Cavy TV

  Rating: ★★★  I held skepticism for this show going forward after season 1, which I really liked. I just couldn't see how they would progress the plotlines and overall narrative and momentum of the show. And for the most part, I believe I was proven right with this season. Like for instance, though I'm probably wrong on this because surely not even showrunner Sam Levinson would make such a plot inconsistency, but wasn't season 1 portraying their final year in high school, so why were they still in high school for this season?  Irregardless of that, the 2nd season starts off with a solid episode where it maintains its best attribute of caring for all of its main characters by trying to lay the foundations for their development throughout the season. But then the next few episodes don't build any good momentum for these narrative threads, instead it just panders to the show's style-over-substance gimmick. The newly-formed love triangle between newcomer Elliot, Rue an...

Rating: ★★★★ Arcane: League of Legends is a gorgeous video game adaptation that exists within the world of the steampunk genre. It functions on a lot of levels - in the beginning it lays the foundations of a strong and loving bond between two sisters, then throughout most of the middle episodes it focuses on the politics and system of the city (twin cities), and by season's end it unfolds into an outright coming of age punk tale.  One could say a better TV series would have fleshed out the entire narrative structure here, by offering slower storytelling in order to give greater backstory to these characters and their city's history which would in turn provide for greater empathy towards the characters and greater emotional payoffs across pivotal moments in the entire narrative. However, one must understand the platform for the show, it is a Netflix animated series after all, so the audience will be made up of the general public who would want to be entertained and not run the ...

  Rating: ★★★★  Follows the life of a middle-aged, divorced detective Mary-Ann, or just Mare, played incredibly by Kate Winslet as a series of serious crimes bewitch their small town. Missing young girls and murders are those crimes, and Mare is still fresh off dealing with the suicide of her eldest child. Lots of bleak you might think, and fair enough, since this kind of revives the small American town family despair atmosphere in some of the miniseries we've gotten from HBO recently such as Amy Adams' wonderful turn in Sharp Objects (2018) and the more underwhelming I Know This Much Is True (2020). Yet, there's so much lighter moments of comedy and raw love and emotion weaved into the show as well. The writing is tremendous for the first 4 episodes when the stage is still being set for these characters, their lives and relations with one another. Not only does every single episode end on a cliffhanger, but every single minute of those 4 episodes are absolutely entrancin...

Rating: ★★  With lots of hype, I entered Yellowjackets with equal expectation. The pilot was decent enough, didn't particularly blow me away like I heard it did for most. But it was the next couple episodes that did not convince me this is something I would enjoy. For this reason, I could only last a total of 3 episodes before I decided I have a firm grip of what this show is all about.  It depends on its mystery gimmick, multiple timelines and multiple characters to just drag everything out kind of in the vein of past series like Lost and Leftovers . The plane crash leaving survivors stranded on a mysterious island with some supernatural elements is of course literally the plot of Lost . So piggy-backing off other shows is already not a good idea, but at least you got to have intriguing characters to make it work, right? The show has none of that either as the characterisations come off as standard 2000s B-grade TV personality types. The only character that somewhat comes clo...

Rating: ★★★½ Found out about this show when Sam Esmail ( Mr. Robot creator) named it on his list of top 10 TV shows of 2021 on The Watch podcast with Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald. Was further intrigued to watch when I saw it was a lighthearted dramedy with 30-minute episodes (because this was just the form I was in the mood for). And decided to definitely watch when I saw Joseph Gordon-Levitt was behind this as writer, producer and lead actor.  Mr. Corman follows the life of fifth grade teacher Josh Corman (Gordon-Levitt) as he struggles with anxiety, loneliness, relationship issues and partially Covid pandemic-driven existential and climate angst. Nothing procedural here, as the episodes come off more experimental with a focus on the "life in a day" experience. Along the way we get to meet Josh's UPS driver roommate, Josh's mother, sister and estranged father, to name a few. Mr. Corman is at its best when the focus is on one-on-one relationships as then the shar...