The fall season is so close that I find myself not wanting to start binging anything in my to-watch pile because I know how close it is to really getting underway. At the same time, I gotta get some of this stuff watched. What I ended up doing was exploring some British sitcom material on Hulu, which got me watching some of Miranda (oo, younger Tom Ellis!) and checking out shows like Banana and more. I don’t end up too far into them since they’re amusing but not enough to really go all the way with, though Miranda works better than most since she does the commentary with the audience.
On the background watching side while writing anime articles and reviews throughout the week, I took in the second season of Battlestar Galactica from its 2003 reboot. It’s been a few months since I finished the first season and I enjoyed that a lot but I felt wary in going forward with the second season. But it clicked well and I enjoyed a lot of it, especially with the addition of the Battlestar Pegasus and the use of Michelle Forbes as Admiral Cain. The season has some good stuff as it starts to expand on the new mythology of the Cylons but it also engages in a lot of distracting shenanigans in regards to how humanity tries to survive. Which, based on what we know of reality, feels a lot more honest and real now than it did back in 2004.
With the fourth season film for this in Canada and the third season dropping amid that on Netflix, it was interesting to see that dynamic play out as the cast could see the reactions from so many fans that only see it through Netflix. The third season is just as uneven as the first two seasons in what it does and how it operates but it kind of embraces the insanity a bit more and it worked for me in that regard. Reitman continues to be willing to go the distance to find the comedy in situations but her character acts in some very terrible ways, understandably so, when it comes to the newborn daughter and her husband that it just made it hard to watch. Like a lot of situations, there was a whole lot of blame to go around. The rest of the season worked some good storylines and kept moving the characters to new places and situations with Dani Kind’s story being my favorite overall, mostly since I like her the most and the challenges she faced felt a bit more grounded – even the gun subplot was just badly handled. Still, the show goes to find the humor in unexpected places and does it well, leaving me looking forward to a fourth season next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iN-BaQ0N1g&t=18s
During my search for something new and short to watch during this lull, I found the 2014 series Welcome to Sweden. I remembered it being a summer series when it came out but I never paid it much mind because even then I wasn’t looking for much from NBC sitcoms. With the two-season run being ten episodes each, and having spent a lot of time watching travelogue shows, I was a lot more intersted now and really enjoyed this low-key property. Filmed in Sweden with a lot of multilingual actors, it follows Bruce as he moves to Sweden to be with his girlfriend. That has him leaving his high-powered accountant job in New York where he handled things for people like Amy Poehler (the lead’s real-life sister), Aubrey Plaza, and more. They make a number of good cameos along the way in trying to get him to keep working for them but he just wants a Swedish life. Or at least he thinks so as he’s very resistant to it. It’s a standard culture clash piece but it’s highly enjoyable as we usually see them played in reverse with people coming to the US and having to acclimate and doing it in bad ways. Here, Bruce says he wants to acclimate but like a good American he wants it all on his terms and that’s not happening in a culture like this. I do really like that the actor for him, Greg Poehler, actually did this in real life, moving to Sweden in 2006 and getting married and having kids there, so it has the right kind of authenticity. Add in the beautiful locations and the cultural witticisms that hit and I’m loving this relaxed little piece.
