This is part two of my post-pandemic TV roundup. See last week for part 1.
The Power (Amazon Prime, 1 season, Scifi/Fantasy)
The ultimate expression of female empowerment, this posits a world where people start to develop powers ... but only the young girls. Suddenly the abuse of young women becomes something you might die for, and this show does a great job balancing between making you root for the women who are breaking their chains (sometimes literally), and making you think about how the men are dealing with this, and sometimes even sympathizing with them.1 Great show, great cast (mostly younger female actors, but also the always-reliable Toni Collette), thought-provoking material.
Dimension 20 “A Crown of Candy” (Dropout, TTRPG Actual Play)
This is an older season of D20, but I hadn’t watched it when it came out. When they announced they were doing a sequel season,2 I figured I’d better watch the original, which was described as “Game of Thrones meets Candyland,” which is about as incongruous a pairing as you could imagine. And, yet, it’s a perfect description of this season, where the players are told up front to make two characters because you better expect one to die. Brennan goes hard after the main D20 cast (Lou, Emily, Ally, Siobhan, Zac, and Murph) and the joy of having a rock candy king and his two licorice daughters, a chocolate bunny vizier, etc is tempered by some real pathos and tragedy. But every player has at least one amazing, kick-ass moment, and the story hangs together beautifully; this is one of the best D20 seasons, hands down.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount Plus, 4 seasons thus far, Sci-fi Animation)
The idea to focus on characters who are not the main bridge crew of Star Trek was perhaps pioneered by John Scalzi’s Redshirts3 (although a case might also be made for the Babylon 5 episode “A View from the Gallery”, so the idea to turn that into a series was, I suppose, inevitable. That it would be so compelling was a bit unexpected, and that it woudl be animated was completely out of left field. But it really works surprisingly well. Plus you have to be up on Lower Decks to understand the crossover episode in S2 of Strange New Worlds,4 which is just brilliant.
Warrior (Max, 3 seasons, Martial Arts Action)
In 1971, so the story goes, Bruce Lee came up with a show about a Chinese man doing kung fu in the Old West. Studio heads took the idea and (of course) made it about a white man who knew kung fu in the Old West, which is how Kung Fu came about, and why it starred David Carradine instead of Bruce Lee. 44 years later, Lee’s daughter Shannon revived the original idea and created Warrior. Starring a brilliant Andew Koji,5 embodying Lee’s style without doing a blatant impression of him, and some strong female leads as well, this semi-historical story is set in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1870s, and covers the Tong Wars, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and lots of other very real things from the period. The later seasons don’t quite live up to the gorgeous visuals and deep stories of season 1, but still a very strong showing throughout.
One Piece (Netflix, 1 season thus far, Live Action Anime)
I am not a huge anime fan. There are a few shows I’ve enjoyed,6 but One Piece was not one of them. It was just too silly for me, and I never could get into it. So I fully expected this live-action adaptation to fall flat as well. Amazingly, it was exactly the opposite: I was captivated early, probably by the infectious positivity of Iñaki Godoy.7 This show is gleefully insane, but in a mostly family-friendly way, and it’s just so much fun. And the characters have surprising depth and likeability.
Deadlocked (Paramount Plus, 1 season, Documentary)
Via The Problem with Jon Stewart,8 I was introduced to the ladies of Strict Scrutiny, an amazing podcast focussing on the Supreme Court. And, these days, that’s a pretty important topic to understand. Even if you can’t commit to listening to Strict Scrutiny every week, you can watch 4 episodes of really insightful history about it (and two of the three SS hosts show up in this series as well). I can’t count the number of times while watching I said “oh, that’s how that happened!” Highly recommended.
Bodies (Netflix, 1 season, Sci-fi Thriller)
I used to watch two types of shows, mainly: sci-fi/fantasy shows, and police procedurals. I cut back on the police procedurals after the Black Lives Matter movement brought attention to how much they normalize bad police behavior, but I still enjoy the format. And what better way to enjoy it than to combine it with a sci-fi/fantasy stor
Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix, 1 season thus far, Adult Animation)
An exploration of her own half-Japanese ancestry, Amber Noizumi’s Blue Eye Samurai, about a half-white outcast swordsman, is quite possibly the most stunning piece of adult animation I’ve seen, period. Lighter on the gore than Castlevania or Arcane, but heavier on the nudity than either, it does an amazing job of bringing complex characters to life and putting them in remarkably interesting storylines, all set against the backdrop of Japan’s isolationist Edo period. Gorgeous visuals, brilliant acting, tense action scenes: this one’s got it all.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix, 1 season, Horror)
Mike Flanagan is quite possibly the best director working in modern American horror. His movies are brilliant, but it’s really his series that elevate him to the sublime. The Haunting of Hill House, based on the novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson, still stands as the pinnacle, with one of the best (and well-earned) jump scares of all time, and that’s just one scene. His follow-up, The Haunting of Bly Manor (based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw) was not quite as good, though still worth watching. But the latest series, The Fall of the House of Usher, based on many Edgar Allen Poe short stories, is a worthy contender to Hill House. Like the seasons of American Horror Story, Flanagan’s series reuse many of the same actors in different roles, and many (like Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, and Flanagan’s wife Kiate Siegel) give performances that would demand viewing just on their strength alone. But Flanagan also has an eye for atmosphere, and the creep factor here is through the roof. Especailly if you’re a Poe fan (but even if you’re not), this is a must-watch.
Culprits (Hulu, 1 season, Thriller)
Not quite a spy story, not quite a heist story, but containing elements of each, this British show features the talents of Gemma Arterton, Eddie Izzard, and the second appearance this roundup of Kirby9 (but not the last). Plus it was my discovery of Irish actor Niamh Algar, whose turn as the cold-blooded killer codenamed “Psycho” was just breathtaking. A twisty-turny plot, good (i.e. not confusing) use of flashback, and empathetic characters make this a great show.
Dimension 20 “Burrow’s End” (Dropout, TTRPG Actual Play)
Yet another Aabria-Iyengar-led season of D20, this adapts the world of Watership Down to use weasels instead of rabbits, injects a healthy dose of Cronenberg-ian body horror, and wraps it all in a bow of Arrival. Aabria’s storytelling is top-notch, as always, and the players are a great group as well: Brennan as player (as is usual for an Aabria-helmed season), playing the mother to twins, portrayed by his wife(!) Izzy and Siobhan, Erika as the grandmother, and the lovely Rashawn Scott and Jasper Cartwright as the sister and brother-in-law. Siobhan’s prepubescent boy weasel in particular is delightful, but they all do an amazing job, and this season is one of their strongest.
Fargo season 5 (Hulu, Surrealist Crime Thriller)
Whoever had the brilliant idea to turn the movie Fargo into a American Horror Story-style anthology series (by which I mean each season is a completely separate story) was a genius. But not all of the seasons live up to the potential. This one really does. Recycling just a few of the tropes originally introduced by the Coen Brothers in the movie, but weaving a story just as bizarre and unbelievable, this season harnesses the acting of some major powerhouses: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dave Foley, and John Hamm; Lamorne Morris from New Girl and Woke; Joe Keery from Stranger Things; and, in the primary protagonist’s role, a breakout performance from Juno Temple. The byzantine plots are there, the interconnections among the characters and the lunatic personalities ... everything you could want from a Fargo story. And a (mostly) satisfying resolution.
Death and Other Details (Hulu, 1 season, Whodunnit Mystery)
If you like classic detective fiction like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and/or modern whodunnits like Knives Out and Glass Onion, you’ll dig the intricate plot and colorful characters in this show starring Mandy Patinkin (who’s been in everything from Criminal Minds to Princess Bride to Homeland) and Violett Beane, and the supporting cast (including Rahul Kohli, from just up above in The Fall of the House of Usher) is magnificent as well. With a number of great twist
Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix, 1 season thus far, Fantasy)
Somehow managing to be a spin-off of both Doom Patrol and The Sandman, the Dead Boy Detectives are comic book heroes created by Neil Gaiman for the The Sandman issue #25; they then showed up in both Swamp Thing and Doom Patrol in the Children’s Crusade crossover event. Though they never made it to the Netflix Sandman, they did appear in an episode of the Max Doom Patrol. And Kirby (Death from The Sandman) does make a cameo appearance in the first episode here. But, most importantly, this show, about two ghost detectives who died young and now solve mysteries for other ghosts, is neither The Sandman nor Doom Patrol: it’s slightly more fun than the former, slightly less insane than the latter, ultimately charming, full of Gaimanesque characters (even the ones that he didn’t actually invent), and just a joyride of the fantastical and phantasmagorical.
True Detective “Night Country” (Max, Surrealist Crime Thriller)
The first season of True Detective was utterly brilliant, driven by great acting, a complex but grounded plot, and lots of touches of surrealism. This season is in some ways superior: the acting is just as top-notch (including a Clarice Starling and a Dr. Who), the plot is just as complex, and the mystical aspects are heightened. It culminates in a downbeat yet oddly satisfying ending, but there’s a surprising amount of body horror before you get there. A fun ride.
Honorable Mentions:
These are the series that weren’t quite 5 stars, but a slight cut above 4 stars. I thought I’d give at least a quick shout out to each.
- Invincible (Amazon Prime, 1 season, Adult Animation) – (Actually, there are two seasons out now, but I’ve only watched the first one.) Bloody, tacky, shocking, borderline disgusting, and epically entertaining; it’s a superhero show that sets out to shatter superhero tropes.
- Hacks (Max, 3 seasons, Comedy) – With a stunning cast, including Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, this is a hilarious show that is also touching and relevant.
- Peacemaker (Max, 1 season, Superhero Comedy) – If you liked the bizarrerie that was The Guardians of the Galaxy, but wish it was even more insane and borderline offensive, you will absolutely love this show. Great cast, weird stories, fun time.
- Station Eleven (Max, 1 season, Post-Apocalyptic Drama) – Utilizing flashbacks in a way that generates tension as opposed to what it usually generates (which is annoyance), and featuring a stunning performance from Mackenzie Davis (of Halt and Catch Fire), this tells a self-contained story with a lot of heart and just the right amount of surrealism.
- Naomi (Max, 1 season, Superhero Fantasy) – Cancelled too soon, so don’t expect complete resolution, but this teenage superhero story is still pretty amazing.
- The Old Man (Hulu, 1 season, Spy Thriller) – A twisty-turny storyline makes this rise above the usual fare, but it’s the top-notch performances from Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, and Alia Shawkat that really bring it home.
- The Orville (Hulu, 3 seasons, Sci-fi) – Seth MacFarlane’s love letter to Star Trek, season 1 starts off pretty much exactly as goofy as you’d expect from the creator of Family Guy, but it rapidly achieves a depth of emotion and plots that is both surprising and rewarding. Cancelled too soon, but wrapped up pretty neatly nonetheless; don’t sleep on this one.
- Sweet Tooth (Netflix, 1 season, Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy) – (Again, season 2 is out, but I haven’t yet watched it.) Another great cast, with possibly an even better storyline than Station Eleven. It’s a very different show, though, so it’s not a fair comparison. Just watch both: you won’t regret it.
- Severance (Apple+, 1 season, Surreal Sci-fi) – A lot depends on where they go in season 2: if that is as satisfying as I hope it will be, it might elevate this to a full 5 stars. It got a lot of attention at the time, so I probably don’t need to convince you to watch it, and, if you don’t like weird shit, you’ll hate it, but the story does eventually resolve in a satisfying way, so give it a chance. Also, John Turturro doesn’t do bad shit, whether film or TV.10
- Little Demon (Hulu, 1 season, Adult Animation) – Another ultraviolent cartoon not for children (nor for the faint of heart of any age, really), this is elevated by the voice talents of Aubrey Plaza and Danny DeVito and a plotline that’s just plain fun. Hulu seems to have jettisoned it, so you may not be able to find it, but, if you can, and if you don’t mind cartoon nudity and cartoon guts (and sometimes both at once), you might enjoy this.
- Lockwood & Co (Netflix, 1 season, Urban Fantasy) – It’s a bit of a YA show, and it was cancelled prematurely, but it’s still pretty great. Teens hunt ghosts because they’re the only ones who can; set in an alternate timeline London.
- The Night Agent (Netflix, 1 season, Spy Thriller) – Decent acting and an intricate but not wholly unbelievable plot make this better-than-average modern spy fare.
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime, 5 seasons, Comedy) – If you’re a fan of Gilmore Girls, then you’ve probably already watched this, Amy Sherman-Palladino’s other great series. But, even if you’re not,11 the magnificent combination of Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein (both of whom are hilarious on their own), not to mention an amazing supporting cast with folks such as Tony Shalhoub, Caroline Aaron, and Luke Kirby as a brilliant Lenny Bruce, really make this show about female empowerment set in 1950s New York sing. (Also contains possibly the best series ending episode since Six Feet Under.)
- Velma (Max, 2 seasons, Adult Animation) – I hate Scooby-Doo in nearly all its forms, but I love Mindy Kaling, and her reimagining of the origin of the Scooby gang as a multicultural blending is really entertaining and unexpected.
- Dimension 20 “Mentopolis” (Dropout, TTRPG Actual Play) – Yes, another season of D20.12 This one is not D&D, but don’t let that stop you: with every character representing a different facet of personality in a story that takes place inside the brain of a scientist embroiled in intrigue, this is The Maltese Falcon meets Osmosis Jones in all the best ways.
- Doom Patrol (Max, 4 seasons, Superhero Surrealism) – If you love batshit crazy storylines, it’s tough to beat Doom Patrol, based on another set of comics from Grant Morrison, the creator of Happy!.13 Not as much ultraviolence as Happy! or Preacher, not quite as much sex as either, but more actual superheroes (sort of) than both put together, none of the 46 episodes of Doom Patrol make any sense at all, and yet they tell some truly compelling, completely human stories while following the lives of a batch of misfit antiheroes that will make your head spin. Very satisfying.
- Gen V (Amazon Prime, 1 season, Adult Superhero) – Every bit as demeneted as the show it’s spun off fro
m— that would be The Boys — this is fantastic side-project. If you love The Boys, you must watch this; if you hated The Boys, this definitely won’t change your mind.
- I Am Not Okay with This (Netflix, 1 season, YA Urban Fantasy) – Sophia Lillis was in It (where she was amazing), in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (where she was amazing), and this, which is almost criminally unheard of. Being amazing yet again in a very Carrie-esque turn, this coming-of-age-but-with-powers story is a gripping one, even though it’s left unfinished due to premature cancellation.
- Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix, 1 season, YA Comedy-Drama) – Yet another show that was Netflixed too soon, this one is a lot of fun, and contains the best depiction of “twin language” I’ve seen. The characters are fun, the stories are fun, the action is crazy but not over the top, and I wish they had let them bring the show to a more satisifying conclusion.
1 Granted, not that often.
2 Which, in the end, wasn’t as good as this one.
3 Check out the audiobook, read brilliantly by Wil Wheaton.
5 Seen in the G.I. Joe movie Snake Eyes, and the much better Bullet Train.
6 In particular, Cowboy Bebop. Pretty much everything else I’ve watched I was a casual fan of at best.
7 Who you can also see in The Imperfects, which only narrowly missed being included in this roundup.
9 She was death in The Sandman last week.
10 unless Adam Sandler is involved.
11 Like me.
12 For those keeping count, that makes six in toto.
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