What are you watching? Any good?

[Norwegian]

This looks very promising (don't watch trailer if you're squeamish):

[Miorita]

On your recommendation, "Left Behind" of the "Last of Us" series.
Then I rest and retake the Covid test. And continue with The Gfted - season 2.

[Sādhaka]

I may just watch the final season of Attack on Titan.

The new Demon Slayer season—Swordsmith-District Arc or Blacksmith-District Arc or whatever—should be out soon too.

[Sādhaka]

Watching the History of Yoga.



It gives information and assists with further understanding.

I’ve started this^, yet have not finished it yet

[Johnny Dangerous]

1899 Is pretty cool if you liked Dark.

[Miorita]

Sorry! My bad! I'm so disorganized! And in training.
I think I fnished watching that, didn't I?
I'm processing too much info.
Saving Alex, 10 Days in a madhouse, Joel, Ellie, and the Math teacher, and this one cultish ... with a teacher telling prospective victims they're special.
Thanks for reminding me I'm only human!

[Svalaksana]

1899 Is pretty cool if you liked Dark.

I was incredibly hyped for 1899, considering I think Dark is one of the best series of recent years. Unfortunately 1899 has none of the things that made me love Dark so much.

[Johnny Dangerous]

1899 Is pretty cool if you liked Dark.

I was incredibly hyped for 1899, considering I think Dark is one of the best series of recent years. Unfortunately 1899 has none of the things that made me love Dark so much.

How so?

[Norwegian]

What's unfortunate about 1899 is that Netflix cancelled it. It was supposed to have three seasons, just like Dark did. And there was a plan behind each season, which I won't bother to mention here as it could spoil season 1 for those who are watching. But yeah, there won't be any more 1899.

[Svalaksana]

1899 Is pretty cool if you liked Dark.

I was incredibly hyped for 1899, considering I think Dark is one of the best series of recent years. Unfortunately 1899 has none of the things that made me love Dark so much.

How so?

There are many aspects, in which 1899 failed to reach Dark's level of excellence. Here are a few:

Cinematography:
In Dark you have great shots, varied, carefully thought out and framed images, long takes, sequence shots, just professional, patient and creative cinematography. 1899 it is mid-shots with shaky-cam through and through, just moti9n-sickness inducing visual indefinition and arbitrary pointing of the camera, plus absolutely horrendous montage, cutting and transitioning scenes too fast, without any time to breath and for the mood to settle. One of the most startling moments for me is when you get for example three different shots of a single scene where a character is sitting still in a room, or for example two pans of the ship, which are exactly the same shot heading in different directions, to showcase the same scene in different times. It's just lazy, rushed and careless aesthetics.

Acting and Characters:
Dark has well written, empathetic, distinctive characters within a culturally restricted milieu, to the point where even a transgender character seems natural and organic as part of the narrative, without seeming to have been placed to fill a diversity quota. In 1899 the characters, albeit stemming from all around the world, are mostly uninteresting, annoying, bratty, self-centered, juvenile caricatures. And the main character, like all female protagonists in media nowadays unfortunately, is made relevant only through the clumsiness, stubbornness, stupidity or skepticism of her male cohorts. The acting is rather poor with much of the cast and also, I don't buy the whole "international" dialogue scheme used to make them all get what's going on all the time.

Atmosphere and Action:
Dark was brooding, subtle, ominous, even daring in its violence, overt or inferred, whilst keeping its mystery grip with much tact and gentleness. 1899 is aseptic, too clean, too safe, not to mention, incredibly predictable and repetitive. I've lost count of how many deux ex machinas occurred and how many instances dialogues got interrupted when anything remotely interesting was asked and was about to be revealed, only to get cut by a sudden, random character. Take for instance the first episode, when you got all the passengers sipping tea at the same time, to let you know that "something isn't right". It just lacks subtlety in so many areas and to be honest, some of the dialogues and retorts were cringy as hell, just really bad writing that sent shivers down my spine more than once. Each episode felt like a chore to go through to be honest and never have I felt the "rush" to jump to the next one.

Lastly, I didn't appreciate the whole ending with acid/prog/art rock of the 70's every episode, for a series "supposedly" happening at the dawn of the 20th century, it made it look superficially edgy and anachronistic, much like I didn't appreciate the random digital interference and corrupted soundscape. Even if it could have made sense with the ending, all things considered, the ending just made everything shown beforehand moot, so why the hell should one bother with all the speculation invested until then?

There were more gripes I had with the series, but I think I involuntarily shoved it to the darkest confines of my consciousness so this is what I could recover as of today. Perhaps I was too hyped for something which could never top or equal Dark, but after all is said and done, I'm probably not the only one to have been so disappointed with it, given its cancellation mentioned above by Norwegian.

[Johnny Dangerous]

I agree only on the cinematography angle.

[Johnny Dangerous]

What's unfortunate about 1899 is that Netflix cancelled it. It was supposed to have three seasons, just like Dark did. And there was a plan behind each season, which I won't bother to mention here as it could spoil season 1 for those who are watching. But yeah, there won't be any more 1899.

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

[Sādhaka]

…cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

Except for a few Animes (such as that House Husband series lol), and the final season of Cobra Kai

[Kim O'Hara]

What's unfortunate about 1899 is that Netflix cancelled it. It was supposed to have three seasons, just like Dark did. And there was a plan behind each season, which I won't bother to mention here as it could spoil season 1 for those who are watching. But yeah, there won't be any more 1899.

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

What about Gaiman's Sandman?


Kim

[Johnny Dangerous]

What's unfortunate about 1899 is that Netflix cancelled it. It was supposed to have three seasons, just like Dark did. And there was a plan behind each season, which I won't bother to mention here as it could spoil season 1 for those who are watching. But yeah, there won't be any more 1899.

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

What about Gaiman's Sandman?


Kim

Yeah I’d forgotten about that, haven’t watched it yet. Almost hate to overwrite the comic experience.

[Kim O'Hara]

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

What about Gaiman's Sandman?


Kim

Yeah I’d forgotten about that, haven’t watched it yet. Almost hate to overwrite the comic experience.

Me too, and in fact I haven't watched much of the series, mainly for that reason.
Gaiman is brilliant in any medium and his earlier translations from one to another worked really well - Neverwhere, Coraline and a few others were different in their second lives but equally good. Good Omens, I think, was even better. But American Gods and what I watched of Sandman were over-produced into a kind of generic glossy fantasy idiom and lost some of what I liked about them.


Kim

[Svalaksana]

What's unfortunate about 1899 is that Netflix cancelled it. It was supposed to have three seasons, just like Dark did. And there was a plan behind each season, which I won't bother to mention here as it could spoil season 1 for those who are watching. But yeah, there won't be any more 1899.

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

Get on HBO Max and watch True Detective. You will not be disappointed.

[PeterC]

What's unfortunate about 1899 is that Netflix cancelled it. It was supposed to have three seasons, just like Dark did. And there was a plan behind each season, which I won't bother to mention here as it could spoil season 1 for those who are watching. But yeah, there won't be any more 1899.

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

Get on HBO Max and watch True Detective. You will not be disappointed.

S1 was excellent. S2, not so much.

[Svalaksana]

That’s too bad, and will mean cancelling Netflix once I’m done, as there is almost nothing else worthwhile on it.

Get on HBO Max and watch True Detective. You will not be disappointed.

S1 was excellent. S2, not so much.

Sorry, I forgot to make this very important note:

Watch S1 only and forget that S2 and S3 exist. I had forgotten right after I watched them. They got nothing to offer and luckily are wholly unconnected to S1.

[PeterC]

Get on HBO Max and watch True Detective. You will not be disappointed.

S1 was excellent. S2, not so much.

Sorry, I forgot to make this very important note:

Watch S1 only and forget that S2 and S3 exist. I had forgotten right after I watched them. They got nothing to offer and luckily are wholly unconnected to S1.

There's a S3? Who was in it? S2 was bad enough to put me off the project entirely