TV Series Thread

[drunkenshoe]

I loved Fallout. I wasn't expecting this, I'm happily confused.

[drunkenshoe]

It has been decades since I have seen an episode of what was my favorite series..Northern Exposure.

Haahaah...It's brilliant.

[Hydra009]

I got my brother hooked on the Amazing Digital Circus, but he still dislikes Murder Drones.  :(

I'm still not a huge fan of the circusy aesthetic (though that's what it says on the tin) and the lolrandom humor, but once I figured out that this show is essentially Five Characters in Search of an Exit, I started to like it more.  Plus, most of the characters are endearing in being psychologically damaged and traumatized yet still soldiering on.  I've recontextualized the art style as a sort of prison dressed up to look "fun", which makes it even more sinister.  And the bad jokes as an AI trying - and failing -  to cheer up its charges.  Basically, this show is the Matrix but the imprisonment isn't malicious, just necessary for some unknown reason.

In contrast, Murder Drones is incredibly dark - literally and figuratively - and it's not so much psychological horror as it is body horror and nods to a bunch of horror movies.  It also has some genuinely hilarious moments, which hit even harder because you don't expect it in such a bleak setting.  It's full of mysteries and blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments, which fuels endless theorizing, which I thoroughly enjoy.  Plus, I just really like robots.

He might come around eventually.

[Blackleaf]

I love the theme of existential horror in The Amazing Digital Circus. Its characters are diverse and entertaining, and I have to wonder what happened to Jax that made him this way. The animation is top notch, especially in episode 2. They start with 2D drawings, act it out with 3D models, and then stretch the proportions to match the 2D artwork. It's brilliant.

Murder Drones...I don't know. It just didn't grab my attention as quickly as TADC.

[Hydra009]

I have a theory...a film theory...that Jax is secretly an NPC.

He's the only one who loves violence and engaging in the narratives (though Ford from Westworld would say that those are precisely human traits).  He also is the only one eager to eat (a trait he shares with Bubble, an NPC) - digital food has no nutritional value for humans and humans do not feel hunger, yet he says he's hungry.  He is also the only one to avoid the funeral.  And in that scene where someone is falling into the pit and everyone reaches in to lend a helping hand, he's conspicuously absent and the only one absent.

Cain's human/npc confusion heavily implies at least one previous incident and we know he can't harm humans, so the big money is on an NPC that successfully pretended to be human, at least for a while.  It's a helluva checkov's gun and Jax is the only odd one out in the core cast of humans.  It's possible that he just has different coping mechanisms, but it's still strange that everyone else is noticeably fraying but he's seemingly unflappable.  A telltale give-away for NPCs would be the lack of mental anguish, as displayed by Bubble but none of the main cast except Jax.

[Blackleaf]

I have a theory...a film theory...that Jax is secretly an NPC.

He's the only one who loves violence and engaging in the narratives (though Ford from Westworld would say that those are precisely human traits).  He also is the only one eager to eat (a trait he shares with Bubble, an NPC) - digital food has no nutritional value for humans and humans do not feel hunger, yet he says he's hungry.  He is also the only one to avoid the funeral.  And in that scene where someone is falling into the pit and everyone reaches in to lend a helping hand, he's conspicuously absent and the only one absent.

Cain's human/npc confusion heavily implies at least one previous incident and we know he can't harm humans, so the big money is on an NPC that successfully pretended to be human, at least for a while.  It's a helluva checkov's gun and Jax is the only odd one out in the core cast of humans.  It's possible that he just has different coping mechanisms, but it's still strange that everyone else is noticeably fraying but he's seemingly unflappable.  A telltale give-away for NPCs would be the lack of mental anguish, as displayed by Bubble but none of the main cast except Jax.

I've seen other people suggesting this. I kinda doubt he's an imposter. While Caine dropping that line about forgetting "who is human and who is an NPC" does feel like a Chekhov's Gun, if there is a secret NPC, I don't think it's Jax. I think he's a human who probably lost someone to abstraction in the past, and he is dealing with the pain in a very unhealthy way. We'll likely learn more about his backstory in a later episode.

While he doesn't attend the funeral, you can see a quick look of sadness in his eyes when it's mentioned, before his face quickly turns to anger. I think he just hates feeling vulnerable, so he didn't feel comfortable being there. Anger is a common coping mechanism (especially for men). Some people are more comfortable being angry than sad. It helps them focus outward instead of inward.

As for his hand not reaching out to help Pomni, that's just because Pomni doesn't see him as a friend. It's a visual representation of her relationship to the other characters. She's seeing how they're holding each other up, and feels hopeful knowing they will be there for her too. Jax is excluded from that visual because he's an asshole. lol

IMO, I think the big twist will be that they are ALL NPCs. They have real human memories, but the humans who put on the headset took it off and went home as if nothing happened. The characters in the game are just NPCs implanted with the memories of those humans. There are no bodies waiting to be returned to. There really is no escape. The only difference between Pomni and Gummigoo is that Pomni's memories are based on a real human's memories, while Gummigoo's memories are all made up to serve the story he's in.

Maybe it's part of an experiment. Maybe the humans didn't know what was going on. Maybe the game malfunctioned, and it was supposed to be a regular VR game? Who knows?

[drunkenshoe]

Has anyone looked into Baby Reindeer? I couldn't watch it. Apparently, it is real and happened to the person playing the male lead. He made the series.

[Hydra009]

IMO, I think the big twist will be that they are ALL NPCs. They have real human memories, but the humans who put on the headset took it off and went home as if nothing happened. The characters in the game are just NPCs implanted with the memories of those humans. There are no bodies waiting to be returned to.

While that's an interesting idea - that's not new territory for Glitch so I assume they wouldn't rehash it.

[Blackleaf]

[Hydra009]

"Hey!  Wake up, asshole" 😂

[Blackleaf]

I just caught up on Smiling Friends. How is this show so freaking funny? I don't even get why it's funny sometimes. It just make me wheeze. The show is a treasure trove for memes.

[Hydra009]

[Hydra009]

Hot damn, I guess it's good then.  (For those who don't know, Critical Drinker is full of garbage hot takes and is basically Nega-me in terms of both personality and presentation)

Apparently, the show is anti-fascist now (big shock, because a literal nazi was beat up last season and I guess that was just too subtle for some people) and now it's triggering people who don't want "politics" in their media (and just happen to really, really like wearing red hats).  My advice to them: then turn it off and watch more apolitical shows like Star Trek and the X-Men lol

[Blackleaf]

The Critical Drinker is one of those people who uses the word "woke" unironically. "Nuance" is not in his vocabulary. Negative reviews are good for clicks, and I think a lot of YouTube "critics" know that.

It's not even that I disagree with him. There have been a lot of bad shows and movies lately. The problem is his reasoning. He thinks the number one problem with Hollywood movies is that they're trying to appeal to the "woke agenda." For example, there are a lot of things wrong with Disney's Star Wars trilogy. The clear lack of a gameplan, the lack of creativity (literally starting with a soft reboot of A New Hope), a lack of internal consistency, etc. But one of this guy's major gripes is how Rey is able to use the Force to do a Jedi mind trick, and to fight Kylo Ren to a stalemate without training.

Hearing that, I'm like, "Oh yeah. Untrained Jedi have never used the Force to do great feats like...destroying a moon-sized battle station by using the Force to guide a missile into a tiny hole or anything RIDICULOUS like that. Could you imagine if Luke did something like defeating Darth Vader without completing his training first? Oh wait!"

As if the Jedi mind trick is the peak of Jedi power anyway. The only time we've seen the Jedi at their best was in the prequel trilogy. There, they were able to do all kinds of supernatural stuff. They could run at super speed, like Sonic the Hedgehog.

[Hydra009]

Star Wars is firmly in the "fantasy" camp, even though it's wrapped in scifi technology.  So I wouldn't even dignify that criticism with a counterpoint like Luke's destruction of the Death Star.  Fantasy stories, especially ones about space wizards, don't necessarily have to make logical sense or be very internally consistent.  It'd be nice, sure.  But you can have a story that feels grounded and logical (rogue one) and another story that's just balls-to-the-wall rule of cool (force unleashed) in the same setting without destroying it.

And his fixation with blaming stuff on "wokeness" is infuriating because it's usually something much more mundane.  So even if he's correct in saying that a movie or show is garbage, it's a bit of a situation where you get the right answer with the wrong formula.  So even when he's right, he's wrong.  And personally, I can't trust someone's judgement when their reasoning is this poor.  It's just such a shitty gimmick to use as a shortcut for genuine analysis and thoughtful critique.  Too easy.  Too thoughtless.  Gets plenty of clicks, though.