My son, a college student and finance major, and I watched the first two episodes last night. We both enjoyed it a lot. The first episode, Money Laundering, was really well written and eye-opening. Cyprus man, holy crap. The second episode, about Rich Dicks (are they dicks because they’re rich, or rich because they’re dicks?) was very amusing, but maybe not as informative as the money laundering one.
Kal Penn may be the perfect host for this show, as he’s intelligent, worked in Washington and thus knows the inner workings, and is very funny. We really enjoyed all the little guest star cameos in the explanation scenarios as well. Great stuff!
I highly recommend this show to anyone who is even mildly interested in economics and is looking for something different and fun to watch.
I had to stop watching early on for exactly that reason, even though it was very good. Similar experience with The Americans.
Just wrapped up Sneaky Pete S3. Enjoyed S 1 & 2 but S3 absolutely blew me away with the character development. Like, all the characters. Plot and story also improved a lot.
bar fyi as for Amazon prime I did like Homecoming. I am going to check but I also think amazon has a slow but steady “Foyle’s war” which is very good. I will try sneaky peat but the previews seemed to give it away a bit.
So Prime is debuting The Boys tomorrow. If you read the comic, that’s what it’s based on. Stars Karl Urban. And I think I read something about Dennis Quaid’s son being in it too (interesting as Stranger Things also featured a child of famous stars).
If you haven’t read the comic, it’s a NSFW story about what happens if superheroes are really assholes and a team that tries to hold them accountable. The comic is a good read, we’ll see how the show turns out.
My gal and I watched the first three episodes of The Boys last night. It was good fun. And yeah, NSFW, but mostly for some gore and raunchy language- no nudity or explicit sex (though some things are implied or happen off-screen). I liked it- it was just so over-the-top, in the vein of Kick Ass or Kingsman. And Urban is great, as ever.
Cool, I watched the first half of episode 1 before heading into work today. The gore is about on par with the comic.
They made some interesting changes. Simon Pegg was originally the inspiration for the main character, but in the show they’ve created a new role specifically for him. Also, it appears the Homelander character is being rolled out differently than in the comic.
Urban does all right with his character although he’s not quite as burly as the comic version.
Gotta say so far I’m finding the show a little slow but I expect it’ll pick up in later episodes.
The Boys started in 2006, and I think Sanderson’s Reckoners is more recent. Tone/approach is way different so I wouldn’t consider either of them ripping off the other.
The Supreme Power series from back in 2003 did the superheroes-bad routine, and much better than The Boys IMHO. But that series didn’t last long, so clearly lots of people felt the opposite.
I just watch the end of the second season of Absentia.
Enjoyable but the end was really flawed. I didn’t mind the first twist, but the ridiculous twist in the last episode pretty much turned my stomach. It destroyed 2 seasons of character development…
Watched White Dragon over the last few days. It’s a mystery drama set mostly in Hong Kong, following a guy investigating his wife’s death. I enjoyed it, although it certainly didn’t stand out from other similar shows. If you like the genre, you’ll likely enjoy this one. If you don’t, this isn’t going to change your mind.
Got around to watching Dirk Gently on Amazon Prime (QT3 thread) and man, I love it. Halfway through season 2 and already dreading the day when I’ve come to the end. I’d have loved to see a third season.
We’re now watching White Dragon as well and enjoying it. It’s got an interesting mix of the standard “relative who was killed had a secret life” drama (but with a little extra twist) combined with Hong Kong political intrigue and a semi-bumbling protagonist who makes you waver between liking and feeling sorry for him versus wanting to slap him around for being such an oblivious idiot. John Simm reminds me a lot of Martin Freeman in The Hobbit, especially his mannerisms in this show.
I kept seeing ads for Amazon’s modern-setting production of King Lear so I figured I’d give it a try. The sets and costumes are modern, but the language is still Shakespeare. I’m not a big Shakespeare guy - understanding the language makes it a chore to watch - but I did enjoy this one. Hard to go wrong with Anthony Hopkins in the title role, and most everyone else did well too…I particularly liked Jim Carter’s Kent. Worth a watch, especially if you like Shakespeare to begin with.
I’m not used to that type of “yoda speech” where what you’re going to do is put before who you’re going to do it to. But I discovered I can understand it if subtitles are on. That way I can transpose the speech in my head easier.
