Path: ...!news.misty.com!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!news.quux.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-03-12 (Wednesday)
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:50:56 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 82
Message-ID: <vqvk01$36hb1$9@dont-email.me>
References: <UBI20250312@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2025 22:50:58 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="7d94932a951e582ecdfbeedbaa18977b";
	logging-data="3360097"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19AHrrNB9Dsy2xj4PPX4k6w8QQPL4h+u7I="
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:9UrJZIamChoixXVSXb4N1uX1Vws=
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
Content-Language: en-CA
X-Antivirus: Avast (VPS 250313-6, 3/13/2025), Outbound message
In-Reply-To: <UBI20250312@dont-email.me>
Bytes: 5135

On 2025-03-13 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> I watched:
> 
> DYLAN MULVANEY BOOK FLOPS HARD, TIKTOK & FAKE NEWS DESPERATELY PROP IT UP AND
> IT STILL FAILS
> Dylan Mulvaney Book FLOPS HARD, TikTok & Fake News DESPERATELY Prop It Up And
> It STILL FAILS
> https://youtu.be/suS1Cda-Pzk?si=QjGsFygDXIAgcXOl
> 
> THE GAY DECEIVERS - This Aged Great!
> https://youtu.be/17XJBnIaTR4?si=RCaR0yMw4jbR__Ry
> 
> TRUMP DECLARES PEOPLE WHO VANDALIZE TESLA DEALERSHIPS ARE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS
> Hosts:
> Tim @Timcast (everywhere)
> Phil @PhilThatRemains (X)
> Libby @LibbyEmmons (X)
> Serge @SergeDotCom (everywhere)
> 
> Guest:
> Bubba the Love Sponge @TheBubbaArmy (X)
> 
> https://youtu.be/VIn8l6BkwgA?si=Gc666_MEKcqyDynR
> 
> POP CULTURE BREAKDOWN | STAR WARS FOR SALE RUMOR | LOST IN SPACE
> RETROSPECTIVE | DAREDEVIL REVIEW!
> POP CULTURE BREAKDOWN returns with a special retrospective of the classic
> series Lost in Space!  We have a guest who knew a bunch of the cast and can
> share some inside stories about them and their memories of the show!  We
> will also review Daredevil Episode 3, Disney's latest retreat from Snow
> White which strongly suggests they know it's a FLOP, Disney's rumored desire
> to SELL Star Wars (I have an update), AT&T dumps DEI, and in honor of Nick's
> birthday, we're presenting a movie he loves: Iron Eagle!  Join us for this
> special episode tonight!
> https://www.youtube.com/live/TqbjWwZmP_I?si=ZCniqnlSpJ1q7z1c
> 
> What did you watch?
> 
The last few episodes of Severance, Season 1.

I had heard of this show but never looked at it. Last week I saw a 
couple of videos by people very knowledgeable about music who were 
really excited about the music of Severance - specifically the theme - 
so I looked it up in IMDB and was surprised to find it had an 8.7 
rating, making it VERY highly regarded. I decided to take a look at it 
to see if it lived up to the hype in the reviews on IMDB.

Frankly, my main emotion watching it was frustration at the glacial pace 
of the story. But the reviews I read insisted it got better and the 
season finale was amazing so I decided that maybe I should stay to the 
end of Season 1. After all, I couldn't quite see the reason for all the 
hype about The Wire (season 1) when I first watched it either but then, 
somewhere around the middle of the 13 episodes in season 1, it suddenly 
became so compelling that it was the first time I ever binged anything. 
(I'd bought it on DVD so I didn't have to wait.) It became my all-time 
favourite drama.

I have to say that Severance didn't turn out to be nearly as compelling 
for me. Having watched the season finale, I'm still scratching my head 
as I try to understand all the enthusiasm in the reviews.

I feel that they didn't reveal enough of what Lumon was actually doing 
and why. Clearly, the characters had their own "burn it all down" moment 
and actually executed that but it's not remotely clear if Lumon will 
even be hurt by what they did, let alone be destroyed. They're obviously 
very powerful and have several operatives so it wouldn't be hard to 
picture them dealing with the main characters' rebellion with a bit of 
PR (and maybe killing one of them as an example to the others). I expect 
that is the writers trying to keep it mysterious and get people to come 
back for subsequent seasons to try to eventually figure out what is 
going on. It really reminds me of Lost in that regard although I will 
give the Severance writers the (provisional) generous assumption that 
they actually know where this story will end and that it will make sense.

I haven't yet decided if I'll even look at Season 2 - which I know is 
almost finished airing - or if I'll do what I finally did with Lost and 
bail out well before the end because of all the nonsense on that series.

I suspect I'd get more enjoyment from re-watching The Wire....

-- 
Rhino