TV Time: The Summit makes no sense.

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

*The Summit – Season 1 Key Art ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.*

CBS’s newest reality competition show The Summit has now aired three episodes. I’ve watched them all… and I’m firmly convinced that this show makes no sense.

The premise? A group of 16 Americans is transported to New Zealand and told that they have 14 days to reach the summit of that big mountain over yonder. The contestants all look shocked and awed.

Big question right off the bat: What did they think they’d be doing? Seriously, I want to know — they all auditioned for a show… knowing what? I think the fact that they’re expected to climb a mountain is pretty crucial.

The rules of the show are explained in small bits and pieces, but what we (and presumably, the contestants) know at the start is as follows: They’ll be ascending the mountain as a group. They’re each carrying 1/16th of one million dollars — in cash — in their backpacks. If they reach the summit by the 14th day, they keep the money. If they don’t reach it, or if they arrive late, they get nothing. And if someone quits (which, as we learn in the first episode, includes medical evacuation), their share of the money goes with them.

It therefore seems in everyone’s best interest to make sure everyone succeeds, right?

Clearly, not everyone is prepared for this adventure. There are a few strong, outdoorsy, athletic types, but also some less fit folks who’ve never hiked or had an outdoor adventure before. A group of moms bond quickly, a few bros seem to break out early, and some out-of-shape people struggle from the beginning.

The group is also warned before they start their trek that the “mountain’s keeper” will be watching. It’s made to sound vaguely mumbo-jumbo-ish — no one has any idea what this means.

Pretty much from the first step, certain players are already scheming, and it’s not clear why. Why are some players looking for divisions and trying to create alliances? Nothing we’ve heard so far indicates that that’s necessary. Aren’t they all just trying to reach the top? Doesn’t it make sense to support one another and root for the entire team to succeed?

Almost immediately, there’s trouble. The initial walk, even without an ascent, is harder than it looks, and there are slower people at the back of the pack who are chatting and acting like they’re out for a stroll. As soon as they start the first ascent, it’s clear that many of these people aren’t really up for this. It’s a struggle, and certain players need a lot of help, with one even giving their backpack to a stronger climber just to make it up the hill.

A major obstacle lies in wait — a difficult rope bridge that must be crossed in pairs. As the duos go across, the Mountain’s Keeper* shows up. This turns out to be a black helicopter with tinted windows, so it appears to be otherworldly in some way — we never catch a glimpse of people flying the thing. It hovers over the landing spot on the far side of the bridge and drops a bag with instructions: The group is behind where they need to be to make it to their first checkpoint before nightfall, and they have a choice. They can help the last player across (who happens the be the oldest and least fit player, and is also solo because one person has already been medivac’d out), or they can choose to leave him, save the time it would take to bring him across, and hopefully pick up the pace.

The group votes to bring the player across, in a show of empathy that may come back to bite them, and they don’t make the checkpoint. The show’s host meets them on the mountain to inform them — in a scolding/disappointed tone — that they’re out of time for the day and must make a “bivvy camp” — sleeping outdoors, no tents, and with just the dried food in their packs. What’s more, he reminds them, it’s only day one, and they’re already behind. At this rate, they won’t reach the summit in 14 days.

*The Mountain’s Keeper is a weird and creepy concept. Sometimes, it shows up to drop a bag with instructions and tools to carry out a task, but sometimes is just comes to hover menacingly. When someone with a fear of heights is struggling up a flimsy rope hanging from a cliff, the Mountain’s Keeper flies up near him and is just there, until that person gets moving again.

The group struggles on the next day, eventually reaching their first checkpoint — a much nicer camp, with pre-built all-weather tents, a fire, and plenty of delicious food and drinks. They’re all excited, but the host — continuing his role as party-pooper-deluxe — arrives to explain that everything has a cost, including the checkpoints. At each checkpoint along the climb, the group must decide to send one person off the mountain (i.e., vote them out) and “steal” their money. The person who gets voted out must cede the money from their backpack, which then gets divided up amongst the remaining players and added to the stash they’re carrying.

Okay… so keeping in mind that the goal is to reach the summit within 14 days or they all get nothing, as well as the endless reminders that they’re already behind where they should be, wouldn’t it make sense to start cutting the slowest players? The group has to stay together — it would make no difference if the most fit people forged on ahead and reached the summit early. They either make it as a group, or they all fail.

But no, apparently my logic isn’t the group’s logic. Instead, this becomes a game of alliances, just like every other reality competition on TV. Let’s break up the people who are loyal to each other! Let’s cut someone whose negativity is annoying! And in a later episode, let’s cut one of the strongest people because… reasons?

By the 3rd checkpoint and vote-out, the group has clearly split into factions, and there’s a lot of talk about getting out the big dogs, the ones who are strongest and tend to take the lead. But why? The 3rd person voted out had just done an excellent job of reading the map (different people take the leader role each day, with varying levels of success and/or getting the group lost) — but apparently doing a good job as leader made him a target. Again, why? Isn’t it in the group’s best interest to keep the capable people, who help the entire group succeed?

Apparently the logic in taking out the stronger people is that the weaker folks want to target the strong folks first, to keep the strong folks from picking off the weaker folks one by one. Okay… but if you’re left with the people who are struggling to keep up and who hold the pace back, how will they ever reach the summit?

There’s also the awkwardness of the voting process itself. No secret ballots on The Summit — the host shows up, sits with everyone around the campfire, and asks what names have been coming up. Once a couple of names have been mentioned, he asks people to raise their hands if they want person A voted out, then raise your hands if you want person B to be gone. That’s it. It’s public, and the only people up for votes are those whose names get mentioned in that moment. There isn’t an option for a quiet sub-group to sneak in another candidate, and with the voting done by show of hands, it makes it unlikely that people would be willing to stick their necks out or not go along once they see which way the majority is trending.

Beyond the craziness of the alliance/vote-out system, there’s the overall sense that this show has a very questionable approach to safety. First of all, I don’t think people who are not prepared, trained, or in condition for a climb should be climbing. I can only imagine real-life mountaineers tearing out their hair while watching this show.

Second, a decision-point came up that I found shocking, and I’m guessing this type of scenario will continue to pop up in one form or another. At one point, the Mountain’s Keeper dropped another bag, this time with an offer (as well as a scolding). The group is behind yet again. They can choose to send two people (presumably, the slowest) by helicopter to the next camping point, while the rest continue to hike and hopefully make up a bit of time. There’s a price, of course: If they choose this option, the group will have no food that night. Two people (the rational ones, in my opinion) vote against this option: They’ve burning through calories like crazy, and they can’t risk giving up food. But everyone else votes to send the two slowest by helicopter, and seem to feel the others lack empathy, which will definitely be held against them.

So why am I shocked? Because this isn’t safe! You have a group of 12 people (? maybe ? — I’ve lost count by this point) who need to get up the next day and hike another 5 – 10 miles over harsh, steep terrain before getting any more food. How are they supposed to have the strength to do that? The climb is dangerous enough as is, and now they’re supposed to do it in a weakened state? Who approved this nonsense? This isn’t Survivor, where players (a) know in advance that starving is part of the game, (b) are in a relatively safe setting and (c) have instant medical care available. Sure, The Summit has cameras and crew alongside the players, so we can assume medical staff as well — but how does that help if a hungry player gets dizzy, keels over, and tumbles down the mountain?

Ugh. I’m annoyed now that I’ve watching three 90-minute episodes of this nonsense. Sure, a part of me is curious to see what happens next… but it’s also so ridiculous a premise that I don’t think I can actually stand to watch a moment more.

I started watching The Summit with no prior knowledge, simply based on having seen the promos and the fact that it airs right after Survivor. After watching these three episodes, I was curious to see if there were any reviews out there, and in Googling the show, discovered that this was originally an Australian TV show that’s aired two seasons so far. There’s also a British version in development, and apparently a Norwegian version was shut down mid-production after one contestant suffered cardiac arrest and died during the filming.

Reading more about the Australian seasons gives me a pretty good idea of how the rest of this American season will go, and reinforces my inclination to just give it up. The scheming and manipulation don’t sit well with me. Before I started the show, I was drawn to the idea of seeing people rise to meet the physical and emotional challenges of the climb — but as it’s playing out, it’s just one more reality competition show about alliances and blindsides. Even with an awesome mountain as the goal, too much of this feels like a “been there, done that” setup. I don’t think I’ll give it any more of my time.

Want to know more? I couldn’t find a ton of reviews from newspapers or entertainment outlets, which leads me to guess that most just didn’t think it was worth bothering with. Here’s the review from USA Today — which I read after writing this post, but we happen to be very much aligned!

Tell me — is anyone else watching The Summit? Does anyone have another perspective to share?

26May2024

TV Time: Survivor, Season 46

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

It’s been a minute since I’ve written a Survivor post (okay, only two seasons of the show, but still)… and since season 46 just ended this week, I thought I’d spill some random thoughts on the season overall as well as the finale and results.

The season had a rough start, and honestly, I teetered on the edge of abandoning ship during the early episodes, largely due to poor casting. One participant, Bhanu, came close to totally tanking the season. This is someone who described himself as a super fan, but had no business being anywhere near the island. He had no game, and his outbursts and unpredictability were disastrous for his teammates, who had to resort to intensely coaching him to try to keep him from spilling their strategies (and that didn’t even work). The early episodes were just awful to watch because of Bhanu — there’s just no other way to put it.

Some of the issue comes down to the basic setup of teams: Now that Survivor starts with three teams of six instead of two larger teams, one bad teammate can doom the entire team. Bhanu’s team (Yanu) seemed on the verge of disintegrating completely. The episode edits focused so heavily on Bhanu that we saw very little of other teams, and the main focus was constantly Bhanu’s impact on the Yanu tribe. I felt bad for his teammates, and in terms of viewer experience, this wasn’t a fun or good mess — just bad TV.

Things did pick up with Bhanu’s departure finally (he lasted much longer than he should have). Still, until about the midpoint of the season, I found very few contestants to care about, and many of the early vote-outs left zero impression. Jem who? Moriah who? (Oh, right, Moriah was the person who seemingly didn’t know how to jump.)

Fast-forward to the latter batch of episodes. Yes, post-merge, more interesting characters got more screen time and there were some fun elements, challenges, etc. But it was an uphill slog, not entirely successful, to regenerate any energy or sense of excitement after the terrible beginning.

Several decent players made it past the merge, although my favorites (Tevon, Hunter, Tiff) all got voted out earlier than I’d hoped for. And a couple were just so plain odd that they stole the spotlight, but not in a good way. In particular, let’s talk for a minute about Liz and Q:

Liz claimed all the way to the end that if she made it to the final tribal, she’d beat everyone. And all I can say is… huh? I know some viewers found her entertaining. Not me. A weird vibe, heavy on entitlement. After a challenge that she didn’t win, she screamed at another player for not choosing her for reward, and everyone else seemed to feel a need to comfort her. Why? Why would she feel that she deserved the reward more than anyone else? (She claimed it was because she was allergic to everything on the island and hadn’t eaten… but girl, you knew what would be available to you before you signed up to play. Maybe make better choices to start with.) She was not a good player, and was memorable only for her outbursts.
Q, agent of chaos: He claims that it was all part of his gameplay, but Q upended all strategy at multiple tribal councils by asking to be voted off, but then stating that he wanted to stay. He became totally unpredictable after initially appearing much more strategic. Still, he did provide a few unexpectedly entertaining moments. Shout-out to Q for organizing a game of hide and seek — his teammates thought they were just having fun, but Q viewed it as a chance to analyze each person’s psyche. Hilarious.

Some of my frustration with this season comes down to frustration with the show in general. 46 seasons in, some pieces just don’t work very well. Enough with the hidden immunity idols! Which (LOL) were continuously found this season, yet never used. Every person who found an idol ended up voted out with the idol still in their pockets. Use your idols, people!

I also don’t love the starvation element. Host Jeff Probst really drills into contestants having to earn everything, including a flint to make fire, but I think that skews results in an unpleasant way. As of the “new era” of Survivor, teams earn their flint by winning challenges, and forfeit their flints when they lose — but then the losing teams seem to end up in a downward spiral. They lose, they have no fire, they get weaker than the other teams… and as a result, they’re less likely to win the next challenge, so they still have no fire, and still get weaker… on and on. I say start the teams with the basics — a flint, a cooking pot, a machete, even (gasp!) a bag of rice. It was a tough game even back when teams started with the basics. Where’s the fun in watching people become so incapacitated that they can’t speak in full sentences? (Yes, that happened this season too.)

Many of the challenges have been seen before, and still seem to skew toward rewarding those who can solve puzzles. Game rules need to be clearer — Kenzie (who ended up winning the season) won a crucial challenge in the final episode, defeating the biggest threat to win it all (Maria), because Liz helped her with the puzzle. Liz didn’t just cheer her on or offer hints from the sideline — she actively ran back to get Kenzie the item she needed to win the challenge. Seemed unfair to me, but Jeff allowed it. So, officially not cheating… but it doesn’t quite smell right to me.

In my posts about previous seasons, I’ve talked about how much I dislike the final fire-making challenge. And yup, that’s still the case. As has been established, whoever wins the final immunity challenge (out of four remaining players) chooses one person to take to final tribal, and the remaining two compete at fire-making for the 3rd spot. But who cares? Why should making a single fire make a difference? There’s got to be a better way to set up the finalists.

Personally, I’d rather the show go back to a final two. In so many of the past few seasons, at least one of the final three has absolutely no shot at winning, and is just there because they never posed a big enough threat to be voted out. What’s the point?

I’d rather see a final battle between all three of the people who didn’t win immunity at the last challenge… or do one more tribal, then a final challenge at three, and the top two finishers make the finale. I don’t like one person getting to decide who to bring, just because they happened to win a key immunity challenge. (Maybe some combination of this suggested approach — still have a final challenge at four, but the top three finishers become the three finalists, period.)

Okay, jumping ahead to the final tribal…

Fine, the three finalists were Charlie, Kenzie, and Ben. Of the three, Charlie was the person most clearly shown to be using strategy, partnerships, and cleverness throughout the season. Before the voting, he was my prediction to win. I liked Kenzie a lot, and she made a good impression overall, but I didn’t see her building her gameplay in quite as thoughtful a way. Ben never stood a change — he came across as a likable person who got brought along as a number for most of the game.

The key to winning Survivor is supposed to be: Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. And these are the touchstones that supposedly help the jury determine who to vote for.

Except not.

Because this time around, two jury members ignored gameplay and based their decisions on what the finalists said they’d do with the prize money. Q explicitly asked this question during final tribal, and stated that whoever gave the answer he liked best would get his vote. After a shocking voting choice (more in a moment), Maria later explained that it was Kenzie’s answer to Q’s question that convinced her to vote for Kenzie.

What does this have to do with the game? I’m still baffled, days later. We’ve seen occasions in past seasons where contestants have talked about who does or doesn’t need the money… but making the finalist’s plans for using the million dollars the key factor in how to vote? That’s just ridiculous. They could have saved 26 days of dirt and hunger and just found this out on day one.

As for Maria… she and Charlie were rock-solid allies throughout the entire game. Even when they reached the point where they had to aim to take each other out, realizing that they were each other’s biggest competition for the win, they were committed to voting for one another to win at the end. And yet… Maria voted for Kenzie instead, based on Kenzie’s plans for the money, and by doing so, handed her a million dollars that most likely would have gone to Charlie.

With Maria’s vote, it was 5-3 to Kenzie. Had she voted for Charlie, it would have been a 4-4 tie, and Ben would have cast the deciding vote. Since the finale, Ben has stated in interviews that he would have voted for Charlie. So there you have it: Maria took $1 million from Charlie and handed it to Kenzie.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Kenzie a lot and I’m happy for her. But in terms of gameplay, it feels like Charlie got robbed, specifically by Maria, who has bitter jury syndrome written all over her. I don’t have a problem with my predicted winner not actually winning, but the circumstances of this vote really leave me with a bad taste when it comes to this season.

On a final note, I’ll repeat the complaint I’ve been making ever since the post-pandemic era of Survivor:

If I wanted to dwell on a #2 complaint (which has nothing to do with gameplay), I’d say ditch the immediate reading of votes and the afterparty. Granted, it must suck to be a player and have to wait a year for the reunion show and reading of the votes, as they used to handle this pre-pandemic. Still, how can the finalists — especially the two who didn’t end up winning — get into the mood of the party when they literally JUST found out they lost, and they’re still sitting there unwashed and tired after 26 days? Let them at least take showers and put on clean clothes first!

Overall… this season was more or less a bust, certainly less satisfying and enjoyable than the previous two. I do feel that the format has become stale — the twists, idols, challenges, etc are all so expected at this point that I think production needs to do a bit of reinventing or going back to basics. Get rid of the gimmicks!

Oh, and is anyone else absolutely over the Sanctuary as a reward? Remember the good old days of being flown by helicopter to a private retreat? Or even the amazing one where the people on reward got to visit a local children’s school and deliver supplies and toys? Mix it up, Survivor!

After all of this complaining, will I continue to watch Survivor?

Yes. Yes, I will.

Hope springs eternal, and I think there’s enough that (mostly) works about the show’s core concepts that will keep me coming back for more. And as I mentioned last time I wrote about Survivor, I’d still like to go back and watch some of the earlier seasons that I missed when they originally aired.

Let’s see what happens when Survivor returns in the fall. Will anything have changed? Will the production have adapted in any meaningful way, or will it just be more of the same? We’ll find out in September!

Here’s the official trailer for season 47:

11Feb2024

TV Time: What’s Lisa watching?

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I haven’t done a TV wrap-up post in a very long time… but it’s a quiet Sunday morning, and what better opportunity to talk about series/shows I’ve enjoyed recently?

Here’s a round-up of what I’ve been watching:

The Greatest Night in Pop: A total surprise delight for me! I hadn’t heard anything about this documentary before stumbling across it on Netflix. If you’re of a certain age (*cough* me *cough*), then you actually remember when We Are the World was released, and if not, I’m sure you’ve come across plenty of nostalgic look-backs on MTV and elsewhere. This behind-the-scenes look at the making of We Are the World is sweet, entertaining, surprising, and a little heart-tugging too (considering how many of these singers are no longer with us). I’m so glad I checked it out!

The Bear. Yes, I’m incredibly late to the party! I re-upped my Hulu subscription last month after a year without it, and now I’m busily watching everything I missed out on. I just finished watching season 1 of The Bear, and liked it enough to plan to start season 2 this coming week. The kitchen-speak is fascinating all on its own, and I definitely want to see where all these characters are going.

All Creatures Great & Small (season 4): This show is total comfort food for the soul — like warm slippers and a mug of hot cocoa (yes, with little marshmallows too). It’s sweet and gentle, with kind human drama and plenty of wonderful animal scenes and gorgeous landscapes. Watching new episodes on Sunday evenings is a great antidote to the Sunday scaries.

Dark Winds: Two season in, this detective series (adapted from Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn and Chee books) is fascinating, with tight plotting, terrific characters, and a stellar cast. Lead actor Zahn McClarnon (also amazing in Reservation Dogs) is the mesmerizing central focus of Dark Winds, with a performance that’s powerful and emotional.

And finally…

Crash Landing On You: Oh my, this show is EVERYTHING. It starts off with a rom-com feel — a South Korean businesswoman/heiress literally crash-lands in North Korea after a paragliding accident (hey, it happens). There, she is immediately found by an army captain who, after a series of chases and mishaps, ends up sheltering her in his village while trying to help her get back home.

The comedy is boosted by the captain’s squad of adorably dorky soldiers and the gossipy women of the village… and then a few episodes in, everything suddenly becomes ultra dramatic. There’s a sneering bad guy trying to capture/torture/kill everyone, risky escapes, and gun battles, but even more important… it’s a heartbreaking story of star-crossed lovers!

We’ve all heard about ugly-crying… but Crash Landing On You introduced me to the splendor of beautiful crying. These characters tear up a lot, and every single time, it’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.

Crash Landing was my first introduction to K-drama, so I have nothing to compare it to and can’t comment on whether there’s anything else like it. For me, I was glued to the screen for all sixteen episodes and totally bereft when it ended. What an absolute treat.

(The trailer plays up the drama, but trust me, it’s really funny too.)

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What have you been watching lately? Let me know what you’ve been loving!

17Sep2023

TV Time: Virgin River season 5. Sweaters, scenery, smoke…

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Oh, Virgin River. Never change.

We’re back to this gorgeous town for season 5 — same beautiful rivers and mountains, same quirky townspeople and their quirky squabbles, same odd mix of high drama and silliness.

And hey, this time around, we get a raging wildfire and a town fair, complete with Ferris Wheel and fireworks. What a place!

In season 5, there are serious elements happening, including tragic developments for Mel and Jack, further (awful) storylines concerning drug smuggling (but now with fentanyl in the mix), several consequential health conditions (three under one roof!), and of course, the aforementioned wildfire that threatens to destroy the entire town.

There’s also plenty of romance, bickering among friends, small town politics and power plays, and walks in the woods, and really, what more do we need?

The fire storyline continued across several episodes and provided the season’s most intense sense of urgency and danger, and actually kept me on the edge of my seat. (It also apparently gave the male leads a good excuse to go shirtless, which — while good eye candy — seemed like a questionable choice given all the sparks flying around. Ouch!)

I’m going to get into spoiler territory for the rest of this post, so look away if you haven’t finished the season yet…

Developments of note in season 5:

Charmaine Pregnancy Watch: For those keeping track, Charmaine announced her pregnancy at the end of season 1. At the end of season 4, it was established that she was seven months’ pregnant. So where do we stand as of the end of season 5? STILL PREGNANT. Using Charmaine as a timekeeping device, it would appear that one and a half months elapsed during the 5^th season.

Drugs & money: The drug-smuggling plotline is hands-down my least favorite of every possible story covered in Virgin River. Season 5 seemed to end with a major drug bust, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It’s over! Praise be!! But no… the last episode ends with the big reveal that a supposedly dead drug kingpin isn’t dead after all, and after the arrest of the current big bad, he’s back. Ugh. Please make it all stop!

Do-si-do and change partners: Boy, some of these Virgin River folks fall in love on a dime. Preacher – who is too saintly to be real – broke up with two different women within the first couple of episodes, and by the end of the season (again, at most a month and a half later) is apparently in love with someone new. (Which, by the way, I don’t hate, since said woman is played by an actress I haven’t seen since her Battlestar Galactica days.) Brie is also switching up partners, as is her former love Brady. Blink and you’ll miss a new pairing!

Lizzie on the rise: Not only does teen Lizzie gain a snazzy prestigious political career (at the ripe old of 19, I believe), but also falls in love again after her last boyfriend left town to join the Marines. It’s a whirlwind, I tell you!

Medical crises galore: Doc has macular degeneration, Hope is still dealing with the effects of a traumatic brain injury, and Denny has Huntington’s disease. We also have a new character dealing with endometriosis, and a tragic miscarriage for one of the main characters. The people of Virgin River can’t catch a break! Maybe they need a full-fledged medical center instead of Doc’s clinic*.

*and speaking of Doc’s clinic, I am totally here for the May-December romance between Cameron and Muriel. Muriel is one of Virgin River’s best people and she deserves to be appreciated! Although I’m not sure how she suddenly is qualified to be the clinic’s office manager (but — see Lizzie — apparently Virgin River is the land of job opportunities).

**I also strongly appreciated Mel and Cameron providing medical guidance via FaceTime to a firefighter delivering a baby in the middle of nowhere. Now that’s good TV!

Sweaters are back! I live for Mel’s sweaters, and I guess it’s cool enough by late summer for her to be bundling up again in those big, delicious, chunky sweaters once again. (The time frame for this season is summer, since the carnival is identified as being held on Labor Day.)

Fire fall-out: The fire episodes were the most suspenseful and scary of the show so far, and the ripple effects will potentially carry forward for some time, especially since so many homes were lost. Then again, a month later the town is throwing a big carnival with fireworks — and isn’t that a fire hazard in such a wooded area?

At this point, I accept the show for what it is, and I’m still loving the experience of just looking at it. I mean, gorgeous vistas, star gazing, perfect rustic homes and cabins, cozy cuddling with blankets and pillows… what’s not to love?

Yes, the plots and dialogue lean heavily into the cheesy, corny aspects… but five seasons in, we really do know what do expect, don’t we?

Interestingly, this season will have two more episodes later this fall, apparently focusing on a holiday theme. Maybe this means that time will finally move forward? Dare I say it — will Charmaine finally give birth? The episodes drop November 30th, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

PS – More spoilery bits! Here’s a prediction for y’all… Between Lizzie’s pregnancy, Charmaine’s twins, and possibly even Lily’s orphaned baby, I’m guessing that Mel and Jack will end up with a baby (possibly babies!) by the end of the holiday episodes!

What about you? What do you think of season 5?

And the lingering question (which I’m still asking after five TV seasons) — should I give the books a try?

27May2023

TV Time: Survivor, Season 44

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Another season of Survivor has come and gone — and color me surprised, but this was a good one! While I felt fairly unenthused during the early episodes, by the back half of the season, I was all in.

Mainly, I think this is due to particularly good casting this time around. While the players eliminated in the first half have already completely been erased from my memory, the players who made the merge and beyond were, for the most part, interesting, entertaining, and full of surprises.

For the most part… there were still a few in there who made zero impression, but overall — great job, casting team!

*Cast from SURVIVOR Season 44. — Photo: Robert Voets/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.*

Survivor has been around a LONG time by now, and while the show continues to add new twists, some basics remain. There are challenges, there are alliances, there are players making overly orgasmic sounds when Jeff mentions food…

Fortunately, some of the most annoying gimmicks from past seasons were not included this time around — fire tokens, redemption island, the prisoner’s dilemma option. One fun new element this season was the appearance of locked bird cages with advantages inside — seeing the players frantically try to find keys, figure out their options, and either conceal or reveal their advantages was goofy and silly entertainment.

By the end, there was a core trio who worked their way from underdog status, outnumbered by members of other tribes, to running the game, and I loved them. Carolyn, Carson, and Yam Yam were delightful — solid alliance, really interesting and quirky people, and great game play.

Unfortunately, Carson lost the fire challenge, making him the final jury member rather than earning a seat in the final three. I would have loved to see these three (#TikaStrong #ThreeStooges) battling it out at final tribal, but sadly that was not to be. Instead, a player who I never particularly noticed, Heidi, ended up at the final, and the win went to Yam Yam.

I was mostly okay with the end results. I was a Carolyn fan all the way, and can’t believe she didn’t get a single vote. I liked Yam Yam, and had he not been up against Carolyn, I would have been excited for his win. I can’t quite figure out what the the jury was thinking, except maybe they didn’t see the amount of strategy Carolyn was applying day by day. The TV edit made it clear that behind her outbursts and kookiness, Carolyn was super smart and was on top of every element of the game, but who knows? Maybe the jury just didn’t get that from the tribal council sessions.

My main complaint about the current Survivor format remains the fire challenge — once it’s down to four players, the person who wins the final immunity challenge picks one person to make it to the final three, and the remaining two have to compete to see who makes fire faster. And that’s just a dumb way to have people get to the end.

In this season, Heidi won the last immunity challenge, and made the decision to give up immunity and build fire against Carson, giving Carolyn and Yam Yam seats in the final three. Heidi did this, apparently, to build her Survivor “resume” and show the jury what a great competitor she was. A couple of problems with this: She played a really lackluster game throughout — I never particularly paid attention to her, or noticed anything special about her strategy. She also chose Carson to go up against in fire building, and it was clear that all four of the remaining players knew he was weakest at fire.

So yes, you could call it a risk to give up immunity and do the fire challenge, except I’m sure she realized that Carson wouldn’t have much of a chance. If you want to really go big, battle Carolyn or Yam Yam!

As expected, Heidi won the fire challenge, and then was declared to have set a record for making the fastest fire in Survivor history. But… who cares? She kept bragging about it at the final tribal, but how does that matter? It’s one fire. What about the rest of the season?

Fortunately, the jury ultimately wasn’t impressed enough to vote for her (except for Danny, who was her closest ally all along), and the win went to Yam Yam. He’s terrific, and like I said, I’d be happy for him in any other season.

Funny, all of my real life friends who watch Survivor were Team Carolyn all the way to the end, and we all were shocked at the outcome. I hope they bring her and Carson back for future seasons. Justice for Carolyn!

See the bottom of this post for more Carolyn love and some great news!

Re Carson, I loved his enthusiasm, his nerdy dedication to the game, and how much he blossomed playing the show. This is the engineering student who 3D-printed past Survivor puzzles at home prior to playing, so he killed it every single time he had a puzzle to do. Good for Carson — he was smart to give himself every possible advantage — but I hope Survivor now retires all past puzzles and starts fresh!

My #1 plea to Survivor production: Get rid of the fire challenge! It’s been done to death at this point, and is such an unsatisfactory way to determine who gets to the final. I’ve talked about this before, so I’ll just copy and paste my earlier thoughts on this here:

There’s got to be a way that’s better than a fire-making challenge for determining the final three. Maybe when it’s down to four, you have one person win immunity, then let the remaining three battle it out for the next two spots? Otherwise, the one who wins that particular immunity challenge gets an outsized amount of power.

I hate seeing weak players at final tribal, with great players voted out (or eliminated by fire) in the 4th or 5th position. I get it — you want to win, so you try to make sure you’re sitting next to someone you can beat. But wouldn’t it be cool to have three amazing players at the end, each with a really strong argument to pitch to the jury?

The fire challenge has to go. The tribes make fire at camp every single day. So making one fire on one day, faster than your competitor, doesn’t make you more deserving of the Survivor prize. It just means you got lucky that particular day.

Anyway…

All in all, a fun season to watch. Jeff Probst’s hosting remains terrific — I love his play-by-play narration of the challenges and the way he handles tribal council. The emergencies early on added some drama, and overall strong casting made this group really entertaining to watch week after week.

I still intend (at some point) to go back and watch one or two earlier seasons that I missed. Meanwhile, I’ll look forward to whatever fresh twists show up in season 45 this fall!

And now, back to the person I truly thought deserved to win this season…

Here’s a quick scene that shows just a little of Carolyn’s personality and quirkiness:

On the #JusticeforCarolyn front, it was welcome news to hear she’d received the Sia Award! (Sia is a huge Survivor fan, and awards money to her favorite player each season). This time around, Sia gave three awards — the biggie went to Carolyn ($100,000), with two smaller awards to Carson and Lauren ($15,000 each). Great choices, no question. Here’s Carolyn’s reaction to the news, being (as always) very Carolyn about the whole thing:

And here’s an entire piece on the glory of Carolyn: https://www.vulture.com/article/survivor-44-carolyn-was-the-true-winner.html

Wrapping it all up:

Despite some unevenness early on, this ended up being one of the best Survivor seasons in recent years. As I mentioned, many of the folks voted off in early episodes are completely gone from my memory, but the second half of the season more than made up for an earlier duds.

The next season airs in September. As always, I feel pretty skeptical when I watch the trailer for the upcoming season — these always feel kind of samey. But, after the fun of season 44, I’m willing to remain open-minded and hope the casting pays off once again.

26Mar2023

TV Time: Daisy Jones & The Six (Prime Video)

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Whew. I made it! The final two episodes of the 10-episode mini-series Daisy Jones & The Six dropped this week, and I blasted through them. And overall, despite some misgivings, I have to say that this is a series well worth watching.

I read the book by Taylor Jenkins Reid years ago when it was released, and absolutely loved it. (See for yourself, here). So I was both incredibly excited and incredibly nervous to hear that it would be adapted as a TV series. Excited, because I loved the story. And obviously, nervous — what if they ruined it???

Now that Daisy Jones & The Six — the series — is a reality, I can safely say that it works… mostly. The show captures the rise and fall of this (fictional) legendary 1970s rock band — a band that called it quits right at the pinnacle of their success.

Talking just about the show for a moment, the series has documentary-style interviews framing the main action. Right from the start, we learn that Daisy Jones & The Six (the band) played a stunning concert in Chicago in 1977, then never performed together again. What happened, and why, is the driving question of the series.

Various band members and associates are interviewed in the late 90s, looking back on their memories, but these brief clips are used to bookend the main action, where we actually see the events unfold in the 60s and 70s.

As the series opens, Billy and Graham Dunne are high school students living in the Pittsburgh area, playing rock and roll in their garage with a few friends, and ultimately deciding to try to make it as the Dunne Brothers band. After playing weddings and local gigs, they hit the road in pursuit of the music world’s promised land, LA, along with older brother Billy’s new girlfriend, Camilla.

Success is slow to arrive, but Billy, as lead singer, displays rock star charisma early on, and they play more and more gigs, although still not quite breaking through to the stratosphere of rock success. Once they land a record deal, they change their name to The Six, and launch their first tour — with success, but with a devastating effect on Billy and Camilla’s personal lives.

Meanwhile, we also meet Daisy, the ignored daughter of a wealthy, narcissistic LA couple. Left to her own devices, Daisy finds solace in music, and by her early teens, is hanging out by the stage doors of clubs and bars, making her way into the sex, drugs, and rock and roll scene at much too young an age.

Eventually, Daisy and The Six are brought together by their mutual producer, and magic happens, although not without resentment and complications. From there, it’s inevitable that Daisy and The Six will join forces, and it becomes clear that Billy and Daisy have a chemistry between them that goes way beyond the music they create.

Okay, enough synopsis…

The series really captures the vibe of the 70s music scene. Supposedly inspired by the music as well as the behind-the-scenes drama of Fleetwood Mac, Daisy Jones & The Six rocket to stardom, but with huge emotional cost. There’s all the pills, speed, and coke you’d expect, and the drama between the band members stays at a high pitch throughout.

I was skeptical at first about the musical aspect of the show. It’s a show about rockstars, but those rockstars are played by actors, not musicians. And yet, what they achieve is really impressive. There’s no air guitar or lip syncing here — every bit of music is performed by the cast, and they do it convincingly. Not every number is a huge hit, and the comparison to Fleetwood Mac means they have a very high bar to meet — and the show doesn’t always succeed in showing why these songs, this album, this band became so huge.

As a whole, the show gets better and better from episode to episode. Maybe I just became more invested, but it also felt like the cast start to really inhabit their characters more and more as the story progressed.

As for the cast, the age factor is problematic in the early episodes. We meet Billy and his friends as teens, played by a younger set of actors, but the main cast takes over when the characters should still be in their early 20s, and that was hard to swallow. Billy is played by Sam Claflin, who’s definitely talented and brings Billy’s inner demons and outer showman to life so well — but the actor is in his mid-30s, and just looks out of place as a younger Billy. I tried to ignore it, but it was uncomfortable — it works much better in later episodes, when the band has more years of hard living under their belts.

Riley Keough is terrific as Daisy, although again, much better in the later episodes. With the Daisy character, she doesn’t come across as quite as much of a hot mess as she’s supposed to be in the first third or so of the series. It’s only later, as she becomes more and more of a disaster, that she becomes truly fascinating.

BOOK & SHOW SPOILERS AHEAD!!

SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS!

In terms of comparisons to the book, I don’t think the series stands up quite as well in a direct comparison. I can’t judge how well it works for people who haven’t read the book. For me, I decided to do a re-read before the show aired, which was quite probably a mistake. With the story so fresh in my mind, I couldn’t help comparing each major beat of the series to how it was presented in the book, and that got in the way of my being able to just watch and enjoy it for what it is.

The most glaring change is the presentation of the Billy/Daisy/Camilla dynamic, which in the series, is a pretty clear love triangle. Billy loves his wife and the stability she represents, but Daisy is his creative soulmate, and possibly more. Billy and Daisy connect through music and have a chemistry that they both deny in different ways. In the book, nothing actually happens between Billy and Daisy, and ultimately, Camilla steps in to send Daisy away, basically doing her a kindness by telling her not to keep hurting herself through loving Billy, when Billy would never, ever leave his family for her. In the series, however, Camilla is hurt and angry, the confrontations are between Camilla and Billy, and Billy comes much closer to destroying his marriage and giving in to both his addictions and his need for Daisy. (It’s a good story, but was hard for me to watch because I kept thinking about how the book depicted the crisis).

(Camilla’s behavior in general is very different in the series from how I perceived it in the book. And we might argue that she’s too good to be true in the book, but I was disturbed by some of her actions and choices in the show, which from my perspective seem out of character.)

There are plenty of other differences, but mostly in smaller pieces of the puzzle. At the start, I was disappointed that the lyrics to the songs had changed — the book includes lyrics to all the songs written by Billy and Daisy. Still, in terms of the series, I had to admire the creativity. Obviously, the book provided lyrics without music, so the series producers brought in teams of singers and songwriters to create the music, and gave these creators the freedom to write new versions of the songs that worked for them, while keeping the underlying themes and messages.

END OF SPOILERS

The music is actually quite a lot of fun, once I eased up on the comparisons and let myself enjoy it. I think it’s somewhat hilarious that the album Aurora by Daisy Jones & The Six is a real thing that exists… and no, I haven’t purchased it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not tempted!

A little clip for your viewing/listening pleasure:

Now that I’ve reached the end, I can’t quite get the story or the songs out of my mind. I’m very tempted to start all over again from the beginning — with a second viewing, I think I’ll be able to focus much more on what’s on the screen in front of me without the mental distractions of comparisons to the book.

So, bottom line — do I recommend the TV version of Daisy Jones & The Six? Yes, most definitely. It’s a bit uneven, not necessarily successful in every single episode, but overall, it delivers that rock story and emotional messiness that the trailer promises, and the talented cast really sells it all.

Have you watched Daisy Jones & The Six? If so, what did you think?

30Jul2022

TV Time: Virgin River season 4. So pretty. So slooooow.

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

As I said when I wrote up my post about season 3 of Virgin River…

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Back we go to the fictional town of Virgin River, California, a gorgeous place somewhere in Humboldt County, with beautiful rivers, mountains, and forests, quirky townspeople, amazing baked goods, and a teensy little problem with drug runners.

But romance! Especially romance!

Four seasons in, I can’t deny that I’m invested and care about these characters’ lives… and at the same time, absolutely nothing happens on this show!! Or so it seems most of the time.

Season four has 12 episodes, each about 45 minutes, so that’s plenty of opportunity to move the plot forward in a meaningful way, right?

Well, let’s take a look at the timespan of the show, shall we? Season 1 (which initially aired in 2019) included the announcement of an unplanned pregnancy at the end of the season. So here in season 4, the babies should be in preschool, right?

Nope. The pregnant character from season 1 is STILL pregnant, and according to a comment in the final episode of season 4, she’s 5 months pregnant at this point. FIVE MONTHS.

In terms of season 4 itself, as far as I could tell, it all takes place within no more than 4 weeks. So, those babies from season 1 will be born… I don’t know, season 7 or 8, maybe?

The bummer about this timespan weirdness is that all of season 4 takes place over no more than a month (possibly two), and guess what? It’s apparently not sweater season! (For context, one of my absolutely ridiculous obsessions with earlier seasons is drooling over main character Mel’s amazingly big and cozy sweaters… but this time around, they were sadly missing.)

Onward to talking about season 4. SPOILER ALERT!! I’m going to be discussing plot points from the season, so if you haven’t watched, you may want to look away!!

Season 4 continues shortly after the end of season 3, in terms of story chronology. Season 3 ended with Jack trying to propose to Mel, who interrupts so she can inform him that she’s pregnant, and he might not be the father. This would have been much more shocking if we viewers didn’t already know that she’d gone to a fertility clinic in LA while she and Jack were on a brief break and had her and her late husband’s embryos transferred. (Don’t get me started — the process is so ridiculous and unrealistic, but that’s a season 3 issue).

Jack, of course, is supportive, loves Mel no matter what, and insists that this baby will be their baby, no matter who the biological father actually is. But, he doesn’t want to do a paternity test — he’s afraid that a definitive answer might affect how he feels about the baby, so he’d rather not know.

In case you’re keeping score, that makes Jack the expectant father of three babies!

Meanwhile, he continues to struggle with PTSD from his Marine days, and seems be in denial about a drinking problem too. Also lingering is the question of who shot him (at the end of season 2) — his former Marine buddy is in prison for attempted murder, but Brady has been shown to have a heart of gold (thanks to his relationship with Jack’s sister), so we know it wasn’t him!!

What else? Other plot points this season include:

A kidnapped child
Ongoing drug business
Recovery from a traumatic brain injury
A surprise grandchild showing up in town
A new doctor at the clinic
Mel’s sister getting married to a guy she’s known for one month
A local teen leaving his girlfriend behind to join the Marines
Aikido lessons for Preacher (and a new love interest)
There’s a Renaissance Faire!!

And on and on. There are dramatic reveals set up as cliffhangers at the end of various episodes (OMG, the pilot of the small plane is having a heart attack mid-flight!) which get resolved neatly and easily as soon as the next episode starts (the pilot is fine, Jack landed the plane, everybody is good!).

There are weird developments –a young couple eating at Jack’s bar mention how excited they are about a glamping getaway in an Airstream, and within minutes, Jack has decided that his new side business will be… buying Airstreams to set up a glamping business! Way to jump in with zero research, Jack.

There’s a hugely over-the-top baby shower (for Charmaine, mother of Jack’s unborn twins — due sometime in 2026, perhaps?) that looks like the most painful and boring event of all times. Maybe it’s supposed to look like how rich people would throw a baby shower, but to me, it looked like a super awkward business event that’s trying to be fun. Give me baby Pictionary and silly games with balls of yarn in someone’s living room any day!

Shows with small town settings like this seem to be required to include (a) nosy residents who love to gossip (b) a sewing or knitting circle and (c) a festival or fair of some kind. Check, check, and check! The Renaissance Faire is very fun to watch while also being totally goofy. Of course, everyone has amazing costumes! They even get the new town doc to dance around the maypole, and naturally, Jack gets to play a knight in a mock sword fight. It’s awesome.

To be fair, a few plot points do get somewhat straightened out by the end of the season. Again, SPOILER ALERT, because this gives away some big reveals:

The kidnapped child is saved!
The kidnapper is also Jack’s shooter, and it looks like he’s finally been caught!
And….
… the biggest reveal…
Jack is NOT actually the father of Charmaine’s babies! Dun dun dun….

My biggest complaint about the show overall is that I absolutely hate the drug smuggling plotline, but it doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon. And now there’s a new crime boss in town with a surprising connection to one of the local families. You know this can’t be good. I really, really, really can’t stand any aspect of this storyline, which seems completely unnecessary to an otherwise nice show about people in a small town — but I understand that this plot is from the books, so I guess we’re stuck with the awful drug running stuff for a while longer.

Why do I keep watching this show, when clearly I have issues with it?

Because it still has enough good stuff, like…

You guessed it, the amazing scenery! I want to LIVE in this town, wander through the woods, and sit and gaze at the rivers.
We get to watch Tim Matheson! He remains a delight as Doc Mullins, and I love every moment he’s on screen.
Mel… well, I’m on the fence. I’ve loved her up to now, and I do love seeing her in action as a highly skilled, highly compassionate medical professional. Unfortunately, she spends a lot of this season moping and being sad — often with good reason, but it’s just not very much fun.
Bree, introduced last season, gets more screen time, and I enjoy her a lot too. Yay for another strong woman in town!

So, for now, I’m sticking with it! But if those babies don’t start getting born in season 5, I may finally reach my breaking point.

What about you? Who’s still watching Virgin River? What do you think of season 4?

And still the lingering question — should I give the books a try?

1Apr2022

TV Time: Bridgerton – season 2

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

All hail the arrival of the glorious 2nd season of Bridgerton! It feels like we’ve waited a long, long time for this… and not necessarily patiently.

The season dropped on Friday, and by Monday, I was done — which is actually taking it slowly for such a bingeable show.

First, the trailer, for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet:

Season two of Bridgerton more or less follows the plot of the 2nd book in Julia Quinn’s romance novel series, The Viscount Who Loved Me. My review of the book is here.

Each of the Bridgerton books follows the romantic escapades of one of the Bridgerton family’s eight siblings. Will the Netflix version follow this formula? Who knows! But here’s hoping…

Book #2 and season #2 both shift the story’s focus to Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest son and current Viscount, who bears an unhealthy weight of responsiblity on his shoulders. Inheriting the viscount title at a young age after the sudden death of their father, Anthony views himself as responsible for the well-being of his mother, his brothers and sisters, their future prospects, the family fortune, and the family reputation. It’s a lot.

As season 2 opens, Anthony has decided it’s time to put aside his more decadent existence (after a torrid affair with an opera singer in season 1, among other examples of rakish behavior) and find himself a wife. He does not want a love match, though. Instead, he wants a wife who’ll be a perfect partner in society, preserving the family honor, and bearing the next generation of little Bridgerton babies.

Who better to be Anthony’s wife than the season’s diamond — the debutante named by the queen as the most exquisite and incomparable?

This season’s diamond is Miss Edwina Sharma, a perfectly poised young woman with great beauty and all the manners and skills deemed most desirable in a society girl. There’s just one hiccup — Edwina’s older sister Kate is determined to see Edwina married well, and she’s taken an instant disliking to our dear Anthony.

But what is dislike but insanely hot chemistry in disguise?

Season 2 of Bridgerton has far fewer sex scenes that season 1, but instead, features much more of a slow burn. That Anthony and Kate are end game is obvious… but it’s delicious to see the build-up of their sexual tension and their enemies-to-lovers dynamic.

There’s a lot to love about season 2… but also a few things I could have done without. In no particular order, my highs and lows:

SPOILERS AHOY! I’m going to get into more specific plot points, so look away if you haven’t watched yet!!

REALLY, SPOILERS AHEAD!

LAST WARNING!

Okay, here we go:

The key downer for me this season is turning Kate-Anthony-Edwina into a love triangle. In the book, Anthony is courting Edwina, who recognizes that Anthony would make a fine catch… but she doesn’t actually have feelings for him. So when their match comes to an end, Edwina isn’t hurt, isn’t betrayed, and finds a guy who’s actually a much better fit for her interests and personality.
Here in the show, Edwina does fall for Anthony, and things progress all the way to their wedding before she realizes that Anthony and Kate have feelings for each other.
WHY? Why did we need a love triangle? Why turn this into betrayal between sisters? Kate should have been honest with Edwina sooner, and yes, there are reasons for how things played out… but no. This wasn’t necessary. Two very nice young women who love each other ended up making each other miserable and nearly ruin their beautiful connection. Of course, there’s a happy ending, but it sucks having to get there.
Back to the book, Anthony and Kate are caught in a compromising position and are therefore forced to marry in order to save everyone’s reputation, and I guess it makes sense that they changed this (for fear of it being too similar to the Simon/Daphne plot from season 1), but I thought it would have been fun to see it play out.
But oh, the scene where I thought that would happen! There’s a bee involved, and if you never thought a bee sting scene could be sexy, well, you clearly haven’t watched Bridgerton! The sparks are jumping off the screen!
I just didn’t love Eloise this season, as much as I wanted to. Her storyline is all over the place, she doesn’t seem to know what she wants, and she’s not a very good friend. Her awkward shtick is getting old, and she’s all talk, no action when it comes to being a rebel.
GILES ALERT! If you’re a Buffy fan, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him moment that will make you happy.
I love, love, love how matter of fact this show is about the fact that Bridgerton takes place in a world where diversity is just normal and how things are. It’s glorious.
And I love that the Sharma family is from India, and their heritage gets woven into the story in little ways, like words and scents and beauty routines and the pre-wedding haldi ceremony.

(Regarding the haldi, see this article. And this one too on Indian representation.)

Classical versions of pop music are back! This season’s music included string arrangements of You Oughta Know and Wrecking Ball (listen on Spotify), plus more fabulous choices.
The youngest Bridgertons, Hyacinth and Gregory, get a little more airtime and are quite adorable, although once again sister Francesca is mostly MIA. (Apparently, the actress had a scheduling conflict while filming another Netflix series.) And while it’s nice to see Daphne again, she just pops in from time to time to give Anthony advice about love and marriage and show off her new baby. That’s fine… although it does reinforce the tired old idea that a romance plot ends with a wedding, and everything after that is mere epilogue.
Polly Walker is spectacular as the awful Mrs. Featherington, who behaves as badly as you’d expect but then earns a mite of redemption by the end.
Penelope is fabulous, and I’m mad at anyone who hurts her feelings. Looking at you, Colin and Eloise!
The plotline with the Queen… well, it’s not in the books at all, but mostly works in the show, although her obsession with the Bridgerton wedding doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’m willing to just chalk it up to plot necessities and move on.
Loved the backstory and flashbacks related to the death of Daddy Bridgerton and how it affected both Anthony and Violet. Really heartwrenching scenes and terrific acting on both their parts.
And did I mention the chemistry between Anthony and Kate? Yes??? Well, I’ll mention it again. They are VERY good together.

There’s more, but I’ll stop before I start raving about pall-mall and Anthony falling in the lake and the cute corgi.

*You know you wanted to see a lake picture!*

All in all, this was a really fun, enjoyable season… and I’m sure I’ll be back for a second look! And while we know there are more seasons to come, it’s not clear yet whether the show will follow the book progression… but if it does, Benedict and Colin will be getting a lot more screen time!

Lead love interests for season 3 (L) and 4 (R), perhaps?

Also, three cheers for the queen, who’ll be getting a spin-off/prequel series of her own!

Of course, there are a ton of lingering questions at the end of Bridgerton’s 2nd season. Will Eloise break from societal expectations altogether and pursue a life of political thought and independence? Will the show broaden its romantic horizons and embrace a love story that at least considers the possibility of a more fluid sexuality?

And very importantly — where can I get a darling little top hat like Kate’s? (And where might one wear such an amazing hat in the 21st century?)

Have you watched season 2 yet? Did it live up to your expectations?

12Dec2021

TV Time: Yellowstone

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I know I’m late to the party, but my newest TV obsession is Yellowstone. The show is currently airing its 4th season, and over the last couple of weeks, I’ve binged it all from the beginning. Now I’m completely caught up, and ready for new episodes — four left this season!

(Note: Some spoilers ahead, but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum and not reveal any of the big shockers.)

In brief, Yellowstone is the story of the Dutton family and their ranch. Founded over a hundred years earlier, the Yellowstone Dutton ranch is the largest ranch in Montana, and patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is the largest private land owner in the state. As such, there’s a constant state of low- to high-level war going on, as greedy corporate interlopers as well as the neighboring Native American reservation are constantly seeking ways to take land from the Duttons.

The Dutton family includes John’s adult children, all of whom have been groomed to take on key roles in protecting and preserving the land. John’s father’s dying instructions to his son consisted of one specific order: Never give up the land. Not one inch.

John Dutton is a hard man who wields tremendous power in the state, although that power may be waning as outside interests work against him. John has a hand in state and local government, intimidates anyone who opposed him, hand-picks his choice for roles like state Attorney General, and dictates his wishes to the local sheriff’s office.

In season 1, John’s opponents were chiefly two: Dan Jenkins, a California transplant with dreams of creating a vacation paradise adjacent to the ranch, and Chief Rainwater, the new chief of the reservation, whose mission is to take back the land stolen from his people a century earlier.

As the series progresses, the battles and the opponents shift constantly, as uneasy alliances are formed when new threats pop up.

The really and truly engrossing thing about this show is the family itself. The adult Dutton children are all, to one extent or another, a mess. Their mother died about 20 years earlier, leaving a huge hole in their lives as well as a whole host of psychological damage. John, for one, never got over losing the love of his life, and has been emotionally unavailable to his children for most of their lives, while maintaining huge expectations for them in terms of family loyalty and expectations.

Son Jamie is the family lawyer, dressed in suits while the rest of the family wears jeans, cowboy hats, and boots. Rather than working the ranch, he represents the family business and political interests, and will destroy anyone in the courtroom who opposed the Duttons. Jamie is also an emotional mess, desperately needing his father’s love and approval but never quite getting it.

The youngest of the family is Kayce, a former Navy SEAL who fled the ranch to make his own way, but is brought back (reluctantly) into the family after events in the pilot episode. Kayce is a trained killer with a strong moral compass. When we first meet him, he’s living in a trailer on the reservation with his Native American wife Monica and their son Tate, happily scraping by training horses, but he and his family are soon drawn back into the Dutton world, where he starts to take up the mantle of Dutton heir.

My favorite is Beth, the only daughter of the family. Age-wise, she’s between Jamie and Kayce. When first introduced, I had a major attack of eye-rolling. Look, here’s another caricature of a tough business woman, hard-edged and hard-drinking with a foul mouth, someone who chews up and spits out business men for breakfast. In early episodes, we see Beth bathe naked in a horse trough on the ranch and run at a pack of wolves, howling. Ummm, why?

Well, my skepticism about Beth has turned to absolute love. As the show progresses, we learn more about the events from her youth that made her who she is, and finally (in season 3) get an explanation for her seemingly out-of-proportion hatred for her brother Jamie. Beth also is key to the most moving and touching love story of the show, and my love for this couple knows no bounds.

Meanwhile, Kevin Costner as John Dutton is absolutely magnetic. He’s taciturn and hard, but loves his family and still mourns his late wife. He’s also a tough, unyielding rancher, loves being out on his horses, can get down and dirty whenever needed, and is a man who is mostly universally feared. I especially love his relationships with Beth and with his grandson, where we see a more vulnerable and kinder side, but truly, any time he’s on screen is special.

Now, there are some elements to this show that confuse me by being contradictory or not well explained. We hear all along that John’s wife’s death changed him and practically destroyed the family — but we never actually see much to back that up. There are a few flashbacks, but none really demonstrate that the family was warm and loving beforehand — in fact, a key moment with Beth shows Evelyn as cruel and demanding in her interaction with her daughter.

The first episode thrusts viewers straight into the action, with the interloping developer and the reservation both battling the Duttons on different fronts. I could have used a bit more context and backstory — there are elements I didn’t piece together until several more episodes went by. The biggest head-scratcher early on is that (major spoiler) eldest son Lee (whom I didn’t mention earlier, and here’s why) is killed by the end of the episode. Lee was the presumptive heir to the ranch, and his death leaves the ranch succession in turmoil… except kind of not? After his death and funeral, almost no one even mentions Lee again. We barely got to know him, and for most episodes, it’s easy to forget that he even existed.

The show can’t seem to decide if John is a criminal mastermind (like a western Godfather) or an anti-hero, or just a straight up hero trying to preserve a purer way of life in the face of corporate greed and ruthlessness. We know John is ruthless and dangerous, but he’s often just so damned lovable in so many scenes, and as I said, Kevin Costner turns this character into someone iconic, even when his actions are morally questionable.

Beyond the Duttons, we also spend time in the bunkhouse with the wranglers, the rowdy cowboys who work the ranch. They’ve a mixed bunch — some veterans, some new to the ranch, and one who’s so green that he’s never even been on a horse before. The group is entertaining, but also provide yet another road to understanding ranch life in general, and more specifically, what it takes to be a true member of the Dutton world. (Hint: it’s not pretty.)

I’ve described this show to a friend as a western Sons of Anarchy, which is a little off-the-mark, but not by much. It’s less murdery than Sons, and the business of the Dutton ranch isn’t a criminal enterprise — but there’s still plenty of murder, and lots of crime as a side-effect of what it takes to keep the ranch and the family in power. The show, via the Duttons, embraces old-school Western justice, which isn’t kosher from a law enforcement perpsective, but as the show continually points out, Montana isn’t like any place else.

Side note: In terms of a Sons of Anarchy connection (besides substituting horses for motorcycles), creator and writer Taylor Sheridan was an actor on SOA, playing Sheriff David Hale for several seasons. Here in Yellowstone, he occasionally shows up as superstar horse trainer Travis, always entertaining.

Where the show sits now, past the halfway point of season 4, the Duttons face continuing threats from outside forces, as well as the continuation of their internal battles and struggles. I continue to adore certain characters and despise others, and no matter how crazy the events of any given episode, I can’t bring myself to look away.

And the absolutely gorgeous scenery doesn’t hurt in the slightest!

So, anyone else watching Yellowstone? If so, who’s your favorite character, and what are your predictions for the rest of season 4?

There’s a ton of Yellowstone-related material over on YouTube, but here’s a final clip for this post — on turning the show’s actors into cowboys…

27Aug2021

TV Time: Hit & Run (Netflix)

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My new TV obsession this week is Hit & Run, the American-Israeli production now streaming on Netflix. (One season so far, dropped earlier in August – 9 episodes total)

Set in Tel Aviv and New York, Hit & Run‘s main character is Segev Azulai (played by the intense Lior Raz). Segev seems to be a straightforward family man. He lives on a moshav (collective farm) with his second wife Danielle and his pre-teen daughter Ella. Segev is devoted to them, and spends his days as a jovial tour guide for visiting Americans.

Danielle is a dancer with the renowned Batsheva Dance Company, but as the story opens, she’s about to fly to New York for an audition with another company. She and her driver stop for coffee on the way to the airport, and as she’s crossing the street, she’s the victim of a hit and run. She dies soon after, leaving Segev bereft and deeply in mourning.

Segev’s mourning takes a turn when his home is broken into and he’s assaulted by the intruder (whom he kills in the struggle), but by the time the police arrive at his home, the body of the intruder is gone. This kicks off Segev’s suspicion that there’s more to the story. Why is he suddenly a target? How can he keep his daughter safe?

Assisted by his cousin Tali, a detective who happens to be six-months pregnant, Segev starts to look for answers. Secrets of his own past emerge — he has a shady history from years back, when he worked as a mercenary in Mexico and was responsible for a former friend being sentenced to prison. Could Danielle’s death have been planned as revenge on Segev?

I will not give any spoilers, but let’s just say that this is only the beginning of the twists and turns and absolutely shocking revelations that come up in every episode of Hit & Run. Just when we think we know what’s going on, some bonkers new secret completely blows all previous theories out of the water.

The action moves between Tel Aviv and New York, and is focused on the grittier sides of both. As you can see from the trailer (below), there are plenty of scenes of violence — hand-to-hand, gun violence, car chases, etc — which is usually so not my thing, but the suspense here was just so fantastic that I couldn’t look away.

The acting is terrific. Lior Raz is all quiet menace and grief and aching emotional wounds. Moran Rosenblatt as Tali is tough and lovely — you haven’t lived until you see a pregnant bad-ass woman chasing down bad guys. Sanaa Lathan is also great as Naomi Hicks, an American journalist whose past friendship with Segev leads her beyond mere investigation and into personal involvement and risk.

Each of the nine episodes is packed with great acting, hefty action sequences, and twisty plot developments that always contain surprises that pivot the story in yet further new directions.

For anyone who has spent time in Israel, and especially for anyone who speaks Hebrew, the series is very fun to watch. I was on the edge of my seat during one particular car chase early on, when suddenly the cars were speeding down the Tel Aviv road my family uses to get to the beach during every visit! As for the language, the dialogue throughout shifts between Hebrew and English depending on where the scene takes place and which characters are involved. The subtitles are fine, and it’s easy to keep up — but if you speak Hebrew, hearing the slang and the conversational interchanges is especially entertaining.

One interesting thing about the subtitles, as explained by a producer:

It was U.S. Netflix, but we shot half of it in New York and half of it in Israel. All of the scripts were written in English and then the parts that were in Hebrew were translated at a certain point. We got Netflix approval, or their promise, early on that when it came time for subtitles we would go back to the original English scripts, even if it was translated differently in Hebrew, so that we could keep the integrity of the story. It took them a little while to get used to the idea of showrunners. But eventually, they came to respect that.

The full article this came from is really interesting, but it’s full of spoilers, so proceed with caution.

As of now, season 2 has not been officially announced by Netflix, but given that season 1 ends with a cliffhanger, I think it’s safe to assume that the show producers are counting on getting a second season. And given how much buzz this show is generating, as well as its trending status on Netflix, I’m feeling really hopeful!

I mean, they can’t just leave me hanging like that forever, can they?

Hit & Run won’t be everyone’s cup of tea — it definitely doesn’t fall into my usual go-to categories of being upbeat or light or sweet. I’m glad I ventured outside of my comfort zone for this one. If you can tolerate blood and violence, the ups and downs and twists of the story, not to mention the fascinating characters, make this a show that’s well worth checking out.