Posted on 01/10/2021 5:03:31 AM PST by C19fan
I finished season 1 several weeks ago and it took me awhile to process this. I guess I will just have a list of what I enjoyed and did not enjoy:
The Bad:
Gratuitous Explicit Sex: There was so much bonking it was ridiculous. One would think with all the sex, including interspecies, some disease like syphilis would be spreading like wildfire. In this alternative universe of the Late Victorian era there is still no effective birth control as there are several characters whose dubious parentage plays a key role in the plot. On top of it, it strains credulity that two of the women are quite willing to roll up their frocks are from the upper crust of society. One is Miss Imogen Spurnrose who is so desperate for a well-to-do husband she resorts to an illicit pheromone. But she is quite willing to completely ruin her reputation and chance of marriage by bedding a wealthy fawn; this alternative universe is filled with sentient beings from myth and magic. The other is Sophie Longerbane, the daughter of one of the most powerful families in the Republic of Burgue, the stand in for London, who has unbridled ambitions. She shamelessly bonks the son of her family’s greatest political rival. As if, her ambitions would come to complete ruin if the populace found out about her escapades.
Cara Delevingne: I do not know why this no talent who is supposedly a great beauty keeps getting acting jobs. She has done nothing for me whenever I have seen her act; although she does the look the part to play a fairy.
Miss Spunrose and Mr. Agreus Astrayon: Those two arrogant pricks can take whatever freak of a child they will conceive and leave forever.
Cursing and Lots of It: At least the middle and upper classes still keep good manners.
The Good:
I found this to be a completely rendered world. It is a Late Victorian setting as I mentioned before with magic, sentient beings from myth, and elements of Steampunk. One is exposed to the full class structure from fairy prostitutes to the two families ruling this city-state republic
A Mother’s Love for a Son: What a beautiful and moving scene as the focal point of the series Police Inspector Rycroft Philostrate puts all the pieces together and realizes who his mother is. He remembers when her mother visits him at the orphanage and sings a beautiful and haunting song
Secondary Characters: There are two secondary characters I really got attached to. One is Mrs. Portia Fyfe a childless widow who lost her husband in a war between the Republic of Burgue and some other state called The Pact. She runs a boarding where Inspector Philo lives in and they are lovers. She is very pretty, independent, making the best of her situation but desperately lonely. The other is Runyon Millworthy. We are introduced to him as a cultured street performer leading his troop of kobolds. But he runs into an old acquaintance at the railway station as he is out of money and leaving, after his trope of kobolds is deported. We learn he is a scholar who studied at this universe’s equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge. He is hired to tutor the only son of the powerful Breakspear family and at this time we know Mr. Jonah Breakspear is not interested in improving himself and has gone through scores of tutors. Mr. Breakspear tries the same act with Mr. Millworthy and despite his obvious poverty and needs for the money he gives him a tongue lashing. Mr. Breakspear is so impressed by the professor he becomes his principal advisor when the young man is thrust into political power as Chancellor.
Overall: I did enjoy this series but I have no real desire to re watch it. I do look forward to season 2. On my scale of 1 to 5 bonnets, I give this 3 bonnets.
I only watch 3 or 4 Netflix, Prime, ect produced shows every year.
Try Pluto Beverly Hilbillies. Just as entertaining and the acting is much better.
Why would you watch Amazon with what they are doing to censor
I loved it
Didn’t appeal to me when I saw the ads for it. Still doesn’t.
Doesn’t it bother your soul to watch such gratuitous and satanic junk.
My goodness, our nation is falling off the cliff......and I understand mindless distractions .....we are all overwhelmed
....but a fawn.........spit!
I did grow up in the New York metropolitan area so I am use to a freak show. Also, I have a deep foundation in the era portrayed to let the junk be a like a duck in water.
Sometimes, we need escape even in the midst of crisis, otherwise we will go insane.
However, we have become captivated by South Korean programming. ZERO sex, very little swearing, big on true love, lots of magical stuff. They are delightful and we hardly watch anything else now.
Train to Busan, Penninsula and Parasite was our “gateway drug” Kingdom on Netflix (before we canceled it) was what really got us hooked.
Now with Rakuten Vicki, we have enjoyed a ton of stuff. Signal, Goblin, Hotel de Luna, etc.
Just a suggestion if you are sick of constant sex and cursing.
What strange planet is this? Never heard these names.
My tip is Classic Reel on Roku. A years worth of movies for $3 per month.
That's why she keeps getting roles.
It is the wide wonderful world of entertainment courtesy of the Republic of South Korea.
There is violence in some. There’s a lot of period stuff which is interesting.
No gunplay, no watchie.
I watched Carnival Row when it first came out, but I forget these good parts.
[I'll re-watch]
I recall people flying around like faeries.
It reminded me of a gathering on the Q thread.
I give it 17 Derbies (I don't use Bonnets)
Your response was interesting.....
.....
.....but is it really about what you understood or experienced growing up.....
....so much so that your soul is accepting and not bothered watching celebrities replicate fornication , even with a fawn.
How about swords and poison to overthrow emperors?
Nahhh, I’m a bullets and bombs guy.
Same here - watching Stranger on Netflix - very good who-done-it about crooked prosecutors and some dirty cops.
English captions hard to keep up with as they talk really fast.
No gratuitous sex, good acting. I like the SK setting and find them interesting people.
HBO produced it and they say "1934. The Dustbowl. The final conflict between good and evil is about to begin, playing out against a pair of unusual backdrops: a traveling carnival and an evangelical ministry in California."
The Vikings was good but the ending was a bit dull.
The Expanse got REALLY GOOD when terrorists started dropping asteroids on Earth, but then it stopped.
I liked 4400 and The 100, maybe I just like series named after numbers.
Ooo! I’ll look that one up.
Ones we love (which is all of them that we have watched at this point)
Tv:
Kingdom- Period drama from the Joeson era. Also includes zombies.
Signal - Also a crooked prosecutors and dirty cops but with a twist involving time travel in a sense.
Firey Priest - As a Catholic I love it even more. Special Forces becomes priest. Also dirty prosecutors and cops (must be typical) priest goes vigilante and solves problems. Great characters.
Scarlet Heart Reyo: Moon Lovers (sounds goofy, but it will rip your heart out) Girl falls into water during a total eclipse and is transported back into time - the 900s - loosely based on their history. Heart wrenching and captivating. This one scarred us emotionally lol.
Hotel de Luna: Hotel for ghosts who have yet to work out their problems on earth. Hotel owner has her own baggage. Great story.
The King - Eternal Monarch: Parallel worlds.Love story. Intrigue. Bad guys and good guys. Fantastic. We did a marathon of these on NYE where we finished the series in 6 hours it was that good.
Goblin: Our latest obsession. Warrior for the emperor executed out of the emperor’s jealousy. He is cursed by becoming a goblin. There is also a sweet girl and a grim reaper. Sounds weird but trust me, if you have any interest in Kdrama genre this one is a must watch.
Movies:
Train to Busan and sequel Peninsula: ZOMBIES! and the Koreans do the best zombies ever.
Zombie for Sale: Hysterical comedy. Also. More Zombies.
Parasite: Award winning. Great story. Poor people wheedle into a rich family with a twist.
Masquerade: Think Moon Over Parador but with Koreans set in the Joeson era.
The Detective K: these are a series and we can’t find all of them. It’s a comedy- kind of Pink Pantherish in a way but set in the Joeson period. Great fun.
The things we find charming about them:
-no and I mean NO sex
-the men are men
-love is very pure
- there are actual good people and bad people. Not this moral relativism that you see in the states.
-the women aren’t trying to be men. They don’t have the need to be male. They get to be women. The men are not portrayed as complete useless idiots to let the women shine. The women are allowed to be strong characters while being feminine in their own right- strong without being masculine about it. I think this is a huge difference in what we see elsewhere and it is fantastic.
As you can see, I (and by extension my husband) are now HUGE fans. It is literally a breath of fresh air and so wholesome compared to everything else out there without being boring.
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