A new week of TV and one where I was looking for time to fit in a new Netflix series as I couldn’t just binge but wanted to get through it as quickly as possible in order to enjoy it. There’s a lot of dialogue out there about the new Sex Education series and you can easily include me as a big advocate of it. I’m not sure why some folks are confused by the style of it as it blends American and English things into the high school setting in the English countryside but it gives it a kind of surreal aspect that just made me grin, having all these kids with accents but wearing letterman jackets or driving American cars and all.
A lot of the initial appeal was definitely with the leads as I liked Asa Butterfield in Ender’s Game and I’ve enjoyed almost everything Gillian Anderson has done since moving to England years ago. What this series does for her is give her something that feels much more leisurely in a way, not as grim as most of the crime dramas she works on, and there’s a delight in seeing her so loose and having fun like this. Butterfield is great as he navigates everything but this is a full-on ensemble piece where everyone has their reveals along the way and become wonderfully realized. Ncuti Gatwa is utterly fantastic as Eric and I really liked what Emma Mackey brought to Maeve, though I can’t not see her as a Margot Robbie clone in a lot of ways. I definitely recommend this show.
While that took up my Netflix time, I also went back to re-watch a little of I’m Sorry along the way as the second season has been delighting me and this week’s new episode just killed me. I love its mix of scripted and improv and how loose it is with what it deals, feeling more like how I think and act and react to things than a lot of other sitcoms are like. Plus, I’ll watch nearly any show that employs Jason Mantzoukas, which also includes The Good Place.
This week had me catching up with the fourth and fifth episodes of Young Justice: Outsiders, and I’m frustrated that I’m not getting through more of it but I’m watching it with my kids, so we’re limited in how much we can see, especially during shorter weeks when they’re not with me as much.
Beyond that, this week had more of the familiar routine of shows for me. New Home Town on HGTV makes me smile as we see small town Mississippi while also having fun watching the struggles in Windy City Rehab for Chicago. The usual sitcoms were on for me and I’m enjoying Schooled! far more than expected. The season finale for The Good Place was great and I’m excited to see how a fourth season goes with this change in nature as to who is running the show in the show.
On the rewatch side, I spent the early part of the week over two days with the second season of Legion. That show was a delight in its weekly run last year but it’s even more cohesive when you marathon it like this. I can’t wait for more.
Next week has me hopefully catching up on more of my drama series as most of those are things I watch with at least one of my kids, so I’m not allowed to get ahead of them.
