I loved TLOU and was totally involved in the storytelling. I’ve never been so emotionally attached to the characters in a game as I was with Joel and Ellie. The real strength was how the writers used the video game’s abilities to change your POV character to really drag you into the story. Right from the tutorial where you start off as Joel’s daughter and by becoming her at the start the twist at the end of the tutorial really hits harder then you expect because you’ve been her. By the end of the game by playing as both characters you really become invested in their relationship and attached they are which makes the roaring rampage of revenge at the end in the hospital somehow totally expected right up to the shoot out in surgery. I mean I was so invested in the relationship that my hands were shaking and I’m ashamed to admit that I shoot the nurses as well.

Oh well that makes it all ok then!

It’s the grape?!?! What the fuck!?! I get the dinner/dessert pizza with a whole chicken but why the one grape!?!

Aww that’s no fun.

I mean technically wasn’t she already in the hospital for the MRI?

As a person with an interest in the history of movies I got throw in The Big Chill. It was the OG film soundtrack, I’m pretty sure it was the first soundtrack to hit the billboard top 10 albums in a time when that meant something and is full of ‘50s & ‘60s bangers.

A Man on the Inside is much more of a character and story based comedy then Shure’s previous work. It’s a lot less joke dense then The Good Place which was in turn less dense Parks and Rec. I mean I’d expect a comedy about grief, loss, and regaining a purpose to go at a slower pace and I found it lovely and clever, but it definitely not a “Joke Factory”. Your Mileage and all that but I got through the whole series in a day because each episode was sweet and cute, not because I couldn’t stop laughing.

I really enjoyed this season every step felt earned and the twist felt obvious in hindsight. I didn’t expect it at all but that was because of didn’t expect a production to do that not because it was an ass pull or anything.

I’m just really interested in where the story goes from here. I just don’t think the c-suite guys are going to let them do a story about Eddie Redmayne hunting billionaires after the real world news.

Yeah Z Nation is a romp! I don’t what they were smoking in the writer’s room but it was crazy and fun.

I think I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. Of the ones I’ve seen I totally agree with you:

Creature Commandos - An excellent show Very James Gunn but in my world that’s a complement. 1x03 really kicks it up a notch. GI robot is one of my new favourite characters “Oh Nazis” made me smile.

Lioness S2 - Total tripe, some of the worst writing (honestly if you told me Donald Trump had done punch up on it I’d believe you) but to be honest I’d watch Zoey and Nicole read the fucking phone book, so I’ll probably check back in if there’s a season 3.

The Diplomat - yeah good that’s about where I’d put it too. Not great but very good.

Arkane - I don’t know? it’s good but god damn it’s bleak. It’s a hard slog to watch so far. But maybe there’s hope in the end?

I only watched once and the only thing that sticks out in my memory is Remy Malik’s performance but he was amazing.

I didn’t like the shade thrown at Moon Knight, but aside from that I agree. It really highlights what a Christmas Movie Hawkeye was and one of the things Marvel does best is when it crosses superhero movies with another genre.

One of the coolest things I’ve ever heard about Office Space is that Mike Judge had a alternate ending where when we check in at Peter at the end of the movie and his new construction boss is just another Lumburg. Which really hit home with the fact that it’s not the office jobs that sucks, all jobs suck.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XK43Ureuiqc

You know most people don’t need two comments to up vote “Office Space”

Yeah his buddies from DOD’s PR and from the NSA. /s Yeah I’d believe that the whole novel really reminded me of a YouTube of some war games.

My second favourite crazy conspiracy theory is that Tom Clancy didn’t really exist and that he was the front man for the CIA’s public relations office. Red Storm especially leads this as the whole novel reads like someone took a high level war game and tried to make a novelisation out of it.

Got to say, Aussie comedies are on a roll lately. The new season of Fisk is hilarious and the eleventh season of Spicks and Specks is still slaying. I frankly need a laugh, so I’ve been watching those. And for some reason I’ve been nostalgic lately so I’ve dug out some of those early aughts fun cable light dramas. Burn Notice, Leverage, Psych, White Collar, Monk, and such. Nothings to heavy, a story gets told in 40 minutes and maybe there’s some kind of season long thing taking up 5-10 minutes in it, but no puzzle boxes or epic character arcs or anything. They’re like the TV version of a wine cooler, no depth, or heaviness but light and fizzy and fun. Maybe I’m just a basic bitch but I like fun.

I’ll third or fourth the Penguin pilot Just some amazing acting and writing. The cinematography isn’t up to ‘The Batman’ but it still pretty good.

I’m still digging Agatha All Along but character actress are totally my jam. Debra Jo Rupp and Kathryn Hahn are killing it and the other ladies are also a delight. The writing is good and the production values are top notch It’s a pretty show.

Slow Horses and Bad Monkey are rounding out my viewing. I’ll give both of them thumbs up.

Finally after a death in my family I’m doing what I alway do when I’ve lost someone and rewatching The Good Place to remind myself that we’re just a way of the universe being and we return to it.

“Picture a wave in the ocean. You can see it, measure it - its height, the way the sunlight refracts as it passes through - and it’s there, you can see it, and you know what it is, it’s a wave. And then it crashes on the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there.”

I’m really surprised that nobody’s mentioned The Last of Us yet. It really used the uncommon technique of changing POV to really suck me in to its storyline. Right from the start when Joel’s daughter dies in the tutorial it was a gut punch as I had ‘been’ her just a few minutes ago. But the whole story was so immersive I found by the end I was really engaged with the characters and their stories. Spoilers for the end of The Last of Us if you’ve not played or watched the series. In the last big action piece in the Fireflies Hospital on my first play through I shot both the nurses in cold blood because I was so upset about what was happening. I like to think of myself as a ok person, at least better then the kind of guy who’d do that but in the heat of the moment I was so angry I totally empathise with Joel and his desire to kill everyone threatening Elly.