1-1-1 KsMIRT: no room for June

K'sMIRT is Kent's Month in Reviewing Television, where each month (or mebbe twice each month?!?) I step through the TV series I completed watching each month in the 1 Great-1 Good-1 Bad format.  These are shows I finished (or was finished with) in the past few weeks two months. 

This Month:
Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1(?) - Disney+ (8 episodes)
The Bear Season 3 - Disney+ (10 episodes)
Derry Girls Seasons 1-2 - Netflix (12 episodes)
Resident Alien Season 3 - CTV Sci-Fi/SyFy

I have, in recent months, been very reluctant to start watching any new TV series. The commitment to watching 5, 10 or 20 hours seems wildly unappealing to me now. The 2023 writers and actors strikes finally took its toll and new show starts this spring and summer have been at, like, a quarter volume of what they were a year ago. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as there has been too much content being cranked out since the streaming wars began in 2019. But with less choice, it also seems like we're being left to contend with the dregs. I know that's not true, but sometimes it's hard to escape the feeling. 

On a personal side, there's been a lot of sadness and tragedy this year, a lot of stress and a few changes that have occupied my brain space. I don't think I'm terribly receptive to long-form, dour murder shows (Natalie Portman's new Lady in the Lake looks good but I'm not able to psych myself up to watch it) and all the nerdy fantasy/sci-fi stuff like House of Dragons, Interview with a Vampire, Silo I already passed on last year and really don't feel like playing catch up.

My preference is easy, fluffy distraction. I can watch Taskmaster all day every day in all its many forms (I'm about ready for a full rewatch), I have gotten really into the Olympics after a few days of not paying any attention (all the beauty and the bloodshed), and we thought a binge watch of nearly 100 episodes of the old G.I. Joe cartoon was a smashing idea (and it was).  These are the shows that I've watched over the past two months (except Resident Alien which I watched months ago, but thought it was just on a  break, only to learn the season was indeed only 8 episodes long).

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Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1 

The What 100: 100 years before The Phantom Menace, in the age of the High Republic, child-of-force witches Mae is out for revenge on the Jedi for what happened to her and her coven in the past. Her twin sister, Osha, was taken (some might say rescued, but some might be wrong) by the Jedi and trained, only to leave the order for a quiet mechanic's life. Osha's former master, Sol, brings her back into the fold on the hunt for Mae, only to discover there's an even darker force pulling her strings and to find the Jedi have a dark secret of their own....

(1 Great): Lee Jung-jae as Jedi Master Sol delivers an incredible performance. He carries himself with wisdom and gravitas, while also being compassionate and caring. He is everything a Jedi Master should be, and yet he harbours a secret, a secret he's been keeping from Osha for years, and it's only in Mae's return does it come to the surface. [Mild spoiler] In the revelation of his secret, and the secret shared by all the Jedi Mae and her dark master have killed, it's not that we see Sol as an evil person, but a truly complex man who made an error or two in judgement and rationalized his actions to himself. Lee Jung-jae's performance throughout the show (which he learned English for) is so endearing that even when he reveals everything you can't help but feel for him, even with what we know. His tormented confession, when the wracking pain and guilt he's suppressing come to the surface, his tortured questioning of his own belief in the validity of his actions... it's a powerful, powerful moment that sticks with me.

(1 Good): There's a lot of good in this good show, but I will state that there are a couple of pivots this show makes that really surprised and delighted me.  The first is in the fourth episode that is largely one big fight. Mae and her dark master take on a squad of Jedi and, despite the constrained surroundings on a more limited TVstreaming budget, it's a very epic lightsaber fight, and it's pretty well executed. Again, a limited TVstreaming budget means it's not perhaps cinematic, but it's choreographed very well, it's shot well enough but it's the editing, cutting between different events happening at once which sells it all so well. Plus, some things happen that I really wasn't expecting.

(1 Bad): I'm still wrestling with how I feel about how the show was structured. Episodes 3 and 7 were both flashback episodes, telling the story of the Jedi's encounter with Mae and Osha's coven from two different points of view. These flashbacks are the full episode and interrupt the narrative flow of the main story.  These are total "show-not-tell" moments, and is the instigating incident that spirals into the events of the series, but I can't help but wonder if they would have been better served scattered throughout the series, ala Lost's flashbacks.  As well, the choice to not sustain any true mystery (beyond Sol's guilty deeds) was a clever decision, but at a certain point, I was saying to myself "oh, we're not going to tease this out either"? Like, is Osha the killer, no, by the end of the first episode we know it's her twin Mae. Who is Mae's dark master? Exactly who we think it is and it doesn't take long to figure it out. And more

Meta: I wanted to make the "bad" the discourse around this show, but that's really the "meta" of it all, and doesn't represent the quality of the show at all. There are, loosely considered, four camps to Star Wars: (1) toxic "fanboys" of the alt-right variety who think a universe full of fishmen, bug people and Wookies should for some reason not include people of any skin tone other than pale, and are very loud about it on the internet, (2) old-heads who think Star Wars=Luke, Han, and Leia and anything else is an unforgivable violation worth being angry over, (3) actual Star Wars fans who just like seeing new Star Wars (some who are more forgiving of quality than others), (4) the general populace who just watch Star Wars sometimes and have little to no ongoing investment in it.  Star Wars has thankfully given up on trying to appeal to the first group, as they should. At a certain point they will have to move past appealing to the second group, because the actors are either old or dead, and recasting has proven to be a quagmire. So Star Wars is left with the rest, which, frankly, is not insignificant, but it requires a difficult balance between appealing to the nerds who really want to dive into the shit the universe has to offer, and keeping things accessible and simple enough that the casual viewer can join.

I think The Acolyte did very well at striving for an appealing, character-based story that could satisfy both the fan and the general public.  The setting of the High Republic era has been "fans-only" terrain since it started appearing in books and comics a few years ago, but bringing it to live action brings this whole new style and type of Jedi-as-space-cops era to the public at large. I like the reinvisioning of Star Wars technology but 100 years earlier. There are less droids around, and the ones there are seem more simplistic. The space ships are bulkier and seem slower, but I really like the designs the show presents even if none stick particularly large in memory.  The story starting sort of as a murder mystery, or police procedural was an interesting and smart way to rope an audience in. I would love a Jedi-driven "Law & Order in space" type procedural, but I get why the investment is too high for an "of-the-week" type show like that.

I liked the show quite a bit. I spent much of the series paying attention to the structure trying to determine if it was a series or a mini-series, and I'm still not certain. It definitely concludes its story premise, but it also sets up more character things and universe building. If it's a mini-series, then a sequel mini-series is definitely needed. If it's ongoing, then season 2 has to be a hard pivot in terms of tone and structure, given the resolutions. Or, it's entirely possible it all just gets picked up into books and comics and doesn't see any more live action, which would be a shame. This series seemed like an affirmed middle finger to the trolls, and I would like that to continue.

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The Bear Season 3

The What 100: The Bear, the restaurant, is up and running. But as busy as they are, it's not a success...yet. Carmy struggles with what he's given up to make the restaurant a success, and can't tell which of the lessons he learned as an up-and-coming chef are the ones he needs in his kitchen. He's also warring with Ritchie, while remaining unaware that Sydney is feeling overshadowed and is contemplating her long-term commitment. Sugar is stressed trying to hold the back-end together while very, very pregnant, and Uncle Jimmy is threatening to pull the plug if the big review from the Tribune they know is coming is bad. Tina is trying to bring something more to her role, while Marcus reels from his mother's passing. Things get tense, like...always.

(1 Great): This third season of the show is perhaps its most assured, and yet also its weakest (we'll get to why shortly), but it never stops being compelling.  This cast is nothing short of phenomenal every episode, and you never know who will be the episode's MVP because they're (almost) all capable (I don't know that Matty Matheson or Ricky Staffieri as the Fak brothers are going to capture MVP status, despite being reliably great comic relief [your mileage on the Faks may vary, but I enjoyed them always]). The winner of the season though is, once again, Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy and Sugar's mom Donna. Her appearance in last season's flashback episode "Fishes" was probably the best performance on TV last year and bound to get Jamie Lee halfway to her EGOT, and she's just as great in this season's "Ice Chips", where Sugar, suddenly in labor, can't get hold of anyone else. What we know of Donna is reflected in every mention of her in the show. She is a difficult person with mental health issues that have traumatized her children, so she's obviously the most terrible choice for Sugar to call, except there's always more to someone besides their disability... and "Ice Chips" is triumphantly heartwarming while constantly heartbreaking at the same time. 

(1 Good): The opening episode of the season, "Tomorrow", is not dialogue free, but it might as well be a silent film. It's a montage running across 37 minutes that takes cuts between past and present, showing the fallout of season 2's finale, and vignettes of Carmy's entire career as a chef.  It's all mood, all vibes, accompanied by the tranquil-yet-haunting tones of Nine Inch Nails' "Together" (which is yet another reminder of just how built Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are for soundtrack work). It's tormented and beautiful, and one of the most unexpected episodes of TV that reminds us the golden age might be over but there's still going to be great television. 

(1 Bad): I'm still not certain whether this was Season 3 or the first half of Season 3. Reports seem to conflict one another. But either case, presenting these ten episodes, in the manner they did, with the ending as it played out ...well, it was frustrating. The season sets up a lot, and resolves none, other than Sugar's pregnancy. We do have a lot better understanding of the characters (we get a wonderful flashback episode focusing on Tina and how she wound up at the Original Beef, assuredly directed by Ayo Edibiri) but it comes at the expense of progress. To leave the show where it did, with nearly every plot thread dangling was a bit of a slap in the face to the audience and then telling us "you like that". It's sadistic.  Episodes 6 and 9, particularly, feel like filler episodes, even though they're not. They're more like catch-up episodes with more workplace engagement from the whole cast, bringing everyone together where the episodes in between feel more singularly or individual-focused.

Meta: I am an anxious person. It's not crippling, but it's always there and it does sometimes make it very hard to get through the day. The Bear is a show about opening and operating a high end restaurant which comes with a lot of pressure and stress, and it conveys that very well. Too well. It's triggering. It sets my anxiety off each episode, to varying degrees. But it's beautiful because it's intent is not just triggering the anxiety in the audience, but examining the effects of anxiety, trauma, grief, and other psychological impacts on its characters, showing both the triumphs in working past these issues, and the failures in succumbing to them or not being able to see past them.  It's a show, I hope, that is ultimately about healing, about learning to grow, about resilience, about self-discovery, about coping, and about acceptance of self and others. There are hints throughout that it's the journey it wants to be on, but it is a character-driven show and not everyone is able to move past or through their issues.  We shall see, but the journey has been worth it so far.

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Derry Girls Season 1-2
The What 100: Set in Derry, Northern Ireland, the show follows four teen girls and one teen boy as they navigate their family, their all-girls catholic high school, and The Troubles in the mid-1990s. It's a comedy. 

(1 Great): Siobhán McSweeney plays Sister George Michael (like Arrested Development, the name is George Michael, but there's no joke there beyond it just being her name), the headmistress of the all-girls Catholic School who seems to downright loathe everything she has to do and everyone she has to deal with. She has no patience, and no filter. Her inside thoughts are always outside and she doesn't really seem to care. At first she appears to be the stern headmistress that everyone's rightfully afraid of, but it becomes quite evident that she's not bitter and angry, she's just over all of it and doesn't even want to have to deal with any of it. She's prtty cool, for a nun. She is the Fonzie of the series, not really humanized to a great degree, just a comedy-generating machine that never seems to fail.

(1 Good): The best joke of the series is part of the set up of the show. Best friends Erin, Claire, Michelle and Erin's cousin Orla are saddled with Michelle's English-raised cousin James after his mother gets a divorce, returns from London to Derry, only to promptly turn around, and leave James behind. James, being raised (and sounding) English in Northern Ireland is basically walking with a huge target on his back, and so, in order to keep the poor boy safe, he's sent to the his cousin's all-girls Catholic school instead of the usual all-boys one. And they don't have a boys bathroom. The Derry Girls clique he's by default fallen into, at least for the first season, mock him senselessly, being utterly dismissive of anything his English-sounding voice has to say, and actor Dylan Llewellyn has the best resting perplexed face.

(1 Bad): The season length of Derry Girls is only 6 episodes so it's unfortunate when they use one of these precious slots for retreads of tired comedy tropes like an Irish-Asian student transferring to their school to be fetishized by the girls as an outsider they need to take in (it would be different if the girl, from Donegal, after all the well-intentioned-but-still-micro-aggressions she faced, wound up as part of the ongoing cast, but no she's off the show by the end of the episode), or  the fake out of one of the titular Girls leaving the show only to triumphantly return at the end of the episode.  

The show is at its best when its using its settings - the Catholic school, The Troubles, Northern Ireland, the 1990s - to do things that are unique to those settings. The Catholic school does a lot of charity things which sees the Girls get competitive with other girls and each other, or when they have an exchange where refugees from Chernobyl come to stay with them for a brief stint.  Learning about the Protestant "Orange Walks" and finding the cast attempting to evacuate Derry while the riotous celebration takes place, only to find an IRA lad in the boot of the car outside the city... what other show is going to find the comedy there? And using the time period to have the girls run away to see a Take That concert in Belfast, or to welcome Bill Clinton to town with knock-off American flags sold by their thrifty convenience store clerk, the show generally use its settings to pretty great effect.

Meta: My wife loves Derry Girls, and has watched through the series a number of times.  She implored that I should watch it, and that I would enjoy it. She's not wrong. I don't think I've slipped into the same rabid love for it that she has, but I do find it charming and the cast are all pretty great. Saoirse-Monica Jackson who plays the lead character Erin has one of the best reactionary faces on television (which she's also putting to great use in The Decameron at the moment). The Rick-and-Jerry-like relationship between Erin's dad Gerry (Tommy Tiernan) and Grandfather Joe (Ian McElhinney) is a never-fail dynamic (even when Gerry does something wonderful, Joe is right there to cut him off at the knees). Erin's cousin Orla (Louisa Harland) is a complete space cadet, but so is her mother (Kathy Kiera Clarke) so she comes by it honestly (I'm not sure how seven people live comfortably in that house either). And the show has the cutest baby who delivers some of the wildest reaction shots which I know are completely happenstance but, just wonderful when they happen. It could be 20 different babies for all I know. I'm not paying that close attention.

As a huge old fan of Father Ted, I love all the Catholic jokes in here that are absolutely inspired by the 90s show. It's not as irreverent as Father Ted overall, but it's certainly finding that space of being loving, critical, and absurd about all the Catholic ...stuff.

While I still have 7 episodes of season 3 to watch, it's sometimes bizarre to me how UK/Irish sitcom seasons are sooo short, especially when they're so successful, like this one. I'm always surprised that when they're so huge that the second or third seasons aren't at least double the length.  As stands, Derry Girls is only 19 episodes long in total, which isn't even as many episodes as one season of The Office or Seinfeld, yet is probably just as beloved in the UK/Ireland as those shows are Stateside.

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Resident Alien Season 3

The What 100: Harry and Asta have learned that the Grey Aliens are secretly colonizing the Earth and have been diligently working at shaping the ecology to be more habitable to them (ultimately making it inhospitable to humans). Despite working with the black ops alien-tracking division of the military, Harry keeps this from them. Meanwhile, one of the Grays goes on a date with Asta. D'arcy faces her demons. Ben and Kate are both victims of repeated abductions (Kate having had her baby stolen and mindwiped into forgetting she was even pregnant), but as they each become aware of their history, they hide it from one another...and when Harry finds out, he typically manipulative. Liv begins exploring her own history with UFOs, and Buck finds, and loses, love...as does Harry.

(1 Great): As always, Alan Tudyk's Harry Vanderspeigle is a non-stop, gut busting comedy machine. His now willful ignorance of societal norms, his ridiculous turns-of-phrases, and his general selfishness and pettiness are a non-stop delight. He could easily be a detestable character, given his traits, but portrayed by Tudyk as a simpleton give him all the leeway (despite the fact that he's kind of a genius in other ways). 

(1 Good): Finally Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Kate (Meredith Garretson) aren't the most unnecessary characters on the show (this is not to critique the performances in the past, just the use of the characters). Up until this season, any time the show has focused on their story, it's been tedium, making me scream "get back to Harry!" But now that they are intricately tied to the plot, their abductions not just causing them grief, but also being used by Harry for his own devices, these two characters have real purpose beyond just being the parents of the kid who can see through alien disguises. I'm happy they now have purpose.

(1 Bad): Speaking of the kid-who-can-see-through-alien-disguises, Max (Judah Prehn) sort of gets the short shrift this season, with his best friend Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) leaves town in the first episode (she does come back in the last episode) and Max is left to mostly his own devices. The childish sparring that Harry gets into with Max is never tiresome, and it's sorely missed this season Max's journey finds him picking up a thread from the prior series as the new Alien Hunter, which seems an absurd thing for a pre-teen (teen?) to take on, especially alone.  Sahar is dearly missed

Meta: It's true, I've spent nearly four months wondering when Resident Alien will return with the rest of its third season, especially since the second season was broken into two disparate parts of 8 episodes each with a large gap in between. You can understand my confusion. 

While being an hour long sci-fi show, it's still largely a comedy. It's more of a comedy than The Bear, that's for sure. Like Letterkenny or Parks and Recreation it's a show that has built up a whole town of supporting characters that recur every so often, and I think shows like this are so inviting, because it feels like a community. When we're at the diner, there's Asta's dad or if we're at D'arcy's bar we're bound to run into party girl Judy or at the clinic where grumpy nurse Ellen works, or even seeing Buck's beloved French bulldog Cletus.  It's all part of the fabric that just seems to sprawl outside of the town with the real Harry Vaderspiegel's estranged wife and daughter, or Harry's alien child, or the regular members of Linda Hamilton's black ops squad. This season even gives Harry a bird-alien girlfriend (their bizarre mating habits put on uncomfortable display).  I love the expansive cast, it's always a joy to see characters return (there's a surprise reappearance or two this season). I also love the continued inclusiveness of Native America culture as a prominent part of the show's experience, and it seems to be tying some of the cosmic nature of the show into spirituality, which was genuinely unexpected, but impactful. 

Ready for more.