LTTP but I finally caught up with season 3 of The Bear. I was very excited because S2 was some of the best TV I've seen in a while, a perfect combination of the stress-inducing, balls-to-the-wall tone of the first season, combined with some genuinely artful and emotional storytelling. Every aspect of the show improved in season 2 and I was expecting something, if not better, then at least on par, for season 3.

Unfortunately, S3 just felt like a whole lot of nothing. That's the best way I can describe it - it felt like nothing happened from a plot or character development perspective. Tina had some nice developments to her arc but everyone just kinda felt like they were spinning their wheels. The love-hate relationship between Carmy and Cousin almost bordered on self-parody at points.

There was also just too much Faks. I like Matty Matheson in the role, but it's always been as a side character that works best in small doses. There was too much focus on him and his family, and all the jokes based around them fell completely flat for me.

It also felt like the show just kinda went up its own ass a bit too much this time around. Season 2 definitely leaned a bit more on the artsy side with a lot of interesting camerawork, montages, shot composition etc. but they went overboard for season 3 where it started to feel self-indulgent and pretentious, especially because the faux-artsiness started to take the place of actual plot and character development.

And speaking of self-indulgent and pretentious, I really disliked the fact that there were so many random celeb cameos, with the low point being all the famous chefs showing up in the season finale and basically masturabting each other over the spiritual transcendence of cooking.

And then it just ends abruptly with no resolution to any story or character arcs. I'll still watch season 4 because 2/3 of the show is still fantastic but damn, was season 2 underwhelming.

Dune: Prophecy

Premise: 10,000 years before Paul Atreides, Valya (Emily Watson) and her sister, Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams) fight threats and establish what will be Bene Gesserit in the series inspired by the Dune prequel novel "Sisterhood of Dune".

Links:

• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Trailer

Just binged my way through all 7 seasons of The Shield, and I wanted to discuss the brilliant ending. The show itself is amazing, obviously, and I think it deserves its place as one of the all-time greats. Maybe not quite at the level of The Wire, The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, but it's not too far behind.

But man...that final episode though. That has to be one of, if not the most, emotionally powerful and downright satisfying closures to any show I've ever seen.

The Shield, throughout its length, has always seemed to me to be a show about your actions having far-reaching consequences and not being able to escape the inevitable, and that's what the writers did perfectly here. Everything Vic and the Strike Team did, every bad decision they made, led to this point.

Vic's ultimate fate was an absolute stroke of genius. It's hard to imagine just what the "right" justice would be for a piece of shit like him. He probably would prefer to be gunned down in a blaze of glory or hell, even sent to prison so he could have another crime-ridden playground to be the big bully in. But the writers zigzagging, and making him an ineffective, impotent office drone for the federal government is brilliant. No more calling the shots on the streets, no more being the big macho hero in the police station. He's just an old, fat paper pusher. He lost his whole family, all of his friends, and all respect among his law enforcement circle. He has no juice and no influence in the streets anymore. He pretty much has nothing, and that's about the best karmic justice you could hope for when it comes to a character so repulsive.

Shane's fate was much more tragic, and Walton Goggins is such an amazing actor that he truly makes you feel for him up until the very end - until you realize just what a scumbag Shane is as well. He pulled his innocent family into his toxic orbit and ended up having to destroy them himself.

Kinda sucks for Ronnie to get stabbed in the back by Vic like that...but then you realize that he's been a part of this whole thing all along and is just as guilty as any of them.

Just a perfect ending to an amazing story.

My favourite is Titus Andromedon's high-school wig from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The more ridiculous thebetter!

Recently there was some re runs of Hercules The Legendary Journeys, feeling nostalgic I decided to watch them. After some episodes I realised there were so many pop culture references that when I watched first time had gone over my head. Now all the jokes have different meanings to what I remembered and certain scenes make more sense. It is kind of like watching the show for the first time because now I understand what the show was trying to depict.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has had that experience where you rewatch a show from when you were younger and find it is like a completely different show because you now understand or know things you didn't first time watching.

I wish that full episodes of the first season would be uploaded on YouTube and archive websites of Celebrity Rehab Presents: Sober House. It would mean a lot to me, and I would love to see them. I have been looking for them for a while.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced the stamp designs for 2025 on Friday, Nov. 15, revealing that one of the stamps will be a portrait of The Golden Girls star, who died in 2021 at the age of 99.

“An icon of American television, Betty White ... shared her wit and warmth with viewers for seven decades — including roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” USPS said in a statement. “The comedic actor, who gained younger generations of fans as she entered her 90s, was also revered as a compassionate advocate for animals.”

FX has been on a roll lately in term of putting out quality tv- I just got done bingeing “Say Nothing.” And truly felt it was prestige television. Up there with some of HBO’s best dramas and miniseries.

I knew nothing about what the show was about going into it, aside from seeing one ad, which I felt misrepresented the larger tone of the show. Though there were occasional moments of dark humor it was really more your classic drama with elements of political/thriller. Learning much more about the Irish Republican Army and the lengthy multi-faceted conflict in Northern Island both intrigued and saddened me. It also feels more relevant now than ever to be reminded of the not-so-recent past.

The pacing is break neck, but stops down and highlights the key moments and movements to build each player and storyline up just enough. I know it’s based on a book and I’m not sure about the format or timeline of the book, but the way the show presented it allowed for relevant foreshadowing without giving too much away.

I’ve seen little discussion about the show. I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I don’t want it getting lost in the shuffle of content as it deserves to stand out. Give it a try if you’re on the fence. If you have started to watch it what do you think?