The debut of October means that a lot of shows dropped and there’s not enough time for it. On the to-watch list? Criminal (Netflix), Kingdom (Netflix), Young Wallander (Netflix), and a couple I’m already forgetting, never mind a movie or two. I’m hoping to background watch Buck Rogers (NBC) soon. I’m still working my way through Cougartown (Hulu) and loving every minute of it. I need to get back onto the second season of Barry (HBO) and finish up my third season of Young Justice (DC Universe)
It took awhile since my viewing partner for this hasn’t been around but we finally finished the third and final season of Dark. This is definitely a series where you want to watch it with all three seasons as quickly a possible while taking notes and photos. And imagine that you’re watching the film Primer in how you put together your notes. It’s a great series and I’m excited to see the next two original series that Netflix has coming from these creators. It’s been a creepy and eerie treat.
I’m not a huge fan of westerns in general but I’ve had Godless in my queue for an age. It’s a slow but interesting burn with really great actors and the kind of approach that I like for developing a story. It’s probably a bit too progressive in some ways for the time and place but so much of history is lost or never told that I can leave it open to being true as well.
I was late getting into the third part of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina due to the pandemic and then it not getting renewed so I wasn’t exactly getting on it quickly. I did enjoy this season a lot with its minor time travel shenanigans toward the end and some of the other moves of it. The cast continues to be excellent and a lot of fun to watch but I was almost appreciative that the season ends with closure to most stories even while teasing a new one. That’s the best way to do these things since you can never be sure if there’s going to be more. It has a good complete feeling for me and it was a very fun experience overall.
Another binge this week that was a good bit of fun and not quite as scary as I suspected it might be, The Haunting of Bly Manor was more a solid family/emotional drama with supernatural elements that make it lager and far more deadly because of it. It’s not a jump scare kind of thing but a kind of horror the eases you to its world and has you wanting to find out why it’s operating as it is and hope for a good resolution for as many as possible. It definitely hit a sweet spot for me.
As big of a Star Trek fan as I am, the old animated series was never something I cared much for. I did try the Lower Decks series when it debuted but then lost CBS All Access for a bit. It took me a bit to get back into it – just as the ten-episode season ended – but it was definitely the right time. It has some middling episodes at the start of things but once it hits the halfway mark and has a better sense of its characters and humor, it really works well. The final episode of the season in particular was the best I think even though I was glad the rest of the season avoided cameos from main characters. But with a few of them popping in as part of the TNG classic timeline and even bring in characters like the Exocomp and Pakleds while examining the nature of the Prime Director really hit it out of the park for me.
And finally, I also slid a movie into the mix with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s not much to write home about overall but it works a good story of the time and place within the framework of a romantic drama and more. It’s got a solid cast and it was a good way to spend a couple of hours to get out of the world that we’re in for a little bit and engage with something simpler.
And just for good measure because every time I turn on the TV I watch it…
