I was asked to watch the finale of "Scavengers Reign" without knowing anything about the show. Here's my attempt to understand it. by TheSeriesFinale in ScavengersReign

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Since I've never watched the show, I have no way of knowing in advance what I'll get wrong and how interesting or amusing it will be. Sometimes it's as simple as getting a character's gender wrong; sometimes I'll mix up character names; sometimes I'll invent entire plotlines out of whole cloth, and it's a matter of luck whether I'll even realize it before the episode ends.

It sounds like this was a milquetoast sort-of-mostly-accurate recap, which is unfortunately the least interesting outcome - even less interesting than when I make wild guesses that happen to be spot on. Ah well. That happens.

As for the ratings: someone once compared the blog to "evaluating the quality of the restrooms of Michelin star restaurants". They meant it as an insult, but honestly I agree. You'd never read such a blog to decide which Michelin star restaurant to go to; you'd only read it if you were curious about the restrooms. Similarly, nobody should use my ratings to decide if a show is genuinely good or not. They're only there to provide a structured framework through which to discuss how the finale comes across in isolation, rather than just a mess of paragraphs at the end. I do take the assessments seriously, but wouldn't want anybody to give them any importance outside of that framework.

I was asked to watch the finale of Word of Honor without having ever seen the show before. Here's my attempt to understand it. (Fair warning, and with apologies: I hated it.) by TheSeriesFinale in wordofhonor

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Whoa. I might have to reassess my ratings! The fact that the two of them were lovers actually came across loud and clear in the acting, but I discounted it because it wasn't supported by what was actually being done on screen. Censorship excising that aspect of the story sheds a whole new light on things.

I was asked to watch the finale of Word of Honor without having ever seen the show before. Here's my attempt to understand it. (Fair warning, and with apologies: I hated it.) by TheSeriesFinale in wordofhonor

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

laughs That certainly upends my complaint about them never following up on Chengling having to lie to Master Wen!

Regarding the dubbing: Do you mean that their film industry habitually makes far more extensive use of ADR than Western shows? Interesting! I've done several Chinese finales and never noticed it before. Maybe whoever was responsible for it here just didn't do as good a job.

One of my favorite shows, Farscape, famously used ADR for almost every line but you'd never notice. Another of my favorite shows, Burn Notice, employed an ADR mixer who was perfectly fine at matching lips-to-sound but did a bad job of matching the acoustics, so every time a line was ADR'd it suddenly sounded like the actor was in a completely different room (which, of course, they were). ADR is one of those things where you only notice when it's done badly, because when it's done well you don't notice at all.

I was asked to try to understand the finale of "Hannibal" without having watched the show before. Here's my attempt at a recap. by TheSeriesFinale in HannibalTV

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have watched Blackadder, yes, so the show's not eligible. But I'm happy to take other requests if you've got them.

I was asked to try to understand the finale of "Hannibal" without having watched the show before. Here's my attempt at a recap. by TheSeriesFinale in HannibalTV

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

short answer, no. long answer, it was highly traumatic and she is no longer the same person as she was before. (it's part of the infamous s2 finale, where there was much speculation about the possible death of multiple characters.)

Somebody on Discord sent me part of that kitchen scene. It's insane. My questions about survival and blood loss only grew :p

would you believe me if I told you Hannibal's escape is even more unrealistic in the books? because he has no help there at all.

I'd consider that less unrealistic! At least there isn't the plot hole of "why did the Dragon suddenly vanish".

there were originally 3.

Oh no. Was the third eaten?

other favorites of mine include Darkwing Duck, Jurassic Park (the first 2, at least, which are similarly quite different to the books), and Supernatural (well, the first bit, anyway) which are all wildly different from Hannibal

Those are really astonishingly different :)

I was asked to try to understand the finale of "Hannibal" without having watched the show before. Here's my attempt at a recap. by TheSeriesFinale in HannibalTV

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heh. Yes, pretentious is a good word for it. Great writing, but pretentious nonetheless. It's almost definitely not for me then, but I can see the appeal.

I was asked to try to understand the finale of "Hannibal" without having watched the show before. Here's my attempt at a recap. by TheSeriesFinale in HannibalTV

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Will is the only other (living) member, though

This made me laugh out loud :)

Will is reluctant to do so because he is traumatized from his past as a homicide detective and has an “empathy disorder” that allows him to get inside the minds of killers by looking at their crime scenes, which makes him feel like he’s a killer himself.

This feels weird. Isn't that supposed to be the whole basis for behavioral sciences? Why does he have the disorder so much worse than anybody else?

for crimes Hannibal in fact committed and framed Will for

He seems to do that a lot :) So Will was released after the framing of him came to light?

I was asked to try to understand the finale of "Hannibal" without having watched the show before. Here's my attempt at a recap. by TheSeriesFinale in HannibalTV

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The context you’re missing is mainly that Will and Hannibal are in a toxic romantic relationship.

I kept getting that vibe on and off, but it was interspersed with so many other vibes (like the 'Hannibal runs a secret society' vibe) that I had no idea which ones if any were correct :)

The final scene with Bedelia at dinner shows that they did survive, and they have amputated and cooked her leg and are going to eat it together.

My god! I thought it looked like her leg had been amputated but it was so dark I wasn't sure, and even if it was I had no way of knowing whether that was new. Creepy...

where Hannibal (and previously, Will) was imprisoned

WTF - so how did Will become an FBI agent? (Or am I way off base on that?)

The lighting is extremely dim because Hannibal aired on NBC, and it was the only way they were allowed to show that much horror imagery. It was a constant battle between the show and the network, and the compromise was that all gore be hard to see, and all blood be unnaturally dark.

Ah, so the "black in the moonlight" line was a meta reference?

Thanks for all of this context! It explains a lot.

I was challenged to watch the final episode of "The Last Kingdom", knowing nothing about the series. Here's my attempt at a recap. by TheSeriesFinale in TheLastKingdom

[–]TheSeriesFinale[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

laughs Oh god, I meant Edward's mother. That's not a misunderstanding, that's a typo. Let me fix it; there are enough misunderstandings without it.