Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

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All entries tagged tv.

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Jul 2018

  • I randomly misclicked on this animated show on Netflix, Final Space, and decided to binge it. Pleasantly surprised to find it was pretty good, and David Tennant was the main antagonist. Decent sci-fi, kinda adolescent humor, did not see that S1 ending coming

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: twitter facebook / 1

May 2018

  • Spoiler Alert!

    When Game of Thrones entered its sixth season in 2016, it was true spoiler territory for those of us who had read the GRRM books before HBO’s TV adaptation turned the property into a worldwide phenomenon. Due to the author’s glacial writing pace, at this point the TV series went past the point that the novels had reached. Thus nobody – book readers or tv viewers – knew what events would unfold in the story.

    read more (786 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #tv #Pop Culture #Tech Life
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 786 words

Mar 2018

Feb 2018

Jan 2018

  • I had put off watching PUNISHER (on Netflix) since i wasn’t really too hyped about it. But now that I finally got around to it, I really like it.

    The pacing was good throughout the season (which was one of the weakness of the recent MCU Netflix seasons such as Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Defenders) and it didn’t falter halfway through and stuck the landing.

    I had put off watching PUNISHER (on Netflix) since i wasn’t really too hyped about it. But now that I finally got around to it, I really like it.
The pacing was good throughout the season (which was one of the weakness of the recent MCU Netflix seasons such as Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Defenders) and it didn’t falter halfway through and stuck the landing.
  • If you’re an X-Men fan and you’re not watching The Gifted, you’re really missing out. It’s a more serious, street-level take on “the mutant problem” than the movies could ever handle.

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: twitter facebook / 7
  • Black Mirror S4 spoiler-free review! (episodes listed from most enjoyed to least):

    4.6. Black Museum (reminds me of White Christmas)

    4.1. USS Callister (fun, but I was annoyed by how infeasible the technical premise was)

    4.4. Hang the DJ (kind of telegraphed the ending)

    4.3. Crocodile (felt like a police procedural)

    4.5. Metalhead (would have probably appreciated it more if it wasn’t a Black Mirror episode)

    4.2. Arkangel (kinda boring and draggy)

    Overall I liked S3 a lot more

Dec 2017

Oct 2017

Aug 2017

  • DEFENDERS spoiler-free review and episode guide:

    (Okay, maybe a teensy little spoiler in that image - but I couldn’t resist lol)

    • this series moves forward each of the four protaganists
    • you get to see most of the supporting cast come back and maybe even get a teeny bit of development in
    • the plot is reasonably tight, i had a few minor nitpicks but now i can’t even remember most of them
    • Maybe it’s just the fanboy in me, but I was really excited when they met each other for the first time
    • Jessica Jones still the best character
    • Iron Fist still the weakest point (see the image), but it’s not as bad as it was in his own series. It helps that he’s not surrounded by the weird Meachum family and has a better ensemble to work off of. I also really enjoyed how enthusiastic he was at getting a team together
    • fight scenes are pretty good (at least better than in the Iron Fist series - also it’s still weird that Daredevil fights a lot better than Iron Fist. He must have been a real slacker during that decade in Kun’Lun)
    • I suspect you can come in cold without watching any of the previous series, they do bring up their backstories a lot
    • I’m disappointed that there was no title drop

    Episode guide:

    ep1 ok ep2 great ep3 great ep4 great ep5 draggy, this was the weakest ep for me ep6 ok ep7 good ep8 great. there’s a post-credits scene

    DEFENDERS spoiler-free review and episode guide:
(Okay, maybe a teensy little spoiler in that image - but I couldn’t resist lol)
 this series moves forward each of the four protaganists you get to see most of the supporting cast come back and maybe even get a teeny bit of development in the plot is reasonably tight, i had a few minor nitpicks but now i can’t even remember most of them Maybe it’s just the fanboy in me, but I was really excited when they met each other for the first time Jessica Jones still the best character Iron Fist still the weakest point (see the image), but it’s not as bad as it was in his own series.

Jun 2017

May 2017

  • Designated Survivor: I like the parts where Tom Kirkman is dealing with day-to-day governance issues. It’s not gritty politics like House of Cards, it’s kind of the opposite - Kirkman is very much the kind of altruistic statesman the world could use right now. And occasionally he manages to beat the system too. The conspiracy parts with Maggie Q were okay, except that the resolution turned out to be really lame. TBF, resolving conspiracy plots is difficult; the tendency is either (a) overly-complicated conspiracies with multiple layers that get drawn out until the series gets cancelled (see: X-Files); (b) overly-simple conspiracies with lame resolutions

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 6

Dec 2016

  • Finished watching Westworld. It’s pretty good. Once you get introduced to the premise of the show, it’s easy to imagine where it goes from there - these types of stories tend to go in that particular direction. Where the show shines is the narrative, the way the events unfold, everything is very well done. Some things from the earlier episodes are quite vague, unclear or sometimes downright contradictory, but things clear up pretty well near the end of the 10-episode run, though a number of things are still left hanging (including the fates of the surviving characters) for the presumptive season two to help clear up. Not for kids. Lots of violence and nudity and whatnot. Also, there’s a post-credits scene.

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 4
  • Finished Black Mirror this week. It is indeed a heavy show, but I find that it becomes a lot easier to watch (and binge) if you try not to get attached to the characters and just accept that horrible things will happen to them lol

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 6

Oct 2016

  • Luke Cage spoiler-free review:

    • this is an unapologetically very black show. It highlights black culture, black music, black history, and so on
    • gang violence, sleazy politicians, corrupt cops
    • most of the cast give great performances
    • rosario dawson’s role seems to get bigger with each additional series
    • lots of great easter eggs for comic book fans
    • might have been an episode or two too long
    • I did not like the ending too much, though I can see why they might have gone that way

Aug 2016

  • Review: Stranger Things

    So, Stranger Things It’s true, it’s great. I thought it might be overhyped, but it’s not. And I can see why people find it hard to explain without spoiling things. It’s about strange things happening in a small town. Creepy things. It’s a mystery. It’s suspense. It’s not a jump-scare sort of thing if you’re not into that. Well, there’s maybe a little bit of jump scares. The best description I’d say it’s about as scary as an X-Files or Doctor Who episode.

    read more (354 words)

    Posted by under post at #Review #Opinions #tv
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 354 words
  • Just watched the series finale of Star Trek Voyager, finally those crazy nerds managed to get home! I came into the series with low expectations given its reputation, but I think it was pretty ok overall. There were some pretty ridiculous episodes here and there, but even the much-revered TNG suffered from that. Janeway made some questionable decisions throughout the series, but arguably they were faced with a different set of quandaries than the crew of TNG or DS9. I feel like Voyager also had way more time travel episodes than either TNG or DS9 for some reason. Best character: The Doctor, although he’s kind of a deus-ex-machina too, especially once he gets that mobile emitter “Oh, don’t worry I can do that super dangerous thing because I’m a hologram!”. Seven of Nine a close second, I was mildly annoyed with the character as first introduced, but she was developed well as the series went along. Worst character: Chakotay. Ugh, I cringe whenever there’s one of his “Space Indian” episodes. He didn’t even do anything in the series finale except be a love interest for Seven of Nine

    Posted by under notes at #tv #star-trek
    Also on: facebook / 12

Jun 2016

  • Okay, the ending was a bit weak for me but now that I’ve caught up, Gotham had a great season 2! Ranking now changed: Gotham > Shield/Flash > LoT > Arrow haha The show has greatly improved since they moved away from the villain-of-the-week format and went for longer story arcs, and lots more comic book references too! The only story arc I wasn’t too happy about was the Penguin family stuff, but it didn’t matter too much so that’s fine. Looking forward to Season 3!

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 0

May 2016

Apr 2016

  • So I watched a couple of eps of the new Criminal Minds spin-off Beyond Borders featuring Gary Sinise’s FBI team intervening in crimes with American victims in other countries. I’m tempted to keep watching solely for the eventual episode set in the Philippines where there are militant leftists protesting against imperialist interference in local affairs

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 0

Mar 2016

  • Daredevil Season 2 spoiler-free review:

    • Punisher and Karen were great
    • Matt and Elektra, kind of weird, but I guess it’s okay
    • great fight scenes and cinematography as usual
    • the plot is less tightly focused than compared to S1, there’s a lot of things going on at the same time.
    • it starts a bit slow, but picks up later on, then slow down a bit again and picks up again
    • they pick up some leftover threads from S1, all the surviving major players make an appearance
    • the Daredevil costume feels so weird, and it feels like it sometimes changes in shading/composition across episodes (it makes it harder to draw lol)
    • there’s some romantic tension being formed but it feels a bit off or maybe even forced
    • I want to complain about some (minor) things, but it’s hard to do that without you know, spoilers lol
    • ending felt weaker than S1

Feb 2016

Dec 2015

  • Finally finished watching Jessica Jones. It started out a bit slow, but the pace picked up after a few episodes. It’s a different kind of grimdark than Daredevil was, but everything about the plot was great and tight. I was worried about what they planned to do with Kilgrave but it turned out he might have been a better villain here than Fisk was in Daredevil

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 3

Sep 2015

  • I finished the US run of The Office on Netflix, took me a few weeks (9 seasons). Started watching Always Sunny in Philadelphia but then I found out it’s like 10 seasons, not sure if I should do like another short series first. Any suggestions?

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 9

Aug 2015

Jul 2015

  • After seven months of watching Deep Space Nine, I watched the last episode tonight. A very satisfying series and finale. Overall while TNG was a lot more iconic and well-known I feel like DS9 had a much better story to tell and a much more satisfying ending as well

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 1

May 2015

Apr 2015

  • Daredevil was okay. Pacing felt a bit off in some places, but the fight scenes were great and the Matt - Foggy bromance was well-portrayed. Certainly a better treatment than a two-hour movie could afford, given the nature of Matt Murdock’s relationships. A number of threads were left hanging for future series to pick up, but the ending was satisfying enough. I would have hoped for something bigger, but maybe we’ll get that in Defenders

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 0

Jan 2015

Jun 2014

May 2014

Mar 2014

  • So I marathoned Gurren Lagann this weekend. That was totally not what I expectd lol. It was fun and way over the top, even though it still hit a lot of the tropes. I thought it was going to get boring after the timeskip, but nope. It got a little weird at the end, but I guess that’s inevitable when things escalate quickly

    Posted by under notes at #tv
    Also on: facebook / 9

Dec 2013

May 2013

Dec 2012

Nov 2012

Sep 2012

May 2012

Apr 2012

May 2011

Apr 2011

Jun 2010