Pop Culture is Dead to Me etc. etc. etc...

You've been writing a lot of blogs recently? Asked no one in particular.

I'm trying to fill my days with something relatively constructive and writing blogs at least keeps my hand in, my mind active and stops me from playing on-line golf or whittling away my time doing little of any note. I find the latter stages of February and half of March to be frustrating times of the year, especially with the rather extreme weather we've been having

Let's kick off with what has been the TV highlight of 2022 so far...

Peacemaker - who would have thought the one-dimensional wanker from the recent Suicide Squad film would end up being part of the craziest thing on TV since the first The Boys? In what is essentially a direct follow-up/follow-on from Suicide Squad, we follow the misadventures of America's 2nd most right wing asshole as he tries to get back some semblance of life.

If you saw the film you'll know that Peacemaker was one of a number of 'villains' who had an explosive  charge put in their heads to ensure they do the work of the covert US government agency charged with whatever they need to do and didn't simply run away once they were out of prison. When we last saw Chris Smith (aka ex-wrestler John Cena), he had just 'killed' Rick Flagg - de facto leader of Suicide Squad and was gunning for the remaining - living - team members. This series picks up with Smith being given a new job to work with the back-up crew who 'betrayed' Amanda Waller and track down and destroy 'butterflies' - an alien race who take over human bodies, killing their hosts but remaining 'alive' thanks to the insects.

Peacemaker is joined by Murn - the leader of the group with a secret; Adebayo - Waller's daughter; Harcourt and Economos - both involved in the 'betrayal' of Waller at the end of Suicide Squad and Vigilante, who really needs to be seen to be believed or understood; he's essentially a version of The Punisher but with a kid's mind and a personality not too dissimilar to Hannibal Lector - he's a raging psychopath who thinks Peacemaker is his best friend. Together they make a brilliantly dysfunctional team and it's up to them to stop an invasion.

Throw into the mix Smith's complete fascist father and creator of all of Peacemaker's fantastically powered helmets. Played by Robert Patrick, he is also known as the White Dragon, an ultra-right 'hero' with a redneck following Donald Trump would be proud of. There is also a host of small supporting roles by various people which just add to the overall brilliance of the series. The guest stars near the end of the 9th episode almost make that worth the admission price alone.

Written and mainly directed by James Gunn, who's given us both Guardians of the Galaxy films and Suicide Squad, it absolutely whizzed past with all nine episodes released weekly but feeling like it was much quicker. It literally could be watched as one very long feature film and you wouldn't be disappointed. It drags the depths of bad taste; has a 'bitchin' 80s poodle rock soundtrack and was simply fabbo, even down to the totally unsentimental finale.

I suggest you try and watch it, you won't be disappointed. The presence of Eagly will guarantee that.

Raised by Wolves (season 2) is about a third of the way through at time of writing. The wife has refused pointedly not to watch another episode, saying that she doesn't have enough time left to go wasting it on such a shit show; I, however, decided to see if anything was going to happen.

It's clear that whoever has bankrolled this series has told the people involved to do something because more has happened in the opening four episodes than in the entire first series. It is still following the plight of Campion - the only survivor of a project to send human embryos to a new planet in a bid to save the remaining life on earth, which was in a totally destructive war between the Mithraic (God believers) and the Atheists and has moved into space. The embryos are protected by two androids - Mother and Father, but all but one dies in the hostile and virtually inhospitable part of the planet where they live.

Mother is also a Necromancer; an android capable of destroying most things - a kind of Terminator on super steroids who is also evolving to the point where she has become pregnant with a synthetic being - that turns out to be a flying snake-like creature. To be honest, I can't see how it's got such a high rating from film and TV websites, unless they're of the belief that the general weirdness, odd tone and bat shit crazy events will all lead to one great conclusion.

Add to this Marcos and Sue - two Atheists, who steal the identities of two important Mithraic leaders to escape the dying Earth. Whereas Sue is at heart an Atheist, Marcos, affected by the planet's strange qualities, slowly begins to believe in the existence of 'Sol' - their god and first tries to influence the other surviving Mithraic - portrayed as crazy zealots - and become their leader. They eventually split up with Marcos going it alone and Sue, now with a group of Mithraic children taken under the protection of Mother and Father, ending up with a settlement of Atheists, who no longer trust her and are themselves as barking mad as the Mithraic.

By the time the second season kicks off everyone has resettled in the tropical zone of the planet, which appears to be a safer place to live with food, but surrounded by a sea of acid that dissolves everything it touches. There are suggestions that the planet might have once - a long time ago - been occupied by beings that had a similar belief system to both the Mithraic and the Atheists and because Ridley Scott is involved there is a great emphasis on synthetic beings, with their general make up not much different from the androids in all of Scott's Alien films.

I actually quite enjoy it, even though I'd make no effort at all to try and second guess it because it is totally random. The acting is pretty dreadful; it's all a bit overwrought at times, but the setting is suitably alien and the Snickers Bar nuttiness is enough to keep me watching, at the moment.

Star Trek: Disco Very - is now in its fourth season and I'm not sure the wife or I really know why we're watching any more. It is what we affectionately call 'The Adventures of Black Female Space Jesus Repeatedly Saving the Universe' and despite all of the charm and un-Star Trek-like feel it had in the first season, it has become a real slog.

They've managed to get rid of a number of characters or relegate others to minor parts; it is now set so far in the future that the spore drive that was anachronistically totally wrong in ST:TOS days now seems to be futuristic even for the far flung future. It tries very hard to feel like Star Wars and even the likeable characters have become annoying or so marginalised by what I hate to call a 'woke agenda' that it's lost all that early charm and has been replaced with something that just exists.

I expect that once this fourth season concludes so will our viewing. It's just a habit now and like smoking not a particularly nice one... The problem is there are spin-offs due and the new series of Picard on the horizon. A new series with Jean-Luc is acceptable even if it's hindered by Patrick Stewart looking like a man in his 80s. However, the Disco Very spin-off (?!?) featuring Captain Pike, his Number One and the youthful Spock - essentially the sequel to ST:TOS needs to be interesting, because one thing Star Trek isn't any more is interesting.

Resident Alien (season two) - Have you ever had the feeling you've been conned? I thoroughly enjoyed the first season even if there were so many plot holes in it you could drive a space ship through them and it seems the second season has decided to go at a different pace and focus a lot more on the supporting characters. This doesn't so much seem to be about Harry now as the people of Patience and it seems to wander around aimlessly, like a TV show in search of the story it started. Or maybe there's more emphasis on the humans because once you start to understand Harry and his own alien race you realise there isn't much to like...

Astor has put on so much weight that it's nice to see a leading lady the size of a small van - she has the fattest arse on telly now - and there's an element of ... slapstick that's crept in, with more emphasis on the not so funny comedy and less on the fish out of water humour that made the first series such a cute and hilarious watch. Certain things have been concluded so easily and in such a contrived way that you have to wonder if the SyFy channel - who produce it and have form in the 'ruin good ideas' stakes - don't really understand what they have on their hands.

It's become a bit of an annoying watch. maybe not as annoying as Disco Very but it has dropped down the Importance Scale considerably and it needs a real shot in the arm to claw its way back to the heights season one had. Sadly I can't see that happening and now it appears the US government agency that's attempting to find Harry are really inept, a little bit stupid and not at all to be feared (at least not in a sinister way), just removing even more from the blank slate of possibilities this show sometimes displays.

It's now been a couple of months since Hawkeye concluded, so long I don't even remember if I've mentioned it in a previous instalment, but I have to say, quite authoritatively, that it has been the best MCU TV series so far. It felt like a low budget Avengers spin-off; had some added multiverse teasers in it and was simply a joy to watch. It also managed to flesh out a character that's been in the MCU since the first Thor film yet we know so very little about.

With the next series up going to be Moon Knight, with Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector, I'm already scouring the schedules to see what follows that as I was never a fan of the character in comic book form and I've always believed him to be just another Marvel attempt at Batman. 

The Wheel of Time was a big budget adaptation of some endless stream of books. It had its moments, but generally it proved one thing to me, TV fantasy adaptations don't really work any longer. They're full of hammy bollocks and if you're not going down the extreme violence or 'get yer tits out' route then they have little or no redeeming qualities. 

This series, with its unfortunate acronym of TWOT, was almost laughable in its approach; was full of bad acting and had a conclusion that I've already forgotten about. I am aware that most of the streaming services are really splurging on fantasy with a host waiting in the wings and I seriously expect they will pass me by. I have no interest in the Game of Thrones prequel; I'm not interested in the Lord of the Rings prequel and I could continue this list through the entire schedule - none of it appeals and we won't be returning to TWOT world any time soon.

It wouldn't be right without a cursory mention for The Walking Dead. The final 24 episodes have been split into three eight-part chunks and the first of these parts was a real nadir for this woefully dull series. You'd think with just 24 episodes left they'd do something to move the narrative along at a pace, but instead we simply have another nutty bad guy to get rid of, who's reason for being the nutty bad guy is unclear apart from liking to kill people who don't treat him proper, like. By the end of those first 8 parts, I couldn't help feeling the producers of this show hadn't been told it was almost all over. While Daryl, Maggie and a bunch of expendables from Maggie's new home attempt to find a decent amount of food to save the starving back at Alexandria; Ezekiel, Eugene, Yumiko and Princess are all settling in with the Commonwealth - which is essentially 'the old world' with more danger and a bit more fascist.

The second chunk sees the Commonwealth coming to save the day, except not everyone from Alexandria wants to join this new group; some of them - led by Maggie - want to continue their existence away from the glare of re-modernisation; so I expect a conflict between them will eventually happen... However, my gut feeling is telling me that The Commonwealth might not be the good guys we've pretty much taken for granted, which suggests that that other band of organised society The Civic Republic, who have been painted as nothing but a bunch of feral Nazis, might not be as bad as we think. The few times the CR have been seen it's been their military division, which, it has been eluded to, seem to be a law unto themselves and not at all what the Civic Republic is supposed to be like. All is probably brewing for a final confrontation between the two societies with our heroes - and possibly Rick Grimes - in the middle (although, it's now been over seven TWD years since Rick's last appearance and he's going to have a lot of explaining to do0.

And... that's about it. A lot of the pre and post Christmas viewing has been films, both old and new. We have just started the final season of The Expanse, I've heard some poor things about that so it hasn't exactly been the must watch it used to be and I fell asleep during the first episode, so it doesn't augur well... We have the second and third seasons of a couple of shows - Servant is one-  but I expect that none will get seen and while there are a number of interesting things on the horizon to look forward to I think we're more likely to be let down by new series than enamoured by them, so when something like Peacemaker comes along, it's a real pleasure. We do intend to watch Ozark in the coming months; that's peer pressure.

Until next time...