The start of a new week, and Amazon is being mean and reminding me there was still one more episode of Night Sky, after I finished it last week and it temporarily disappeared from my queue. I now see that Undone is still there, after going away, which perplexes me because I it really do not know where that story would have gone after that ending. That was a true finale ending if there ever was one. What the hell, Amazon? Stop temporarily disappearing shit from my queue. This wasn’t a problem before the redesign.
1) Night Sky (Amazon)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
Well, now we are finally done… perhaps. You know, I’m not even going to say it anymore. Though, if this is the final episode ever, I hate that we didn’t get a second season of this show even more. Now that I see an even greater potential, and I really want to know what the hell is up with Hannah and her organization, why Jude is in Bangkok, and what is on this alien planet. But we never will. Because Amazon sucks.
Episode Grade: A
2) Rutherford Falls (Peacock)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
Someone learns they are about to be a father, but that someone also might not get the relationship they were hoping could reignite. Poor Nathan. it was a good news/bad news kind of day for him. Meanwhile, tribal bureaucracy is insane.
Episode Grade: A
3) Last Week Tonight With john Oliver (HBo/ HBo MAX)
English Audio Description?: No
A solid segment put together on Monkeypox that made me think about how true it is that when we keep saying something seems to primarily effect the gay community, our response to it is very slow. Also, some of those moments from the Alex Jones trial, that’s really why we got this high this week. john found the most amazing clips of exchanges between the judge and jones. You have to watch it. That judge is amazing.
Episode Grade: A
4) Love Victor ( Hulu)
English Audio Description?: Yes
in the third episode, once again, I was more interested in the ensemble. Hell, even Benji had more going on with his return from rehab to find out that somehow his whole school knows about it. He and Raheem talked it out, and I gotta say, Raheem seems like a good dude. I wouldn’t mind a spinoff called Love, Raheem. But while every side character had something somewhat major going on in their storyline, Victor had this weird date thrown at him by his newly super supportive parents, and the guy just wants to hook up immediately. Fun for Victor, but I’m hoping Nick doesn’t stick around due to an intentional lack of character development that victor apparently didn’t pick up on.
Episode Grade: A-
5) Resident Evil (Netflix)
English Audio Description?: Yes
No, you’re not having a fever dream. Resident Evil is not on teh bottom today. And this is the highest grade I’ve ever given this series. This is like an A+ for a series that will never get there because no one aside from Lance Reddick can act. But this episode was by far the best directed an best written. It smartly picked up right where Episode 4 left off, and spent the majority of the episode in the past, showing Jade and Billie returning home and finding a note from their dad that was kind of a “in case of emergency” letter. Then the two girls Nancy Drew’d their way through a clue hunt, while Simon hacked cameras and told them how to avoid line of sight. Eventually, they find a bunker full of their blood, and just before they die in a fire, dad rescues them. They are so happy to see him, they knock him out. It sounds nuts, but it was rather well done, especially for a show that has been levels of hot garbage thus far.
Episode Grade: B+
6) The Sandman (Netflix)
English Audio Description?: Yes
I wanted to get in and start on this new Netflix offering, even though I’m behind on other things, because it seems to be a “show of the moment”. Really, I think I have something really cool here, with a lot of potential, but it’s really about storytelling in the long run. As someone with no prior knowledge of the series, I didn’t leave the pilot fully confident that I knew all the rules. But, that’s something that can be played out well, or ignored. I felt like a show like Carnivale Row did a poor job of world building, and seemed to expect its viewers to know a lot more about stuff, but other shows like Wheel Of Time, Game Of Thrones, and His Dark Materials all have complex structures laid out perfectly episode to episode. So, for me, it wasn’t the strongest pilot, but that doesn’t mean that by the end of the season, I won’t be beating down doors talking about how amazing this show is.
Episode Grade: B
7) The Summer I Turned Pretty (Amazon)
English Audio Description?: Yes
It’s July 4th, and the boys want to show their dads the fireworks. You know, I hadn’t even stopped to ask myself… where the hell are all the older male characters? Does anyone have a father? Then, this show introduces this odd dynamic where the dads are so busy with their lives, that they fly in for the 4th Of July weekend, and a whole new level of fluff hit this show when I really put together just how rich these kids are, to be up here for the summer… at their summer houses. It’s not as fun as Dawsons Creek or Gossip Girl, but now I’m starting to see where it wants to be.
episode Grade: B-
