TV Shows Watched: Severance: S2E10 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Good American Family: S1E1 (Hulu) with audio description, Will Trent: S3E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Shifting Gears: S1E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Papa’s House: S1E13 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Going Dutch: S1E9 (Hulu) no audio description, The Daily Show: Thursday (Paramount Plus) no audio description, The Rookie: S7E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Abbott Elementary: S4E18 (Hulu) with audio description
Best Episode: Severance- Of course. The Emmy nominated series closed itself out in fine fashion, with a battle between the two sides of Mark, both trying to save the woman they care about the most, but needing the other half in order to get it done. Of course, the problem with saving Helly is that her outtie is a villain. An interesting story that resulted in the death of a recurring character, and a giant question mark over the future of everyone in Season 3.
Runner Up: Good American Family- I would choose Abbott, but it pissed me off so much. Basically, that episode had the district walking around looking for the bribes, because schools aren’t allowed to have nice things. If the district is unwilling to pay for things, then who cares? I love that the argument is that schools shouldn’t have anything to function. And we wonder why we need a department Of education. But in Good American Family, I was intrigued, and found out this show is based on that Curious Case Of Natalia Grace show, which is apparently in its third season. Could you imagine if Tiger King kept getting more seasons? I did a little bit of reading, and based on that, I think Good American Family struck a nice balance in the first episode for people like me who have better things to do than follow this Natalia Grace story. It claims to be an amalgamation of the stories of those involved, but it really does seem to suggest that this girl is older than she says she is. There’s nothing really about the way she acts or speaks that would suggest she was 7. And since she’s not being played by a 7 year old actress, it also feels like a choice. I’m intrigued, and I also wanted to shaft Abbott Elementary.
Best Audio Description: Severance- Oh man. From the duality of the Mark’s, to the oddity of the talking statue, to the band playing, to the fight and eventual death of *spoiler*, this episode had a lot of ground to cover, and did so in really terrific form.
Runner Up: Shifting Gears- There really wasn’t anything close to Severance. Good American Family had solid character description for Ellen Pompeo, but seemed unwilling to suggest anything about the character whose age will be questioned, except for a mention about her running. I thought Dave Wallace really tried to make the most out of Shifting Gears, and if the show does return for a second season (i would be shocked if it didn’t), I hope they bring him back as well.
Best Performance: Everyone? (Severance)- I know it is a cop out, but I really was thinking that everyone who was featured in the finale really did get their moment. From smaller characters all the way up to Adam Scott, there were so many big swings and interesting choices, that I can’t pick just one. Adam Scott had several great moments, but there were a few moments that Melcheck had, where it felt like his character was going through a change, and Helly had some impressive moments, as did others that would be a spoiler to mention. Everyone showed up for the finale in a big way.
Runner Up: Ellen Pompeo (Good American Family)- Pompeo presents her character as incredibly sympathetic, and like some kind of super-Mom that impressively juggles everything. She balances seemingly everything, and even when thrown a curveball in the form of Natalia, she still seems to keep the plates all spinning. I have no idea where her performance will go, based on the oddity of the story, but she’s great in the pilot.
Best Moment Of Audio Description: An Unfortunate reflex (Severance)- Without spoiling, there is an elevator scene, which shows why you shouldn’t have your hand on certain things when your brain is transferring from innie to outtie.
Runner Up: Poor Smitty (The Rookie)- I like to compliment typically mediocre programs when they do something that feels extra special. I picked out a scene from High Potential earlier in the year, and I’ve found moments in The Rookie before, they just are few and far between. That being said, even though I knew what was going to happen when Smitty was trying to get the prisoner to the bathroom, I still thought the assault on Smitty was well described, and I even liked the little mention of the blood splatter on the wall behind him.
Worst Of…- I want Going Dutch to export audio description to Hulu. The twist at the end of Abbott Elementary is made more frustrating than anything else, because the entire episode, again, is based on the predication that schools can’t have nice things. Like, no one would be able to donate to a specific school. I do think that the “twist” to the story has more coming, because that interaction between Ava and Crystal really made me think… Ava has bigger plans. Perhaps, she’ll use this as an opportunity to destroy the district. But, for now, I’m sad Going Dutch didn’t have audio description (again), but I’m actually mad at Abbott (which is probably the point).
