragon" compared to being inspired in "Game of Thrones."
Rebus (2024)
Remember Harvey Keitel in "Bad Lieutenant?"
This is the Scottish version. A detective, not that old which is a surprise, who appears (ep.1) is forced to straddle the line between legitimate and bent. But he's no angel himself. He's getting it on with his ex-boss's (who is now in a wheelchair) wife. In the first ep., he slugs his loser brother-in-law onto a coffee table, part alienates his daughter (he and his wife are divorced and she's got a rich, nice-guy husband). This is familiar ground, the hard-bitten detective, but it's a nice change from the by-the-book people Brit detectives have been devolving into since the mid-1990s. He has a new partner, female, Asian of course. It remains to be seen how she'll flesh-out. Anyway, the accents are thick Scottish so Americans will have a time understanding it, but then I hear people leave CC on 50% of the time now (how can people watch TV like that??!) so they'll muddle through once it hits the U. S. There are some decent scenes of Edinburgh, upper class and lower.
Poor Things (2023)
If David Lynch and Tim Burton re-did Warhol's "Flesh for Frankenstein."
This movie is beyond that. Imagine if you took a crazed 1980s horror movie and added Oscar calibre performances? I went into this thinking it would be a straight-forward horror/scifi. What it is, is a horror movie with more sex in it than a 1970's Italian giallo movie.
Willam DaFoe gives a fantastic performance as a straight-laced version of Dr. Frankenstein, a consummate scientist, interested in only experimentation, logic and truth. Emma Stone, equally as good as DaFoe plays a woman who wasn't happy with her life who is changed in a way you would not believe. Mark Ruffalo is over the top as a Victorian libertine (though this isn't quite Victorian England to be SURE!) who become quickly enamoured of Stone.
The rest of the cast is very good as well. Check-out the disorienting cinematography and what I believe is the use of early 19th century Petzval camera lenses (based on the interesting out of focus areas in some shots) in some scenes. I'd love to know what they actually used to shoot this, in addition of course to the computer FX work.
In any case, it's well worth seeing especially for the dialog and story-line.
Dark Matter (2024)
Reasonable approach to fictionalized work on quantum world
I think that for what it is, is pretty good. While I'd like to see more science in shows like this, to give the audience a grounding into what the multi-verse is, sans nancy-boy superheroes. In this case, the concept is dealt with in a superficial way (to ep. 3) but hopefully it clarifies as we go on. As for the people...
It rarely ceases to amaze. Why is it things play out in these type of TV shows as they never would in real-life? I'm not talking about the scifi concept, that's usually very basically dealt with, sometimes it's interesting, but the actions of humans in these things rarely if ever ring true. Ask yourself, would YOU behave the way people did here? A true scientist would more than anything be fascinated by what had transpired, they would be elated that something had happened. Instead, the reactions are fear, overwrought emotion, it just does not ring true. Do you fly off the handle at the least confusing conflict? Even in a traumatic situation you would probably have the presence of MIND to ask people to explain before you went haywire. But supposed IQ's of the protagonists aside, they act like lab-rats with just as little intelligence. Dialog makes little sense, doesn't lead anywhere as quickly as it could, just facilitates dragging out and laying the groundwork for the implausible situations we always see. At the very beginning, rather than ask the guy questions about his experience, they start peppering a clearly disoriented person with questions! They should have let HIM ask the questions and patiently answered them and explained what was done. If they are going to tackle some of the concepts in quantum mechanics, they need to stop catering solely to the mouth-breathers in the audience.
The Day After (1983)
"Threads" it ain't. But it's not too bad
Just to diverge, "Threads" was a genius British production dealing with the reasons for and results of a nuclear war over an estimated 15 year time-frame. It was so harrowing some critics reported being traumatized for weeks.
"The Day After" is a more sanitized version of nuclear war yet it stands on its own feet pretty well. My only gripe is that I'd have replaced some of the speechifying by people like Robards with a substantially more involved intro showing why the war broke out in the first place, more dialog from politicians, military people. Also, using actual people from Lawrence, Kansas in it sounds ok, but they are not actors and it shows.
The movie begins with intros to the people of Lawrence; farmers, doctors and the like. All salt-of-the-Earth middle Americans. Also, footage of air force personnel going through their day of processes to make sure they are ready for any eventuality. It comes off as quite realistic.
The lead-up to the eventual nuclear exchange lacks the intensity it should have. The news (likely) would be dominated by things like skirmishes with conventional weapons/troops by the (the other side) Russians and Americans/Europeans. Instead, what leads to the eventual confrontation are things more or less culled from Sir General Sir John Hackett's popular fictional novel of the time, "The Third World War." In it, Hackett thought that strife in Russia and the Communist Eastern Block would help to precipitate the war, riots in East Germany, and the like. There are briefly mentioned incidents like this in the film, which lead to confrontations between Russia and the West, leading to individual atomic bombings and eventually a full-on exchange. All told more or less though the observations and actions of the people in Lawrence. Unfortunately, this also limits the movie's national and international scope, which would have been very interesting to observe, in my opinion. In-truth, a really thorough telling of a nuclear war would have to be done as at least a mini-series on TV or even a full season program.
The special effects are middlin but acceptable for the time I guess. Well within the TV censorship at the time. You don't see people blown to bits or ripped to shreds by glass shards traveling 800mph (which would happen). Instead, people are "x-rayed" as skeletons and "Star Trek" style vaporized as if by phasers. The intent is there.
The reaction of the people I buy. They try to carry on after the bombing, doing what would be expected of those in an emergency like that. No feral mobs are roaming a wasteland. Civilization as such is preserved. I think that is a reasonable representation of areas like Kansas and not say inner-city Los Angeles which, if it survived at all would probably devolve like in post-apocalyptic scifi movies. Interestingly, no information about the status of U. S. or Russian forces are given post-bombing, despite there being a (at the time) robust presence of things like ham radio operators in the U. S.
The movie does show the effects of fall-out (which at the time would to be consequential because there were many hardened targets, like ICBM silos) that would need to be hit directly in order to stop them from launching, thus churning up soil which in-turn becomes fall-out. However, the effects on the humans aren't nearly as graphically-depicted as they are in movies like "Threads" and "Testament." A new movie dealing with a nuclear exchange would be different as fall-out would not be as much of a problem since most blasts would be air-bursts designed to hobble populations. Plus, there are only a fifth of the number of nuclear weapons that existed in 1984 today and there are (that we know of) no more huge H-bombs in the megaton or more range because they were deemed militarily obsolete in the 1990s.
At the end, the toll is beginning to show on people like Robards who has been worked off his feet as a doctor and is sick from radiation exposure.
So, "The Day After" is an entertaining movie, though dated, about the effects of a nuclear war and is quite watchable.
Constellation (2024)
People with ADD, do not attempt to watch this
Have the attention span of a gnat? Don't bother. This, like other shows that have incorporated quantum physics and other dimensionalities into their plots have not fared well with the singing shows or even "Star Wars" show fans because it does take a little bit of concentration to appreciate it. The show isn't really new. The premise concerns the idea of things being altered, at least from the perception of particular participants in the goings on of the space program. The idea that the dice rolls of quantum mechanics can impact the so-called "real world" of humans and have macro-effects instead of just sub-atomic ones. The main characters are an astronaut who comes back to Earth feeling displaced and a Nobel-laureate scientist who insists something has happened with an experiment he built. Of course, the old saw about "no one believing them and they can't prove it" comes into play, you can go all the way back to the 1960's show, "The Invaders" for that one as well. Where the show is interesting is when it at least tries to explain to the audience the workings of quantum mechanics. Perhaps the producers thought some might find it as fascinating in its otherworldliness as it is to them? The show is interesting, I applaud the producers for trying to show people that world, much as (shockingly) the producers of "The Big Bang Theory" did.
I Am Number Four (2011)
I really hate alien rifles..
Why? Because who would want a laser blaster that fires projectiles SO slowly you can dodge them? You see this ALL the time in scifi. Give me an AR-15 firing bullets at 2800fps, much more effective. Meanwhile, the movie is a paint-by-numbers teen is alien, slap-dash effort. While the effects are reasonable (and what effects aren't today, except perhaps for "giant shark vs. Croctopus" type movies?) there are no real humans around to support them. The male alien-teen hero is merely acceptable. His human girlfriend is a block of wood. The hot Aussie alien girl isn't in it long enough. Poor Timothy Olyphant just looks haunted, as if he's being cursed for being in this kind of movie. The bullying football teen who inexplicably does a 180 degree personality switch is one of the few good characters. Cliches abound (the loyal dog, the death of the mentor, the human nerd the alien teen befriends, the local cop, the quarterback bully and his crew, the cheesy "heroic" music) and the saddest part (for the makers, not the audience) is that they clearly wrote this as if a sequel might happen, which of course it didn't. I guess the worst part, as always, is that they wasted a perfectly acceptable budget on this thing which could have gone to something decent.
Tracker (2024)
Sophomoric writing and the usual, unbelievable ethnic characters
First of all, you don't emit charm by talking to local law of small towns like a clown. Nor does your (Chinese, or whatever) lawyer start off with a small-town cop by insulting another (kind of) small-town as being "beneath" (unspoken but implied) her. I do like the main character's to-the-point approach to asking for the reward, I'm sure we've had our fill of detectives working "pro-bono" for some sob-story case. Of course, you have a minority (not Chinese) tech expert. Hollywood, by giving minorities high-prestige jobs, the producers can show them less but still have them on the show. Kill two birds with one stone that way. The plot concept is fine, it's been done before, but no harm done.
All Creatures Great & Small (2020)
New show not as riveting as the 70's version, but it's ok.
This show is an "ok" show, it is not as good as the 1970s version. Why? Because it lacks the energy, the realism, the grubbiness (lots more down in the muck veterinarian work in the original) and the supporting characters are not a patch on the original. The original show had the Ms. Palfrey and her spoiled dog, used to much greater effect. The fact the vets catered to her every whim (almost) because she was a great tipper with her $$$ basket gifts from Herrods. The rich, ultra-talented horse vet who kept drinking James under the table. A MYRIAD of well-fleshed out supporting characters, especially the local farmers who were a true spectrum of society. In the original, James, Siegfried and Tristan were also larger than life, all fitting their clearly different characters. Plus, you got to see how clever methods were devised to save animals in the days before antibiotics. The new show, the characters are more one dimensional, lacking the emotional drive the originals had. Siegfried ranting at the lazy Tristan that if he failed his (exams for being a vet) again, he's "out, sacked!" Shows these day see-saw between too emotional and unemotional and this new show really is the latter.
Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
Insidious: The Red Bore
This movie could have been an hour long ep. Of "The Outer Limits" except it wasn't good enough for that series. The story is that daddy and the kid were hypnotized to get rid of a year's worth of memories that were too traumatizing to deal with. As if psychiatry could ever produce a result that specific!! Of course, 10 years later, moody kid goes off to art school (which costs a fortune) and doesn't even offer daddy a note of thanks. Cue moody, entitled late teen. For a while in the middle, Watson becomes almost a footnote as the kid starts having dreams about events he should have forgotten and deals with an truly obnoxious, unlikable college (briefly) roommate. Kid's art is a gateway to the "other side" and soon he and the father are enmeshed with the evil souls once again though the father is at home. There is a scene where daddy, who thinks he may have a brain tumour freaks out in an MRI machine. How OFTEN have we seen this cliche in TV and movies?? TOO often, even if the father's reason for going nuts in the machine isn't claustrophobia. Honestly, I can't even say how they overcome the evil in this one, either I was too bored by then, or really NOTHING HAPPENED!! If it were not for the decent actors, this would rate a 2.
Silo (2023)
"Planet of the Apes" meets "1984"
This is Planet of the Apes, only the humans are apes. The outside of the silo is the "forbidden zone." The Judicial Branch of government is the religious rulers of the ape Earth. People are kept in state of 1984-style conformity by their rulers, which are like "The Law Givers" on the ape-Earth. It's well-done, it'll educate people who don't know the other two stories.
Basic premise is there are people who are too inquisitive for their own good, violating the law by looking for and thinking about "artifacts" from times before the silo. No one except for a few has a clue what lies beyond, or what did lie beyond. The stories centres around a woman who was an engineer but who takes up the mantle of sheriff in order to find some answers. The limited view offered of the outside shows a wasteland, your typical post-apocalyptic or "modern-day Afghanistan-looking" wasteland where people who venture out die before they get 100 yards. However, you can see the stars from their slit windows and that has at least one person noting their motions, even though the person hasn't a clue as to what a star really is. Keeping people utterly ignorant, much as internet censors try to do today. An enjoyable if bleak presentation.
BlackBerry (2023)
The company went down but not out
Were you ignorant of the company, you'd think the end of the movie meant that Blackberry disappeared from the world. It didn't, it's producing security software more or less in-line with the fact they once had the most secure communications device extant. The movie is a bit old-school with the "The Office" use of cameras that jiggle and loose centering. The problem is that although it does a good job of showing the skeleton of what happened to the company, there is simply too much to say in the time-frame allowed. Also, silly changes to reality like them being investigated by the SEC (American) as opposed to Canadian tax officials was not needed, even to appeal to a U. S. audience. The characters in the movie are true to life, more or less as is the "Google-inspired" lazy work environment shown. The final phone shown, a full-screen model like Android and Apple phones (the Storm) was a flop probably not because of Chinese manufacturing but of a rush to market with a sub-standard product. The whole is likely no better than the parts used. I wonder if they've done a movie on Nokia like this?
Lucky Hank (2023)
We've seen it all before. "Animal House" did it better
Remember Donald Sutherland as the "don't give a damn" professor in "Animal House?" He summed it up on one sentence. This is that, only with 1/2 the wit. Another tedious, smug liberal story about smug liberals in an English department at a backwater university. For a group that avidly supports the liberal-arts, liberals display utter cynicism when it comes to showing what that world is like. The professor tells a student (who compared himself to Chaucer) that he has no writing talent, because he's in a school with other mediocre students and a mediocre (him) professor. Then things go from there. What undercurrent I get from this is that the world of true intellect has not included them, that medicine, the sciences and technology draw the best students today and it subconsciously drives them slowly mad. So they make TV shows and movies like this, one pretty much the same as the next. Pity.
The Last of Us (2023)
Very good show that a few here don't quite get
It may or may not follow the game, not being a gamer, I don't know, nor do I care. But, it does provide a reasonably accurate portrayal of what it would be like living in a world turned upside down by a pandemic. It's realistic because some of our politicians during the covid pandemic acted like they wanted such a scenario. But the action is very good and measured, the dialog is fine, when you consider the characters are just average people. Some people didn't get the isolated episodes, but it's clear the show is setting up for a long run so it can afford to be
methodical in how it is presented. If you really want non-stop action, there are plenty of short, self-contained movies gear for you.
Redemption (2022)
Worthless mystery series should be bypassed (SPOILERS)
High-ranking cop from Liverpool gets news that her daughter, estranged for 20 years or so has been found dead of suicide in a park in Dublin. So she immediately arranges a transfer to the Dublin police department. So easy. She goes to Dublin, views the daughter's body, gets info from the cops there. Then, she goes to her daughter's house and looks around, only to be confronted by her daughter's 2 children who INEXPLICABLY were never picked up at school or TOLD about the mother's death by the police!! Ridiculous! A co-worker (in Dublin) tells the woman she's gay, out of the blue, for no reason. The son asks if he can bring his boyfriend to funeral. Tick that gay acknowledgement box!! Meanwhile, because conveniently, her daughter's death dovetails with the woman's own investigation from Liverpool over deadly drugs, she's effectively working on her daughter's "case" even though her death was ruled a suicide.
I won't be watching any more of this rubbish.
The Lazarus Project (2022)
Brilliant, exciting and clever scifi
It's very difficult to review this program without spoilers. A relatively mild-mannered programmer of business applications becomes a secret agent in a mind-bending organization that "saves" the world from "extinction events." How they do it is a spoiler. But this show is fascinating, if you speculate about how it might all work. I don't know why the American programmers continue to simply retread every cop show and medical series and seemingly don't have the will or the smarts to come up with something like this. The characters are all well-drawn and the mix of scifi, action and a mercifully-small amount of dry humour is worth watching.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Dead Ball (2022)
Absolutely RIDICULOUS episode
This show.sometimes has very good writing. This episode did not. Can you imagine the police, finding out a man's best friend raped his daughter then ASKING him to confront the rapist while wearing wire?! Why not just give the guy a gun too? TERRIBLE concept, and it would NEVER be done by police in real-life. There is a difference between decent crime writing and a craven attempt to sensationalize a plot with an implausible scene like that. I realize that the hunt for ratings is a battle in today's TV environment, but don't.foist this kind of absurdity on people, make the writers WORK harder to produce better product.
CSI: Vegas (2021)
A tired, cheapjack shadow of its former self
CSI was a show that revolutionized the cop procedural. Stylish, fast-paced and well-acted. Then came this resurrection. Terrible acting (the Willow's character sometimes sounds literally like she's reading off a cue-card, she sure doesn't want to be there, no wonder Petersen only came in for ep. 1). Ethnic characters introduced not for their competence, but because they are ethnic. Now, (as of ep. 4) they have a weirdo in the new girl because all these types of shows post-original CSI have to have an oddball in the tech pool. The 4th ep. Of this season was without doubt some of the worst TV I've seen in a long time. Over-done emotionalism, non-professionalism, script-read acting, ridiculous, convoluted but not intelligent scripting. The absolute opposite of the original show.
The Peripheral (2022)
Actually, an effective scifi for a change
It's refreshing to see a scifi show and escape the fantasy programming that permeates superhero and supernatural shows that dominate TV's alternate realities.
It's a good show. The characters are well-developed, and that's a trick when the action begins fairly fast, which is usually a sign that they are catering to the short attention-span crowd. To believe characters in their roles and be entertained early-on is a very good sign that the show is worth continued watching.
Moretz, Raynor and Goree are all very good. Also, it's nice it's set in the South, which is happening more and more on TV with fewer shows being stuck in the Rust Belt/L. A. and New York. It also hints at where VR may be going, even if we don't see it in our lifetimes.