Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2

Rating: 2

After having joined the jolly bandwagon of critics stating that TV-entertainment is the new cinema thanks to longer runtime giving writers much more opportunities to develop their characters, arcs and storylines, I lately keep being disappointed by Netflix’s (and similar) productions.
I find most of the current series either lazy, unfinished, blown-up or, even worse, boring and not worthy of my time.

Over at Amazon Prime Video the situation doesn’t seem to be much better: The series I tried to commit to («Hand of God» and «Startup») where just too earnest, unfunny and bland to keep them in my queue. (I’m even going back to finally finish «Mad Men» just because it’s the lighter, funnier, much better way to spend my hours commuting to work).

Looking back now, I even wonder whether the more recent Golden Age of TV Drama has come and gone much faster than I thought (and hoped) it would. The quality just seems to have gotten lost somewhere between Kevin Spacey’s infamous exit and Joel Kinnaman’s gratouitus abs.

Having said that I must admit that the second season of «Iron Fist» is much more entertaining than the godawful first season. The characters are much more likeable and it’s not as easy as it used to be to fall asleep during an episode (though I managed).

Shame though they threw Davos (Sacha Dhawan) under the bus by turning the best thing of season one into an arrogant, delusional prick without the tragedy or depth he deserved.
And many of the most interesting ideas in this season seem to be either an afterthought without much impact or pure build-up for season 3 .

Sad.

Mr. Robot

Rating: 5

Just dropping in with an important message to all the fans of awesome TV-entertainment: If you haven’t already, watch Mr. Robot! I’m just about to finish the third season on Amazon Prime and I’m still flabbergasted on how breathtakingly good it is.

As always, I won’t go into any details but don’t be fooled by the fact that every season of Sam Esmail‘s show is basically a retelling of one or several modern movie classics…

While taking common storylines, tropes and themes and turning them upside down (or not) seems to be the basic idea, it’s just a jumping-off point to dive into some really stunning storytelling, cinematography, top-notch performances and use of music and sound, reinventing the show with almost every other episode.

And while you’re here, check out the new trailer for «Bohemian Rhapsody», Rami Malek‘s take on Freddie Mercury. I’m not sure yet if I like the idea of this «Queen» biopic, but if Malek really gets his teeth in it, he actually might be able to pull it off.