The TV show thread (many spoilers)

[sledger]

Originally Posted by nightprowler10

That's why sledgeh dislikes it ftr.

****.


It was better than the previous two seasons by a long way tbf, but it just doesn't have the same atmosphere as it used to for mine.

Not a bad series by any means, but too much of what happened was insignificant. I mean, you may as well have just watched a couple of the scenes involving Miranda from Mass Effect, a few of LaGuerta's investigation scenes, and the final episode. Everything else that happened was more or less filler.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

As long as Miranda gets her kit off I'm all for it.

[sledger]

Originally Posted by dontcloseyoureyes

As long as Miranda gets her kit off I'm all for it.

They are some seriously good moments in this regard, tstl.

[grecian]

Well, I know her from Chuck, and TBF, I was hoping for more nudity, it's a Dexter guest-star thing FFS.

I enjoyed this series, but I do think everything is a bit of a come-down after Trinity, perhaps they should have ended it then. Yet still it's better than the vast majority of TV.

[sledger]

They really ought to have held off on the season 2 plot until the final season imo.

Easy to say with hindsight I suppose, since I guess there was no guarantee they were going to be picked up for another season at that point.

Does anyone else get the impression that Dexter's character has been repeatedly dumbed down in order to get certain plot strands to work out? I seem to end up rolling my eyes all the time and thinking to myself "yeah, that'll never end badly". I wouldn't mind so much if he hadn't been made out to be this super methodical and ultra careful guy in the first few seasons, but these days he seems to be totally reckless and never foresees fairly obvious consequences of his actions.

[grecian]

Originally Posted by sledger

They really ought to have held off on the season 2 plot until the final season imo.

Easy to say with hindsight I suppose, since I guess there was no guarantee they were going to be picked up for another season at that point.

Does anyone else get the impression that Dexter's character has been repeatedly dumbed down in order to get certain plot strands to work out? I seem to end up rolling my eyes all the time and thinking to myself "yeah, that'll never end badly". I wouldn't mind so much if he hadn't been made out to be this super methodical and ultra careful guy in the first few seasons, but these days he seems to be totally reckless and never foresees fairly obvious consequences of his actions.

I think that's kind of the point of the show though, the more human and real (falls in love has kids), he the gets the more sloppy he becomes. He never used to get angry, it was all dispassionate. I thiunk it's been planned that he'll gradually spin out of control.

[sledger]

Originally Posted by grecian

I think that's kind of the point of the show though, the more human and real (falls in love has kids), he the gets the more sloppy he becomes. He never used to get angry, it was all dispassionate. I thiunk it's been planned that he'll gradually spin out of control.

Yeah, that's a fair enough explanation, and quite plausible. But the problem, for me at least, is that somewhere in that transition he's gone from being a calculating serial killer who professes to have no emotions whatsoever and masquerades as a normal bloke, to being a completely normal guy who just happens to kill people.

The same thing happened with Doctor Who, by the end of it David Tennant was basically just another human.

I appreciate that the Dexter character did need to evolve, the whole thing would become pretty stale if all his interactions with all of the characters were totally generic. But, somewhere along the line (more or less as soon after Trinity was killed off for mine) the transition from murderer to normal person seemed to speed up drastically, and the show lost a lot of its edginess which was what attracted it to me in the first place.

[Fusion]

I think the “edginess” returned a bit this season though. In the first two seasons, I had the sense that Dexter was a monster that just happened to “channel” his evil towards other monsters. The urge to kill is ingrained within him. He just happens to kill bad people, but if he couldn’t find bad people, he would just as happily kill the innocent ones. I thought they show over the years came to idolize Dexter too much. He was no longer a bad guy killing other bad guys; rather he was just a vigilante killing bad guys. This season, I think we got to see the manipulative/bad side of Dexter again. He’s willing to kill innocents to save himself. He’s even willing to manipulate and do extreme emotional damage to his sister (who he professes to love) in order to save himself. That last scene, IMO, was Dexter pulling the strings of Debra to achieve a result he wanted. There was no way he wanted to sacrifice himself. He knew exactly what to say/do to get Debra to take the other option.

I think the show works best when Dexter is shown to have that evil side. As an audience, we may root for characters like Dexter or Tony Soprano, but there should be no doubt that they’re cold hard killers who’ll do anything to protect themselves.

[sledger]

Originally Posted by Fusion

I think the “edginess” returned a bit this season though. In the first two seasons, I had the sense that Dexter was a monster that just happened to “channel” his evil towards other monsters. The urge to kill is ingrained within him. He just happens to kill bad people, but if he couldn’t find bad people, he would just as happily kill the innocent ones. I thought they show over the years came to idolize Dexter too much. He was no longer a bad guy killing other bad guys; rather he was just a vigilante killing bad guys. This season, I think we got to see the manipulative/bad side of Dexter again. He’s willing to kill innocents to save himself. He’s even willing to manipulate and do extreme emotional damage to his sister (who he professes to love) in order to save himself. That last scene, IMO, was Dexter pulling the strings of Debra to achieve a result he wanted. There was no way he wanted to sacrifice himself. He knew exactly what to say/do to get Debra to take the other option.

I think the show works best when Dexter is shown to have that evil side. As an audience, we may root for characters like Dexter or Tony Soprano, but there should be no doubt that they’re cold hard killers who’ll do anything to protect themselves.

Yeah, true, I see what you're saying, and agree with it really. He has become a bit more manipulative again, but it just comes across to me as manipulative in the way a petulant child would be in order to get what they want, rather than the steely sociopath we once saw.

Also, was anyone else slightly gutted that Doakes didn't return? I mean...I know it would have been one of the dumbest things ever...and would have made no sense at all....but I'm kind of sad it didn't happen. Would have been a level dire in the same bracket as Bobby Ewing's "death" in Dallas, but yet it still would have been amusing.

[Agent Nationaux]

Doakes was one of the best characters on Dexter.

Surprise Mother****er.

[nightprowler10]

I was happy to see Doakes blow up. Annoying character IMO.

Still haven't watched more than two episodes past the Trinity season. I'm seriously considering keeping it that way since it sounds like the show peaked there.

[grecian]

Just watching last night Peep Show, brilliant, thius get's 1 million viewers Mrs Brown Boys get's squillion *sighs*

Anyway Mark was complaining about the ball being kicked too hard in football, he'll be the next united manager at this rate

[Fusion]

Downton Abbey Christmas Special ****MASSIVE SPOILERS****







Well that was a bummer. I knew Dan Stevens wanted to leave the show and hence his character was going to be written off, but I was under the impression that he'll be there for the first couple of episodes of season 4. I was surprised when halfway through the episode it became very clear that he was going to die. Anyone else feel that Stevens is pulling a David Caruso here?

As for the show itself, I think it will be tough to replace Matthew, and especially the Matthew/Mary dynamic. They might as well make the fourth season the last IMHO.

[sledger]

"It's smaller on the outside"

[Agent Nationaux]

Originally Posted by sledger

"It's smaller on the outside"

Such a great episode. And I like how the Dr has changed because of losing Amy and Rory.