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.
This month:
Ripley Season 1(?) - Netflix
Sugar Season 1- AppleTV+ (8 episodes)
X-Men '97 Season 1- Disney+ (13 episodes)
Extraordinary Seasons 1 & 2 - Disney+ (8 episodes each)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 - Disney+ (15 episodes)
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire - Disney+ (6 episodes)
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The What 100: A new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, set in the 1950s, finds small-time New York con artist Thomas Ripley sent to Italy to try and convince Dickie Greenleaf, son of a shipping magnate living the life of leisure, to return home to his parents. When Tom presents himself, Dickie finds Tom curious and brings him into his life. Tom becomes entranced by both Dickie and his lifestyle, and eventually takes both for his own. But some people find Tom totally suss....
(1 Great) Holy crap does this show every look capital g Gorgeous. Shot in black and white, every single scene is lit perfectly to accentuate the light and the shadows. The night scenes have a particularly ethereal quality to them, with a backdrop of light seemingly far in the distance that makes everything so crisp. Or the scenes of Ripley on a ferry between Italian islands, the images of the water are mesmerizing in their inky blackness. Plus the costuming is such finely tailored Italian 1950's leisure wear, and oh, those Italian villa settings, even all those stairs. It's all just so sumptuous. I don't have a background in Fellini or the other Italian new wave directors who seemingly inspire so many filmmakers to venture into black-and-white endeavours in the country, but I've never seen it look this good. It's all around a pretty good series, but the filmmaking, the style, the look is what makes it so worthwhile.
(1 Good) I've read the book and seen, a few times, the 1999 Matt Damon-starring version of this story. I don't know that the story needed to be padded out to the roughly 8-hour running time of this show, but it all still works. It's what I'd call "patient television", or even "patient cinema" as it is extremely cinematic. It is a change of pace, it is methodical, it is very interested in composing a scene and living within it for as long as possible. What the pacing does is really ratchet up the tension as we know, very very early, that Tom Ripley is a fraud, not a good guy, and that sense of danger that Maude senses in him is what attracts Dickie to be around him (and us to watch him). He is an cunning parasite, Mr. Ripley is, and, what's more, he's not particularly that charming. He truly is an off-putting person (Andrew Scott, despite playing a character at least 10 years younger than his actual self, inhabits the role and is brilliant in his very controlled mannerisms) and yet, the amazing feat of the show is how it makes you both despise him and root for him at the same time (it's something inherent in the story but still a challenge to pull off). You know a person like that needs to be stopped, he needs to be found out, and yet, you also want him to get away with it. You want him to develop, to become more appealing, to become almost superpowered in his ability to get away with things. It's a nasty trick to play on an audience.
(1 Bad) I would have to say that it is, indeed, too long. Especially since the tone of the series, which is really foreboding and intense for the first four episodes, starts to lean into Highsmith's jet black humour in the second half. Both Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn are really good in their roles (Fanning, particularly, as Dickie's girlfriend Maude, is so great at making Maude so average as to be inoffensive, but her spot-on distaste for Tom somehow makes her very unlikable...it's a crazy tightrope she walks flawlessly) but the show ignites when Maurizio Lombardi playing Inspector Ravini arrives in episode six and it's the very flame that the show was clearly missing all along. It really needs to compress the first half to get to Ravini faster. The pacing won't be to everyone's liking, and may be the reason many bow out, but wow is it ever a rewarding series.
META: We watched the first two episodes in a row, then watched the next five week-to-week, because I really couldn't take the intensity of pacing more than one episode at a time. That is, until Ravini came on the scene. I am 100% on board for more Andrew Scott as Ripley if Netflix should consider further seasons adapting the other novels, but, man, oh man do they ever need to spin off Lombardi's Ravini into his own series. What a charm machine that guy is with a sense of humour so dry you need to apply lotion afterwards.
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The What 100: Henry Sugar is a private detective who finds missing people. He is brought on board a case where a Hollywood mogul's granddaughter has gone missing. She was an addict in the past and had disappeared before, but this time is different, her grandfather says. So why does the rest of her Hollywood Elite family not seem to care, and in fact seem to be working against Sugar's investigations?
(1 Great) I have to say, I think Henry Sugar is a wonderful character. The first episode of the show I was absolutely floored by how decent a human being Sugar is. He's just the most grounded person, a guy who connects with people, who looks them in the eye, and listens when they talk. He thinks in film noir, as if they're his frame of reference for life, but as much as he admires movies, they sort of teach him how not to behave. Sugar's last resort is violence, and more than anything tries to avoid it, but when he must, well...he certainly can inflict it. Colin Farrell has gone from being someone I reluctantly appreciated for his talent to someone I greatly admire for it. He is such a deep performer, one of the best of his generation, quietly so.
(1 Good) The tone of the series is modern noir, and it works within that milieu quite well, until....
(1 Bad) The ending, if you were ever in doubt, has Sugar finding the missing girl. But with the investigation seemingly wrapped, there's still one thread left untugged. And once Sugar starts tugging on that thread, the show starts falling apart for me. It's the end of the series and things should have wrapped up, but no, they have to start connecting the case to something much more personal to Sugar and it is so ham-fisted how they just smush in the setup for a second season. It was perfectly poised to have a sweet ending with a sense of closure, but they blow it wide open with a Kool-Ade Man level of energy busting through the wall that the show did not need at all.
META: Neither good, nor bad, at least for me, was the secret revealed in the sixth episode. I was forewarned by another TV critic (ha! like I'm a TV critic) that such a twist was coming, and so I was prepared for it. In fact I had already sussed out the twist by I think episode two, or three at latest. As such I wasn't surprised, nor put off as many people had been. The clues were all there. It's not a successful reveal and I definitely understand why viewers were kind of repulsed by it. But frankly I found the sort of Shyamalan-esque twist in the finale much, much more off-putting.
One other really off-putting aspect of the series is its woozy handheld camera style that leads to some really abrasive edits and whole sequences which are kind of repulsive to watch. I really greatly dislike this style of film and/or television production, and when paired with that ending, I'm not really looking forward to any more of the show, despite liking the character.
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The What 100: X-Men was a cartoon that ran five seasons from 1992 through 1997. X-Men '97 picks up where it left off, as if it were the very next season of the series. Charles Xavier is dead, and mutantkind has received a sudden burst in sympathy because of the sacrifice he apparently made. Cyclops is burdened with running the school (which isn't really operating as a school) and leading the X-Men. He's being a total whiny baby about it. He was plotting a life away from both with pregnant Jean and now he's stuck, and upheaval after upheaval follow.
(1 Great) Episode 5 has an absolutely Earth shattering moment of undeniably nuclear superhero animation proportions that left I, along with many other fanboys and fangirls with their jaws on the floor. It was a brassy storytelling move that will probably upset any children that might find their way to this continuation of a 90's kids' programme.
(1 Good) I really hated the animation of the old X-Men series. It was taking Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Rob Liefeld's very detailed and line-heavy art and designs and trying to simplify it to repeatable animation with clunky and disastrous results. I found it borderline unwatchable. But this series, the animation is so much cleaner, crisper, tighter, and the action sequences are so dynamic with a touch of anime thrown in. At times you can tell different animation studios were handling chores of different sections of the episode as certain segments get so much more dynamic than others. I even think the animators for the first episode or two tried to replicate the clunkiness of the old series and ease into the newer animation style.
(1 Bad) Holy crap does this series ever burn through storylines at a breakneck speed. It doesn't spend any time lingering on any event or plot for much longer than an episode. It feigns interest in the idea that these stories have some sort of impact on the characters, but it never explores them to any satisfactory degree. It's all American animation shorthand and platitudes. It's like it's trying to race through the past 25 years of X-Men stories from the comics as fast as they possibly can, like they need to get through them all or they're doing something wrong. What has made the X-Men such a popular entity for 60-ish years isn't the action, but the characters and their evolution as a result of the drama and the melodrama. I'm not sure this show captures that effectively.
META: As I said, I really couldn't stand the old cartoon. Lady Kent and I, for a lark, watched a random selection of episodes of the series one evening, and after maybe five or six episodes, around two hours worth, we tapped out. What we liked the most were the episodes that didn't really feature the X-Men at all, the ones where the story detours into a different era and focuses on characters other than the main ones. The main cast of this series, to me, are an utter drag. I find Cyclops, Jean and Xavier to be insufferable characters, and I roll my eyes at almost every spoken line of dialogue they have.
The vocal performances are, somewhat, stuck with what came before by and large, and I always disliked the voice work on the old show. Comparing the voice work of X-Men to the Bruce Timm animated DC series (Batman, Superman, Justice League, Batman Beyond) is like comparing pop music to elevator music. Both are made by skilled professionals, but one has a power the other just does not. One had Andrea Romano as casting director, and the other did not. The voice work here is not terrible, but it's not great either.
Is this better than the old X-Men series? Absolutely. But did I enjoy watching it...? I found it to be a curiosity. I turned in week to week to puzzle over the decisions made and the many, many, many opportunities lost for dramatic interest. Yes, the action is pretty wild (and so fast-paced!), but I found myself yelling at the TV far more often than clapping with excitement or joy. A hearty "not for me".
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The What 100: It seems everyone in London (and maybe on the planet) was granted superpowers...well, almost. Jen is one of the few who either does not have a power, or it has not revealed itself. She is roommates with her best friend, Carrie who can channel dead people (including Jen's father), and Carrie's boyfriend Kash who can turn back time a brief amount. Demure Carrie is trying to establish some authority in her life, while unemployed Kash wants to start a superhero team. Then they take in a stray cat, whom, for reasons, they dub Jizzlord, who turns out to be an amnesiac shapeshifter. Season 2 delves into Jizzlord's past, Kash and Carrie (ha!) start new lives, and Jen goes to therapy.
(1 Great) In a time of superhero fatigue, something like Extraordinary comes along to remind you of the pliability of superpowers as a storytelling vehicle. Not being beholden to any specific property, or shared universe, or expectations allows the show to just do what it will. And what it does is character-based comedy with a few very sharp bits of personal and interpersonal drama. But there's also the sly bit of world building that circles it, that shows all the weird side hustles that people set up using their powers, and the way that some other jobs, and dating, and relationships with friends and family and whatnot change as a result. It's a show that's not afraid of being foul or gross but also has a pretty deep heart as well. So, what's great is this show. Not perfect, but greatly enjoyable.
(1 Good) I really like all the performers on here, most of whom I'm unfamiliar with (though Jen's mom is played by Derry Girls' Siobhan McSweeney, and her dad is voiced by Father Ted's Ardal O'Hanlon) but it should be Carrie performer Sofia Oxenham who gets the first spotlight. The character of Carrie is so mousy, reserved and unassuming that it's easy to dismiss Oxenham's performance, but when she channels the dead, often a very specific person for a legal case at her law firm, her whole mannerisms change to the nature of the character, and it is transformative. It's not showy at all which is what makes it so effective. The first big spotlight is a Halloween episode where she channels a 1950's cinema sexpot who then completely takes over Carrie's body, but there's usually a new example each episode.
(1 Bad) I honestly have no complaints about the show. They even get most uses of superpowers right (at least right enough for a comedy program). I guess if anything I just want more of it. Two seasons of 8 episodes each was just too easy to consume.
META: There's so much to like about this show, but it does character development very well. There is definite growth to every main character of the show from the first episode to the end of the second season. The story arcs are pretty fun and they're more full-bodied in the second season. Jizzlord's ____ entering the picture leads to a lot of wild sitcom moments, while Jen's therapy visits in the second season are conceptually very stimulating. Jen is a difficult person, which can be off-putting to some when starting the but it is a series that's endeavouring to show her potential to be better, while still letting her darker nature get the better of her for comedic effect.
Each season also ends with a pretty ripping cliffhanger. The first season was easy enough to deal with as we already had the second season on tap. The second season, though, is a big "woah" and we're going to have to wait for...whenever it is a new season is coming (not likely until next year, boo).
Also, I love to just say Jizzlord in Máiréad Tyers's Irish accent, just at random for no reason... "jizz-lahrdh".
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The What 100: Omega has been captured by the Imperials, in the same protected facility as Crosshair. Together they escape, but now she is perhaps the most hunted person in the Galaxy and nowhere is safe. Crosshair and his Batch 99 brothers have an uneasy reunion, and reestablishing trust proves hard. The team's objective is to keep Omega safe, but Omega insists that they find the uncharted planet of Tantiss and go back to the facility to rescue all the other imprisoned clones and force sensitive children that are there.
(1 Great) I have to say that the coda of The Bad Batch season 3, episode 15, was maybe my favourite moment of the series. It's not just that it takes a jump forward in time to show a few of our surviving characters where they are when the Rebellion against the Empire is in full swing, but it let me know that I really care about these characters, and really wanted to know what happens to them in the Star Wars time line going forward and what role they may have played in, or around future events than depicted elsewhere in the series. I think the path for the 99 crew did run its course, those soldiers deserve their rest, but Omega has become such a unique, creatively cunning and talented character that she should definitely have a place retrofitted for her in later Star Wars adventures.
(1 Good) I think Star Wars, in the wake of Marvel's success, fell a bit to hard into the self-referential, shared-universe side, and in the process many of its stories and series lost site of the trees that make up the forest. The first season of The Bad Batch maybe traded a bit too much on being a Clone Wars spinoff, but certainly this, it's third and final season, it found its lane where it really had a story to tell and an objective it wanted its characters to achieve. Even with a cameo from Governor Tarkin or Assajj Ventress, they're not overshadowing the overall story or character journey, but flow into them and help them progress. Even if the backdrop of this show was around cloning and potentially tying into the stories of The Mandalorian or even The Rise of Skywalker it never got specific about it, it never fully tied those threads together, because it wasn't what it was ultimately for.
(1 Bad) This was the tightest scripted season of The Bad Batch, much like how Star Wars: Rebels got increasingly tighter as it progressed through its four seasons. If anything I think this season is the tightest of any of the Star Wars animated series so far, which just makes me wonder why the prior seasons needed to be so much looser, why Filoni has this strong desire for so much table setting that's as much navel gazing as it is establishing characters or environments. So, the "bad" is not really about this season, but what it reveals about prior seasons and Dave Filoni's show construction in general.
META: There needs to be a Rebels prequel movie that doubles as a Bad Batch crossover
Why is the Bad Batch action figure situation such a shit show? Hunter and Crosshair were the first Bad Batch figures released in The Black Series back in the early pandemic times, in a wave that was short shipped due to such disruptions. I eventually got a Hunter (thanks to GZ for finding it for me at an American convention) and I had to settle for Crosshair in his second release Imperial costume. Then the other Bad Batch lads (and Omega) were seemingly everywhere, easy enough to get. But then newly designed costumes for season 2 came out only as Wal-Mart exclusives except Omega who was available everywhere. The hell was that all about?
And with the Vintage Collection, they released a Hunter figure last year...and that's it. It's baffling to this toy nerd how they decide these things.
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The What 100: Star Wars: Ahsoka villain Morgan Elsbeth gets an origin story set during the Clone Wars when the Night Sisters were massacred. Then Morgan finds herself tested by Admiral Thrawn, before landing in place where we found her in The Mandalorian Season 2. Plus, former Jedi turned rogue assassin turned convict, Barriss Offee is recruited to the fledgling Inquisitorus, where she has to fight to the death other disillusioned Jedi to earn her place. But she finds the job she is tasked with well beyond what was called for, and seeks her own form of redemption.
(1 Great) I know not everyone has been as hot on the Inquisitors as I have (as many as stuck on the idea that Vader himself tracked down every remaining Jedi or force sensitive creature and killed them), but I've been a fan ever since they debuted in Rebels. I've been trying to track who all the Inquisitors are (as I know there are at least 14 brothers and sisters) and this Barriss Offee tale just provides more insight into them and their culture, but, like Reva in Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn't necessarily mean they are all completely Dark Side force users, and many have their own motivations. I can't say I was itching to find out what had happened to Barriss after the events of Season 5 of the Clone Wars, but I really, really, really like her journey here. In fact, I think Episode 6 of this series (the third in Barriss' arc) is an incredible piece of Star Wars storytelling, right up there with some of the best animated stories Filoni has produced. Kevin Kiner (with Sean and Deana Kiner), of course, doing stellar work as always.
(1 Good) I like this Tales of the... "series" as a construct. Tales of the Jedi came out in 2022, highlighting Ahsoka and Dooku but was less structured than this. Here it's taking a smaller-exposure character and using three quick (less than 15 minutes each) episodes to step them through their journey from either what happened after we last saw them, or what their journey was before we found them. It works so well, an improvement upon Tales of the Jedi for sure.
(1 Bad) Because of timelines, Tales of the Jedi felt more disconnected, where Tales of the Sith seems more closely tied to The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian (and Rebels), but it just highlighted that these Tales of the... stories so far have mainly been playing in the Filoni-verse of Star Wars characters (Dooku being the only character to begin life as a live action). I would like to see Original Trilogy and Sequel characters get the treatment.
META: Why is this only 6 episodes covering these two characters? Why not 12 episodes covering four characters, or 18 episodes covering six characters? I would love that they do this with...well, any character of any significance. Give us a Lobot story or a 4-LOM story or a Balen Skol story or a Pelli Moto story or a Holdo story, or. or. or.... It's enough for these tertiary characters to just give them a little spotlight like this, ones that can both help with character building and galaxy building.
