What TV SHOWS are you watching?

hotseatgames wrote: Season 2 of Tokyo Vice continues to delight, and I like it even better than season 1. Possibly because less time had to be spent introducing people. The most recent episode even finally revisits the opening scene of season 1. If you have Max and don't mind subtitles, or can speak Japanese, you should check this show out.

I really enjoyed season one of Tokyo Vice, and was looking forward to season two. But it has been a couple of years, so I decided to start over and re-watch season one first. A couple of days after watching the excellent first episode, I happened to go on a date with a woman who resembled and talked a lot like Samantha the hostess. It was a great first date and I was very disappointed when she finally decided that she didn't want a second date because she didn't feel any chemistry. So I didn't continue with Tokyo Vice for over a month, because I knew that seeing Samantha would remind me of that date. But I have since gone on a nine dates with four women, so it finally felt safe to continue watching season one. Great show, better than I remembered.

My Trek trivia team is competing again next Wednesday, so I am continuing my chronological viewing of all things Trek. I just wrapped up season two of Strange New Worlds and began re-watching the original series of Star Trek. Unfortunately, Paramount didn't have the pilot episode, The Cage, or the second pilot episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before. So I started in with The Man Trap. Episode debuted 60 years ago, so I'm going to assume that everybody who cares has already seen it.

The show comes out swinging, with a potentially boring intro scene on a desolate planet immediately thrown into intrigue as we viewers notice that a woman appears dramatically different to each man viewing her. Within minutes, we already have a dead crewman. The show spends a surprising amount of time showing us the viewpoint of the salt vampire as it stalks about the Enterprise. Some interesting ideas are raised. Yeoman Rand is apparently just a waitress, or perhaps stewardess. Uhura flirts a bit with Spock on the bridge, causing me to wonder if this was the only episode that J.J. Abrams ever watched. The pacing is good, and leads to a dramatic finale. This show holds up amazingly well after 60 years.

That was the first episode to air, and it didn’t get the best reviews.

There’s a lot to like about TOS, but I enjoy the horror episodes the most. They are usually done very well, offer some flipping of expectations.

I just finished my rewatch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I forgot how abruptly it ends. A little too tidy too quickly for my tastes, but it wasn't bad. They also lean quite hard into Vic Fontaine storylines in the last season, which I had completely forgotten about. I didn't mind it, it was just unexpected; I thought he was a one-episode character.
I'm five episodes into Voyager. I'm just now getting re-acclimated to the non-stationary setting after DS9.

Star Trek: Enterprise was better than I expected, but I am still dreading seven seasons of Riker Smugface and however many seasons of Neelix antics.

Binge watched all of season 2 of Loki last weekend. Worth doing if you're thinking about it I think

Disgustipater wrote: I just finished my rewatch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I forgot how abruptly it ends. A little too tidy too quickly for my tastes, but it wasn't bad. They also lean quite hard into Vic Fontaine storylines in the last season, which I had completely forgotten about. I didn't mind it, it was just unexpected; I thought he was a one-episode character.
I'm five episodes into Voyager. I'm just now getting re-acclimated to the non-stationary setting after DS9.

When I’ve rewatched DS9, I always skip over the Vic Fontaine shit, other than the one ep where the crew go up against a mobster in the holodeck. The rest of it struck me as effects light low cost filler to offset all the special effects heavy battle scenes that the last season had.

If you liked the Guy Ritchie movie The Gentlemen, the show is more of the same, a little less intricate plot-wise, the violence toned down and generally adjusted for tv. It's fun and as always has several memorable characters doing crime and dropping quotable lines in the lush English countryside.
Except for prison wardens police doesn't exist in this ultra-rich world, which is kind of realistic I guess as the fun is usually over when they show up, at least in Ritchie's universe.
The British and their nonchalant way of just keeping their class society into the 21st century is always a little strange to me, but when someone's birth is used to explain why he is good at something and naturally above others, I can't help but think of the Guillotine.

Shellhead wrote: I am still dreading seven seasons of Riker Smugface

Maybe the Riker Maneuver will offset it?

Still on Star Trek. Charlie X annoyed me when I was a kid, but I appreciate this episode as an adult. Shatner really sells the scenes where he get this omnipotent adolescent to back down in the face of Kirk's great charisma. And Yeoman Rand is definitely a stewardess, but now I get the feeling that she was a mean girl in high school. Not saying that she is mean on Star Trek, just that you can see that she has experience with wielding her appearance like a weapon when needed. Uhura is flirting with Spock again.

The third episode on Paramount is Where No Man Has Gone Before, but you can tell that they are showing it out of order, for several reasons. There are no red shirts in sight, just gold, blue, and beige shirts. Spock is wearing gold, while Sulu is wearing blue, the reverse of their usual shirt colors for the rest of the series. Scotty is present, but wearing the beige shirt. McCoy isn't in the episode at all and some really old white guy is the ship's doctor.