1-1-1-K'sMIRT:

K'sMIRT is Kent's Month in Reviewing Television, where each month(ish) I step through the TV series I completed watching each month in the 1 Great-1 Good-1 Bad format.

This Month:

Never Have I Ever Season 4 - 10 episodes, Netflix

Human Resources Season 2 - 10 episodes, Netflix

Ted Lasso Season 3 - 12 episodes, Apple TV+

Deadloch Season 1 - 8 episodes, AmazonPrime

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 - 10 episodes, CTV SciFi

---

Never Have I Ever Season 4

The Plot 100: Davi's tryst with Ben at the end of grade 11 goes completely awry as Ben starts dating another girl. Davi's fued with this other girl jeopardizes her academic standing, and, as typical for Davi, she self-sabotages her efforts to get into the most prestigious schools. Meanwhile Paxton finds his superstar rep hasn't preceded him at college, Eleanor's acting aspirations are dashed, and Fabiola is worried she may be taking Davi's "spot" at Princeton.

1-1-1:
(1 Great) I love this show, and I love spending time with these characters. This season really emphasized both Davi's knack for getting in her own way, but also her growth as a person, represented largely in her ability to recognize when she is in the wrong, instead of doubling down like she used to. The gimmick of John McEnroe as her inner monologue never ceases to pay comedic dividends, though it has dawned on me that maybe a white, male Boomer as the inner voice of an Indian-American teen girl should've been problematic, but never was.

(1 Good) Paxton's return to Sherman Oaks HS as a coach after quitting college is one of the most depressing stories of the series. It seemed to be a real forced element to keep Paxton in the cast, but, surprisingly the show was well aware of how awkward a situation it was and it deals with it pretty perfectly. The friendship that persists between Davi and Paxton is one of the best gems of the later seasons.

(1 Bad) The end. The series finale is charming and beautiful and hopeful, but I'm still not ready to accept that it's over. Can we get a new show of Davi in college, please?

Meta: Never Have I Ever used to be a high school-based romcom, but this final season really needs to be about the characters focusing on their education, which makes for less appealing drama.  It is easily the weakest season of the series, but that's largely because it needs to advance all the characters on their own journeys. Senior year is the time when everyone is preparing to go their own way, a major time of transition, thus most of the characters' story arcs here have little to do with the other characters, and some of the efforts to connect them do feel forced. This season kind of forgets to give Kamala a story, though it does provide some nice romance sub-plots (with some really manufactured drama) for Nalini and Nirmala. It's a satisfying season, even if it doesn't provide quite the same hilarious roller coaster of hormonal emotions that the previous seasons did.  It's an all-time favourite, and I'm going to miss it.

---

Human Resources Season 2

The Plot 100: Emmy becomes obsessed with her new charge's logic rock, Van. After Rochelle gets dumped, she turns into a hate worm and begins having hate sex with Pete, which leaves him emotionally conflicted. Connie and Maurice have a hard time accepting that their child Montel wants to be a shame wizard instead of a hormone monster. And more.

(1 Great) For what is ostensibly a dick-and-fart-joke comedy series that trades heavily in what could traditionally be considered low-brow humour, Human Resources may just be the most progressive show on television. The seemingly effortless (though absolutely the effort is put in) incorporation of all types of cultural, sexuality, identity and neurological backgrounds exposes the rich tapestry of human existance, while also leaning heavily on poop and queef humour.  It's absolutely shameless about its comedy, which is what makes it so funny, but it's also got its heart in the right place and puts the work in to make sure its representation is meaningful (the sub-plot with real life disability rights activist Alice Wong is a season highlight).

(1 Good) Holy shit, this cast. Aidy Bryant, Kiki Palmer, Randall Park, David Thewlis, Nick Kroll and Maya Rudolph are just the main voice actors. There's also Thandiwe Newton, Rosie Perez, Hugh Jackman, Maria Bamford, Chris O'Dowd, Florence Pugh, Miley Cyrus, Eugene Levy, Niecey Nash-Betts, Jemaine Clement, and Isabella Rossellini, among many others.  Newton and Perez deliver gold with every line, it's just a shame they're not in the series more.  Sam Richardson pops up in the season's best and most conceptual episode that tracks his existence as a germ that infects the office.

(1 Bad) This season felt a bit more vignette-like than last season, juggling a lot of disparate story threads but lacking a central figure.  Emmy last season was the focal character but this season she's given pretty much equal time and importance, which is very democratic but leaves the show feeling just a tad unfocussed.  We still binged it rapidly though.

Meta: I don't know the story behind it, but both Human Resources and the series it was spun off of, Big Mouth, are ending after their current seasons. Big Mouth has had a substantial run (with seasons 7 & 8 still in the production pipeline) but I feel Human Resources was just scratching the surface of the stories it could tell. If anything it was a much more pliable and flexible storytelling vehicle than Big Mouth but in not embracing the workplace sitcom vibe (instead it used its animation to really explore the fantastical and absurd reality) or leaning into centralized character stories, it's maybe harder for an audience to embrace? I dunno. Though it's never been explicitly stated that it was "cancelled" it feels like it was cancelled too soon.

---

Ted Lasso Season 3

The Plot 100: Having made it to the Premiere League, Ted and the Richmond FC need to prove themselves worthy, which Rebecca hopes is aided by securing the sport's premiere primadonna, Zava.  Keeley starts dating the investor in her PR firm.  Roy helps Jamie reach the next level of his game, and they solidify their bond in the process. Ted struggles between his duties as a coach and a father, Rebecca wants something more, and Nate finds self respect.

(1 Great) The most satisfying arc of the season, and the series, as well as the greatest love story within, is that of Roy and Jamie.  Jamie idolized Roy as a kid but between his arrogance, and Roy's dismissive, "fuck off" attitude, the two couldn't help but butt heads initially. They really needed each other to grow as people and their friendship is, perhaps even more than Ted's relentless positivity, the most endearing part of the show.

(1 Good) Rebecca's arc this season showed her growth as a character.  Even if the writers never really landed on a single solid thread to put her on, her entire journey this season was one of self discovery, wholly earned confidence, and leadership. Where she started her journey with Richmond FC as a vengeful ex-wife, she ends the series as a savvy business woman who commands (and has earned) respect.  Her exceptionally charming and flirtatious encounter with a mountain of a man in Amsterdam is a season highlight.

(1 Bad) If there's a problem with this season of Ted Lasso (and there's not just one) it's that it separated its character sub-plots so distinctly. There's a sitcom happening within the rest of the show that is just the team itself, on and off the field. All these weird, fun and distinct personalities that have their own quick little side adventures, sometimes on their own, sometimes apart, but rarely spanning more than a couple episodes. Keeley's story is almost completely separate from everyone else's, save for a few check-ins with Rebecca and a couple of moments with Roy and Jamie, but unlike Rebecca's empowering journey, this one takes all the control out of the character's hands, and seems to say all the wrong things about empowerment (for example, she's in PR, and when a sex tape of her leaks, she doesn't in any way use her PR skills to take control of the narrative...it's absurd).

Meta: I think Season 1 of Ted Lasso may be one of the most perfect seasons of television ever.  It just clicks and is so unflinchingly positive and joyous. Season 2 got lost in presenting a darker side of all this relentless positivity, and primarily in turning Nate into a villain by season's end, painted itself into an ugly narrative corner that this season really needed to contend with to get out of. I think it was mostly successful in doing so, but it never really addressed Nate's confidence issues head on. He just found the cliched "love of a good woman" and that was all that was really needed to turn the character around without really much introspection.  

Of course, the larger meta story is about whether Richmond FC was being set up to continue following Jason Sudekis' departure. Everything that has been said is that no decisions have been made and that this was always written to be the final season.  Yet it seems 100% evident that this season was operating as proof of concept for keeping the show going without its lead.  Ted is basically demoted to supporting player this season in this show of which he is the title character, and he didn't go on much of a journey that wasn't completely telegraphed.

I still enjoyed this season, much more than season 2 (certainly not as much as season 1), and I would totally watch a Richmond FC tv series, but I do wish Ted had been more present in this season and that it had been more tightly focussed on him.

---

Deadloch Season 1

The Plot 100: The small Tasmanian town of Deadloch has been going through a transition the past few years. It's toxic factory was shut down, and its transformed itself into a destination point for feminist arts and lesbian culture. But when it is rocked by a murder, the tensions of the resentful long term residents and its new pro-feminine regime begins to bubble up.  Centered around the murder investigation itself, it's up to the town's ill-prepared police force led by Dulcie Collins, as well as Eddie Redcliffe -- the hot mess of a detective sent from the mainland to take charge of the investigation -- to solve the case. What their superiors thought to be a simple, slam dunk spirals out into something pretty large. 

(1 Great) The characters on this show are wonderful. Dulcie has returned to her home town with her partner Cath, and seems to be depressed being there. We learn why and our sympathies always lay with her.  She finds herself between a rock and a hard place constantly. Cath is exhuberant and controlling, and is all in on developing the new lesbian community within Deadloch.  She's a lot to take, but the relentless enthusiasm is kind of infectious. Eddie is perhaps the most rough-around-the-edges detective character in existence, and her abrasiveness does pivot to endearing as we get to know her. Abby is one of Dulcie's officers whose meek and seemingly reticent personality hide a fierce intelligence and keen eye for detail. Her growth over the series is a joy to behold. Sven, another of Dulcie's officers, is utterly apathetic about his role and  has to be forced to do his job. But even he proves himself to have his own unexpected competencies that back up the team, and he becomes a surprisingly necessary part of the team. These are the most charming players of the series, but the show also builds out its cast of townsfolk incredibly well, to the point that we get a good sense of history and a lot of the mystery revolves around the connectedness between residents.

(1 Good) Here is a murder mystery that telegraphs, over and over again, who the murder is, yet, each turn proves that the evidence is incomplete and all is not as it seems. It's a show that does such a great job with its narrative that it leads you to believe (just as the detectives do) the clues that it presents are the answer, such that every time they approach the next possible suspect I was saying "I knew it".  Only, I didn't know it, because they got me again.  The investigative process unfolds with plenty of challenges in the way, from characters who clearly have something to hide (and there are varying scales of how what is being hidden relates to the case) to rampant misogyny and homophobia.   

(1 Bad)  I appreciated how the show slowly unfolded its feminist and queer topics, starting gently by noting particularly how rural populations still tend to want to uphold patriarchal structures and rebuff anything other. There are slight jabs at lesbians and expected slurs from some of the middle-aged male population, but as the episodes progress, we find it's more widespread than just from the expected characters. Ultimately the misogyny and homophobia reach a kind of ludicrous and satirical crescendo in the final two episodes, which unfortunately the tone of the show can't really handle.  It just goes too broad in a way that the humour of the show hadn't  yet, and it doesn't really fit, though the point is certainly made. 

Meta:  Deadloch was recommended on a podcast, and so I went to the show on AmazonPrime thinking it was already complete, and that the four available episodes were all there was to the series.  By the third episode I was confounded by how slowly they were progressing Eddie's character (she's only starting to turn the corner into a likeability by that point) and the mystery seemed to just be getting deeper, as more and more of the townsfolk seemed viable suspects.  To learn that Amazon was shuttling out Deadloch week to week really showed the confidence they had in this Aussie production to draw and sustain their audience.  It was a bet that paid off, as we were hooked, and waited with tremendous anticipation each of the final few weeks for the new episode to drop.  By the final episode I was both hoping that the mystery would wrap up, but that there would be reason to spend more time with our main crew of detectives. I wasn't ready to give them up yet.  No word on a follow-up season, but it is teed up and I'm ready for it.

---

Star Trek: Picard Season 3

The Plot 100: Beverly Crusher needs help, and contacts Jean Luc, whom she hasn't seen in 20 years, to come to her rescue, but trust no one. Except Picard trusts Will Riker more than anyone, so the two of them hatch a plot to ostensibly hijack a Federation starship and rescue their friend outside of Federation space. The ship they get has 7 of 9 as first officer, and the three of them basically put a ship of 500 crew in tremendous danger to rescue Beverly, and, *gasp* Jean Luc's son. But in the process they slowly get the Next Gen gang back together as they uncover a Changeling plot to destroy the Federation that serves to justify their treasonous actions.

(1 Great) Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) is the captain of the Titan (the ship Riker once commanded, and the one he and Picard are trying to commandeer) and he's a great prickly pear of a man.  He's dubious of everyone, and a man of great caution. He has no desire for adventure, even less for appetite for risk, and he's unimpressed by the reputations of these men who are trying to manipulate him into taking his ship somewhere it doesn't belong. It's only through 7 of 9's insubordination that the plot continues, and where the show kind of wants to paint Shaw as antagonist to our heroic adventure, one can't help but admit that, at nearly every turn, he's absolutely right in his decisions, and as abrasive as he may seem, he's actually practical and sensible and responsible. I thought Stashwick's performance was outstanding, navigating the unlikeable edginess with a charm that most actors wouldn't think to pull off. It's a shame that you know from moment one, that this guy's a total red shirt though.

(1 Good) There is definitely plenty of warm tugs seeing the old crew back together. My favourite moments were the little, sentimental moments, and the reunion scenes of these old compatriots reuniting.

(1 Bad) Holy shit is the writing in this season ever bad. It's only through the likeable performances that it's even watchable at all. It's like clunky fan fiction on an oversized budget, as characters make weak-tea jokes that are typically fan-service in nature, and there's so much exposition and forced finagling in bringing the old crew together.  The story is enjoyable enough, but scripts are terrible, the editing is frequently awful, and the trope of introducing a grown up son for Jean Luc (hasn't he had one or two come and go already?) seems like a hoary Star Trek cliche at this point.

Meta: I liked Season 1 to a point, and couldn't keep watching Season 2, I thought it was so bland and bad. I basically was going to pass on Season 3, except it kept coming up in various podcasts as being something great.  Toasty had already panned it, and affirmed that this writing crew on Picard wasn't delivering what I wanted, yet those raves from elsewhere kept coming in.  I was a fan of ST:TNG so surely I would get some thrill out of this reunion, right?

I mean, yeah, I did. I enjoyed the process of getting the gang back together, and the moments of the gang being together, and even the idea of the story, a Secret Invasion-style "the aliens are hidden in plain sight" plot, is not a bad one, and it kept me watching, but it was so close to being a hate watch. Toasty was absolutely spot on with his assessment. 

To me, the most rewarding parts of the show wound up being the non TNG aspects: Captain Shaw, 7 of 9, Amanda Plummer's scenery chewing pirate... I even liked Ed Speelers as Jack Crusher, despite rolling my eyes at the sheer concept of him being Picard's son, and every single time they mentioned it or tried to force the bond between him and Patrick Stewart.

I've had great admiration for Stewart for all of my adult life. I was 11 when TNG started and so he's been a welcome presence in my life for over 30 years, but whatever Stewart is dealing with as he ages has made him pretty frail, and he can't act very well anymore. He is not in control of his actor's arsenal anymore, which would be his voice and his face. His expressions often seem out of his control and frequently seem scene inappropriate, and the quaver in his delivery has become dramatically more pronounced as the series has gone on, to the point that he doesn't seem like fierce and commanding Jean Luc Picard anymore. Aging is a bitch, and it's less delightful, more painful to see him like this.

The Flash Scale: this is a The Flash 

---