tonybjo Reviews

Cobra Kai (2018–2025)

So cliché and stereotypical..

[5/10 · 24 January 2021]

I've only seen a bit into the first season so it might change for the better but at the moment I'm really not impressed. The characters are so amateurly written.

The main character is basically a degenerate bully thus far. It feels like they've set the bar really low so that the upcoming "development" will be more extreme but some of it is so wrong. He is basically a bully under the guise of "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". He bullies a kid with a lip scar until he leaves and later returns with a changed look. But what's the moral there? Bully someone until they change..? He also talks to a girl like an extreme chauvinist and doesn't respect her until she beats a male kid. Again.. is the moral to be violent because it brings the respect of the other gender..? The other characters aren't much better either, it all feels like high schoolers written by lazy adults. There's a group of popular girls who act like total b**ches towards the unpopular fat girl. They are also friends with one of the main characters but then suddenly leave her because of a lie that some guy told. Every character says something cliché in pretty much every single episode. I don't understand the lauding reviews at all. I hope it gets better but I don't know if I can stand much more of what I've seen so far..

The Undoing (2020)

Pretty good until the last episode..

[6/10 · 16 January 2021]

It was a captivating story that keeps the viewer interested throughout although with some clichée anti-climactic cliffhangers but generally pretty good. The acting is also pretty good for the most part although Kidman's facial surgeries seem to be somewhat detrimental to her acting. Hugh Grant did a good job in a more difficult role than he's used to, and the kid was impressive too. The problem really shows up in the end. When the explanation finally comes in the last episode it just feels lack-lustre and too simple. All that intrigue only for it to end with the easy way out. I had hoped that it would turn out that Grace's friend was the killer because that could have been both an interesting twist and be explained logically. Sadly it just ignored several episodes of build-up and hints and in the end it wasn't even believable. I highly doubt that a man can not show any hint of psychological trauma, visible for a psychiatrist wife to see, throughout a marriage of 14 years. The ending knocked the rating down from a 7 or 8, down to a 6 at best. I feel like the actors themselves should've complained at the final episode's plot, disappointing..