Naomi Novik: The Summer War: very charming novella, delivering on a variety of good-for-me-tropes. Dysfunctional siblings argueing, then working together and realising they care? Check! Neat twists on fairy tale motifs while still delivering a fairy tale? Check! Father who has his own story and is neither excused for his actions nor reduced to a one dimensional cliché? Check! It's not the easiest time for me right now for Darth Real Life reasons, and that's leaving aside the general mess the world is in, so I really enjoy delving into well written fiction where most of the characters aren't irresponsible toddler-like megalomaniacs and the plot makes sense.
Daredevil Born Again: Season 2 : Speaking of plots which work: s2 didn't have the problem of essentially being two shows grafted together, and so not only did they have a well executed overall seasonal arc, but the "new" characters were fleshed out, so didn't feel paper thin compared to the "old" ones. Back when I wrote about s1 I mentioned that all these "supervillain elected to high office despite electorate knowing about their past" plots - which comics came up with decades ago, both in DC with Lex Luthor and in Marvel with Kingpin - never felt as believable as now, it's more that "eventually, enough people see through these guys to rise against them" feels unduly optimistic. But within the show, I bought it. And really appreciated the episode where ( spoilery stuff happens )The thematic importance of this also came to bear in the season's last two episodes where ( spoilery stuff occurs ) Oh, and of course it was good to see (albeit only a few times in the last three eps or so - Jessica Jones again!
Daredevil Born Again: Season 2 : Speaking of plots which work: s2 didn't have the problem of essentially being two shows grafted together, and so not only did they have a well executed overall seasonal arc, but the "new" characters were fleshed out, so didn't feel paper thin compared to the "old" ones. Back when I wrote about s1 I mentioned that all these "supervillain elected to high office despite electorate knowing about their past" plots - which comics came up with decades ago, both in DC with Lex Luthor and in Marvel with Kingpin - never felt as believable as now, it's more that "eventually, enough people see through these guys to rise against them" feels unduly optimistic. But within the show, I bought it. And really appreciated the episode where ( spoilery stuff happens )The thematic importance of this also came to bear in the season's last two episodes where ( spoilery stuff occurs ) Oh, and of course it was good to see (albeit only a few times in the last three eps or so - Jessica Jones again!