Well, less Mon-El was good. I've been saying for a while that the character can really work as a supportive boyfriend and sidekick, so long as he's kept out of the spotlight.

Yeah, unfortunately that final scene was 100% classic "I vow to protect you but then you turn evil, probably because I've been lying to you, and I have to kill and/or imprison you while feeling very bad about it in the final episode" territory.

Though the scene where he's first reconstituted from nanobots, beginning as a colourless shape, made me realise that Rahul Kholi is basically the shape of a giant baby. Honestly, I thought "oh, the nanobots form a giant evil baby before they turn into Rahul Kohli, that's odd… wait, they're not changing shape! He IS a…

I haven't watched Man Men, but I'd say The Wire is funnier than Breaking Bad, in general, though maybe not as funny as Better Call Saul, or at least not as consistently.

Did he? When?

I meant "gimmick" in the sense of a simple, shiny, new, selling point. My impression at the time was that "wow, the protagonist is actually a bad guy!" was a huge part of what people found exciting and new about the series. Whereas I think in Britain that wasn't so new, particularly in our comedy (Blackadder, Red…

Possibly significant:
- Caliban is the son of a witch and a devil
- he's deformed and hideous
- his birthright is taken from him by Prospero and he's made into a servant. Prospero is wise and tries to improve him, but he's also harsh, and doesn't seem to want him
- he tries to rape Prospero's daughter and conspires to…

The answer is In Treatment.

From a non-US point of view, I also think the Wire is, weirdly, more universal. Yes, the details of the systems it talks about are different in different places, as is the degree of fucked-up-ness (thankfully). But it feels like the basic characters and stories are universal, and could be retold anywhere. I guess…

Brenda's brother is great… (all of Claire's boyfriends are terrible).

*sighs*
Why can't we get more In Treatment?

Yup. Seasons 1-2 are genius, and the final eo Season 5 is beyond genius; the rest of Season 5 is OK. Seasons 3-4 have some good moments, but are mostly of value as backstory for the final season. They're also probably one of the rare things that gets worse through bingewatching. I can imagine enjoying it as a weekly…

Agree with both your ranking and your statement.
Except I might put 5 ahead of 2. 5 is actually really good; people remember it as worse than it was because it comes immediately after 4, the greatest thing ever filmed.But if you put it next to 1 and 2 it doesn't really seem out of place. Jimmy's mad scheme is pretty in…

It's really not dry at all. It's a well-constructed, thrilling detective plot, emotionally devastating (particularly in its later seasons) and it's also, which gets overlooked a lot, really funny. It's a very dark humour and it usually pops up when something horrible is happening, but it's funny.

Elly made it a 1-on-1 fight by taking Gaad out of the fight immediately. She took him by surprise (iirc she went straight from his "hello ma'am, we're from…" to punching him in the face) - and he's a quarter of a century older than her (nearly 70) and has been in a desk job probably for decades, so that seemed very…

OK, but I don't see "trained female martial artist beats up random hobos" as even being "iffy".

Tertiary is generous!
Things I know about Amy:
- she's blonde, I think?
- she's going out with Maia.
- oh, her parents are reasonably well-off but not really rich
- I think she's a lawyer of some sort?
- apparently she's called "Amy", which I did know, but would have been 100% certain to remember if nobody reminded me.

I don't see what's unrealistic about Russell. You don't think a martial arts expert can beat two random homeless guys who aren't expecting her to fight back?

Allusion aside… Hammer ad libbing an entire Man from UNCLE film live does sound like, one way or another, it could be worth watching…

I think the Rindell plot didn't get enough time. Or rather, it got stuck in the middle, like a lot of arcs do on procedurals - taking too much time away from the weekly action, but also not substantial enough itself to carry its weight.