The Perfect Neighbour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNp85HGJtoo &1
We watched ep1 last night. Yep, generous amounts of ham and cheese. Lots of action spy thriller tropes-- the recurring flashbacks to a traumatic core incident that shapes the protagonist’s personality and drives the plot; the super stylish office setting where the agents work, all mood lighting and burnished wood; the willingness of the agency to (very slight spoiler) be ready to kill any of their own at the slightest possibility they may be compromised; and of course, a mysterious, brilliant antagonist (or group of antagonists).
I mean, I’m no expert in actual CIA tradecraft, and I’m sure there’s some degree of dangerous action-packed secret agent stuff that goes on, but I imagine that, for 98 or 99% of CIA work (especially the office workers not ‘in the field’), they probably work at beat up metal desks under buzzing fluorescent lighting, and are under no more danger from either their enemies or their own agency than the threat they could lose their job due to budget cuts.
The Beast In Me (Netflix, 2025, 1se.) The Rotten Tomatoes blurb - Author Aggie Wiggs has receded from public life since the death of her young son, unable to write, a ghost of her former self; but she finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Nile Jarvis.
My wife and I are on episode 6 and it has kept our attention. The pacing is deliberately slow but each episode ends on a fantastic cliff hanger. So far I’d give 3 stars, I won’t ever need to watch this again but there is no way we won’t finish the season.
I’m almost finished this show. I thought the first episode was pretty good, but the rest has been just OK. There was a lot of exposition explaining who the good guys are and who the bad guys are (with the bad guys doing a lot of cartoonishly evil stuff); I think I would have liked it more if there were a bit more mystery behind what’s going on.
For Korean Netflix superpower shows, I liked it more than Strong Girl Nam-Soon but much less than Behind Your Touch and A Killer Paradox.
The Pitt ended well, they did commit two of my “sins” for medical dramas- a doctor addicted to drugs, and relatives coming in sick or injured, but thankfully those were side issues.
I’ve been seeing a lot of buzz about Heated Rivalry (HBO/Max) so I decided to check it out. It’s a love story about two professional hockey stars, adapted from a book. It’s only six episodes so I watched over a few days. The first two episodes didn’t really draw me in. They took place over several years and it just looked like very tastefully shot soft-core gay porn (not that there’s anything wrong with that 
) But I’m glad I stuck it out because the story developed into something very sweet and heartfelt.
The production values are top notch. It’s beautifully shot and directed. The lead actors are wonderful and have undeniable chemistry. I was very impressed when I found out the actor playing Ilya was from Texas and learned to speak Russian for this role. Even his accent when he spoke English was on point. Awesome job. There’s also lots of hockey playing if you are into that.
Episode 5 is being hailed as one of the best episodes of television. I wouldn’t go that far but it does hit you in all the feels. It has been renewed for a second season. Highly recommended if you like a well-written romance.
Ah, so you’re an amateur TV watcher! I’m.more like “it’s only six episodes so I watched it today”…
It wasn’t great. It’s hard to have a super hero show when the hero isn’t heroic or likable. She needed money and immediately became a criminal. It’s not like they were victimless crimes. A bunch of innocent NPCs got the shit kicked out of them. She might not have known how bad Parker was but what she did know was bad enough from the beginning. The heists were dumb. Thinking that a coerced signature will get you control of a billion company is a 10 year olds understanding of finance. Since there probably won’t be a season 2 it may have ruined the chance to see Mephisto again.
I think they were surprised to come back after season 3. I still enjoyed the characters but I would have been satisfied with the ending after season 3.
I recently learned that Star Trek: Enterprise is leaving Netflix. I loved it the first time I saw it and decided to watch again before it was too late.
I’m please to say it is still awesome, especially S3 with the Xindi. Still my favorite Star Trek series. I don’t get why it wasn’t more popular…
And Shran. Best secondary character ever.
(Just to add, having to watch 2+ episodes per day over a month is doable, but does take the shine off a bit)
Finished The Commander last night. The wife liked it, but I thought it was poorly done. Weird camera shots and editing and someone sure loved hysterical women and psychotic men as part of each episode.
I’ve been going through True Detective recently. I heard a ton of complaints about S2, watched the thing, and don’t understand any of them. It’s not quite as good as S1, but it’s fine. I can understand why someone wouldn’t like it:
It’s bleak, violent, and the good guys don’t win.
But all those apply even more to S1!
Rachel McAdams is great, though I kept seeing Regina George when she turned her head a certain way. As a bonus, if you’re a fan of sad girl music like me, it has Lera Lynn in it, not just doing the soundtrack, but actually performing in the bar where Colin Ferell and Vince Vaughn regularly meet.
I’ve got no interest in arguing about it, I’ll only say that if you liked S1 and put off S2 because of the bad reviews, you should give it a shot.
Also finished watching Parts Unknown. Tony Bourdain was a difficult person, to put it mildly, but not a dull one. You don’t get that many people speaking highly of you, even up to his put upon crew, if the good didn’t outweigh the bad. And he had an ability to draw people out and lisren to them, which made the show worth watching on its own.
We watched most of the second half of S2 of Andor last night. Rough timeline, for those scoring at home: I had watched Rogue One back when it first showed up on streaming, watched Andor S1 probably a year after it was released, watched Rogue One again sometime after that, rewatched Andor S1 as a refresher before starting S2. After the S2 episode where Mon Mothma gives her speech to the senate, I thought “holy crap my wife needs to be watching this” so I started over at the beginning of S1 with her and we’ve been watching an episode or two here and there among all the other things we are in the middle of. We did a five episode binge last night but knew we couldn’t stay awake for the last one, so tonight will be the end of S2 followed by Rogue One (which my wife also has not seen, and I haven’t told her that Andor dies at the end).
Good news; the second season of The Pitt premieres on HBO MAX on January 8, or exactly a week from now.
That would be me, so thanks! Looking forward to it.
I can’t guarantee you’ll like it, just that it’s a lot better than its rep.
Sadly, it is only streaming.
Well, yes.
Though not a fan of Taylor Sheridan, Landman looked promising for the same reasons as Ray Donovan: what dirty but cagey tricks will this professional fixer do for us this episode? And it lost me for the same reason: diverting into soap opera territory. With typical Taylor Sheridan tough guy didactics for additional annoyance.
And the ending was just dumb. She has just seen what happens to someone who makes a deal with Mephisto and she still agrees to one without even asking for details about the price? Even for a flawed heroine that makes no sense. And the Magic Girl Nerd at the very end has also been clubbed by the Stupid Stick.
Sharp Objects (HBO) Pretty good Southern Gothic murder mystery which is completely ruined by the idiotic surprise reveal 5 seconds before the show ends. Based on a book written by the same author who wrote Gone Girl, and I hope the SO book wasn’t as dumb as the show was. To Inna’s point, it literally dropped from a 4.5 (on a scale of 5) rating to, at best, 2.5.