The Trailer Park

I wish I liked Black Mirror more. I've tried a couple of times and I like the ideas they have, but there's just something about Charlie Brooker's writing "voice" that irritates me.

Stowaway wasn't that great last night.
I also squeezed in another film called Taking Lives and that wasn't great either.
But I enjoyed the little snoozes that I had.

I was planning to watch all the Jack Taylor episodes before starting Shadow & Bone, but.... I didn't. Just watched the first episode of S&B and I agree it feels like one doesn't quite know enough of the background/setting. Both the way everything looks and the way people speak seems a mishmash of historical styles - it feels a bit inconsistent, to me, rather than genuine or original. But the story seems interesting, even if I find it hard to follow all the "you can't cross it" vs "I've crossed it 3 times" and "you can't go around" vs "you can go around but it takes months" or the "everyone has to join the army" vs "we have no food" (no kidding - maybe you should allow some kids to grow up and become farmers?)... and how could the people on one side know when the people on the other side was expected to get through, if it takes months to go around (with messages)? Do they have telephones? I didn't see any, if they did...

I've done five episodes of it so far and it still hasn't settled into a story that's keeping me interested.
So I've just been getting through them one at a time and saving my binge moments for Colony along with those short Love, Death and Robot things where I've just got to The Witness. The "story" was just as flimsy as the others but the visual style of the graphics and animation in that one was amazing and like nothing I'd ever seen before. Overall it continues to feel like a show made by artists and animators rather than writers.

well I have seen episode 2 now, thanks to Gandalf who wouldn't let me draw (and then promptly left to chase Merlin around after I stopped drawing and started watching Netflix....)

I still find it a bit confusing. Alina arrives at the "Little Palace" which everyone describes as a fort with high walls, but it looks more like Versailles or something. Also, after she arrives, her friends back in the military camp (who, by the way, shouldn't even be on the same side of the Fold anymore? Or did the ship return rather than get through? I'm just not understanding half of it...) says she'll be at the little Palace the day after tomorrow. But wasn't she already there? Or is she in the littlest palace?

On second thought I guess Alexei was the only one who actually crossed the Fold and the ship returned to where it "sailed" from.... Which means the Palace in question is on the East Rivka side... Meh, maybe I'll understand it better later... But not later tonight.

Not trying to read any spoilers, since I too was also thinking of watching Shadow and Bone. I added it the first time I saw it advertised, but don't really know much about it overall. Sometimes just seeing a brief lets me think it's in the realm of things I enjoy.

Charlotte wrote: I still find it a bit confusing...

I'd like to say it becomes clearer but...

It feels like it's one of those books that has lots of little maps and appendices that point out where everyone is at all times but not much of that exposition makes it on screen. Which is ironic when you realise that the main character is a map-maker at the start.

Ooh, episode 7 is a good one.
I enjoyed that. Wish more of the previous ones were like that instead of overdoing the Young Adult stuff.

Just one more to go now.

I think I just saw episode 6 but now it's bedtime for me

At this rate you're gonna finish it before me!