Most times, I find Black Mirror intriguing but too bleak to be pleasurable viewing experience. The fourth season just dropped on Netflix a week ago, and it contains not one, but two fantastic episodes one might cautiously qualify as... uplifting? One of them is the season opener, "USS Callister," and it's a fucking KNOCKOUT, with a gorgeous production design, and crackerjack actors. It takes a sly, lacerating look at certain archetype one encounters frequently in fannish space, and contains one of the most brilliant POV switch moment I've seen in any media a long while. It felt very Of The Times. All the thumbs up!
The second one, "Hang the DJ," is less ambitious but is a lovely, poignant look at technology and romance, featuring what is essentially an all powerful Tinder app. The two main actors have such a great chemistry. It's getting some "San Junipero" comparison - I don't think it's quite as good as that, but it's very well done indeed.
And now, I have the other 4 eps, which I understand are all varying degrees of depressing, and I'll see if I can amass up enough fortitude to give them a spin.
One of them is the season opener, "USS Callister," and it's a fucking KNOCKOUT, with a gorgeous production design, and crackerjack actors. It takes a sly, lacerating look at certain archetype one encounters frequently in fannish space, and contains one of the most brilliant POV switch moment I've seen in any media a long while. It felt very Of The Times. All the thumbs up!
Yep. Already one of the defining television moments of 2018 (and I think beyond).
We happened to watch it the same night we took in an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it helped me formulate some thoughts about what happens when the creator/filmmaker creates a frame around the male POV that's bigger (instead of defaulting to the male perspective) and critiques it. (A legacy of Mad Men, I think.)
Trailer for David Letterman's new show: [link]
Which, I'm not letting myself get too excited about, just in case something comes out in the news that makes me hate David Letterman.
Tom, I'm cautiously eager for Letterman's new show too. I was at the Late Show during filming once when he was host, and he was kind of a dick off camera. Doesn't mean he's a bad person, maybe he was having a rough day, but I've been less enthusiastic about him since then.
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won both Golden globes it was nominated for! Yay!
Yay! I bounced off the first ep a little bit (I think it was just a little too much OH MY GOD THESE PEOPLE), but when I went back I ended up bingeing the entire season in one sitting.
Amazon canceled three shows Wednesday night:
One Mississippi (Tig Notaro; two seasons, [link]
I Love Dick (Kevin Bacon, one season, [link]
Jean-Claude Van Johnson (Van Damme; one season, [link]
OK, so I caught up on all the post hiatus ST: Discovery episodes tonight and there were a lot of !!! moments, especially that final reveal.
Well played, show. Well played.
I thought Ash's true identity would make for a longer game and don't know how I feel about the seeming reversal. Guess we'll find how much it took next week.
I am with you on the !!! of the final moments. Eeeenteresting.
