Tag: 4

The Other Two (2019)

Where to find it: Prime Video maybe, sometimes on All4
Length: Twenty half-hour episodes over two seasons so far
Synopsis: Twentysomething siblings trying to make it in New York have to deal with a new reality when their kid brother becomes a viral superstar
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: the jokes (“I’m going to an exclusive unveiling later – they’re debuting a new Hadid sister”), it’s really funny and absurdist and has actually good gay jokes, the subtle way they depict things
What I don’t like about it: the pacing feels off sometimes, the main characters are so aloof that they’re hard to connect with

Review:
This is the funniest show I’ve seen in quite a while and it also has more depth than most, I love the subtle touches like how Chase seems so much younger when not performing and the way they use split-screen to compare the situations of the main sibling characters.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): mental health (anxiety), occasional sex scenes

Our Flag Means Death (2022)

Where to find it: BBC iPlayer
Length: Ten episodes, roughly 30-minutes each
Synopsis: A clownish band of pirates, led by a rich dandy, get more than they bargained for when their underwhelming adventures are interrupted by the fearsome Blackbeard
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: Taika Waititi, fun writing, good drama in the latter half, lovely romance and Taika Waititi (seriously if he doesn’t get an Emmy it’s a robbery)
What I don’t like about it: the first few episodes are very underwhelming, the mix of history and pure fiction can be hard to understand and delineate

Review:
This show has a secret! It begins as a middle-of-the-road comedy and feels, for the first couple of episodes, like a failed attempt to make “What We Do in the Shadows but with pirates” but that hides its true nature. The show “grows the beard” in episode four when Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard is introduced. His name has been enough to get me interested in a project since Boy, but his acting ability has been criminally underutilised since then and he brings this project to another level – giving me chills at least once an episode towards the end. Rhys Darby brings his unique charm to the role of “The Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet and the rest of the cast glue as an ensemble as it goes on, Ewen Bremner being a particularly memorable highlight. Check this one out if you have enough time to sit through a few not-so-great episodes.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): Comical, but occasionally vivid, violence and injuries; relationship problems; mental health (BPD, DID)

Under the Banner of Heaven (2022)

Where to find it: Disney+ Star, apparently
Length: Seven 45-minute episodes
Synopsis: A Mormon police detective investigates a brutal crime which causes him to examine his faith and church
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: the use of flashbacks to create mounting tension and explain LDS history, absorbing acting and writing, prestige TV without long boring opening titles
What I don’t like about it: it is yet another dark prestige true crime miniseries

Review:
From the first episode of this series, we are thrown into the weird world of Utah – its expansive rural families, unique religious vocabulary and inescapable smell of theocracy – and it’s as fascinating, dark and hard to leave as the state itself. Andrew Garfield channels the spirit of Ned Flanders to portray a small-town detective investigating a standard Fincheresque grisly murder while trying to accomodate his new partner, a Paiute Native hardened Vegas cop – a fun dynamic. As their investigation progresses, flashbacks show their victim marrying into a very large and prominent Mormon family and gradually finding herself at odds with their patriarchal lifestyle. A second set of flashbacks go back even further, to the early days of the Church of Latter Day Saints and particularly its history with polygamy, and are used to make connections between the fundamentalist beliefs of the murderers and the historical events that inspired their mindset. All very psychological and interesting.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): murder (femmicide, infanticide), child sexual abuse, controlling patriarchal behaviour