The Americans season 5
Mar. 24th, 2017 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightVery busy with family stuff this weekend, but just a quick post about The Americans, which I completely forgot to mention when I made that post about TV stuff the other day.
Slight season 5 spoilers behind cut. Also very brief mention of Netflix's Iron Fist
I can't understand how I could have forgotten it, to be honest. The first three episodes have been brilliant, as always -though I found the end of the last one a salutary reminder of the fact that, though part of me wants them to not be caught, Philip and Elizabeth are not good people - and poor Randy aside, what about what they're doing to their own daughter, who they love? Philip's quite right. Paige can't handle it. Which is to her credit really (though unlike her parents, she's lucky to have the choice).
I can't wait to see how the Mischa Jnr plot works out (I seem to be rather alone in my love of this development), or what will happen with Oleg in Moscow. Also, I yelled aloud over the Martha cameo. Fantastic! I really didn't think we'd ever see her again.
Great stuff.
Not so great stuff is Netflix's latest Marvel-based offering - Iron Fist. I've got through three episodes and am completely stalled on episode four. I'm bored with it, and I just can't stand the main character. He's sooo annoying! As far as I'm concerned, these series very much suffer from the law of diminishing returns. Daredevil season 1 was well written, but so ultra-violent I didn't even try watching season 2 (the fact that the Punisher was in it would have put me off regardless, I think). Jessica Jones was really good, I thought, but Luke Cage was only so-so, and they were stupid to kill off Mahershala Ali's character so early, given that the villain who replaced him was dull as ditchwater.
As for Iron Fist, the original comic book dates from the days of the Bruce Lee inspired kung fu 'craze.' A blond white kid was the main character because most of them were at the time (though Marvel did have a reasonable amount of diversity back then among the supporting characters at least), and I suppose that was fine back then. Now, it just looks thoughtless and patronising.
I sort of wish that instead of Iron Fist, Netflix had opted to do a live action series about another Marvel character from the kung fu craze days - Shang-chi, Master of Kung Fu (which was actually one of my favourite books for a while way back when). At least the main character was Asian.
On the other hand, he was the son of Fu Manchu, and there was a lot of stuff in the story that would no doubt make me cringe if I re-read it now (I long since got rid of the books), so perhaps not after all.
Slight season 5 spoilers behind cut. Also very brief mention of Netflix's Iron Fist
I can't understand how I could have forgotten it, to be honest. The first three episodes have been brilliant, as always -though I found the end of the last one a salutary reminder of the fact that, though part of me wants them to not be caught, Philip and Elizabeth are not good people - and poor Randy aside, what about what they're doing to their own daughter, who they love? Philip's quite right. Paige can't handle it. Which is to her credit really (though unlike her parents, she's lucky to have the choice).
I can't wait to see how the Mischa Jnr plot works out (I seem to be rather alone in my love of this development), or what will happen with Oleg in Moscow. Also, I yelled aloud over the Martha cameo. Fantastic! I really didn't think we'd ever see her again.
Great stuff.
Not so great stuff is Netflix's latest Marvel-based offering - Iron Fist. I've got through three episodes and am completely stalled on episode four. I'm bored with it, and I just can't stand the main character. He's sooo annoying! As far as I'm concerned, these series very much suffer from the law of diminishing returns. Daredevil season 1 was well written, but so ultra-violent I didn't even try watching season 2 (the fact that the Punisher was in it would have put me off regardless, I think). Jessica Jones was really good, I thought, but Luke Cage was only so-so, and they were stupid to kill off Mahershala Ali's character so early, given that the villain who replaced him was dull as ditchwater.
As for Iron Fist, the original comic book dates from the days of the Bruce Lee inspired kung fu 'craze.' A blond white kid was the main character because most of them were at the time (though Marvel did have a reasonable amount of diversity back then among the supporting characters at least), and I suppose that was fine back then. Now, it just looks thoughtless and patronising.
I sort of wish that instead of Iron Fist, Netflix had opted to do a live action series about another Marvel character from the kung fu craze days - Shang-chi, Master of Kung Fu (which was actually one of my favourite books for a while way back when). At least the main character was Asian.
On the other hand, he was the son of Fu Manchu, and there was a lot of stuff in the story that would no doubt make me cringe if I re-read it now (I long since got rid of the books), so perhaps not after all.