Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 03:01:02 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Search Party - The Fifth and Final Season

Started by Small Man Big Horse, January 08, 2022, 09:49:33 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Small Man Big Horse

Season 4 thread: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=84595.0

I loved this show for the first three seasons, liked the first half of season 4, and then the ending fucked me off no end, to the point that initially I wasn't sure if I'd watch the fifth season. I still haven't but plan to make a start on it today, but I'm glad it's been announced that it's the final one as otherwise I'm not sure I'd bother. And I just thought I'd post a thread here as I didn't see much about it elsewhere, bar the AV Club announcing it's airing there hasn't been a huge amount of fanfare.

Small Man Big Horse

Episode one has won me round a fair bit, perhaps knowing it's the final season helps but I really liked a lot of the directions the story has taken, from
Spoiler alert
Elliot getting back together with Marc and them adopting a terrifying child and Drew and Portia secretly fucking. I've a couple of minor issues (Would Dory really be committed on the same day that she'd died on the way to hospital?; And also, an evaluation every eighteen months? Is that really a thing in America for someone who was sectioned by friends?)
[close]
but otherwise this was pretty great.


BeardFaceMan

I might watch this if it's the last season, I thought the 4th season was very poor, glad to hear its got better.

chveik

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on January 08, 2022, 09:51:28 PM
Spoiler alert
Would Dory really be committed on the same day that she'd died on the way to hospital? And also, an evaluation every eighteen months? Is that really a thing in America for someone who was sectioned by friends?)
[close]

nah that's not how it works. the show's never been really interested in realism so it doesn't matter that much for me

Mister Six

I thought the fourth season was decent enough, although not at the heights of the second and third. I do wish they'd still allow for characters that aren't total cunts to exist, though. I think everyone in season 4 was repellant in some way.

Vitalstatistix

Wooooo. Love this show. All the serious, almost torture-porny kidnapped stuff last season was such a fucking slog. I hope, once again, they can get back to the more satirical and character-based gang stuff which they do so well. Any scene with Elliott and Portia is guaranteed gold as far as I'm concerned. Haven't seen any of the new season yet.

Ant Farm Keyboard

Half the season, including the first episode, is directed by John Lee (pffr) who had already shot two episodes from the fourth season (not the worst ones).

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: chveik on January 08, 2022, 10:18:34 PMnah that's not how it works. the show's never been really interested in realism so it doesn't matter that much for me


Eh, I'm not completely sure about that, I'd say it definitely applies to the fourth season but not really before that. Having looked in to detail about it it's apparently illegal to involuntarily detain someone for an indefinite amount of time, so it's something which does bother me, though I wish it didn't.

Ant Farm Keyboard

FFS, the third season was about a murder trial in New York for someone killed in Canada.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on January 09, 2022, 03:14:04 PMFFS, the third season was about a murder trial in New York for someone killed in Canada.

You're absolutely right, I guess it was just an element of the show I hadn't noticed before the fourth season when the storylines really started to become deranged.

Peabo Bryson Is Not Dead

The final season is a total joy because they go
Spoiler alert
balls out with weirdness, total bat shit crazy, and for Search Party, that's saying something. There is a total detachment from realism, reality and, darn it, this mortal coil.
[close]

Joy really is a great word to describe it. The fun exploding from the screen from cast and writing either means they wanted to go out with a big bang or they just didn't care anymore.

Oh, and both John Waters and Jeff Goldblum star
Spoiler alert
as themselves, roles they pulls off with aplomb
[close]
.

Enrico Palazzo

Still impatiently waiting for series 3 to appear here. Tried casting it from streaming sites recently but every one I tried was useless. I don't want to watch it on a laptap - can someone recommend a way to make this come on my tv? Would have been happy to buy series 3 and 4 but that isn't even an option.

chveik

very funny series, and great casting for the side characters

ProvanFan

I've enjoyed the ride. Always felt to me after the first season that they loved writing themselves into corners, just allowing mad things to happen and seeing where it all ends up. To the extent that this season I fully believed
Spoiler alert
they were going to the centre of the Earth.
[close]

BeardFaceMan

Halfway through this and it's a big improvement on S4, much funnier.

BeardFaceMan

And now they've gone full
Spoiler alert
zombie mode
[close]
with it, utterly bonkers. I'm actually disappointed it's going to end now.

Vitalstatistix

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on January 11, 2022, 10:14:22 PMHalfway through this and it's a big improvement on S4, much funnier.

Yep I'm four episodes in and it's fantastic isn't it? So many laugh-out-loud moments and unexpected narrative detours. Can already confidently say this is much better than S4.

SteveDave

We got to episode 6 or 7 last night and it's a big drop-off from series 4 for me. Tonally it feels all wrong.

I was amazed that the princess' mum and grandma were Sting's wife and Aunt May respectively though. For a while I thought the mum was Jane Asher.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: SteveDave on January 12, 2022, 09:58:02 AMWe got to episode 6 or 7 last night and it's a big drop-off from series 4 for me. Tonally it feels all wrong.

I was amazed that the princess' mum and grandma were Sting's wife and Aunt May respectively though. For a while I thought the mum was Jane Asher.

That's what I thought about season 4, the comedy took a bit of a backseat and now in season 5 it's front and center again.

They do have a very good supporting cast in this show.

SteveDave

I'd be interested to read about how series 5 was made. It seems like 4 was a natural ending. Did they get offered a shit tonne of money to do another series so made it as implausible as possible? To stop any further series happening?

I did not enjoy this series.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: chveik on January 08, 2022, 10:18:34 PMnah that's not how it works. the show's never been really interested in realism so it doesn't matter that much for me.

Following on from the above discussion four episodes in and I'm now enjoying the show an awful lot, but detaching it from reality and not taking it seriously - and not really caring if the characters live or die - has changed how I watch it an awful lot and is why I'm liking it so much, especially given how absurd and bizarre it now is.

peanutbutter

season 3 put me off tbh, I'm gathering 4 is worse?

Small Man Big Horse

Some loved it but I struggled, on the plus side Susan Sarandon turns up for a couple of episode and is just amazing, but I really didn't like the season finale, though in the light of the fifth season it's made me revise my opinion a certain extent.

Vitalstatistix

Quote from: Peabo Bryson Is Not Dead on January 10, 2022, 01:12:13 AMJoy really is a great word to describe it. The fun exploding from the screen from cast and writing either means they wanted to go out with a big bang or they just didn't care anymore.

Finished it now and I totally agree. A joyous season of wonder and silliness. The way this show frequently moves so agilely from a kind of shimmering beauty, e.g.
Spoiler alert
the disciples floating off the ground
[close]
to an almost Children's Hospital / Medical Police-esque embrace of pure buffoonery, e.g.
Spoiler alert
Elliott disguising himself as "Dr. Carpet" and teaching the other interns how to "sacrifice rats and extract their livers"
[close]
is nothing short of astonishing.

I want to watch it all again immediately, there were just so many instant-classic moments and scenes. Off the top of my head I was floored by:
Spoiler alert
- The whole Chantal sub-plot, with Kathy Griffin! "So you're saying that this 93-your-old man is my son... with that child?"
- "Hot Baby"
- Elliott and Marc's evil adopted son, with John Waters!
- The self-driving cop car ("a pullover is a garment worn on the top half of the body. Do you accept this definition?" / "Please speak with a kinder tone")
- The funhouse zombie massacre followed by the escape on a Go-Kart
- "She had every awful thing you could have: scabies, mites, tapeworms, fleas, tics, bedbugs, body lice. They all just kinda ate away at her from all sides. And then of course they ate each other" *other woman in waiting room edges away
- Jeff Goldblum hunting himself with a rifle (and of course the journey to the center of the earth!)
- Joe Pera!
- The Jesper Society It parody (Michael Ian Black!)
[close]

Grinning ear-to-ear just thinking about it all.

Moribunderast

Just finished this and thought it was very fun if, obviously, VERY silly. John Early and Meredith Hagner continue to steal every scene they're in.

I lost it in Episode 6 with Drew and the
Spoiler alert
Jesper Society. Him just walking into the film IT and being totally over it - just slayed me. "Why was this the hardest thing I've ever done? It's so late now!"
[close]

On the direction the entire last season took:
Spoiler alert
It's funny that it ended up going full zombie-mode because the moment the Lyte building had all the influencers, I immediately thought of Dead Set. I wonder if that show served as inspiration at all for this season or if it was just a bit coincidental?
[close]

Anyway, very enjoyable stuff. All feels FAR removed from the show as it was in season one but the core cast remained great throughout and Goldblum was a delight.

Small Man Big Horse

I was really enjoying this season right up until the final episode, Vitalstatistix's list of highlights pretty matches mine
Spoiler alert
(and Joe Pera talking about breakfast just before being killed had me laughing a huge amount) but I was hoping that in the finale they'd kill off all of the main characters except Dory. Not that I didn't love them (well, I struggled with Drew, but I think that's because he reminds me of someone I know in real life), and I get the point that these awful, horrendous people were responsible for the deaths of millions but they don't really care in the slightest, but a Portia or Elliot zombie would have been fun to see, as would the reaction from Drew and Dory. Oh, and I'd like to have seen Jeff Goldblum as a zombie simply because it would have been fun to watch too
[close]

Overall despite some minor issues it's definitely something I'd recommend to others, but I'm glad it's over now, there's really no need for it to ever return.

phantom_power

I think the larger point of these people drifting through life never really suffering the consequences of their actions was worth not seeing zombie Elliott or Portia.

This show managed to get an amazing array of guest stars for the odd one or two episodes.

mjwilson

Quick necro-bump to say that the whole show is on iPlayer. Don't think I've seen anything since season 2 so I don't remember a thing, but let's see what happens if I just jump into S3.

#28
Quote from: mjwilson on January 08, 2023, 09:10:33 PMlet's see what happens if I just jump into S3.

Prepare to be increasingly disappointed.

ETA: For anyone who hasn't watched this - the first two seasons are fantastic and would highly recommend. S3 is decent enough, S4 is OK and S5 I didn't finish.

Twilkes

Just watched S1 and based on how various overviews read I'm refusing to watch any more as another four seasons would take up too much of my spare time - every character is a horrendous person and I ended S1 wishing they'd all been impaled on that sharp obelisk. I came for the mystery, and I'm leaving for the ridiculous storylines. :)