Picard Season 1

2020, CTV SciFi - 10 episodes

(Note: I originally wrote this review after episode 6, and then forgot to save it.  Then I wrote it after episode 8, not knowing how downright awful the finale would be...so bear that in mind reading the following words)

I've had a few conversations with a few different people about Picard at this point and it seems like everyone had different expectations about what this show should be, and now that we're pretty deep into the season order, those differing opinions seem to now be about what's working and what isn't.

My expectations were something more character-specific, after all, this is the very first Star Trek show that is named after one specific character.   Episodes of the various shows do often center around one figure or another, but never have they been dedicated to following one journey or one point of view.  The first season of Discovery did that a bit with Michael Burnham, but it was still very much and ensemble show that did share the spotlight.

The first half of the inaugural episode of Picard seemed to be giving me what I want.  It caught us up on the character's current status (retired from Starfleet in protest many years ago, living at his familial vineyard full of trauma and regret).  The last Star Trek film, Nemesis, was a defining moment for Jean-Luc, his attempts to lead Starfleet's efforts at rescuing and relocating the Romulans (their most hated enemy) was aborted after synthetic beings went rogue and assassinated everyone at a Mars colony destroying the rescue fleet in the process. This not only was detrimental to the Romulans' desperate plight but also caused a ban on all synthetic life across the Federation.  Both of these decisions were a slap in the face to everything Jean-Luc thought Starfleet was about.

But these scars have started itching again when Jean-Luc learns of Data's twin daughters and the secret Romulan cabal that is determined to destroy them. Obviously, this is all connected.

The pilot builds this story very well, and centers it around Jean-Luc's anger, shame and trauma.  When one of the daughters of Data is destroyed on Earth, he must venture off world and find her twin.  But without Starfleet's support he must find a new crew to help him.  Up until this moment, the pilot, shot in widescreen format, was very cinematic, letting the emotions and weight of history settle in on Picard.  It took its time, and it felt like a small, personal story with a very grand scope was ahead of us.  But as soon as the show dovetailed into "getting the crew together" it lost all its intimacy and just seemed like another TV show ahead of us.

The subsequent episodes (I'm up to episode 8 as of this writing) have all been fine, but the show's focus on Jean-Luc Picard is not there.  In some episodes it's very much like Picard is a supporting player in his own series. (Patrick Stewart is very much looking like a fragile senior at this point, which may be why he isn't in complete focus. Getting old sucks.) Episode 6 finds Picard returning to a broken Borg cube (now a Romulan reclaimation project) which has a potent effect on him, which is then followed by his hasty escape to his old crew.

We've seen a few returning characters.  The spectre of Data in Jean-Luc's dreams in the pilot, Seven-of-Nine pops up as a badass vigilante, Hugh the ex-Borg is around, and in episode 7, Deanna Troi and Will Riker help counsel their mentor and friend in a very emotional reunion. But that return, while catching us up on the beautiful existence of old friends, is still so much about Picard, how others see him and how he sees himself.

I was worried the show would get lost in nostalgia, and thankfully it does not, but at the same time it too often gets lost in the weeds necessitated by being a TV show.  I wish the series was instead a movie, one with dedicated focus and a streamlined story.  It's not that I dislike the new cast of characters (in fact I think Captain Rios may be one of my favourite all-time Star Trek character at this point, and his ship, La Sirena, may be my all time favourite Star Trek ship at this point as well).  I recognize that were this a movie we would have been robbed of the beautiful reunion of the Picard, Riker and Troi, so there are aspects of it being a series that have paid off, yet I feel it's taking more time than necessary to tell it's story.  (In this age of over-saturation on TV, who has time for shows that are biding time to fill out an episode order?)

I enjoy the series for how it ventures outside the conventions of Starfleet, which is, from what I gather, what some people really don't like about the show.  Some people want more nostalgia, others want less.  Some want more focus on what's familiar, others want more that's new.  I've fielded complaints that the technology has advanced too much from when last we saw this universe, while some think it hasn't advanced enough (given Moore's Law).  A lot of that is just background, however, and the ultimate point is whether the show is telling a compelling story or not.  

I would say it is, but it's definitely not perfect.

[POST SCRIPT: contains SPOILERS]

Way to not stick the landing.  The, effectively, two-part finale was a big ol' whiff at bat, if we're using tired sports metaphors.  They forgot to get a target lock before firing phasers on this ending.  Jesus it's bad.  Real bad.  It's trying not to be that bad, but it is one of the most manipulative things I've watched in some time. 
 

And another thing...he doesn't even take
the dog with him. He just abandons it on
earth.  We need a space dog, dammit!!!

The series establishes early on that Jean-Luc has something wrong with him, terminal.  Once or twice, and once or twice only, we see signs of that terminal affliction affecting him.  Jean-Luc is too stoic and won't comment further on what's happening.  Then in episode 9 it comes back in full force, all of a sudden, meaning Picard has to fight through the symptoms of this disease ex machina in order to fight for (and against) the synthetics.  I'll get to where this all leads in a moment.

The planet of the synthetics is quite the let-down, yet it feels almost a part of the 60's Trek, complete with the hippie commune mentality.  The orchids that La Sirena first encounters defending the planet are terribly cool and inspired, but the society down below is much less so.  Just a group of weirdos standing around awed by everything.  Certainly not what we'd been led to believe we'd be encountering, but that was the point.  The stories were of terrors in the unknown, instead we find a band of pacifists whose survival is suddenly threatened.

In the span of one episode, there's a mini-rebellion and the threat of "old god synthetics" who the Romulan Prophecy warned about.  For fear of getting too nerdy, this whole angle doesn't jibe, but I won't get into it.  A Romulan Armada shows up, threatening to eradicate the planet, but Jean-Luc saves the day with ingenuity, guts, determination and powerful diction.  Then he dies.

Yep, they kill off Picard.  We get to see everyone be sad an mourn him.

Except moments later they resurrect him as a synthetic, but in the same body he's known, with the same life expectancy otherwise.  Why?  There was no reason for any of this beyond sheer audience manipulation.  And we don't see those same characters who were in such mourning discover his rebirth.  It's cursedly stupid and I hate it so much.
 

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

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 maybe doesn't have has too much to say about it.

So say we all.

Inspired by Kent's last (TV) post, I am returning to Writing About TV. The last time I did was back in 2022 with one which was already a collection of the ancient past. I imagine I will miss a few, but I will do my best to actually curtail the rambling (and even the mumbling of this louder, second italics voice; third voice replies, "why curtail? why not embrace?").

Picard S03, 2023, Paramount+

Or better known as Star Trek: The Next Generation S08. Despite originally giving a strong attempt to do something new and fresh, albeit with a heavy dose of nostalgic referential material, the Picard series gives up any pretense and goes all-in on simping for the fanboys (ooooo look at Toast using the "fellow kids" language). This season brings back the entire bridge crew, minus Wesley who got his ten seconds last season. Even Ro Laren gets her ten seconds. 

TBH I hated how much TOS ended up relying on its aging cast, and despite hitting that age myself, I am just not interested in seeing doddering old fuddy duddies saving the galaxy. But as we already said, the series has dispensed pretending its not just another season of an older, beloved series. There is no way this is Picard at 96, because NOBODY in the cast looks that old, even if the Federation has made growing older more graceful. And this season pretty much ignores that he is a synth, but for one comment. That said, the cast does pull it off for the most part, and this show does not smack of Fat Kirk as the movies did.

This season finally answers the question of whether Picard and Beverly ever Got It On. They did, they had a son, she abandoned Star Fleet and didn't even tell JL about the kid. Its now twenty-odd years later and the kid & his mom are being chased by the spiritual successor to Romulan Nero from the Chris Pine movies (big, spiky spaceship, loves monologuing, mat as a hatter). She drags Picard into it, and he drags Riker and a few others into it. AND Rafi is already mixed up in something for Starfleet Security, which we know will end up tying to Picard's story.

If the Mission Impossible movies are always about the IMF being disavowed, and then reinstated, this series is about Picard needing Starfleet to help him with something, being told to go fuck himself, and he absconding with the resources anyway. I know they lampshade it (oooo Toast learned a new literary term and just had to find a way to use it) but you would think his status in saving the galaxy a hand full of times would give him no end of people lining up to offer him help.

Anywayz, Bad Guys are Changelings and Borg, but annoyingly and strangely enough, NOT Agnes Jurati and her new Kinder Nicer Borg Queen Amalgam. The season forgets about that endeavour completely and just brings back the original Borg Queen, voiced by Alice Krige -- RIP Annie Wersching. She pulls off her own Borg: The Next Generation and uses all the young folk of Star Fleet to attack Earth. Now THIS would have been the perfect opportunity to fan-boy even more, having a whole BUNCH of aging, but fondly remembered, secondary cast members appear on screen briefly stating, "We've successfully fought off our grandchildren and taken back our ships!!" Alas.

And Picard as Loving Dad saves the day (rolls eyes).

Nice to see Worf still pining for Deanna. 

Ted Lasso S03, AppleTV+

Season Three in a three season arc show, that has been very loud about its intent to come, to impress, and to go. So, what will they give us this season? Of course, we need a Redemption Arc for Nate, but ... what else? Maybe they can finally.... win? Well, so many episodes in and Not Yet.

At this point in the series, I am no longer seeing it as A Whole, but as individual episodes and points in each episode. Its not so much about Ted anymore, which is always expected from later seasons in shows named for a character. Some stories I care about (Rebecca's, Keeley's), some I don't (Ted's, Nate's) and some, I am just enjoying the progression of the character (Jamie's, Ted's). There are touching moments, and heart breaking moments, and funny moments, but nothing is truly all tied together like Season One.

But I will still keep watching.

The Mandalorian S03, Disney+

Feel the same here?

Grogu didn't become a Jedi, so he is back with Mando (why DOESN'T anyone call him Manda? *snicker*)  and Mando has set his sites on his own redemption, in the eyes of the cadre. So, that means a trip to Mandalore. Admittedly, I am constantly reminding myself, having not seen all the interstitial shows that this one draws upon for lore, that the death of the planet of Mandalore was not thousands of years ago. Not sure why that idea is cemented in my head... So yeah, Mando is off the planet bombed into green glass to find forgiveness for taking his helmet off.

And along the way, he brings along Bo Katan, who has lost face in the eyes (weird turn of phrase?) of her own cadre, having lost the Black Sabre to Mando. But, you know, it all works out. This season will be all about things working themselves out, tying up some loose ends, and ... kicking your feet up?!?!

Again, when a first season was soooo fucking distinctive, and the follow up, lesser so (but with it's incredible moments) I am not sure I can expect much more than Just Enjoying It for a third season. Hopefully they will kick it into higher gear for coming seasons? No. More. Resting. On. Laurels. Please?

Will Trent, S01, ABC

Every season, we hope to find a new, light procedural. Again, you ask, what do you mean by light? As in not a dark, heavy, gloomy procedural that is primarily about something horrible happening, usually via a single story, full season. I want something with crimes to solve, interesting characters, and a bit of humour. This was this season's.

Will Trent, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (state agency as opposed to Federal) and is, as expected, a bit of an odd ball. He grew up in the foster care system and was extremely abused. But he pulled himself up by his tweed suits and earth tone ties to become the best investigator in the state. With a hidden dyslexia, which he supplements by talking through cases into a cassette audio recorder, he annoys other investigators, as well as the entirety of local Atlanta police forces, primarily because he also brought down a beloved Police Chief for corruption.

Its another cop show based on another book series, this time by Karin Slaughter. Its doing exactly what I wanted it to do, but not any more than that. I am still looking for my next Longmire. 

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching: A Long Long Look Back, Pt. C - Rewatch

I Saw This (double exclamation point) is our feature wherein Kent(!) or Toasty attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago and meant to write about but just never got around to doing so. But we can't not write cuz that would be bad, very bad.  Ottawa Freedom Convoy bad.

What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is the admitted state of me spending too much time in front of the TV. But what else was the last few years about? Sure, we got a few breaks from being confined at home, and might have actually gone outside (gasp!) and socialized with (double-gasp!) human beings (faint-dead-away) but we always ended up back on the sofa, flicker in hand, trying to find something to watch amidst the 35 shows we downloaded, and the 5 or so streaming services we are subscribed to.

Part A is here. Part B is here. 

Star Trek: Picard, 2020, CBS Paramount+ -- download

The new season starts the first week of March (edit: just watched!), so I though I would rewatch. I didn't actually recall much beyond the basic details and that I rather loathed the last episode. I also recall absolutely loving the first episode and being disappointed it wasn't as emotionally weighty throughout. Surprisingly, without all the expectations holding me down, I rather enjoyed the rewatch, including the final episode. Oh, I still think it sucks on so many levels, but I didn't hate it anymore, much like I don't hate all the myriad of terrible episodes in TNG. And honestly, I can be incredibly "meh" about a lot of Star Trek but I will never hate it.

Recap. The Future. Picard has left Star Fleet and retired to his vineyard in Southern California France. Can I just state, that while I understand its predicated on locality, and on a rather nostalgic amusement at where and how the series were shot, it still annoys me that every planet in the Federation looks like southern California. Anywayz, Picard left angrily because the Federation cancelled its plans to assist the Romulans in evacuating their star system before the impending super nova. Remember, it is this super nova that sends Spock and his little whirly gig spaceship into the star, only to fail, and be sent back in time to create the Kelvin Timeline / Alternate Universe. The reason the Federation cancels its plans is because a handful of advanced Synths from the Institute *ahem* Daystrom Institute (sorry, Fallout 4 joke) bring down the shields on the Mars shipyards, causing destruction and the death of a lot of people. In reaction, the Federation bans all synthetic life. A bit of an overreaction, but they are being skillfully manipulated by some Romulans in secret places of power. The Federation never seems capable of not being infiltrated.

Picard gets dragged back into everything when a young woman, who happens to be an android built on reconstituted positronic neurons from Data, is murdered in front of him. Picard is desperate to find her twin, to save her from also being murdered by a mysterious cabal of Romulans. But the Federation says no to his plan (actually they literally tell him to fuck off) and he has to cobble together one from lost connections, and fly out to save the day.

What I noticed keenly during this rewatch was how the failure to rescue so many Romulans, Romulans that were being sacrificed by their own people BTW, was even more on Picard than on the Federation. When his plan was cancelled, he didn't marshal personal resources, break rules and head out anyway. He just had a tantrum, dumped the Federation and went to pout in his estate. He abandoned Romulans, he abandoned friends, and his tantrum tanked the reputation and career of his best friend (at the time) Raffi. And he hides away from this shame for almost 15 years.

Despite all the nostalgia and throwbacks to this series, once I am unfettered from my expectations, much of it felt like a melding of the movies and TNG. It was not as grand a departure from norm as Discovery is was. But it does have fun with the newness. I am no longer annoyed with Picard becoming a Synth in his own right, despite the weirdness of them just giving him his fucking old body, and the remaining lifespan before the brain abnormality and the stress of the impending end of the galaxy killed him, but fuck all that "normal span of a human lifetime". How about just put him back into a body that represents what all people have in their mind's eye. Hell knows, I don't see this pudgy 50ish body full of aches and pains, so why not put Picard in a 40ish body full of vim & vigour and allow him to repair what he could have been doing during those 15 wasted years growing grapes.

Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency, 2016, BBC America -- Netflix

There are just so many aspects of this show that make me smile, that as we crawled through yet ANOTHER year of a Pandemic, and then fucking not-truck drivers began making fusses over things that a) were not really a right/big inconvenience/impact to "freedom" and b) were not entirely being controlled by the Canadian Federal Govt. But no matter, logic or intelligence did not play into this action, but boy did it bother the fuck out of me. And I needed a mood cleanser, so we sat down and began to slowly re-watch this lovely show.

And yep, smiling ensued.

I never did go deep into the plot the first time I wrote about this, mainly because the plot is so purposely convoluted, which is entirely where all the fun comes from. So, here's a stab.

Todd is an ex-indie band member in Seattle doing his best to earn money for his sister Amanda, who suffers from a debilitating disease, and she cannot often afford meds, and their parents have already been bankrupted by Todd having the same disease. Todd got better and then Amanda got sick. He works at a hotel as a bellhop where he is abused by his dick boss. Dick Boss sends Todd to see what is going on in the penthouse, and has a brief weird experience on the wrong floor, where he sees himself in all sorts of wacky clothing. But then he goes to the penthouse -- death and mayhem abound -- bodies chomped in two, blood everywhere, burn marks that look like bites taken out of the sofa, and the body of one of Seattle's wealthy elite. Todd gets in trouble for just walking through the door.

Back at home he comes across Dirk breaking into his shitty apartment. Disk is weird and that is saying it mildly. Overtly friendly and outgoing, he talks in riddles about how everything is connected and is convinced that whatever case  he is working on (he claims to be a detective, a holistic detective) involves Todd. He decides Todd is his assistant. At first Todd resists, but then the weird things start compounding and Todd starts.... believing.

Meanwhile another holistic practitioner is wandering the roads killing whomever she comes across, because if the Universe put her in front of them, they should die. And she cannot be hurt, because the Universe won't let her be. And her goal in life is to find Dirk Gently and kill him. But she bumps into Ken, who she somehow doesn't immediately kill, so that must mean something. Because everything means something.

Meanwhile there is a weird cult of bald guys and a growly talking chubby ex-zoo worker who claims to be a famous dead rock star, who have a girl who has the soul of a corgi in her, while said corgi is wandering the streets. She is the daughter of the dead wealthy elite guy, and Dirk was hired to find her. And there are two Seattle detectives, working the missing persons case for her, and bumping into all the mayhem.

There is also a van full of hooligans, led by our fav actor Michael Eklund, and yes their van growls. For some reason Amanda is attracted to their weirdness, especially after she has an attack of her disease and they suck the pain off, like so many psychic vampires. Meanwhile, there are a weird pair (lots of pairs in the show) of black ops type soldiers trying to hunt down these hooligans, and Dirk.

And there is Farah, the bodyguard of the wealthy elite dead guy, who has been kidnapped by the cult, and is in turn, through a series of coincidences and circumstances, released by Dirk and Todd, and joins the "detective agency" to figure out what is going on, find the dog, save the girl (not cheerleader) and stop the cult.

Didn't I say there were a lot of moving pieces?

But its how it all comes together as well as watching the gears in this huge crazy machine move, which makes this show so much fun to watch. Performances are over the top, often sometimes insane (I am talking about you, Ty Olsson as tweaker landlord Dorian) and sometimes hard to comprehend. And being shot in the Vancouver environs, the cast is full of the usual Canadian familiar faces. There are just so many lines, and so many manners of delivery that just make me smile, it is a welcome respite in all this chaos we currently live in.

P.S. That was just Season One above, and season two, while still as enjoyable, is not as precisely perfect as the first season, being more all heroic journey into a fantasy fairy tale world grown from the mind of a child, and is somewhat marred by a less than confident Dirk, a surprisingly sociopathic Ken, but raised up by performances from Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk.

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching: A Long Long Look Back, Pt. G - One Or More

 I Saw This (double exclamation point) is our feature wherein Kent(!) or Toasty attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago and meant to write about but just never got around to doing so. But we can't not write cuz that would be bad, very bad.  Freedumb Convoy bad.

What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is the admitted state of me spending too much time in front of the TV. But what else was the last few years about? Sure, we got a few breaks from being confined at home, and might have actually gone outside (gasp!) and socialized with (double-gasp!) human beings (faint-dead-away) but we always ended up back on the sofa, flicker in hand, trying to find something to watch amidst the 35 shows we downloaded, and the 5 or so streaming services we are subscribed to.

Part A is here. Part B is here. Part C is here. Part D is over there. Part E is there. Part F hides over there.

So this is what I am watching right now, or maybe only watched one episode and am waffling about continuing or maybe I even am taking my time with it. This will be a lot, so shorter than usual. Or maybe not. I am a decisive/divisive writer.

Picard S02, 2022, Paramount+

OK, I am back to being utterly annoyed by Picard being an android again -- primarily because THIS season seems to forget it every ten seconds. Perhaps they are making a very bad rendition of the old "if you replace every part of a ship, is it still the original ship" adage, but I am not sure I would consider Picard still human. Sure, he is still Picard but I don't think I would classify him as human.

ANYWAYZ, this season picks up a few years after the events of the first season, and doubles down on the nostalgic references, by adding in the Borg and Q, and a boat load of time travel, which references the whale movie. Again, I am all in for the nostalgia, but this season is just leaving me almost as flat as this season of Discovery did. I just want it to have some... weight.

** If I had footnotes in this blogging software, I would add in a footnote about the nostalgic bit with the return of "the punk on the bus" from The Voyage Home. Seriously, that was some gold level nostalgia !

So, Picard (Patrick Stewart, The Green Room) is visited by Q (John  de Lancie, Torchwood), who has something going on. But Q being Q, he fucks with Picard by altering the past which causes the present to be altered to not much better than the Mirror Universe, or... maybe worse? But for some unknown reason, Picard and the cast of the first season, sans Data's Daughter, still remember the original timeline. So, they decide the best way to fix it, since Q isn't around providing his usual goading hints, is to go into the past using a handy nearby Borg Queen (insert Locutus PTSD; Annie Wersching, Runaways) and perform the sling-shot effect from the Kirk maneuvers handbook.

I am just not invested in this season, but rarely was I entirely in the three next-gen series either. Oh, sure I watched them every week (but for that gap with DS9 when I Didn't Have TV), but I didn't really care one way or the other, whether it was good or not. This time round, I really do wish it was ... better. I mean, there are just no real stakes here. We know they will repair the timeline, we know they will recover The Borg in Red, we know they will solve whatever Q's puzzle is and maybe even help him. So, its just going through the nostalgia with familiar faces. Maybe they are playing with the tweaks of the Universe again, setting up head canon reasons for why Discovery and coming Strange New Worlds looks so different than original series, but I doubt it.

Still, I will continue watching.

The Wheel of Time, 2022, AmazonPrime

Meanwhile, I will eventually go back and finish this first season, but entirely as expected, the adaptation of the third in the Lord of the Rings clones from way back in the BFF (big fat fantasy) era of paperbacks, Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time series, is just not that good. Fantasy TV rarely is. People, including me, were hoping that Game of Thrones would change that up, as so much fantasy TV ends up looking like everything is set in the Hercules / Xena world. And this one did.

Without going back and re-reading plot synopses, I will relate the handful of episodes from I watched, from memory. A bunch of youngsters (insert [someone else's] complaint about woke TV and skin tones) in a remote mountain village have their lives upset when the place is attacked by legendary monsters; no not orcs, but horn-headed, beast-legged manimals, called Trollocs. Everyone dies but them, and they escape with the help of a witchy-cleric lady (Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl) who represents a repressive cabal of ... well, magic users. She believes one of the kids is likely the reincarnation of a BBEG who was defeated in ancient times, but destined to return. Rather than kill them all, like everyone else suggests, she secrets them away.

This is all supposed to represent a Fellowship analog with the escaping characters going from A to B with bad guys chasing them. But typical of fantasy TV, its more about the moaning and groaning of youngsters with issues, than it is about the fantasy trappings. I was not enthralled, but might go back and see how they round out the season. Luckily, I only read a handful of the original books, and forget EVERYTHING about them, so I am not burdened with Bad Adaptation woes.

The Good Lord Bird, 2020, Showtime

I meant to download this during The Pause, as I had seen the trailers and loved how wacky Ethan Hawke was. He plays American abolitionist John Brown during the Bleeding Kansas period of history, when violence happened between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups, just as Kansas became a proper US state. The show is seen through the eyes of Henry Shackleford (Joshua Caleb Johnson, Snowfall), a slave who Brown frees, and who Brown mistakes for a girl, and puts them in a dress. Henry sees some benefit in the belief and doesn't argue, but ends up in Brown's ragtag group of "freedom fighters", and sees first-hand exactly how utterly insane Brown is.

I have watched a few episodes, and I am just not sure. Hawke's antics are hilarious, disturbing and discomforting but I am not sure where the show will go beyond just being a weird-west slice of period life. Which, being a mini-series instead of just a S01, means that could be enough.

The Endgame, 2022, NBC

Yeah yeah, Morena Baccarin peacocking around haughty as fuck (all the puns intended) is the only reason I even attempted to watch this show. It's pretty much a rip-off of The Blacklist with James Spader, in that a notorious criminal mastermind allows themselves to be captured only to toy with the authorities, doing some stuff that benefits said authorities, while still masterminding a ton of illegal shit in the background that benefits ONLY themselves.

But, for one, her pseudo accent is just terrible and annoying AF. And secondly, all the supporting cast is unknown and incredibly low-grade choices, leaving it all feeling like something that was sitting on a shelf, that was taken down and dusted off when they had nothing else better to release.

Upload S02, 2022, AmazonPrime

Loved season one. Or rather liked a lot ? Anywayz, I came into S2 with lots of anticipation and ... only watched one episode. Not sure why, but we return to the show with the (not) Evil GF having uploaded herself (but not really) to be with Nathan (Robbie Amell, The Flash), while Nora (Andy Allo, Chicago Fire) has gone off the grid, because Nathan disappeared. He didn't actually, just was just had his funds cut off, so he ended up "in the basement" (remember, its all a virtual world, so basement is a ... metaphor?), frozen and unavailable. Nora is worried about the conspiracy that actually led to Nathan's death, so she goes off the grid for a month or so, while Nathan's funds build back up.

There is no reason I have not continued watching other than... squirrel ! Yeah, easily distracted.

Halo, 2022, Paramount+

Video game adaptations don't exactly have the best reputation. And Halo the game is more known for its multi-player editions than the single player bit with the actual story, yet for some reason, this series was greenlit and actually given a budget. I knew I would watch it, just because, but lo and behold, was I surprised when it was actually good !

This is not a retelling of any plots from any of the games, but more world building and a story inspired by the plots from the games, primarily the discovery of the titular "dyson ring" called the Halo. In the initial few episodes we are introduced to the (somewhat oppressive) star faring human culture called UNSC (United Nations Space Command), the alien race they are at war with called The Covenant, and the human insurrectionists holding out against the UNSC. And, of course, the special force of soldiers within the UNSC called the Spartans, led by John-117 or "Master Chief" (Pablo Schreiber, American Gods).

Marmy pointed out that only in the first episode do we see much action, as the Spartans drop down on insurrectionist planet Madrigal, just as the community is being wiped out by Covenant soldiers. In the aftermath, a lone teenage survivor (Yerin Ha, Reef Break) is taken by the Spartans, but not before they discover an alien artifact that gives John visions of a past he doesn't remember.

The rest of episodes have been about Dr. Halsey, the creator of the Spartans (Natascha McElhone, Calfornication), manipulating John and his connection to the alien artifact, while John learns to become more than the unquestioning super soldier he has been up to, until he touched the artifact. Given who is playing Master Chief, that he spends most of his time with his helmet off is not surprising. But given the rather slow progression of the plot, and the lack of action (in a series based on an entirely combat driven game), I am surprised it has me so captured. But the production values are high, the directing tight and the acting is pretty good considering the source; after all these years we still don't expect much from specfic TV.

Troppo, 2022, ABC Television

Crime TV. We go seeking it out, usually not finding much good, but occasionally hitting a gem. Troppo comes to us from Australia, and to be honest, it only caught my attention because Thomas Jane is in it, and as a grizzled detective. Not sure how he can be already typecast in my mind, because of his role on The Expanse, but here we are.

Ted Koncaffey is an American living in Australia, estranged from his family after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. He was exonerated, but only because of a mix-up in procedure. He is hiding out in Far North Queensland, a rather rural, tropical place, when he is dragged into an investigation of the death of a Korean businessman, by local pariah turned private detective Amanda Pharrell (Nicole Chamoun, The Gloaming). In her teens she was accused & convicted of murder, and has only recently been released, living an angry, counter-culture life while dealing with many.... personal issues.

I was hoping more for Murder of the Week, but the ongoing tale is a rather classic British-style deep & dark murder investigation which, of course, has tendrils reaching into all parts of the isolated community. 

P.S. As the show didn't want us rooting for a possible pedophile, they clear that question up pretty quickly as a medical examiner points out that the physical evidence in the case did not point to Koncaffey, therefore he must have investigated a far too sensitive suspect, leading to his frameup.

Amusingly, I recognized an actress playing the daughter of the murdered Korean businessman as the survivor of the insurrectionist colony attack in Halo.

Outer Range, 2022, AmazonPrime

Only one episode into this one. Not sure yet. My post-Longmire cowboy, open range (not a pun) obsession continues with this weird-west tale of a family dealing with a missing wife / daughter, a ruthless neighbour seeking to take their land, and... well, a big science-defying hole in their outer range that only the head of their family has found so far.

This slightly smacks of Benson-Moorhead style story, but... I just don't know yet. Time will (possibly) tell, but the acting and production values are tight and appropriately eerie. I suspect it will get more fuck-with-your-head as time goes on, and that usually keeps my attention... for a while. I hope it will have some real answers by the time the seasons gets to closing.

But can I really go wrong with Josh Brolin?

Sweet Home, 2020, Netflix

I probably could combine a bunch of single episodes of Japanese/Korean horror/thriller shows into one paragraph, but I actually watched more than a handful of this one, so it gets the post. Netflix is full of these shows, and after the popularity of Squid Game (one of the single-episoders) I am not surprised, but they were there before, and they will keep appearing long after we forget that one success happened.

Cha Hyun-soo (Song Kang, Nevertheless) moves into an incredibly squalid apartment building after something tragic happens at home; after which I got the idea he tried to commit suicide, but failed. Not long after, people begin changing into monsters, and the government announces that people should barricade themselves inside their homes. Most of the residents of the apartment building, after a bunch change and kill others, gather on the main floor for survival. Hyun-soo is infected/cursed but seems to be able to retain his humanity, and becomes the contentious protector of the survivors as they turn on each other in the chaos.

The monsters are fun, the action is gorey and the characters are varied enough to be interesting, but the traditional method of dragging things out for far too long diminished my interest rather quickly.

Moon Knight, 2022, Disney+

OK, why don't I like this latest of the MCU series? Or more accurately, why is it not doing anything for me? I don't dislike it, and I am watching each episode each week, but I spend as much time watching my phone as I do watching the episode. Marvel Fatigue? Not a character I care about? Dislike for Oscar Isaac? None of the above. The only thing that stands out is how irritating I find his faux British accent when he is Steven, but nothing else really comes to mind as to why I am not fully on board.

So, Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac, ExMachina) is a gift shop attendant at the British Museum with more than a passing obsession with all things Egyptian, much to the annoyance of his boss. But he keeps on losing time, and showing up in weird places, while also doing his best to chain himself to his bed. You see, Steven has Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac, Dune), soldier of fortune inside his head (body?) and Spector is also the avatar of Khonshu, Egyptian god of the moon. As Moon Knight, he is trying to stop the previous avatar Harrow (Ethan Hawke, The Northman) from bring back another Egyptian god Ammit.

The action is well done, the effects impressive and the balance between tension and comedy is OK, but I am just ... not into it. The Benson-Moorhead episode did a bit more to keep my attention, but beyond that... yawn. Still, I will see it through.

Joe Pickett, 2021, Spectrum

Yeah, this one was more about trying to find another Longmire. Another rural America crime show this time set in Wyoming with Pickett (Michael Dorman, For All Mankind) as the new game warden in a small rural town dealing with red neck poachers and the people who don't want to remember the last game warden has retired. And also, he has a dark past, because they always do. 

Its going to be another full-season story arc kind of show, but nothing about the first episode caught my attention, beyond getting a sense of deja vu from the video game Far Cry 5. Still, pretty mountains and open fields?

Meh.

From, 2022, Epix

Now, THIS one has my attention!

This is a horror-scifi thriller series where a rural horror road (that one in all the horror movies that is shot from above, winding its way through the trees) leads to that pocket dimension town, like the one from that episode of Fringe. You drive in one side of the town, drive out, but end up coming back in the other side, in an endless loop. You cannot leave town. 

People have been living in this town for .. a long time, doing as best they can. But that's not all. Every night monsters come out of the woods, monsters that to all appearances are eerie 1960s small town American inhabitants, until they catch you. Then they revert to vampire monsters and eat you. The entire town hides indoors at night, protected by strange stone talismans hanging near doors, behind closed curtains, as the monsters do their best to siren song you into opening windows or doors, letting them in. Once you do, you are dead.

New Family arrives, after being driven off the road by a pair of tech moguls, who get caught up in the loop. New Family learns the ropes quick enough as their kid gets trapped inside the RV and the town sheriff (Harold Perrineau, The Rookie) has to bring a talisman and protect the family until they can free the kid, the next morning. And then they are welcomed back into town, to learn the whole story.

But beyond the absolute horror of what is going on, there is also an incredibly complex and mysterious ... something else going on. Where does food come from? They grow some, but apparently just beyond the town borders, animals appear in the woods, as they are needed. There is electricity and running water, but... from where? New Family Dad (Eion Bailey, Band of Brothers) finds out quick enough that none of the wiring (you know, in walls or extension cords) has any actual wires -- its all just rubber plugged into outlets yet still providing light and power. Where did the talismans come from? Who is the strange man who turns out to be the very first survivor of the town back in the 60s? What are the Far Away Trees? Who is talking to the psycho girl? Much of the show is about WTF is Going On? And that has me enthralled.

And it is also incredibly horrific. Not scary, but monstrous and horrible, as soon after the New Family arrives, the tentative peace the town had for a while (weeks? months?) disappears and people keep dying in thinly connected events -- the town drunk forgets to go home in time, and his daughter opens a window, the girl working in the diner hears voices and kills one of the tech moguls, but also opens the door to the clinic letting the monsters in to kill the old man with dementia, and the hippy commune house on the hill has a particularly bad night after one man is "seduced" by a single monster/siren. Things are getting worse after New Family has arrived, but threads are being unraveled, that may lead to the town's rescue or... get worse? I have no idea, and that is what has my attention.

I also like that I recognized the old, run down structures of the town, more the style of architecture, and found out it was being shot on location outside of Halifax, NS. I also reallllly liked watching Maritime comedian Shaun Majumder (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) showing his dramatic chops playing the town priest.

That reminds me, I have to download another episode.

The Outlaws, 2022, AmazonPrime

Only one episode in. This is a British series created by and starring Stephen Merchant. The premise is simple enough -- a disparate bunch of people are gathered together to fulfill their community service sentence by cleaning up a rec centre. They are all ages, all levels of crime, but all stuck together working under a clipboard Napoleon. The trailer tells us they find a mysterious bag of money and the season will come from them deciding what to do with it, but the first episode tells us exactly where the money comes from, and the story is that much more complex for it.

The characters are fun, and not black & white at all, which will work to the show's benefit. People are assholes but nobody is a "bad guy" yet. Yet. And Merchant, as writer, director and star, is his usual quirky, weird but basically nice guy who I suspect will get darker as time goes on.

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching: 2020 Edition: Pt. F

I Saw This (double exclamation point) is our feature wherein Kent(!) or Toasty(¡) attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago and meant to write about but just never got around to doing so. But every time I try not to write, bad things happen, very bad things. Somewhere. To someone.

What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is the admitted state of me spending too much time in front of the TV. And despite what I said above, I have been avoiding telling you about what I have been watching. Not that you care. But at least I am not telling you about my character

Pt A is here. Pt B is here. And Pt C. And Pt. D. Aaaaand Pt. E.

Escapism !!

Star Trek: Picard, 2020, CBS

Where do I begin on this but to say, yeah I loved it. How could I not? It's Old School tNG as well as being fresh and new, and occasionally challenging. It has completed the season now, and to be honest, that was enough. We don't need anymore. We got our fill of nostalgia, we got to see what our beloved characters were up to, for better or for worse. We got to romp around the galaxy for a bit and hear Picard say "engage" again. What more could we ask for?

Well, let me tell you, I was hoping for more. That first episode, it gave me not-quite-new-Star Wars-fanfare chills. It felt crisp and fresh and bitingly expository. Picard no longer with Star Fleet, a bitter, resentful old man, with trauma weighing heavy on him. And with good reason! The dialogue in that first episode felt so perfect for what we need now. Alas, as episodes went on and on, we fell into more familiar patterns. Sure they tossed in some swear words here and there, and some rather startling violence, but it still felt like Trek of Olde. Oh sure, I enjoyed the Hell out of it, as I was a big fan of Trek in all its incarnations. But it felt like I lost something before I could even really savour it.

So that's fine, end it with one season. I got some and I am ready for Discovery.

But before I move on, some of the Bestest of Things: Annika the Bad Ass and her quest to protect and re-integrate the ex-Bs, Elnor the Space Elf and Captain Rios of the La Sirena and his menagerie of holograms.

The Letter for the King, 2020, Netflix

From the trailers I thought this was going to be a pseudo-historical story set in Not-England or Not-Europe during some Not-Medieval period, but it turned out to be a generic Fantasy series in an entirely Not-Medieval-Europe world. And despite being a teen centered drama, it was actually rather good, if rather sanitized for adult audiences.

Based on a book by a Dutch writer, the story focuses on the young man Tiuri (sounded like Jury to me; is that how the name is pronounced in Dutch?) from the Kingdom of Dagonaut. Dagonaut supports Unauwen which has been at war with Eviellan for a thousand years. That is, until Prince Viridian took it upon himself to destroy them and end the war. Tiuri was a casualty of that war but was taken north by a kind knight, as raised as the man's son.

On the night Tiuri is supposed to become a knight himself, he is interrupted by The Black Knight with the White Shield, who dies before he can deliver a letter he intercepted, a letter from Viridian to people he trusted, a letter that CANNOT reach his father the King. The dying knight charges Tiuri with delivery and off he goes on mounted on the real hero of the series, Ardweden the horse.

Tiuri has a destiny, or so everyone seems to think when they run into him. There is a prophecy that a darkness will rise and only a child of the light can stop it. Tiuri doesn't really care for the idea of destiny, and it doesn't help that his fellow novice knights are chasing him down. The real story picks up when he gets saddled, literally, with the daughter of a disreputable town mayor on her way to find HER life's goal.

Magic, sword fights, Destiny and black wearing bad guys -- this was the generic fantasy I needed right now. It wasn't as juvenile as it could have been, but not as edgy as it wanted to be -- it was no successor to Game of Thrones. But I don't think it should have tried to be. It did go as expected, except for one wonderful turn of events when Tiuri's destiny turns out a little different.

Zoey's Infinite Extraordinary Playlist, 2020, NBC

Sorry Nick & Norah.

Not yet done with the season, but almost there, is the sometimes uneven, sometimes a little lost, but altogether charming and entirely delightful ZEP, but I might be a bit biased, as Jane Levy's Zoey does make me more than a bit swoony.

In this series, that lends itself to the world that Glee left behind, Zoey sees and hears people's inner most thoughts through song and dance. Basically they break into musical routines right in front of her, but only she can see them. She, along with her Fabulous neighbour Mo, learns more about the roles of this "superpower" and uses it to help those around her, including her father, a man dying from a disease that has him mostly locked-in. Zoey is also the newest Programmer Manager in a very very San Fran software company, so she has many challenges to deal with besides hearing pop songs she really doesn't know and the emotional backgrounds behind them.

The pilot nailed the story & characters down, but then ages later, the following episodes softened them to focus on other elements of her life. But enough of the core plot exists in every episode to carry me on every week. And again *ahem* Jane Levy. She's quirky (her entire trendy decorated apartment is computer references) and amiable, awkward but confident and did I mention charming? Her coworkers and computer software company might not be at all realistic, but we can leave that to Silicon Valley -- this is just a backdrop for her weird coworkers and experiences. In the end, I pretty convinced she has a tumor, but who knows, it might just end up being Modern Magical.

See, 2019-2020, Apple+ TV

On the only recently released Apple company Online Only TV network (cuz everyone has one these days) there was only one pure scifi series -- Jason Momoa's post-apocalyptic series about a world where a plague spread *cough* leaving anyone who survived blind, as well as their ancestors. In this now tribal world, the few with sight are king. Or so the Queen believes, and therefore will stop at nothing to destroy. Momoa is a warrior and tribal leader who takes in a pregnant stranger and ends up raising her children as his own. And in doing so, pretty much destroys his village.

Set in the Pacific north west, like so many other scifi shows, its quite the (ironic, I know) beautiful looking po-ap world, all overgrown and green. Everything about the world is sound and touch. You wouldn't think they could have warriors or ride horses, but somehow, probably hundreds of years after the fall of civilization, they do. I didn't complete the series, as a number of other shiny things appeared, but I will. I am enjoying it, even if it doesn't bring light to my world.
His Dark Materials, 2019, HBO

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 

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