What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Really curious what you end up thinking of season three, Shellhead. Season three Part 8 ("Got a Light?") is one of my favorite television episodes ever.

I am perhaps underqualified to talk about the works of David Lynch. I bounced hard off of Eraserhead back in the '80s, so much so that I deliberately avoided David Lynch movies. Except I eventually saw Dune, of course. When I read Dune way back in the day, it was not a story that I ever expected to see on the big screen. But Lynch did an admirable job despite considerable constraints in time and money. He absolutely nailed several early scenes from the book, so much so that the modern Dune movie didn't even try to do better. But he had to skim through so much material just to force a big story into a single movie, and it didn't work for me.

So, Twin Peaks season three. I went into this with considerable good will, because season one was thrilling, and season two ended with surprising clarity. The movie was also decent, for anybody who had already watched the show. It felt like Lynch kept wanting to go off the rails in the movie, but had so many things from the show that he wanted to address. And at this point, I was favorably impressed with Lynch's talent for direction. Good cinematography, strong casting, attention to detail, ability to use music well in a scene, etc. He could get strong performances even out of bit parts, and he either found or attracted so many good performers.

However, Lynch also has a defining fascination with liminal spaces, tedious repetition, banal dialogue, and long silences that often become awkward and unbearable. Early in season three, he leaned into these tendencies too hard at times, and I found it offputting. But I could also see that these were strengths when Lynch used them in moderation, creating an utterly compelling sensation that something important was always about to happen. I was frustrated that he turned the righteously competent Agent Cooper into a blend of Forrest Gump and Mister Magoo, but there was tantalizing signs of progress as the season continued. Naomi Watts and Laura Dern seemed to be having a blast with their performances. If the original show was an eerie parody of a soap opera, and the movie was an errie horror show, season three was more like a parody of the X-Files.

Charlie, I can't say that I particularly enjoyed episode 8, even with your comment in mind as I watched it. There were some powerful visuals and interesting though undefined ideas presented, and the closing scene is seared into my memory. But I didn't understand enough of what I saw, and it disappointed me. I feel that the essence of storytelling is to answer the ongoing question of "What happened next?," but Lynch does not agree with me. I also feel that it is generally better to show than to tell, which is one of Lynch's strengths, but sometimes his visual language just doesn't deliver a complex idea. And there were times when a character just told us about something interesting that happened, and we never got to see it.

I was hoping for at least the same amount of clarity that I got from the end of seasons one and two, and even the movie. But a lot of inexplicable things happened in the final two episodes, and then it abruptly ended with a scream and then darkness. I'm glad that I finally watched Twin Peaks, all of it, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to most people.

White Lotus: Season 3 is the best one yet. This is a bonkers adult soap opera that does not demand anything of you, so if you just need an escape but actually want quality, this is your show. On Max.

Paradise: I'm only 2 episodes into this one on Hulu. Follows a secret service agent assigned to the President. Drama ensues, and then twists galore. Good stuff so far.

Common Side Effects: Another Max show. Animated, and Mike Judge plays one of the characters. A wild story about a miracle drug and the lengths this country would go to in order to stop people from getting their hands on it. It's pretty fascinating.

Righteous Gemstones: The fourth and final season, on Max. If you have enjoyed any of the Gemstones, of course you should be watching. For those who have no idea, it is a comedy about a family of televangelists, and how decidedly NOT Christian they are... big shock, I know. Walton Goggins steals every scene he's in. Per usual. He's also in this season of White Lotus, so you can actually get back to back Goggins right now.

I have been enjoying the third season of Yellowjackets. The tone felt off during the first couple of episodes, a little too cheerful and sometimes even funny. But soon the darkness returns and the plot runs wild. Melanie Lynskey continues to impress me, and Christina Ricci disappears so completely into her role that I keep forgetting it is her. Elijah Woods is obviously enjoying his part, and some of the younger cast members are also impressive. The dramatic plot twists rival Game of Thrones, and this season features a big one. With only three episodes left in this season, it appears that they are either intending a fourth season or will be rushing to finish with this one.

I totally forgot to mention Yellowjackets. This last episode really went off the rails. The show is all over the place quality-wise, and I think they need to wrap it up because they have a 2 season story that is being stretched far too thin.

I suspect that this season will wrap up the past/present storylines with the biologist, and the showrunners are hoping to get one more season. That fourth season would likely deal with one more fall/early winter in the wilderness in 1997, plus a final resolution involving "It" in the present day.

After recently watching the first five seasons of Star Trek Next Gen, I am stuck early in season 6. The episode features Engineer Reginald Barclay, one of my least favorites characters in the whole franchise. The actor is fine, and demonstrated some decent range on the show, but I just don't enjoy watching a daydreamer with wretched social skills fumble through a crisis. I understand that plenty of fans may have found him highly relatable, but I need to watch something else for now. Besides, Trek Trivia already announced that the April competition will focus completely on the Section 31, as the moderators were disappointed that teams fared so poorly with just a few Section 31 questions in March. So it isn't necessary for me to continue watching Next Gen at the moment.

Instead, I recently watched a few more episodes of Matlock. The new Matlock featuring Kathy Bates, who is delivering the performance of her career on every episode. It's a lawyer drama with some interesting twists, plus a bit of humor and a bit of soapiness. There is a long-term storyline that will probably continue for the lifespan of the show, while most episodes feature one-and-done stories of individual cases. However, in mid-season, a subplot came to the fore and turned into a multi-episode storyline that is somewhat more interesting than the usual episodes. I feel that the overall story should be told within a single season, but I expect that the success of the show will cause that story to be dragged out for multiple seasons.

Paradise: I'm only 2 episodes into this one on Hulu. Follows a secret service agent assigned to the President. Drama ensues, and then twists galore. Good stuff so far.

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The hook/twist at the end of the premiere is well executed. However I'll caution watchers that the series relies heavily on flashbacks, a pet peeve of mine.

It does indeed. It can be annoying, but I think they are pretty locked into it considering where the story goes.

Finished season 1 of Paradise. Overall, great stuff, consistently surprising. Episode 7 was grim as hell.

My only complaint is it feels like they crammed 2 seasons of plot into one season. It flies. The anti-Yellowjackets, really.

The...revival(?) of Daredevil on Disney+ has been surprisingly fantastic. It basically ignores virtually everything MCU other than a few bits mostly around the Kingpin character (and you really don't need to know WTF happened in Hawkeye or Echo) and quickly gets to some (literally) bone breaking intensity. Very much feels like the netflix show rather than some D+ slop, though I hear Echo was fairly violent as well. Anyway, if you liked that older show, this one is worth the watch.

Northern Exposure has made me cry a couple of times. I really like seeing Joel become a mystic monk in the woods.

Agatha All Along - Finally got around to watching this. Couldn't get past episode 4 and it was a drag getting there. I like all the actors in this so not their fault. The main character's just not likeable even as an antihero and she's too cryptic about her goals. Overall just boring and I hope to never hear that stupid song in its fucking entirety for a third time.

I remember Rob Morrow left Northern Exposure for a film career that never happened, and everyone hated the last season at the time. I actually liked his ending where he becomes some weirdo out in the woods, like the new Adam. But instead of a master chef, he's a doctor. The theme song lives forever in my head.

Devil May Cry on Netflix is a very good anime. Lots of action, and the English voice of Kaneda from Akira is the voice of Dante.

You do not have to any appreciation for the video games. I myself have only played one of them.

Season three of Yellowjackets ended the same way it began, with a jarring difference in tone compared to the rest of the series. It wasn't a bad episode, but I suspect that the writers were struggling with uncertainty about whether there would be a fourth season or not. So just like last season, we got an ending that would tolerable as a season finale, but has some hanging threads suitable for resolution in a fourth season. It would be ideal if they could get a firm commitment to either one or (as originally intended) two more seasons and then pace things properly, but some bean counters are apparently trying to play it safe even when that undermines the quality of the show.

Setting all that aside, season three was good. Some mysteries were cleared up, some interesting things happened, and there is a definite sense that the writers know how they want to end the story. I am surprised that Shauna has taken such a dark turn in both timelines, but it is solidly supported by both the writing and the fine acting by Melanie Lynskey. Even Sophie Nélisse is demonstrating a decent range while playing her teen counterpart. I also like that a couple of the girls in the background were brought to the fore as the body count increased.