Category: TV

TV

Disclaimer (2024)

Where to find it: Apple TV+
Length: Seven 50-minute episodes
Synopsis: An emotive drama about the grey area between truth and lies
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: themes, acting, direction
What I don’t like about it: grim, belabours its point

Review:
The latest Alfonso Cuarón project explores the impact of narratives and of true stories’ obfuscation of truth. An upper-middle-class Londoner’s precarious marriage is overturned by a vengeful storyteller armed with an old secret. Like Netflix’s Ripley, it has good acting and great directing (if you like shots of the sunset) but its tiresome pretension and meandering pointlessness make it hard to recommend.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): sex (too much), death by drowning, bereavement, protracted sexual assault in final episode

The Franchise (2024)

Where to find it: NowTV
Length: Eight 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Marvel movies make for easy satire
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: funny lines and actors
What I don’t like about it: inconsistent, tries a bit too hard, arrives a few years too late

Review:
In this sitcom, which Armando Iannucci is at least somewhat involved in and is definitely modelled after his work, a thinly-veiled Marvel movie is being made with many disasters and squabbles along the way. Has a lower hit rate than, say, The Thick of It but it gets better as it goes, deserves a second season it probably won’t get.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): inventive swearing

Penelope (2024)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Eight 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Privileged girl runs away to commune with nature
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: nature scenes, casting, engrossing
What I don’t like about it: janky fucking ending, bad lessons for younger audiences

Review:
An enjoyable, low-budget series about a teenager who runs off to survive in the wilderness. Things go a bit too well for her at first, seeming unrealistic and irresponsible in how often she escapes danger unscathed. It’s fun watching her build campfires and try to fish and her happy dance when she gets it right is adorable, though things get worse as winter sets in. Lost a whole rating point in the last three minutes, deserved an ending with more finality.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): fish gutting and butchery, sex is alluded to but not shown, hardship and violence

Somebody Somewhere (2022)

Where to find it: Now TV
Length: 21 half-hour episodes
Synopsis: Low key comedy about everyday Kansans
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: cozy, sweet, occasionally funny, Murray Hill’s incredible charm
What I don’t like about it: can be a bit boring at first

Review:
Sam marks schoolwork for a living and is mourning her sister/best friend when her coworker Joel invites her to his queer church choir, run by breakout character Fred Rococo. Sam’s other sister Tricia runs a basic bitch shop called Tender Moments which sells scented candles and embroidered pillows. They all spend the rest of the episodes alternately giggling and arguing, going about their daily lives in something that may be a sitcom, I can’t tell. Cute though.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): religion, interpersonal conflicts, death

Barry (2018)

Where to find it: Now TV
Length: 32 half-hour episodes
Synopsis: A psychopath is torn between two fitting career paths: hitman and actor
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: funny, engaging, clever direction, NoHo Hank, seasons 2 & 3
What I don’t like about it: weak opening, terrible ending

Review:
Bill Hader writes, directs and stars in this HBO comedy-drama with pulpy crime plot, strong action scenes and fantastic Hollywood satire.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence

Fallout (2024)

Where to find it: Amazon Prime Video
Length: Eight 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Yet another adaptation playing it safe with their big budget
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: acting, sometimes looks good, some good scenes
What I don’t like about it: formulaic, padded, poorly written, often looks bad

Review:
Ella Purnell plays a guileless sheltered liberal who explores the wasteland, chasing a series of macguffins and running into Walton Goggins as a hardened cowboy zombie. It’s entertaining enough but twice as edgy and half as satirical as it should be, full of stock dialogue and stretched-out scenes of violence. The animation and soundtrack are both inconsistent, often falling flat.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, gore, brief obligatory sex scene in the pilot

Search Party (2016)

Where to find it: BBC iPlayer
Length: Fifty 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Genre-hopping blistering satire about self-involved millennials
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: satirical, engaging, constant reinvention, comic acting
What I don’t like about it: inconsistent (gets better as it goes)

Review:
Four selfish Brooklyn hipsters investigate the disappearance of a college acquaintance, things escalate. The last three seasons in particular are full of ambition and quality but nearly impossible to talk about without spoilers.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, sex, swears (after switching network in season 3), slurs

Such Brave Girls (2023)

Where to find it: BBC iPlayer
Length: Twelve 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Pitch dark sitcom about personality disorders
Recommendation rating: 5/5

What I like about it: brilliantly funny, well-informed and acted
What I don’t like about it: the envy I feel over how genius it is

Review:
Josie has just got out of inpatient psychiatric care and is back living with her mum Deb and sister Billie, the driving forces behind Josie’s very low self-esteem and lack of stable identity. Narcissistic Deb is dating a widower for his money and Billie is desparate to find a man who won’t leave her like their dad did.

It feels like therapeutic shitposting and every laugh – which thanks to the tight script and comedic gestures of the actors come thick and fast – is tinged with an “ooof that’s dark”. It’s scarily relatable and fantastic work from writer-star Kat Sadler.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): some of the least erotic sex on television, bodily fluids, unhealthy relationships

Carol & The End Of The World (2023)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Ten 30-minute episodes
Synopsis: Autistic woman longs for routine amid the apocalypse
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: representation, ambitious
What I don’t like about it: ugly and slow (albeit intentionally)

Review:
The main character of this adult animated comedy-drama, Carol Kohl, is 42 and unemployed when a planet mysteriously appears in the sky, due to collide with Earth and wipe out all life in 8 months. This causes the breakdown of society, with people choosing to follow their dreams and make the most of the time they have left. Carol is encouraged to do the same but she enjoys her routine and doesn’t desire adventure.

It was very nice to see such a person represented, enjoying a small life even if it’s limited. As expected for a series about routine, it’s very decompressed and ponderous but overall sweet and artistic.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): sex and nudity, corpse

Deadloch (2023)

Where to find it: Amazon Prime Video
Length: Eight 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Australian comedy-murder mystery
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: fuuny, good characters, sustains interest
What I don’t like about it: a little long, tone doesn’t always mesh, underwhelming payoff

Review:
In this example and parody of dark murder mysteries, a Tasmanian cop finds that the town’s misogynistic men are being murdered and has to partner with a brash out-of-town detective to find out whodunnit. The comedy and mystery elements blend surprisingly well though not perfectly, especially at first.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence