It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Netflix’s The Stranger
This week’s reviews
Netflix decided to unleash a slew of new shows on us last week. Elsewhere, you’ll have seen TMINE’s verdict on The Stranger, thanks to Boxset Monday. Onisciente managed to keep me interested for one episode at least, and you can read about that after the jump.
But I’m still working my way through Ragnarok, which is going to be next week’s Boxset Monday or Boxset Tuesday, and I didn’t get a chance to look at Luna Nera (Black Moon) – I’m not convinced about its chances, given what’s coming over the next week.
Meanwhile, in the film world, Orange Thursday covered The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
What’s coming next
It’s Part II of Spring 2020 in the US. Over the next week, we’ll be getting more than a few new shows, including Briarpatch, Indebted, Interrogation, Katy Keene, For Life, and Tommy.
Meanwhile, from Friday, we’ve got Locke & Key on Netflix and Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet starting on Apple TV+.
I doubt I’ll be able to give everything my undivided attention, but I hope to give at everything a first glance at least – hopefully more.
Meanwhile in movies, tomorrow’s Orange Thursday will be reviewing A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2020) and… something else. I knew my Christmas viewing would run out some time.
The regulars list, which is already pretty small, is going to start getting even smaller soon, since this week, I’ll be covering the season finales of both Evil and Stumptown. However, that still leaves 9-1-1: Lone Star, Avenue 5, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, The Outsider and Star Trek: Picard, the latest episodes of which I’ll also be covering.
I wonder if I’ll be dropping any of them, too, making the list even smaller. Let’s find out… in just a moment.
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Star Trek: Picard
This week’s reviews
Week four of Spring 2020 was a little quieter than the previous one, but we had three new shows launch. You can read the TMINE reviews of Outmatched(US: Fox) and Star Trek: Picard (US: CBS All Access; UK: Amazon) elsewhere, but we can talk about Awkwafina is Nora from Queens (US: Comedy Central) after the jump.
Meanwhile, in the film world, Orange Thursday took in Knives Out (2019) and Angel Has Fallen (2019).
Ragnarok
What’s coming next
Starting in the next week are Onisciente (Omniscient) (Netflix), The Stranger (Netflix), Luna Nera (Black Moon) (Netflix) and Ragnarok (Netflix). Yep, while others sleep, Netflix triumphs. I’ll pick one of those to watch over the next week and hopefully, it’ll be your Boxset Monday, but more likely your Boxset Tuesday.
Tomorrow’s Orange Thursday will be reviewing The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019). One of those is significantly better than the other.
Daredevil
The regulars
The regulars list is smaller even than normal this week, since both Evil and Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector took a break and Lovely Wife has decided she’d quite like to watch Avenue 5, so we’ll be watching episode 2 tonight.
Anyway, that just leaves 9-1-1: Lone Star, Stumptown and The Outsider. Still, it isWhat have you been watching? so now’s your chance to recommend some shows. Even Doctor Who. I hear there was a surprise guest ((spoiler alert) Captain Jack) and a massive development ((spoiler alert) another Doctor Who/alternative Doctor Who). Still not bothering with it.
In case you’ve been wondering what TMINE has been doing with itself, given such a lack of viewing options, the answer is simple: I’ve been rewatching the entire first season of Marvel’sDaredevil. It’s been an interesting experience, since clearly I was in a grumpy mood when I reviewed the first few episodes and still quite grumpy when I didn’t include it in my Top 9 (would have been 10 with Daredevil) shows of 2015.
Because it’s brilliant. Really sublime stuff – possibly my favourite season of all the Marvel shows, even more so than the first season of Iron Fist. It verges on the out and out sadistic at times, sure – you can tell showrunner Steven S DeKnight had just come off Spartacus – but despite having already watched it, I zoomed through all 13 episodes in about three days flat. Even the underwhelming costume reveal at the end was fine and Stick and the Hand didn’t irk me so much this time round.
The scripts explorations of the characters are almost lyrical at times, plus I really enjoyed some of its side-themes more, such as its study of the (diminishing) importance of journalism. There’s some real detective work/journalism going on in the investigation. And even when you know what’s coming, there are still some genuinely surprising choices by the writers, such as Melvyn’s reaction to losing a fight. Of which there are many, all so beautifully choreographed and directed – even Wu Assassinscouldn’t quite match it.
Plus there’s the general tone of the whole season, with some actually thought-provoking discussions of good and evil, morality, vigilantism, killing, rich and poor, Catholicism and more. Properly adult stuff it is.
Lastly, having watched all the other seasons and Netflix Marvel shows since, it’s really surprising to see how much everything fits together and was set up from the beginning. Yep, all that building-buying for the Japanese had a point and Madame Gao really did have to travel further than China to go back to her homeland.
So, if you’ve already watched Daredevil, give it another go, as it might surprise you. If you’ve not, you should definitely try it – provided you’ve got a strong stomach.
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Miracle Workers
This week’s reviews
We’re entering week three of TMINE’s coverage of the Spring 2020 season and still the new shows keep coming, with a deluge set to hit in February. So far this week, I’ve covered the first episodes of 68 Whiskey (US: Paramount) and 9-1-1: Lone Star (US: Fox).
But there’s more to come after the jump as I look at the first episodes of Avenue 5 (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic), Medical Police (Netflix), Little America (Apple TV+), and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (US: Freeform). And although it’s not a new show, since it’s such a big change from the first season, I’ll also be considering season two of Miracle Workers (US: TBS; UK: Sky Comedy).
Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens
What’s coming next
Looking ahead, coming in the next week, I’ll be covering Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens (US: Comedy Central), Outmatched (US: Fox) and Star Trek: Picard (US: CBS All Access; UK: Amazon).
And tomorrow’s Orange Thursday will be reviewing Knives Out (2019) and Angel Has Fallen (2019).
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector
The regulars
The regulars list remains small but is still growing. Joining Evil and Stumptown this week are new shows 9-1-1: Lone Star, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector and The Outsider. Will any of them make it to week three?
In the US: Sundays, 9pm, HBO In the UK: Mondays, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
We seem to be enjoying something of a Stephen King resurgence of late. Time was, back in the 70s and the 80s, you couldn’t move for classic Stephen King movies, such as Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone and Christine. Then came the 90s and some not especially classic Stephen King TV series such as The Tommyknockers and The Langoliers.
After that, despite King’s continuing literary output, adaptations died off for about a decade. There was the occasional new effort, such as a TV version of The Dead Zone, but those were reasonably rare in comparison. It wasn’t really until 2010 and Haven followed by Under the Dome in 2013 that TV and film rediscovered King. Since then, we’ve had a new It, Doctor Sleep, 11.22.63, another The Mist, Mr Mercedes and Castle Rock, to name but a few – and with more to come this year, including a new version of The Stand.
King, of course, isn’t simply a horror writer and his tone varies from book to book. Let us not forget that The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are both adaptations of King stories.
So I can’t say I’m too surprised to discover that the latest adaptation of King’s work, The Outsider, is as much The Wire as it is a piece of horror.
Inside The Outsider
In fact, you’d be forgiven – for about the first episode, at least – for thinking The Outsider isn’t even a piece of horror, just a regular old police procedural about the murder of a school child and how that affects a small town community. Adapted by Richard Price (The Deuce, Clockers, Child 44, The Night Of), it sees local detective Ben Mendelsohn (Captain Marvel, Animal Kingdom, Bloodline) in hot pursuit of the school coach (Jason Bateman).
All the evidence seems to suggest that it’s Bateman wot dunnit. All the witnesses clearly identify him, his blood and genetic evidence is all over the body and the van used to abduct the boy, and there’s video footage of him in blood-stained clothing. So cast-iron is the evidence that Mendelsohn has him arrested in front of the entire school without asking him even a question.
Unfortunately for Mendelsohn, Bateman has an equally cast-iron alibi – he was out of town at a teaching convention and not only is there physical evidence that he was there and multiple witnesses, public access TV recorded him at the exact time the murder took place.
Has there been a mix-up or can Bateman genuinely be in two places at once?
