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2021 TV DISCUSSION

RIPPA

By RIPPA
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Craig H

Craig H

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Welp, I too have started watching Squid Game. I wasn't going to watch it, but it has been brought up on so many podcasts I listen to and it's almost universally liked, if not loved.

I'm up to episode 3. I think this series would benefit from the episodes being shorter, but it is really good. I'm also watching with English dubbing because trying to wrangle a baby means I can't always look at the screen to read subtitles. The English dubbing isn't great or anything, it's probably as bad as anything else, but the plot and storylines for the characters are so strong that it doesn't matter if the dubbing isn't good. It just does a very impressive job of conveying how all of these people have fucked up in major ways.

What I didn't feel was that it was fucked up in general. A lot of people that talked about it would basically say it's disturbing. Maybe I've seen way too much shit, but I wouldn't say it's at all disturbing. Even the blood and gore in episode 1 wasn't bad. In fact, it seemed pretty mild. Like, it's people getting shot. What they showed in episode 1 was a million times milder than something like Saving Private Ryan.

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Raziel

Raziel

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I mean, it's REALLY fucking good, but the disturbing isn't really for the violence.  But yeah, about half way through the show just starts throwing gut punches at you and doesn't stop.

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Casey

Casey

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I re-upped my Netflix sub to watch Squid Game and You (and binge Neon Genesis Evangelion, but the dub/sub combo is terrible).

Haven't started Squid Game yet, but I've started the new season of You. Only 3 episodes in, but they've definitely mixed up the formula of Joe getting attached to a new female every season. I don't know where it's going, they keep pulling out twists every episode at the end. I'm here for it.

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Raziel

Raziel

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21 minutes ago, Casey said:

I re-upped my Netflix sub to watch Squid Game and You (and binge Neon Genesis Evangelion, but the dub/sub combo is terrible).

 

There isn't really a whole lot that makes Eva *not* terrible...

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J.T.

J.T.

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On 10/14/2021 at 11:42 AM, Craig H said:

Welp, I too have started watching Squid Game. I wasn't going to watch it, but it has been brought up on so many podcasts I listen to and it's almost universally liked, if not loved.

I'm up to episode 3. I think this series would benefit from the episodes being shorter, but it is really good. I'm also watching with English dubbing because trying to wrangle a baby means I can't always look at the screen to read subtitles. The English dubbing isn't great or anything, it's probably as bad as anything else, but the plot and storylines for the characters are so strong that it doesn't matter if the dubbing isn't good. It just does a very impressive job of conveying how all of these people have fucked up in major ways.

What I didn't feel was that it was fucked up in general. A lot of people that talked about it would basically say it's disturbing. Maybe I've seen way too much shit, but I wouldn't say it's at all disturbing. Even the blood and gore in episode 1 wasn't bad. In fact, it seemed pretty mild. Like, it's people getting shot. What they showed in episode 1 was a million times milder than something like Saving Private Ryan.

Squid Game is no more fucked up than Battle Royale, The Hunger Games, or Stephen King's / Richard Bachman's The Running Man or The Long Walk.  The idea of a dystopian setting where games of survival distract society from the prison it is locked in are nothing new.  Squid Game is similar to both The Running Man and The Long Walk in that the dystopian state uses money as the tool to entice the players to partake in the suicidal event.   Desperation is a powerful motivator and being destitute sucks.

The one aspect of Squid Game I like is the psychological one.  The coolest thing about Squid Game is:

Spoiler

The survivors willingly volunteer to play again despite them knowing the nature of the game.  The show revisits the players after their wins and you slowly begin to get the impression that either the players begin to find mundane life too boring after experiencing the rush of victory when life is at stake, or that the Squid Game has become their new chosen occupation when the players involved discover that survival is the only thing they are really good at.

It's a very interesting show and I will keep watching to see where it goes.

Edited by J.T.
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dogwelder

dogwelder

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2 hours ago, J.T. said:

Squid Game is no more fucked up than Battle Royale

Yup, and I will say that the original novel version of Battle Royale is even worse.

Starting My Name, which Netflix recommended to me after I finished Squid Game.  It apparently dropped Friday and is getting very good reviews.

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Casey

Casey

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Despite Allie Katch spoiling the ending for me on Twitter (right before I got to the season finale, too!), You S3 was very enjoyable. For the first handful of episodes, they kept me thinking this person and that person was going to be the new obsession, but it never panned out that way. The ending makes me really fucking sad though, I don't like the direction they're going on. I thought the back half of S2/all of S3 except for the end was setting them up for a nice change of pace, but... nah, I guess.

I'm going to start Squid Game and Midnight Mass next weekend, probably. Right now I'm switching between playing Far Cry 6, The Phantom Pain and Marvel Super Heroes 2 and re-watching Veep for the third time.

Veep is still one of the best half-hour comedy shows I've ever seen, I love this fucking thing. But I'm obsessed with politics, so I might be biased.

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Craig H

Craig H

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Finished Squid Game last week. It was good, but I don't see why it's the sensation that it is. It's not THAT good or anything. Episode 6 particular, the episode with the marbles, is maybe the toughest of the bunch to watch. I do at least appreciate them reaching into my nightmares and pulling that glass bridge right out of one of my dreams. Seriously, that's something I've had nightmares about in the past, walking over a glass bridge. So fuck all of that. But yeah, the series is good, but also pretty predictable.

And this is where I now open up a door to whole bunch of criticism, but...it's cool and all that Americans are suddenly, "OOH! WOW! KOREAN MOVIES AND TV SHOWS!" like with this or Parasite. Thing is...Squid Game and Parasite just aren't that good. Where were all these people when Old Boy came out? That's a way better watch than the examples I mentioned. I don't know, this all feels like a fad that will pass at some point. I at least have faith that a second season of Squid Game will be better than the sequel to Battle Royale.

Also watched episode 1 of Foundation. No one else on here has talked about this series yet, but I thought that first episode was pretty fucking good. I'm a sucked for weird sci-fi shit though, but I love almost everyone in that cast even if Lee Pace is the same shitty guy he's played in Halt and Catch Fire and as Ronan in the MCU. I may have to rewatch the episode though, because I started getting a little confused at a couple things, in particular when it seemed like they said the word "foundation" a bunch of times and then showed an actual location called Foundation, who gave the order to destroy the elevator, and what was going on that allowed the three Empire dudes see what people were saying. Are they also telepaths or something? I don't know. It's probably why I shouldn't watch shit at 1 am when I'm dead tired.

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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2 hours ago, Craig H said:

Where were all these people when Old Boy came out?

Heh, they (well, Spike Lee) just decided to remake that one instead.

Personally I never got the big deal over Battle Royale either. Maybe it's because I saw the sequel first. Just didn't hit the emotional notes for me that it did for others. 

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Craig H

Craig H

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I think you had to catch Battle Royale in the moment and certainly don't watch that sequel before the original. At the time, Battle Royale was wild if just because you had kids killing other kids. And it had Beat Takeshi doing Beat Takeshi shit.

Now though, there's nothing really unique or special about Battle Royale. It has also been so long since I last watched it, at least 15 years, that I'm not sure it's even any good.

Typing this did drive me to do a search for Takeshi and I see that in September his car was attacked by a man with a pickaxe. Sounds about right.

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Eivion

Eivion

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5 hours ago, Craig H said:

Also watched episode 1 of Foundation. No one else on here has talked about this series yet, but I thought that first episode was pretty fucking good. I'm a sucked for weird sci-fi shit though, but I love almost everyone in that cast even if Lee Pace is the same shitty guy he's played in Halt and Catch Fire and as Ronan in the MCU. I may have to rewatch the episode though, because I started getting a little confused at a couple things, in particular when it seemed like they said the word "foundation" a bunch of times and then showed an actual location called Foundation, who gave the order to destroy the elevator, and what was going on that allowed the three Empire dudes see what people were saying. Are they also telepaths or something? I don't know. It's probably why I shouldn't watch shit at 1 am when I'm dead tired.

Thank you for mentioning this. This was one of the shows I was hoping people had seen and would comment on when I asked about what was worth watching on some of the stream sites a couple of weeks ago. I like sitcoms fine, but fantasy and sci-fi dramas are more where my interest tend to lie.

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