Yeah - that’s pretty much what I feared (white UK male here, so I’m largely a bystander at this particular dog-race).

Ah, got it. Yeah, I was thinking the puritan/Victorian-ethic rather undercut the main thesis of Holy Shit. Neither carnal nor blasphemous swearing were acceptable. Still a good read, though (and it might have covered this - it’s been 7 years since I read it).

No blame on her, but I can’t say I’ve enjoyed her run. From the Guardian:

100%. Boring villains (either thematically or conceptually - time-travelling space-racist is a time-travelling space-racist), fake-conflicted companions, badly-framed plots. Gah. I mean, in this episode, we get to see the cloned Daleks, and then get a second reveal, but this time with dramatic music. WTF? And are you…

If I’ve understood you correctly, that seems a shame. “If either of you blaspheme again, I’m going to shove your fucking her head up her stinking cunt” is, as an example, a lovely bit of whiplash.

Well, I’m both haemorrhoidal and totally deaf in one ear (more of a pain than you might think). I don’t “define” myself by either of those conditions, but I’d sure as hell fix the shit out of both of them if I had the chance.

It also said ‘2K’ and “we want everything”. I dunno. I’ll reserve judgement, but a false flag certainly looks possible. Certainly makes more sense than anything else, but when was the last time that ‘sense’ had anything to do with anything?

No, this is 100% Karen. The sort of thing I’m questioning is, for example, a ‘Karen’ who’s just being an arse to another white person. Or a Black woman being labelled as a Karen under any circs.

I’ve got a nice book on swearing, called Holy Shit, which makes the point that cultures tend to either be relaxed about the earthly and uptight about the theological, or visa-versa.

Hmm... Whitaker may be leaving.

Hard to tell what the fuck he thought he was doing - channelling his inner-Tarintino, whatever.

Fan of new-Who since day 1, but I’ve basically given up. I didn’t watch a single episode of the last season, and having dipped into this one, I think I made the right choice. It’s been like watching a friend become addicted to the world’s most boring drug. None of the emotion seems earnt, and all of it is a faint echo…

From the Guardian:

Where’s Avengers in this list?

Same here. That said, the temptation to give it a go is strong - I just fear the learning-curve.

As a side-note, how do people feel about ‘Karen’ being ascribed to general fuck-whittery, rather than specifically racist shenanigans?

“iPhone cases” - lol.

That first shot of him looks kind of derpy.

I think describing the characterisation as ‘thin’ is unfair - we know exactly who these people are. And it’s a remarkably coherent film that stays true to its own internal logic. As a counter-example, may I cite the gap-jumping mine-cart in IJatToD? Because that was just embarrassing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/27/karen-race-white-women-black-americans-racism