I realized with my "Thoughts on 5 New Shows" posts, I often exclude anthology shows because they are technically not new! So I thought I would do a separate post for anthology shows since it's such a popular concept right now.
2. Fargo (Season 5) - This is one of my favorite seasons of television of the last decade! I wasn't too keen to even watch it because season 3 and 4 of Fargo have been huge letdowns. I remember how excited I was for the cast of season 3 (Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Ewan McGregor! Who are now married (I think) and have a child together, AND Carrie Coon!), and then all that excitement came crashing down with the first episode. And then the 4th season with Chris Rock trying to act?? Be real. I saw the ad for this and that it starred Juno Temple and Jon Hamm with a cowboy hat on, and I thought "oof...it's going to be another rough one", but I was SO WRONG. First of all, I have never really liked Juno. She kind of won me over in Ted Lasso because I thought she really shined when showing Keely's vulnerability, but I still just thought it was a really well-written role, and not necessarily due to Juno's acting (she has always been an over actor in past things I've seen her in - the Sin City sequel, that Justin Timberlake movie, Horns, that other Justin Timberlake movie, Unsane, should I keep going???). But HOLY SHIT SHE'S INCREDIBLE IN THIS! It helps that I just really, really love the character, but she gives this character the same vulnerability as Keely, but also she's so much more of a fighter. There is an air of mystery surrounding her character for the first few episodes, but once you learn her backstory, it will be hard to not fall in love with her. And Jon Hamm, in that cowboy hat, is one of my favorite villainous television characters ever. There's a few supporting actors that absolutely steal the show at essential moments, too (my favorite is Richa Moorjani and her whole story - I love that she's so smart and strong, and then we see her home life and it makes you question just how she got there? How did she let this man manipulate her into being the provider while he lives off of her hard work?). I also think Joe Keery does a good job in a few scenes (I was honestly surprised!). The best part of the whole show, though, is that every episode gets better! Like, it starts off really good and then the next episode is even better, and it just continues this upwards momentum through the finale! I don't think I can say that about any recent series - there is always a dip or an unnecessary episode. Always. And it has a really satisfying ending. I just loved everything about it.
3. American Horror Story: Delicate - Yes, I still watch AHS. And, no, it's definitely not good. You can't argue that some of the seasons have been incredible though (the first one, Asylum and Coven are probably tied for my favorite, and Freakshow had it's moments. I also think Hotel and Roanoke have some good ideas, just executed poorly. However, the rest of them have been horrid - I barely even remember them. Like, Apocalypse?? I don't remember a single thing about it!). This one stars an AHS regular, Emma Roberts, who is not a great actress. I tried really hard to like her, but she's been a disappointment more and more with every project. She also shopped in my store a few years ago and was RUDE to one of my nicest employees! I wasn't there to witness, but most of the employees who witnessed the interaction described it as racist, so I wasn't really that surprised when stories started to come out about her being a bully (to a black trans actor). Anyway, she's horrendous in this. Like, worse than I've ever seen her. Also, I rolled my eyes hard at all the good reviews that Kim Kardashian received for her acting here, but I think with most of her scenes shared with Roberts, anyone would look like they can act. I was still hopeful that one of my faves, Matt Czuchry, would save the show for me, but it's too awful - there's no saving it. And unfortunately, I feel like Matt plays the role a little too...evil. Like he has this evil grin on his face from the very first episode so it's Obvious (with a capital O) that he's a bad guy. I like the idea of the series, as a play on a modern version of Rosemary's Baby (which I just watched for the first time last year! How fitting!). They could have easily just shown this whole story in the amount of time they spent on "part 1"; I have no idea when "part 2" is being released, but I'm not looking forward to it.
4. True Detective: Night Country - While I do remember liking the first True Detective, I don't really remember much about it - so that's a big fail, for me. If something doesn't stick with me, it doesn't really matter how good it was at the time. I know I'm in the minority on that (I still see a lot referring to the first season as one of the greatest shows of all time. Maybe it is. *shrugs shoulders*). But, I think we can all agree that the second and third season sucked ass. So it's very weird to me to read that the creator of the series, Nic Pizzolatto, is reposting articles about how this season ruined the franchise. I mean, aside from it being unprofessional, he is allowed to share his thoughts on the show and be upset if he feels like it diminished his hard work, but it just doesn't make sense to me because the second and third season were horribly reviewed, and this one, whether you like it or not, is actually getting a lot of buzz and is fairly well-reviewed (even with the review bombing). It's certainly not ruining his creation, it's adding to it??? I think a lot of people surmise that Pizzolatto was not the success of the show, but Cary Fukunaga (the director of season 1) was. Anyway, I don't like the show either, but I think it's heaps better than the past two previous seasons, so I guess that's why I'm confused by his outrage. I haven't finished it yet (I think I have 2 more episodes that I'll try to make it through this week), but so far, it's been all very obvious. And it feels like it's stealing from so many other projects that it certainly can not be touted as well-written or original. The highlight, as expected, is Jodie Foster, but I also think that the dialogue is so poorly written that even Foster (one of the greatest living actresses of all time) feels like a disappointment. Also, it keeps hinting at the supernatural, but I feel like its too scared to fully commit to it. Maybe the ending will change that, but I feel like they're going to cop out on this whole part of the story.
5. Dr. Death (Season 2) - I was not expecting this to be an anthology series, but unfortunately and apparently there are enough "Dr. Deaths" that they could go on with this concept for years! I liked the first one enough, but it wasn't anything to rave about. Just a satisfying watch with some actors that I really like (Pacey!, Christian Slater!). Season 2 is more of the same - Mandy Moore, Edgar Ramirez, Luke Kirby, etc. I think they did a good job of not just telling the same story, so this is told mostly from the point of view of Moore's character, a journalist who falls in love with him and becomes engaged to him, only to find out that he's a fraud. She's also the one who made him a famous doctor (she's wrote a story on him as a "miracle" doctor), so there's this guilt there that makes it interesting. I think he got away with it for so long because he was in such high demand that he was able to move from patient to patient, so when they eventually died because of his recklessness, the patient was already in someone else's care so he wasn't being connected to it. It wasn't until some brave doctors put the pieces together and spoke up. It's really sickening that there are DOCTORS who are more concerned with their image and celebrity status than actually helping people, but that's the world we live in. But also, this man is a legitimate psychopath and a pathological liar - and I always wonder if people like this even know they're crazy? Like, how did he think he was going to get away with this?? His lies to his fiancé are so ginormous - there is now way it was going to work itself out. Anyway, overall, I liked this second season too. It moves quickly and is interesting (even if it's obvious how it's all going to go), and I like all the actors.
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