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Reviews
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (2024)
A decent start
I was a fan for several years, getting my fiancé and older children into it as well (as they hit an appropriate age of course). Then life got in the way, and the last two-ish seasons happened without me being able to watch the main series. Of course the announcement of the end of the series galvanized me to rewatch and I remembered why I was such a huge fan before. I have started on the other newer spin-offs and will likely watch World Beyond again since I believe I missed the last few episodes. I watched FWD until roughly the last two seasons as well. All this to say, the little bit of non-toddler friendly TV time I get I am usually very selective about.
On to the review itself:
I was downright mad when they exited Rick from TWD and have been eager to see him resurface within this universe. I was equally mad when I realized Michonne would also not be making a reappearance in the main series. I was able to watch this last night finally, and overall think it was pretty decent.
The Good: I enjoyed the dream dynamic, and seeing some of the rebuilding of civilization. I liked the consignees aspect was how you won your way in, it was a juxtaposion with how this was purely punishment elsewhere within the universe. Of course I was excited to see Rick himself again and to see him and Michonne meet at the end of the episode.
The Meh: My family generally bans me from voicing my speculations on shows because I often guess plot lines, I was patient with the jumbled/non-sensical opening because I usually enjoy a puzzle. But, had it not been the only episode available, I probably would have backed out to ensure that I was really on the episode I was. Some of the jumble just felt like they did not know what else to put there. I didn't find Rick cutting off his hand super believable, and thought making that happen so soon into the episode itself was a mistake. Rick Grimes has been missing for a while, that short moment we saw at the end of the main series wasn't enough to reintroduce him. Instead of backfilling his desperation, I would have liked to see a little more of it first. Doing something so contradictory to the character we remember immediately out of the gate fell a little flat. There were a few other moments that felt out of sync as well, I do not believe he would have just given up his escape efforts at any point. It is just very off brand for him.
The Bad: A bit of the dialogue was a flat. It was only the first episode, so a bit of grace and all that, but there was one truly likable new character.
As of now, I still plan on watching this mini-series. I am curious where the next few episodes will bring us, and would ultimately like to see the whole family reunite again.
A Discovery of Witches (2018)
What in the actual, hard pass if you read the books
When this was first premiering, I was excited for it! I love the book series and was hopefully that this would do more than nod in its general direction. However, on my first watch I made it 6 minutes into the episode before I had to turn it off. Three seasons later and a rating of 7.9 I decided to give it another go. I forced myself to watch the first episode, and I do mean forced. I turned it off several times, but decided to at least make it through one episode to try to figure out how it got the rating it did.
I can only come to the conclusion that the people who gave it high ratings have not read the books, and are desperate to watch something pertaining to the supernatural genre. In the first 13 minutes of the first episode plot points from the 3rd book of the series are introduced, concurrently with back story that predates the first book while entirely reshaping relationships between characters. The very things that build this story into something you want to reread are altered. I know you can not truly turn a book into a visual media and keep it exactly the same. This veers so far off, you have to wonder what the hell happened when it was signed off on.
The dialogue that is taken from the books is wedged into half cobbled scenes that again miss all the things that make the books great. There were several scenes where the delivery was ridiculously awful.
For the people who loved the book series and have read it a time or two, skip it entirely. Here is a short breakdown of what was in the first episode : Gillian and Diana are friends. Marcus can not sire a new vamp (tries and fails), he then ends up joining Mathew and Miriam in the lab (as a test subject not researcher). Mathew displays blood rage within his and Diana's first real boathouse meeting. Knox tells Satu that he will appoint her to the congregation. The Book of Life's alchemy pictures look like they've been drawn by a child, the words creep up Diana's hand in the library, she slams her hand down on the book sending the words back into it and receives a burn from touching it, the power is so great from doing so that Mathew and Miriam call each other about "something calling their blood" and it almost make Gillian pass out. All in the first episode. Yikes. If you haven't read the books know that all of the things are wrong, and the actual associated scene with half of them should absolutely not take place in the first episode. It just a huge jumbled mess of crucified plot.
You literally can not pay me to watch another episode.