Annara Snow

"Me and the Devil" - Soap&Skin (Robert Johnson cover) I've been listening to it and other songs used in Dark, and now the same song also popped up in another recent show, The Wilds (which I binged a few days ago). (There is no official video, so this is all there is.)

Before the new 2021 thread is started, I suppose this is the place to add more shows from 2020 that we've seen, as we did last January. I have one addition - The Wilds, a new show that came out in December and that I binged over a few days. 2020 shows Great: 1. Dark season 3 2. Normal People 3. Harley Quinn season 1 and 2 4. Babylon Berlin seasons 1-3 5. The Haunting of Bly Manor 6. The Plot Against America 7. BoJack Horseman season 6b 8. Unorthodox 9. After Life (season 2 aired in 2020, but I saw both season 1 and 2 this year ) Excellent: 10. Upload season 1 11. What We Do in the Shadows season 2 12. The Boys season 2 13. Perry Mason season 1 14. The Wilds season 1 - The show has flaws, but is very interesting and addictive. I binged it almost without pausing. It does the Lost format "a bunch of people trapped on an island, struggling to survive + flashbacks fleshing out their backstories" very well - here with 8 teenage girls. I still don't know what to think about the overall plot (I can't call it a mystery, as we pretty quickly learn what is really happening) and the show's main antagonist, but the character stuff is really good. 15. Kingdom season 2 (I saw both seasons 1-2 this year) 16. The Good Place season 4 17. Evil season 1 18. The Alienist: Angel of Darkness (The Alienist season 2) 19. The Queen’s Gambit Pretty good: 20. The Umbrella Academy season 2 21. His Dark Materials season 2 22. Love, Victor season 1 23. Penny Dreadful: City of Angels season 1 24. Prodigal Son season 1 25. The Witcher season 1 26. Agents of SHIELD season 7 27. Roswell: New Mexico season 2 28. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist season 1 29. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 30. The Mandalorian season 2 31. Lovecraft Country season 1 OK: 32. Star Trek: Picard season 1 33. Stumptown season 1 34. Emergence season 1 Meh: 35. The Outsider 36. Next season 1* Bad: 37. Raised by Wolves season 1 38. The Undoing Absolutely awful: 39. The 100 season 7

Yep. And there are quite a few Xena/Angel parallels, they even have a lot of similar plots. Just comparing XtWP and AtS: As for Cain, what @Vaughn said. Winn seemed like she was going to get a redemption, then she did not. She was a Bajoran leader, there was no reason to think she would be in favor of the Dominion or Cardassians, but the question was if her ego and love of power would outweigh everything - and it did. Generally, I think people often throw around the word "redemption" too often when it comes to fictional characters (that goes to male villains, too). That's why I put a "kind of" qualifier with some of my picks too (like Raina in AoS or Darla in AtS - they didn't really undergo a redemption arcs; the former realized what her true purpose was, which was always her motivation, but it happened to put her on the side of the "good guys" for once, and Darla finally found something she cared about enough to overcome the soulless vampire thing).

Did she? I don't think Cain had any signs of potential redemption, or any moments where she questioned or regretted her decisions. Kai Winn didn't either - momentarily questioning your evil ways doesn't a redemption arc make.

Xena would also count in that case.

Which one? You have to specify which fictional work you mean, not all Satans are the same!

Cordelia was never a villain. She was just a "Mean Girl" high school antagonist. But the first one that comes to mind is from Buffyverse - Faith. Also, Darla on Angel (kind of), and if we count main characters turned villainous turned good again, Willow (though she was only a villain for a few episodes) Octavia Blake (The 100) - also in the category of main characters who turned into a villain, then got redemption - and her villainous period was a full season long, unlike Willow. Diyoza from the same show may also count. (But not Echo, because she never got a real redemption arc, it was just crappy writing where they suddenly expected viewers to accept a former villain as one of the good guys.) Regina on Once Upon a Time (I dropped Once Upon a Time during season 2, but she definitely counts, doesn't she? she was a real villain at the start of season 1) Raina on Agents of SHIELD Caprica and Athena on BSG (already mentioned) YMMV if Empress Georgiu on Star Trek: Discovery or the moms from Runaways count

Devs was in 2020. I started watching it towards the end of the year and got halfway, I still have 4 episodes to go but haven't had the time to watch almost anything this week because of work. No rest for NYE for me.

Since there's no thread for 2021 yet and we're just out of 2020. I'll continue adding new shows here. I binged The Undoing during an HBO marathon on January 1st. (I have free HBO channels till 15th so I'll make use of that.) 2020 shows Great: 1. Dark season 3 2. Normal People 3. Harley Quinn season 1 and 2 4. Babylon Berlin seasons 1-3 5. The Haunting of Bly Manor 6. The Plot Against America 7. BoJack Horseman season 6b 8. Unorthodox 9. After Life (season 2 aired in 2020, but I saw both season 1 and 2 this year ) Excellent: 10. Upload season 1 11. What We Do in the Shadows season 2 12. The Boys season 2 13. Perry Mason season 1 14. Kingdom season 2 (I saw both seasons 1-2 this year) 15. The Good Place season 4 16. Evil season 1 17. The Alienist: Angel of Darkness (The Alienist season 2) 18. The Queen’s Gambit Pretty good: 19. The Umbrella Academy season 2 20. His Dark Materials season 2 21. Love, Victor season 1 22. Penny Dreadful: City of Angels season 1 23. Prodigal Son season 1 24. The Witcher season 1 25. Agents of SHIELD season 7 26. Roswell: New Mexico season 2 27. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist season 1 28. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 29. The Mandalorian season 2 30. Lovecraft Country season 1 OK: 31. Star Trek: Picard season 1 32. Stumptown season 1 33. Emergence season 1 Meh: 34. The Outsider 35. Next season 1* Bad: 36. Raised by Wolves season 1 37. The Undoing - Excellent performances (Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant) and was compelling throughout - until the resolution, which was so disappointing that it makes the entire miniseries really meh. Absolutely awful: 38. The 100 season 7 ETA: somehow The Mandalorian got deleted by mistake, added it

Raised by Wolves was s mess. If reminded me oc Prometeus because it was bad in similar ways: seemed like ambitious SciFi, great production values, great cast - and in this case, some great performances (Amanda Collin in particular), but the story was so, so bad. A couple of other shows I binged recently - Lovecraft Country, a few days before NYE, which is also messy overall but had some really great moments, episodes and storylines and was genuinely intriguing - but also had bad episodes and a very disappointing ending, and doesn't come together well overall. Right after NYE, binged The Undoing. Excellent performances (Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant) and was compelling throughout - until the resolution, which was so disappointing that it makes the entire miniseries really meh.

I saw that movie a couple of years ago and those were my exact thoughts.

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you all the best- happiness, joy, success... and most of all, health and vaccines for everyone! My list for 2020 as of the last day of the old year - all new additions in red: 2020 shows Great: 1. Dark season 3 2. Normal People 3. Harley Quinn season 1 and 2 4. Babylon Berlin seasons 1-3 5. The Haunting of Bly Manor 6. The Plot Against America 7. BoJack Horseman season 6b 8. Unorthodox - I really liked this short miniseries based on a real life story of a woman who ran away from her Orthodox Jewish community in New York and her unsuccessful arranged marriage. Excellent main actress, newcomer Shira Haas. 9. After Life season 2 aired in 2020, but I saw both season 1 and 2 this year (I actually have 2 more episodes to go but I doubt it will change its place). It is both a warm, beautiful dramedy and a really funny off-beat comedy. Excellent: 10. Upload season 1 11. What We Do in the Shadows season 2 12. The Boys season 2 - better than season 1, with some interesting character development and some astute, if unsubtle, satire. Homelander is probably the best villain on TV. 13. Perry Mason season 1 14. Kingdom season 2 (I saw both seasons 1-2 this year) 15. The Good Place season 4 16. Evil season 1 17. The Alienist: Angel of Darkness (The Alienist season 2) 18. The Queen’s Gambit - stylish miniseries, great music and cinematography and really good central performance, but a bit overhyped. Pretty good: 19. The Umbrella Academy season 2 20. His Dark Materials season 2 - it was really compelling most of the time, but the series finale felt abrupt and anticlimactic. Some of that may be because of Corona, but not all of it. 21. Love, Victor season 1 22. Penny Dreadful: City of Angels season 1 23. Prodigal Son season 1 24. The Witcher season 1 25. Agents of SHIELD season 7 26. Roswell: New Mexico season 2 27. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist season 1 28. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 - the show has picked up and found its groove after season 1, but season 3 hasn't been as good as season 2. Just two more episodes left, but it doesn't feel like it - it feels like this is old school 22 episode season, as the show spent episodes on various fun standalone stories but hasn't properly developed the main arc. 29. The Mandalorian season 2 30. Lovecraft Country season 1 - A really intriguing and ambitious mess of a show. When it was good, it was really good, but it never all came together, and the finale was very disappointing. OK: 31. Star Trek: Picard season 1 32. Stumptown season 1 33. Emergence season 1 Meh: 34. The Outsider - It got dull and dragged out very soon, and only picked up a bit at the end, although Cynthia Erivo was great as Holly Gibney. 35. Next season 1* - nothing bad about this contemporary SciFi thriller about rogue AI, but there's just nothing that especially grabs me about it. (it was cancelled. I still have 2 episodes to go, but I don't think the position will change) Bad: 36. Raised by Wolves season 1 - the show is terrible in all the same ways as Prometheus was. Great performances (esp. Amanda Collin), production values, but a total mess of a story. Absolutely awful: 37. The 100 season 7 Still watching: Devs, The Last Kingdom season 4, Barbarians season 1, and planning to finish all these and Westworld season 2 and 3 this week. Shows from previous years I saw in 2020: Great stuff: 1. The Haunting of Hill House 2. American Crime (all 3 seasons) 3. Peaky Blinders (seasons 1-2) 4. Orange is the New Black (season 1- 6) 5. 12 Monkeys (season 1( Fine: 6. Westworld (season 1/2) - fell a few places because I've seen the first half of season 2; season 1 was great, but the show seems to be losing its point and purpose 7. The Tunnel (seasons 1-2) 8. Succession (season 1) Real mixed bag: 9. Orphan Black 10. Penny Dreadful 11. Teen Wolf (season 4) 12. Fear the Walking Dead (up to halfway through season 5) Eh, it's OK I guess: 13. Victoria (season 1) Where did it all go wrong: 14. Wynonna Earp (season 3)

I'm glad that Daffy Donald in the White House was cancelled. That sitcom had really run its course and was never as funny as people expected it to be.

No one is disputing that the lords of Westeros by and large prefer having a male monarch to a female one. But there's a big difference between that and a rule of succession - and if the only indication of such a rule is a Maester claiming that "In the eyes of many, the Great Council of 101 AC thereby established an iron precedent on matters of succession: regardless of seniority" (where not even he claims that it was in the eyes of all), when Grand Maesters need to give speeches to convince others that females should not be heirs. when an 11 year old mentally challenged girl's claim to the Iron Throne is considered something that needs to be officially rejected at a Great Council before you can proceed to the more serious claimant... this means there is no such rule, only people's preference. Abiding by widely accepted rules of succession in Westeros would mean preferring younger brothers to older sisters, but also preferring Lord's daughters to Lord's brothers (said girls' uncles), not preferring all male claimants. Rhaenyra wouldn't have been the heir after Aegon was born even if they were going by the generally accepted Westerosi rules, but Rhaenys would have been Queen Regnant by those same rules, and Viserys would have never become king in the first place. The 'bad precedent' that led to the Dance was the the idea that both kings and Great Councils can change the rules of succession and make them even murkier (thanks, the Old King!). But many in Westeros, especially the Maesters, would love to instead blame it all in the womenz, of course.

That's a strange claim, since most of season 5 was made of filler, only it was really badly written filler created by D&D, and had no meaning. It wasn't about showing the consequences of war/cost of war, as Feast did, or the cost of peace and the compromises you have to make, as Dance did. It didn't show the suffering of smallfolk. It didn't mean anything. What was the purpose of show!Dorne, again? Why did Jaime go to Dorne? Why did Sansa get a filler rape storyline (?!) that didn't fit with her arc at all and derailed it? Why did Brienne spend a whole season looking at a window? Same with season 6 - what was the purpose of Euron in the show? What was the purpose of Jon's death and resurrection? And really, what was the purpose of Bran's magical storyline when it just made him a home-video-player and had no role in the story? Unless we're to think that's why they made him King, but that makes no sense. They cut so many big storylines - fAegon and Arianne/Doran's plans, Euron's apocalyptic plans, most of the magic in the show involving Bran's story, so most of their storylines ended up having no purpose and being filler.