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I just finished the second season of Fleabag a couple nights ago. It is an absolutely perfect piece of work. The ending seemed to hint that this is it, the end. I love when shows can decisively and beautifully end, as this does, but it still feels like a good friend has moved away forever.

Just heard about her doctoring the new Bond script! I might go see that now.

It is absolutely worth pausing intermittently when watching. In one scene in season 1, an empty glass is credited in the role of "empty glass" complete with an IMDB headshot of said empty glass. There's some obvious fun being had there, and I love that sort of extra layer of absurdity that most people will miss.

When I think about the narrative beats of season 2 and some of the structural conceits in the show, it absolutely shouldn't work. Fourth-wall breaking on film is usually disastrous. Plays that get translated to different mediums usually lose something in the translation (see also Doubt, August: Osage County, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, etc.) And some of the story beats, if described, sound super trope-y. But Fleabag pulls it all off and makes it look easy. Everyone was right about this show and I'm mad that it took me so long to get around to watching it. But I'm super glad I did and that it exists.

Yeah I also just recently got around to Fleabag, just started S2, highly entertaining show.

I recently watched "T-34" on Amazon. I loved it! A real tense, action-packed roller coaster ride. If you like tanks you need to see it. It has some of the best tank combat scene's I've seen and the special effects are great.

It's Russian, so the plot is a little absurd and it can be over dramatic and propagandy at times. But, other than that it is a tight well made movie.

It isn't free though, it costs $9.99 for streaming. Well worth it.

Games Workshop announced today that the showrunner from Man in the High Castle is moving from regular nazis to space nazis with a tv adaptation of Dan Abnett’s Warhammer 40K series Eisenhorn.

Wow, that's awesome! The 40k universe has always seemed interesting but impenetrable.

ruhk wrote:

Games Workshop announced today that the showrunner from Man in the High Castle is moving from regular nazis to space nazis with a tv adaptation of Dan Abnett’s Warhammer 40K series Eisenhorn.

The one thing that struck me is that there was no mention of a studio/streaming platform that's backing this. I love the world building of 40K, discontinuity and all. Eisenhorn may very well be my favorite science fiction character, but to do the show and my man E properly would be expensive. Im all in but concerned that there isn't a streaming platform or network associated with the project. Id be more confident if it came with the Amazon or HBO logo attached.

SpyNavy wrote:

The one thing that struck me is that there was no mention of a studio/streaming platform that's backing this. I love the world building of 40K, discontinuity and all. Eisenhorn may very well be my favorite science fiction character, but to do the show and my man E properly would be expensive. Im all in but concerned that there isn't a streaming platform or network associated with the project. Id be more confident if it came with the Amazon or HBO logo attached.

They're "taking it to market soon."

As we found out when SyFy dumped The Expanse, a lot of shows are funded by production companies who then sell the broadcast/streaming rights. Alcon Entertainment completely financed The Expanse and only sold the broadcast rights to SyFy who couldn't make enough money from advertising to justify keeping the show.

It sounds like this would be a no brainer for Netflix or Amazon to snap up (and brand as a Netflix or Amazon Original).

Eisenhorn is the one Warhammer omnibus I’ve read in it’s entirety.

Higgledy wrote:

Eisenhorn is the one Warhammer omnibus I’ve read in it’s entirety.

Read Ravenor

Read Gaunt's Ghosts - The Founding. Ravenor is good too (pretty much all of the Abnett books are), and so is Space Wolf.

I like the Ravenor series better than Eisenhorn.

For those who are totally lost, these books focus on the Imperial inquisition, plenipotentiary agents charged with rooting out alien and demonic influences in the 40k universe. There's no real space marine pew-pew or drama. Ravenor is Eisenhorn's protege.

Dembski-Bowden in my favorite 40k writer though. I really like the Black Crusade / Talon of Horus novels, as well as his Horus Heresy stuff.

I'm kind of horrified by how much I've gotten into 40k lore in the last few years. Up until recently, I was kind of put off by the aesthetics. Now, I'm totally into the ridiculous Primarch family drama and faux-Lovecraftian horror of the whole thing.

I stayed away from 40K for the longest time because of some acquaintances that were super into it, but I’ve become a fan after reading the Eisenhorn and then Ravenor series.

SpyNavy wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Eisenhorn is the one Warhammer omnibus I’ve read in it’s entirety.

Read Ravenor

I shall. Thanks.

Higgledy wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Eisenhorn is the one Warhammer omnibus I’ve read in it’s entirety.

Read Ravenor

I shall. Thanks.

Anything by Abnett is pretty damn good including his non 40k stuff and his work in Marvel comics and others. Gaunt's Ghosts is fantastic and I've been rereading them in order again off and on for the last few weeks. First and Only is a great war novel regardless of the 40k trappings.

Did somebody say Lovecraftian?

Abnett co-wrote an excellent, original cosmic superheroes comic a few years back. It was called Hypernaturals. I really would have read it for years, but it told a good story in about ten or twelve issues. Hes also written a ton of cosmic hero stuff for Marvel.

I also really enjoyed a comic he wrote about, as I recall, a vampire detective in 1800s England called The New Deadwardians.

Got to see the first three episodes of Carnival Row. So far it's pretty good. It takes place in an alternate reality where it's indistrial London, but pixies, satyrs, centaurs, and other fae type creatures exist. The set design and extras are impeccable. The story is a little heavy handed with the racism allegories, and it takes a while to go somewhere more nuanced, but it's definitely worth watching when it comes out.

Just finished The Boys, based on the comic series. Very similar beats to Watchmen in its "who watches the watchmen" themes. This is an interesting series, and it asks some intriguing questions about the military industrial complex.

Delbin wrote:

Got to see the first three episodes of Carnival Row. So far it's pretty good. It takes place in an alternate reality where it's indistrial London, but pixies, satyrs, centaurs, and other fae type creatures exist. The set design and extras are impeccable. The story is a little heavy handed with the racism allegories, and it takes a while to go somewhere more nuanced, but it's definitely worth watching when it comes out.

I'm very curious about this show. I'll definitely give it a try!

Running Man wrote:

Just finished The Boys, based on the comic series. Very similar beats to Watchmen in its "who watches the watchmen" themes. This is an interesting series, and it asks some intriguing questions about the military industrial complex.

I’ve seen it compared to The Watchmen a lot which doesn’t seem terribly apt to me as it only works if you boil both stories down to their most generic elements of “superheroes not being held accountable for stuff.” I really hope the comparison doesn’t prevent people from viewing The Boys because it is nothing at all like The Watchmen in terms of pacing, tone, and structure.

Two episodes in, The Boys feels like how 21st Century America would co-opt superheroes, whereas Watchmen (obviously before the HBO series) is how 20th Century America would do the same. Also, the TV version of The Deep probably is another reason why Namor's not showing up in the MCU anytime soon.

Rat Boy wrote:

Two episodes in, The Boys feels like how 21st Century America would co-opt superheroes, whereas Watchmen (obviously before the HBO series) is how 20th Century America would do the same. Also, the TV version of The Deep probably is another reason why Namor's not showing up in the MCU anytime soon.

I really enjoyed The Boys and I think this is largely accurate, but with one missed note. Lottery winners have documented how they are besieged by people wanting money, and I think superheroes would get the same treatment only worse. When they went out, they wouldn't be treated like sports heroes, they would be mobbed by people wanting them to solve their problems.

Watched the first episode and enjoyed it. One odd thing I enjoy is the new superhero names writers come up with when obvious ones are taken.

Gone through the first 6 episodes of The Boys. The show is similar to the comic but the two are very different. Watching or reading one wont spoil the other. The show is done better than the comic which probably needed a better editor and or writer.

I'm liking the show so far but not in love with it. Again I'm only watched through six. I still have two episode to go. There were two scenes so far that I thought were great. One was on a airplane and one was with a baby. There are multiple baby and airplane scenes but you'll know the scenes I'm talking about when you see them. Besides the first death scene those were the defining scenes of the show.

The show has a couple of story lines going that makes the show sort of disjointed. There were times I wondered if major characters knew each other. They were even on the same team but only had maybe 4 minutes of screen time together. Then I wasn't sure if one character was still upset with another character because they put off the story line for other story lines. The comic was a lot better with this.

I'll kill off the last two episode sometime today.

Interesting. I never read the comics.

The comic was basically just Garth Ennis trying to see how edgy he could be before the publisher started to squirm. It has it’s moments but the show is much better.

Yeah, he pretty much said he wanted to out-Preacher Preacher. I'm hoping that the club scene in the first episode is the closest we get to Herogasm from the comic.

ruhk wrote:
Running Man wrote:

Just finished The Boys, based on the comic series. Very similar beats to Watchmen in its "who watches the watchmen" themes. This is an interesting series, and it asks some intriguing questions about the military industrial complex.

I’ve seen it compared to The Watchmen a lot which doesn’t seem terribly apt to me as it only works if you boil both stories down to their most generic elements of “superheroes not being held accountable for stuff.” I really hope the comparison doesn’t prevent people from viewing The Boys because it is nothing at all like The Watchmen in terms of pacing, tone, and structure.

Homelander and Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) seem to be cut from similar cloth; both are sociopaths with a messiah complex (Homelander's is more overt), feel the end justifies the means, and operate out of nigh untouchable megacorporations. Vaught and Veidt, that can't be coincidence.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Gone through the first 6 episodes of The Boys. The show is similar to the comic but the two are very different. Watching or reading one wont spoil the other. The show is done better than the comic which probably needed a better editor and or writer.

I'm liking the show so far but not in love with it. Again I'm only watched through six. I still have two episode to go. There were two scenes so far that I thought were great. One was on a airplane and one was with a baby. There are multiple baby and airplane scenes but you'll know the scenes I'm talking about when you see them. Besides the first death scene those were the defining scenes of the show.

The show has a couple of story lines going that makes the show sort of disjointed. There were times I wondered if major characters knew each other. They were even on the same team but only had maybe 4 minutes of screen time together. Then I wasn't sure if one character was still upset with another character because they put off the story line for other story lines. The comic was a lot better with this.

I'll kill off the last two episode sometime today.

Just watched the last two episode and have to raise my review to pretty awesome. Didn't see that ending coming.

Aetius wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Two episodes in, The Boys feels like how 21st Century America would co-opt superheroes, whereas Watchmen (obviously before the HBO series) is how 20th Century America would do the same. Also, the TV version of The Deep probably is another reason why Namor's not showing up in the MCU anytime soon.

I really enjoyed The Boys and I think this is largely accurate, but with one missed note. Lottery winners have documented how they are besieged by people wanting money, and I think superheroes would get the same treatment only worse. When they went out, they wouldn't be treated like sports heroes, they would be mobbed by people wanting them to solve their problems.

This happens, to a small degree, in the most recent season of Luke Cage.