That's a fairly long-winded analogy but I understand what you mean. Mystery box seems to be a really divisive genre/style in television, and I'm definitely more in your camp where I really start to lose interest in a show once I feel it's going down that route. I think a lot of people love the online communities and detailed discussions that these shows generate, because fan theories are never really disproven until the final episode or two of a show. However, I think that's also part of the reason why the endings tend to be so divisive - a lot of people get caught up in their own fan-canon idea of what the show is about and are very disappointed when they get a reality check from the people actually making it.
Kvaesitso can sort of do what you're describing. It has widget support and you can change the app drawer layout to a list style, similar to Niagara. However, I don't believe it has the scroll by alphabet feature of Niagara (although it does have search).
I watched most of the first season when it came out but decided to drop it as a precaution. It seemed very obvious to me from the start that they were all just dead and it was some kind of purgatory. People who watched Lost kept saying it felt similar, too. The show was giving off real meandering mystery box vibes and it felt like something that could have a very unsatisfying end or perhaps not even make it there due to a cancellation. I might pick it up again if/when it's completed and if the big twist isn't just "they were dead all along".
It's interesting how music streaming has become so dominant in the public consciousness now that the first thought of new pirates is "how can I download from a streaming service?" rather than just downloading music through the same P2P mechanisms that have existed for decades. It's like music just doesn't exist outside of streaming for younger generations.
Not really sure how to feel about Season 2 of this show. Initially I wanted the story to continue, then I made my peace with the ending of Season 1 (or at that time the entire show) and appreciated the openness of it. Now that they're actually doing a Season 2 I kinda feel like some of the hype has been lost for me. I suppose it's quite similar to how I felt about Westworld. I finished the first season, thought it had a great open ending, and then assumed the show was done. Then I realised they'd actually released a ton of other seasons so I tried to watch Season 2 and just felt like it was undermining everything that was great about Season 1 as a standalone story.
The second big thing is Daemon. I’m not sure what he was doing all season. Part of that might just be we need to use Matt Smith since we’re paying him, but after season one his season two story just seemed so strange and weak.
I've heard this complaint before and I don't really understand it. I thought it was pretty clear that the entire arc of the character in Season 2 was there to build tension around his rift with Rhaenyra. His character is setup as one that is selfish and envious with desires for the throne, so there is a question mark over where his allegiance lies. This ties in with a lot of the stress that builds on Rhaenyra throughout Season 2. Her position looks increasingly weak, particularly without Daemon and his dragon, but just when it's looking most bleak he reaffirms his loyalty to her in that pretty epic scene in the throne room at Harrenhal. I thought Season 2 was a really great comeback arc for Rhaenyra, and Daemon plays a big role in that.
I will admit that the stuff with Alys Rivers and Daemon's hallucinations/dreams/visions(?) was quite confusing. I think any time the TV shows try to bring in this pagan stuff with the trees, seers, etc, it causes problems because they just haven't laid any of the groundwork for a TV-only viewer to fully understand what is happening. Contributing to this confusion was that I was also aware of the concept of Targaryen madness, so I thought maybe he was just going insane. My takeaway was that this was also supposed to symbolise the internal grief he was dealing with as he wrestled with his own ambition, and that the final vision he had at the tree was sort of a confirmation of what part of him already knew to be true (that Rhaenyra should rule). Maybe this stuff distracted, rather than aided, the core character arc and that's why people felt like he did nothing when he was actually one of the pivotal characters in Season 2.
Also I kinda disagree with this narrative that Season 2 had a weak ending. It's a comeback arc that finishes on the comeback, it was a very suitable ending for this phase of the story. Sometimes I feel like people just want to see action and big battles, or they view the show as one big continuous story instead of one divided into smaller parts, but that's not how I see it at all. For Season 2 to have worked as Part 2, it needed to end as it did. Starting a giant battle in one of the final episodes would have completely undermined the rest of the season. As I said, there were definitely pacing issues which contributed to a lot of padding towards the latter stages of the season (constantly cutting back to Rhaena running around doing nothing was really egregious) but I think overall it worked well to setup bigger and more direct confrontations in Season 3 and 4.
Course idk if this show is even worth watching for free
It's definitely an acquired taste. If you like classic films, noir, hardboiled detective, or a just a fan of creative direction and cinematography then I think you'll enjoy it. You can tell the people making it are complete film geeks; their love for all of that stuff shines through very strong. However, the characters are mostly uninteresting/underdeveloped and as far as neo-noir mystery goes it's nothing special. I'm personally a big fan of the "private detective in LA" trope and the interior monologue (narration) from the main character plays into that, so I enjoyed it. The sci-fi twist comes very late and will presumably have more of an impact in the second season.
Now there is a concern that some of the problems in season 2 only continue to get worse. GRRM has made it clear he thinks things are heading that way, but I’ll wait and see.
Which problems are you referring to? Season 2 definitely had some pacing issues but I don't recall any major systemic problems. I haven't read the books the show is based on, so if you need to spoil the story to explain then don't worry about it.
If any, it would be a cheap Chinese brand like Doogee or something. Probably the most reputable one you will find is the Samsung Galaxy XCover series.
But honestly, every smartphone has a replaceable battery. Just buy a new battery and follow a video guide, it's a low cost and simple process for every mainstream phone. It kills me a little bit every time I see people giving up on their perfectly usable phones because they don't want to pay someone else to replace the battery for them...just do it yourself guys.
Yes, it was really just an "enthusiast's" opinion on the history of the company. He referenced the older TechAltar video at the beginning and that was a much better, if more generalised, discussion. I'd actually be more interested to hear about the "downfall" of Nothing, since it's a newer brand I haven't really followed much and one that was sort of established in response to the "downfall" of OnePlus.
I did the three extended editions over three days a few years ago. Definitely a great way to watch them, it really adds a lot to Frodo and Sam's journey. You share in their exhaustion by the end of it.
'Forgotten War' by Henry Reynolds and the SBS documentary series 'The Australian Wars' are good accompaniments to this. Both go into the significant clashes in more detail.
Has that URL been confirmed as official? It was initially setup as a mirror of the original (with different donation info) and the main page says it was last updated in 2019.
That's a fairly long-winded analogy but I understand what you mean. Mystery box seems to be a really divisive genre/style in television, and I'm definitely more in your camp where I really start to lose interest in a show once I feel it's going down that route. I think a lot of people love the online communities and detailed discussions that these shows generate, because fan theories are never really disproven until the final episode or two of a show. However, I think that's also part of the reason why the endings tend to be so divisive - a lot of people get caught up in their own fan-canon idea of what the show is about and are very disappointed when they get a reality check from the people actually making it.