tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday: What are you watching?

I watched all of S1 of Ekaterina, a Russian production on Catherine the Great. Not really that captivating though the occasional sets and costumes were nice to look at. Having watched all of The Great it was interesting to see how little those stories overlapped.

I also watched all of The Wilderness, which I wouldn't call "twisty" so much as suspenseful. I find twisty stuff to be more unpredictable and this went down expected roads, but not knowing where the turns were kept things interesting. From the description I expected this to be a lot more "road trip" stuff whereas that's only a small part of it.

Otherwise there's nothing that was new, just more progress on some shows I'm watching together with my partner. This next week we'll be finishing all of them, just in time for our Prime membership to end. I also started watching Tin Star but I suspect I'll be forwarding through a lot of it. I think the premise would have been a more enjoyable comedy-small town drama. Instead it's more political murder drama which I'm finding a downer. I might try out something else this week as I still have time to get through a whole season of something.

I watched:
- Fallout E1: Great visuals and music, but a little too slow for my liking. Probably my own fault because I jumped in blind, knowing next to nothing about the game universe.

- Parasyte: The Grey: Surprisingly watchable. Didn't expect much but I'm actually a little invested. Love the lead actress.

- Ripley E1: Enjoyed it. However, I'm simply not a white-and-black fan, so I haven't watched more already.

- Taskmaster UK S17 E3: Starting to like the contestants. No clear favorite yet but I find Nick Mohammed so, so charming.

I still intend to finish Three-Body but I was on a very stressful business trip and didn't feel like continuing.

New on my to-watch list: Monster (anime)

I watched Fallout. Binged the season because I like to be able to chat about media without worrying about spoilers. My overall take is 'it's ok'.

I said basically that but with a lot more words in my journal

My partner and I spent most of the week watching Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen (Netflix), which was a fun ride. It didn't end with a huge bang -- more like a set-up for a possible season 2 -- and the main characters are both kind of inaccessibly capable and hard as nails. But yeah, overall fun, quirky, violent.

We watched episode 2 of Shogun (weekly TV date with a friend). I'm still finding my feet with the cast and politics. Also Krapopolis and Ted Lasso 2.01 (rewatch; not sure if we'll continue on to season 3 as well).

Last night, we watched the first three episodes of Boston Legal.

Oh, also, a couple of episodes of a UK science/tech/magazine show called The Secret Genius of Modern Life, which is fun! It's presented by a maths professor, Hannah Fry. The first episode is about all the technology that goes into a bank card, and episode 2 was about food delivery apps. Will definitely be continuing.

Heartbreak High - binged Season 2 and loved it. I don't think it was as good as S1, but I still enjoyed it.

Fallout - Watched Ep 1 and it was ok. I will watch the rest, but it didn't leave me feeling "omg this is so good I have to binge it all now" so I will watch it bit by bit I guess.

Is it cake? watched season 3 of this show which I enjoy. The host is funny but a bit over the top.

Hunted UK - Binged a few seasons which was fun. I love it when the contestants make it to the extraction point.

Otherwise its just been weekly stuff.

About to watch the new series Baby Reindeer on Netflix which looks pretty interesting.

I'm trying shows but not really sticking with anything? (Outside of my normal fair. My soap all of a sudden got good with new writers. Oh this is a separate discussion topic? When new writers take over a long-running series, they love to fix everything they think is wrong with it. This only happens with really long-running serials or comics. Things that have been going since the 1960s and have had a lot of writer turn-over over the years. The cast and characters are usually the same in most cases but the writers aren't. It's kind of like having someone buy your house and decide to refurbish it, remodel some rooms, knock out walls, build a deck, repaint, etc. I love watching them do it with television shows and comics - I'm highly amused by what they decide to fix, and what they leave alone. Also X-men 97 - which kind of did the same thing - it's a reboot/continuation of the 1990s X-men animated series but oh so much better.)

What I've tried?

* Fallout on Amazon Prime - I made through the first episode. Which was okay. I really like Maximos, a guy who is a squire to a knight in a big suite. But outside of that? I'm kind of ambivalent, and he's not enough to pull me in? I probably will continue with it, but on the fence.

* The New Look on Apple TV - It's about Christian Dior (Ben Mendlesohn), Coco Chanel (Juliette Bionche) in WWII Nazi occupied France - as told by Dior in flashbacks. I'm having troubles following it? My attention keeps wandering. So gave up after about twenty minutes.

* Resident Alien - finished S1, but on the fence about S2. It's getting a bit dark?

* The Ark - Prime, this is the Australian animated series - and it's okay? Not really pulling me in, gave up after four episodes. It's about a bunch of people who are pulled from various locations in history and around the world to a mysterious pre-historic island, and they are all attempting to get home or just survive on the island.

* The Gentlemen - it's okay, reminds me a little of Peaky Blinders with rich people? But its not.
Guy Ritchie has a kind of jumpy directorial style? And you either love it or hate it. I'm on the fence about it. Also on the fence about the cast. Theo James is okay, but he doesn't compel me like Cillian Murphy did in Peaky. Made it through three episodes, may go back to it.

***

Movies?

Dunkirk - really good. Highly recommend. Not at all what I expected. It follows various characters who all eventually interconnect, affect one another's lives and end up in the same space or help each other get there. I finally watched it because the book I'm reading - Yellowface by RF Kuang talked about it, and I got intrigued.

I watched the latest episode of Will Trent, which was good. I watched this week's So Help Me Todd, which was cute and funny as always. I watched an episode of Poetry in America which I had recorded maybe last year? It was on Whitman's "The Wound Dresser." Great poem, great episode, too. And on Amazon Prime, I watched a handful of random episodes of different shows. The one I liked most was from 1990(!), BBC's The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries. This was episode one, series one, so there will be what, three or four more? I'm hoping for a Baker's dozen before it peters out. Each episode is 90 minutes so there's that. And I can always read the books, assuming I can find them.

I'm a couple of episodes into Ripley and ambivalent about it (noting imprinted on The Talented Mr Ripley at an age where I was probably too young to actually be watching it :p) I don't actually feel like the Ripley here is that into Dickie, and I should??

Also halfway through the Netflix 3 Body Problem now and enjoying it. Although I suspect I might not want to overthink some elements!

Chucky is back with episodes for Season 3! Episode 5 was a huge mess, as expected, but in a good way. Lots of blood and gore and I admit that I do love old!Chucky lol

Shogun episode 8 continues to stun me with its character and plot development! The political subplots are all so damn well written.

What Jennifer Did for this weekend's True Crime documentary about Jennifer Pan. It was pretty awful, but what shocked me most was the way she

spoilers for a real life case??

lied to her parents about being in college for 4 whole years and falsified a diploma for herself. Like???? Wow.

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