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. 

Friday, December 6, 2024

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Fight Season 3

 


The 10-episode third season of "The Good Fight" aired during the spring of 2019. It ended up being more controversial than it originally was when Juliana Margulies and Alan Cumming let it be known that they were in talks to reprise their characters from "The Good Wife" to be part of the storylines that ultimately went to Michael Sheen (in a role that was probably heavily re-written for his off-the-wall character Roland Blum) and a watered-watered down role given to Sarah Steele's character, Marissa. Ultimately, the network and/or producers were not willing to pay Margulies and Cumming what they were making as series regulars on The Good Wife, and they both said no. If you believe Margulies, she will never appear on the spin-off show because of how insulting the offer to pay her the guest-star rate was. Whether the hard feelings will last forever remains to be seen.

Ultimately, the season combines story-of-the-week episodes with an ongoing anti-t***p resistance theme centered around the characters of Liz and Diane. The show is unashamedly anti-t***p and ties a lot of things from the real-world (or variations of them) into the storylines (e.g., the plaid-shirt guy getting kicked out of t***p's rally, the unqualified judges being approved, etc.). So, if you love the orange genital wart you will hate that part of the show, but realistically, if you were paying attention from season one, it just amps up what they were doing before. On the other hand, if you hate agent orange, you will either find it highly amusing or ignore it. The show does a good job of not painting those involved in the "resistance" movement as heroic or all-good. In fact, in the season finale, the show sets up them as a potential "bad guy" in season four.

Overall, the season is very good. It tackles issues like the "me too" movement, climate change, race relations, etc. There is quite a bit of cast turnover, with some characters being put on the back burner and others getting a larger role. Michael Sheen was excellent in his role as a morally compromised, drug-addled lawyer who was sometimes an ally and sometimes an enemy of Reddick, Boseman, and Lockhardt. Christine Baranski does a great job again as the series lead, and it continues to be well-written and acted.

To me, the one thing it lacked was balancing stories for all the ensemble cast members. It is a very large cast, and given that there are a smaller number of episodes per season (this one had just 10 episodes), there was no way to give all the characters compelling stories. Like the prior seasons, the episodes vary in length from about 44 min to 55 minutes, and because it airs on CBS All-Access (now Paramount+), they can get away with swearing and more risque sex (the latter of which there was really not any of this season) as they could on The Good Wife. The political themes do not bother me. I do find some funny and others silly. But of course, many times when people complain about a show getting into politics it is because the politics are against what he or she personally believes. But, given that the parent show, The Good Wife, was very heavy into politics, it is not a shock that this one would keep at least some politics in the mix.

The DVD set is a three-disc set. For those who get the DVD set, I would describe it as a MOD-plus set. It does have a few extras (deleted and extended scenes for some episodes, a gag reel, and the pilot episode of Star Trek Discovery), as well as captions. But, there are no commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes, or making-of features. So it is very bare-bones. Overall, if you liked the first two seasons, you may, but are not guaranteed, to like this one. That will depend largely on who your favorite characters and storylines from the first couple of seasons were. If you did not like the first two, then there is nothing about this one that is likely to change your mind.

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