Several

[selenak]

Daredevil Reborn .03: continues to be captivating. It also ad me muse on how Netflix wildly varied with its presentation of the fictional NYPD. - S1 of Daredevil had nearly all be corrupt except for one or two decent ones, s2 focused on Ninjas instead, and s3 had blackmailed sympathetic FBI agents as a focus, not forces of law who were corrupt due to greed, both from the NYPD and the FBI. Meanwhile, Luke Cage did this really weird thing of making a big deal of how part of Luke's allure as an icon is that he's a black man who can't be klled by trigger happy cops on the one hand yet on the other narratively speaking went "a few bad apples" but a generally well intentioned force, not least due to Misty as a key important character, and had the weirdest and fakest fictional demagogic speech either when Mariah whipped out the crowd of Harlem.... to hand over more and deadlier guns to the police. Jessica Jones did the traditional noir thing with the battered, cynical yet at her heart noble private detective now and then clashing with the cops, but that wasn't presented as due to internal corruption as much as it was either due to Jessica's professional ethics or circumstance. There were some big bad institutions but more the the lines of big powerful firms, not the forces of the law as such. The House of Mouse Daredevil so far seems to go with "some good, some bad" but with more narrative weight on the bad side (i.e. the most sympathetic screen time getting cop is Cherry the ex cop and current PI for Matt, while corrupt officers indulging in brutal beatings and going as far as deliberate killings are not only more but organized. (There are several presumeed-to-be-good officers - i.e. the ones testifying for Hector - but we only know them as a series of names Matt rattles off, we don't meet them as people.

As for other observations, I liked that we do see Matt continuing to work effectively as a lawyer (even if the dramatics are most likely Hollywood law). Presumably Fisk's (current) plan is to let the lawless situation get so out of hand that Matt won't be able to resist being Daredevil again so he has a reason to arrest him, but independent from that I think minor crimelords fighting it out in the absence of a Kingpin (or -Queen) putting pressure on them is pretty plausible. As Fisk and Vanessa were alone in their very own breakfast scene (hello, Citizen Kane), I have to say goodbye to my theory they're just faking the enstrangement for some greater scheme. Hector was very sympathetic and the fact that his actor has died made ending even more tragic.


Wheel of Time 3.01 - 3.03: Still haven't read the books, still am very entertained and pleased by the show. BTW, Elayne being called Elayne didn't register with me as Arthurian last season, but the last episode giving her brothers Gwaine and Galahand and a mother Morgause, just spelled a bit differently but certainly sounding like these names, had me snort. And hellow, awesome actress from The Expanse as Elaida! Now I'm listening to a spoilerfree for newbies (like me) commentary podcast which I like but which briefly took me out of my enjoyment when the host said there were only two fictional characters he hated, and one cwas a character introduced in this episode, and the other was Gaeta from Battlestar Galactica. Why would anyone hate Gaeta? #JusticeforGaeta !

Lastly: there is now a German version of Ghosts. (Thanks to kathyh, I'm familiar with the British original but not the US version.) I's a pretty successful adaptation, and like the reviewer below, I'm amused and impressed at some of the choices specific to these version that took into account you can't literally do the same thing in a German context. (For example, making the military ghost NOT a 20th century German colonel, either WWI or WWII, for all the obvious reasons but a Roman soldier instead, and making the Pat the male boyscout character instead a female very early 1980s earnest idealist type. I fully expect Svenja to have been on all the anti nuclear power demonstrations and at Wackersdorf.) See also this review:

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Comments

[vivdunstan]

Arthurian names in Wheel of Time are great! It took me a ridiculously long time to realise this was happening, and particularly re another main character. Actually there are a couple more of them, even at this stage. I haven't watched the series yet, but am reading the books, now approaching 2/3 through. And watching what the series does with some interest, to see how they restructure and compress as needed.

[landofnowhere]

Yes, Robert Jordan was having fun with his Arthurian nomenclature! There's one main character who has an Arthurian name that I wouldn't have caught if my boyfriend hadn't pointed it out to me -- the Arthurian character goes by multiple names/spellings, and the form of the name used in WoT was not one I was familiar with. Also, the term sa'angreal for certain objects of power is riffing on sangreal = holy grail.

(I've read the books up to a bit past where the series currently is at, and my boyfriend tells me I will probably want to read more of book 4 before watching episode 5 of the current season.)

[vivdunstan]

Enjoy watching/reading more! I'm now deep into book 9, which is a bit of a slump in the series, and a rather odd pairing with book 10. I have been reading the books very slowly since October 2021. Getting there ;)

[sovay]

making the military ghost NOT a 20th century German colonel, either WWI or WWII, for all the obvious reasons but a Roman soldier instead

I have to ask which legion he belonged to.

[selenak]

The show is set near Cologne, so either Legio I Germanica or Legio XX Valeria Victrix. We didn‘t get his backstory yet in the first season.

[sovay]

The show is set near Cologne, so either Legio I Germanica or Legio XX Valeria Victrix. We didn‘t get his backstory yet in the first season.

I love that this version has introduced a legionary and I look forward to hearing more about him!

[contrary_cal]

There's also going to be an Australian version of Ghosts, and I am watching carefully to see how they handle the local Robin-equivalent character, because the most likely option (a pre-invasion Indigenous ghost) brings with it a whole slew of elements that really can't be played for laughs the way they were with Robin.

Turning the Captain into a Roman soldier is an excellent idea and I'm glad the German adaptors thought of it! I'm wondering how they'll handle him here?

And I am also befuddled at the notion that anybody could possible hate poor Gaeta! How?

[selenak]

German Robin is called Urs and not a problem, because literally the original Neanderthal (as in, the place where they found the skeletons) isn't so far away from where the show is set, but yeah, I can see how a pre Invasion Indigenous ghost whould have to be written quite differently.

Gaeta: that's what I want to know! It is beyond comprehension!

[contrary_cal]

Oh, wow, they could do a lot of fun stuff with Urs based on that location overlap! (I'm sure that would be part of why they chose to set it in Cologne.)

There are a lot of great things the Australian version could do with an Indigenous Robin-analogue ghost - cast an actor who speaks almost entirely in language, for example, and one who comes from the Country where the show is set - but the semi-played-for-laughs aspects of Robin, like his moon worship, and at least one subplot (the one about Robin essentially attempting to claim land rights, that cuts off all discussion at the end by basically saying, "Don't be stupid, you're dead, you can't own anything") would be both offensive and absolutely untenable if they did it with a representative of a modern human member of a still-living culture for which a) all times are considered to happen in parallel and b) land rights are a huge, current and massively political issue.

It defies all reason that anyone could hate Gaeta. I refuse to believe that person was being truthful; they must have been trolling.

[goodbyebird]

and the other was Gaeta from Battlestar Galactica

So they hate fun. Gotcha.

I hope the fourth episode lands for you as well. I was a little concerned non-book folks would miss out on the emotional impact of it, but from the impressions I've seen that appeared unfounded phew. We do episode discussion posts at tar_valon if you'd ever want to drop by.