Well, Far Cry 2 is influenced by Heart of Darkness, where the protagonist turns out to be just as opportunistic and ruthless as the villain as the story progresses. Far Cry 3 is influenced by Through the Looking Glass, where the protagonist thinks he's a bad ass in this large open world when really he's just a chess…

There is zero narrative necessity to having every society we encounter devolve into crazy houses. De facto dictatorships with strict rules and strict punishments sure. But places where crazy matters more than actual charisma or administrative skill? You can only have so many of those before your world building turns…

Newsflash, the annoying activist is the person that gives a shit that there's something on TV that offends their delicate sensibilities. I'll give you two guesses who that is in this conversation.

That's a tough bias to carry. DC usually always has at least one show on that's pretty popular. Whether's it's Lois and Clark or Smallville or The Flash. And that's not even getting into their animated universe.

I don't even watch this show, I'm just here to say "A+, seriously?"

While I think season 2 is better as a whole than season 1, I think the final stretch of season 1 is still the best stretch of episodes that Arrow has.

A sonic boom would definitely break windows, but that's the only thing I can think of.

I'm not familiar with Stillman's work but I thought Cosmopolitans was terrible. It had bad acting and maybe one funny moment. And the drama portion of the dramedy wasn't exactly riveting material. I don't care about these people or their problems.

Homeland does nothing of the fucking sort. Not even close. At the most, when Homeland does have anything to say about foreign policy, it revolves around the concept of blowback. The idea that what we put out there comes right back home. Brody being the literal embodiment of that.

I thought the most ridiculous thing was Carrie getting pregnant in the first place, coupled with Carrie not getting an abortion. There is no version of Carrie presented on the show where either of those things makes a bit of sense.

If The Strain is going to subject the viewer to irrelevant boring character drama like Eph's custody battle or Nora's senile mother, then it's not going to get a "don't take this seriously" pass.

The group had a rational plan that worked, and Eph wasn't dead weight and that's a huge step in the right direction. But the more base problems of the show still exist. The pacing is trash and you still get a huge feeling of "this is here because it was in the books (anything related to Bolivar) or this is here…

I actually really liked the pilot for Znation. That show at least looks like it's not trying to be something it isn't.

Dishonored's game design is definitely broken. It's a stealth game where playing stealthily is the most boring way to play the game. Hell, it's a stealth game with some of the best swordfighting mechanics I've ever seen. Sort of the problem with stealth games nowadays. "Yeah, we put in a bunch of cool ways for *insert…

The Strain plays things too straight to get away with the ex-wife's friend showing up to comment on the ridiculousness of Eph and Nora having sex. On a campier show it would come off as funny. On The Strain, it just solidifies Eph and Nora as being stupid, incompetent liabilities. The scene is also a twofer that…

The problem is that more than half the show is devoted to other characters, and none of those stories (with the exception of Jimmy's) reinforces anything about Nucky's story. Harrow's farm, Gretchen's child custody issues, anything about Van Alden, etc. Nucky's story is just another story.

Boardwalk Empire doesn't march so much as it wakes up 3/4's of the way through a season, realizes it's late for work, then runs out the door.

The major flaw is that it's shallow and not every story arc is good. I don't care about Jimmy's mom. I haven't cared about Margaret since season 1. I don't care about Nucky's nephew. Van Alden's story goes back and forth between compelling and pointless. The show is straight up boring at times.

He's this cliched minority guy that's currently wholly divorced from the main storyline. I have patience so I don't completely hold that against the character. My main problem is that Gus isn't nearly New York enough for me.

I'd imagine that the counterpoint would be The First 48, not CSI. But even if I grant the idea of The Killing presenting a realistic murder investigation (Hah!) that doesn't magically make for great writing. By the time the girl on the sextape is revealed to not be Rosie, The Killing tips its hand. Any bit of evidence…