10 for 10: moore pique teevee

[10 for 10... that's 10 movies -- or TV shows -- which we give ourselves 10 minutes apiece to write about.  Part of our problem is we don't often have the spare hour or two to give to writing a big long review for every movie --or TV show-- we watch.  How about a 10-minute non-review full of half-remembered scattershot thoughts? Surely that's doable?   ]

In This Edition:
Killing Eve Season 2 - Bravo
Shrill Season 1 - Crave
Dead To Me Season 1 - Netflix
Stranger Things Season 3 - Netflix
The Tick Season 2 - Amazon Prime
Legion Season 3 - FX
Dark Season 2 - Netflix
GLOW Season 3 - Netflix
Chernobyl - HBO
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson Season 1 - Netflix


Aaaand....g-g-g-ghost! I mean GO!

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I liked season 1 of Killing Eve just fine, but it felt like it should have been a done-in-one season.  The fact that it wasn't frustrated me.  As well, I'm not sure I got the point of it at the time.  Season 2 reinforced what the point was: this exceptionally twisted love story between Eve and Villanelle.  Eve is more infatuated with Villanelle than she is in love with her, and vice versa (I'm not sure, given how sociopathic she is, that Villanelle even can understand what love is).  Season 2 gets real down and dirty into this warped tango the two have, as well as deals with the fallout of Eve's decisions and a bit more poking around into the world in which Villanelle operates.  It balloons out the world of the show very very nicely, and expands on the characters nicely as well.  As much as we're seeing Villanelle's influence rub off on Eve, even more we start to see Fiona Shaw's shadow agency tendencies rub off on her (or at least the ones Eve can perceive).   There is a lot of manipulation happening this season from almost all the key players (with poor Niko and Kenny bearing the brunt of much of it) and the show is better for all the deception and trickery.  And yet, this season was saddled with an almost incredibly stupid central story, a social media magnate who has murderous tendencies but also so much power he's almost untouchable.  It seems not only improbable, but impractical and absurd that Villanelle, who was the chase subject of last season, seemingly public enemy #1, becomes a colleague (or at least a tool) of the agency this season.  It makes next to no sense. 

I really didn't think I was going to watch Season 2, but I'm glad I did.  Yet I'm back in the same boat where I don't know if I'm going to watch Season 3 when it comes out (but I probably will, eventually).

[10:34]

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Shrill is a part of the new wave of American television that is taking its cues from the British format of show-running.  Short, dedicated seasons that tell a full story, but likely to leave you wanting more.  Based on a novel, the series starring (as well as co-written and created by) Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant is, in broad swaths, about fat shaming in America, but centered around Bryant's Portland-based journalist hopeful Annie.  The magazine she works for has a toxic family atmosphere with a vitriolic boss who doesn't seem to support any of his employees yet proclaims to love them all.  Annie is tasked with a food review and finds herself at a strip bar, learning about female empowerment from the women that work there.  Her article isn't what it was supposed to be, yet becomes a sensation for the magazine much to her editor's chagrin.  This new burst of empowerment and self confidence starts to impact Annie's life in strange ways, both good and bad.  A troubled relationship with a slacker boyfriend starts to solidify, but alienating events start to occur with friends, family and coworkers.  Annie explores and challenges her own empowerment, awareness of self, her own history of shame with her body, and society's impact on how she thinks of herself and self worth, and it's a pretty amazing journey in a lightly dramatic comedy wrapping.

The show is packed with great musical cues, particularly a pool party sequence that left me with big happy smile on my face.  The show ends with Annie confronting her online cyberbully, and it's powerfully upsetting and a bit funny as well as totally awkward.  The season ends not really in a cliffhanger, but rather with Annie's life in such a dramatic flux that one can't help want to see more of her journey.  It's a really good season, but I think there's potential for greatness in the future.

[23:31]

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As far as premiere TV, Dead To Me doesn't really fit the bill.  It's a really entertaining watch, I will grant it that, but it's not upper echelon, mandatory viewing.  I'm going to spoil the show's second episode reveal, so if you don't want any SPOILERS then perhaps skip to then next review.  Christina Applegate is a real estate agent who has recently lost her husband in a hit-and-run, and is lost as her rage consumes her, since the perpetrator fled the scene.  She meets Linda Cardellini, an artist working at a retirement center, who aggressively tries to befriend her.  The tactic is off-putting to the bristly Applegate, but an offer for a late-night insomniacs chat spawns a mutually rewarding friendship.  But things get twisty when we learn that, indeed, Cardellini was the driver responsible for Applegate's husband's death.  But there's more to it than just that.  It's not just a show that asks whether a friendship can survive such a deception, whether absolution or forgiveness can be given to such an act.  Things get deep, the connections formed are actually meaningful, and the truths revealed are huge complications to sustaining such a relationship.

The show, each episode, teases out additional bits of information about both Applegate's relationship with her husband as well as what actually happened that night.  This metering out of information allows the audience to keep reshaping their judgement of these characters and the situation, in what I think is actually a valuable exercise in examining perspectives.  There are facts, but both context and emotions change the meaning of those facts considerably and I like the way the show explores that.  As well I like that the season doesn't end on a cliffhanger of Applegate finding out Cardellini's secret, but rather we get almost two full episodes of dealing with the fallout, and a completely different (perhaps somewhat predictable) cliffhanger instead.  At half hour increments I was never bored, and the show is quite propulsive drawing you through its intriguing (if sometimes too soap operatic) darkly comedic drama.

[33:54]

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2018 was kind of a dark void in the G&D Sometimes Disagree world. Looking over to the right (your right) you can see there were only 30 write-ups in 2018, as opposed to our usually 120+ per year.  The dark times, 2018, real dark times.  As such, I have no review of Stranger Things 2 to point you too (Toasty does tho).  I thought ST2 was not on par with the first season, the latter of which is a legitimate masterpiece.  ST2 had a lot to live up to and did a decent job of not letting people down too badly.  It unfortunatley had too many disconnected pieces that didn't all line up properly with each other and a sorely miscalculated diversion between acts 2 and 3 where we visit Eleven on a personal journey in Detroit for a full episode.  This story wasn't bad in and of itself but really a major distraction to the main story thread (it should have instead been carved out and added to Netflix as a special a few months later telling the story of where she took off to and why her look changed).

Anyway, Stranger Things 3 is a return to form.  It's not quite the equal of season 1 but it's pretty close to being just as great.  It finds the right notes of nostalgia in it's mid 1985 setting, a bevy of charming homages that aren't *just* there as homages (everything from Aliens to Die Hard to Star Wars to Back to the Future), and some excellent additions to the cast (Maya Hawke!).

This round finds the cast separating into multiple groups comic book super-team style, each unknowingly tugging on the same thread, ultimately leading them together in the end.  That the audience can see how each of these stories connect (at least in the loose details if not always the finer ones) it gives each story merit, even as they advance the characters and their relationships with each other.  Steve continues to be one of the most enjoyable characters on TV, and his group introduces two new characters to the show that are both very welcome and very amazing additions.  Eleven has a completely different journey this season than last, finding her own voice, not as an experiment or a quasi-superhero, but as a teenage girl.  Hopper has a challenging journey, as suitor for Joyce and father to Elle, both roles he's not particularly well suited for due to his alcoholism and rage issues.

It's kind of subtle, but in every story faction the female characters are the ones leading the charge, the ones who are saying "my approach is the right one here" and the male characters having to learn to trust them.  It's not hitting you over the head with any sort of messaging but the empowerment of the girls and women this season is off the charts and well deserved.  At one point a male reporter calls Nancy "Nancy Drew" as if that is a derogatory term, but Nancy, Joyce, Elle, Max, Robin all do "Nancy Drew"-type sleuthing and help overcome the big nasty of the season as a result, and it's an absolute delight.  And the big final fight is a gorgeous spectacle which should be on the big screen.  I'm impressed with Stranger Things 3, and the bold choices it made with its characters and the finale it went with, as well as the correction in focus from Season 2.  Another season is greatly anticipated.


[53:50 ... oops went 20 minutes there]

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I've been amused by every iteration of The Tick I've encountered: the comic; the cartoon; the first Barry Sonnenfeld-created live action series; and the first season of this new Amazon Prime iteration.  But for some reason I was very apathetic about this second season.  I had heard rumblings of its release but for weeks I couldn't even be bothered to check out whether it was actually available or not. Then, upon confirmation, we wound up watching the first two episodes and then burying it in our viewing roster for over 2 months.  I don't know why my enthusiasm had waned so much.  Was it the weirdly cheap-yet-not quality of the show (special effects are pretty awful, but costumes are fairly on point)?  The lack of outright comedy (the humour is so subtle)?  The lack of recognizable faces from Tick products past?

Perhaps.

But we finally got back to it and I have to say I loved Season 2 far more than season 1.  The first season was marred by its weird scheduling, from it's long delay from pilot to 6-episode series, and then another long delay between the end of its first batch of episodes to its final batch.  Along the way it always felt like it was still finding its footing.

In season 2, it starts off still finding its footing, but it gains that toe hold early on and is a confident production to the finish.  There are some really fun journies for Arthur, Dot, Overkill, Ms. Lint, Superian and even Danger Boat.  Things aren't nearly as high-stakes as Season 1, but they're more personal across the board and more rewarding. Things build exceptionally well in the last half of the season and end with some great set-up for season 3... which will never happen...because it was cancelled...likely because fans like me sat on it for too long and the metrics weren't there to continue.

Alas.

[1:05:31]

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look at all these great posters...

It's interesting the phenomena of peak TV, this new golden age of television.  It used to be a show would take a season, sometimes two, in order to find its footing.  But with this sort of auteur television, so many shows come out the gate with such a strong, singular vision that they are instant classics from the get go, and then falter when trying to repeat the effect for a second season. Stranger Things was like this, so was True Detective (and apparently Big Little Lies despite the presence of Meryl fucking Streep).  Legion was also like this.  The first season is an incredible piece of television, a truely artistic work in an age of omnipresence superhero media.  The second season bobbled and fumbled trying to decide exactly what story it was telling and how to tell it.  It's attention was fractured, unfocused and as a result its direction was often unclear.  It turns out the point was to turn the series protagonist, David, into its chief adversary, a real villain.  David, we learned, would destroy the world, but the second season never really got us to comfortable with that reality.  The David we knew from Season 1 wasn't destroyer of worlds, he was a victim, a tortured young man. That season ended with the heel turn and it didn't seem to earn it.

This season, David earns his supervillain status, while still providing a sliver of recognition of the hero we'd hoped he would be and going through efforts not to paint his mental illness as the source of is villainy.  It is also 100% a return to Season 1 form.  There is clear focus and a steady artistic hand in play.  Creator/showrunner Noah Hawley has a clear vision for what he's trying to accomplish, and what each character's role in the proceedings is.  He makes some very bold swings (song / dance numbers, unexpected deaths) and though kind of absurd, they feel integral and part of the whole.  It's a ride that kept me on the edge of my seat with some really unexpected turns and some absolutely inspired bouts of creativity (the land between time...oh man!).  After being so let down by Season 2, this thrilling Season 3 has been a tremendous surprise and an anxious delight.  The finale may have seemed a little soft, a little anticlimactic, and yet, it also felt exactly right for the journey these characters had made.

[1:15:01]

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The plan was to rewatch the entire first season of Dark before moving onto the second season, but timing wasn't working out to sit down to re-consume 10 hours of television.  It's part of the problem with so much culture and entertainment to consume now, there's not enough time to revisit things.  We managed to cram in three of Season 2's eight episodes in one night and for the first, let's say, episode and a half, I was regretting not going back.  Dark isn't particularly dense, but it is intricate.  Without getting too spoilery, the show cuts across multiple eras, 33 years apart, and has different people playing the same character in these different eras, as well as additional characters appearing in one era but not in another.  In general, there are four different families intertwined (plus a few outlying characters) and we need to track them multi-generationally, understanding the familial and romantic connections.

It may sound like it's not worth the effort, but it more than certainly is.  The show is utterly propulsive, drawing you through its time-addled narrative with utter fascination.  Piecing together the connectivity of each of the characters is as equally fun as it is frustrating (just when you think you have a handle on it....)  This isn't just melodrama, it's also science fiction, with the subtlest tinge of suspense and horror, and it's how these elements creep into the sprawling narrative of the small German town and the nuclear power plant that looms large over it that drive it to the next level.  I'm still not sure where Season 2 is going and I've already caught wind that Season 3 is in the works (hopefully not a year and a half break between seasons like this one though.  And hopefully Netflix can provide a much better season recap next time.

[1:26:05]

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Season 1 of GLOW really had to contend with some form of historical approximation, of finding a place for the true story of the formation of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in the confines of a very fictionalized setting.  Season 2 found the show exploring the characters and their relationship dynamics much more, as bonds were formed.  These factors overtook the show and less time was spent on the wrestling aspect and more on the business aspects.  This 3rd season threatens to explode the entire premise as the close knit group of women are thrust into the setting of Las Vegas, where the excitement of the strip, yet the isolation of living out of a hotel starts to wear on them.

The cast is huge, and this season tries valiantly to give most of the characters some form of arc, but in a scant 10 episodes averaging a little over half an hour, it doesn't do most of the arcs full justice.  There are characters getting a brighter spotlight than before, like Ellen Wong's Jenny as she deals with the racist stereotypes and cultural appropriation around her or Kia Steven's Tamme as her back problems start to wear on her ability to perform.  As well this season contends with additions to its cast, including Geena Davis as the Vegas hotel manager where GLOW is performing and Kevin Cahoon's drag performer Bobby Barnes. It's appreciated that the show doesn't forget about it's marvelous extended cast, but at the same time, focusing on the extended cast takes away from the central stories that kicked off the show, leaving the arcs for Ruth, Debbie, Sam and Bash all feeling somewhat underserved, and even wildly disjointed.  And by the end so much has changed that one wonders what next season is even going to look like (but at the same time, at the mid-way point of this season things threaten to decimate the status quo, but they actually logically find their way right back the next episode).  The only journey that felt fully baked was Sheila's.  The moment when the ladies are at Bobby's drag show and Bobby finds Sheila "the She-Wolf" in the audience, she braces for the barrage of insults.  But a Bobby in full on drag lets her know she is seen, and understood.  It begins a beautiful mentorship and a glorious transformation. 

Overall, this season is a rare case where I'm looking at a show and thinking they needed more episodes, not less, to do the stories and characters justice.   The 6-month time jump in episode 9 really hits home as it skips over so much of the character arcs and finds some characters in surprising positions at this stage. This season could have easily ran 20 episodes.  Also, I'm very disappointed in the show for even contemplating the Ruth-Sam ship. Yuck.

[1:43:42]

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The disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 was a big deal at the time, and remains a big deal, because radioactivity is something that spans eons not years.  We all know of the Chernobyl disaster, but what do we really know about it? The events that spawned it? The effort to minimize its damage? The sacrifices made? The conspiratorial cover-up by the Soviet government (that led not just to the event in the first place, but the trauma inflicted on so many in combating the fire and the meltdown, and the ongoing effects felt across the continent)?  Unless you've really spent time studying it, you likely don't know much.  Not that this dramatization presents unfiltered truth, but it does lift the veil on the horrors of the disaster.

And this HBO mini-series is a straight up horror show.  It uses horror movie stylizing and techniques to make the audience uneasy with every single decision every character makes in the movie.  But unlike your average zombie plague or slasher killer, there's no escaping the effects of the radiation, the silent killer at play.  Either through disinformation, ignorance, or valiant bravery, nearly every character we meet is doomed (there's a lot of "don't go in there" yelling at the screen, especially in the first episode).  Each episode unveils a new horror, from the immediate burn trauma of high radiation exposure, to the wafting irradiated smoke clouds reaching neighbouring cities and countries, to the long term effects of even minimal exposure, to the almost catastrophic effect of the meltdown which could have made most of Europe uninhabitable, to the necessity of killing and burying every animal within a wide radius of the plant, and clear cutting the forests and overturning the soil and burying both.  The efforts, expense and man-hours required to contain the disaster are astronomical, almost unfathomable.

All of this is framed by the atrocious decision making of men in positions of power trying to save face rather than do what is right, or concede that for all their power they are, in fact, powerless in the face of the events unfolding before them.  Like modern day politicians denying the monolithic disaster of climate change, these officials don't see a visible danger and thus deny its existence, placating a pliable populace through misinformation or absence of communication altogether.

 It's a real condemnation of the communist political structure which is defined by the perception of control and strength.  The real heroes were the patriots who worked diligently to evade disaster, and the scientists (most of whom are not represented in the show) who worked to uncover the truth about the events.  The politicians, not the radiation, not nuclear science, are the real monsters of the piece.

(Important follow-up from the New Yorker on what the series got right and "terribly wrong" )

[1:57:12]
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I pretty much hate writing about anthologies - whether it's TV, movies, comics, books or even a various artists compilation/soundtrack - because it usually means having to break down each entry on its own because it's not a cohesive whole.  Sketch comedy is basically a comedy anthology, and it's a real pain to review without working through highlights and lowlights.

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson takes the ex-SNL featured player and ex-Detroiters co-creator and lets him loose with his surrealist exploration of absurd situations.  So many of Robinson's sketches are about a large group of people entertaining a very absurd conversation, such as when a weinermobile crashes into a clothing shop and the guy in the hot dog suit tries desperately to deflect blame.  It's funny. It very easily couldn't be, but it is funny, based not just on the conviction Robinson's hot dog costumed character tries to redirect the inquisition but also how the other characters even entertain the doubt he's presenting.  This is one of Robinson's key formulas on this show (but not the only one).

Some sketches which could so easily be utter cringe comedy instead veer so headlong into absurdity that there's nothing cringe-inducing about them anymore.  The very first sketch of the series finds a Robinson character exiting a job interview at a coffee shop and trying to save face when he pushes the door instead of pulls, and keeps forcing the door the wrong way as if he made no mistake at all in an ill-advised attempt at saving face.

The first episode sketch, "Baby of the Year" is perhaps the show's top sketch, which is a baby beauty pageant where everyone - from the host (Detroiters co-creator Sam Richardson) to the judges to the audience - takes the competition so direly serious (people yelling "Fuck You" at the rebel baby Harley Jarvis is so stupidly hilarious, I love it).

There are a handful of absolute gems in I Think You Should Leave's 29 sketches, and, actually, no real duds.  I like the fact that Netflix lets the series live in its own time, with each episode varying between 15 and 20 minutes.  I guess I have to say I Think You Should Leave never overstays its welcome.

[unknown -- lost track of time]
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Full disclosure - I wrote this over multiple sessions, did some correction work, and added some additional thoughts after the fact.  I certainly put in more than 10 minutes per review defeating the point of this whole 10-4-10 thing.