Tv Shows
Little Fires Everywhere
Earnest drama set in borderline caricature town, starring Reese Witherspoon as a genuinely unpleasant mother figure. Great performances – esp. from the 2nd half of the series with the 20-somethings playing younger versions of the parent characters. Lots going on, and as you get closer to the end it’s more & more of a guess…
Greyzone
I really admire a series crafted to be self-contained like this – Birgitte Hjort Sorensen (Borgen, Pitch Perfect 2, very briefly Game Of Thrones) – leads this FBI-equivalent terrorist drama set in Stockholm/Copenhagen, which while seemingly straightforward contains enough plot twists and moral ambiguity to keep it compelling. A fantasy plot, told in a way…
Condor
More compelling CIA action (who knew we liked spy stuff so much!) which was all the more baffling for being totally un-putdownable for around 7 of the 10 episodes, but finishing in a way so ambivalent that neither of us could recall mere days afterwards what had actually happened. 👍
Upload
We were really taken by this series with a sensibility of The Good Place, alongside the tech/scifi concepts of Black Mirror, with a hint of Season 1 West World thrown in. It’s a solid watch with some good character development and an intriguing story, told in the theatre of a gripping VR-afterlife setting. Looking forward…
Treadstone
We bailed on this partway through cos we couldn’t follow who was who for the most part. Are all younger people looking the same now? Well, that, and finding out it had been axed after one season. Pretty far from compelling, which is a shame because Bourne-style MKUltra sleeper agent stories hold a lot of…
Run
Sweet/amusing-enough story about ppl approaching middle-age activating a youth-sealed pact to ease the drudgery in their lives, which takes a turn for the more sinister once it’s got its hooks in you. I found the appearance of Phoebe Waller-Bridge playing a character VERY distracting, as much as looking at the main bloke and seeing the…
Schitt’s Creek – Season 6
The final & victory lap for a comedic masterpiece – following the fortunes of the Rose family in the town they came to own as a joke, and centering around the wedding of son David & his partner Patrick, as well as the resolution of the storyline of daughter Alexis. So ridiculous, such love, and…
Dead to Me – Season 2
One of those shows where seemingly normal people get caught up in an unusual but plausible circumstance, and then have you watching agape at how they choose to respond and the decisions they make. Sometimes difficult to watch because Christina Applegate’s character traits and a couple of her aspects of her look in this remind…
Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker
We were really starting to settle into this before abruptly learning it was a 4-part miniseries. Spencer gives a solid portrayal of a principled, driven woman who wants to take life on her own terms, and finds the men in her life not looking good at all. Her business is a nascent empire built more…