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Watched anything good lately?

Like seemingly the rest of the country I’ve watched Adolescence this week. My opinion more or less echos Martin’s above, the way it’s made and the way it’s acted really makes it top tier television, especially when combined with the heavy hitting subject matter.
 
I’ve been watching The Twilight Zone recently.

They’re all very well written, and because the series is an anthology, I don’t have to memorise or revise character names along with GCSE’s, so it’s a good low overhead watch if you are quite busy.
 
I'm just dropping in to say I've been on a Thunderbirds bender. I never really had an interest until a video about the Broadcast vs Continuity Order popped up on YouTube. I thought "alright then, why not?" then found myself blitzing the entire original series, the Anniversary episodes, the Filmed In Supermarionation documentary the two films, followed by the 2004 film and the first three Thunderbirds Are Go episodes in the space of a week.

Now I'm bouncing between Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds Are Go, many other Gerry Anderson projects which may or may not be connected to AP Films/Century 21 like the fantastic stop motion fever dream on the cheap Dick Spanner, P.I. and 'Making Of' YT videos like a total screwball! o_O (Sigh, it would be great if I could apply the level of hyper-fixation I have to my personal 'stuck in development hell' projects.)
 
Many years ago, they had an excellent "Thunderbirds & Co." exhibition on the prom at Blackpool for a couple of seasons.

You have excellent taste, running all the way home from school to make sure I didn't miss Stingray and Captain Scarlet, oh those were the days, back when I could run!
I watched them all, on regular repeats, around the time.
I'm an old old git, but Gerry Anderson was my hero of youth,
 
Going back to Thunderbirds, I didn't realise Blackpool was such a Mecca for space shit in general.
Space City (Space 1999), Thunderbirds twice, once in Winter Gardens for the Film version, World of Space/Space Models, and Dr Who's Tardis just round the corner from the waxworks, all between the seventies and nineties.
Did them all back in the day.
 
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I've also watched Adolescence. It was well-paced, and fairly gripping, with the third episode being my favourite. As for the acting, Stephen Graham was brilliant.
Overall, I would give it an 8.7/10.
 
The reaction to Adolescence now unfortunately has gotten very weird. Showing it in schools? Why? Kids know about this stuff, they're the ones living in it. There's literally a scene where a kid explains to the police officer what everything the kids are talking about online means.

The show doesn't have any political or practical solutions, it isn't about how to recognise you or your mate is going down the rabbit hole and how to get out of it or whatever. The closest thing to a resolution is a year on he decides to take responsibility and plead guilty, and even then it's probably just to get a lighter sentance. I'd get saying it's essential viewing for parents of boys in a "do you know what he's up to online and with his mates" and "are there any things he might be picking up from you" kind of thing, but let's be honest if a kid is already fallen down the rabbit hole, "forced viewing of a state approved story about how you're an incel murderer" is only going to make that worse.

The show isn't every really about teenage knife crime, beyond that being the set up, so focusing on that is a clever trick to get out of talking about the real central theme of misogyny, or other themes like how we're raising the next generation. Weirdly they're even missing a trick not to fall back into their obsession with social media seeing that's a big part of the show too.

Wouldn't be surprised if this is like how the big toothbrushing drive was a partnership with Colgate but with Netflix. All this government seems able to do is take corporate 'gifts' and it's easier to just say "watch this show" than actually do anything.

Of course, this response from the state doesn't mention the second episode, about how teachers are overworked and beaten down by a completely broken education system...
 
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