Anyone interested in discussing and recommending TV or streaming series that would be of interest to our crowd? It’s a bit tricky as they are not generally available the way books are, let alone webcomics, but it might work?
So, let me know which series you are watching or have enjoyed, and why? Spoilers should go under spoiler tags, but general description of what it’s about can and should be included openly.
The point being the open part is intended to let people know something might be worth checking out, but any discussion about what actually happens beyond the beginning is geared to others who have watched already. Please indicate what the spoilers cover, e.g. ”entire Season 1” or ”S3 E5”. As always, if there’s more discussion about any title, a dedicated thread can be opened although even then the tags may be needed as people have different availability for series.
I have a couple that I want to recommend.
Firstly,
Beforeigners. If you can find it somewhere, it’s definitely worth a try! The premise is fascinating and I think it holds some particular interest for SSSS fans. Some inexplicable phenomenon is causing people from several historical periods to appear in the current time. The series takes place in Oslo, where people from the 1800`s, Stone Age and in particular Viking times are showing up in the Oslofjorden.
The series starts at least several years after this has started occurring, but more people still turn up. There are many cleverly written consequences of this, such as stone age hunters seen in city parks. The main characters a two police officers, one a modern day Norwegian man and the other a Viking woman. They investigate a series of crimes against the beforeigners, while encountering their own challenges, which include Lars Haaland’s burnout and the timeism Alfhildr Enginsdottir has to face from her colleagues in the police force. The series is in Norwegian, mostly modern but the Viking characters also speak real Old Norse.
The two seasons made so far were on HBO, until their merger with Discovery which resulted in ditching of most of their European shows. Apparently the rights have been transferred to a new service SkyShowtime, but I don’t know about the current availability. It is on Amazon Prime Video, again availability varies by region. There’s also mention of availability via service Spectrum Streaming on Demand, which I don’t know anything about. But there’s also information from this year that the production company is seeking financing from the state of Norway for Season 3, so hopefully it’s not dead yet. HBO had already renewed it, but things went bad with the merger. Anyways Season two opened further storylines so I definitely hope it will find a new home.
There is occasional violence, pretty much like your normal crime series. No details of autopsies or something like that so not likely anything a n SSSS fan would find too unsavory. The age ratings seem to vary from 10 to 18 but 18 is definitely overkill. I’d rate it at 13 (or 12 as is the category in Finland), although I don’t remember every episode in n full, some might be closer to 16. But not 18!
If anyone has seen it, I’d love to discuss!
The second one is
The Last of Us. Despite being based on a game, it’s an interesting and very well made post apocalyptic drama / adventure / action / horror show. Seriously, the story is good, the characters are good, and the horror effects are good but not so good that I would be unable to watch
It’s fresh out on HBO Max as well as some direct TV. Season 1 started this January and the latest episode (S1E8) was out last week. Based on Wikipedia there may be another still tonight.
The starting point is pretty much your run of the mill zombie pandemic apocalypse. It’s caused by a human variant of the ant zombie fungus (real thing in ants, not transferable to humans), which is universally transmitted by a bite from an infected person. The incubation period is from minutes to days only, which allows a higher survival rate than the Rash, but still the society has collapsed and Things Are Bad all round, There is an overall arc but several of the episodes also have interesting stories about various aspects of survival in or after the apocalypse.
There’s loads of violence and very graphic too, this I’d definitely rate at 18 as does HBO. NOT suitable for children. There are the infected but there’s also human on human violence, so if you like SSSS particularly because there isn’t any, then maybe Last of Us is not your show. In addition to gore there’s some body horror and other unpleasantries. I’m not much into horror and I haven’t had trouble stomaching it, but if you are faint of heart, proceed with caution.
Edited to add: The Last of Us is rife with horrible language. I don’t mind the slightest, but since it is one of the grounds for ratings I suppose it should be mentioned. It’s not so much some F-bombs than an F-automatic gun.
I prefer series ro movies because I want to grow attached to the characters, which is harder in two hours than in ten. I love it when series run and run
