Netflix/Prime/Hulu Discoveries

[centerstage01]

SyFy's Eureka is on Amazon Prime! Now if someone would hurry up and put Warehouse 13 online, I'd be a happy camper.

 

[Spun Silver]

For a change of pace I found The Santa Clarita Diet, with Drew Barrymore and Timothy Oliphant from my beloved Justified. I haven't seen Drew Barrymore for years and she's still got it. The plot is nuts but the writers and actors have a blast with it. You can look forward to a severed head Kept in a vase in the basement. I hope there's a season 3.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

Netflix - Escape to the Country. I watched the first episode. It is the typical home show - you meet someone, find out what they are looking for and then see some home options. And then it ends with them talking about how they might put an offer up. I was all - WTF? It's over? They don't buy anything? Fix anything up? I don't understand this show at all. My daughter was laughing at me. I told her I can do what they do - drive around, look at places for sale. Say, Oh I don't like that bathroom and then get in the car and do it again. What is the point?!

 

[dinakt]

Am binge-watching "Babylon Berlin" because of a musical suggestion in Zahorski thread (clicked on the link and was intrigued)- and highly, very highly recommend it. Riveting! Passed the suggestion to my husband, and he watches it now independently and loves it, too. I proudly tell him that this is one more reason why this site is invaluable))

 

[Buzz]

I am loving The Alienist on Netflix! It is one mystery stretched over the entire first season and I am so very happy they didn't go with the suspect a week type format. And seeing Dakota Fanning so grown up makes me feeling old! LOL

 

[Aussie Willy]

Just watched the first two episodes of S2 of The Handmaid's Tale. Oh boy absolutely intense and riveting. Can't wait to watch the rest.

Also the new season of Archer starts here tonight. Can't wait to watch.

 

[topaz]

Just watched the first two episodes of S2 of The Handmaid's Tale. Oh boy absolutely intense and riveting. Can't wait to watch the rest.

Episodes 1 and 2 of Handmaids Tale was Incredible. Acting, art direction, script. The scene in fenway park and the scene with the scissors. Both are etched in my memory.

 

[VGThuy]

I woke up early this morning and did not know Handmaid's Tale was back. I watched the first episode before work and I cannot wait to watch the second episode when I get home.

 

[MacMadame]

Dear White People is coming back! Next week! Can't wait! (Except I have to wait as I'm going away for the weekend.)

 

[Aussie Willy]

Episodes 1 and 2 of Handmaids Tale was Incredible. Acting, art direction, script. The scene in fenway park and the scene with the scissors. Both are etched in my memory.

Oh and Aunt Lydia more sadistic than ever. She is horrifying.

 

[clairecloutier]

Oh and Aunt Lydia more sadistic than ever. She is horrifying.

I think I'm going to wait a while before watching. The first season was unnerving and, yes, horrifying. I got through it, but I cannot say I enjoyed it. Not sure how much more I am really up for. (I do want to see Elisabeth Moss, though....)

 

[VGThuy]

I'm finding watching The Handmaid's Tale to be pretty therapeutic actually. It's totally horrific to witness and scary and makes me so angry. It also verges on showcasing women's suffering to the point of exploitation and shock value. But it's so ambitious, has a point-of-view, and it's clearly one of the best if not the best TV show I've seen in a long time. I find it almost therapeutic because I feel like I'm sharing this viewing experience with people all over the Internet and we're going through the same emotions and feeling the anger and tinge of rebellion in our own little ways.

Episode 2 was shocking, btw.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

Lost in Space on Netflix was a fun romp - every well done, must have had a huge budget.

 

[MacMadame]

I'm watching it now! Much better production values than the original.

 

[gkelly]

I have watched Charite on Netflix.

They summarize what happened to all the real-life characters afterward, so no need for a second series.

Several of the names were familiar to me from their scientific legacies that show up in the articles I process for my job. I can look up more about their real lives online and call it work.

 

[shsocu]

As someone who is fed up at work Aggretsuko (Netflix) is really speaking to me:

Retsuko is an anthropomorphic red panda, 25 years old and single, who works in the accounting department of a Japanese trading firm. Facing constant frustration everyday from pushy superiors to annoying co-workers, Retsuko lets out her emotions by going to a karaoke bar every night and singing death metal. After 5 years of working the daily grind, her relationships with her various co-workers are starting to shift, and slowly begins to open up in ways that can change her life for better...or for worse.

 

[clairecloutier]

We just watched season 2 of The Crown. As with season 1, I felt like this season was good, but not great.

I liked Claire Foy, especially in the latter part of the season. I thought she did well with a role that wasn't necessarily easy to play. I noticed that most of the reviews of season 2 have focused on Philip and Margaret as the highlights of the season. But for me, I was more interested in Elizabeth. I enjoyed especially the season finale, in which we see her getting progressively more & more disgusted with some of the men around her and their failings. In a sense, Philip and Margaret had it easier--they could afford to wallow in self-pity and bitterness. Elizabeth didn't really have that option, and I thought Claire Foy did a fine job, especially toward the end of the season, of conveying the frustration and anger Elizabeth feels at all the things she can't control (her prime minister, her husband's determination to send Charles to his old boarding school).

In general, the acting was good except for Matt Smith as Philip, whom I continued to dislike. I also felt like Eileen Atkins missed in her portrayal of the Queen Mother. Publicly at least, the Queen Mother always had this cherubic, cheerful look to her, which was part of what made her so popular. Atkins didn't capture this quality at all, instead coming across as a bored, dowdy, and old-fashioned.

My main complaint about season 2 was that it felt very episodic, more so than most shows. There was the Margaret-and-Tony episode, the Charles-and-Philip episode, the Kennedy episode. Each episode was fine in its own way, but I felt like the season struggled to maintain any larger story arcs.

 

[elka_sk8]

Just finished seasons 1 and 2 of Stranger Things. It was so good! Took me a couple episodes to get into it but then I was hooked. I always say I’m not really a fan of sci-fi but then end up enjoying shows like X-Files, Game of Theones, Lost, and now this. Will be interesting to see where the story goes next.

 

[text_skate]

I have watched Charite on Netflix.

They summarize what happened to all the real-life characters afterward, so no need for a second series.

Several of the names were familiar to me from their scientific legacies that show up in the articles I process for my job. I can look up more about their real lives online and call it work.

It's a series about the hospital. The 2nd series will be set in Nazi Germany, mostly WWII. AFAIK they finished shooting. The series will focus among others on Ferdinand Sauerbruch, and on some of the darkest parts of German history as euthanasia.

 

[Erin]

Has anyone been watching BoJack Horseman? I'm about 3/4 of the way through Season 2 and really like it so far. It's a good Hollywood satire, I have fun looking for all the little jokes hidden in the background, and it's always entertaining trying to figure out who the guest stars are. I'm impressed with who they can get.

 

[made_in_canada]

I've recently discovered the Aussie show Offspring. It's the perfect amount of soap opera/quirk/dysfunction/attractive men for me. I'm really enjoying it, though I have wanted to smack the main character a couple of times. I also loved another Aussie show, The Let Down, which was scarily relatable, though that one probably wouldn't be as much fun if you don't have children.

 

[Aussie Willy]

I've recently discovered the Aussie show Offspring. It's the perfect amount of soap opera/quirk/dysfunction/attractive men for me. I'm really enjoying it, though I have wanted to smack the main character a couple of times. I also loved another Aussie show, The Let Down, which was scarily relatable, though that one probably wouldn't be as much fun if you don't have children.

I never watched Offspring but I did watch The Let Down. So glad you enjoyed it. It had started off as just a single episode for a series of pilots but they then gave it a full series. Very very good and great characters. Loved Noni Hazelhurst as the mother's group leader and the crim who told her she couldn't sleep in that spot. And the baby was so cute.

Up to S2E4 of The Handmaid's Tale. Absolutely scary stuff but riveting.

 

[Cachoo]

I loved "Godless." I was surprised by this one---I could not stop watching and binged much of it. I was curious about the show because the stars are Michelle Dockery (lately of Downton) and Merritt Weaver (fresh from zombieland.) And this is a western which I usually skip but this one was entertaining, woman-centered, at times very tense. There are also good guys and bad guys in this but the women make this one so interesting. (OK I'll admit that Jeff Daniels was a chilling villain)

 

[Japanfan]

For non-English shows, I'm really enjoying [B]Dicte[/B] and Swedish [B]Wallander[/B].[/QUOTE]

Love Wallander! I was surprised and thrilled that more episodes were made this year or released on TV this year (may have always been the plan), with the TV series ending much as the book series did.

The reason I was surprised was that I heard Henning Mankell did not want any actress to play Linda after the actress who played her tragically committed suicide. But I guess he changed his mind, as there was a new Linda in the last season.

 

[Japanfan]

I'm finding watching The Handmaid's Tale to be pretty therapeutic actually. It's totally horrific to witness and scary and makes me so angry. It also verges on showcasing women's suffering to the point of exploitation and shock value. But it's so ambitious, has a point-of-view, and it's clearly one of the best if not the best TV show I've seen in a long time.

I don't agree that women's suffering is being exploited for shock value at all.

As Margaret Atwood has said, the oppression of women and other elements of the world presented in the series have all happened somewhere in the world or are happening now (she based the people in the series on The Puritans).

I think the handmaid's suffering is realistic. But they do not dwell on it.

And we see much more than just suffering among the handmaids and other women in the series. We see strength, intelligence, forbidden love, hope, resilience, and friendship.

Samara Wiley's character is a case in point. Offred/June supports her in fighting back - and that scene where she revs up the car engine and escapes is

I find it almost therapeutic because I feel like I'm sharing this viewing experience with people all over the Internet and we're going through the same emotions and feeling the anger and tinge of rebellion in our own little ways.

Millions of young women throughout the world are watching the series, and I have to wonder how it will penetrate their consciousness in terms of their understanding of the construction of gender or a feminist awakening.

Although Margeret Atwood refuses to call the series feminist, I disagree. I understand that the prefers the broader term 'humanist' because she does not want to limit her audience, and that may be wise. Even so, I consider a story about oppressed women who fight back feminist.

Episode 2 was shocking, btw.

Yes, and scary. And it really kept you on the edge of your seat.

 

[VGThuy]

That's a fair point. I think I'm still trying to understand when something is exploitative and when something is just a harsh depiction and haven't quite gotten there.

 

[puglover]

My husband and I are watching an episode of "Vera" before bed each night and thoroughly enjoying it. Maybe it helps that my mother and her family are all from Sunderland, Newcastle, Northumberland. We don't seem to get it here on net flicks so we order it on DVD - found out our DVD player has developed a life of it's own and so had to purchase a new one.

 

[manhn]

I watched the first season of 13 Reasons Why. It was very good, if a little slow. Clay and Hannah have a real amazing chemistry. A real punch in the gut, by the end of it. I am unsure the point of a second season, but I will watch regardless.

 

[Japanfan]

That's a fair point. I think I'm still trying to understand when something is exploitative and when something is just a harsh depiction and haven't quite gotten there.

Exploitation involves using something or someone for profit or advantage (and as such is the basis of capitalism).

To anyone familiar with Game of Thrones, I think it borders on the exploitation of women. Porn stars were apparently hired for all the brothel scenes because they are comfortable naked. In which case, the counterargument would obviously be that they are not being exploited because they are just doing the work they normally do, probably for more money than they normally get.

But IMO some of the brothel scenes are far too long and the nudity is excessive.

 

[el henry]

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but we are loving "The Looming Tower" (about the lead-up to 9/11) on Hulu.

Jeff Daniels plays Jeff Daniels, but that's OK, because he's funny and profane and a protagonist we believe in, and the supporting cast is also very believable. Of course, we know that they don't get the bad guys and that the towers come down, but having been a fed for 30 plus years, the depiction of agencies at war with each other, rather than the bad guys, rings all too true. We are only three episodes in, so it has time to go downhill, but so far it's engrossing.