TV Shows: Good Girls, Derry Girls, 1983
Sep. 5th, 2019 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI meant to post about my recent TV viewing all in one place, but my Miraculous Ladybug post grew out of control, so I’m posting about the others separately.
My friend Becky and I have been sloooowly working our way through season one of Good Girls - slowly because of the difficulty of scheduling, not because of any defect in the show, which is in fact propulsive enough to make this slowness maddening. We’re about halfway through and I for one am beginning to suspect that Beth may have the makings of a criminal mastermind.
My one concern is that this feels like a show where the writers had a great idea for one season, but may not be able to maintain their premise for longer than that. However, at this rate we won’t finish season one till 2020, so it’s a while yet before I need to worry about season 2.
I enjoyed season 2 of Derry Girls even more, if possible, than season one; I don’t think this is so much a reflection of any change in quality as the fact that the characters now seem like old friends and so starting season two was like a reunion. Hello, Michelle! Claire! Erin! (First seen reciting one of her patented “I am a child of the war!” monologues in the bath, never change, Erin.) Orla! James! (I still laugh every time I think of James trying to bond with the guys from the Protestant school by emphasizing how much he loves beer, while the Protestant lad stares at him like he’s run mad.)
I thought the final episode didn’t quite stick the landing; the moment when James shouts “I’m a Derry Girl!” ought to be the emotional high point of the season, but I think it would have worked better if there’d been just a little bit more work to show the gang accepting him as one of their own. Yes, there is that moment when he escorts Erin to Prom because her date bailed (I loved that whole plot, by the way, just Erin’s chutzpah in asking her crush, even though it ultimately didn’t work out for her), but… just a little bit more. Just enough so that it would feel like he wasn’t choosing Derry because it was the least horrible of two horrible options.
However, because the series is so episodic, the ending doesn’t matter enormously; it’s not the strongest ending ever, but that doesn’t detract from everything that went before, because there’s not some overarching plot it needed to pull together.
1983 is a Polish miniseries that in theory should have been right up my alley: the premise is that the Communist party, strengthened by a mysterious terrorist attack in 1983, never fell in Poland, but remains in power up through 2003 when the series is set. But while there were some fun worldbuilding touches (I enjoyed the samizdat Harry Potter), the story just didn’t grab me, and life is too short.
Especially when there are so many other shows to watch! I’ve just discovered that Netflix is now streaming season 3 of The Good Place, and it appears to be putting up one new episode of the latest season of The Great British Baking Show every week? I saw that and I thought “I should save them all to watch all together” and then of course two days later I broke down and watched the first episode, A++ life choice, am looking forward to watching each new episode week by week. Spread out the joy!
Moreover, I recently learned that (1) I have access to Amazon Prime, and (2) Amazon Prime has all three seasons of The Durrells. As well as a Russian series about the Soviet women pilots of World War II called Night Swallows! How could I say no to that?
My friend Becky and I have been sloooowly working our way through season one of Good Girls - slowly because of the difficulty of scheduling, not because of any defect in the show, which is in fact propulsive enough to make this slowness maddening. We’re about halfway through and I for one am beginning to suspect that Beth may have the makings of a criminal mastermind.
My one concern is that this feels like a show where the writers had a great idea for one season, but may not be able to maintain their premise for longer than that. However, at this rate we won’t finish season one till 2020, so it’s a while yet before I need to worry about season 2.
I enjoyed season 2 of Derry Girls even more, if possible, than season one; I don’t think this is so much a reflection of any change in quality as the fact that the characters now seem like old friends and so starting season two was like a reunion. Hello, Michelle! Claire! Erin! (First seen reciting one of her patented “I am a child of the war!” monologues in the bath, never change, Erin.) Orla! James! (I still laugh every time I think of James trying to bond with the guys from the Protestant school by emphasizing how much he loves beer, while the Protestant lad stares at him like he’s run mad.)
I thought the final episode didn’t quite stick the landing; the moment when James shouts “I’m a Derry Girl!” ought to be the emotional high point of the season, but I think it would have worked better if there’d been just a little bit more work to show the gang accepting him as one of their own. Yes, there is that moment when he escorts Erin to Prom because her date bailed (I loved that whole plot, by the way, just Erin’s chutzpah in asking her crush, even though it ultimately didn’t work out for her), but… just a little bit more. Just enough so that it would feel like he wasn’t choosing Derry because it was the least horrible of two horrible options.
However, because the series is so episodic, the ending doesn’t matter enormously; it’s not the strongest ending ever, but that doesn’t detract from everything that went before, because there’s not some overarching plot it needed to pull together.
1983 is a Polish miniseries that in theory should have been right up my alley: the premise is that the Communist party, strengthened by a mysterious terrorist attack in 1983, never fell in Poland, but remains in power up through 2003 when the series is set. But while there were some fun worldbuilding touches (I enjoyed the samizdat Harry Potter), the story just didn’t grab me, and life is too short.
Especially when there are so many other shows to watch! I’ve just discovered that Netflix is now streaming season 3 of The Good Place, and it appears to be putting up one new episode of the latest season of The Great British Baking Show every week? I saw that and I thought “I should save them all to watch all together” and then of course two days later I broke down and watched the first episode, A++ life choice, am looking forward to watching each new episode week by week. Spread out the joy!
Moreover, I recently learned that (1) I have access to Amazon Prime, and (2) Amazon Prime has all three seasons of The Durrells. As well as a Russian series about the Soviet women pilots of World War II called Night Swallows! How could I say no to that?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-05 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-06 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-05 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-06 01:13 am (UTC)I mean, not all of us grew up in a war-torn nation, so that particular aspect may not be personally relevant always, but the elegiac Mood is so relatable for anyone who has ever been a teenager anywhere probably.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-06 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-06 01:09 pm (UTC)