Polliver and The Tickler are the torturers in the episode. The thing Mellisandre gave birth to, well....

The torture scenes were really too much for me. This is why I can't watch movies like Hostel or Saw.

Just when you think Joffrey can't get any more repellant....

But then, they do remind you that he could be a whole lot worse.

The torture scenes were really too much for me. This is why I can't watch movies like Hostel or Saw.

They didn't quite ping me, but came close. I actually had more of problem with Deadwood and the episode where Kristin Bell was murdered. It was brutal enough that it almost put me off the show entirely.

As for Saw and Hostel, I'm actually quite fond of the Saw movies, particularly the first couple. They are gory, but they're not torture porn. They are (for me) very clever, and Jigsaw is a great horror villain, particularly because he never actually does any of the violence himself. He puts his "victims" in situations and lets the situations play themselves out. (Also, I put the word "victims" in quote because, like the old EC Horror comics such as Tales From the Crypt, the "victims" are usually rather nasty pieces of work who rather seem to deserve the punishment heaped upon them.)

I've never been particularly interested in the Hostel movies however, for much the same reason you are not. However I have recently read some rather well written defenses of what Eli Roth is trying to do with the Hostel movies that have made me question this stance.

I watched the first episode of Magic City.

And then when I started watching the 2nd one, I realized I just didn't care and deleted it.

Aw, sumi, no. Really? Is it actively bad or just meh?

I just didn't really like any of the characters enough.

Damn. He looks so good in the stills I've seen, and I thought the set porn would be fun. But it's not like I'm signing up for Starz anytime soon, so.

I just didn't really like any of the characters enough.

This was my experience of Magic City. I wanted to love the costumes and ambiance but the characters are not compelling and the story is just unrelentingly dreary. The dialog is really clunky too.

I was really disappointed because I have liked JDM in other things. In this, his character is so weak and dishonorable, I just couldn't care what happened to him.

Plus, and I get that this is a weird quibble but, in the first episode something happens to the main character's wife that everyone, including JDM's character...who professes to love her to distraction...handles despicably. It makes her look stupid and shallow, which is totally counter to how her character is set up.

[whitefont] JDM gazes out over the hotel pool and sees the wife's white poodle floating, dead. He calls a lackey to 'go get another one and make sure it's a girl this time', as if dogicide is a normal and recurring mob thing. The wife never notices that her beloved pooch has been replaced.

Also, it might just be me, but the sex on this, as on other Starz shows, is so grimy and sordid that is just not enjoyable to watch.

Vanity Fair has a sneak preview of the new Sorkin HBO show Newsroom: [link]