TV Shows Watched: Love You To Death: S1E1 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Prime Target: S1E5? (Apple Plus) with audio description, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: S1E5 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Extracted: S1E1 (Hulu) no audio description, Apple Cider Vinegar: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Will Trent: S3E6 (Hulu) with audio description, The Daily Show: Monday (Paramount Plus) no audio description, and The Rookie: S7E6 (Hulu) no audio description.
Best Episode: Apple Cider Vinegar- Second to last episode, and this one hits fast and hard, starting to wrap up the series. It had a frenetic energy to it toward the end, and it was the clear winner of the day.
Runner Up: Will Trent- Actually, their case was kinda of gross, complicated, and didn’t resolve fully in one episode. that suggestion of depth is important as one of the main characters of the show tries to regain the trust of Will, especially if it means saving an innocent man.
Best Performance: Alicia Debnam Carey (Apple Cider Vinegar)- While Kaitlyn Dever certainly has dominated this season, it was important to really pull us back in and show us the real world ramifications of being a pathological liar, which was shown through the lens of another character who has taken a backseat for most of the series since the first episode, but really came out in front right when she needed to, and hit with an emotionally devastating performance.
Runner Up: The Dub Cast Of Love You To Death- while I do kind of have this thing about wanting or hoping that the English dub cast correctly represents the actors on screen, based on their culture and ethnic background, since America is such a melting pot, I have to hand it to these voice actors. If you didn’t tell a blind person this was a dub, I’m not sure they would pick up on it. these actors are giving really strong performances, actually acting, and there wasn’t a clunky standout of the bunch. Easily the most consistent dub cast across the board I’ve heard since Netflix’s Number 24, or the Where’s Wanda series on Apple Plus.
Best Audio description: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man- Despite having audio description that ignores the intentionally diverse casting choices, when it comes to combat sequences, this show really captures those moments really well. And, with there being two big brawls happening in this episode,I’d give this the edge for the day.
Runner Up: Apple cider Vinegar- this has been a consistently strong track, but dramas can often sometimes be overlooked for being too simplistic, especially ones that really don’t have any fantastical period locations or costumes. modern day dramas, that aren’t also crime mysteries, or sexually charged romances, are hard to single out of excellence, but at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with this track. It points out things we need to know or have seen in order to make something relevant. It isn’t flashy, but it is still just as appreciated and important.
Best Moments Of Audio Description: I’m picking a few. I’d single out both of the major fights in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, as well as a fight sequence that takes place in Prime Target where a would be assassin is foiled by another would be assassin, and the scene in Apple Cider Vinegar where a certain character comes to terms with their condition, and the bandages are pulled off. that scene had some medical gore to it, but also was emotional, and hit both the right notes.
Worst Of….- Well, despite airing on the same night, from the same network, once again Hulu failed to have audio description for The Rookie, despite Will Trent having audio description. It makes no sense. Also, I dipped into Extracted, as it was a new show, and FOX doesn’t port the audio description to Hulu. I wouldn’t recommend it for blind and low vision viewers, as the show is a survival competition reality show, and you do miss a lot of the dangers of the wild by not having the audio description. Plus, there are similar shows that have audio description, so you can still find something that is like this (Outlast or Celebrity Bear Hunt (Netflix), Survivor or the Summit (Paramount Plus) as examples) that you can actually follow. there’s no need to do this to yourself. this is a one and done for me, and I won’t be mentioning Extracted again. it my second cancellation, since I started formally announcing when a show for sure would not be returning to these Diaries, following my axe to common Side Effects yesterday.
