This past week had me with the kids back and that meant taking time to catch up on shows with them. That’s always fun since we get to do two at a time for new shows but during the summer it’s a big more binging – though not to my preferred level. They can do only a couple before it’s too much. Amateurs!
This week saw us getting to the halfway point of the recent season of iZombie and my god that show just delights me. Rose McIver is just fantastic with the personalities she gets to take on and really must have a lot of fun in being able to stretch like that and show some real creativity. We also finally – finally – got back onto the Runaways train. We’d done four episodes previously and fell off of it in favor of Cloak & Dagger since it was new, but with the second season of Runaways coming in December we’re starting to push back into it more. I love the show since it does good stuff with the kids where they’re not entirely stupid but it also gives us a lot of engaging material with the adults in the past and present. It’s a full on ensemble show in general but the adults do not get the short end of the stick.
Netflix was my friend this week as I got to dig into a few things. The big one was powering through all eight episodes of the second season of Marcella. I’m still not sure about the ending, even if it did manage to weirdly tie back into the first season in an unexpected way and we’re basically going into strange territory if there’s a third series. But on the whole it’s a very good season that really pushes the cast in hard directions with the material.
I also got to take in the first four episodes of Disenchantment. Having been a fan of Groening back during his Life in Hell phase, this series isn’t a call back to that but it feels like the nice kind of freshness and familiarity that Futurama was. I don’t agree with critics that dislike the first episode but at the same time few first episodes are actually really good in the long or short run. It’s finding its groove, which is even harder in animation, and as I hit the halfway mark I’m definitely enjoying it but making sure not to binge it.
I did take a detour to the UK side and ended up watching the 2016 miniseries Retribution on Netflix, which is known as One of Us as well. Four episodes, an hour each, dealing with a crazy tragic event with wild turns the more it goes on. It left me unsettled at times with the material and choices but it becomes really, really, compelling as it progresses.
The broadcast side was weak beyond that as it’s an off-week for my other shows, Preacher and Castle Rock, as I don’t watch them when the kids aren’t here. But I miss them!
