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alchemicinkThis week: Zeztz gives the audience a bit of deja vu; we're introduced to the ladies of Girl Rules; the cadets face one heck of a final exam; and it's finally heist time for Andor.
This week's title quote comes from Zeztz
Spoilers, as always, below:
Kamen Rider Zeztz (episode 25)
Last week's twist paid off in a good way this week, with Baku realizing that everything we've seen so far has been a premonition of what's to come. And we saw how badly that ended for everyone in the previous episode, so now he has the knowledge to make changes in real life. This reveal recontextualizes what we've seen so far that it smoothes out much of what I've disliked about the series. There are parts where things didn't make sense to me, but now looking back, I'm thinking it's just because Baku didn't have all the puzzle pieces yet in the dream.
Anyway, it was just really fun to see how ripples are already forming in the real world. Fujimi and Nasuka's interactions are hilarious. Minami isn't being kept in the dark. Kureha's been coerced into coming back to CODE. Nem gets to meet the gang. And even Nox is no longer being incredibly cryptic now that Nem's given him a new bit of information to chew on. All this makes me excited to see how differently things play out this time around (instead of rehashing much of what we saw before.)
Also, the new theme song is a banger.
Girl Rules (episode 1)
So I'm checking out this Thai GL because it has the two ladies from 23.5 and Whale Store, plus a couple of other ladies as leads. This is a lot different than those aforementioned GLs because the relationships here are messy. An ex returns to stir up trouble. One lady won't stop flirting with another who's interested in someone else. And one of them has a jerk boyfriend (that she dumps in this first episode).
It's not the usual kind of plot I'm interested in, but I enjoyed episode one. It laid a lot of groundwork on who each of these six women are, and that was enough to get me interested. I'm curious how they'll change (or not change) as the show goes on. They work as fashion models and photoshoot photographers. Some of them are friends. Some of them hate each other. There's a lot of potential here.
Also, with the fashion focus, I'm loving their styles so far!
Note: usually you can watch GMM dramas right on YouTube, but this one is region-locked for some reason. Fortunately, I found other means and should hopefully be able to continue watching each week.
Starfleet Academy (episode 10) (season finale)
I may have had a few issues with this first season of Starfleet Academy, but it sure did stick the landing in the finale! This was a very entertaining episode to me, between the theatrics of Braka's "trial" and the Reno's "final exam" for the cadets.
The storyline with the Mirs, Nahla, and Braka was the strongest, I think, because it was already rooted from the very first episode. Grappling with grief and guilt and justice was explored well with everyone getting a chance to share their perspectives. Sometimes, scenes that are really "talky" can be kinda dull, but every actor here did such a great job of conveying the emotions. (I kinda cheered a bit every time Nahla was able to argue her point better than everyone else.) And while Caleb's speech was very idealized "rah, rah, this is what Starfleet is all about," as a longtime Star Trek fan, I'll admit that it got me in my feelings. I do love an optimistic take in storytelling!
Meanwhile, Reno leads the cadets in fixing the ship and figuring out how to fix the mine problem. Reno is, of course, at her snarkiest which means I thoroughly enjoyed any time she was on screen. She's so funny! (No one expects any less from Tig Notaro, right?) This storyline also ties up loose ends with all the cadets' interpersonal relationships, and that's the part I thought was the weakest. As I mentioned in previous reviews, the time skips this season took away from spending more time seeing their relationships develop. So I didn't feel as satisfied with that as I did the others. (But thankfully, that's what fic is for!)
All in all, this episode was a nice way to cap off this season. I'm looking forward to season two!
Andor (season 1, episode 6)
It's finally heist time! This one was enjoyable to watch. Heists are always fun because they depend on so many factors going right at the right time, and you watch with anticipation to see if they'll hit all the marks. I was surprised actually that the operation itself mostly went well, and it was only as they escaped when it fell apart. (A nice twist, in my eyes.)
Other than that, I don't have much else to say about this episode except for a little bit about the Aldhani. With them and the Kenari (from earlier flashbacks), we have two examples of groups of people who don't speak the common language and clearly have a well-established culture. Both of them are portrayed in a positive light (i.e., not the Empire), which I appreciate. But both are also suffering from Imperial oppression too. I'm interested in what the narrative is saying about that, and I wonder if we'll get more examples as the show continues.
It certainly made me think about how that kind of thing translates to real life.
Andor (season 1, episode 7)
And now, the fallout from the heist. We get to see the ripples all around the Empire. Like the new rules imposed by Imperial Security. Mon Mothma continuing to do what she can in the shadows. And Maarva feeling inspired to fight back on Ferrix.
In fact, Maarva was my favorite part of the episode. We got some glimpses of what happened to her husband, and we see Cassian's desperation to get her to run with him. But she's at peace with her decision. It was a wonderful scene that gave a lot of insight into her character.
I didn't feel as interested in much of the other storylines though. Mothma's never had my attention, and Karn's storyline is brief and quiet at the moment. Perhaps Meero will be fascinating to watch now that she's gotten authority to root out Rebellion like she wanted. Though we still don't know very much about her yet, so she's mostly just another lady in uniform for me at the moment.
There's a bit of a timeskip near the end of this episode, which was kind of jarring. I'm beginning to think this show might have pacing issues 😂 Anyway, I suppose the next arc will be a prison break? We shall see.
This week's title quote comes from Zeztz
Spoilers, as always, below:
Kamen Rider Zeztz (episode 25)
Last week's twist paid off in a good way this week, with Baku realizing that everything we've seen so far has been a premonition of what's to come. And we saw how badly that ended for everyone in the previous episode, so now he has the knowledge to make changes in real life. This reveal recontextualizes what we've seen so far that it smoothes out much of what I've disliked about the series. There are parts where things didn't make sense to me, but now looking back, I'm thinking it's just because Baku didn't have all the puzzle pieces yet in the dream.
Anyway, it was just really fun to see how ripples are already forming in the real world. Fujimi and Nasuka's interactions are hilarious. Minami isn't being kept in the dark. Kureha's been coerced into coming back to CODE. Nem gets to meet the gang. And even Nox is no longer being incredibly cryptic now that Nem's given him a new bit of information to chew on. All this makes me excited to see how differently things play out this time around (instead of rehashing much of what we saw before.)
Also, the new theme song is a banger.
Girl Rules (episode 1)
So I'm checking out this Thai GL because it has the two ladies from 23.5 and Whale Store, plus a couple of other ladies as leads. This is a lot different than those aforementioned GLs because the relationships here are messy. An ex returns to stir up trouble. One lady won't stop flirting with another who's interested in someone else. And one of them has a jerk boyfriend (that she dumps in this first episode).
It's not the usual kind of plot I'm interested in, but I enjoyed episode one. It laid a lot of groundwork on who each of these six women are, and that was enough to get me interested. I'm curious how they'll change (or not change) as the show goes on. They work as fashion models and photoshoot photographers. Some of them are friends. Some of them hate each other. There's a lot of potential here.
Also, with the fashion focus, I'm loving their styles so far!
Note: usually you can watch GMM dramas right on YouTube, but this one is region-locked for some reason. Fortunately, I found other means and should hopefully be able to continue watching each week.
Starfleet Academy (episode 10) (season finale)
I may have had a few issues with this first season of Starfleet Academy, but it sure did stick the landing in the finale! This was a very entertaining episode to me, between the theatrics of Braka's "trial" and the Reno's "final exam" for the cadets.
The storyline with the Mirs, Nahla, and Braka was the strongest, I think, because it was already rooted from the very first episode. Grappling with grief and guilt and justice was explored well with everyone getting a chance to share their perspectives. Sometimes, scenes that are really "talky" can be kinda dull, but every actor here did such a great job of conveying the emotions. (I kinda cheered a bit every time Nahla was able to argue her point better than everyone else.) And while Caleb's speech was very idealized "rah, rah, this is what Starfleet is all about," as a longtime Star Trek fan, I'll admit that it got me in my feelings. I do love an optimistic take in storytelling!
Meanwhile, Reno leads the cadets in fixing the ship and figuring out how to fix the mine problem. Reno is, of course, at her snarkiest which means I thoroughly enjoyed any time she was on screen. She's so funny! (No one expects any less from Tig Notaro, right?) This storyline also ties up loose ends with all the cadets' interpersonal relationships, and that's the part I thought was the weakest. As I mentioned in previous reviews, the time skips this season took away from spending more time seeing their relationships develop. So I didn't feel as satisfied with that as I did the others. (But thankfully, that's what fic is for!)
All in all, this episode was a nice way to cap off this season. I'm looking forward to season two!
Andor (season 1, episode 6)
It's finally heist time! This one was enjoyable to watch. Heists are always fun because they depend on so many factors going right at the right time, and you watch with anticipation to see if they'll hit all the marks. I was surprised actually that the operation itself mostly went well, and it was only as they escaped when it fell apart. (A nice twist, in my eyes.)
Other than that, I don't have much else to say about this episode except for a little bit about the Aldhani. With them and the Kenari (from earlier flashbacks), we have two examples of groups of people who don't speak the common language and clearly have a well-established culture. Both of them are portrayed in a positive light (i.e., not the Empire), which I appreciate. But both are also suffering from Imperial oppression too. I'm interested in what the narrative is saying about that, and I wonder if we'll get more examples as the show continues.
It certainly made me think about how that kind of thing translates to real life.
Andor (season 1, episode 7)
And now, the fallout from the heist. We get to see the ripples all around the Empire. Like the new rules imposed by Imperial Security. Mon Mothma continuing to do what she can in the shadows. And Maarva feeling inspired to fight back on Ferrix.
In fact, Maarva was my favorite part of the episode. We got some glimpses of what happened to her husband, and we see Cassian's desperation to get her to run with him. But she's at peace with her decision. It was a wonderful scene that gave a lot of insight into her character.
I didn't feel as interested in much of the other storylines though. Mothma's never had my attention, and Karn's storyline is brief and quiet at the moment. Perhaps Meero will be fascinating to watch now that she's gotten authority to root out Rebellion like she wanted. Though we still don't know very much about her yet, so she's mostly just another lady in uniform for me at the moment.
There's a bit of a timeskip near the end of this episode, which was kind of jarring. I'm beginning to think this show might have pacing issues 😂 Anyway, I suppose the next arc will be a prison break? We shall see.
