On September 13 2013 22:39 shinosai wrote: Can we maybe actually talk about the show?
Yea, we can. It's fucking garbage, that's what it is. This season is so incredibly bad that this is the only thing worth talking about. That scene with harrison and the treadmill... I can't even describe how retarded that was. The scene describes S8 perfectly and everything what's wrong with it.
That treadmill scene actually gave me the heartiest laugh I've had in a long long time. I just couldn't believe they seriously put that in there.
For me at least the scene was just completely unbelievable due to the child actor. A real child would be SCREAMING their lungs out if that had actually happened. Not only did this kid's crying(or lack thereof) completely ruin any attempt of realism, but it seemed like by the time Hannah had move him into the kitchen, he was mostly fine, despite the fact that blood was gushing from his chin. Then Hannah in all her genius, decides to take him to a hospital herself, but that a whole other issue...
On September 14 2013 06:28 micronesia wrote: May I ask what is wrong with the treadmill scene? I see a lot of complaints without substantiation.
1. Harrison acts defiant when Hannah asks him to get off the treadmill, despite previously showing himself to be incredibly well-behaved and in love with Hannah.
2. Harrison increases the speed of the treadmill to more than he can handle for no discernable reason.
3. Harrison continues running on the treadmill and doesn't simply jump off.
4. Harrison falls, apparently cutting himself on some invisible force hidden within the treadmill, spurting blood comedically as he lay there bleating like a cow.
On September 14 2013 06:28 micronesia wrote: May I ask what is wrong with the treadmill scene? I see a lot of complaints without substantiation.
1. Harrison acts defiant when Hannah asks him to get off the treadmill, despite previously showing himself to be incredibly well-behaved and in love with Hannah.
2. Harrison increases the speed of the treadmill to more than he can handle for no discernable reason.
3. Harrison continues running on the treadmill and doesn't simply jump off.
4. Harrison falls, apparently cutting himself on some invisible force hidden within the treadmill, spurting blood comedically as he lay there bleating like a cow.
5. "ow owwww ow ow ow....ow ow..ow"
I mean even by child actor standards that's pretty bad. The whole performance felt so lackadaisical.
On September 14 2013 06:34 ShivaN wrote: For me at least the scene was just completely unbelievable due to the child actor. A real child would be SCREAMING their lungs out if that had actually happened. Not only did this kid's crying(or lack thereof) completely ruin any attempt of realism, but it seemed like by the time Hannah had move him into the kitchen, he was mostly fine, despite the fact that blood was gushing from his chin.
Hm, I could see that. It didn't really bother me but yea, a child actor is probably not going to handle that type of situation.
Then Hannah in all her genius, decides to take him to a hospital herself, but that a whole other issue...
She tried calling Dexter but he was unavailable. Now she has the kid who needs a doctor, and nobody to turn to. She decided to risk her own freedom for the child's well being... I didn't see that as far-fetched. What should she have done? Let the kid keep bleeding until Dexter gets in touch with her in a few hours? The kid needed the ER. He got quite a few stitches IIRC.
On September 14 2013 06:28 micronesia wrote: May I ask what is wrong with the treadmill scene? I see a lot of complaints without substantiation.
1. Harrison acts defiant when Hannah asks him to get off the treadmill, despite previously showing himself to be incredibly well-behaved and in love with Hannah.
He can be well behaved, but he's not always well behaved. I recall one or two scenes from earlier episodes where he lied, did something bad, etc. He's a little boy.... of course he's going to be 'bad' sometimes. Also, just because he loves Hannah doesn't mean he sees her as an authority figure like his dad, yet.
The real issue I have is that Hannah was too passive in that situation. It's clear she's never been a mother before haha.
2. Harrison increases the speed of the treadmill to more than he can handle for no discernable reason.
He's a little kid... little kids do foolish things that often make no sense.
3. Harrison continues running on the treadmill and doesn't simply jump off.
He's a little kid... he didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. Even adults who aren't used to treadmills are prone to accidents.
4. Harrison falls, apparently cutting himself on some invisible force hidden within the treadmill, spurting blood comedically as he lay there bleating like a cow.
His head swung down at full speed into a conveyor belt moving perpendicularly at a fairly high speed... I don't see it as unrealistic that his chin got torn up from that. The complaint I could understand would be if the type of wound didn't match up with the type of impact he had... it would be more of a scrape than a laceration.
In any case, scenes like that one seem to be held to unimaginably high standards. He's a little boy... kids often make very poor/stupid decisions. At worst, the young actor couldn't do a convincing job. I don't really blame the writers/etc.
On September 11 2013 01:29 Phenny wrote: It just felt like another episode of dexter to me, I really don't understand the past 4 pages of "omg this suxxx1!1!!!1!11!111eleven"
Basically this, I don't get the massive hate circle jerk going on in the thread. The writing is somewhat worse but after so many seasons it's expected. The stakes are lower because of the amount of random shit going on but at least there are less boring filler episodes than previous seasons. I've seen shows end far worse than this. It's still Dexter and better than most shit on TV.
1. I don't watch most shit on TV.
2. The only shows I have watched that ended worse than this are How I met your mother, which I stopped watching years ago because of how bad it was getting, and Heroes, which I would put forward as the absolute poster boy of a series which started awesome and went to shit.
Don't get me wrong, I think Dexter had some great seasons after the first, and I enjoyed all of them enough. Season 7 was pretty good, even. However, season 8 is pathetic. Writing, acting and direction has taken a nosedive and it is entirely obvious.
American Television. People demand more seasons then complain when they are never as good as the original seasons.
I really don't get all the hate. Yes it has gotten worse over the seasons, but what do you expect after 8 of them? I see people calling certain plot lines stupid, even though they are exactly the same as plots from their favourite seasons. The show is still enjoyable, but people seem to love overreacting and this so called "circle jerking". I will always remember Dexter for its first 4 seasons, but I can still enjoy the others. And if I don't enjoy the others, I will stop watching rather than coming on here posting nothing but hate and then continuing to watch so I can come on again the next week and continue to hate.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed their new trailer.
Dude that trailer was sick. Makes me wanna re-watch seasons 1, 2, 4 lol.
At least they can still make good trailers if not full episodes haha
I liked 3 : (
But yes, I want to rewatch the good seasons again now.
On September 11 2013 01:29 Phenny wrote: It just felt like another episode of dexter to me, I really don't understand the past 4 pages of "omg this suxxx1!1!!!1!11!111eleven"
Basically this, I don't get the massive hate circle jerk going on in the thread. The writing is somewhat worse but after so many seasons it's expected. The stakes are lower because of the amount of random shit going on but at least there are less boring filler episodes than previous seasons. I've seen shows end far worse than this. It's still Dexter and better than most shit on TV.
1. I don't watch most shit on TV.
2. The only shows I have watched that ended worse than this are How I met your mother, which I stopped watching years ago because of how bad it was getting, and Heroes, which I would put forward as the absolute poster boy of a series which started awesome and went to shit.
Don't get me wrong, I think Dexter had some great seasons after the first, and I enjoyed all of them enough. Season 7 was pretty good, even. However, season 8 is pathetic. Writing, acting and direction has taken a nosedive and it is entirely obvious.
American Television. People demand more seasons then complain when they are never as good as the original seasons.
I really don't get all the hate. Yes it has gotten worse over the seasons, but what do you expect after 8 of them? I see people calling certain plot lines stupid, even though they are exactly the same as plots from their favourite seasons. The show is still enjoyable, but people seem to love overreacting and this so called "circle jerking". I will always remember Dexter for its first 4 seasons, but I can still enjoy the others. And if I don't enjoy the others, I will stop watching rather than coming on here posting nothing but hate and then continuing to watch so I can come on again the next week and continue to hate.
Dude that trailer was sick. Makes me wanna re-watch seasons 1, 2, 4 lol.
At least they can still make good trailers if not full episodes haha
I liked 3 : (
But yes, I want to rewatch the good seasons again now.
First, that trailer is awesome.
Second, the scenes for the first half of it are so nostalgic it reminded me of why I loved this show.
Third, I don't know why people don't like season 3 either... I thought Miguel was a really intriguing character. The "skinner" was terrible though.
Fourth.... the sad thing is that in order to make up for the crappy 3 years this show has put people through, I'm almost certain they're going to kill of a major character in the end in order to leave the audience with an "awe" factor.. maybe similar to GoT type of ending or something. And you know what? It will just take a show going down hill and just crash it into the bottom of the sea. I don't know what exactly would be a good ending (or rather, a show-saving ending) but I have very little faith in the writers of this show ever since season 5 and on...
On September 14 2013 06:55 micronesia wrote: She tried calling Dexter but he was unavailable. Now she has the kid who needs a doctor, and nobody to turn to. She decided to risk her own freedom for the child's well being... I didn't see that as far-fetched. What should she have done? Let the kid keep bleeding until Dexter gets in touch with her in a few hours? The kid needed the ER. He got quite a few stitches IIRC.
Well maybe at least she could have put on a damn hat or a cap? Similar to the scenes where she was running around with a thousand dollar dress while being one of the most hunted persons in Miami?
The whole scene with the treadmill just seemed totally constructed. "Hmm we need to get Hannah out in the open , so someone sees her and calls in the super suspicious detective. Hmm.. she loves Harrison , so let's smack Harrison in the face!"
On September 14 2013 06:55 micronesia wrote: She tried calling Dexter but he was unavailable. Now she has the kid who needs a doctor, and nobody to turn to. She decided to risk her own freedom for the child's well being... I didn't see that as far-fetched. What should she have done? Let the kid keep bleeding until Dexter gets in touch with her in a few hours? The kid needed the ER. He got quite a few stitches IIRC.
Well maybe at least she could have put on a damn hat or a cap? Similar to the scenes where she was running around with a thousand dollar dress while being one of the most hunted persons in Miami?
That would have been a nice touch, yes. I could see her not really having time to plan that though given the circumstances. After all it wasn't her place she was living in.
The whole scene with the treadmill just seemed totally constructed. "Hmm we need to get Hannah out in the open , so someone sees her and calls in the super suspicious detective. Hmm.. she loves Harrison , so let's smack Harrison in the face!"
I feel like you can make this argument about almost any scene in any tv show. "It seems like event X happened in order to lead to event Y." This seems overly critical to me.
The whole scene with the treadmill just seemed totally constructed. "Hmm we need to get Hannah out in the open , so someone sees her and calls in the super suspicious detective. Hmm.. she loves Harrison , so let's smack Harrison in the face!"
I feel like you can make this argument about almost any scene in any tv show. "It seems like event X happened in order to lead to event Y." This seems overly critical to me.
Nah, not really. If the storytelling is good, things develop naturally, and you just roll with the story. Take Game of Thrones for example. If something exciting happens or a major plot twist occurs, it's not because someone falls of a treadmill. Things happen episodes before that eventually lead to dramatic stuff.
The storytelling in Dexter seems forced and scripted, it's like the writers noticed they only have three episodes left and wondered how they could make something exciting happen.
The whole scene with the treadmill just seemed totally constructed. "Hmm we need to get Hannah out in the open , so someone sees her and calls in the super suspicious detective. Hmm.. she loves Harrison , so let's smack Harrison in the face!"
I feel like you can make this argument about almost any scene in any tv show. "It seems like event X happened in order to lead to event Y." This seems overly critical to me.
Nah, not really. If the storytelling is good, things develop naturally, and you just roll with the story. Take Game of Thrones for example. If something exciting happens or a major plot twist occurs, it's not because someone falls of a treadmill. Things happen episodes before that eventually lead to dramatic stuff.
The storytelling in Dexter seems forced and scripted, it's like the writers noticed they only have three episodes left and wondered how they could make something exciting happen.
I see the same type of stuff happen in a Song of Ice and Fire. It's not that it bothers me... but some events, looking back, seem overly convenient.
Perhaps, Dexter just seems much more conveniently scripted than it used to... I guess I have a higher tolerance for that than you do. Even this one scene we are discussing still doesn't bother me... but I guess an accumulation of them could have an affect on your perception of the show.
This episode reminded me of a big pile of shit called Dexter Season 3. Soooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaad, I can genuinely laugh. Except for the tea party between Vogel and her son - I can laugh at Hannah's utter stupidity (she's supposed to be a criminal mastermind though, but hey!), I can laugh at Debra as she's kicked again by the writers while they put a big "I'm (still) a whore!" stamp on her forehead, I can laugh how the writers have no idea what does "subtle" mean, I can laugh at the treadmill having a more interesting story line (they introduced the thing... they introduced a treadmill at the beginning of the episode!!!! mind = blown), than all of Quinn's, while being emotionally deeper as well - like, really, Steven Segal is Jim Carrey compared to that guy -, but those last minutes...
An old, experienced, psycho-lord mastermind, who can't even come up with a decent lie, while acting like she never used her hands before. And please, tell me it's because of the stress, I mean, it's not like she's been dealing with crazy people all her life, and it's not like saying "I just... wanted to see you in the middle of the night for no good reason, while avoiding to mention Dexter (or anything, really) at all, even though you just asked me this morning to deal with him, so the most natural thing would be to talk about him" is the trademark of an intellectual person. Vogel's derping was depressing. I was literally shaking during that scene, while covering my face. How do you write something like that? HOW?!
Also, i'm sad there wasn't a scene at the end, where Dexter gets a close-up, while saying something like this to the camera "I think I'm at a crossroads, where my double-persona are having a fight, and my choice will ultimately determine my own future. I think my character reached a breakpoint, and I'm about to make a decision, that will be very important for me. Lives are on the line, REPEAT, lives are on the line. Can I get a close-up on my family please, so the dumb viewers can see that I really care about them? Oh, it's still my monologue where I present my inner conflicts to the the viewers? Okay, umm... Gosh, I'm so... fighting.... you know.... good and bad... right or wrong... Ugh!". Haha! ... Oh wait, never mind, it actually happened earlier this episode. Okay then, all time low reached for Dexter (series and character as well). They have 2 more episodes to make something even worse. Gogo!
I feel sorry for Elway, he does all he can! Highlight of the season by far. Next to Quinn, of course, that guy has the solidest impersonation of a rock since he came into the series. Did Debra got worse? Ooooh boy, yes she did. Did Dexter got worse? Yep, writers ripping him apart in this season. Quinn? No change at all, that mofo is consistent as hell! How does he do that?
4. Harrison falls, apparently cutting himself on some invisible force hidden within the treadmill, spurting blood comedically as he lay there bleating like a cow.
His head swung down at full speed into a conveyor belt moving perpendicularly at a fairly high speed... I don't see it as unrealistic that his chin got torn up from that. The complaint I could understand would be if the type of wound didn't match up with the type of impact he had... it would be more of a scrape than a laceration.
Well, the belt was moving in the same direction as he was falling. It would have been pushing downwards toward his chest and actually cushioning the fall somewhat. His wound looks more like if the belt were going the opposite direction and tore his chin because it was pulling away from his body.
I never got the hate for season 3. I thought it was clearly the weakest of the first 4 but it was still pretty good. Granted, I haven't seen season 3 in a long time I'm pretty confident when I work my way up to rewatching it I'd probably still consider it better than anything post-season 4. I enjoyed Jimmy Smits as Miguel, it was just that lame ass skinner villain and Deb's bf issues that got in the way of an otherwise good season.
On September 14 2013 08:06 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: I never got the hate for season 3. I thought it was clearly the weakest of the first 4 but it was still pretty good. Granted, I haven't seen season 3 in a long time I'm pretty confident when I work my way up to rewatching it I'd probably still consider it better than anything post-season 4. I enjoyed Jimmy Smits as Miguel, it was just that lame ass skinner villain and Deb's bf issues that got in the way of an otherwise good season.
You forget Quinn: it was his first season. I don't expect everyone to hate him for being the worst thing ever happened in TV history, but his acting (and the way he was written) was beyond every badness I've ever seen. It wasn't until season 5 when they kinda re-write his character into someone more digestable, and less annoying.
You don't hate on S3 because you like Miguel, now think about those, who didn't like Miguel, what did we get in S3? Exactly.
I wouldn't call everything post S4 bad. Imo season 5 was an interesting one, the oddest season by far. Was it good? Not really, but it just wasn't bad either. I also liked the pacing in season 7, and I'm a strong believer that Dexter could've got a much much better ending, if they took their boldness from S7 to S8. I know how controversial S7 was, but seriously, look at this season: they either fired every writer and hired the cleaning staff, or they just doesn't give a fuck anymore, knowing it's the last season anyway.
I think the treadmill scene was pretty damn farfetched and horribly played too. Even before it happens, when you see Harrison on the treadmill again you can just picture is happening and I found myself just going "really... really guys?" Also, like some pointed out, that kind of injury for a standard treadmill slip like that is pretty far over the top.
Is there a chance that could have happened in a real life situation? Yeah, but it's quite farfetched and especially so with that kind of timing in the show. For one of the most important scenes in the whole series, it was definitely sub-par...
On September 14 2013 06:28 micronesia wrote: May I ask what is wrong with the treadmill scene? I see a lot of complaints without substantiation.
1. it felt totally out of place and served only one purpose: get hannah out in the open, so that someone can reckognize her and call it in
2. when hannah says "that's not a toy, stop it. Harrison, listen!" he says "I am". Well, he's not. He proceeds foolishly increasing the speed, just mashing some buttons.
3. he just magically let's go of the handles and falls, face down, on the treadmill. It looks totally artificial and the acting is incredibly bad, even for a child actor. I mean just watch the damn thing, it's ridiculous how retarded it is
4. Owww owww owww owwww owww.. Seriously? It's so bad it makes me want to throw my computer out of the window when watching that. His face doesn't show any pain at all, hell, it even looks as if he's smiling while retardedly saying "oww owww owww ouch owww".
5. Hannah then, knowing she's a wanted fugitive, just doesn't put on any disguise at all (scarf, hat, cap, wig, whatever) and brings him to the hospital.. yea, right.
@ micronesia: you miss the point completely. The issue is not whether the scene can be justified logically, analyzing it afterwards. the point is whether the scene felt realistic and believable at the time we were watching it. And the answer for majority of viewers is a clear "lol no".
It reminds me Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, the scene where Obelix climbs up the Sphynx. It's so unnatural, so obviously unjustified, so serves only one purpose (to make something bad happen to the Spynx), I laughed my ass off. The difference is, in Mission Cleopatre it was intended, it was absurd comedy after all. Dexter? Well I guess it is absurd comedy as well, now.
EPT
