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Reviews
The Big Brunch (2022)
I hate how they talk about food
I'm sure people will hate my take, but this show is obnoxious.
I love to cook, I've worked in restaurants for decades, and I do get emotional about food, but not like this. Every cooking show always has people talking about food like it's some woo spiritual experience, and they all take on the same sniff-your-own-farts kind of tone when talking about local produce. Like, yeah a farmer's market carrot is usually better than a grocery store one, but it's nothing to cry about. C'mon guys, the walk-in at the homeless kitchen I volunteer for has farm-fresh vegetables, it's not like the hand of god is reaching down to bless you with a turnip.
I know the production team probably dictates a lot of that, but I have a hard time connecting to a group of people who come off so inauthentically, and since the food actually doesn't feature all that much, that's a big nope for me.
Alaska Daily (2022)
Everyone talks like robots
They're going for hard-nosed newsies but the script is bad and none of the actors can sell it.
The subject matter is really important, not only in Alaska but across the US, but between the weird dialogue, wooden performances, and constant, obvious, didacticism, the issue of violence against native and indigenous women just gets lost.
I really like newsroom dramas and might have been able to put up with the subpar writing, but the constant didacticism put me over the edge. If you must try to teach the audience a lesson at least let the story do it for you. No one wants to get lectured at by their television. I'm politically further left than the show and though it's for different reasons I find myself agreeing with the people whining about getting a liberal agenda pushed at them. We get it. Just tell us a story and if there's a lesson to be learned we'll get it on our own. I didn't sign up for a poorly written lecture series.
Bridgerton (2020)
Second season is a drag
The first season is pretty good, the broody and mysterious Duke giving off some nice Mr Darcy/Rochester vibes, making the romance between he and the innocent debutante feel dangerous and intriguing. His reasons for being a jerk are pretty lame, but at least they pose a mystery that creates some genuine tension.
The second season? Awful main plot. The two leads have misguided senses of duty and the entire conflict is just them insisting that they have to conform to those imaginary constraints while people around them tell them that's stupid (which it is). Because their 'duties' aren't socially binding, it's not enough conflict to hold together eight episodes and after awhile it's just annoying to watch them self-sabotage over such small potatoes. Surely society was constraining enough back then that they could have come up with something with a little more jazz.
Pieces of Her (2022)
Ugh just talk to each other
Super lazy writing. If the characters just talked to each other when it makes sense for them to, the show would be half as long. Instead no one will tell the daughter what's going on even when they know she is on her way to talk to people who know the truth.
Characters not talking to each other for *reasons* is my least favorite dumb tv contrivance.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga (2019)
Glacial pace
They somehow made Wu-Tang boring, which is an achievement I suppose. British Romances feel more action-packed than this show, and this show has sex, drugs, and drive-by's.
There is so much minutiae packed in between the interesting stuff that it's not even exciting when it finally happens. It feels like someone took a two hour movie and stretched it to forty hours.
Also the time jumps are confusing and serve no narrative purpose. When the clan finally all record a track together I had no idea how they all managed to get there. It felt totally random.
Ain't nothin' to f with.
The Midnight Gospel (2020)
Pretentious and stupid-what a winning combo!
Other than the animations (incredible), this show is completely lacking in charm, warmth, fun, and especially wit. An unlikeable loafer podcaster goes to amazing worlds and spends his time listening to idiots with zero insight ramble on about psuedo-philosophical nonsense. There are some super gory scenes, but I only found myself squirming at how terrible the dialogue is.
Animations are gorgeous, absurd, bizarre, and lots of fun. Too bad Ward's talent doesn't extend to picking interesting podcasts.