Binge Watch: Q1 2021

The Sinner (Season 3)

I was feeling in a ~murdery~ mood after watching the Night Stalker docuseries, the Cecil Hotel documseries and the documentary on Shannan Watts, so when I saw that season 3 of The Sinner was available on Netflix AND starred Matt Bomer, I was all in. I binged the whole season in one day (classic Allison move TBH) . The show itself is not exactly an anthology, but each season follows the same detective handling a strange or unique case, so the cast other than Bill Pullman changes for each storyline. I really liked the first season of the show which starred Jessica Biel—I thought the plot line was the most intriguing because it was the biggest mystery—and although I enjoyed the second season, it didn’t live up to the first in my opinion. However, this third season was so good. First of all, Matt Bomer is incredible; yes, to look at OFC but it’s his stand out performance that makes him perfect in his role as the antagonist. I’ve always loved the murder mystery/psychological thriller genre (or whatever else you’d categorize all of the shows I watch that somehow involve getting into the mind of serial killers) because I find it so intriguing to learn what motivates certain people to the point of killing in the first place and love when we can see things from their perspective and find some kind of understanding or sympathy. And this was a big theme in The Sinner season three. You can’t help but feel for Matt Bomer and the internal struggle his character goes through that leads him to start killing people. Like I said, his performance is scary good. When an actor can make you (almost) want to root for them as the BAD GUY, you know it’s real talent. Anyways if you like this kind of genre, I definitely recommend checking this show out on Netflix.

The Queen’s Gambit

Well clearly I’m super late to the party on watching this show. It’s been on my list ever since it dropped on Netflix at the end of October, and obviously my interest was piqued when it became Netflix’s most-watched scripted series (until Bridgerton surpassed it). But for some reason, I kept putting it off. I’m not sure where my hesitation came from—usually I’m totally down to immediately binge a new, popular show to see if it’s worth all the hype. To be honest, it took me a while to get into the show once I did end up watching it earlier this month (it took me 2 days). I wasn’t instantly hooked like I thought I would be (or how it seemed everyone else was by the way they talked about it), but I grew to really enjoy the season. I literally broke into a huge smile when Benny called with all the chess boys to talk Beth through her strategy against the Russian opponent. I was honestly most excited to see Benny (aka Thomas Brodie-Sanger) on my screen again. Love him. Like most people who watched the show, I was intrigued by the game of chess—I read somewhere that chess sets were a huge Christmas gift last year due to the popularity of the show. I wish my mind worked like that sometimes. I’d say I’m pretty good at strategic games (love Sudoku like the nerd I am) but the whole Beautiful Mind level of genius is fascinating. But the more poignant narrative of the show was showing the downside of that kind of genius mixed with the struggle of addiction. I love a complex character, especially a complex female character who is brought to life by a talented actress, so I whole-heartedly agree that Anya Taylor Joy’s representation of Beth Harmon was as award-worthy as everyone claimed—I mean she’s already won a Critic’s Choice, SAG + Golden Globe Award for her performance. I know the show was classified as a “miniseries” so I’m not sure if it is coming back for a second season, but I don’t know if we necessarily need one. Part of me hates that we weren’t able to explore Beth’s deep-rooted need for love (due to the immense abandonment and loss in her young life) more, but the other part loves that we have a strong show and good story without reducing the main female character to a love interest for a male character. While a character loving someone in the show can be an enticing and interesting plot point, a lot of the time the writers either drag it out to the point of the relationship becoming toxic or annoying, or they neglect the individual character’s development for the sake of the relationship plot. So I’m glad we won’t be subjected to those kind of issues. (Sorry this took a turn into some meta analysis on the portrayal of fictional relationships, but it is pretty on brand for me TBH). Anyway, definitely check the show out on Netflix, so you aren’t left out when everyone is still talking about The Queen’s Gambit at the Emmys.

Reign

After binging Bridgerton over the holidays (all in one night, I was still awake when the birds were chirping, oops), I suddenly became hooked on the historical drama and set my sites on potential shows to watch to fill the void until Bridgerton released season 2. I had obviously heard of Reign before—after all I am a ~slut~ for a teen drama CW show—but didn’t have the desire to embark on binging it until now. I knew it starred Adelaide Kane (I recognized her from Teen Wolf) but I didn’t realize Miss Narnia aka Anna Popplewell was in the show, and ended up really liking the cast lineup. I went back and forth on who I wanted Mary to end up with—at first I kind of liked the whole mystery of Bash but by the end of season 1 I was fully on team Francis. I started off strong with this binge, but I hit a stalemate at the beginning of season 3. So I guess it’s not ~technically~ a full binge watch, but I’m going to keep it in because I did race through the first two seasons in a week. I have a feeling it is one of those CW shows that kind of goes downhill after the first couple seasons. And honestly, I was starting to get really annoyed with Mary in season 2, whenever she hit a roadblock with Francis and ran into the arms of another hot guy at court. I’m all for a female character getting after it with multiple guys—like Lady Kenna for example—but Mary is married and to a literal KING, who actually loves her. Like excuse me? Why would you even look for love in anyone else? The shifting love triangles involving Mary are definitely added in for some steamy ~drama~ for the CW demographic, but quite frankly all love triangles do is make me start disliking the woman who is stuck in the middle of two men. (See Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Vampire Diaries as other prime examples of this unintended effect). Maybe I’ll do a part 2 update when I reach the end, but I’m not sure when I’ll get back into it, especially knowing Francis’ death is imminent and looming overhead… All 4 seasons are available on Netflix.

The Undoing

I know, I’m super late getting to finally watch this show as well. Honestly, the stress and anxiety of a year in quarantine made me want to rewatch comfort shows and not dive into new series like I normally enjoy doing. But man, is anyone else weirded out by Hugh Grant playing a bad guy? Like a cheating, lying murderer?! So not on brand for him, but it still somehow works. Objectively, I would say this was a pretty good show. But I will say I feel like it was way over-hyped on social media when it was first coming out in weekly episode installments. Maybe the different viewing experience of having to wait for each new episode made people love it so much more, but in all honesty, it isn’t all that memorable for me. Plus, I felt like it was pretty predictable in a way. Like I would have low key loved for them to throw a twist in there that Hugh Grant actually wasn’t the culprit. It’s like he was the prime suspect the entire show and it was actually him in the end. Where’s the suspense and drama? There were moments I wanted Nicole Kidman to be guilty! Or even the son! LOL that probably makes me slightly deranged for wanting the child to be a murderer, but the point is I kept waiting for that kind of twist that never came. There were also some details and flashbacks that either I missed the connection or just weren’t fully tied up. Like what were all of the flashes to Nicole Kidman’s character being painted by the woman who was murdered about? When did that happen? Did they have some kind of weird affair going on as well?? IDK maybe I was reading too much into it or maybe it was some queer-baiting that was thrown in for a little ~spice~ (hate that BTW). Whatever the case, I’m kind of surprised that I wasn’t as impressed by this show as I was expecting to be. If you care to check it out, it’s available on HBO (I watched on Hulu with the add-on).

Tribes of Europa

Okay. I’ve done it. I’ve found my new show obsession and I am calling it early. I saw the trailer for Tribes of Europa on Twitter after a writer I follow who used to write about The 100 tweeted about it looking familiar (hi, Selina Wilken!). And although it did look strangely similar to various plots from The 100’s six seasons (I refuse to accept the seventh season), I wanted to give it a go because it is from the producers of DARK aka one of my favorite shows of all-time. Plus, it’s not like The 100 invented any of the common sci-fi or dystopian tropes that seem to reappear in Tribes of Europa (like reverting to a “tribal” nature, fighting to the death for entertainment, major class differences, “for all mankind,” and more). If you know me at all, you know how much I love dystopian, sci-fi television. It’s part of why I was so obsessed with The 100 (until Jason Rothenburg’s ego ruined it forever). But seriously, this show is The 100 meets DARK with a little of Game of Thrones’ fight for power thrown in. Like the perfect combination for a new Allison obsession. In case you aren’t at all familiar with the plot please go watch the trailer here or endure my best attempt to summarize without giving too much away. Set in an apocalyptic Europe, various tribes are fighting for power somewhere in former Germany—TBH I’m a little unsure of the exact geography lines—after a global blackout (hello, Flash Forward!) turns the whole world into chaos. All technology seems to be a thing of the past except for a mysterious group of people referred to as “Atlantians” who seem to be advanced beyond the “Old World'' before the blackout. The show follows three siblings who are thrown into the warring conflict after an Atlantian crashes near their home and they are separated, spending the entire series trying to get back to each other without knowing if the others are actually still alive. I enjoyed all three storylines equally, maybe just leaning towards Liv’s a little more than the others (like I said, I love a strong, badass female character). She radiates Clarke Griffin energy, but season 1 or 2 Clarke, not the shell of a character we ended the show with. Sorry, back to the topic on hand, I will admit that like most dubbed TV shows, it takes a minute to get used to the voiceovers that don’t seem to match the actors but that goes away once you get used to it. Honestly, even though it’s only six episodes, I have so many thoughts on this show and will probably dedicate an entire blog post to analyzing the similarities to some of my other favorite shows like The 100. But in the meantime, please go watch it on Netflix, so I have someone to talk about it with!!

Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane came as a recommendation from Mama Ang who has read the book that the series was based on (by Kristin Hannah) and already roped my sister and dad into watching it with her back home. I decided to give it a shot even though I knew it was going to be an emotional rollercoaster type of show. AKA I knew it was one that would have me tearing up or crying on a regular basis. I’ve been avoiding shows like that for a while, instead opting for a suspenseful sci-fi thriller or murder-filled drama. But, I was pleasantly surprised by Firefly Lane. I love the use of flashbacks interwoven through each episode to paint a full picture of the past and current relationship between Tully and Kate piece by piece. This Is Us and of course, Lost, are most commonly known for this style of narrative structure, but I will say I think it was beautifully done in Firefly Lane as well. It helps with character development and relationship building so much. I love the dynamic that is created between two complex female characters and the idea of how much work it can be to sustain a long-term friendship. I feel like we always see this kind of effort shown in romantic relationships, but there’s not a ton of representation of platonic relationships shown as the main plot of a show. I finished the first season on Netflix rather quickly, but they left us on a massive cliffhanger that needs to be addressed in season two. And for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t able to accurately predict the mystery of whose funeral Kate was attending in the future. Usually I can see where the story is going before we get there, but this one stumped me so it automatically gets my stamp of approval. I’m assuming the show will be renewed because it was in Netflix’s top 10 shows for a while now, but I’ve been burned by the streaming service before after getting attached to a new show that ends up getting canceled after one season (aka The Society). It’s the worst. Usually that’s due to Netflix’s bad marketing plan of only pushing a few hit shows to viewers—like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, You and even Riverdale which isn’t even a Netflix original. And don’t get me wrong, I love all of those shows as well (well, not Riverdale, that show is a giant train wreck that you can’t look away from). But with all of the attention going toward a few select shows, some really great other hidden gems are overlooked and don’t get the streams they need to be renewed (see: The Society, Travelers, Sense8). It’s so frustrating!

Side Note: I also watched the Golden Globe winning movie I Care A Lot starring Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage and OMG it was amazing. First of all, Rosamund more than deserved the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy Motion Picture for her portrayal of Marla Grayson because WOW. She has the whole playing a complex, psychopathic character who you can’t help but kind of root for down to a T (see also: Gone Girl). I mean the whole movie from beginning to end had me on edge wondering how the hell it would turn out. Because on one hand you feel bad for the people Marla is taking advantage of but on the other hand, you don’t want the Russian mafia to kill Marla either. If you aren’t familiar with the movie, then that probably makes no sense, but essentially the premise of the movie is that one of the “wards” that Marla takes over as legal guardian (aka Dianne Wiest) ends up having secret ties to a Russian mob boss who is going to do anything to get her back. Just go watch it on Netflix, you won’t regret it!