Television

Fleabag: A quick write-up

Fleabag, ah Fleabag. Have you watched it yet?

I am trying to devour anything Phoebe Waller-Bridge is allowing me to consume. I wasn’t aware that her content was missing in my life. So naturally, with something that has left a profound mark on me, I thought it was best to get back into writing and express my (not to scare you off) feelings. Yes, I thoroughly agree feelings are the worst.

Fleabag is comprised of two series. Series One follows Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) – a twenty something woman navigating life in London after the traumatic loss of her friend. She uses sex as a way to cope with the suffering.

Series Two is a love story. No seriously, a love story that rips your heart out. No, sorry, I should rephrase that: a love story that takes your heart and says, screw this – proceeds to throw it to the ground and figures you will wake up the next day thinking all is right with the world.

It’s not.

Fleabag falls in love with the Hot Priest. Ah yes, a Priest! Here lies her predicament. Have you ever found yourself falling for someone whom you cannot be with? Don’t.

If you have not watched this show yet (available via Amazon Prime), I encourage you to! With the amount of content available to us these days, it’s great to see a show so carefully crafted. The sheer detail of how each character interacts with each other, and even how Fleabag interacts with the camera is outstanding.

Genius. Now let me just try to forget that last episode and all will be right.

Sherlock Series 4 Ep 2: The Lying Detective

Hey my scruffy socially-inept love who has turned back to drugs. This was the darkest episode of Sherlock yet. Sherlock subdues himself with heroin to cope with the aftermath that was the opening. John is no longer talking to Sherlock, while Sherlock is having difficulty determining what is in fact reality. A mind-boggling case turns up after a woman visits Sherlock saying her father is planning on murdering someone.

That father figure is Mr. Culverton Smith. Sherlock is determined to expose Smith’s dark secret. Sherlock labels him as a serial killer, Smith uses this as a strategic marketing for a brand of cereal, he is indeed the “cereal killer.”

Brilliant writing, and the last few moments will have you on-edge. Brilliant!

Sherlock Series 4 Ep 1: The Six Thatchers

My socially inept love is back with series four. Sherlock “The Six Thatchers” premiered yesterday, and yes, you are quite right. It was a strong opening that provides a rollercoaster of emotions. In one moment you are smiling like a bloody idiot because your boys Cumberbatch and Freeman are back on screen together, and then you are crying as the writers rip any happiness away. Phew. No, not bitter at that ending of an episode.

“The Six Thatchers” presents us with the promise that in some way, Moriarty is back. Sherlock realizes that to draw Moriarty’s “game” to him, he must keep himself busy with other cases. Sherlock ensues in a frenzy of solving as many cases as he can, all while joining the hashtag world. #221bisback

Then brings us the case of the “Six Thatchers.” A pattern of smashed Margaret Thatcher head sculptures begins, which sparks the interest of Baker Street. Who is smashing these head busts, and what is the purpose? Is there any link to Moriarty? Well my dear, bring that episode online and get to watching.

Miss me?

Orphan Black “Transgressive Border Crossing” Recap

s04e02_50

Fourth season of Orphan Black is still going strong with the second episode entitled “Transgressive Border Crossing.” After Mika warned Sarah that the neolutionists knew where Sarah was hiding, Sarah packs up the fam jam and heads home.

From there, the episode mainly focuses on Sarah continuing Beth’s investigation on the neolutionists, and exactly what they are doing with a) the clones b) those creepy bugs in people’s cheeks *by far the cringiest thing this episode.*

s04e02_607

We still get to see our favourite other clones and what they are up to. Alison very much wants to move on from the clone business, Cosima is taking treatment but looks far too ill, and Helena gets an ultrasound discovering that she will be having not one baby BUT identical twins. On top of our clones, we see our favourite apron-wearing, painting Felix who updates Sarah that he is looking for his biological family. This of course offends Sarah, as is symbolizes Felix is moving on from his foster family. Felix even makes the comment that they aren’t his family, it’s Sarah’s family.

On a personal note, fourth season of Orphan Black takes me back to fourth year and to my Risk Communications seminar. I had the luck of having my seminar on the subject of cloning, so naturally I used it as a way to bring Canadian Content to my peers. While Orphan Black is an extreme case of clones, cloning is still happening in our society today with projects in the development. For instance, scientists have the genome sequence for Neanderthals and are flirting with the idea of bringing a Neanderthal into existence. They also have DNA for the Woolly Mammoth. Just. Think. About. That.

Okay, enough nerd content for one day.

 

Orphan Black “The Collapse of Nature” Recap

ob401f4m_0214

Okay. Orphan Black season four premiered last night, and what a wild ride that episode was! It was a strong opening and I’m excited to see where it goes.

I enjoyed the opening because it takes the show back to the beginning of things, by providing us with Beth Childs’ perspective. Because the show way back when initially began with her suicide, we didn’t really know who as a person she was. Along these lines, it was the episode of characters past, as many who have been killed off, returned to provide us the back story of what led up to Beth Childs’ suicide.

The season premiere also introduced viewers to a new clone, Mika. Like all of the clones, we see Tatiana Maslany in a whole new light. Mika is extremely anxious, introverted, and cautious. Also, talk about that mask, freaks me right out and provides so much symbolism. A sheep mask? Get it, ’cause of clones. Clever. (Background, first clone was Dolly – a sheep)

From the first episode, season four is going to be great. It’s nice we get to see more background to neolution, and maybe this season we will have full answers as to why Project Leda & Project Castor were created.

Recap: Daredevil Season Two

Ahh! Season two of Daredevil was amazing, and continues to succeed in so many areas. It was an INTENSE season, seemed like it was more intense than season one? Right from the start it was action-packed, gore, and just. Wow. Those character developments are to gush about. Following write-up is a recap of the awesomeness that is season two of Daredevil.

Let’s look at the inclusion of this quick scene: Matt Murdock getting dressed for the day. Something many of us will not think of, Matt Murdock is indeed blind and needs a system in how to dress. A braille system telling him what the suit looks like? Of course. It’s inclusions like this that are important, as it is clear most televisions leave those with disabilities out. Daredevil/Matt Murdock represents how disabilities do not hinder a person. A simple inclusion of braille gives those without disabilities a reminder to make sure things are accessible for everyone.

Daredevil also continues to include a multitude of ethnicity and language, which I’m glad they do. Instead of erasing language and simplifying it into pure English, they use subtitles to bring recognition to the fact that there are more languages than one.

Additionally, the cinematography in Daredevil is strong. I was overwhelmed with the playing of shadows, as it works to make the show successful. The use of light vs. darkness during fight scenes also adds to the general intensity of the show. As a viewer, you begin to identify with Daredevil in hearing the actual fighting. Moreover, the fight scenes are choreographed well. They are tightly choreographed and are pure skill.

I also enjoyed the character development. There are moments when you will question Karen Page’s ethical decisions, what Matt Murdock is doing, and actually feel sorry for the Punisher (and somewhat understand why he is the way that he is… albeit how bad it is). That complexity is new and refreshing. People are complex individuals, and Daredevil brings that to the forefront.

daredevil

I can’t wait to see what season three has in store for us! Usually the second season is either a make or break for a show. Daredevil season two was nooooo disappointment.

Season One review can be found over here.

 

Sherlock “The Abominable Bride” Review

S_TAB_2838 (2)

Sherlock is one of my most favourite series. It’s something about the cleverness of the cases, the update on Sherlock as a character living in the modern age, as well as the talented cast. Benedict Cumberbatch is of course a lovely feature within the series as his acting is superb. He’s able to portray Sherlock successfully by acknowledging that the character is removed from typical social interaction.

I also think Sherlock is successful because there’s anticipation leading up to each series. Between series one, two, and three there are roughly two years between each. Added to the suspension is that the fanbase is only granted three episodes per series. This allows each series to be crafted to near perfection. There’s more room for the production team to put effort within each episode. This effort is noticeable through the writing by blending Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work with a modern touch, the cinematography gives you goosebumps, and the actors play their characters oh so very well.S_TAB_0325

“The Abominable Bride” comes two years after series three. Leading up to the Christmas special it feels like it’ll be a one-off episode that is purely a re-imagination of Sherlock during the time period it was written in. However, further into the episode it actually sets up the direction for series four. Given that series three leaves the audience witnessing the suspected return of Moriarty, the Christmas special deals with Sherlock working out how Moriarty survived his own death of quite literally shooting his brains out.

What I enjoyed of this Christmas special is that they did decide to take it back to it’s roots and set it during the 19th century. I also loved how they dealt with the suffragette movement during this time, (as our own generation is lacking an appreciation/motivation/difficultly coming to grips of what Feminism is.) Nevertheless, the way in which Moffat decided to go about displaying suffragettes is a tad cringeworthy — outfits are much like KKK and the fact that they are a murderous cult taking out husbands who are brute. Hmmm.

Overall I enjoyed the episode – it was nice seeing my boy Cumberbatch and hearing his delightful voice – and I am most definitely looking forward to series four!

Mr. Robot eps1.9zer0-day.avi

lastepisode

We made it to the finale, and oh boy were we left with questions. fsociety initiated their big hack, and it most certainly left people in trouble. Of course, the masses were happy because now they were living debt free… but for big corporations, they are now in deep shit.

Overall, this was a good opening season for Mr. Robot. Some episodes were super crazy with lots of information to process. There were many twists that I did not see coming, but there were also some parts in the series that were not so surprising (like Mr. Robot being a figment of his imagination).

It will be nice to see where they go with season two, as the audience is of course left on a cliffhanger.

It you are looking for an offbeat, smart show to bingewatch, Mr. Robot is the show for you.

All my reviews can be found under this tag.

Master of None

So as any good person would do, I binged watched Master of None this weekend. I felt that Master of None was a great summary of Modern Romance, and featured many of the same topics in the book.

Master of None follows Dev (played by Aziz Ansari) living his 30s in New York City. The title of this show does a good job to speak about how most will feel about life. “Master of None,” we don’t really know what we are doing while living. We make our way through life trying our best to survive what comes at us.

This show dealt with many topics that I feel are avoided in mainstream television. We look at relationships – AND ACTUAL relationships – what the protocol is about messaging, dating, etc. Feminism is another topic covered, this episode was well written and did an excellent job comparing the lives between men and women living. Aziz Ansari has commented before that he is a feminist with help from his current girlfriend. Race is also addressed and is the main subject for one of the episodes. Other episodes deal with relationships with parents, seniors, food, etc.

Overall this series is refreshing! I enjoyed many of the jokes, LOVED the shoutout to Cumberbatch, and just feel it has a realistic take on living.

cumberbatch

Now Netflix, doooo we actually have to wait a year for season 2?

Mr. Robot eps1.8m1rr0r1ng.qt

More spoilers in this review. I suggest watching this amazing series before proceeding.

mrrobotmirroringehhohhhhh calllled this from the beginning! Total Fight Club moment with Mr. Robot. Now, it was a big surprise when they dropped the whole “this is your dad” moment on us last episode at the last minute. This episode takes that major revelation, and runs with it. We learn that Elliot is not in a great frame of mind, and has had episodes like this before.

This particular episode deals with Darlene and Angela trying to find Elliot, after he obviously runs away. They finally discover him talking to himself at his father’s gravestone, moments after Elliot’s father tells him that they will only try to take him (Elliot’s dad) away from him (Elliot) again.

Everything is leading up the season finale. We are unsure just how long Elliot has been planning fsociety’s big plan to make everyone debt free.

On the other hand, Tyrell’s life is one big mess. His wife – fortunately – delivered the baby okay, but has decided she will be leaving Tyrell if he does not get things back in order. Tyrell has just been fired from E Corp, and the detectives are still on his case (rightfully so, as he did in fact kill her).

What a mess.