Disclaimer: Very few actual boobs in this post
In the past four months, I've blown through 3 seasons of Hannibal, 2 seasons of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, 1 season of The Handmaid's Tale, and 1 season of MST3K: The Return. And a partridge in a pair tree. So I figured it was time to review some TV shows instead of movies for a change.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
A friend of mine said I needed to watch this show as an "obligation of friendship". I was skeptical at first because I didn't "get" it...I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about the characters and at moments, CEG is a little too cutesy and "the moral of today's episode is..." for my tastes. But by the time I got to the second half of season 1, I was like hooked. I binged season 2 in about a week.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a comedy that also has musical numbers (some of them are GREAT) and features a women, Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom, also co-creator of the show) who moves from New York City to West Covina, California to be near a guy, Josh, whom she dated for one summer when she was 16.
Well, the situation is actually a lot more nuanced than that.
Despite many schemes and shenanigans that wouldn't be out of place in a traditional romantic comedy (a genre the show mercilessly spoofs), CEG isn't afraid to make it's main character actually "crazy". As in, probably-should-be-on-depression-medication-and-practicing-cognitive-behavioral-therapy crazy (not Hannibal Lecter crazy. See below). Rebecca is a character who does bad things but remains relatively sympathetic throughout the show because we see glimpses of real suffering. Likewise, the supporting characters have struggles of their own: Greg's a grumpy alcoholic who uses sarcasm to avoid being close to anyone; Paula is obsessed with Rebecca's love life to the point of codependency; Josh loves the attention he gets from Rebecca but refuses to dump his girlfriend to be with her--or to cut off contact with Rebecca to fully commit to his girlfriend.
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| Blam! |
The shows gets deeper, darker, weirder and better as it goes on (and I think the songs get better too). CEG does a lot of work: it's legit funny, but also very absurd at times. It's got singing and dancing going on. It's satirical. It has the most likable unlikeable characters on TV. For a show with so many flights of fancy (exhibit A: "dream ghosts") it's not afraid to look mental illness right in the eye and show the kind of damage it can do, while also humanizing those who suffer from it.
Grade: B+
***
The Handmaid's Tale
Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu is a knot in the stomach. A chill down the spine. A deep-seated feeling of dread. And not because of a ghost or monster, but because everything that happens in the dystopian world of Gilead is happening now, or has happened, or could easily happen.
THT takes place in the former United States, after a violent cult, The Sons of Jacob, takes down all branches of the government and creates a Biblically-based theocracy where women are divided into groups: the wives of the Commanders (men in charge), "Marthas" who cook and clean for them, and "Handmaids": fertile women who serve to bear children for the Commanders and their infertile wives. Women are not allowed to read and have basically no rights. Handmaids get the distinct honor of being ritualistically raped once a month by the Commander whose house they live in. Offred ("Of Fred", since her commander is Fred Waterford), formerly June, is played by Elisabeth Moss. When the country falls, she is taken from her husband and child and forced into a re-education center to prepare to be a breeding slave for her assigned Commander. The series is told mainly from her perspective, but it also gives us glimpses of the lives of other handmaids, and other women, in Gilead.
Although the series strays from the original book, it still stays true to the universe of the novel. And since the series has been picked up for a second season, it will be interesting to see where Offred's story goes in season 2.
Filled with gorgeous cinematography and excellent performances all around, The Handmaid's Tale isn't the easiest show to watch, but it is undeniably great television.
Grade: A
Just as God intended, amirite?
***
Hannibal
Hannibal has some of the goriest, most fucked up stuff I've seen on television. So, of course, I love it. Based on the character created by Thomas Harris, Hannibal puts a new spin on the liver-eating, Chianti-drinking charismatic psychopath. The first season opens with Hannibal Lecter (played, to absolute perfection, by Mads Mikkelsen) a free man. The timeline starts well before Clarice Starling set eyes on Lecter when he was behind bulletproof glass. Lecter is a psychiatrist recruited by Special Agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne, excellent as well) to befriend and analyze Crawford's gifted (and unstable) criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy).
The fucked up (and homoerotic) friendship between Graham, who is able to feel empathy to the point where he can understand the motives of serial killers, and Lecter, who feels no empathy at all, is the heart of the series. Which is a good anchoring point since the series tends to be a bit uneven, wavering from straightforward crime show to hilariously campy soap opera. Once they introduce Mason Verger (played by Michael Pitt), the camp really hits the fan big time, for better or for worse.
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| Hannibal has an old friend for dinner. |
Although Hannibal is far from a "perfect" show, it is wildly entertaining, intensely gory, and visually stunning. Much has been made of the scenes involving food: Hannibal lovingly preparing it, serving it, and enjoying it with his many guests. But in addition to the artful food scenes, the show has many dreamy, fantastical scenes. In Hannibal murder is elevated to an art form. With that in mind, please consider if this is the show for you, because I can assure you it's not for everyone.
Grade: B+
***
MST3K: The Return
As a young kiddo, I LOVED Mystery Science Theatre 3000, specifically the later episodes with Mike Nelson, which played on Comedy Central on weekend mornings. As an adult, any given Friday night when I want to stay in and relax, you can find me queuing up one of my favorite episodes (I'm particularly partial to The Devil Doll, Squirm, Hobgoblins, and The Girl in Gold Boots) on YouTube. Additionally, I've attended Rifftrax screenings, including a live one at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville (where they riffed--with all new jokes--on the classic terrible movie Manos: The Hands of Fate).
So I was over the moon to see MST3K rebooted with 14 brand new episodes and a new host, Jonah Ray. After watching them all, I can say while the reboot doesn't quite live up to the Joel and Mike years, it's pretty entertaining.
My biggest beef is with the casting of Felicia Day as Kinga Forrester (granddaughter of the great Pearl Forrester). I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here, but I don't think Day is funny at all in this role. It's as if she's going out of her way to NOT be funny. And her pairing with Patton Oswalt just feels awkward and forced. They have zero, nada, zip comedy chemistry. But since Oswalt and Day only show up for about 10 minutes per episode, I can deal with it.
My favorite movies in this season are Cry Wilderness, The Loves of Hercules, and The Christmas That Almost Wasn't. And although none of these episodes quite get to the level of genius of Final Sacrifice, it's not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening lounging on the couch.
Grade: B
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