This is a cross post of @gwajnberg/oh-no-they-ruined-upside by @gwajnberg.

My thoughts about the last season of Stranger Things

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Guillermo del Toro finaly gave us his version of Frankenstein and honestly this thing feels a bit different than what we usually get from these adaptations although not in the best way possible as yes it feels more modern but mostly makes Frankenstein look as a fail project when in fact he did beat death and didnt even want to investigate it just decided to put his project away. The movie is over two hours but it does not feel like a drag because del Toro knows exactly what he wants to show us, a tragic story about a guy who played god and then got scared shitless of what he created but also refused to take any responsibility for it. Oscar Isaac does his thing as Victor Frankenstein with all that maniac energy and regret later on but Jacob Elordi is the real deal here, his performance as the creature is something else, not just some green monster doing dumb shit but an actual being trying to understand why he even exists in the first place and why everyone treats him like garbage when all he wants is to be loved and accepted, mostly accepted. The way Elordi moves through each scene, the way he learns about friendship from this blind old man and slowly realizes nobody wants him around no matter how good he tries to be, that stuff just breaks your heart and makes you root for him even when things get violent and messy.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1312221/
• Platform: NETFLIX

Rottentomatoes Rating Source I realy liked is how del Toro stayed in a very similar line to previous adaptations but added his own style to it with lots of dark visuals and gothic settings and those signature colors he loves using in every single project, you can tell this guy has been waiting for a long time to make this specific thing and he put lots of effort into it. I think the setup of the story was pretty solid, a ship stuck in ice where Victor tells his side of everything that happened and then the creature shows up to tell his own version of events, witch is way more interesting than just following one perspective the whole time because you get to see how differently they both remember the same moments. Del Toro for sure make his own changes to the story compare to the novel, after all its an adaptation not a documentary, he adds this arms dealer character played by Christoph Waltz who funds all of Victors experiments in this creepy tower and wants his brain put into the creatures body because he is dying of syphilis, witch Im sure does not happen in the book but we dont have just Victor playing God but there is a second character trying to defeat death. The Elizabeth character is also different here, she is not Victors cousin or adopted sister like in other versions, instead she comes in as the fiance of his younger brother William and Victor becomes obsesed with her in this weird mommy issues kind of way since Mia Goth plays both Elizabeth and Victors dead mother, the dude even drinks milk constantly throughout the movie so yeah that kinda weird too in my opinion.

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Source The visuals are absolutly insane, every frame looks like a gothic painting that should be hanging somewhere, the set design and costumes and lighting are all top tier and you can tell Netflix actually gave him a proper budget to work with instead of cheaping out like they do on most of there other projects. From some reasearch I did after trying to understand why and how the creature regenerates find out that the creature design is based on Bernie Wrightson illustrations witch is a solid choice, he has this long dark hair with a blonde streak to show he is made from diferent people and one eye that glows red in the dark, its way more stylized than the classic Universal monster look but it works for what del Toro is going for here, even seems more agile than in any other movie. Some of the CGI animals like the deer and wolves look pretty rough and take you out of the movie a bit, thats honestly one of the few visual problems I had with the whole thing becuase everything else is practicl effects and makeup that looks amazing, specially the body horror stuff when Victor is assembling the creature piece by piece witch is gory as hell. The hole vibe of the build up of the monster is very emotional and heavy, but when he tries to destroy it is one of the most sad moments of the movie.

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Source The movie really wants you to understand that Victor is the true monster of this story witch is not exactly a new take but del Toro does it well by showing how much of a selfish prick Victor is from the very beginning, his dad was abusive and cold and Victor ends up treating his own creation the exact same way, locking him in the basement and beating him and refusing to teach him anything, I mean he did try but by force, he never try to teach. Del Toro said this movie is about generational trauma being passed down and you can see that theme everywhere, Victor wanted to conquer death after his mom died giving birth to his brother but once he actually creates life he does not know what to do with it and just gets disgusted, he never thought about what would happen after he achieved his goal because it was all about his ego and his need to be better than his father. The creature on the other hand is this blank slate of pure innocence who learns about the world by watching this farm family and reading Paradise Lost with the blind old man, he sees himself as both Adam and Satan, something created from nothing but then cast away by his creator. Jacob Elordi does a great job at selling the tragedy of this character, you feel every moment of rejection and pain and you understand why he eventually snaps and demands Victor make him a companion so he does not have to be alone forever, its almost like he accepting the world doesnt want him so he wants a companion just like him but he doesnt know better, he doesnt know if that other will also reject him, Victor refuses to do because he thinks he created something evil when really he just failed as a father figure, the irony.

Sure some parts feel rushed near the end and maybe the pacing could have been tighter specially in the first half with all the Victor backstory stuff, the Christoph Waltz character probably could have been cut entirely to save some time becuase his storyline does not really go anywhere interesting after the reveal but I cant denied it did add an extra surprise when it was reveal he is sick but after all there was a hidden motive since the start. The ending of the movie is so different than any other one as most of the time its Victor who dies still hunting the creature and never has his moment of realization like they both did in the boat at the end, here Victor actually apologizes and calls the creature his son and they have this forgiveness moment witch feels a little too cringe and predictable and maybe unearned given how much of an asshole Victor was the entire movie, but the creature only knows how to love. I get what del Toro was going for with the father son dynamic and the theme of forgiveness but I think it needed more setup to really land properly, still it works okay and the creature pushing the ship free at the end so the crew can go home is a nice touch. The cinematography and production makes this movie one to be seen on the big screen but this only got a very limited theatrical release before hitting Netflix witch sucks because this is way better than most of the crap that gets wide releases, this should have been in every theater for at least a few weeks so more people could experience it properly. Overall this is solid work from del Toro, probably sitting at a solid 7 out of 10 for me, its not perfect and I have some issues with story choices and pacing but the emotional weight and the cast did a great job, make up for those problems, if you are a fan of gothic horror or Frankenstein in general you need to watch this because its probably the most modern adaptation we have gotten in years that will keep you entertain, but if you have read the novel dont expect it to stick 110% to the story, it has its own touch.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #frankenstein, #deltoro, #netflix, #oscarisaac, #jacobelordi, #monster, #gothic, #horror, #adaptation, #maryshelley, #creature, #victor, #miagoth, #cinematography, #practical, #effects, #tragedy, #forgiveness, #trauma, #father, #creation, #responsibility, #design, #costumes, #visuals

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Where problems brew

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Pluribus episode four went full throttle into some seriously messed up territory and its a very twisted one that I was not expecting, this episode really showed us what Carol is willing to do when she gets desperate and its not pretty at all. We got to see a new immune survivor named Manus down in Paraguay who is basically living like the world ended in the worst way possible, eating dog food out of cans and taping cardboard over every window because he does not trust a single thing the hive mind is trying to give him, the guy is starving himself rather than take their free gourmet meals which honestly I get it but also dude you are eating dog food so maybe reconsider your priorities here. The whole opening with Manus was cool because it showed us a completely diferent response to this whole situation compared to what we have seen so far, Carol is angry and difficult but she still interacts with them and uses them to get what she wants, Manus is just full on hiding in his storage unit facility waiting for someone anyone to respond on his old analog radio, when Carol called him from the plane last episode he thought she was one of them at first and told her to screw off but then she yelled back at him and called him names which made him realize oh shit this person is actually pissed off and rude so she must be human. That whole sequence where he is forcing himself to eat the dog food while the phone keeps ringing was nasty to watch, I mean I doubt it taste any good as it look very sloopy, you could see him trying not to throw up with every bite and then Carol just keeps calling over and over, I liked how they showed the same phone calls from episode one but from his perspective this time because it added so much more context to how isolated and terrified he actually is, this guy is not out here driving police cars and blowing up hospitals he is just trying to survive without becoming one of them and its working so far but barely.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22202452/
• Platform: AppleTV+

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Back in Albuquerque Carol has sobered up a bit from her vodka and Xanax bender and now she has a new mission, figure out how to beat the hive mind at their own game. She gets the mayor of Albuquerque to sweep her driveway which is bit of distopian to a certain level, this dude used to run the city and now he is out here with a broom cleaning up Carols mess like its no big deal, the hive mind really does not care about hierarchy or status anymore everyone is equal and everyone does whatever needs to get done but its still not right, for sure there are other things that they might be hiding or if they cant lie then they just not openly telling until they are ask about it. Carol starts testing the limits of their honesty by interrogating this guy named Larry who goes by Shorty even though the actor is like six foot seven or something, she asks him about her books and whether the hive mind actually likes them or if they are just blowing smoke up her ass to keep her happy. Turns out they actually did read her work and they can quote specific passages that made people tingle which is a weird way to describe enjoying a book but okay, Larry tells her that the hive mind loves her books just as much as they love Shakespeare because both of them saved peoples lives at some point so they are equally valuable, Carol is not buying it though because that logic is insane and also because she knows they are just trying to make her feel good about herself. Then she makes the mistake of asking what her dead wife Helen really thought of her books and this is where things get sad as hell, Larry tries to avoid the question twice but Carol pushes him until he admits that Helen thought the Wicaro books were harmless cotton candy and that she never actually finished reading Carols serious unpublished novel Bitter Chrysalis, Helen stopped on page 137 out of 489 pages and only told Carol to publish it because it would make her happy not because it was any good, but if you think about it Carol took it the wrong way, I think this is just life and you will eventually do things like this to make others feel good and not be a buzz killer, Helen didnt hate the book. That revelation hits Carol like a truck and you can see her trying to process the fact that her wife was just managing her emotions this whole time instead of being honest with her, a hard moment and it connects back to Carols whole thing about hating people who smile all the time and pretend everything is fine when its not.

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Carol takes this new information about the hive mind not being able to lie and decides to test it on Sosa, she goes to visit her in the hospital and asks if there is a way to reverse the joining process. Sosa tries to dodge the question by saying she cannot answer that but her silence is enough for Carol to figure out that yes there is a way to undo this whole thing, the hive mind knows how to reverse it they just will not tell her because it goes against their whole biological need to spread and multiply. I think Carol is just full of trauma from her past and why she hates the hive mind so much, she tells Sosa about Camp Freedom Falls which was a conversion therapy camp her mom sent her to when she was sixteen because Carol is gay and her mom thought that was something that needed to be fixed. Carol says the counselors at that camp were some of the worst people she ever met and they smiled constantly just like the hive mind does now, so for Carol this whole situation is not just about losing Helen or losing her freedom its about being forced into something against her will by people who think they know what is best for her, Sosa tries to argue that the hive mind loves everyone equally and that they have been human before so they know what its like but Carol snaps back that if they love everyone equally then why are they trying to change her, its a solid point and Sosa does not really have a good answer except to say that Carol wants to change them too so its kind of a stalemate. But what caught my attention the most is when Sosa said we know what its like to be you but you have never been us, that line was haunting because it implies that maybe the hive mind actually is better than being human and they just want Carol to experience it for herself but Carol is not interested in finding out because she has already made up her mind that they are the enemy.

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After the hospital visit Carol goes full Breaking Bad mode and heads to a pharmacy to get some theopental sodium which is basically truth serum, she tells the pharmacist she wants heroin as a cover story so they would not get suspicious about why she needs needles and the whole interaction is funny in a dark way because the hive mind is trying to practice harm reduction by offering her other opioids and suggesting she snort it instead of injecting it, so funny how they will literally let her autodestroy just to make her happy, so Carol gets what she needs and goes home to test the truth serum on herself first, she sets up a camera and injects the stuff into her arm then we get this one woman show where Rhea Seehorn just goes off, Carol cries about Helen, reads her own book in a funny voice, wears a towel on her head and admits that Sosa is really hot which confirms that the hive mind knew exactly what they were doing when they sent her to deal with Carol, it always make it strange to me how Sosa was so similar to Carol's book character, like it was all part of the plan to make Carol like or even fall in love with Sosa. The whole show is sad and funny at the same time because you can see all the grief and loneliness that Carol has been burying under her anger and sarcasm, she misses Helen so much and she has no one to talk to about it except herself on camera while high on truth serum, once she confirms the drug works she flushes the heroin down the toilet and heads back to the hospital with a pair of handcuffs from the police car she has been driving. Carol offers to take Sosa outside for some fresh air and then injects the truth serum into Sosas IV line, she handcuffs herself to Sosa so the hive mind cannot separate them and starts demanding answers about how to reverse the joining but Sosa starts convulsing and going into cardiac arrest instead of answering, all the hive mind members come running and they are all crying and begging Carol to stop by chanting Please Carol over and over in unison which is creepy and sad at the same time. Its a really mess up scene and Carol realize how wrong she has done to Sosa considering she "likes her", in the middle of panic they start giving first aid to Sosa trying to get her stable.

This episode was emmontionally intense and it really showed a different side of Carol, I already knew how wreckless she was but this time she went really far, yes she puts humanity first before the hive or Sosa but take in consideration she have feelings for Sosa so whats right or wrong here?, until now she has been angry and difficult but you could argue she was justified because the whole world got taken over and her wife died, but this time she crossed a major line by drugging Sosa without consent and almost killing her in the process, I get why Carol did it because she is desperate for answers and the hive mind will not give her any but that does not make it okay to inject someone with truth serum and handcuff yourself to them while they go into cardiac arrest. The Please Carol scene was really sad as hell because you could see Carol emotion, about the hive I dont mind because its all fake, its a defensive mechanism, they were not smiling or being cheerful they were crying and begging but I doubt they feel any pain. Rhea Seehorn killed it in this episode especially in the truth serum scene where she was just raw and vulnerable, you could see all the grief and loneliness that Carol has been hiding and it made her way more interesting as a character, she is not just angry for no reason she is traumatized from her past and from losing the one person who actually loved her. The Manus stuff was also really good because it showed us another perspective on this whole situation, not everyone is going to be like Carol and try to fight back some people are just going to hide and hope it all goes away eventually but the question remains how and when the hive is going to absorb them too? and will they do it against the consent. Overall this was a strong episode that pushed the story forward and but also generates way more questions than answers, I am still not sure if Carol is the hero or the villain at this point but I guess that is kind of the whole point of the show, but what worry me is that Carol likes Sosa and the hive knows it so when they will really going to crank that leverage?

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #pluribus, #carol, #sosa, #manus, #hivemind, #truthserum, #episode4, #recap, #pleasecarol, #cardiacarrest, #helen, #conversion, #therapy, #desperate, #handcuffs, #Paraguay, #albuquerque, #larry, #books, #wicaro, #injecting, #pharmacy, #heroin, #sodium, #theopental

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Welcome to Derry Episode 6 slowed things down but damn it worked so well, like after episode five ending with that brutal Leroy moment where he killed Pauly I was expecting them to just rush into the next big thing but instead they took there time and built up all the pieces for whats about to go down in episodes seven and eight. This whole hour was about family connections and how everyone in Derry is basically falling apart because of Pennywise messing with there heads, the episode title "In the Name of the Father" works on so many levels here because its not just about Ingrids dad Bob Gray, its also about Leroy dealing with almost shooting his own son Will and Hank Grogan reuniting with his daughter Ronnie at the black spot. The opening scene starts in black and white at Juniper Hill back in 1935 during the previous Pennywise cycle and we meet younger Ingrid who works there as a nurse, she takes this girl Mabel down to the basement because the kid mentioned seeing a clown and Ingrid thinks its her father come back to life, the whole flashback is shot in this old timey style but the red balloon and blood stay in color witch looks sick as hell and really drives home how these memories stick with Ingrid after all these years.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19244304/
• Platform: HBOMAX

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The Periwinkle reveal was probaly the biggest thing this episode dropped and honestly it makes so much sense now, Ingrid Kersh is Bob Grays daughter and shes been helping Pennywise for decades because she thinks the clown is actually her dad who got taken back in 1908. Bob Gray was the original Pennywise the Dancing Clown from the circus that came to Derry and somehow the IT entity killed him or took him and then just started using his face and costume to scare kids, Ingrid stayed in Derry after the circus left because she felt drawn to the place and eventually got a job at Juniper Hill where she could feed troubled kids to Pennywise thinking it would bring her father back. That scene where she says Papa to Pennywise and he stops for a second like what did you just call me was crazy, you can see the exact moment when Pennywise realizes oh shit this is the daughter of the guy whose face I stole and then he just starts laughing because he knows he can use her to get more food. Bill Skarsgard playing both Pennywise and Bob Gray in the same episode was great, the way he switches between the two shows how good he is at this role, when Pennywise takes Bob Grays form without the makeup and talks to Ingrid saying let me in, hes not just asking her to open a door hes asking to get inside her mind so he can gaslight her for the next 27 years. The whole thing is tragic as hell because Ingrid believes she is helping her father when really she is just been Pennywises delivery service bringing him kids from the asylum, she even says she would do anything to see him again and you know Pennywise has been taking advantage of that desperation this whole time, its fucked up but also brilliant writing because it explains why Mrs Kersh acts so weird.

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Lily figuring out the truth about Ingrid was intense, she goes to Mrs Kershs house and finds all these old photos going back to 1908 and recognizes Bob Gray because he looks EXACTLY!! like Pennywise, then she sees the Periwinkle costume and realizes that Ingrid has been following them around dressed as a clown trying to see her father. The confrontation between them was heavy because Ingrid tries to use Lilys grief over her own dad to manipulate her but Lily is not buying any of it, she knows her fathers dead and gone unlike Ingrid who cant accept reality, when Ingrid says no one who dies here ever really dies Lily just grabs her bag with the dagger and gets the hell out of there after slicing Ingrids hand. That dagger is from the meteorite that brought IT to Earth millions of years ago and its the only thing that seems to scare Pennywise, Lily wont let go that thing now that she knows its power, like when Will tries to touch it earlier in the episode like do not touch my precious, the thing makes her more angry and paranoid witch makes sense because its a piece of the same space rock that brought this evil entity here in the first place so I wonder if this rock has some side effects to who ever stays too long with it. The kids are all turning against each other because of what happend in episode five with Maddie, they almost died down in the sewers and now nobody knows who to trust, Ronnie calls Lily crazy and that word triggers her so bad because everyone has been calling her that since episode one, Rich is the only one smart enough to realize that this is exactly what Pennywise wants, to divide them up so they are weaker and easier to pick off one by one.

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The whole Leroy and Will situation got worse this episode and you can see how living in Derry is slowly turning Leroy into the colder version of himself, he slaps Will for the first time and you can tell everyone in the room including Charlotte is shocked because this is not who Leroy normally is, Im not so sure if call Will brave or stupid on how he stands against his father and Charlotte considering she is so smart was kinda out of place instead of realizing what was really going on. Pennywise getting into Leroys head and making him kill Pauly has broken something inside him and now he is taking it out on his son, but still consider that there is some sense on his words, Will says I would never let my friends die and that hits below the belt so hard that Leroy just loses it, the whole scene shows how trauma from encountering Pennywise doesnt just scare you it changes you into someone darker and more violent. Charlotte tells Leroy she is taking Will back to Shreveport with or without him and this is the part that I was like you have no idea what you dealing with right now, but we know from the movies that Leroy stays in Derry and raises his grandson Mike so clearly Charlotte either dies at the black spot or leaves without Will somehow, its sad because you can see there whole family falling apart and theres nothing anyone can do to stop it, on top that this is real, this is not Pennywise messing with them when that happen it is all post trauma since they are at the base OUTSIDE of Derry. Dick Halloran is also struggling this episode because Pennywise opened his psychic box and now he cant control his shining ability anymore, he is seeing dead people everywhere including Paulys ghost walking around the base and he cant make it stop. The conversation between Dick and Leroy about the box was interesting because it connects to Doctor Sleep and The Shining, Dicks grandma taught him how to lock away all the scary stuff in a mental box so it wouldnt bother him but Pennywise ripped that lid off and now everythings spilling out, Leroy wants Dick to use his ability to ask the dead spirits where the pillars are but Dick knows thats a terrible idea that will only make things worse for everyone involved.

The ending of this episode set up the black spot fire and I was not ready for how brutal its about to get, all the racist townspeople show up wearing masks that make them look like clowns and demons, they found out Hank Grogan is hiding there because Ingrid was the anonymous tipster who called the police. She thinks causing a big tragedy will bring her father back out but really she was just helping Pennywise create another augury moment like the Bradley Gang massacre from the 1930s cycle, the whole thing is Pennywises plan to make the town tear itself apart with violence and fear, almost like preparing a big dinner for him. Will and Ronnie had some sweet moments this episode and I think they are gonna end up being Mikes parents, Hank even asks Will whats your favorite movie and Will says War of the Worlds witch is a great answer for a kid in 1962 who is dealing with an alien like entity. Rich and Marge also had there moments and you can tell they are falling for each other hard, but this is a horror show so you know all that happiness is just building up to something terrible happening to one or both of them, at the moment I knew had to be Rich, Richs paper airplane falling into the storm drain was a nice callback to Georgies boat and it feels like foreshadowing that Pennywise is about to ruin everything good in there lives. The music sequence at the party before everything goes to hell was beautiful and it reminded me why I love this show, they let these characters just live for a few minutes before reality comes crashing down on them, this is Derry Maine and nothing good lasts long here when Pennywise is awake and hungry. We only saw Pennywise in the flashbacks this episode but it worked perfect, they couldnt just hide him after episode five so showing him in 1935 serving his lore while building tension for whats coming next week was the right move, there is going to be a bloodbath in the final two episodes because they have been cooking this whole season and I know its gonna be worth the wait, solid episode probably tied with five as my favorite, giving it a strong 8 out of 10 because it did everything it needed to do without feeling rushed or dragging at all.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #pennywise, #derry, #horror, #clown, #ingrid, #periwinkle, #stephen, #king, #prequel, #series, #episode, #flashback, #tragedy, #family, #leroy, #lily, #dagger, #meteorite, #juniper, #asylum, #nineteenthirtyfive, #blackspot, #massacre, #bob, #gray

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When I first saw Inside Man during my Netflix browsing, I was instantly intrigued, I’m a fan of Stanley Tucci as an actor. I’ve appreciated his work in supporting roles for years, so seeing him take center stage in a thriller has caught my attention. Add to that the fact that it’s a limited series with just a few episodes, and it sounded like the perfect watch project.

So I decided to give it a shot.

Note: I’ve tried not to include spoilers below so you can form your own opinion if you’re thinking of watching it.\

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10948716

Everyone is a murderer. You just need to meet the right person Stanley words in series

What the Series Is About

Inside Man is a thriller drama released in 2022. It’s a four-episode limited series that blends crime, mystery, and dark psychological drama into a fast-paced story.

The plot:

Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci), a death-row inmate in the U.S., previously a criminology professor, who helps solve unsolved cases from prison.

Meanwhile in England, parallel storylines unfold involving a small village’s vicar and a journalist whose paths eventually intertwine with Grieff’s through a case that grows more complex with each episode.

The show’s structure taps into dual narratives, which keeps the pace mostly fast and engaging, however when it ended, I felt like it should/could become a 2 hour movie instead of a streched 4+ episodes.

What I enjoyed

• Strong performances by actors, I am not sure that I would make it to watch it if other actors were starring.
• Interesting concept, the idea of a death-row inmate using his insight to help solve cold cases is interesting and puts the viewer in detective shoes :)
• There’s also a supporting character who lightens the mood with moments of wit, adding some balance to some dark moments.

However there were a few plot gaps and unresolved questions that left me wondering. Some transitions were not quite as they should be, and certain story elements raised expectations that weren’t answered at all.

Sometimes, as the series came to an end, I felt like pieces of the puzzle were missing. Not sure if these were intentional mysterious gaps, parts removed in editing, or maybe they plan a second season, but but either way, I would really appreciate some more clarity.

Final Thoughts & Rating

Overall, I enjoyed it. Inside Man can offer you tension, pace, and mystery, and despite some storytelling gaps, you may enjoy it.

Would I rate it as high as its IMDb score (6.7)? Definitely not. I would place it around 6.0/ 10 and definitely not a masterpiece.

You can watch the trailer below and please let me know if you watched it and how you feel about it

I m adding some contradicting reviews so that you can have all details before deciding whether to give it a chance!

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Nuremberg is one of those movies that sounds important on paper but ends up feeling way too safe, when you sit down and watch it, like it wants to teach you history, without taking big risks, with how it presents everything to the audience. James Vanderbilt directed this and got himself a stacked cast, with Rami Malek playing psychiatrist Douglas Kelly and Russell Crowe as Hermann Goring, the whole thing is basically Kelly, trying to get inside Gorings head, before the trials start and figure out what makes this Nazi bastard tick. The best part is watching these two, go back and fourth, playing mind games for an hour straight, Crowe completely dissapears into Goring and becomes this massive evil blob, who thinks he can outsmart everybody, even tho he is literally sitting in prison, waiting to get hanged, Malek does his usual thing, looking like someone trying to understand pure evil but then realizes he might be getting played, the entire time. The problem is everything else feels rigid and stiff, like your watching a history class, everyone just talks about the trial constantly, in every scene, and it gets exhausting, because you never get any break from heavy legal talk. Michael Shannon shows up as Justice Robert Jackson, giving speeches about justice, and why Nazis need accountability, but none of these characters feel like real humans, just actors doing jobs, without personality, John Slattery barks orders as the Colonel, running the prison, but its all very one note and boring. The movie runs over two and a half hours, witch is crazy, and honestly drags in a lot of sections, where things should move faster, to many scenes of people sitting in rooms, having conversations that could have been cut, without loosing anything important. What saves it tho, is the ending when Kelly goes on a radio show, and warns everyone that fascists will come back, but next time it wont be with swastikas, it will look completely different and normal, witch hits way harder, watching in 2025, with everything going on right now.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29567915/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

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Source Theres this absolutly brutal scene during the trial where they show real concentration camp footage, that Allied soldiers filmed, when they liberated Auschwitz and other death camps, its one of the most disturbing things, you will see in any movie, no question about it. The footage shows piles of dead bodies, stacked like garbage, starving prisoners who look like walking skeletons, being carried on stretchers, mass graves being dug with bulldozers, pushing corpses into holes in the ground, makes you feel sick watching it. The entire courtroom sits in complete silence, trying to process the horrors seeing for the first time, that moment alone makes the movie worth sitting through, even with its problems, because it reminds you this shit actually happened, not long ago. These were real people who suffered and died in those camps, and the movie does not hold back from showing the horrific reality of what Nazis did, even when its uncomfortable as hell, its necessary to see so we never forget. The scene is aparently never before seen footage, that the director got access to witch makes it even more powerful and important, watching Goring sit there emotionless, while everyone else is crying or looking away tells you everything about what kind of person he was. Kelly completely breaks down after watching it and has to leave the courtroom because he cant handle it anymore, thats when he finally realizes the man he spent months befriending is genuinely a monster, no matter how charming he seemed during there conversations.

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Source Russell Crowe is without doubt the absolute best thing about this movie and he owns every scene as Hermann Goring, you cant take your eyes off him, whenever he appears on screen. Goring ran the Luftwaffe, witch was the Nazi air force, and was involved in every decision, including the Holocaust, even tho he denys knowing about death camps, during the trial, its all lies but he tells them so convincingly, you almost belive him for a second. Crowe makes Goring this weird mix, of charming one minute, then terrifying the next, he will crack jokes with Kelly, or do magic card tricks, then say some cold blooded shit, about loyalty to Hitler, that makes your skin crawl. The performance walks a thin line, where you almost forget, how evil this person was, because Crowe gives him so much humanity, Goring has a wife and daughter he loves, and writes them letters from his cell, that Kelly delivers, witch creates a strange bond between them. Goring knows exactly what he is doing tho, manipulating Kelly into seeing him, as just another guy who made mistakes, instead of a war criminal responsible for millions of deaths, its calculated to gain sympathy and maybe get information to use at trial. The scenes with Crowe and Malek alone talking are intense because you feel Goring, getting inside Kellys head, convincing him things weren't black and white, maybe Nazis had reasons, even if those reasons are insane. By the time trial starts, Goring is so confident, he thinks he can talk his way out of being convicted and Crowe plays that arrogance perfectly, you believe this guy thinks he is the smartest person in any room, even when all evidence is stacked against him and everyone knows he is guilty as hell, its a really great performance, that deserved way more attention than it got.

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Source Rami Malek plays Douglas Kelly and his performance is solid but nothing spectacular compared to what Crowe does in this movie and other Rami's performance for sure. Kelly wants to write a book but he didn't put the idea out there that much and make a name for himself, studying Nazi prisoners, figuring out what makes them different from normal people, he thinks something must be wrong with there brains or some psychological defect, explains why they did terrible things. The more time he spends with Goring, talking for hours, he realizes these guys are not crazy monsters, just regular people who made terrible choices and believed in evil ideology, witch is scarier, because it means anyone could become a Nazi under right circumstances. Malek shows Kellys transformation, from confident doctor to someone completely shaken by what he learned, you see it during the camp footage scene, when he breaks down emotionally and leaves the courtroom. The problem is the script, does not give Malek enough to work with so his character story feels rushed, one scene he defends Goring then next scene after camp footage, he screams at him about hanging but we dont get enough showing internal struggle and this is usually where Rami shines to be honest. Theres a weird subplot, where Kelly befriends Gorings family, visiting there house and playing piano for his daughter, its supposed to show emotional attachment but feels forced and does not add much. By the end Kelly realizes, he screwed up getting to close and gives all his notes, to Michael Shannons prosecutor so Americans can use it against Goring in court, its supposed to be redemption but happens so fast it lacks emotional impact.

The trial does not start until 90 minutes in, then takes up the last hour, its mixed because some parts are good, while others drag forever. Michael Shannon as Justice Robert Jackson leading prosecution and delivers speeches about holding Nazis accountable but feels wasted, because he barely gets screen time, compared to Malek and Crowe. Richard E Grant shows up as British prosecutor and gets one great scene, trapping Goring into admitting he would still follow Hitler, even after learning about Holocaust that moment proves Goring has zero remorse and believes he was right about everything. Courtroom scenes are shot well as it feels like a real courtroom, Im not a fan of this kind of movies to be honest although this one in my opinion is way better than how they deal with Oppenheimer court case, with close ups on faces, showing reactions, but as always to much talking gets boring when you want things moving forward. Everything builds to Goring, getting executed by hanging but instead he kills himself with cyanide, he smuggled into his cell, the movie never explains how he got it, witch feels like a plot hole but thats what actually happened. The ending jumps forward showing Kelly years later, drunk and depressed, having written a book, warning people over radio shows about fascism, trying to tell everyone evil can come from anywhere but gets kicked off because Americans dont want to hear it, specially if you are drunk during the entire conference. Its revealed Kelly eventually killed himself with cyanide like Goring did witch is supposed to be tragic irony, showing obsession with understanding evil but feels like a cheap twist, that does not earn its weight. Overall I give Nuremberg a 8 out of 10 and probably because Im bias here, watching two of my top 5 favorites actor that I saw revolutionize the industry with performances like Gladiator and Elliot from Mr Robot, I would say this movie is worth watching for the cast performance and historical significance, but not something I would rewatch more than twice to be honest, I have to admit this is a very Hollywood like trial movie and would have prefer a bit more of history like watching more of Goring doing goring stuff.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #nuremberg, #russellcrowe, #ramimalek, #nazi, #worldwar, #trial, #holocaust, #goring, #history, #courtroom, #prosecution, #evil, #fascism, #movie, #review, #michaelshannon, #drama, #justice, #germany, #prisoners, #psychiatrist, #execution, #footage, #concentration, #camps

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Fallout Season 2 Episode 3 landed and honestly this episode took some wild turns specially with the Ghoul and I was just looking at IMDB scores and they are kinda bad, I really though this was a more accepted Season by fans but that doesnt seem to be the case. There are soome real frustrating ones when it comes to Maximus and I think this is no secret because I really dont like the guy, how easily he gets manipulated by anyone who throws him a bone. Episode 3 showed us how easily Maximus can be twisted around by just about anyone in power and watching it happen piss me off but you can argue at the end he will remain a good guy but at what cost??, first he wants to kill Harkness because Quintus basically bullies him into thinking that way then he falls under the charm of the very same guy he was supposed to take out all because Harkness butters him up and makes him feel important for once in his miserable life, but what really got me is when they went on that smashing robot rampage like it was nothing, you could see Maximus was having the time of his life forgetting everything else that mattered and that scene with them destroying those securitrons with the super sledge hammer was pretty fun to watch but it also showed how lost this guy is, he has no core of his own and just latches onto whoever gives him attention. Then came the child labor factory run by Thaddeus and when Harkness wanted to kill all those ghoul kids just because they were ghouls Maximus finally did something on his own, something that came from inside him not from orders or manipulation, he killed Harkness with that hammer and it was brutal but necessary because at least for one moment we saw the good person his father wanted him to be buried under all that weakness and need for approval. That decision right there might be the first real choice Maximus has made this whole season and it came at a hell of a price because now he is alone again, no mentor figure telling him what to do or think, probably started a civil war too witch is not great.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637874/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

Rottentomatoes Rating

Source The whole episode really does a number on showing you how messed up the wasteland is with its factions and power struggles going on everywhere you look, we got the Legion doing their thing with the civil war over who should be the next Caesar witch was hilarious in a very dark way because of how Macaulay Culkin plays his character. Lucy ends up on a cross because she tried to save some lady who immediately got her head chopped off the moment they arrived at the Legion camp, that whole situation was frustrating because the Ghoul warned her not to trust these people but Lucy being Lucy with her golden rule nonsense had to go and help anyway. The Legot that Macaulay Culkin plays is funny as hell though, calling Caesar Kaiser and Lucy correcting his Latin was great, she pointed out how they are cosplaying Romans but getting all the details wrong witch made them look like idiots. The whole Prima Noctis conversation was awkward and uncomfortable but in the right ways I would say, because Lucy just kept roasting them about how they dont know what they are talking about and mixing up Roman traditions with medieval ones, she even brings up the cousin stuff from season one witch made me lough, Lucy is kinda very promiscuous but also reminded me how weird her vault was with all that inbreeding going on.

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Source Thaddeus showing up again was a nice surprise since the actor said he was not going to be in season two, turns out he is running a bottle cap mining operation with a bunch of kids including ghoul children and treating them relatively well compared to what you would expect in the wasteland. He has them taking caps off from bottles witch is currency in Fallout, I look up the brand and its "Sunset Sarsaparilla", he is basically using child labor but in the nicest way possible if that makes any sense, he tells them they are lucky to be alive because most kids are dead by their age witch is dark but also true in this world. When Harkness and Maximus show up and destroy the securitron protecting the place things go south real quick, I honestly thought it was separate locations at first but then figure out that is how their "mining" operation has lasted for so long, Harkness wants to separate the human kids from the ghoul kids and you immediately know what he is about to do. The Brotherhood hates ghouls and does not care if they are feral or not, they see all ghouls as abominations that need to be wiped out because they represent the misuse of technology from the bombs that dropped during the great war, its nice that the show did not shy away from that even though it makes them look like monsters, then Maximus begs Harkness to stop but Harkness will not listen, he is about to execute these children in cold blood and thats when Maximus snaps and crushes his skull with the super sledge, it was a shocking moment and probably the most important thing Maximus has done this entire show because it came from his own moral compass and not from someone telling him what to do.

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Cooper Howard continues to be the focus of this show with his flashbacks giving us more data dump about what happened before the bombs dropped, we see him at a veterans meeting with his buddy Charlie who fought with him in the battle of Anchorage during the war against the communists. Charlie is part of the resistance group trying to stop the corporations from destroying the world and he wants Cooper to kill Robert House because they think House is the one planning to drop the bombs, Cooper does not want to do it and keeps saying there has to be another way but you can tell he is conflicted. The scene in the bathroom where Cooper meets the real Robert House was very weird to be honest but still play out, House knows everything including the fact that Cooper and Charlie are part of the resistance and he basically tells Cooper that he is not the bad guy everyone thinks he is. House also talks about how when you back billions of people into a corner they will all try to solve the same problem at the same time with different solutions witch is exactly what is happening with the corporations and Vault Tec planning for the apocalypse and at the Vaults with others trying to figure out how to escape, the way House says it makes it sound like he is not the one who is going to press the button and maybe it will be someone else entirely like maybe Coopers wife Barbara who works for Vault Tec. That would be a hell of a twist if Cooper finds out his wife is the one who actually started the great war and not House, it would explain why he is so broken and cynical in the present day because he failed to stop the person closest to him from destroying the world.

The ending of the episode ties everything together with Cooper saving Lucy from the Legion by starting their civil war, he sets off explosives that cause both factions to start fighting each other witch gives Lucy and the NCR rangers a chance to escape, I really though he was giving up the NCR, I bet was a surprise for everyone he didnt because it just fits perfectly with his character. Cooper uses the lighter that Charlie gave him at the veterans ceremony to light the fuse witch is symbolic because Charlie told him that he got the lighter for saving a man but not for killing the three it took to do it, its about doing bad things for good reasons and Cooper is doing exactly that by sacrificing the Legion to save Lucy and the NCR even though he sold them out earlier to get Lucy freed. The whole theme of the episode is about morality and whether doing something bad to achieve something good is justified, both Cooper and Maximus make choices that will have huge consequences later on because Cooper might have made the Legion situation worse once someone wins the civil war and Maximus definitely started a war with the Commonwealth by killing Harkness. Overall I have to admit this episode was solid with some great character moments for Maximus and Cooper but also some frustrating stuff with Lucy making dumb decisions again, I give it a 7.5 out of 10 because it moved the story forward and set up some big things for later, the series is very cartoonish at times and I guess thats something people were not expecting as they though this would be an action series but it has demonstrated its a more in between comedy, drama and some action.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #fallout, #season, #episode, #maximus, #harkness, #cooper, #lucy, #legion, #brotherhood, #wasteland, #caesar, #thaddeus, #ghoul, #house, #robert, #children, #ncr, #war, #culkin, #securitron, #bombs, #charlie, #vegas, #vault, #review

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Did you kill her? What do you think?

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Fallout Season 2 Episode 2 finally feels like the real deal after last weeks premiere kinda just introduced us back into the world, The Golden Rule gets things moving and I am so damn glad they did not spend half the episode on stuff we already knew, it just jumps right in and thats exactly what this show needed. The Brotherhood of Steel stuff is where things really shine this episode, watching them set up at Area 51 with that alien in the freezer made me laugh and cringe at the same time but thats just how this series is with some characters, seeing these power armored knights act like complete idiots beating each other up or messing around with plasma grenades is perfect because it shows you they are dangerous, but also very very stupid and thats completely on brand for them. Quintis turning Maximus into this obedient killing machine is dark as hell, the cold opening with his family getting nuked in Shady Sands was a cool data dump for anyone who havent play the games just like me, his dad telling him he will be a good man only for Maximus to become this broken shell with no control over his own life is tragic and you can feel it in every scene he is in. The way they contrast his loving father with Quintis calling him son now is just sad, because you know he is desperately looking for that connection again, trying to find somebody who cares about him the way his real father did. The Hank flashback showing how he destroyed Shady Sands using those mind control chips just makes him even more of a bastard, seeing the town actually thriving before he wiped it out puts everything into perspective for the audience, you see clean water being pulled from underground, you see kids running around happy, you see people actually living decent lives, and then it all gets destroyed because Hank wanted his family back, and could not stand that people were doing fine without Vault Tec.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637874/
• Platform: PRIMEVIDEO

Source The whole sequence where Maximus dad tries to disarm the bomb but triggers the failsafe instead is heartbreaking, because he knows he only has three minuts left so he stuffs his kid in a fridge, the first time I saw Maximus coming out of the fridge scene I thought it was this bombing scene from planes or ships, then his dad tells him to eat and drink slowly knowing damn well nobody is coming to save him anytime soon, that entire opening scene is probably the best cold open this show has done. Lucy and the Ghoul are kind of doing the same thing again though, she saves him after he acts like a violent ass and it does feel a bit repetitive compared to their relationship from last season but I get what they are trying to do here, they want to show that Lucy still believes in the golden rule even after everything she has been through, and the Ghoul keeps trying to break her down and prove to her that being good in the wasteland gets you killed. The rad scorpion fight was cool and probaly one of the better action scenes in the episode, those things look terrifying and gross at the same time, the little ones specially, the big one eating the smaller ones was nasty and very much fits the tone of Fallout where everything is trying to kill you, including things that should be on your side. Lucy using the stimpack on the woman instead of the Ghoul makes sense because he can heal without it but the Ghoul throwing the golden rule back in her face like its a curse is such a dick move, he keeps telling her that her morals are going to get her in trouble, and then she gets tricked into ending up with Caesar Legion at the end, which is exactly what he said would happen, so now he gets to say I told you so next episode, and honestly he kind of earned it this time.

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Source The whole hospital scene with the people in tunics sets it up nicely, the Ghoul recognizes them right away because he has been around for over 200 years and knows every faction out there, but Lucy has no idea what she is walking into because she grew up in a vault where everyone was nice and followed rules, she does not understand that there are groups out here who do not care about kindness or fairness, they just take what they want and if you are in the way you either join them or die, thats the reality of the wasteland. Hank stuff this episode is disturbing as hell and shows just how far gone he really is, watching him kill a bunch of mice by exploding their heads while testing the mind control chip is bad enough, but then he moves on to actual people, and it gets so much worse than I was expecting. He thaws out this rich guy from cryo who thought he was getting premium elite plus treatment, but really he just signed his life away to Vault Tec without reading the fine print, Hank straps him down, and cranks up the device, and the guys head just explodes, and Hank does not even flinch at all, he just says he will try again like he is working on a science project for school, and not murdering people in a basement under New Vegas.

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Seems obvious that the show is setting up Hank to be completely irredeemable at this point, he nuked Shady Sands, he killed his way into New Vegas, he is conducting experiments on people, and he is doing it all while playing with a yo yo like its no big deal, that disconnect between his actions and his behavior is what makes him so creepy, because he really thinks he is doing the right thing by trying to bring his family back together, but he is willing to kill thousands of people to make it happen, and that does not add up to being a good person no matter how you look at it, there is no way around that fact. I have a feeling that by the end of the season Hank is going to get a taste of his own medicine, maybe someone puts a chip on him and turns him into a puppet for Mr House, that would be some poetic justice right there, and honestly I would be very okay with that happening because he deserves it after everything he has done to innocent people. Norm finally getting out of the vault and seeing the sky for the first time while Lucy is walking inland made me smile, his whole middle manager crew thing moved fast which is good, because last season his stuff dragged sometimes, and I was worried they would do the same thing again with boring vault scenes.

Instead they had him wake up some co workers and then trick them into thinking he is a super manager sent by Bud to test them, the merit dots thing was hilarious because these corporate drones are so brainwashed, that they will do anything for a meaningless sticker, it shows how Vault Tec trained people to care more about fake rewards than actual survival, and Norm figured out how to use that against them in a very smart way. He is way smarter than people give him credit for, and I think this season is going to show that he is just as capable as Lucy, but in a completely different way that fits his personality better. When he climbs out of the vault and sees the ocean it feels like a huge moment for his character, because he has spent his entire life underground being told that the surface is a radioactive wasteland where nothing can survive, and now he is standing there looking at the sky, and realizing that everything he was taught was a lie, everything Vault Tec told him was bullshit designed to keep people underground and obedient. I am very excited to see where his story goes from here, because he is basically leading a group of clueless Vault Tec employees into the real world, and they are going to get eaten alive if they are not careful, these people have zero survival skills, and think merit dots are going to save them from raiders.

The Brotherhood civil war setup has me very excited to see where this goes, Quintis calling a meeting without the Commonwealth and offering unlimited fusion cores to the other chapters is such a power move but its also going to bite him in the ass eventually, because the Commonwealth is not going to let that slide at all. They are the strongest link in the entire Brotherhood and if they find out that Quintis is trying to take over without them there is going to be a war, and its going to be brutal. Maximus is stuck right in the middle of all this, and I do not think he realizes how bad things are about to get for him, he is trying to be a good person and it looks like he doesnt even know what the hell is going on, and make the world better, but the Brotherhood keeps pushing him to be more violent, and more ruthless with every mission they send him on. That scene where he kills the guy in the fight was rough, because you can see on his face that he does not want to do it and if he does not prove himself then everything falls apart, and he probaly gets killed for showing weakness. The whole Area 51 reveal was dope, the wind turbines blowing away the sand to show the hangars underneath looked amazing, and seeing all the pre war stuff they have stored in there was a nice touch for the world building, the frozen alien was funny but also kind of sad, because the Brotherhood does not even care about it, they only care about the fridge it was stored in, and that sums up their entire philosophy right there, they do not care about discovery or knowledge or what things mean, they only care about hording technology for themselves and using it to control everyone else in the wasteland. Overall this episode feels way more focused than the premiere, things are actually happening with the Brotherhood gearing up for war, Lucy is walking into a trap with the Legion, Hank is building mind control devices in his secret lab and Norm is about to learn that the surface world is way more dangerous than he thought it would be. Solid 8 out of 10 for me and I cannot wait to see what happens next episode that Im about to watch rn with Macaulay Culkin showing up as whoever he is playing in the Legion, I am guessing he is some kind of leader or important person who for some reason either is annoying or over power, because they would not cast him just to be a random soldier, idk this is just me guessing.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #fallout, #season, #episode, #review, #brotherhood, #maximus, #lucy, #ghoul, #hank, #wasteland, #legion, #caesar, #vault, #norm, #quintis, #area51, #commonwealth, #shady, #sands, #fusion, #cores, #tech, #scorpion, #hospital, #civilwar

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This is a cross post of @gwajnberg/the-great-flood-a-mix by @gwajnberg.

That is my review about Netflix's The Great Flood

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Last Samurai Standing really caught me off guard, not because it does anything super groundbreaking but because it knows exactly what it wants to be and Im sure that just like "Shogun (2024)" this one at least going to have two more seasons. Creator Mihito Fuji did mention on to a Screenrant interview how he would be fine with loading everything into two or three seasons and I would guess he fear Netflix might even cancel it after one season although by now it has been approve for a second one, Netflix does like blue balling its viewers with this kind of behaviour although we lucky it has not happen to this great series yet. Fuji loaded season one with as much as he could, introduced characters, developed them, killed some off and left just enough open for what comes next without making it feel incomplete, this is basically what we needed after so many disappointments with shows that get canceled out of nowhere or just leave you hanging for years. The show mixes samurai history with death game tension in a way that actually works even though at times it feels like its borrowing a bit too much from Squid Game but you know what, its fine because the execution is different enough and the samurai setting and the landscape gives it this unique flavor that you dont really get anywhere else, even the fighting scenes feel more personal and brutal compared to other shows that try to do similar things with modern weapons or just people running around, its like Shogun but way more exciting with constant fights and still some drama in it. Shujiro and Futaba have real emotional weight behind their mission to expose this whole government conspiracy, you can feel the desperation in every decision they make and Kiojin is being set up as something bigger down the line, you can see it in every pause and hesitation he has, like theres more to his story that we aint seen yet and Im curious where they take that character because right now he feels like a wildcard that could go either way.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32237534/
• Platform: NETFLIX

Source The series takes place in 1878 when the samurai age was completely over, swords got banned, the class system fell apart and these once feared warriors became basically nobodies living in poor villages trying to survive, its a very sad reality when you think about it because these guys dedicated their entire lives to mastering the sword and following this code of honor only to have everything stripped away by a government that decided to go modern with Western weapons. The show does a great job showing how desperate things got for these former samurai, Shujiro has to deal with his daughter dying from cholera because he cant afford proper medicin, his wife is also sick and hes basically broke trying to sell his charred sword at a pawn shop just to get some food on the table, its heartbreaking stuff that makes you understand why he would risk his life in this death tournament called Kodoku. The setup is nothing complicated or that we havent seen before, in fact reminds me of "Rurouni Kenshin" in a lot of ways, its simple but effective, 292 samurai gather at Kyotos Tenriuji Temple for a battle royale where they have to collect wooden tags from other participants by killing them, each checkpoint on the journey from Kyoto to Tokyo requires a certain number of tags to pass through and by the end only fewer than 10 people can survive because you need 30 tags total, its basically designed to make everyone kill each other until theres almost nobody left standing. The prize is 100 billion yen which back then was an insane amount of money, enough to change your entire familys life forever, so of course desperate people are going to sign up even if it means they might die in the process.

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Source The first episode is pure gold right out the gate with this massive nighttime battle at the temple where everyone is just going crazy trying to survive, heads are getting chopped off, blood is spraying everywhere and the chaos is real, but the most impressive thing about it is that it doesnt look like CGI at all and if this is true I can only imagine how hard it was to get all this actors who could wild the sword, very rare nowadays and you can tell because everything feels more grounded and intense. Shujiro has severe PTSD from the Boschin War that ended 10 years earlier, he was in this battle where they won fair and square but then were betray by the government they were actually helping who brought in Western artillery and just bombed the hell out of everyone to get rid of Samurai once for all, he watched his entire team get blown apart and he barely survived by hiding in a trench under dead bodys, now every time he grabs his sword his hands start shaking and he cant even pull it out of the sheath properly. The sword itself is all charred and rusty from the bomb residue which is a nice detail that shows how damaged he is both physically and mentally, this guy used to be known as Kokusho the Manslayer but now he can barely function in combat, its only when he sees Futaba who reminds him of his dead daughter that he snaps out of it enough to protect her. Futaba is this 17 year old girl who has no real combat skills and honestly I dont know how she even got into this tournament, she spends most of the time looking scared and running away from people trying to kill her, some articles I read were complaining about her being too weak and calling it regressive or whatever but I think it makes sense to have at least one vulnerable character so the others can look stronger by comparison, not every female character needs to be some superhuman fighter who defys physics.

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The show also has this subplot about rich elites watching the whole thing from a safe location and gambling on who is going to win, its exactly like Squid Game with the VIPs watching from above and making bets, I get that this is supposed to make you hate the rich people but it feels too predictable and even cliche for this type of TV series, we have seen this exact setup in like a dozen other shows already so its not exactly fresh. There is also a government conspiracy angle where the guy organizing Kodoku named Toshio Kawaji is trying to wipe out all the remaining samurai because he wants to modernize Japan and create this fascist police force armed with guns instead of swords, he sees the samurai as a threat to his vision of the future so he is using this tournament to make them kill each other off, its dark as hell when you realize these people are fighting for their lives while the guy running everything just wants them all dead. The home minister Lord Okubo starts investigating Kawaji because he suspects something is wrong but then Kawaji has him assassinated before he can expose the whole thing, so now Shujiro and the others are walking into this conspiracy without realizing how deep it goes, they think they are just trying to win money but really they are pawns in a much bigger political game. One of the best parts of the show is the rivalry between Shujiro and this guy named Bakutsu Kangja who was also in the Boschin War, Kangja went completely insane after the war ended and now he just wants to die fighting the strongest oponent he can find, he sees Shujiro as this legendary warrior and becomes obsessed with fighting him to the death, its a very tragic character because unlike Shujiro who has a family to fight for Kangja has absolutely nothing and just wants to go out in a blaze of glory.

The ending of Seasons 1 really brought some finale type of action with Shujiro finally killing Kangja in this exhausting sword fight that felt way more real than most choreographed fights you see in shows like this, blood is flowing everywhere and both of them are completely worn out by the end, Kangja gets the death he wanted and Shujiro has to keep moving forward even though you can tell hes barely holding it together. The show also introduced this enforcer named Gentosai who is hunting down all the students from the Kihachi school; the truth is that this could be a complete spin off if they wanted to, including Shujiros sister Roa, apparently their master said only one student could inherit the school and the rest have to die, its another tragedy where these people who trained together for years now have to kill each other or be hunted down forever, Gentosai is like this unstopable force that nobody can kill, the guy is old but has such strength and talent with the sword, at the same time he is also terrifying every time he shows up on screen. The season ends with Shujiro and Futaba heading towards Tokyo while Kawaji is going in the oposite direction, so you know these two are going to have a showdown eventually and its probably going to be the climax of season two if we even get one, in paper we will but we never know with Netflix. The show hit a almost perfect Rotten Tomatoes score with 100% Critics and 86% Audience, trended globally and people online are comparing it to Squid Game none the less this show made me so happy to have something Samurai related to watch as I wait for Shogun. My biggest complaint is that some parts feel very generic and as I mention above cliche for a Samurai series, something Showgun avoid more than others but so far I would say this is one of the two best Samurai Tv Series from the last 10 years, like we have seen these character types before in a hundred other shows, the whole thing about everyones family being sick with cholera and needing money for medicine gets repetitive, also the decision to have the games take place in the open streets instead of a contained arena makes it feel less tense because you keep thinking these people could just run away if they really wanted to but the series did well to explain how Kodoku would find them whereever they go or hide. Hands down a 8 out of 10 for me, its a solid samurai death game show that knows what it wants to be and does over complicate things, if you already have Netflix its definitely worth checking out, btw getting all this names is not easy and I know I must have butcher or got one or two confuse.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #samurai, #netflix, #review, #kodoku, #shujiro, #futaba, #deathgame, #battleroyale, #japan, #sword, #ptsd, #tournament, #survival, #kawaji, #conspiracy, #cholera, #kyoto, #tokyo, #kangja, #warrior, #season, #action, #blood, #fighting, #brutal

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