Hey folks! I come to you on the other side of 30. Things are different here…slower, wiser, more worldly.
As I said, most of last week I was revisiting obsessions past. What really happened is that I was so stressed by the end of the week is that I watched maybe three eps of each show and then went back to rewatching Man From UNCLE. Somehow rewatch is even better than first watch because it feels so much more familiar and friendly now. Instead of getting excited about what’s going to happen or how much I love this damn show, my nerves are way more calm and I’m actually getting more out of each episode.
I did rewatch Power Rangers Turbo because it’s streaming on HBO, even though I couldn’t find the far superior Mighty Morphin’ movie anywhere. There’s a lot of cardboard and styrofoam going on but I love the weird allusions to Star Wars and the completely unnecessary endangerment of a child and how they prioritize awesomeness way more than anything else. Somehow everyone knew that they needed to board a weird abandoned pirate ship to travel to a mysterious island and even if I question it I’m not going to deny that seeing the sails raise themselves with guitar riffs underneath isn’t a highlight of my childhood. There is hope for the world.
Last night, to get back into the swing of actually doing things instead of stressed about life stuff and then my at home birthday extravaganza, I did a little survey of recent pilot episodes. A little dish of TV appetizers, if you will. After Cursed I was hoping to find another show that didn’t mean much to me but that was easy to binge. I guess Cursed was just exactly my kind of trash because I haven’t found anything else yet. I was hoping Warrior Nun would do the trick but after the first 20 minutes I just got…bored? I do try to give shows benefit of the doubt and some time to find their footing, but I also realize that’s a habit I learned from seasons where the writers are adjusting while the season is airing. If it all drops at once then the adjustment only happens between seasons. Do I really want to watch a season of a show that has potential but is completely not my thing? It frustrates me because I’d like to watch a variety of things, as much TV as possible, but it’s hard to determine where that line is. I watch Queen Sugar and while it’s not my favorite show the quality of it entertains me enough while I’m actually watching it. Took me a VERY long time to get into Young Pope but I think I can manage it through the last two episodes. Sometimes you need to watch things long enough to figure out what language you’re missing and sometimes it’s just not worth it.
Space Force was bad, but we already knew that. It feels so strained and it’s uncomfortable in the way it wants to rub against politics but won’t actually engage with them. It’s just…bad. The only things I laughed about are Lisa Kudrow somehow being in jail a year later and then everything with Fred Willard.
Curon has an interesting premise and cool concept. I really hope we get to see the underwater village or at least a flashback to it because I am into that shit. I’m sure there are other twists in the future but the first one hasn’t even been spelled out yet and I’m under the impression that I know what’s going on. I wonder which of the new twins will be the evil one. I’m not a huge horror fan in general – I tend to ride the line between psychological horror/noir and actual horror pretty hard and it’s uncertain which way this series will veer. Right now it’s mostly psychological and even though it’s committed to weird jump scares it’s mostly worth it for me. If it’s a Netflix original does that mean Netflix gave this Italian studio a bunch of money? Because the lighting and set design looks so much like a Netflix standard drama/horror.
The only thing I really, truly loved was Staged. Best in small doses, which the production was smart about (I didn’t have it in me to watch more than three), it’s hilariously funny and dry and amusing. Of course so much of this comes from my appreciation of David Tennant but I’m always a sucker for shows that feature actors playing a sadder, shittier version of themselves. I actually finished reading Good Omens the other weekend during my low-screen time detox so my next adventure is probably jumping on that bandwagon.
Sadly nothing to report on the splorts front. This siesta is gonna feel like a lifetime.