[tw04]

I’ll give apparently a controversial take. The show is great. If you’re going into it expecting the books to be the guiding source material you’ll be severely disappointed. If you go into it assuming you’re watching a show that roughly takes high level concepts from the books but is its own thing and let it stand on its own, I think it’s worth watching.

[georgeecollins]

I'm fine with series not following the books. But the show bugs me because it has great production values -- particularly the third season -- and great actors. But the writing and plotting is all over the place ranging to very bad. It is a bit dumb and always pretentious. It's the 70's version of Battlestar Galactica of our age.

[senkora]

This is the issue that I have with many Apple TV+ shows. The production value is always very high, but it has no correlation with whether the writing is actually good.

[mrguyorama]

This is just the state of American video media production right now.

Projects are massively expensive, including a lot spent on "looking expensive", but the writing cannot be as expertly crafted because the high expense means upper management craves purpose and control and meddles with things, and the giant "target" audience means you can't do anything interesting.

[ajmurmann]

I also found the pacing to be inconsistent at best.

[pavlov]

The Lee Pacing is consistently great though.

[ajmurmann]

Honestly the Cleons story line has been the only storyline I consistently enjoyed. All other ones suffered from both pacing and idiot plot issues at various times.

[MengerSponge]

Lee Pace is great, and the "genetic empire" is a brilliant solution to a hard problem unique to television.

Brother Dawn: How often do we make this choice?

Demerzel: You always make this choice.