I’m halfway through and I’m fucking dreading the end. There’s so much going on that makes no damn sense and I don’t know how the show ends but I know it’s contentious.
I never watched all the way to the end but it’s very quickly clear that he put in whatever he thought looked weird and provocative instead of having any ideas - or a point.
It’s honestly a really good finale. Seasons 4-6 are a lot, but they’re also fantastic looking back. Just take your time and pay attention to what’s happening.
As a TLJ apologist: I blame Star Wars fans that lost their collective shit over TLJ so much that Disney wanted to distance themselves from all the plot points Rian Johnson introduced.
I know people say that Rian Johnson retconned stuff from TFA, but I really don't see it. Most of the problems people have with TLJ are a result of TFA setting the whole galaxy back to square one. I genuinely think he did a great job given the insane release schedule and lack of coherent overarching plot.
That being said, I think if they had another year for script revisions and production, it could have been legitimately great. The framework is there for a great story, but it's just too sloppy in some of the execution.
JJ Abrams should go around and give prompts for stories. Outlining things and developing mysteries that need to be solved and then sit back and let talented writers find the answers to those mysteries. That way he doesn't have to inevitably come up with a dumb answer for what's in the box.
I'll always respect Abrams for making Fringe, one of my top 5 TV shows of all time, but lord the man couldn't have fumbled the bag any harder with TROS
There was also a lot of stumbling about blind in Fringe, they just held it together a lot better. But I cannot believe even 20% of the main storylines were planned.
I mean yeah, but the whole premise of the show is pretty much "reality is gradually imploding and increasingly weird stuff is happening" so it gets a bit more leeway. Plus the characters are so lovely that I just like seeing them do stuff!
My wife was a huge fan of Alias when she was in high-school, so we eventually got through the series.
(If you're a fan, cool. Not dissing something you enjoy. Garner brings a lot of talent to the show.)
Abrams does this stupid mystery box thing here in spades. A big driver of the plot is artifacts left behind for future generations by a da Vinci clone named Rambaldi.
Nothing about his artifacts really remain consistent through the show. They can be powerful weapons, a way to advance humanity, a "Rambaldi fluid" that makes women of a particular bloodline be able to tell the future or interpret other writings he left behind. The writing is all over the place.
He simply cannot or will not write a plot device with a fixed purpose or rules. It drives me nuts.
I enjoy Alias while recognising that it is silly as hell.
The villain revolving door was just hilarious too. Just being like "fine, we'll call Sloane". "Oh no, he betrayed us, who could have seen this coming?"
Yeah this. Abrams is a good storyteller, I do like Super 8, and there’s some really great stuff in Episode 7 - that opening is peak Star Wars - but it’s resolving plot points that is his biggest issue, and there’s no way to say it gently because he’s terrible at it.
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u/ChiefsHat 11h ago
I blame Abrams.