TV Shows Watched: Daredevil: Born Again: S1E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Righteous Gemstones: S4E1 (MAX) with audio description, Court Of Gold: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Love You To Death: S1E5 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Deli Boys: S1E1 (Hulu) with audio description, and How Disney Built America: S1E4 (Hulu) no audio description
Best Episode: The Righteous Gemstones- The Season 4 premiere went in a new direction, showing us Elijah Gemstone, who must be Eli’s Great Grandfather or Great Great, as he was a civil war era smuggler who found his way into becoming a Chaplin for the Confederacy, after he killed the actual Chaplin. A slight spoiler, but also it is how that episode begins. So, watching a Gemstone fake his was into religion, and then because of something that happens, actually starting to take it a bit more serious, it gave more clarity on how imperfect this family is, but perhaps the earnestness after all these years is still real.
Runner Up: Daredevil: Born Again- They had me, until like the final 2 minutes. Then, they lost me. If it had been that easy the whole time, I kind of wonder how it hadn’t already happened. had no one else aimed for the head before? Kingpin just survived a headshot. is that really where we’re leaving this? I considered putting Deli Boys here, but the rest of the episode wasn’t stupid. Just the end.
Best Audio Description- The Righteous Gemstones- You know, for a comedy, they fit quite a bit of audio description in here. i was rather impressed. Considering the Civil War era period, it felt like the right time for this show to really nail their audio description. I would say it was shockingly violent, but for this show, they’ve had very bloody and gory episodes before.
Runner Up: Daredevil: Born Again- Yes, the audio description had some strong moments. the show is also employing this “man on the street” element, where reporters are catching random New Yorkers and asking them for their opinions. I think that’s what that is, because those scenes (albeit brief) were kind of ignored.
Best Performance: Bradley Cooper (The Righteous Gemstones)- Oh, did I forget to mention that Cooper came in to play Elijah? Cause, he did. Granted, this show has had a slew of interesting guest stars over the years, ranging from Macaulay Culkin to Jennifer Nettles, but Cooper definitely feels like a really big grab. And for the kickoff to the final season, he certainly did an excellent job as what is the beginning of a dynasty. Combining a taste for looking out for number one, with preaching about the number one, Cooper was a scoundrel who also had to face his own demons by the end of the episode.
Runner Up: Charlie Cox (Daredevil: Born Again)- He’s basically the whole reason this exists. It’s like watching the Frasier revival, and realizing that it isn’t the same show, but Frasier is still Frasier. Charlie Cox still feels like Matt, from a moment he has with a crooked cop, to an intense Hail Mary in the courtroom, to a quieter moment explaining about how he and Foggy kicked it back in the day after a case was over.
Best Moment Of Audio Description: The Righteous Violence (The Righteous Gemstones)- Again, not a show that has shied away in the past, but we had a man’s face getting smashed in, at least one guy had a bullet rip through the front of his face, men were executed firing range style and then a twitching body was shot in the head, etc. Gemstones finds the humor in the dialogue, but juxtaposed it against things that were decidedly not funny.
Runner Up: Shot Through The Head, And You’re To Blame (Deli Boys)- I was quite surprised to find out this had audio description, and the track isn’t bad. It highlights the comedy this show is going for, as two neppo babies with very little skills are thrown into the deep end of life when their father dies, and his empire is raided by the feds. in one sequence, the boys find themselves against danger, and a much less important character is shot in the head. The gore, definitely mentioned. But what really struck me about the sequence was finding out… he survived the gunshot. The description of the little ways his body started to come to life, right down to the twitching foot, really sold that scene for me.
Worst Of…- Only one show without AD. However, I still would pick the way episode 3 ended because I viscerally hated it so much. So much.
