The TV Roundup #14

A later post than usual. I've been feeling exceptionally lazy about writing lately. It's not like I was watching anything very interesting, thought-provoking, or squee-inducing, so there's not much to write I suppose. I did do a fair bit of studying and took tests last week so I was not entirely unproductive. I also cried a fair bit for absolutely no reason. Triggered by two very emotional songs (Patti Labelle singing "Hero" to Mariah Carey, and Remember Me from Coco). It's one of those moods.

Ragnarok | E01-E02

A dark fantasy show on Netflix based on Norse mythology with murder and a little town mystery mixed in, this sounds like my jam on paper. Unfortunately, Ragnarok falls flat and is awfully dull. None of the characters I've met so far have been particularly compelling or interesting, even the attractive villains who ate raw animal hearts and live birds. I think they're suppose to come off like Charlize Theron in Snow White or the ridiculously good-looking Cullens in the small town of Forks, Washington. (I can't believe I still remember that. I read Twilight over a decade ago.) The lead character Magne has a perpetually constipated look on his face and the personality of a wet blanket. I don't know if I'll keep watching the show although I do want to see Norwegians adapt their own mythology on screen.

Side note: It was my first time actually hearing the Norse tongue and I was surprised at how very different they pronounced ragnarok. It was not all hard consonants like how Americans say it or how I always said it in my head when I was just reading the word off an encyclopedia page as a kid. I would love to watch more Norse productions and hear more of the language.

Heaven's Official Blessing | E05-E13

I don't know. I finished the season and came away with...nothing. It wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly memorable either. I think I only managed to watch as many episodes as I have because the episodes are so short and it's easy to fit in an episode or two while I ate or did random chores. The OTP is very cute though and I would probably enjoy this story more once we get to the mystery surrounding the OTP. My one real complaint about the animation is ALL THE CHARACTERS LOOK THE SAME. I concede to being hyperbolic but I swear there's very little variation in the character designs. It's hard to tell who's who if I don't pay attention to what they're wearing.

These are four different people. I rest my case.

Jeopardy | E7742-E7745 Season 34 College Championship Semi-finals and Finals

Annnnnd that's a wrap. I've watched all the available episodes on Netflix. I'm going to miss watching Alex Trebek. The video below is my favorite moment from episode 7742. Such a warm, wonderful, funny man. I know he's been gone a few months now but it's hitting me all over again that this man I grew up watching on TV, who was a big part of my childhood as a nerdy kid who loved quiz shows, has left the earthly realm. Rest in power, Mr. Trebek. You are greatly missed.

The TV Roundup #13

Has it been a week already? My, my, time sure flies. I wanted to say something about clichés and then I realized the song playing in the background right now as I'm writing this is Cliché by mxmtoon lol.

You Are My Hero | E32-E40

All's well that ends well. For me this was a Ma Si-chun show all the way but I am VERY biased. YAMH, though not completely my cup of tea, is actually very nice fluff. There's an earthquake and one too many hostage situations but no one important to the story dies. In fact, I don't recall there being ANY deaths even among background characters. No wait, I remembered wrong. There was at least one. His death was plot device though and not even an important one lol. Overall, I'd say the show is a relaxing, feel good watch. The OTP has great chemistry and they communicate! They're a breath of fresh air and are honest to God couple goals.

I also love the character growth of Mi Ka. She went from a fresh med school graduate who was a (justifiably) nervous wreck when she was in a life-or-death situation in episode 1 to the incredibly brave and professional physician in the finale's hostage sitch. She was scared for her life but she did her doctor duties and went through it all with an admirable calm and grace despite the threat to her life. Love her!

Heaven's Official Blessing | E01-E04

The story is going at a snail's pace. I forgot how slow animated series can get. Things do happen I guess and yet I'm not...satisfied? I'm not sure that's the right word. Anyhoo, my interest only ever ticks up when the OTP is getting too close for comfort. I'm of half a mind to just check out the source novel, but at the same time, I want to check out and do a million other things as well.

Gifted (2017)

This isn't a TV show but I saw it on Netflix so I'm lumping it in here. I'll probably put films I see on here too. I can't be bothered to create a separate post for movies unless I feel inspired to write a whole post on a film.

Back to Gifted. It's the story of Frank, a single man (Chris Evans) raising his intellectually gifted niece Mary (McKenna Grace) and the ensuing custody battle that occurred when his exacting and ambitious mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) finds out about the kid's intelligence. Octavia Spencer also stars as Frank's no-nonsense neighbor and McKenna's frequent babysitter/friend.

McKenna is the star of the show - no contest. Close second would be the easy and natural rapport she had with her "uncle." Chris and McKenna both shone best in their scenes together. You cannot help but root for the uncle and niece they played and the strong bond they share.

Lindsay Duncan as Evelyn the grandmother was excellent. On paper, Evelyn was very easy to hate. It appeared that she was trying to realize her failed (frustrated?) dreams of academic superstardom in her daughter Diane, a one in a million kind of math geeeeeenius who had the talent to potentially crack a long unsolved math problem. That obviously didn't pan out because Diane dies, and then little Mary comes along. Cue drama. Lindsay Duncan's nuanced portrayal turned Evelyn from hateful snob to... well, she's still a snob but one whose viewpoints I could understand and even concede. In her own way, she too wants the best for little Mary.

Octavia Spencer. Siiiiiiigh. Octavia Spencer was criminally wasted on this. Her character was not really necessary to the plot. I can't believe they cast an award-winning actress to basically scold Chris Evans when his character's being a dumbass. Such a waste.

Verdict? It's a good film. I cried a little bit. Very straightforward story elevated by its talented and charming cast. 3/5 stars.

Four Sisters Before The Wedding (2020)

Another one released on Netflix today. This is the prequel to the wildly successful 2013 family comedy-drama Four Sisters And A Wedding. FSAAW is ICONIC. It is easily one of the most memorable and meme-able films in the last 10 years. The pressure is high for FSBTW. Did the prequel deliver? I think yes. It didn't blow me away but I wasn't disappointed either. The movie was very well cast and the young actresses, while still relatively green, were able to channel the OG actresses' portrayal and at the same time put their own stamp to the characters. Charlie Dizon as Teddie was a particular standout.

There were moments, some lines, that made me cringe but that might just be me and my dislike of typical Pinoy cheese. Overall an enjoyable watch. 3/5 stars.

Prequel and OG movie posters.

And now some of my favorite moments from A Wedding. These ones are often memed as well.

*Chef's kiss*

The TV Roundup #12

I spent a third of the past week fighting off a low-grade migraine but I still somehow managed to "watch" a lot of episodes. "Watch" in quotation marks because I was only paying half attention for most of these. Oh and I was able to finish several coasters, a bottle cozy, and one baby mitten! I am slowly getting better. Next week's project is the other half of said baby mitten and a second pair using different colored yarn and slightly pattern.

Mask | E01-E12

Started off the week with this rollercoaster makjang craziness. Did it make much sense? No. Was I entertained? Very much so. All the actors gave their 110% and, to quote Anna Kendrick:

LOL no you can't click play. It's just a screenshot off YouTube. This is my favorite behind the scenes episode. Trevor Noah + Anna Kendrick is the dream team.

It blows my mind that Mask came out in 2015. I thought I first watched this nearly a decade ago. That's how far ago 2015 feels like. This trip down memory lane brought to you by a hankering for a good contract marriage drama. Mask was just the ticket. Su Ae and Joo Ji-hoon going from sorta enemies to becoming each other's ride-or-die was *chef's kiss*.

 

Oh! Master |  E05-06

I actually started this show last week but forgot to add it to the list. It's cute enjoyable fluff but not very memorable. If I stop watching for whatever reason, I don't have much incentive to go back. Lee Min-ki's character here feels like a slightly different iteration from his last two projects. Nana, as much as I would love to love her, just isn't there yet. She's still very green and it shows. I got the impression off twitter that she was one to watch out for so I went in expecting her to be much better than what she's showing right now (this is her first acting project that I've seen). I am probably being harsher on her than I normally would be, but I want her to be good damn it. I like her and she does show promise. I hope she gets to demonstrate her acting chops as the show progresses.

Confession: I have a not insignificant girl crush on Nana. Pic from Pinterest.

The Sword and The Brocade | E37

Losing interest with this one. Not very surprising considering my only interest in the show was to see the OTP get together and now they're finally shacking up and being lovey-dovey like a true married couple. Don't even talk about the stupid politics. It's dumb and boring. Show ends next week so maybe I'll watch the remaining episodes on 1.5x while I do chores or something.

You Are My Hero | E01-E31

YAMH ate up my week. The TV "Medicine" drove me bonkers in the beginning but Ma Si-chun is so gosh darn adorable I had to keep watching. I'm glad I pushed through (only paying half attention and skipping whole scenes helped hehe). The OTP is wonderful together. Considering both Mi Ka and Xing Ke-lei are each other's first, they're giving us old married couple vibes and a maturity that is not often seen during the first blush of a new relationship. The secondary OTP is cute too. Ruan Qing-xia (another lovely face to add to my girl crush list) more than Shu Wen-bo. Shu Wen-bo is a frustrating, dense block of wood. Multiple times I just wanted to reach in through the screen and knock some sense into him.

Jiang Pei-yao looks like a cross between Rainie Yang and Nana. Pretty pretty <3. I definitely have a girl crush type. This gif and more here.

Cutest little munchkin ray of sunshine. Source of this adorable gif.

The TV Roundup #11

Easter egg hunt! Find the eight hidden eggs.

Happy Easter Sunday? I hope you and yours are safe and healthy and may you continue to be in this increasingly dystopic world.

Jane The Virgin | S1E01-E06

This was a comfort binge. I am in dire need of a cute English language rom-com or family show -English language anything really - to watch while I ate so I had the option of just listening and not pay much attention to the screen. But there are SO MANY available options and analysis paralysis hit me like a ton of bricks. My go-to is usually Jeopardy but I'm running out of episodes to watch on NF and I'm not really in the mood to look at pretty houses and get house envy in BBC's The World's Most Extraordinary Homes. Then I remembered Jane The Virgin. Rewatching Jane and Rafael fall in love felt like a good use of my time and this show always gave me good vibes. I skipped most of the murder mystery bits, Petra's machinations, and the family drama though. Good times.  

The Sword and The Brocade | E31-36

The problem with smart people is that they think too much. And that's basically what happened for the majority of episodes 31 to 34, where the two leads obviously care for each other but won't communicate. There's an element of pride and fear of rejection at play that keeps them from laying it all out in the open and asking the other person to love them. Finally, the dam bursts in episode 35 and we get our confession, first kiss scene, and some bow chika wow wow. Shiyi's cherry is popped and the marriage is consummated at last. And then the merrily wed cuteness we'd all been waiting for. Yay!

The only other plot point that interested me was Shiyi realizing that she no longer hates Madame Luo and her narcissistic step sister. She recognizes that both of them were products of a misogynistic system that pits woman against woman and in they end the women all lose. It's a downer but evidence of further character growth for Shiyi. Down with the patriarchy!

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime aka Slime Isekai | E01-E27

"What if we make the lead character a slime? No, I mean a literal slime. Hear me out."

This is how I imagine the pitch went. It's...odd. I'm not even talking about the slime protagonist, although it IS a factor. The story features a mismash of various fantastical creatures: orc, troll, demon, goblin, dwarf, dragon, etc. The plot isn't anything I haven't read before (minus the slime part) but something about this particular story felt slightly off. I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps you could call it quirky and that's the charm? To be fair, it IS enjoyable enough and very easy to watch. It's got humorous moments and I managed to watch a full season (24 episodes of <20 minutes each) before I got tired of it. My sister LOVES it and had been raving to me about it for a while now. She says she's watched Slime Isekai three times and switched to reading the manga and later the light novel when she ran out of episodes and translated chapters to read. Different strokes for different folks. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's the protagonist caught in a tug of war between two female characters in his pseudo harem. I did say it was weird.

Search (2020) | E01-10

I checked this out for Jang Dong-yoon, who I'm happy to report was eminently likeable even when his character was being a dumbass. For a mystery series, this show was plenty stupid and I've lost count of how many times I caught myself metaphorically scratching my head. From a common sense stand point, the characters do things that make no fucking sense. I'm disappointed this drama didn't live up to potential because it has a bunch of solid actors (Park Yoon, Moon Jeong-hee, Lee Hyun-wook) and they are the reason I kept watching when the writing kept going to Idiotville. When I was just about ready to call it quits, they turn Yeon Woo-jin's character into a DMZ monster, which pretty much guaranteed I was staying 'til the end. I know he was only a cameo but man was he criminally underused. I'm glad there are only 10 episodes. There's only so much story they can milk out of this premise. Search would probably be better as a movie.

 

The best and the only non-stupid character on the show. Good girl Mac.