sd-lister Reviews

Joe Pickett (2021–2023)

Getting worse

[4/10 · 22 July 2023]

I never read the books, so I'm coming at this based solely on the series, but where Picket was a damaged man in the first series, in this second season he's becoming a pathetic pushover. And just when I thought the writers couldn't tear him down any further, he's now apparently impotent. Picket's character is being so badly written, that it's getting harder to even like or root for him this season. I don't know if this is how Joe is portrayed in the books, but I'm guessing they wouldn't have been popular enough to become a series if he was. The same is happening to Nate, to a lesser degree, with the absolutely annoying character of Cricket, a person who seems utterly oblivious to the danger around her or Nate's repeated efforts to keep her safe, her constant whining notwithstanding.

Aside from these two characters, plot holes abound, along with people making silly decisions that really stretch credulity. And then there are the repeated assaults against Picket, physical beatings, guns in the face, all the way up to attempted murder, with zero repercussions or consequences. It's all treated like nothing more than an insult, which is exactly what it is to the audience. There's a lot more, but I don't care enough to waste anymore time on this show. I'll finish the season with two episodes left, mainly because I'm a completionist, but I'm not excited about it. At all.

Justified: City Primeval (2023)

Willa

[5/10 · 20 July 2023]

Man, I hate lazy writing. Here we have a 19 year old, playing a 14 year old, who's supposed to be an 8 year old. Is it beyond the capabilities of these writers/show runners to not insult their audience? For a show that I've watched an embarrassing number of times, why do I have to suspend disbelief to this degree to enjoy this new Justified? Why not simply place the episode into the future? Or make this girl an adopted daughter, or a niece, or a runaway, or anything but a 14 year old Willa when everyone knows she should only be 8 years old? It's annoying and insulting, but pretty typical of how Hollywood treats the fans these days.

Black Mirror: The National Anthem (2011) Season 1, Episode 1

44 minutes I'll never get back

[1/10 · 16 July 2023]

A friend of mine told me that I needed to watch this great series called Black Mirror on Netflix without mentioning that the first episode is one of the dumbest things I've seen on TV in a long time--and that's saying something. The plot holes are massive with a man's finger being mistaken for that of a princess, an artist whose computer and network skills are superior to MI5/MI6, and a country with security cameras at every street corner and buildings in-between, not to mention satellite capability, yet can't figure out where the artist took the girl. Oh, and the artist also managed to sedate both members of her security detail all by himself. It's almost as ludicrous as the story is dumb. I wish I would have checked the IMDB reviews first because I'm never getting those 44 minutes back. Hopefully the rest of the series is significantly better, but I'm taking a break from this mess for a while.

Royal Pains: Open Invitation (2013) Season 5, Episode 11

One of the worst written TV episodes I've ever seen

[1/10 · 20 June 2023]

Without revealing any spoilers, the writing on this episode is atrocious. The characters are so poorly crafted and developed that you'll actively be rooting against those for whom you're supposed to show sympathy. Beyond that, the way this episode handles addiction is infuriating. It's as if they didn't bother researching the issue, or consulting an expert, because they got most everything wrong. And not just a little bit wrong, but more like they tried to wing it and the whole thing just falls apart, especially if the viewer knows anything about how narcotics effect the body. I'm suspicious if some or all of the writers for the series were changed at some point. The first couple seasons of Royal Pains were great, but these later episodes are just painful to watch, especially this one, making it hard to finish the series. Good luck.

Extraction II (2023)

Embarrassing sequel that doesn't hold up to the original

[5/10 · 17 June 2023]

I thought Russo was a decent writer, but Extraction 2 is a horrible mess. To begin, they can't even maintain continuity with the first movie, which was very well done, lots of plausible action, in a unique setting.

Here, we get ridiculous Rocky style training, silly, overdone stunts (and not in a cool, John Wick sort of way), massive, unbelievable plot holes, and a location choice that just screams typical low budget action movie filmed in Europe (Austria/Czech Republic). Even the "good" action sequences were marred by a complete lack of realism with characters literally dodging a hailstorm of bullets from machine guns and helicopter door-gunners alike (who were about as accurate as the average Storm Trooper). The sheer amount of disbelief that viewers have to suspend to make this movie even marginally enjoyable is simply too much-I'm so disappointed with this effort and the missed opportunity, that not only do I not want to watch a third movie, I'm actively rooting against it. They should have ended the first movie as intended, and kept it as a standalone masterpiece (compared to this drivel), if they weren't going to devote the necessary care to the sequels.

I appreciate the use of the many Georgian actors, all of whom do an admirable job, it's just too bad the filming didn't happen there. Regardless, Hemsworth turns in a pretty decent performance, but I think Golshifteh Farahani and Adam Bessa steal the show, such as it is. Their performances were believable and it was evident they committed to their weapon manipulation training.

All in all, it's a very disappointing return for director Sam Hargrave. I think in his effort to deliver a Keanu Reeves like action fest, Hargrave loses track of what makes John Wick's violence so grounded. Instead, we get a movie that's just one choreographed action sequence after another without any heart or substance behind it (amazingly, these actually get tedious and boring after a while). To be fair, it's not like Russo offered anything close to a compelling narrative this time around either. Between the two, they destroy all the potential this film had. Instead, we get a mediocre vehicle that feels like it's all about milking the Netflix cash cow. And that's a damn shame.

The Consultant (2023)

What a waste

[3/10 · 26 February 2023]

What a waste of my time. I binge watched this show on a Saturday evening and by early Sunday morning I regretted every single minute I spent on this silliness.

The first couple episodes were somewhat interesting and engaging with the feeling that we were building to something strange and eerie. But then the stupid choices started showing up buttressed by nonsensical plot points and ridiculous decision making. For example (without spoilers), what jeweler melts down watches, jewelry, and precious rings to get the tiny fraction of gold they contain instead of just buying bullion to make your items when you are literally getting paid millions for your work? There are so many ludicrous things like this that standout as just plain dumb, it makes me think the writers did much of this for the absurdity of it all.

By the 5th episode, my rating was probably down to a 6, and after the finale, I had to hate vote down to a 3 for how much of my life I had wasted on this mess. I haven't read the book this show is based on, hopefully it's much better, but if this train wreck gets another season, I won't be watching. Amazon, your shows continue to suck, and I'm very afraid for the quality of the upcoming Fallout series.

The Peripheral: The Creation of a Thousand Forests (2022) Season 1, Episode 8

And here I thought episode 5 was bad

[1/10 · 11 February 2023]

Having just finished binging the 1st season, I'm sitting here shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all. It feels as if the writers were either magnificently lazy, or simply wrote themselves into a box they couldn't get out of. This ending makes no sense within the constraints of the lore already established. Without adding any spoilers, there has been nothing presented in the show that supports a complete transfer of consciousness from human (pilot) to avatar (peripheral). In fact, if this were possible, episodes 1 to 7 could have been quite different entirely as apparently there were other options and choices at play the audience didn't know existed, yet somehow the protagonist spontaneously figured out in the finale. I didn't realize (still not sure how I missed it) until this last episode that the show was a product of Kilter Films-I now have very real concerns for Amazon's upcoming Fallout. I sure do hope the writing is much better than what we see in this ridiculous episode 8.

The Peripheral: What About Bob? (2022) Season 1, Episode 5

Ridiculous

[3/10 · 11 February 2023]

I can suspend disbelief to a degree, but an old man taking point blank pistol and shotgun rounds to the chest without broken ribs and massive internal damage is a bridge too far. Body armor that defies physics can't exist in any timeline. The plot holes are starting to grow a bit as well, though I won't mention anything specific here to avoid spoilers, but one of those invisible, indestructible SUV's could certainly fit into one of the holes. I like the show, but I hope the lazy writing doesn't persist. I'd rate the first four episodes much higher, so this one was definitely a disappointment. Fingers crossed episode 5 is just an anomaly.

Santa's Squad (2020 TV Movie)

Painful

[6/10 · 9 December 2020]

It's a Lifetime movie, so my score is relative (we aren't using The Godfather scale here). The first 3/4 of the movie was pretty decent, the writing wasn't horrible, all actors were actually quite good. It's a cheesy Christmas video with zero budget, but the show was making the most of what they had. That is until the turn. All these movies follow the same general formula; two people, one of who is usually in a bad relationship, find each other, but before the soulmates can be together, some contrived plot device causes one to mistakenly reject the other. In the end, the truth is revealed, and true love wins the day. Usually, it's a conniving ex that causes all the trouble, but here, it's quite possibly the dumbest reason in all of Christmas romance TV history. I won't "spoil" it, but either the original writer, who was fairly competent to this point, went completely off the rails, or the script was hacked and butchered by a person who has never set foot in a kitchen, let alone baked a cookie. And who then decided that the main characters suffered temporary brain damage and completely lost their short term memory. I was half expecting the lead to pull some Polaroids out of her pocket so she could remember what happened two minutes prior.... Anyway, had it not been for that horrendous bit of script, this show might have ranked as one of the better low budget Lifetime efforts. As it is, I'm going with a very painful, 6 out of 10.

Scorpion: Ice Ca-Cabes (2017) Season 3, Episode 12

More pitiful nonsense

[2/10 · 3 January 2017]

This show has gone from incredulous to ridiculous. At this point it's just a parody. How this nonsensical episode has an 8.2 rating on IMDb (at the time of my review) is absolutely amazing and speaks volumes regarding the average viewer's intelligence/expectations. Like many others, I started with this show liking the premise and the actors but the writing has just gotten asinine. None of the plot devices make sense anymore if realism has any bearing. And the drawn out relationship angst between Walter and Paige is simply overplayed and downright annoying now. Either cancel this mess or bring on some writers with real chops. Otherwise, it's become pitiful and just plain painful to watch.

The Walking Dead: The Day Will Come When You Won't Be (2016) Season 7, Episode 1

Looks like Gimple is still writing

[1/10 · 23 October 2016]

Last season, and particularly last season's finale, was some of the worst writing I've seen on TWD, if not the worst. And I'm not even considering the cliffhanger ending. Our heroes became absolute mindless idiots, bumbling into an impossible trap set by a "tactical genius" to rival Genghis Khan. But this opening episode for Season 7 is a complete joke that might have possibly held up if it was season 2. Maybe. With everything the group has been through and seen, they are now rendered helpless like little puppies in the face of Negan and a baseball bat. This might work in the comics, but on TV it's an insult. Rick is now a little bitch who can't take out a lone douche bag in an RV and somehow Negan can head-shoot zombies at will with full-auto fire. And then Rick is "broken" when instructed to chop off Karl's arm instead of hitting Negan in the mouth with the hatchet? WTF?! The behavior of the whole group is uncharacteristic and a pathetic attempt at a reboot to instill the fear and uncertainty of the beginning season. That's not where these characters are. I don't know how much longer I can continue to watch this drivel and if it was any other show, I would have been done two seasons ago. Hey TWD producers, either get this writing on point, or kill the damn thing already. Or dump the hack Scott Gimple before he single handedly ruins this show beyond the point of no return. I'm not going to waste too much more of my time on this crap.

The Walking Dead: Last Day on Earth (2016) Season 6, Episode 16

Lazy writing--our favorite characters have become idiots

[1/10 · 3 April 2016]

I'm always willing to suspend disbelief to a degree so that a movie or TV show can further its narrative. But this episode just proves that what works in comics does not always translate to TV or the big screen (Marvel knows this well). The writing in this episode is horribly lazy to the point that the show's new "super villain" must be omniscient to correctly predict the choices that the protagonists will take. Nevermind the fact that our group's journey is completely unexpected and based solely on random need not connected to any event an outsider could predict, yet the bad guys somehow know when and where to be. And possibly more so, our battle hardened leader is reduced to crybaby blubber instead of representing the man he's become over years of adversity, loss, blood, and tragedy. There's much more but it's hard to dig into without spoilers. Let's just say that between the stupidity shown by numerous characters in episode 6.15 and now this one, TWD is really losing its way in terms of compelling, tight writing that makes sense and propels the story in a believable, realistic way.

The Walking Dead: Thank You (2015) Season 6, Episode 3

Worst written & directed episode EVER for TWD

[1/10 · 30 October 2015]

Possible Spoiler Alert (though I don't think so): Aside from the obvious plot flaws (the sound of a horn has a limited distance, yet in this show of the Walking Dead, apparently it can be heard MILES away, unlike GUN FIRE...) somehow, our imaginative and intelligent characters decide to be complete idiots for this episode. Our favorite group has lost all sense of reason and has turned into complete douche bags too. First, not once, but twice, they watch someone get eaten without bothering to end their suffering (the dumb look on Michonne's face is priceless had this been a Saturday night parody). Second, it has been proved that covering yourself in zombie blood in this world will conceal you from Walkers and yet somehow, no one remembers it even though Michonne mentions this very thing while hiding in the pet store (and she should know)! So dumb-a$$ Glenn decides to light a building on fire as a beacon (WTF?!) to draw the Walkers instead of covering himself and everyone else in zombie blood as a solution to the approaching hoard. And then, when finding himself in a "fatal funnel", Glenn (and super dummy Nicholas), can't figure out a way to A: climb a fence, or B: bypass a bunch of junk and climb a staircase to a building's second floor/roof. This is the result of sloppy writing and p*ss poor directing.... By the time Glenn was on top of the dumpster, I had lost all emotional connection to these stupid characters. Hey AMC, please DO NOT use the inept writer or the director of this episode ever again!!! I expect much better from The Walking Dead and this is the first time I've ever thought about not continuing with the show.

Secrets and Lies: The Affair (2015) Season 1, Episode 3

Absolutely horrible writing

[3/10 · 9 March 2015]

This episode was the last straw. I'm a fan of Ryan Phillippe and Juliette Lewis but the writing on this episode was the worst. Between Garner's choices with the bloody flashlight, the bizarre notion that a contractor/painter would only ever have purchased one flashlight, that his wife would still have the receipt for that one $20 light (that amazingly happens to be in the same locked cabinet as the murder weapon--oh look, here's a receipt for a Rayovac light detective, I must be innocent!), that MILLIONS of Maglites have been manufactured, that millions of Maglite knockoffs have been made, that the crime lab could determine that it was a specific flash light and no other similarly shaped object, all doom this nonsense episode. Not to mention that the detective accuses Garner of assault after he was clearly attacked first at a party where under-aged kids were obviously served alcohol. And since when do the police accept an alibi from the mistress of an adulterer? And why would Garner accept that especially when Jess's sister has been nothing but a jackass to him? I can suspend disbelief to a point but this show is an insult to the viewer and I won't waste anymore time on it.

Tyrant (2014–2016)

Great until the end

[1/10 · 27 August 2014]

Absolutely stupid at the end. It's a damn shame because the show had promise. The fact that Jamal is now plugged into the politics of the nation is nonsense. Barry had this in hand but the fact that somehow Jamal "figured it out" is ridiculous. That we go from an astute politician to a genius Jamal is ludicrous. Good luck with next season, I won't be watching; I'm done with this show. This is the worst bit of nonsense that I've seen in a long while. No more Tyrant for this family. FX created a decent show and now has destroyed the whole premise. Good luck with next season, this family won't be watching this bullshit.