Indirectly asking for recommendations on what to watch.
The good place
oh dip
It’s such a good show, the ending is absolutely perfect.
It’s not just that the ending is perfect (though it absolutely is). It’s that at every point, in every season, when they could have chosen the easy, dumbed-down route for continuing the show, they… didn’t. They didn’t do that, and it’s hard to express what a difference that makes.
For example (without spoilers), the way season 1 ended set up, for a lesser show, an easy rehash for season 2, where the same characters get up to slightly different versions of the same season 1 hijinks.
Instead, the show runners packed that painfully obvious concept into the first half of the first episode of season 2, then moved right past it. They could have milked the concept for a whole season, but they didn’t want to. So instead they acknowledged it in the most hilarious possible way, then got on with the actual story.
Goddamn, now I want to watch it again. It’s just so good.
Thanks for the insight, it’s one of the few shows I’ve rewatched.
There’s an official podcast with the showrunners and the cast members where they do post episode discussions. It’s a great listen after watching an episode.
Michael Schur’s book is also on audible and quite entertaining. And it adds context to the next rewatch
Season 3 and Season 4 both had endings that leave me bawling every time.
Also, I know the show didn’t invent it, but Chidi’s presentation of the wave idea just slips under everything for me and is really good.
The humor is great, writing and acting are top notch.
But it hit atheist me on a spiritual level and awakened a thing I didn’t think existed.
That’s pretty fuckin rad.
I’m here just to upvote the correct choice.
Agree.
Yes! That show melted my heart and soul.
Maximum Derek
Forking good show!
- Mr Robot
- Blue Eye Samurai
- Alice in Borderland
- The Expanse
The Expanse is fantastic, I recommend the book series it’s based off of as well
I read books after the show, very rare few cases I can sit through so many books even when I know the story.
Just finished Blue Eye Samurai recently, and was utterly blown away. It really is as good as the hype says.
Does it end? I ended my subscription with Netflix due to the repeated cancellation of shows I would get into.
It definitely setup a season 2 but the endings were still alll satisfying enough that if it doesn’t happen it’s not a massive cliffhanger. Like there’s more story but the conflicts in season 1 were resolved if that makes sense.
I didn’t like Mr Robot at all, but Alice in Borderland was a nice surprise.
I think Mr Robot is one the best shows ever created in regards to not only the writing, acting, filming, etc. but also with how well it handles the sensitive topics of mental health and the brutalities of our modern society. That being said, I understand why a lot of people don’t like it. Aside from being depressing and fucked up as hell a lot of the time, it kinda has to be watched multiple times to be truly appreciated. Every episode is packed full tiny details and clues as to what is really going on that are not meant to noticed on the first watch but give you an entirely different story the second time around. If you ever want to try it again maybe go into it with mindset that what you see right then is not necessarily the entire story, and that’s kinda the point. Your supposed to be confused, frustrated, and uncomfortable because that is what the characters are feeling.
But yeah, Allice in Borderland was a lovely surprise.
This
Arcane, the animated League of Legends show on Netflix.
Oh MY GOD, every element is seriously SO mind-blowingly good. And imo its animation is at least as good as—if not better than—the Miles Morales Spiderman movies… though they did spend six years working on it tbf.
And to be clear, while I’m vaguely familiar with LoL, I’ve never played it so I had zero emotional connection to any of the characters before watching.
Be prepared to cry though. Like the loud, punched-in-the-gut, ugly sobbing kind of crying.
Best thing to happen to the “manic pixie dream girl” trope. When you meet Powder, she’s a sweet, but traumatized, little girl. All you want to do is stand between her and the things that are hurting her so she can just grow up and be normal.
And then you see her become this hurting, angry, and above-all disturbed person who’s been broken by everything she’s been through, and it effing hurts. Suddenly rather than an adolescent fantasy, she’s a real person you care about who’s been driven to madness by circumstances she had very little control over.
Check out Blue Eye Samurai, it’s got similar vibes to Arcane and is just as amazing.
I’ll move it to the top of my list!
Since I rate everything I watch for now a about 4 years, I can confirm. Arcane is one of 5 Series with 10 out of 10. (With 200+ rated items)
Would recommend 100%
I avoided Bojack Horseman for years because I thought it was going to be like so many other edgy adult cartoons. I thought I knew what it was going to be like. I was so wrong.
I came here to recommend BoJack. Especially after that moment in the middle of Season 1, it’s a masterpiece.
The show is also unique for me in the sense that IMO the later seasons were the best, this making it a series that actually gets better and better over time.
Only show I’m afraid to re-watch because of how it made me feel.
Ted Lasso is a great stepping stone to get into soccer and also throughout its 3 seasons a great, empathetic critique of toxic masculinity and how racism, homophobia and narcissism affect individuals and groups. The writing, the characters, both the villains and the team members are well written and incredibly funny. One of my favourite shows I didn’t expect really like.
Cougartown is also very funny, I loved Community and had seen Abed reference the show several times before finally watched Cougartown. Lots of clever gags and jokes, well thought out, flawed characters with interesting dynamics and (mis)adventures.
I have zero interest in football but Ted Lasso is a must watch for anyone.
Yeah, it really doesn’t have all that much to do with football at all lol, more of a plot device than an actual theme.
For anyone reading, don’t let the name Cougar Town deter you. It’s not a good name and not really representative of the show (past the first few episodes maybe). They even make fun of it.
Bill Lawrence is just really, really good at writing authentic relationships.
I hold the controversial opinion that Cougartown is actually better than Scrubs.
TL 1 was a lot of fun.
I love Ted Lasso season 1, and season 2 to an extent is also very good, but it kinda lost its footing in season 3, IMO.
The longer episodes are not as tight, writing-wise, and the story suffers a quite a bit because of it. Still a good show, but it went from “This might be one of the best shows I’ve ever seen,” to “Yeah it’s not bad, but…”
I loved the show and definitely agree with you about season 3. I joked with my wife that “they screwed up and made the sports show about sports.” Too much focus on the game, not enough on the character development/themes they explored more in seasons 1 and 2
The Wire. Everyone always ranted and raved about it. And I was like “no way it’s that good”.
It’s better.
Just about to start a rewatch of The Wire for the first time in 14 years. Gonna be great!
Hell yeah dude. Enjoy!
Yessss, I am rewatching it right now and it’s been long enough that I can’t believe how good it is… again.
The Expanse, people keeps recommending it and I kept ignoring it thinking it was the Extant. I hope it gets picked up again.
Just finished the last season of For All Mankind yesterday and it can be seen as a sort of prequel to The Expanse.
Yeah, by Season 4 of FAM I was definitely thinking the same thing.
But also, very, very good show in its own right.
The actor who played Alex Kamal was fired for being a creep I think, so I doubt it’ll come back. But there are more books to enjoy on wich the series ist bases.
They killed off the character and carried on without him.
They made a season without him. For the last three books they could just recast everyone, they’re set 30 years after what was covered by the show.
Well they killed off Alex in the TV version. And he honestly doesn’t have a particular big role in the final arc. So they could just give his little arc with his family to someone else.
This for sure.
I kept putting it off, then watched it all in one go when I finally managed to get through the 1 and 2nd episodes i think.
Halt and Catch Fire.
Computers aren’t the thing. They’re the thing that gets us to the thing.
Seconded. This show was far better than I ever expected.
This is the only show in this thread that I agree was epic. The others were just meh to me.
Yep, good stuff.
Yes! God this show is underrated. They got bit by the “oh look it’s another Mad Men” stamp in season 1, but then the show pivots in season 2/3 and becomes something unique and special. And then I spent season 4 with a tissue box nearby. One of my favourite shows of all time.
It is genuinely unreasonable how good Arcane is.
I went in thinking OK, this is an animated show based on League of Legends, it’s gonna suck but at least the fight scenes will be fun, right?
Reader, I cried. You could teach classes on how good the writing in this show is. The last half hour of season one is, without question, one of the most perfect scenes in television history. A flawless masterclass in character development and believable conflict, paired with note perfect editing and some of the best animation you’ll find outside of a Miyazaki or Satoshi Kon movie.
This show is based on a god damn MOBA. It had absolutely no right going this damn hard and I fucking love them for it.
And the soundtrack! Definitely among the best of the best. That’s actually how I got into it - I was listening to a lot of Bones UK ever since Pretty Waste was featured in Pistol Whip and I absolutely loved Dirty Little Animals. From there I started listening to the whole OST and after a week or two I decided it’s time to give the series itself a chance. I was blown away.
Speaking of, it’s also pretty unreasonable how much awesome music is there around LoL. I was already a fan of KDA thanks to Beat Saber (what is it with VR games getting me into LoL music?), and turns out there’s a ton of amazing music just because.
And that track from Sting. Fucking Sting! Absolutely kills me every time I hear it.
That was the only one I didn’t like when I was listening to the OST. Then I watched the series and oh my god it hits hard when you know the context… It’s amazing.
Arcane was such a an amazing show. Both because it was amazing on its own and because it made me go so crazy over show from a video game I care nothing for.
I’ve played 2 games of LOL in my life and I still loved Arcane to death. Season 2 can’t come fast enough.
Yeah I went into it completely blind. Never played LoL but the animation style looked cool, so I’ll just check an episode for the animation.
And damn it was a well written. The only flaws were scenes where suddenly a dude has a hammer weapon, and it was like “where did that come from… oh yeah this is based on a video game so that’s probably his signature weapon in the game.” So they had to put it in there. But there were only a couple of things like that and it’s a really minor nitpick. And we can’t expect them to make LoL show without throwing a few bones to LoL fans, right?
Yeah it really doesn’t make sense how good that show is.
Yeah, they had to get in the obligatory scene of Jayce using the hammer just to keep up the pretence that this was in any way connected to LoL. Ditto Vi popping the bubble shield, IIRC.
On the other hand, the way they incorporated Jinx’s ult? Oh my God. Chef’s kiss. Flawless.
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If you enjoy the humor in this show check out Norsemen. Totally different premise, but very similar dry humor with a lot of jokes and situations that are funny on multiple levels.
I love What We Do In The Shadows, it is hilarious. I could watch Colin Robinson drain people all day!
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The series is great as well. I was reluctant because the film is so perfect and I didn’t want it to get draged out and repetitive. They did exactly that but still they managed to keep it super funny with great new vampires.
Better call Saul. I avoided it at first but then dared myself to watch it when Netflix was getting real skimp on its shows. Loved it.
It’s better than the original because Breaking Bad wandered around a lot [remember the shoplifting arc that never developed]
This one was laser focused from the start.
I finally finished the last season in Jan. It was very satisfying and gave my heart a few scenes to freak out about. Knowing who we haven’t seen in BB and that this was the last season, I was concerned about some of the characters. I think that’s why I ended up taking a break between the 2nd to the last and last season.
No spoilers.
You-know-who deserved better, and Gus and Mike did him dirty.
Honestly, yes. It took me a minute to realize who you meant. Hah. That was one of the check your pulse moments. A lot of people got some wrong, but I guess that’s the price of doing business. I was happy with the last few episodes of tying up story lines.
[spoilers]
What you realize is that he knows that Mike is out there, watching.
He’s putting on the performance of his life.
Also, the two ‘girl friends’ were hllarious.
I’m with ya. I loved BB. Thought, nah, Saul was annoying as fuck. Then it happened. Watched and got pulled in. It’s good stuff.
Moon. Extremely underrated Sci-fi movie
Vera. Excellent British detective show
I love Moon! Such a fantastic sci-fi movie. I always suggest that one to folks looking to watch one.
Might be a bit controversial, but I really enjoyed sense8.
Sense8 is a total shitshow, and I love it!
That might be the best possible way to describe it
I’m still salty about that cancellation.
Battlestar Galactica. I sort of knew about it in a vague sense and once I finally watched it was pretty impressed
I recently saw a few scenes again and realised I had forgotten how good it was. All because of the deeply disappointing ending.
The Expanse
Also Fringe
Fringe is one I revisit every few years, and if I ever get a tattoo it’ll be a white tulip.
I rewatch the whole thing once a year or so. Thats my favorite episode by far. Walter has one of my favorite arcs of any character in TV. Olivia isn’t far behind.
Olivia is a dead fish for a main but fortunately all the other actors and cow carry it
Yeah it took me a season and a half to warm up to her, but she really grows on you. And Fauxlivia is absolutely fantastic, really great to see Anna Torv’s range!
