Netflix Sabrina is kinda great. Terrible, but great.

 

^
That about sums it up. There's a Stranger Things vibe to it, and it tries to be horrific, but ultimately it still feels like a teenage CW-type show. Considering this show was created by the same people who made the recent Riverdale show, it might make sense, but I haven't seen enough of it to judge.

On a related note, a year or two ago, I picked up some Jughead comics and the storyline was pretty creepy/dark for Archie comics. It was pretty good and I can't recall why I never followed up, so I just might after I binge-watch Sabrina. I don't care much for the high school shenanigans (nothing inherently wrong with that, i.e, Freaks and Geeks), but the coven stuff is fun and the dark lord seems pretty neat.

I especially like the mean aunt, Zelda I think. Get a hold of her fucking cigarette holder, lol.

 

Binged Bodyguard. It was really intense - a brilliant thriller - with pretty complex (albeit darkish) characters and a surprisingly nuanced take on politics. The ending was, as many have pointed out, relatively weak though.

 

I've been watching Castlevania on Netflix and it's surprisingly well done for a video game adaptation. It's Western made, which is fairly obvious from the humour, which is much drier than I'm used to seeing with the anime-inspired art it uses.

The story follows Trevor Belmont and his companions after Dracula declares war on humanity for burning his human wife at the stake. It does a good job of humanising Dracula, especially in season 2 when we see him struggling to maintain his focus in his genocide of humans in Wallachia.

The animation's a bit clunky in places but is otherwise good. Fight scenes are fun and I like the deadpan snark. The relationships between the main characters in season 2 are also fairly well done.

All in all I'd give it a 4/5. Definitely recommend it if you're into Castlevania, too.

 

There's a thread for it, and I'd argue it's just a great show, not just 'well done for a video game adaption.'

 

They're removing Apu from the Simpsons... why?

 

Incidentally, Sabrina's town shares a name with the one in Community. Greendale.

Now that I'm five and a half episodes in, I'll have to admit that this got me legitimately scared more than once. I've had trouble sleeping for a while, and the idea that there could be a sleep demon messing with me fucked with my head big time. Of course, I imagine being slightly baked didn't help, but I digress, I'm very pleasantly surprised by this show. There's enough "good" in it, that it somehow makes the cringey parts feel like they're a lot less so.

They do a pretty good job at creating and maintaining intrigue, without making it feel forced. Someone on reddit compared Sabrina to book 5 Hermione, and I can sort of see why they'd say that. I hope that her character gets fleshed out more, because so far, it feels like she's very self righteous and gets her way all the time, and only faces hints of the actual consequences. If she gets in trouble, she gets out of it very quickly.

Even then, this has been quite entertaining, and it hits the right buttons. I even like a little bit of teen drama sometimes, even though this is a bit much. But I also like a good mystery, hero's journey and magic, and this show delivers. It's not amazing, by any stretch, but it's decent, and that's enough for me.

Also how I felt about The Good Cop. Wasn't great, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Oh god. That's a whole can of worms. Hari Kondabalu got a bit too fixated on this. I don't know if his documentary has anything to do with this, but I suspect it might've. Then there's the whole issues of "what are you allowed to make fun of?" and "who gets to make the rules and how?". My stance is, make fun of anything and everything. As for racial/cultural diversity? Sure, nothing wrong with that, and if anything, that's a good thing. With that being said, not picking low hanging fruit is wasteful. There's a time and place for it, and it's not the entirety of what I find funny or entertaining by any means, but there's nothing inherently wrong with low brow humour.

But to get back to Apu. I think it's a bad move. If the issue truly is that he's a caricature of brown people, then he's only to brown people what Homer is to white people. But then is he really? I'm not a big fan of the Simpsons, but some random youtuber is and he made a long ass video on the subject, and he goes on to portray Apu as being everything but the stereotype of the creepy, nerdy brown man...even though he owns/works at a 7-11 type place.

And right now, there's a lot of non-white actors in roles that aren't stereotypes of their ethnicity. Especially brown ones. We've come a long way since Rajesh from the Big Bang Theory. So I don't really see the fuss about Apu, but maybe I'm missing something. Either way, the Simpsons aren't very relevant anymore, but the old stuff is hilarious. Whether Apu goes or not hardly matters. The character's done its job.

Which reminds me: I've no recollection of a black male Spellman cousin. Now, I don't think I've read any of the comics, so he may have been present there, but I don't think I remember him from the older series. However, as I type this, I picture a Goeffrey type person in the series who could've been the cousin, but I may just be remembering Salem's sass. I'm sad the cat in the reboot doesn't talk.

 

The Sabrina reboot has a Salem that doesn't talk?! Well there goes all the reasons to watch it.

 

The entire Simpsons show is making fun of caricatures. Apu is probably the closest thing to a male who can be respected in the series; he has a PhD in computer science, happy family, owns a business, chased his dreams (and reached them). Compare him to someone like Cletus, Homer, Bumblebee man etc.

I just read over the criticisms source; it's the stupidest thing I've ever read.

 

Cousin Ambrose was apparently a thing from the comics, but he has been reimagined from debonair plump mustachioed older warlock to debonair pansexual teen warlock. They apparently wrote him in to sort of take Salem's support role, since talking animals was a little too cheesy for the tone they were going for.
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He does talk to Sabrina, but everyone else (including us, the audience), can't hear his words.

 

Maybe not all, but 80% for sure. In my opinion not giving Salem the same background as he did have in the TV show, but now with more horror elements, is a missed opportunity. I mean, sure, it was funny to have him be an unsuccessful world conqueror, but what if he was more of Voldermort like psychopath? He's charming and witty when it suits him, but by the end of the day he only mentors Sabrina because this presents him an opportunity to have a much more useful follower than Hilda who in this version would be a less powerful Bellatrix, but just as crazy about her master.

 

Yeah, he definitely has a Salem-vibe to him. I actually like him a lot better than Hilda, who seems a bit bland to be honest.

 

Have you watched it yet? We know next to nothing about this version of Salem. As you see in a few episodes, he seems quite a bit different than the other familiars.

Spoiler

We only got a glimpse of his spirity form, but it was more like a lovecraftian shadow monster than those goblin looking things. I'm expecting some reinvention of his backstory to be explored down the road if a second season is in the cards. I just finished the last episode, and as we see, familiars can speak verbally to their masters as well as via mental communication, so a more verbose Salem is a possibility down the line.

Now that I've finished the final episode, I give my full recommendation to everyone looking for good halloween fun. The teen drama / pandering is a little cringey here and there, but on the whole, it was a highly entertaining binge. 80% solid writing and the horror/magic aspects are delightfully kitschy.

 

I'm sure they will do something more with Salem, though not as much as they would if Sabrina's actress wasn't allergic to cats. Him not talking isn't important for how good the show is or isn't, but in a way it's a bigger change in the show than making it a horror because it completely removes one of the most popular elements of the previous version.

 

Yeah, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. As you say it is far from "high class" entertainment but most of it was fun to watch and made for an enjoyable evening. There is certainly room for improvement but I think for a format like this the somewhat campy style isn't the worst idea.

 

Henry Cavill as Geralt.

It's probably only a test, but I would say that Żebrowski was better.

The rest of the cast was announce too, but I'm not familiar with anyone on that list or at least not by their name.

 

The Watch is announced

 

Just started FX's Snowfall.

Set in the early 80s in South Central. Cocaine trade.

There are shifting POVs and the series just dumps you in the middle of the action, but the separate storylines/POVs are connected and create cohesive story.

At least, so far. I'm only two episodes in. I haven't seen anything impressive as of yet, but so far, this is hitting the right buttons. There's intrigue, tension and a decent amount of social maneuvering.