Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Thursday, September 8, 2022

DVD/TV Series Review: The Killing: The Complete Third Season

 


The third season of The Killing essentially resets the series after the closing of the Rosie Larsen case. It is set one year after the events of season two. Linden (Mireille Enos) did not actually move to California and is working as a Transit Authority cop on a ferry. Holder (Joel Kinnaman) is still a homicide detective with a new partner played by the very recognizable character actor Gregg Henry, named Carl Reddick. Holder and Reddick investigate the disappearance of a young runaway that ties into an old case of Linden, which was briefly mentioned during season two. This ultimately leads Linden and Holder to once again partnering with each other to try and track down a serial killer. The season also stars Elias Koteas (probably best known from the series Chicago PD) as James Skinner, Linden's former partner and current leader of the Seattle Police Department's Special Investigations Unit, Bex Taylor-Klaus (who has had character roles on Arrow, The Librarians, and iZombie and a leading role in the Scream TV series), and Peter Sarsgaard as Ray Seward, an inmate on death row for the murder of his wife. Sci-Fi nerds will also recognize Aaron Douglas (from the Battlestar reboot) as a prison guard and Jewel Staite (from Firefly) as Holder's girlfriend.

For those who get the DVD set, it is just an MOD set without any extras. Just the twelve episodes across three discs. Like many other TV series that were not massively popular and/or highly rated, even though the first season got a decent blu-ray release, seasons 2-4 only received DVD releases, with seasons 3 and 4 just getting MOD releases.

Overall, the season is very good. The acting is great, and the writing is mostly very good. The writers do try to throw a lot of twists and misdirection as they did for the Rosie Larsen storyline. As was the case in the first couple of seasons, some of the twists worked and some were pretty silly. Peter Sarsgaard absolutely stole the show this season and had the best character arc of any of the characters. The season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, which was a risky way to go given that the show was not a shoo-in to be picked up for a fourth season. Thankfully, Netflix revived the show after AMC canceled it so the storyline does get resolved. While it was not a highly rated blockbuster show with A-list stars, it was a smart show that had a very gritty and real feeling to it that many police serials and procedurals do not. While you do not need to have watched the first season to understand what is going on (for the most part) in this season, it is a good idea to watch the first two seasons before you watch this to get the introduction and development of the two main characters. It is definitely worth the time to watch.

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