What I Have Been Watching: Back to the TV - Pt C

 What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is from The Domein of Toast, he (i) admittedly spending too much (almost all?) time in front of the TV. Kent's not stepping on toests but yeah, he (me) has a piles of TV shows in progress (and done) and maybe doesn't have has too much to say about it.

Pt. A is here. And Pt B is there. 

The finished.

Tales of the Walking Dead, 2022, AMC+

I stopped watching The Walking Dead after a single episode left me despondent. Yes, it was that episode in Season 9, Episode 15, a climax in the Whisperer's storyline, as adapted from the comics. I just found it all so unnecessary, it surpassing even my immense capacity for bleakness. I have many times been tempted to pick it up again, but always refrain, as I know it will treat me badly again.

But a contained series of short stories unrelated to the other series but in shared world? I am always up for anthologies!

mid-writing insert -- I am thinking your 1-1-1 format works really well for anthology commentary where you need to get it out, but might not have a lot to say, as I often do not.

Evie/Joe begins with Joe (Terry Crews, Brooklyn 99), a prepper who was ready for the zombie apocalypse, who finally reaches his limit of solitude, and decides to make the 700 mile trek to meet face to face with another prepper whom he kept in contact with, while it was possible. Joe is not good with people, but he was good with her, so off he goes. And then he bumps into Evie (Olivia Munn, X-Men: Apocalypse), whom he is very not good with.

Its a road story, a dialogue between two contentious people, which is helped along because they are such recognizable faces. Its funny and its touching, and sets the tone for what this series wants to be - to approach living in this apocalyptic world, and how it affects people, without all the dramatic baggage of the main series. In the end both of them arrive at their destinations, neither gets what the expected or wanted, but maybe they found something better, in each other.

Meh. Good summary, but it doesn't actually SAY anything about the episode. What really makes the ep is how different the two characters are. Joe is paranoid, anti-social and defensive while Evie still somehow remains upbeat and positive, almost hippie dippie, despite all that is going on. And yet both of these traits are walls the pair need to maintain to keep sane.

Blair/Gina is probably the best of the lot, but I am biased because its a Loopty Loo! No, they don't try and explain the why or  how a time-loop connects to the Zombie Apocalypse but it does have a trigger, and it does have a break, and that's all that matters. 

Blair and Gina work together; technically, Blair (Parker Posey, Lost in Space) is Gina's (Jillian Bell, Workaholics) asshole boss. Despite hating each other, the two are tied together at the start of the Zombie Apocalypse, with each loop ending in their deaths. Once they stop trying to kill the other, they try to figure out how to not only move forward but perhaps even end the loops. Dark comedy was not something I expected the bleak zombie series to riff off.

I skipped over Dee because I wasn't interested in revisiting what made me quit the main series (The Whisperers storyline). You are allowed to not watch things.

Amy/Dr. Everett must be set at some future time in the world of the Walking Dead for it centres around a Dead Sector, a large swath of land surrounded by a trench where the dead walk but humans are not allowed. So, that implies outside the sector there are ... fewer walkers? Anywayz, Dr. Everett (Anthony Edwards, Top Gun) is a reclusive scientist in a (the?) zone, studying tagged & tracked walkers. Things must be bad outside the sectors because Amy (Poppy Liu, Sunnyside) is part of a group that has decided to live in this one, despite the dangers. She needs help after losing contact with her friends, is rescued by Everett, but he would prefer she just piss off.

Its a story about loss and dedication, isolation and madness. Amy thinks Everett should reconnect with the world, connect with her people in their makeshift camp of tents, camper vans and trailers. Alas, the walkers have other ideas...

Davon is built around the idea that he wakes up with no memory of how he got where he is, in a village that seems surprisingly walker-free but also disconnected from reality. He (Jessie T Usher, The Boys) has a head injury but is unsure how he got it. And the villagers are just weird, dressed almost period, speaking French, but the village itself seems to be normal suburban homes. The episode has an eerie Outer Limits feel to it, otherworldly and disjointed, which tracks with a head injury. It is part murder mystery, part horror movie.

Its not worth going through the details of the story, given it is about revealing. Why does he have a head injury, why was he in the village to begin with, why is handcuffed to a zombie who doesn't try to bite him and whispers words to him? So many questions appear only to dissipate as his head clears. Its typical of horror anthology episodes and works decently enough, with some fun easter eggs for The Walking Dead universe.

And the final note is La Doña, a haunted house story.

TWD fans probably hated this, as it adds proper supernatural elements to their vague universe of "it's not about zombies, it's about people!" conceit. Idalia (Daniella Pineda, Cowboy Beebop) and Eric (Danny Ramirez, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) are running from the dead, as all good people in TWD are, and come across the well protected house of La Doña Alman (Julie Carmen, In the Mouth of Madness). They are not welcome, nor does Idalia want to be there, as she's heard stories of the house and the woman who owns it. But Eric has to have his way.

The two are haunted, both literally and metaphorically, as the house and the spirit of its owner tries to drive them from it. Finally, it has its way.

As a series, I had hoped it would explore the world of the TWD universe more, giving us stories that expanded on things happening elsewhere, but for the most part, exploring other types of stories in that universe was.... well, as TWD universe stories are, only mildly satisfying and often frustrating.

American Born Chinese, 2023, Disney+

Of note, I had to correct what I had titled this, previously Chinese Born American, which would be an entirely different, but similar identity issue.

One of the most fun things we watched this year. And that it comes on the heels of Everything Everywhere All At Once is purely intentional, and I love that it makes use of the cast while also addressing some of the challenges Asian Americans still live with living and working in America.

Jin Wang (Ben Wang, Chang Can Dunk) is a typical American teenager dealing with identity, bullies, crushes and the new "exchange student" who happens to be the son of the Monkey King. Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu, Light the Night) is hiding out on Earth looking for a mythical Fourth Scroll to assist his father against the rebellious Demon Bull, who's pissed at Monkey King for stealing his thunder all those years ago. He is supported by goddess Guanyin (Michelle Yeoh, Tomorrow Never Dies) and is convinced that Jin is destined to help him.

The show navigates the avenues between the action-comedy of the Monkey King story and Jin's family & school life brilliantly, with background commentary of a returning sitcom from the 90s called Beyond Repair about cliche Asian Freddy Wong (Ke Huy Quan, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). The actor Quan plays mirrors his own real life, and Jin is desperate to not be the joke his character was, and just wants to Fit In.

Pacing, acting, action sequences and the balancing of heart-felt stories was just brilliant here. I am not sure how close it followed the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, but I suspect it was severely condensed. The Ke Huy Quan story thread did seem a little inserted, especially the exposition that obviously drew from his own real life story (he left acting because he was only getting one type of role), but it just felt.... necessary and important.

Chemistry of  Death, 2023, Paramount+

The bleakness of British crime drama of late is disappointing (to you, cuz the market just laps it up). I think I would prefer more procedural Death in Paradise than Broadchurch which is interesting, because all those years ago when I began searching for interesting crime drama from the UK, it was the hard hitting series I searched for. But I think the depressing nature of these "single theme to a show" series that finally got to me. At least Luther still had episode to episode investigations, for the most part. 

Again based on a novel series, by Simon Beckett, we are introduced to David Hunter (Harry Treadaway, Star Trek: Picard), a forensic pathologist who escapes to rural Norfolk after a deeply traumatizing personal tragedy, where he works assisting a simple country doctor. But he cannot escape death and is asked to help investigate a local murder which, of course, goes down a dark rabbit hole, revealing a long darkness in his seemingly quiet community.

The first investigation is followed by him being asked to travel to the Outer Hebrides to assist in another death investigation, to find out if the burnt remains of a young woman were accidental or murder. Yes, murder, yes another rabbit hole. Yes, bleak underbelly of isolated rural communities. Yes, tragedy abounds and one death leads to more leading to a darkness he seemingly cannot escape.

All the while the series is only hinting at what happened to him. His wife died, his child died. But was it an accident? Or at his wife's hands? Or at his own hands? We never find out.

Satisfying acting, brilliant settings but please provide an uplifting Murder of the Week next time, please?

Rabbit/Hole, 2023, CBS

Oh look, a Kiefer Sutherland thriller shot in Toronto! Oh look, there's a TTC bus in the background! Oh look, there's a place on Queen W I recognize! Alas, its not set in Toronto. We will leave that to the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode.

Sutherland (24) is John Weir, a ... corporate fixer? Freelance business espionage expert? Professional Ruiner of Lives? His exact job defies easy description but he runs a small company of people adept at manipulating situations, changing perceptions of reality in order to change outcomes. Being investigated by the SEC ? Why not set up a row of dominoes wherein the SEC agent doing the investigation is caught on camera seemingly accepting a bribe. Doesn't matter he didn't nor that there's no evidence he did, as long as the public perceives he did, it will change the validity of his investigation.

Except his own methods are turned against him and he is framed for murdering his own team. This begins a twisting serpentine tale against a shadowy enemy who is literally out to control the world. Weir's supposedly dead dad (Charles Dance, A Game of Thrones), once a CIA agent after the shadowy enemy, is mixed up in it all so Weir has to work with him despite hating the man with unmitigated passion. It doesn't help that Weir is a broken man, caused partially by his father's faked suicide during his childhood AND the recent suicide of his best friend, all part of The Conspiracy.

This show quadruples down on the deception and misdirection often leading us to question each scene and the outcome of each episode. Nothing is What It Seems is too mild a term for what the show wants us to believe. Its somewhat successful, and unlike many other shows going this way, it actually does pull everything (well, most) threads together. And Sutherland is ... well, his own type-cast character, but still does it wonderfully.

The Muppets Mayhem, 2023, Disney+

Muppets shows since the 70s success are a grab bag of quality. I thought, at first, it was because they tried to tie Story to the comedy and gags and funny characters, based on the success of the movies, wherein I enjoyed the one-liners and intentional Vaudevillian comedy. But even a later rendition of "variety show" did not do so well, and that is probably because nobody really knows what variety shows are now, at least in English North America. Last I checked, they were still popular in Quebec. But in American and English Canada, the concept was already dying out when Muppets: TOS started.

When this limited series started, I was somewhat turned off by the story, the gimmicky, "let's get the band to record an album" focus on Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. They were never my favourite buncha muppets, but I get that its a decent plot to hang a series on. But as more and more episodes went by, I found myself chuckling more and more and even guffawing a few times. Its not the story that matters, nor the humans involved, but as long as they sink enough of the one-liners and gags, I was satisfied with it, as a muppet show.

Oh, the humans. Lily Singh (A Little Late with Lilly Singh) stars as the "record label exec" (not quite) trying to get them to record. Taj Mowry (Baby Daddy) is the band's superfan. And there are a ton of celeb cameos because what would the Muppets be without celebrities pretending they are real.

Wait, dude, they aren't real?

Mrs Davis, 2023, Peacock

O... M... G... This will be in my top 5 for the year, a totally WTF, funny series about destiny and AI and religion and spirituality. To summarize it will not do it justice, but can be a whole lot of fucking fun anyway. 

So, a nun named Simone (Betty Gilpin, GLOW) living at a strawberry jam making convent is tasked by Jesus Christ (Andy McQueen, Coroner), who runs an other-worldly diner, to deal with an emerging AI, calling itself Mrs. Davis (in the US), which is ... well, taking over the world. Assisted by a child hood friend (Jake McDorman, Limitless) who happens to be working for a covert organization of extremely macho, but not toxic, men also tasked with taking down Mrs Davis, she also comes to learn of a group of women who care for the Holy Grail, which happens to be semi-sentient and demands to be shown to the world. These women are assisted by men with aprons. Mrs Davis makes a deal with Simone, that she will turn herself off, if Simone destroys the Holy Grail. Simone is also dealing with her traumatic upbringing by a pair of grifting Vegas-style magicians. She witnessed her father (David Arquette, Scream) die in a horrific Houdini act, and her mother (Elizabeth Marvel, House of Cards) refuses to believe it was real, and blames Simone for being in on it. Meanwhile the Grail has actually been swapped out with a fake, the real one eaten by a whale. Also, Simone is actually married to "J", like literally, doing all the normal husband & wife stuff (y'know, sex), and that's sort of complicated as he is Jesus, and Jesus loves EVERYONE.... biblically. Eventually they do find the Grail, understand its origins and .... well, go watch ! Because, there is also a great TV commercial for British Knights sneakers, a sweet scene about a man finding his wife's piano, a heist episode, a rollercoaster of death, a "keep your hands on the car" contest but with a giant representation of Excalibur, and a conspiracy involving The Pope.

Almost every episode is a WTF episode, and some are almost entirely WTF. Even the characters begin to catch on to the gonzo style uttering their own WTFs as new stuff is revealed. In standard Lindelof style, he likes to introduce more questions than answers, but honestly, in this utterly bonkers context, its a perfect choice. And I loved every moment of it.