fatalgrief Reviews

True Detective (2014– )

Season four Night Country review

[1/10 · 15 May 2024]

Night Country was my first experience with this show...and it will be my last. The show expects the viewer to take the narrative and characters seriously, but then in the very next breath presents a serving police officer (in uniform and on duty) with above the collar tattoos and multiple clearly visible facial piercings.

No legitimate police force anywhere in the world would permit these bodily/facial additions upon an officer of the law. Yet we are asked to accept this individual as they are portrayed on screen. I do not appreciate being treated as a simpleton. An insult to the viewer's intelligence.

NCIS: Hawai'i (2021–2024)

Dull and unispired writing

[2/10 · 28 November 2023]

This show is a great cure for insomnia. The only positive that I have is that the acting isn't atrocious. It's just that the actors have nothing to work with. The writing is flat, boring and fanfiction quality at best.

The show is incredibly repetitive. All the episodes have the same, uninteresting structure. Here is a brief synopsis of every episode:

A - Short intro setup featuring one episode's characters.

B - The team all gather in the sit room and spell out all the details of the episode's plot and characters (a hectic and confusing mess of details and names which are immediately forgotten). Tell, don't show at it's very worst.

C - Unecessary and mononotous personal life scene (more often than not about the bland and yawn-inducing lesbians).

D - Poorly choreographed gunfight/unarmed combat/car chase/explosion/foot pursuit/raid etc.

E - Repeat step B

F - Repeat step C

G - The good guys catch the bad guys and wrap up the case.

H - The team throw a party where they all gush over each other and tell each other how amazing they are. Includer multiple instances of step C. Vomit-inducing schmaltz.

And that's it - once you've seen one episode, you've seen them all.

The characters spell out every single little thing for the viewer. This show treats you like an absolute moron.

Add in invincible and ridiculous plot armour and you have the final ingredient for one of the most boring shows I've ever had the misfortune to watch.

A complete waste of time.

La Femme Nikita (1997–2001)

Poorly written sexual power fantasy of male actor.

[2/10 · 26 October 2023]

This show is one whole bait-and-switch. It should have been called "L'Homme Micheal". The titular character has very little to zero agency and on the rare occasion when it appears she has some, Micheal appears and immediately takes it away from her.

Micheal has zero charisma and personality. He never speaks in more than a creepy nasal whisper. He comes across as a manipulative stalker of beautiful women. Clearly Mr Dupois has a power fantasy involving himself having a harem of beautiful women who are his and his alone. Seriously, his treatment of women (and Nikita especially) is loathsome, immoral and despicable to the point that it comes across as non-consensual intimate contact and/or rape. Despite being a sex-pest, he never faces any consequences for his vile actions.

He has plot armour a mile thick. At one point he is clearly shot through the left lung by a high-caliber rifle. This would have definitely caused the complete obliteration of the organ, extreme trauma/shock, massive blood loss and almost certain death. But a few seconds later he is absolutely fine. He carries on as if nothing ever happened. This massive injury has magically vanished. Absolute garbage.

He rarely (if ever) obeys his superiors, most often doing the exact opposite. He gets away with this time and time again. He orders his colleagues to also break the rules (at risk of their own death), and everyone does as he says without argument. On the rare occasion when someone refuses, he threatens to kill them. This is murder of an innocent, plain and simple. Bear in mind these are his work colleagues/"friends". He treats them as he does the females of his harem - as a slave whose only reason for existence is to do as he orders. He is a throughly unpleasant and evil man, yet we are somehow expected to root for him. I am ashamed to share a gender with a character so despicable.

Definitely give this one a miss. Not worth your time.

Arcane (2021– )

A masterpiece

[10/10 · 26 March 2023]

I was already familiar with Fortiche's world class animation, so it came as no surprise to me that Arcane's animation was exceedingly high quality. But what did surprise me was the impressive quality in all other areas of production. The artistes responsible for Arcane clearly take great pride in their work.

The writing is superb. The acting is straight out of the top drawer. The art style is a treat for the eyes. Have you ever heard the expression "Every frame a painting"? Nothing exemplifies this more than Arcane. Pause anywhere throughout the season and you will have a gorgeous wallpaper. But that is merely window dressing. The real meat is in the worldbuilding, storytelling and character development.

Arcane doesn't waste a second. Every scene is packed full of intense beauty, deep meaning, great characterisation plus important information about the world and the people that reside in it. Arcane is a masterclass in "Show, don't tell".

Arcane grips you from the intro scene and never lets go until the explosive finale. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for a second. Nine episodes of pure television magic.

All of the characters are fascinating and have believable and relatable stories/development. The main antagonist commits some truly terrible atrocities during his arc...but there is one example of where the extremely high quality shines through. One scene in particular stopped me in my tracks. I understood the character by this point. Whilst I could see the merit in what he wished (and tried to make it a reality) for his downtrodden city and people, I was not onboard with his methods. For me, the ends don't necessarily justify the means. But another viewer may think otherwise...and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's the beauty of Arcane's writing - the viewers will ask themselves "Who is right?", and they will give different answers. As in real life, complex issues seldom have a definitive black and white solution. It's a minefield of confusion, muddied waters and doubt. A thought-provoking and enthralling portrayal of people's lives.

But I digress. The scene that I refer to made me empathise with this character to a degree that I never expected at all. I actually felt sorry for him. Pure perfection.

If you're put off by the fact that Arcane is an animated production, please don't be. This is an exceedingly well-crafted adult drama which will stay with you for a long time. Don't dismiss Arcane for such a reason - you'll be missing out on one of the best dramas ever made.

Go on - treat yourself. You won't regret it.

Supergirl (2015– )

The worst show that I've ever watched...by far.

[1/10 · 25 March 2023]

I thought that child labour was illegal in civilised nations, but this show suggests the contrary as it appears to have been written by toddlers.

The writing is atrociously bad. The casting is awful. The actors are from the bottom of the barrel. The dialogue is bland, repetitive and cringe in the extreme. And when I say "repetitive" I really do mean it. They clearly wrote one episode and then produced different versions of the same episode for six seasons. Copy and paste writing. Lazy and uninspired.

None of the characters are the least bit interesting. You will root for none of them. In fact, you will actively dislike them (the lead in particular). For several seasons the writers attempt to force a romantic pairing between the lead and a dull and forgettable partner. The character is that boring I can't even remember his name. There is zero chemistry between them. And this "romance" gets so much airtime, yet not one second of it is worth watching.

The "science" is laughable. The writers create the most idiotic deus ex machina to bail out the utterly inept "heroes". And sometimes they are so lazy that they don't even bother. In one particular episode there is a chain of seismic/volcanic events which threaten the whole planet. So-called "Supergirl" deals with the villain (which usually entails her getting badly beaten). During the fight she receives a radio message - "We stopped the earthquake." How? I don't know. No explanation is given. Happy ending. Roll credits.

Pathetic.

Supergirl is anything but "super". She is gullible, naive and an absolute imbecile. Were she a real person, she would have been killed very early on during the first season (and it would have been entirely her own fault), but her plot armour is invincible grade. Abysmal writing.

I was surprised to see so many names on the credits. If I was foolish enough to work on this atrocious show, I would have asked that my name be kept off the credits due to shame.

Written by morons, for morons. Don't waste your time here. The only enjoyment to be had is from laughing at hilariously bad it is. An insult to the viewer. An embarassment and a disgrace. Go watch a masterpiece like Arcane instead.