SSFF Media Consumption Blog 11/17/17 (Patreon)

Hi everyone! Back on the grind again, here's a look at all the media we've been gobbling up this week.

The Good Place

I tend to stay away from shows that seem too gimmicky, which made even picking up an episode of The Good Place a tough sell. This show is set in the afterlife, following the misadventures of Eleanor (Kristen Bell) after she realizes someone made a mistake. 

“Pobody’s Nerfect” is a goof I expected to hate, but Kristen Bell pulls it off nerfectly. Girl’s got serious comedy chops!

Annnd that’s about all you need. The titular Good Place is a standin for Heaven, complete with fully-charged-battery flavored frozen yogurt, a restaurant that only serves your favorite meal, and bottomless cocktail shrimp fountains. Fundamentally, this is a show about self-improvement and moral philosophy, but doesn’t ever get too cloying. It’s a show I’ve kept returning to over the past weeks when I’ve felt down, and I appreciate it for that. 

The set design and color palette is bright and inventive, but the jokes are even better. The cast is really solid, Ted Danson as Michael is a particular standout. While this is a sitcom, the show feels so comfortable in it’s contrivances in such a joyous and refreshing way. While it is contrived, the show’s story goes into surprising places that I don’t want to spoil here. 

Overall, a fantastic, personally inspiring show that I had no expectations for going in. The first season is on Netflix right now, and at 22 min episodes, you could easily blast through it for a fun weekend.

Wolfenstein 2

I have only played the first 5 hours of Wolfenstein 2, but it’s enough for me to confidently say we are in the middle of an Id-Software-IP-aissance.

There’s even a big lady (right) who likes boy bands and singing off-key! Politics in video games, am I right?!

I don’t think you’d be surprised to learn that I didn’t have games like Wolf or Doom growing up, so this and Doom (2016) are my real introductions to the franchise. While this game isn’t radically rocking the boat gameplay-wise, it’s still definitely a very good “one of those”. It’s funny to have to reteach myself how to play this sort of game; I spent the first level dying a lot because I scooped up all the health I could find because I forgot about this game’s overcharge health mechanic. Sneaking around with extra health is all fun and games until that health runs out. 

But honestly, what I’ve heard most about the game is its story, and I am eager to dive further into it. While not a lot has happened yet, I am very much attached to BJ’s self-encouragement mutterings to himself in combat. It’s infectious, making me want to see this big palooka of a character into victory. 

I wish I had more to say, but I’m still in the early stretches of the game. I can say though that I am itching to jump back onto my PS4 and finish that puppy up!

Derek

Resident Evil 7

I’ve talked a lot about The Evil Within games these last few weeks, but earlier this year Grace and I were hooked on a different horror game, Resident Evil 7. We weren’t able to make a review for the channel and this was before we started these blogs, I’ve been holding my thoughts on RE7 all year!

RE7 is not just a great, great horror game, it is a triumphant return to form for the mighty horror series. This one-two punch is why I struggle to say that I liked The Evil Within 2 better than RE7 - it’s harder to resuscitate a legendary series while also pushing it in a bold new direction than just establishing a new series. There was so much more baggage with RE7 than with TEW2.

But then again, I don’t think RE7 maintains its quality throughout like TEW2. RE7 has an amazing opening, a little long (and unskippable) but still absolutely amazing. After the failed attempt to save your wife (or save yourself from your wife) we meet the Baker family, each of whom, more or less, make up the 5 main chapters of the game. The first chapter with Jack, the father, is absolutely terrifying and brutal. Some of the best stealth-based horror I’ve ever played (he eventually wields a giant pair of scissors, just in-case the Clocktower influence somehow wasn’t obvious enough). The next chapter is with the mother, Marguerite, who doesn’t chase you quite like Jack did but her design is even more grotesque. Her boss fight is definitely one of the game’s highlights. Things start to switch up a bit with the third chapter, where the big bad is the son, Lucas. His chapter is a trap-filled affair that ends with a Saw-style escape room that proves to be a tense and wonderful puzzle.

It’s around here, though, that the game begins to sag for me. Instead of a boss fight with Lucas, Jack returns but as a gigantic goop-covered spider thing. It’s a tough boss fight that requires some precise shooting but it feels a little out left-field. After that, we’re suddenly on a landlocked boat with machine guns and just a bunch of standard zombies (in this game The Mold). The story starts drifting further and further away from the Baker family and by the time we finish the boat and move on to the salt mine, we’re suddenly no longer playing this bold new Resident Evil game, we’re playing another Resident Evil game. It does wrap around in a really great way, the final boss fight does a remarkably good job of tying up the story but it never fully returns to the glory of the first half of the game. 

RE7 is half a bold, new direction and half same old, same old just in a first-person perspective. It never goes off the rails, the drop in quality is never severe enough to ruin the whole experience, but it’s a very uneven experience. It’s still one of the finest entries in the series! Every respectable horror and Resident Evil fan should still have RE7 in their lives but if the legacy of the series doesn’t concern you, then - and it’s crazy that I’m even entertaining the idea - The Evil Within 2 might just edge out RE7 in light of its sagging second half. 

The Good Place

Grace already talked about this show above and I don’t have too much to add to it. Except, its sci-fi storyline (that’s more prominent in the second season) fills the same void I was hoping Westworld would. So as far as I’m concerned, The Good Place is a better sci-fi show than Westworld.

The Eric Andre Show

We recently renewed our Hulu subscription... so did I check out the latest Hulu exclusive content or jump into a hot new show? Nah, I binged on the 2012 and 2013 episodes of The Eric Andre Show, a show I was already pretty familiar with. I’m not the biggest fan of AdultSwim, but there are a few show’s strike the right balance of anarchy and dark/gross out humor for me. Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show Great Job! is certainly hit-and-miss but a few of their skits are some of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

The Eric Andre Show is a parody of late night talk shows mixed with candid camera-style prank skits. Each episode starts with the host, Eric Andre, violently destroying the set and attacking his house band in a blind, screaming rage. After he collapses in his chair, crew members hastily replace his desk and backdrop, and Andre, still exhausted and gasping for air, begins the show. The interview segments are also prank-styled as the celebrities interviewed are either poor impersonators or actual celebrities unaware the kind of show their soon-to-be-fired agents booked them on. Andre asks inappropriate or non-sequitur questions in an attempt to throw off his guests. He often tries to gross them out by eating large amounts of food or just taking his clothes off. It’s not for everyone. Usually interviewees understand what they’ve gotten themselves into and either do their best to play along or make it very clear they’re not cool with what’s happening. A highlight is Lou Ferrigno threatening to beat up a skinny guy painted up like the Incredible Hulk.

In general I’m not a fan of hidden camera pranks, but Andre’s often devolve into innocuous absurdity or are more about humiliating Andre. Also, his co-host is Hannibal Buress, one of the best comedians working today. His adlib of “look at my suit” completely kills me.

Like Awesome Show, The Eric Andre Show is not for everyone. It’s dark, gross and occasionally mean-spirited. But even when it’s not quite hitting its highest marks, it’s just the right amount AdultSwim style anarchy for me. Bad-on-purpose parody is much harder to do than it looks, and I can admire that Andre is very, very good at it.