Is the term “killer app” still in parlance in the tech community? If not, quick rundown: hardware by itself doesn’t sell, or at least doesn’t sell for long. This is particularly true with game consoles and is why they tend to jealously guard their library of IPs. I remember the original release of the Xbox, and my local group and I had next to no interest in shelling out for that thing until we played HALO at a friend’s house, and within a few months all of us had an Xbox. Because HALO. That one game was arguable what made the Xbox a contender in the console marketplace. It was the “killer app.” A couple of decades earlier, the consensus was that as far as emerging videocassette technology was concerned, Betamax was the clearly superior format to VHS. And yet VHS won out, because the porn industry chose to make their tapes compatible with it. In the world of entertainment, the tail wags the dog.
Why do I bring this up? Well, mostly because I love to be oblique and bury the lede. The lede is that during the writer’s strike we canceled our Netflix subscription. The days where Netflix was the only real game in town for streaming were long gone and the prices kept going up while the management was making some very questionable decisions with their “software,” i.e. their library both of existing titles and newly minted exclusives. Some of it wasn’t their fault or under their control as major players were getting their own channels into circulation and circling the wagons, calling their IPs home so that you weren’t going to see Disney and such available anymore. Other decisions like canceling the Dark Crystal prequel series made me feel like one of those anime protagonists who has to clench their fists with tears streaming from their eyes and declare “I cannot forgive you!”
But if I’m totally honest it was probably the costs. Some people can afford to buy all the consoles and some can’t, right? And there was nothing particularly compelling keeping me there. After cancelling of course I found out no one else did even though we’d all talked about it, and Netflix apparently got its act back together and was putting out some good apps again, but… I held out. Even with Dawn poking at me hopefully every so often and pointing to things our friends were raving over like Blue Eyed Samurai, I held out.
So Netflix called in the nuclear option and hit me with their ads for Season 2 of Arcane: League of Legends.
There was no defense. They knew of my love for Season 1 and my figuring they would just cancel it like they canceled all other good and right things in the world, and no, they renewed it and waved it before me and my dumb bull ass ran right into the anvil of resubscription.
But here’s the kicker. It’s good. It may even be better than the first Season, and that’s particularly surprising in a world where sequels and prequels so often don’t measure up to what we loved in the first go ’round.
No, good doesn’t quite capture it. Six episodes in and everything shows the hallmarks of not only a generous budget but the work of a creative team firing on all cylinders with the storytelling, voice acting, and especially the animation. It’s gorgeous. It’s moving. It was worth the wait, and worth my pride in crawling on back to the entertainment ex.
I still have a lot of worry for Season 2 of Andor, although for better or worse my Disney+ subscription just renewed for the year. Now that we can pick and choose there’s a lot more need to keep an eye on what we’re picking and choosing. But for now, I have found a new killer app, and I am content.
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2 thoughts on “538 – Astute Paranoia”
darius404
Well that’s a pretty damn good question! Another reminder that Chuck isn’t stupid.
Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)
Corpo sponsored snuff films … no surprise there. I wonder what voice over model they use – dispassionate wildlife commentator or enthusiastic conservationist. Or maybe Nascar ?