Borderlands 2 Review

Well, I'm going to start this review by saying that if you have ever even considered buying this game, then I guarantee that you will be one hundred percent satisfied with your purchase. You're not a selfish loot-hound? Okay, then. This game will turn you into one. No, I'm not kidding.

Not to say this game is not without it's flaws. There are very few games that get a good enough balance of priorities for me to qualify as "perfect." However, this game comes pretty close. This is a very lengthy game, with tons of side quests that keep you going. And not the side quests that are just "bring this here, bring it back, and collect your reward." No, I'm talking about the most badass, funny, or twisted side missions you have ever seen.

However, instead of having a subject switching mess, I'll dissect this game by different subjects.

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Gameplay:
This game has great gameplay that is built off of it's predecessor, but feels somewhat new at the same time. While I feel it's unfair to bash COD, and love this, I also feel like if every COD made it bigger, awesomer, and much better, I wouldn't be complaining as much. Very few sequels to an IP knock it out of the park this much.

The main topic of the gameplay is obviously the loot. In the first Borderlands, the loot was amazing, but soon began to be uninteresting. However, all of the guns are now colorful, interesting, easy to look at, and most of all, do shit tons of damage.

The gameplay itself is very fluid, an expectation of most Triple A games, but you'd be surprised about how many really aren't. (Any Bathesda game ever released anyone?) While the driving itself isn't anything too great, it's still an improvement over the first game. At least it's impossible to flip it over anymore, which was really frustrating in the first game.

Graphics:
This game has great graphics. I don't know why, but some people seem to think that since it doesn't look realistic, it doesn't have good graphics. Anyone who has played this game can tell that person that they're wrong. This game is fucking beautiful. The character models could be done better, and the pop-in in cut-scenes is overly obvious, but those are what seem to be tiny flaws in a beautiful world.

The guns look amazing, and each of them have their own, creative look that makes you keep it just to look at it, unless you need money. You've really out-done yourselves, Gearbox.

Replay Value
I have played this game with a mixture of solo and co-op, and both of them are equally rewarding. However, the mutliplayer is only really fun if everyone is a team player. I preferred single player because my friends are shit teammates, but it takes forever on solo, so I found myself going into co-op more and more.  Especially since many things are designed for co-op in this game. Not to say that you couldn't do everything in this game on solo, but I wish you a lot of luck with that.

I currently have at least a day and a half on this game, and it came out a week ago. If that tells you anything, other than me having way too much time on my hands, is that this game is addicting and it's really hard to put it down. I'm doing a second playthrough, and it's still just as rewarding, but more difficult. The Badass System, if you try for it, can be a huge source of entertainment. It's nice to be able to upgrade all the time. You only get to upgrade your skill every now and then, so it's nice to have other ways.

There's always the achievements, and this game has great ones that are a mixture of easy and hard, but all of them are made with humor. In fact, everything is humorous in this game. Even the manual. You'll be laughing out loud at many points in the game. This is the first game to do that for me since Portal 2.

Sound:
This game has surprisingly great voice acting. The MVP of this game is definitely Handsome Jack. Half of the stuff Handsome Jack says wouldn't be as funny if it wasn't executed with the perfection it was in this game. The other voice work was awesome, but he was a standout to me.

The soundtrack itself is fairly basic, but effective. The circle of death's have ridiculously catchy music that you can't help not singing along to when you are listening to them over and over again.

Story/Writing
Let's all be honest. No one was expecting this game to have a great story. Everyone who played the first game knows that that was definitely not a strong point. In fact, it had one of the most disappointing endings in history. However, in this game, we were given not only a great story, but expertly written dialogue that makes you laugh, even if the humor is rather immature.

The ending was the same ending as the first game, pretty much, except for the part where they find out there's more vaults to hunt (future DLC!). Except, this time around, there was more at stake, and there was no stupid bitch telling you there was mounds upon mounds of loot in the vault. This game even tried to lighten up the disappointment from last game by providing an upside to last game's ending.



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This is one of the only game I've ever played that I had high expectations for, and it not only met, them, but exceeded them in every single way. I guarantee that you'll love this game if you're a fan of co-op games, RPG's, or shooters, because this game combines them nearly flawlessly.

9.4/10

Weeds: Season 8 Review

 

While this season had many critics, I still feel like it was above-average. However, not everyone would enjoy this, since it's really only for the people that really love the Botwin's. I'm going to be honest, though. I would have never been able to see this entire season in one sitting. It had no conflict, and nothing really to keep it going. When the Botwin's settled down, so did the show, and a lot of fan's have had mixed feelings about this.

I have to give this season kudos for the fact that they broke away from the classic thirteen episode season used by many shows, such as Weeds and Breaking Bad. This formula is spending about four episodes recovering from the cliff-hanger, about four episodes of filler, and then a bunch of action. This season spent about two episodes recovering from the cliffhanger, and then the rest was what seemed like filler until you realized was actually being factored into the character's ending. It was never really boring seeming-to-be-filler either, it was more just like, why are they showing us this?

While I'm not going to get too much into every episode (you can read my reviews for that), I'll provide a brief outline, what I liked, and what I didn't.

This season was about Nancy recovering from her head injury, but then that turned into her trying to redeem herself and close shop on the weed business once and for all. But then she realized that she was doing it all wrong, so back to Regrestic it is! Then, Andy realizes that if he doesn't get the fuck out, that he'll be hanging on to Nancy's coattails for the rest of his life, so he does just that. Then everyone from the show reunites in a reunion for Stevie.

This season's episodes ranged from great to some of the worst Weeds has every had. The great episodes are as follows; Messy, God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise, and the finale. The others were either good, meh, or bad.

There were some redeeming qualities this season that kept it going. Such as MLP's always-stellar acting, great character moments, and the danger-seeking Botwins finally settling down. Things I did not like include the fact that Alexander Gould seemed to lose even more interest this season, many character cameos or scenes that ended up just being filler in this end, and finally, Celia wasn't there. Well, then again, that can be said to be a flaw of every season since season five.

I know this was a short review, but I'm pretty sure this summed up all of my feelings about this season. There was way too much filler, it was really slow paced, and there was no conflict whatsoever. However, the first and final three episode are some of the best the series has had so far, and that's an achievement most shows don't get to achieve in it's eighth season. Overall, this was a great ending to a great series.

7/10

Weeds: "It's Time" Review

This finale was both disappointing and beautiful at the same time. For me at least, I was like, "Wow... this is it?" and then at the end I realized that the entire episode was not about having an amazing climax to an amazing series, it's about giving every single character what they deserved. This was an absolutely amazing episode in that respect. Just the fact it was so simple and small-scale was just great.

I'm going to start with Nancy, for obvious reasons. I feel like the end was the best possible way to end the series for her, since it basically says that she will never, ever be able to settle down, unless married to someone. I liked at the end how she tried to get Andy back, since it was a bitch move, but a classic Nancy move at the same time. This really proved again how much of a last resort Andy was to her. And him just telling her off was so satisfying.

Silas, while he got a fitting conclusion, I feel like they could have handled him better. While he and Nancy had a nice character moment together, I feel like the fact that he didn't even try to defend her was a douche move, even if he's defending Nancy. I mean, denying the grandmother to hold the baby is just downright offensive. Hunter Parrish was amazing in this episode. Every line was just so pitch-perfect that I really noticed how much his acting has really grown, but at the same time he didn't really knock it out of the park, which disappointed me, since, according to MLP, he had a scene where he had some of the best acting she's ever seen. The scene she was probably talking about was when she confronted him about the baby-holding rights. While he was amazing, I've seen better. I hope I didn't just sound like an asshole.

 

By the way, Silas, Flora is the worst name ever.

Shane had a nice end, also. I hate his character with every fiber of my being, so I was happy that if he were ever to live "happily ever after," he would have to change first. Alexander Gould had his first piece of good acting in two seasons at the very end. Uhhh... congrats? God, he's been horrible this season.

Stevie's Jewish party (going to be honest, don't know how to spell it) was obviously a disaster. It was a great plot device to get everyone together, and I feel like people are taking the fact that the episode was focused way too much on him way out of hand. If people are thinking that, they either didn't understand the finale or didn't look into it far enough. Everything he talked about or did was a plot device to help another character or show the audience how Nancy has been raising him right. Like him wanting to go to boarding school. This was when Nancy finally realized that she needed to stop smothering her children for them to come out well. However, this was a little disturbing to me, because it's exactly what Esteban would have done. And to further explain my hate or Alexander Gould's acting skills, I would like to point out that even the actor that played Stevie was better, and he's been around for two episodes.

Doug finally made piece with his gay son. I finally felt like Doug wasn't total filler, and this episode kind of redeemed some of the stuff I felt like was filler the entire season. The entire homeless scam was leading up to him owning a cult, and the sucking a dick thing, while a crappy way of doing it, was a way to realize that he was hypocrite for hating his son (I think?).

 

Andy, of course, had a kid. This was inevitable, since he was such a great father to the Botwins throughout the series, and he loves kids. That's really all that changed for him, since we already know that he has pretty much written Nancy out of his life. While this could be viewed as a dick move by some, I honestly don't blame him.

I liked how at the end, the entire Botwin family (even Doug!) went out and smoked weed. It was kid of reflective, ironic, and poetic. And the song from the end of pilot really brought it full circle, to where Nancy was struggling and alone, and despite her great efforts, she ended up being in the same place, three year of jail-time and three new last names later. How fitting. Am I right?

 

On a side note: they shouldn't have gone for the futuristic look, since it really took away from the episode's final and poetic feel. And if they did, they should have tried not to make it look so low-budget and fake.

This wasn't the best ending to such an action packed series, but I feel like we should have never expected an amazing, adrenaline-filled climax, after this past season. But that's not what it's about. Realistically, I don't think that after making all of the same mistakes numerous times, they would keep going. And getting a shot to the head really makes you reflect. I know this was a disappointing finale, but it was still a great episode, and every character that I liked got a good ending. Goodbye Weeds!

9/10

Weeds: "God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise" Review

This has made the past two seasons worth it. This was best episode in at least three seasons, and quite possibly since the season four finale. Rarely does an episode with so much hype not only meet my expectations, but surpass them. And never has a Weeds episode been this emotional for me to watch. Feelings of nostalgia and sadness were creeping up in every scene and they finally hit a satisfying climax in the end.

Since I'm saving the amazing Andy-Nancy scene for last, I'm going to bring up the only flaws of this episode. Like every single episode of the season, Doug's storyline has little finality, Alexander Gould's acting falls flat, Silas's scene with Megan where he kept repeating the same line over and over again got a little bit annoying, and some of the cameo's were just there for the sake of having a cameo. Also, some of them felt like a tease.

Why weren't Celia's whereabouts mentioned?!! Only the fact that she wasn't there, as spoken by the awesome Pam.

But other than that, there were no other flaws in this episode for me. Now we all know Weeds has jumped the shark, but this episode was worthy of being at the peak of the show. It had a great cliffhanger, and everything just came together so well. I really hope they stay in Regrestic. This city must be magic to the Weeds writers, since they hardly ever deliver a bad episode in this amazing town.

One of my favorite guest appearances was Megan. When Silas stared her in the window in season 2, I just knew she'd be back. Little did I know, it would only take six seasons. When he confessed that he poked holes in the condom, they had a great moment together. It felt like even after that, she could still forgive him and be willing to forget what happened. She wasn't the only great guest appearance.

Guest Stars Best to Worst:
1. Guillermo
2. Pam
3. Megan
4. Lupita
5. Conrad
6. Yael

The MVP of this episode was definitely Guillermo Diaz. He had his trademark line-delivery and he created, yet again, an amazing character. At first I thought, wow, he must have forgotten who his character was, because he was really different. But then I realized that he had been through prison, and this is exactly what the character at the end of season six gone through prison would sound and talk like. All innocence gone and all-business, unlike the old Guillermo. Not to say he's not loveable anymore, because he still is.

A close second was MLP, as always. Her cry of desperation had tears in my eyes. That entire scene was ust so well-acted and so emotional you just couldn't help just staring at the screen, hoping for Andy to stay, but at the same time, hoping for him to get the fuck out, because it was obvious that Nancy was just letting him have sex with her because she thought that was the only way he would stay. Many sex scenes feel awkward in this show, but this one had been a long time coming and it was so well done that it was hard to not feel like this wasn't just some sex scene to fill the sex quota needed for Showtime, but something that was needed to finally let Andy know that he was just being used and he just needed to get out and start his own life. Go him.

Of course, he'll be back. If I'm not mistaken, he's credited for the next two episodes. If those two episodes are as good as this one was, then I will be one happy Weeds fan.

9.4/10

Weeds: "Threshold" Review

  

One of Nancy's rather unflattering pictures. 

Why is nothing resolved in Weeds? The only thing that had any closure was Nancy's storyline. She suddenly realized through her new-new-new-new personality that she had it all wrong. She still wanted to sell pot, just legally. I find it funny that she automatically assumed that she was a pot dealer when she was talking about it to the Rabbi (do they ever mention his name on this? They usually just call him the Rabbi). She didn't even realize that she wasn't until she talked to Silas like an hour later.

I find it rather odd that she would cuddle up to Andy like that. I find it rather odd Andy can even live in the same house with her after suckling her tit and being rejected and used by her multiple times. But, hey! I guess that's their dynamic. They're definitely not what you'd call a normal family.

For the love of god, just kill off Doug. I honestly don't care if his death sucks because any feeling I had for his character has been switched to hate because all he's used for is the only source of comedy for this show and filler. This show has a lot of filler. It's usually good, but this season, the filler has been Doug and Shane's storylines, the most boring and hate-able characters on the show. While Shane dug himself in more shit, such as letting a black chick smash his window and electrocuting someones cock off, Doug was getting to know his homeless people, and even met the girl from the school supplies commercial that sings! What fun! Nether of these were resolved either, which I've come to suspect from this show is the past season.

How are they going to get from this episode to the one in the promo? They should have spent the end of this episode setting up for them traveling to California. I bet the new-new-new-new Nancy's gonna be like "What other place than Regrestic, you know, where I caused a wildfire, to start up my shop?!" She's always been the brains of the family. Seriously, I think she's had one good idea in the entire show and that was Plan C.

What the fuck happened to Stevie? I guess we're meant to assume he's either there and not worth our time with his horrible even for a toddler acting skills, or he went with Jill. Neither of which makes since. The former doesn't because I'd rather watch a kid read from a script than watch Shane and Angela watch guys suck each other dicks, and the latter because Nancy spent like two full episodes trying to bitch Jill into stop trying to be Stevie's mother, and now she'd just let her take him back.

This episode was above average for this season, and the entire episode wasn't filler, which is more than I can say for half of this season or almost every other season. The next episode looks kickass, and hopefully won't disappoint. I think something's going to happen to Andy, because of Nancy's blood-curdling "ANNNDDYYYYYYYY!" at the end of the promo. Can't wait!

7.7/10

Breaking Bad: "Gliding Over All" Review

Hank's realization, while sitting on the toilet, only filled me with disappointment. I mean, really? That wasn't the first thing in the episode that really brought it down, though. It felt like after they killed everyone they were like, "Shit! We've run out of ideas!" *Puts in the longest montage ever, and tries to resolve two giant things in twenty minutes*.

Walt quitting was out of character for him. The whole drug business has moved past a means to pay for his family, it's become a part of him, and for him to set it all down because he had enough money was total bullshit. I mean, at the moment he made the choice, his life was just as empty as a couple of episodes ago, when he told Jesse the drug business was all he had left. So why would he give it up? What happened to building an empire?

I can't even begin to describe how horrible the end of this episode was. To have no evidence, and suddenly find proof that Walt was Heisenberg was just stupid. There should have been a build-up. Like Hank having suspicions and this confirming it. This is proof that the Breaking Bad writers don't plan ahead, and while they're usually fine with that, this was just stupid. Like the season 2 finale, they got somewhere, and suddenly realized they needed to conclude it in a way where everyone would come back.

I realize Breaking Bad isn't always the most entertaining show, but this episode was literally the most bored I've ever been while watching it. I bet they had at least five minutes of the episode of characters just staring at each other in an awkward silence. They had way too much filler and conversation that nobody cares about. There was Hank, spending our valuable screen time talking about his summer job, and Walt talking about the RV in probably the most awkward conversation in Breaking Bad history not including the dinner scene from a couple of episodes ago.

Jesse, my favorite character has been absolutely useless this entire season, and this episode was no different. Why can't they give him a storyline? Instead of awkward conversations, how about you dedicate screen time to him? He's the most interesting character, and he's gotten no character development this season. We have no idea why he's making the decisions he's making, which is frustrating.

I can't even put into words how disappointed I am. I'm honestly starting to think the show is starting to jump the shark. This season, before this episode, has been a slow progression, but not in a way that it was actually bad. This episode had such a dip that hasn't been seen in this show since the end of season two.

Everything about this episode was so rushed. I am wondering what they're going to fill up the rest of the season with, since I honestly have no idea how they're going to stretch Walt going on the run from Hank into eight episodes. Weeds did it, but they are the king of making filler look and sound amazing. Breaking Bad's filler is the worst type, and I have a feeling there will be a lot of it in season 5b. End rant.

6.5/10

The Newsroom: Season 1 Review

 

Can you believe that the Newsroom has a metacritic score of 57? Do you know why it has such a low score? Because of this show's obvious liberal bias when reporting the news. Giving many reasons for Obama and never against, and calling the tea party the "American Taliban," are the biggest examples of this. These really don't matter though, unless you're a sensitive conservative. The news isn't even the main part of the show. Yes, it is about a Newsroom, but it's mostly about what goes on in the background and the relationships between all of the workers.

Like most of Aaron Sorkin's work, people speak extremely fast, so it's sometimes easy to miss things. This is rare, though, since almost all of the actors on the show seem to do well with this speed except one or two people. These people are given minor roles, and sometimes speak their lines noticeably slower than anyone else. This include Dev Patel and Adina Porter, Patel not so much. Maybe I'm just saying that because he was an absolutely horrible character. Or maybe I'm just saying that because he was given terrible storylines. One of which was major, but made absolutely no sense.

The thing about this show, is that it's nearly flawless, but the flaws are so gaping it's difficult not to see them. Take the love triangle. Dan likes Maggie, Maggie loves Don, Maggie likes Jim, Jim likes Maggie, Don's an asshole. But why does Jim like Maggie? What was it that sparked their relationship? It was Mack. She tried to manipulate Maggie and Don's relationship so they'd break up, and sent Jim to do it. There are two problems with this. First, Mack never even looks at Don for the rest of the season for anything but business, and second, Mack isn't written as a bitch (most of the time), but I think Sorkin's orginal idea was for her to be manipulative and selfish, but quickly changed this. He did not change the fact that the love triangle was still in place. Other than this, the love triangle only adds to the show, but it's hard to enjoy it when you know why it's happening.

Another thing that bothered me with the relationships was the fact that Sloan told Don (I think) that she had feelings for him. I might have completely misunderstood this scene, and maybe it was meant to be interpreted as she was never asked out by anyone, (which is EXTREMELY hard to believe) but it still confused me. While Don's handsome and all, I highly doubt someone like Sloan would be dedicating their life to waiting for him to ask them out, especially since he's a horrible person. You were wrong Sloan, he is a bad person, and you should keep that rule you established at the end. She was my favorite character up until then, and Olivia Munn does a great job portraying her, too.

The other huge flaw was the whole "troll" subplot that found it's way into the main plot. This makes an absolutely horrible story, and I have no idea why they would be reluctant to report the Casey Anthony trial when they were devoting resources to this. I felt like it was part of the plot to resolve the death-threat storyline all along, and it could have been written much better than that.

It felt like they crammed thirteen episodes into ten this season. You could tell in the two Blackout episodes that they had way too many stories for two episodes, and it still managed to balance them, but not well. It still had a great season finale, but the episodes before it suffered as a result. And like many short seasons, hardly any of the plotlines were resolved at the end, but were left hanging to continue in the next season.

I feel like I just wrote a review for a crappy show, but this is quite the opposite. This show is a great show, with some huge flaws. I feel like many of these could have been resolved with a thirteen episode season, and hopefully the second season will be extended and we'll get a full season worth of great ideas, instead of most of one.

8.6/10

The Newsroom: "The Greater Fool" Review

 

Am I the only one who was mildly disappointed Will wasn't harmed because of the death threat, but because of an Ulcer (I think)? The last episode's ending kind of set it up like it would be, since we saw some movement in the background (was that just my imagination?). Anyway, this episode was pretty great, even after two meh episodes, this one seemed to take what it had and make do with it. And it did it well.

However, this episode didn't really feel too much like a season finale, in the way that many of the storylines were either cut short to be finished next season or were resolved, but in a way that just presses the reset button. For instance, after everything that happened this episode between Jim and Maggie, they ended up agreeing that there was nothing between them for the hundredth time and she moved in with Don and he lied to Lysa so that their relationship was patched up. However, they did kiss, so I imagine that will toss it up a little. On a side note, who goes up to a Sex and the City tour and yells at everyone at how unrealistic the show is and compare it to their lives? Someone has a lot of anger built up.

The only thing that really had finality in this episode was the whole "American Taliban" thing. After having a battle with the RINO's pretty much the whole season, this was like a final blow to the conservative party. I realize this may offend people, but I honestly don't care too much about the news in this show. I care a lot more about what happens in the background. I mean, the news does affect them, but not too severely. Like the West Wing, this is a drama that just happens to be in the Newsroom, and is influenced by real-life events.

I felt like in the last ten seconds, it would finally address the Mack and Will relationship, but it didn't, leaving that for seasons to come. I have a feeling nothing will happen between them for a while. If that's the case, why tease us Sorkin, why?

One thing that felt off this episode was Sloan coming as close as possible to pouring her heart out to Don. That came out of no where. Now the show is like a love heptagon. There's Will and Mack, Mack and Don(what happened to that?), Don and Maggie, Maggie and Jim, Jim and Lysa, and Don and Sloan. Holy shit, this newsroom has relationship issues. I felt like adding sexual tension between Don and Sloan was just unnecessary. You could tell Olivia Munn didn't buy it either.

While this episode didn't really wrap up the season, it was a great episode, and set up some things for season two relationship-wise. How they're going to come up with a bunch of news next season is beyond me. I have a feeling this season will always be thought of as the best because it had the most interesting news stories. Unless something huge happens soon, I doubt there will be much to report on in the coming year, except the elections of course.

Great episode and a great season.

8.7/10

Weeds: "Saplings" Review

With only four episodes left, this episode definitely set up the beginning of the end for Weeds. It's sad, really.

In my opinion, except for the season premiere, this has been the best episode so far. It was never boring, and the characters that we love so much finally came to terms with a couple of things. Andy realized that Jill's a bitch and should move on, and Nancy learned that she needs to stop trying to control everyone that is close to her.

I have a feeling that that's not the only things Andy realized, either. I think he was starting to think of  Nancy when he was walking about moving on. I forgot when, but he had this look of realization that quickly went away. He then saw the woman he would marry, and I doubt that would go well.

Nancy and the Rabbi are back together (were they ever apart?) now. The whole pool thing was cute, but it's something old Nancy would not appreciate. I think the new-new Nancy, who's a hybrid of the two, does appreciate the small things like that, but they are definitely not a match made in heaven. Drug-selling slut and guilt-ridden rabbi. I wonder how that will play out. I think through all that, Nancy and Andy will finally realize the only way to fill the giant gaping hole in their lives is each other. (Yeah I know, I'm puking just writing it)

Nancy's storyline with Silas was interesting, but the stereotypical southern guy was annoying as hell. I'm someone who though Silas was being a whiny bitch when he was all pouty about the weed being destroyed, so I don't even know why he feels the need to shop for a new job. What did you think happened with the weed, Silas? Lazy writing, Jenji, too forced.

Another thing I didn't like about this week's episode was the whole storyline (or a continuation of last week's episode) between Angela and Shane. Two annoying characters played by bad actors. It's not that Alexander Gould is a consistently bad actor, it's just in this episode all of his lines were poorly delivered. Their over-the-top and unrealistic sex scene did not help either.

Doug's storyline still is dumb enough to pose the question: why the hell is he still on the show? He has had nearly no interaction with the other characters this episode. If Celia's storyline was deemed "unnecessary" how is he still here? Celia should have gotten her own spin off or something, and Doug should have just gone with that show. All of his storylines are only there because the writers have no idea what to do with him. Also, is it just me or are his storylines in the past couple of episodes left where nothing is resolved? Last episode, it ended with him sucking dick, and now he's giving away money so a homeless lady can have a sex machine? I know he's stupid, but he used to be funny and somewhat likeable.

However, the good outweighs the bad is this episode. This is the beginning to what looks like it's going to be a great ending. Don't disappoint me, Weeds! I'm sad already with both Weeds and Breaking Bad ending this season. I'm almost happy this is ending, because it's not only setting itself up for a great ending, it was also starting to over stay it's welcome in the seventh season. This season has been a huge improvement so far.

7.6/10

Breaking Bad: "Say My Name" Review

I have to say, this half season would have felt incomplete if that hadn't have happened. I mean, it's sad and all, but I feel like the show just couldn't say goodbye to such an important character without death. However, with Mike gone, who's going to contain Walter? Skyler obviously can't, and Jesse's out (for now). I feel like now he's out of control and that will end up killing him.

The new gang he's getting involved in does not look like it will be making another appearance, as there's only one episode left this year. Also, for someone who looks like they should be important, they have barely been developed and we have no idea who they are, which leads me to believe that they won't be having a substantial presence this season.

I'm finding it hard to believe that Jesse is actually out. I mean, they've given him nothing this season, so we don't even know why he's out. All he knows is that Walt feels no guilt for that kid's death, and nothing else. Didn't he already know how much of an asshole Walt is? This season has been light on Jesse, who's one of my favorite characters. Right now, the only vibe I'm getting from him is decided who's bitch to be, Walt's or Mike's, which is below him. I don't get why he wants out. I mean, he has nothing else in his life. He broke up with his girlfriend, and his parents have disowned him, so what else does he have. As Walt said it, he's obviously going to start using again.

This episode was a great one, but Mike's death could have been much better. I don't even know where he got shot. It just showed Walt shoot the window, and some blood spatter on the seat. For a second, I almost thought Walt missed, and maybe the blood spatter was my imagination, since he started to drive off. But then he crashed, and walked next a little stream and told Walt to shut the fuck up and let him die. Great last words, but that was definitely not a death worthy of Mike Ehrmantraut.

This episode had it's flaws, but it's still better than nearly every other TV show on right now. This was a great penultimate episode (can we even call it that? Screw you AMC!) and is the second best in the season so far. The end of this episode left it at an intense cliffhanger that will hopefully lead to an amazing season 5A finale.

9.2/10

Political Animals: Season 1 Review

This show had so much potential. Although no one should have expected it to be the West Wing, it still had a great cast and looked like it was going to be good. While it wasn't bad, the show had so much lost potential it was hard not to be disappointed. However, the cast and some of the character make up for the disappointment and keep you engaged in the show.

Most of the show was spent on whether or not Elaine Barrish (Sigourney Weaver) was going to run for President. She decided to, but she was very hush hush about it for the first five or so episodes, and then she decided to tell everyone. Everything in between the first and last episode is filler as a result. Each of the characters have their own storyline, some better than others, but none of them have a huge impact on the overall season-long story of her presidency except TJ's (Sebastian Stan).

The characters are pretty evenly split between interesting and boring. I personally found Elaine, Bud (Ciaran Hinds), Susan (Carla Gugino), and Margaret (Ellen Burstyn) interesting. Everyone else is either boring, annoying, or the writers were either inconsistent with the character or didn't understand them. Everyone does a good job portraying their characters, but some of them are just badly written, so it's not the actors' fault at all.

The writers, instead of trying to make a steady story, tried to make this a soap opera with a political background, which, if executed well, could have been a good show. They failed at this, since they tried to fit a bunch of random relationships into six episodes, not stopping for the viewer to understand why they have chosen to have an affair or get back together or anything like that. It just sort of happens. There's no build-up or anything. A good example of this is when Doug and Susan have sex on the plane. Doug is suddenly really upset with his soon-to-be wife Anne, so they decide to get drunk and have sex. Which just makes him look like an absolute asshole because she developed a food disorder for him. This would have been fine (kind of), but there's absolutely no introduction to this. He just suddenly doesn't like Anne. I mean, they could have waited for the second to last episode to tell you this, but why wait? Why not tell us in the many Doug and Anne scenes they had. Unless I missed something (which I sometimes do), this scene was really random and unneeded. However, it will probably have an impact on next season.

The best episode of the six is definitely the season finale. This episode was story-focused and didn't drag at all. There was a twist that you probably won't expect. The only problem with this episode is the fact that everything that happened so far in this episode is rendered a waste of time as a result. At the end, they're right where they started, with one thing different. However, it did set it up for season two quite well.

While the show certainly has it's flaws, it does have Sigourney Weaver, who makes the show. Even if season two didn't look good, I'd still be watching. I probably wouldn't recommend going back and watching this show because you probably won't be satisfied. It's one of those shows that you DVR and watch while you're bored. That's not to say it's not a good show, but if I had six and a half hours on my hands, I'd probably spend it watching a better show.

6.6/10

Veep: Season 1 Review

With only eight episodes, it's understandable that Veep never really found it's footing or fully developed any of it's characters, except for Dan (Reid Scott) and obviously Selina (Julia Louis-Deyfus). It was certainly funny, though. It was hit or miss, but it mostly hit. It also never tried to be any thing it wasn't or take any risks. This can be good or bad, but in this case it didn't really help.

The entire season is made up of a different story per episode, which means there's always something new. Sure, there's the side-story with the bills, but the show never really took to much time to establish or expand upon it, so it was just kind of there.

The characters are all funny, but none of them are likeable. Tony Hale returns as a Buster clone, Gary, so his character is cute and innocent, but he's caught in a state that was seen in Season 1, Episode 3 of Arrested Development, "Raising Buster". His job is to stalk the Veep pretty much, and he's made fun of for it, but he always defends himself and acts out as an attempt to make himself look cool, utterly failing on every single one of them, which is the source of a lot of comedy.

Anna Chlumskey plays someone who looks exactly like the secretary from Archer, but blonde. Her character, Amy, is extremely different, though. She does a great job as someone who... I'm not entirely sure. I mean, her actions make sense, and she's funny, but her character is never really developed too much. She's basically someone who needs her job, but she wouldn't do anything for it.

Unlike Reid Scott's character, who is, as Amy put it, a shit. He's a shitty person. He would do anything for his job, and he would betray anyone to get higher on the ladder, which is exactly what he does in the pilot, and attempts to do in the second episode. That's basically all his character is, though, a one dimensional shit. He does a good job, though, as does everyone on the show.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Selina Meyer, the Veep, the star of the show. She shines as the main character, as she usually does. She plays someone who surrounded by absolute incompetence, and she is constantly trying to get herself out of situations using awkward well-delivered dialogue. Not to say it's always the staff's fault, as she get's herself into messes just as often.

Other characters include someone who's like a skinny version of Donna from Parks & Rec, played by Sufe Bradshaw, Jonah, who I didn't even know was a liaison from the West Wing until the second to last episode, played by Timothy Simmons, and Mike, a guy who has an imaginary dog and gets into fight with people, played by Matt Walsh. None of these three characters are well-developed, so their humor isn't as funny as it could have been.

The show has okay writing, but the comedy usually delivers. The show doesn't really have a season-long plot, which is usual for the first season of a comedy show or comedy shows in general. It works in this case. The acting is good, but no one really gets a chance to shine next to Julia, who, if not for Amy Poehler, should win the Emmy she's nominated for this year.

This show is worth watching, just don't expect to be rolling on the floor or falling in love with any of the characters. Almost every first season I've seen hasn't been the best, and I believe for this show there's no where to go but up.

6.7/10

Intro

I've created this website because I want to review movies, TV, games and whatever else. I am of course going to review things on a scale of one to ten, and I will only review content that's new to me. I will review things as soon as I see them, and I will not backtrack. I will review new episodes, seasons, and overall shows.

Just to establish things, here's my scale:

1

Absolutely horrible. This has to have poor everything. Acting, special effects, writing, all of it. Example: Thankskilling

2

Nearly no redeemable qualities. Never see or play it. Example: Vampire's Suck

3

Overall meh. Nothing really interesting or any stand-outs. Two or three redeemable qualities. Example: Brink (VG)

4

May have one thing that is genuinely good, but nothing else. For example: Modern Warfare 3 (VG)

5

Overall mediocre. May have a couple things that are good, maybe even rewatchable/replayable for. For example: Prototype (VG)

6

Good. There are things that are definitely bad about it, but it's a definitely a good movie/game/show. For example: Homefront (VG)

7

Great. Definitely watch/play. There may be one or two gaping holes torn into something that is otherwise great. For example: The Avengers

8

Amazing. This is something that is likeable enough for me to keep coming back, but I can tell that it isn't perfect. For example: Weeds

9

Nearly perfect in everyway. The only way you can find any flaws is if you look for them. For example Breaking Bad.

10

Perfect and complete in every way. For example: Halo 3 (VG).


I'm gonna get shit for the 10, aren't I?