Stuff I've Been Watching - 11/Dec/2016

Westworld Season 1



Oh, yeah, the thing is not just a reboot of that haunting-yet-hoary 70s thing with Yul Brynner, it's also right out of 'The Simulacrum' by Philip K. Dick. Indeed, the robots played by humans are in exactly the same trap that the Replicants in 'Blade Runner' find themselves, and the problematic that follows from there is a refreshing update of that Frankenstein-ian nightmare. That's just one part of it. The other art of it is a serious consideration of humanity's responsibility towards and over the Artificial Intelligence units it creates and what that responsibility would entail.
I'm only up to Ep 4, but it's gripping stuff.

HBO sure have found their flagship to carry themselves through after 'Game of Thrones' winds up in the next 2 years!

Archer Seasons 1-5



I watch this show when I have a spare 25minutes. I've been doing it for a while and now I've sort of gotten to the end of Season 5. The banter grows on me. I guess I like rude, crude, foul banter.

It's more of a distraction, but there's a proper school of thought that says, that's exactly what good entertainment does. The show is beautifully rendered, written with the most sardonic cynicism, and as the seasons progress, gets ever more gross, strange, politically incorrect and in part deviant and degenerate. It's great. I don't recommend it to everybody, but as side amusements go, this is a beauty.

'Invasion!' - The Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl Crossover Thing



Yes, I'm still watching all this stuff. Just got through the 4 part crossover, which was more 3.1 episodes because the Flash and Cisco only turn up in the last segment of the Supergirl episode for 'Invasion!'. Anyway,  it strained and groaned mightily as it also included the 100th episode event for Arrow which confused things mightily. Overall, I don't think they did a good job with the crossover. I hope next year they'll do a better one - this one was showing all the strains of trying to fit everybody in.

Also, it's really silly that an alien fleet travels halfway across the Galaxy to wipe out metahumans, but give up and go home crying when their big bomb doesn't work. I mean, really? I know they're all kids' shows, but... really?

'Legends' is the most childish of the lot and perhaps with the greatest desire to sell toys. 'Supergirl' has gone funny this season with the Alex-the-sister-comes-out story line. It's politically correct, that's for sure, but it feels really preachy. Arrow looks like it's recovered its old form. The Flash is still developing. Like 'Arrow' it actually has its best moments in melodrama. I guess that's true of all of them.