TheFunkyBass

Funniest thing of this show is the fact that there's more detail in the blood and guts than the animation. For instance, there's a scene where Mark, the protagonist, crashes into downtown Chicago and does a rolling animation of like 2 or 3 frames per roll while all the 3D-generated civilians around him explode like zits.

Beyond superficial observations, there isn't much depth or charisma found in this show. The main characters are mostly uninteresting and/or unlikeable, safe for Robot (the most fascinating character in the show), Cecil (who's interesting mainly b/c he's mysterious) and Debbie (who emotionally goes through a lot).

The main problems with the show is that it has nothing though-provoking to say (that hasn't been done way better) and there's no rewarding payoff when the show ends, other than there's a season 2 (yey?). It leaves no long lasting impressions other than a wtf moment every episode, usually as cliffhanger. But with so many good cliffhangers, there's disappointingly little payoff after the mandatory "epic showdown finale".

I might watch season 2 though, not because I'm invested in the characters, but because the world that Kirkman made is quite unique with a lot of stuff to play with.

A boy disappears mysteriously in a small village next to a forest and private facilities. The story is played by different characters of the town, including the family of the disappeared and a policeman who works alone. Sounds familiar?

Dark is essentially Stranger Things with time travel instead of a parallel universe, has better cinematography, and less interesting characters.

The characters are so monotonous that it is difficult to be invested in them; there is no character to relate with. The protagonist seems to be Jonas, but ends up being one of the characters with less screen time. The most interesting characters are Mikkel and Hannah, but for each Hannah, there is a Charlotte.

The series is mainly science fiction with elements of mystery and drama, but it focuses more on the melodrama of the characters with not much happening in each episode; the story seems to only progress in the last 2 minutes of each episode. Where is the notion of adventure? Where is the intrigue?

It's no spoiler to mention that the show uses the Novikov self-consistency principle as the rule for time travel, since it's the first thing they mention in the show: "everything is connected". So much so, that the show opens up with a quote by Einstein: "The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion". The principle affirms that it would be impossible to create time paradoxes, and yet the show contradicts itself with paradoxes, just like the watchmaker acknowledges in the last episode.

The ending leads to nothing, and only creates more questions than it answers. In conclusion, Dark is a series with an interesting concept featuring not so interesting characters.

So I just binge-watched Cobra Kai and it was as good as I expected it to be. Not great, but good, at least slightly better than the original Karate Kid mainly because it added layers to the rivalry between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. The character arcs of the kids were also entertaining to watch.

This could have been a great show if it was handled better. It was cheesy at times and the behavior and psychology of some students were primal. There are also things that don't make sense, for example, Daniel didn't ask or look up his most trusted employee's last name. Maybe he trusted him so much that he didn't need to know his last name (???)

I'm still looking forward for next season though.