Hidden Gems of HBO Max

BadKen wrote:

The more Raised by Wolves episodes I watch, the less interested I am. It seems with each episode there is more discussion about doing stuff and less actual doing stuff.

Yeah, just watched Ep 4 last night. It is definitely a slower paced show. Which isn't helped IMO by the stowaway couple, who I find completely uninteresting and the show just bogs down whenever we switch to them. But, I'm still mostly enjoying it.

Huh. For me, it's been compelling as hell. The scene where

Spoiler:

Father tries to teach the kids to kill the animal was some epic black comedy.

Ridley Scott's last big TV show was The Terror. In tone and pacing, it's a lot like that. The Terror had a lot of ultra dedicated fan/evangelists, but didn't get a huge audience.

I'm enjoying Raised By Wolves but not loooving it. I just watched episode 3 of Lovecraft Country. Damn! That was some good stuff. Love that they used an Album Leaf song in the intro during the funeral. So strange. Watching episode 4 now and absolutely love the use of Female Doggo Better Have My Money.

Every minute of Lovecraft Country is perfectly crafted. It's just one of those works of art that you could write essays about for years.

Recently started Harley Quinn. It's like the old Batman cartoon I used to watch grew up with me and retained it's personality and charm.

It's honestly really comforting. I understand why people like it so much.

I also watched the first couple episodes of Harley Quinn. I wasn't sure how I'd react to the R-rated tone, but found myself laughing a lot, so that bodes well for the rest of the show.

I'm also liking Raised by Wolves. I'm a little more interested in the puzzle box aspects of the planet than the characters themselves, but overall I'm liking the total package.

I have also been really digging Lovecraft Country, though it turns out my memories of the novel are pretty hazy. And seeing the modern recap scene trying to wrap its mind around this...insane structure that needs a new term, perhaps from the Greek for "a gathering of flowers" has been very fun.

I've enjoyed Harley Quinn, but I'm less sanguine on it. It has a very "The Venture Bros.: Now With Branded Characters!" vibe that has been tough for me to shake. Like, I know a version of The Legion of Doom that is this tediously bureaucratic boys club is a funny idea, because that's the Guild of Calamitous Intent. And a lot of the jokes feel like that to me. That said, this version of Ivy may be my favorite take on the character.

Raised by Wolves completely lost me in the last two episodes. Nothing seemed connected to the rest of the series, there was no real conclusion, and what there was felt cryptic and random. Disappointed. Can’t recommend the series. Despite a dynamite concept and great first two episodes directed by Scott, it went downhill fast and then just disintegrated.

BadKen wrote:

That is why my post contains zero spoilers about the deaths in episode 2.

I don't have a dog in this fight, not watching that show (yet, I may pick it up when it finishes and I can binge it), but it seems to me that even this sentence is kind of blowing it. "The events of episode 2" would be safer.

Saying "it's obvious from the title" is only true for people who've read Lovecraft. I never have, and I'm sure many people younger than me haven't either. His extreme racism is making that less and less likely over time.

My knowledge of that world is from cultural osmosis, like that MMO awhile back that had a bunch of geography from that setting. So to me, at least, it's not instantly obvious that there will be deaths in any particular episode, much less that at least two people die in Episode 2.

BadKen wrote:

Raised by Wolves completely lost me in the last two episodes. Nothing seemed connected to the rest of the series, there was no real conclusion, and what there was felt cryptic and random. Disappointed. Can’t recommend the series. Despite a dynamite concept and great first two episodes directed by Scott, it went downhill fast and then just disintegrated.

The reviewer at Ars Technica had pretty much the same reaction. Her critique is here: Review: Raised by Wolves squanders early promise with clumsy, bizarre finale.

Yeah, I was really interested in Raised by Wolves after the first three episodes, but the show just got more boring and pointless as it went. By the end I was laughing out loud at certain plot points, and not in a good way. Really disappointed with how it turned out, and unless reviews change my mind I doubt I’ll be tuning in for a second season.

So not a gem, then?

Haven't seen the finale of Raised yet, but I thought the penultimate episode was great. Fabulously creepy and weird.

Maybe it helps to think of the show as grimdark science fantasy rather than hard science fiction.

Edit: So, now I've seen the finale and I, uh, understand some of the complaints. Still, I was willing to roll with it and I'm really looking forward to Season 2.

So this is a thing.

I knew this was coming for a while and I had little interest... until I saw that trailer.

beanman101283 wrote:

Yeah, I was really interested in Raised by Wolves after the first three episodes, but the show just got more boring and pointless as it went. By the end I was laughing out loud at certain plot points, and not in a good way. Really disappointed with how it turned out, and unless reviews change my mind I doubt I’ll be tuning in for a second season.

Oh yeah, I had several bouts of inappropriate laughter during that finale. I kinda like how weird this show is but much of it just comes off as silly, which is clearly not what they were going for.

The witches was a fun watch.

Finally got around to watching Yesterday, which leaves HBO this month. Enjoyed it a lot. There were a few times when the neighbor's onion chopping interrupted my viewing. I didn't realize Danny Boyle directed it!

Recommended.

p. s. Emma just arrived on HBO Max.

Watched Raised by Wolves and I'm gonna echo others' opinions. Started great but by the end it was throwing more ideas and mysteries to the wall than the entirety of the Lost series.
I recommend just watching the first episode and think of it as an episode from a sci-fi anthology series.

Uh oh just watched episode 1 of Raised by Wolves and loved it. Sounds like it drops off the rails later. But it has ragnar lothbrok in it how can it go wrong.

You should stop now and be content with that 1st episode.

slazev is wise.

Maybe watch the first three episodes. Then bow out.

beanman101283 wrote:

Maybe watch the first three episodes. Then bow out.

I'll probably watch all of it even if I hate it. I'll just play video games while watching it.

I enjoyed all of it fwiw...

Completed Raised by Wolves and liked most of it. The last three episodes kind of lost the narrative. I didn't hate the last three episode they just introduced stuff that wasn't clear.

The basic idea of the show is humans F up Earth by warring so leave the planet to start life on a new planet. The warring sides do this in different ways. The Atheist send a pair of robots to birth some kids and raise them as humanities new hope. The Religious people send a arc ship filled with a thousands of Earth's "best" people.

The wrinkles.

Spoiler:

God?
There seems to be a alien race or god playing the long game for unknown reasons. This alien/god sent Earth plans to build advanced robots, star ships, and cool tech. The religious people used this tech to take over Earth. This seems to be what sent Earth into war. One interesting thing is that nobody knows how the robots work.

Ghost girl?
When on the new planet different people see visions of Tally, a little girl that fell down a hole years ago The odd thing here besides a dead girl running is that no one that sees Tally tells anyone else that they are seeing a dead girl. This kid is acting really weird. She tries to get one kid to kill himself. She kind of plays with the robots. There is no reason for this things existence. I have no idea if this thing is the god/alien that sent tech to Earth or some other alien perhaps native to the planet. We never find out

Robots giving birth?
One robot was changed so it could incubate human embryos. This was the only way to get humans to the new planet fast. I guess the trip would kill humans or maybe it would just take to long. Whatever the reason the robots get to the new planet 13 years before the human arc ship. Now the wrinkle. The female robot enters VR space. While in VR she has VR sex with her creator. Somehow the robot gets pregnant from this.

Later we find out it wasn't the creator she had sex with. God/Alien put the baby in her. The baby turns out to be a giant snake. This is interesting because giant snake bones were found on the new planet. At the end of the show the baby snake flies away. WTF?

Voices?
Different characters keep hearing voices. I'm guessing the voices are from Alien/God but different people think the voices are different things. Ragnor hear the voices and think he is the chosen one. Paul hear the voices and think it is god guiding him to murder his fake mom. Mother hear the voices and see visions and takes them as fact. I think the visions are true. She sees a group surrounding a creature locked into a device with just its head sticking out. I think it is a rape birthing chamber for the snake aliens.

Natives?
We find out that people were already on the planet but where did they come from? Also the people are devolving. In fact the creatures they were eating were people. The planet has a structure that was obviously made by intelligent creatures. Cave drawings are found that depict current events so the ancient people could see the future. What we don't know is why the natives took 13 years to show up. Why did they show up when the arc ship crashed but not when the robots crashed.

For those with an Amazon firestick/cube, HBO Max content is finally available to stream on the device! It looks like it just automatically updated my HBO app, and I was automatically logged in when I selected it.

Also, Lovecraft Country and Harley Quinn are both great. I don't know if that's been mentioned yet in this thread.

Tscott wrote:

For those with an Amazon firestick/cube, HBO Max content is finally available to stream on the device! It looks like it just automatically updated my HBO app, and I was automatically logged in when I selected it.

There was a way to sideload it that I was using, but it's nice that it just works now.

This might be good?

Just devoured Two Weeks to Live over a few days. It is a delightfully bone dry, pitch black comedy thriller, starring Maisie Williams. (And there is a single sweet visual callback to Game of Thrones.) Starring as her mother is Sian Clifford, who recently won a BAFTA for her portrayal of Claire in Fleabag.

It's six half hour episodes, which is the perfect length for the story. Originally aired on Sky in the UK.

Highly recommended.

Thanks for the recommend. Will give it a go.

Finish season 2 of The Alienist and thought it was much better than season 1, though I did like season 1. This season was more focused on Sara than the time. The villain was easier to follow this time around. The mystery was solved rather fast. This allowed for more time with the villain.

I didn't have any real problems with this season. I might have thrown out the time spent on one relationship because it really added nothing to the show. I think they wanted another smart lady in the show but they could have used that time for one of the other smart ladies. They went for numbers rather than quality. Or they could have added another episode so they could spend more time with the other ladies to flesh them out. The show is only 8 episodes and they go by fast.

Warner Bros. releasing all 2021 movies on HBO Max same day as theaters, industry reacts: 'It's seismic'

Heck that might get me to subscribe to HBO Max. They have a lot of good movies coming out.