Friday Thoughts: Misunderstandings and Brains

Ouch, it's been a week and I haven't updated. My bad. I just haven't had much to say this week. I've landed myself a new part-time job at the Cinema (I start next week) and I fixed the front tire on my bicycle. Nothing else to report. Oh, except for my Friday thoughts.

Archer Season 5

Archer debuted with its 5^th season and it answers a lingering question I asked myself in the first season: Is ISIS affiliated with the government? I think the FBI raining down bullets and bombing ISIS HQ answered that. It did the whole interrogation cliché by having no-one rattle on each other, then have everyone rattle on each other and with the Archer characters, it worked hilariously. We got a lot of shout outs to previous seasons and almost a shout out to the next (But instead of a montage, it turned out to be Archer’s daydream). Either way, after that episode, I’m fully on board with whatever Season 5 has to offer.

iZombie

I have just started reading iZombie. It is about a zombie called Gwen who has a job burying peple at a graveyard, it is here she can get free access to delicious brains. Unfortunately, if her ‘meal’ died in a less that peaceful way, she has to solve their murder lest she go crazy. It seems like a pretty neat concept, but it hasn’t grabbed me straight away. Alas, I will keep reading.

D&D Next: I’m a treasure hunter who just can’t get any treasure

Having played my 5^th session, the merits of the 5^th edition playtest have shown their colours. The system is simple and doesn't get bogged down by abilities and feats and other nonsense I had trouble getting my head around when I got the 4^th edition rules. I’m glad my first foray into D&D was with the D&D Next playtest, its helping me get accustomed to the basic system quite easily.

Something I find quite interesting is the drop in/drop out system. Players can skip sessions as they choose and their character is put into stasis so to speak (Or in game terms, you can make something up. We pretended our Druid character was still trying to figure out how to open a door, it made for many jokes.) But not only can people drop out, new players can join any time, we had a new guy take over our NPC guide (And they were in cohorts with the GM and planned a ruse to steal the treasure from right on under us. No, I did not expect our NPC guide to take the crystal and fly away) he was only with us for two sessions, so it made sense, and another new guy who joined us in the dragon’s cave, his character simply following the underground tunnel he found. So I’m really digging this system.

There are also two groups playing the same campaign where I D&D. I know a guy in the other group and from the stories we’ve told each other, our group dynamics are very different. Where-as his group attacked the dragon head on and nearly died, we reunited the same dragon with his son and left with a gift, unharmed. Where-as, his group dived into the mountain of gold and claimed lots of magic armour and weapons, my character rolled off the same mountain, respecting the dragons wishes. Quite ironic seeing as my character is a self-proclaimed treasure hunter who has been unable to get any treasure at all, so far. And one last one, the other group ran past all the trap rooms and made it straight to the good stuff, whilst mine hit every conceivable trap, blew up half the tomb with an explosion and set some dragons eggs on fire before running like hell. So it is quite interesting to me how we can all follow the same path, but walk it in completely different ways.

Sherlock Series 3 Wrap-up

I thoroughly enjoyed this series, as it is the first one that wasn't based directly on any of the classic stories. We really got to see John and Sherlock make amends, rekindle their friendship and solve personal problems as well as mysteries. The only Issue I have is the 'twist' ending of the series. I simply don't agree with it, it's a twist for the sake of a twist that ruined a nice ending, and I feel it weakens all the characters involved.

Community Season 5 Episode 4

The group deals with Pierce's death, let's loose some secrets they've been keeping from each other and gives Troy a send-off that makes sense. The entire episode takes place within the study room where everyone is hooked up to a lie detector. It really points out (By having someone say 'They're lying' or 'They're telling the truth') the subtext that normally goes into everything everyone says. They're not always telling the truth, but maybe, that's for the best. Not everything needs to be shared for good reason. It was a tired concept I felt only worked because of the study group. Even so, it wasn't an amazing episode full of witty jokes, but it was still worth watching.