I had the chance to watch the premiere in theater for Thai promotional press on Friday. Keep in mind that the show's pilot is one of my favorite pilots in recent years (love the way it presents a haunting, gorgeous, impeccably crafted loop of existence, then keeps adding details and rifts to that loop, before ends with a definitive crack in the last scene), and this premiere is... just fine. Very much a transitional, setting-things-up episode. I feel like the turn last season pushes the show into a pulpier territory, and the still somber tone sometimes feels at odds with the more genre story now. But it's more violent and visceral, with the consequences of season 1's finale turning almost all storylines and characters into pure anarchy and survival modes now (and I saw some reviews saying positively that the season leans more into its own thrills as it goes along). I groaned internally though when we reached the end and that in media res framing turns out to not be a one-episode thing, and might last a while; the mystery-box approach last season is divisive though still purposeful, but here after last season's shift it just seems so perversely unnecessary now.
Highlights for me: Jeffrey Wright's acting, Tessa Thompson given more screentime, Thandie Newton's storyline.
Review by PongpengVIP 2BlockedParent2018-04-21T07:15:30Z
I had the chance to watch the premiere in theater for Thai promotional press on Friday. Keep in mind that the show's pilot is one of my favorite pilots in recent years (love the way it presents a haunting, gorgeous, impeccably crafted loop of existence, then keeps adding details and rifts to that loop, before ends with a definitive crack in the last scene), and this premiere is... just fine. Very much a transitional, setting-things-up episode. I feel like the turn last season pushes the show into a pulpier territory, and the still somber tone sometimes feels at odds with the more genre story now. But it's more violent and visceral, with the consequences of season 1's finale turning almost all storylines and characters into pure anarchy and survival modes now (and I saw some reviews saying positively that the season leans more into its own thrills as it goes along). I groaned internally though when we reached the end and that in media res framing turns out to not be a one-episode thing, and might last a while; the mystery-box approach last season is divisive though still purposeful, but here after last season's shift it just seems so perversely unnecessary now.
Highlights for me: Jeffrey Wright's acting, Tessa Thompson given more screentime, Thandie Newton's storyline.