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Caught up on the last two episodes and they're actually dumber than the preceding five episodes. Never have I seen a series go from an 8/10 to a 2/10 over the course of a single season.
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Oct 18, 2016 11:57
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Zebulon posted:That's definitely not "just annotated it" from what they showed of it. That's a crazy mofo's book.
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Oct 18, 2016 12:39
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flosofl posted:Yeah, it's one step removed from plastering individual pages on the wall surrounding a picture of Luke Cage with pushpins and yarn connecting them all. If he weren't so murderous in a few decades he might have another A Humament.
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Oct 18, 2016 13:59
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Steve2911 posted:Never have I seen a series go from an 8/10 to a 2/10 over the course of a single season. 
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Oct 18, 2016 14:29
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Man, this show went from really compelling to really bland after episode 7. These shows live and die by the villains, for sure. The aesthetic, casting (except said villain) and music was all spot-on throughout, though. And Claire and Misty rule.
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Oct 18, 2016 17:07
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I understand people don't like Diamondback as much as Cottonmouth, but acting like Erik LaRay Harvey didn't do a killer job in the role is hella rude.
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Oct 18, 2016 20:19
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Lurdiak posted:I understand people don't like Diamondback as much as Cottonmouth, but acting like Erik LaRay Harvey didn't do a killer job in the role is hella rude. Ishamael posted:The aesthetic, casting (except said villain) and music was all spot-on throughout, though. Luke as a character got dumb as gently caress too (hell every character got dumb as gently caress). stev fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Oct 18, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 21:39
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Steve2911 posted:Nah I really like the guy (one of my favourite Boardwalk Empire cast members easily), but his performance in this was absolutely abysmal. I suspect it's more down to the poor writing and direction than his talent as an actor though, and him just being poorly suited to the part. It was abosolutely the writing. In a show with a lot of really well-developed, complex characters, the guy who's just "super jealous and SO GODDMAN CRAZY" sticks out
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Oct 18, 2016 22:13
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tetrapyloctomy posted:If he weren't so murderous in a few decades he might have another A Humament. Off topic. Thanks for this, never seen the online version(s). A few hours well spent. On topic. I didn't have a poblem with Diamondback giving an injection of comic book craziness to the show. Goes with the territory and that.
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Oct 18, 2016 22:14
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Zebulon posted:That's definitely not "just annotated it" from what they showed of it. That's a crazy mofo's book. That's his dad's, Pastor Lucas, book. Of course it's all kinds of annotated, since it must be the one he used to write his sermons and poo poo.
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Oct 19, 2016 00:12
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Kal-L posted:That's his dad's, Pastor Lucas, book. Of course it's all kinds of annotated, since it must be the one he used to write his sermons and poo poo. Pastors have tons of Bibles and are unlikely to use multicolored highlighters on one of them. Let alone one they are connected to enough for it to be referred to as "their Bible". Especially old school 60s/70s pastors. That was clearly the annotations of a crazy dude.
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Oct 19, 2016 11:48
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Gyges posted:Pastors have tons of Bibles and are unlikely to use multicolored highlighters on one of them. Let alone one they are connected to enough for it to be referred to as "their Bible". Especially old school 60s/70s pastors. Yeah, it was clearly presented as Diamondback's crazy highlighting.
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Oct 19, 2016 12:20
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Finished last night, yeah, the second half of the show seriously dropped in quality but it was still worth finishing. I'm eager for everyone to meet up and cross over. Edit: Couple more thoughts The action felt pretty weak, like the fight scenes in Daredevil are one million times better shot/choreographed/structured The villains pretty much getting away with it felt pretty earned. Like, when Shades lures Candace out I was like "why wouldn't Misty give her like a code word or phrase to look for in the text that only the two of them would know, JUST IN CASE somebody got her phone." So Mariah getting out wasn't like an OH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE moment, it worked and the inspector chewing Misty out actually felt pretty justified. Also with the last fight I was kind of surprised that, with the big charging up sound and the OBVIOUS power pack on the back of the suit, there wasn't a kind of "hit the glowing weak spot for massive damage" solution. It ended up feeling like a comic-book-Doomsday escalation of "just punch him even harder." Buzkashi fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Oct 19, 2016 |
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Oct 19, 2016 13:44
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Yeah I was waiting for Luke to rip that thing off but he never did. It felt really obvious.
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Oct 19, 2016 14:59
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Or just smack him in his unarmoured jaw. Diamondback got the Batman exemption.
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Oct 19, 2016 15:17
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Gorilla Salad posted:Diamondback got the Batman exemption. Who would have thought Bane's weakness was being punched .... IN THE FACE?
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Oct 19, 2016 15:44
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So, possible future storyline; http://imgur.com/gallery/O6vN2, DD gets a hold of an 'Omega Drive'; basically the fiscal records of upwards of billions for AIM, Hydra, The Hand; and involving the Defenders he fakes them all out. But, what makes it all interesting is that Wolverine even pitches in to help! So, in the far future we could see the rugged mutant himself on the Netflix lineup; too great.
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Oct 20, 2016 23:09
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I still have two episodes to get through, but Luke Cage is definitely No. 3 of 3 of the Netflix series for me. I don't know if there is much that can happen in the end to fix that for me. I thought the plot took too long to develop early on, and I felt like Cottonmouth wasn't much of a threat in any real sense. For the first 3-4 episodes, I just thought it was kind of boring. Actually. the villains in this show really hold it back, too. I also have a weird love/hate thing with Diamondback and can't make up my mind on him. On the one hand, I enjoy the comic book craziness he injects, but on the other, he almost feels out of place for some reason, and his rise to power and hold over Harlem's underworld makes no sense. Is it ever established how he rose to power? Plus after some of the action sequences we get in DD and JJ, this show was a let down. But as weak as the villains are, the performances were good. On the other hand, the music on this show is amazing. I also really like having Claire more involved and Misty is a great character I think. This show still has a lot of potential if a second season is greenlit. But I'm really excited for Iron Fist and Defenders.
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Oct 23, 2016 13:43
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Doronin posted:Is it ever established how he rose to power? He's a shadowy arms dealer, and apparently really adept at killing not bulletproof people, even with a room full of guns pointed at him. At least that's as much as I was able to put together. Maybe everyone is really impressed that he memorized 48 Laws of Power. Pity he didn't read the seduction one, that woulda made the series way more interesting.
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Oct 23, 2016 16:01
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flosofl posted:Yeah, it was clearly presented as Diamondback's crazy highlighting. I'm astonished anyone read it as just annotation, it was full on Time Cube stuff. "There's a hidden code telling me I am Jesus's right hand of vengeance, WHY CAN'T YOU SEE?" (it is because you are part of the conspiracy obviously)
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Oct 23, 2016 16:05
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"This is my favorite part." "What?" "The part where the panties drop." *launches grenade, destroys room* "Are you going to have someone check the rubble and make sure the indestructible man, the one who can take a rocket blast, actually died and didn't just punch his way out?" "Eh, gently caress it." Good old Diamondback: once the panties drop, he just blows his load and walks away.
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Oct 24, 2016 16:25
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I'm pretty sure at one point Diamondback has the nerve to criticise someone else for failing to kill Luke Cage. And I'm fairly certain it was after he had shot Luke twice with space alien bullets.
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Oct 24, 2016 16:39
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marktheando posted:I'm pretty sure at one point Diamondback has the nerve to criticise someone else for failing to kill Luke Cage. And I'm fairly certain it was after he had shot Luke twice with space alien bullets. Show could've ended on the episode where he shot Luke in the gut if only he ran over to him and shot him again in the face.
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Oct 24, 2016 16:47
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I really wanted to like this all the way through, but the show peaked with the 2 minute montage of Jidenna performing "Long live the Chief", Cottonmouth bopping his head, Luke lifting rubble, and Rosario Dawson kicking a dude in the nuts really hard. Also, Rosario Dawson has great action star running form. Someone get her into the next Jack Reacher. poo poo, I want more Rosario Dawson in everything. Jack's Flow fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Oct 25, 2016 |
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Oct 24, 2016 16:51
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Space Fish posted:"This is my favorite part." ...But they do check the room?
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Oct 24, 2016 16:54
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It's really weird that Mariah even spells out how to kill Cage: Drowning, poisons. Didn't she even suggest internal injuries? And I think Cottonmouth responds like "Nah, I need to do it in a visible, hardcore gangster way."
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Oct 24, 2016 17:47
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notthegoatseguy posted:It's really weird that Mariah even spells out how to kill Cage: Drowning, poisons. Didn't she even suggest internal injuries? And I think Cottonmouth responds like "Nah, I need to do it in a visible, hardcore gangster way." Yes, and she said it in such a way that I was actually half expecting someone to invite Luke on a boat ride to push him into the sea or something. However, I just finished the show last night and yeah, the final two episodes didn't really do much to change any opinion I had of it. I also didn't understand why Luke stared right at the power pack on that suit Diamondback was wearing, had several chances to disable it and just didn't. The season finale just fell flat and seemed kind of a lazily thought through. I really wanted to love this show, but it was kind of disappointing as a whole. The music was consistently my favorite aspect of it.
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Oct 25, 2016 12:51
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Cottonmouth being inept was very intentional. He didn't want to be a gangster. He wanted to be an artsy dude who ran a venue where he got to meet his favorite artists and everything. The whole point with his increasingly fake laughter and having the picture of Biggie and posing under the crown and everything was that he was trying to fill this role that he wasn't very good at. Just like Mariah was trying not to fit a role that she is very good at. Keep that in mind whenever you're criticizing the show because Cottonmouth wasn't a criminal mastermind: he wasn't supposed to be.
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Oct 25, 2016 15:56
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But he's presented as being totally in control of Harlem, the heir to the fat lady's legacy, and Diamondback's top distributor. For Cottonmouth to be incompetent every other criminal in Harlem also has to be because he's presented as the top guy.
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Oct 25, 2016 23:26
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Buschmaki posted:But he's presented as being totally in control of Harlem, the heir to the fat lady's legacy, and Diamondback's top distributor. For Cottonmouth to be incompetent every other criminal in Harlem also has to be because he's presented as the top guy. The implication seemed to be that he inherited it all to me. Yes, he wasn't beyond shooting guys in the head to prove his power, but he didn't build all that from scratch. And it bites him in the rear end when his obsession with Cage fucks everything up for both him and Mariah.
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Oct 25, 2016 23:35
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I think he isn't exactly incompetent but he just doesn't have the mind for it that his aunt or Mariah do. That's why he keeps trying to get Mariah in on it - he knows he needs her so he can focus on the aspects he enjoys.
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Oct 25, 2016 23:39
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There's obviously an element of Cottonmouth being tripped up by his obsession with Cage, but he acts really dumb in ways that don't deal with Luke Cage but he also is supposed to be seen as this criminal mastermind at times and it makes the show's writing feel weak.
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Oct 25, 2016 23:46
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There's the same problem with Diamondback and I think it's because they immediately start acting crazy when Luke Cage comes into play. Maybe if there was more buildup and the 3rd episode didn't have Cottonmouth shooting rockets at people they'd really be able to convey the point that Luke Cage is the catalyst for them acting dumb.
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Oct 25, 2016 23:49
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Buschmaki posted:There's obviously an element of Cottonmouth being tripped up by his obsession with Cage, but he acts really dumb in ways that don't deal with Luke Cage but he also is supposed to be seen as this criminal mastermind at times and it makes the show's writing feel weak. It's not even Cage at first. Cottonmouth's position starts collapsing almost as soon as the show starts, with his men betraying him, and he is never really able to recover from that.
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Oct 26, 2016 00:38
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It's also kind of ridiculous that Cottonmouth recovers the money... And then keeps it. With all the money he has in the safe houses around town he doesn't actually need it (it's dirty money) and giving it back would patch up his relationship with the other guy. Though for some reason the other guy seems perfectly fine making a few threats and never doing anything again until cage steals his hoodie.
Demiurge4 fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Oct 26, 2016 |
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Oct 26, 2016 00:53
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Jack's Flow posted:I really wanted to like this all the way through, but the show peaked with the 2 minute montage of Jidenna performing "Long live the Chief", Cottonmouth bopping his head, Luke lifting rubble, and Rosario Dawson kicking a dude in the nuts really hard. Yeah I keep going back and rewatching that scene on youtube. Great song.
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Oct 27, 2016 18:22
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Jack's Flow posted:Also, Rosario Dawson has great action star running form. Someone get her into the next Jack Reacher. poo poo, I want more Rosario Dawson in everything. Jill Reacher, IMO.
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Oct 27, 2016 20:08
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It was nice to see Rosario do something besides scowl and worry.
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Oct 27, 2016 22:16
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Finished Luke Cage. I'll add to the chorus of people saying Cottonmouth was a much more compelling villain. He may not have been a threat to Cage physically, but there were other ways at getting at him (and like Mariah pointed out, other ways to kill someone, that the show immediately forgot). Diamondback showing up was too abrupt a shift in the tone of the show. There needed to be at least *some* crossover for the shift to work, some scenes of Diamondback, perhaps interacting with Shades or Cottonmouth. Otherwise it felt like two shows rammed together. And Diamondback endlessly whining about being an illegitimate son just felt....weird...and too self-aware? The guy is apparently the Ultimate Bad rear end who carelessly kills other crimelords, but he'll sit you down and tell you about how jealous he is of his little brother. I mean, that may be the case, but it kind of undercuts the whole threat of this guy if he wants to sit down and have therapy sessions with strangers. And that was one element of Show, Don't Tell, this show really broke too much. I think its a possible interesting complication to Mariah and Cottonmouth's relationship that she was sexually assaulted by his mentor, who he had to reluctantly kill on behalf of her - but, like, play with some subtlety show. Don't have her screaming about how she felt violated while she's beaten him to death or whatever, we can pick up on that after you showed 5 scenes of her uncle looking longingly at her. Like, jeez, have *some* faith in the audience. I feel like the game the MCU shows play with secondary and tertiary characters to ramp up the edge factor is growing miiiiighty thin with me. Any time some minor character is introduced its 2-1 odds they get murdered in the same episode. Show some restraint, Marvel. Or kill a main character if you really want to ramp the stakes up.
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Oct 30, 2016 17:56
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I dunno. Regarding your show and not telling of what Maria did with her brother... I thought that Maria screaming out her rage over her past assault lent the beating to death of her brother a certain legitimacy. Like, she'd never do that but as soon as the one person she loved completely dismissed her as a human, it justified her blinded-to-violence behavior. Plus, they were under some pretty serious amounts of pressures - and were basically watching their lives start to unravel. They were both acting a little cray cray.
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Oct 30, 2016 18:58
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