It’s a new year and that means… data caps! My region was lucky to avoid having those for all these years but we’re now getting capped starting this month, with some grace time, and I’ll admit that with a family of four with very different tastes, we gotta be careful how much we do stream. So I made sure to finish out some big shows last month and will probably be a touch choosier going forward, though we’re supposed to be getting some options on how to manage it for those who want “real” unlimited. Oh boy.
We’ve mostly whittled away our list of shows to watch in several of our streaming service queues so we’re definitely in a good place.
Current Netflix queue: I Am Woman, Rebecca, Cool Hand Luke, Tribes of Europa, The Dig, Squared Love
HBO Max queue: David Bowie: The Last Five Years, Tolkein, Jojo Rabbit, Watchmen TV, Westworld S3
Hulu queue: Das Boot, Swing Things, I Kill Giants, They Shall Not Grow Old
With this week, it was a bit of a light one with just a couple of episodes here and there to nudge along the shows I’m in the middle of. I spent some time with Ant-Man and the Wasp to introduce it to a family member and naturally kept up on WandaVision.
While I’m largely a CW junkie when it comes to the Arrowverse shows, I’ve been very keen to see what they’re going to do with Superman & Lois. It’s putting us into a very different place from every other show about the character, from the old serials to the films and to Lois & Clark and Smallville. But it’s pulling pieces from them in different ways while giving us a look at something that yes, is about family, and yes, is kind of dour and slow because of the character and situational issues, but feels like it’s the perfect place to showcase what it is that makes Superman and Clark who they are. The opening episode is strong in a lot of great ways and it teases at a bigger character for the seasonal villain, but it was all the family material and grappling with the discovery of what their dad is that has me intrigued.
Last week saw the start of For All Mankind with season two and I’m delighted. This is a show that I might be frustrated in not being able to binge it or watch it on my schedule, but now I look forward to seeing a new episode on late Friday nights and that has me super happy. We’re getting some good progress with the cast and situations as more of what the early 80s are like and how some have fallen apart since the 70s while others have moved on and thrived. Or at least found a balance. The recurring theme of those who have been to the moon and whether they miss it or not, whether it’s truly changed them, has been a lot of fun to watch as well against the larger backdrop.
I started a new limited series on Netflix with Behind Her Eyes as I’d heard interesting things about it before and it has a solid cast. It’s a slow burn thriller with only six episodes and I’m just a third into it. This one didn’t draw me back to watch more this past week but it hasn’t turned me away from it. Sometimes a show just doesn’t click in a time and place and I’m hopeful to get back to it.
I really enjoyed the first season of Bonding, especially with episodes coming in at about 18-minutes on average, as it delved into some moments and didn’t overstay its welcome. The second season has them in a bad place after the events of the first as expected and that took a bit of adjustment in getting into the new stories. I ended up going through the last four of them at once and unfortunately, the whole thing just felt unmemorable after a much more interesting and engaging first season. I’m still game for more but it feels like it lost the plot a bit here.
Beyond that, it’s been sticking mostly to the familiar sitcoms with Call Me Kat, Call Your Mother, Mr. Mayor, and especially The Unicorn. I did recently find that the relaunch of Mad About You is on Amazon so I’m slowly trying that out because the show was a huge favorite in the 90s of mine. Some things you get wary about coming back to but there’s a charm, three episodes in, in thinking that this couple could make it work for decades.
In catching up on older things that I’ve got in my collection that I’ve revisited while working while trying to avoid streaming so as to not use up my data cap, it’s an odd mix this week. Over the course of the week, I’ve background watched:
- Memewnto
- O Brother, Where Art Though?
- The Philadelphia Experiment
- Pinocchio
- Ready Player One
- Sin City
- Sword in the Stone
- TMNT
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- War for the Planet of the Apes
What did you watch this past week?
