Hello, comrades! It’s time once again to descend into the man-made hell of Chernobyl, now with 100% more puppy-murder! The deep irony of the episode’s title, “The Happiness of All Mankind”, underscores the misery of the people who were forced to evacuate, the soul and body destroying heroism of the soldiers and engineers doing the work that…
Me, Cecily and Jim have some recommendations and thoughts for your weekend viewing! We rave about the nearly flawless two seasons of Fleabag we just saw on Amazon Prime (00:00:00), Jim gives a bit of a preview for Netflix’s new dramedy Dead to Me (00:00:00), starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, and then… we get to our review of The Perfection (00:00:00). This is a movie that Jim walked out on. Twice. Yet people are loving this film. What gives? Cecily and me try to defend the film on it’s merits, but the truth is it’s a hot mess of a film that tries to get away with a lot it probably shouldn’t be trying, and you’re either up to seeing it or you’re not.
Jim and I have seen episode three of HBO’s Chernobyl series, “Open Wide, O Earth”, and are shaken by the graphic depiction of the Chernobyl first responders’ last days. We get to see the horror from multiple perspectives, the victims themselves, the and the friends and family who struggle to cope with this strange manner of death and the danger it poses to them. Meanwhile as the Soviets manage to contain and stop the fire, we gear up for the long war ahead; to fully contain the death and destruction of Chernobyl it will require 750k lives and three years of sacrifice. Will they be up for the challenge? And will they solve the mystery of the reactor’s destruction, so that it might never happen again? All this plus some light discussion on the relative merits of free market capitalism vs centrally planned economies in feedback. You know, kids stuff.
Jim, A.Ron and Cecily discuss their thoughts on the latest offerings from the gods of television.
Jim and I strap on our lead shielding and check our dosimeters before doing a deep dive into the second installment of Chernobyl, the HBO miniseries about the doomed nuclear facility. In “Please Remain Calm”, the stakes increase as the lives of over 60 million Europeans are threatened by the crisis, and decisions are made that will lead to the deaths of individuals to potentially save millions.
Jim, Cecily, and A.Ron have a round table discussion about the new Watchmen trailer from HBO, the latest micro-comedy from Sundance, State of the Union, an update on Netflix’s Tuca and Bertie,and Cecily and A.Ron pitch Hulu’s Harlots to Jim.
We’ve got the whole crew together today, forming up like a TV-reviewing (and definitely the least rad) Voltron to tackle yet another Netflix original about piece about Ted Bundy, a powerful documentary on the fight to give power back to the people, a modern animated tale of the ups and downs of relationships and the final verdict on season two of American Gods.
We have a buffet of TV offerings this week, including two documentaries (one about the history of marijuana in America and the other on the future of employment in the face of robotics and AI), one amazing concert experience, and one micro-comedy about BDSM and sex-work. Join our round table featuring Jim, A.Ron and Cecily as we discuss!
Jim, Cecily and A.Ron are here for a round table on Hulu’s new comedy, Ramy, and the latest two episode of Starz, American Gods. We all found Ramy to be really funny as well as insightful, and if you’ve had to struggle with your religious identity with a strict upbringing (cough, cough) we’re sure you’ll relate to the material. And then, there’s American Gods, which is all over the place, as Gods are wont to do.
Jim and I talk about our initial thoughts on Netflix’s new shows; Black Summer, Special, and You vs. Wild. We ponder the age old question, what’s harder to kill, the zombie genre or Bear Grylls?