1. The Queen's Gambit - Ummmmm....I don't get it?? It's a good show. Well-made. Wonderful lead performance from the always great Anya Taylor-Joy. But, how is it so universally adored? When it came out - literally, EVERYONE I know talked about it. Of all ages and backgrounds (I'm lucky in that I work with a very diverse group of people so I get a lot of varying opinions all in one place). I thought the praise was so weird because it doesn't look like something that is universal, instead it looked...pretentious - I mean, it's about Chess. I don't have anything against Chess, but it's just not my thing. It seems this show revived a lot of love for the game, but for me, it still seems like a very boring game (and I love games - but mostly card games). I found this series the same - very boring. And it's soooo repetitive and predictable. There are a few really great scenes, and again, Anya is great. Plus, it just has like a "cool" retro vibe to it, and I think that has a lot to do with people mistaking it for greatness.
2. WandaVision - I was not looking forward to watching this - I'm very over Marvel, but I'm still somehow invested in watching this next phase (how did they manage that? I think it's this feeling of not wanting to be left out of what everyone is talking about. It's not like I ever join the conversation, but it's just a nice feeling to have). This surprised me, though. It's super cute with the way it goes through the decades by utilizing popular sitcoms from those decades. It's different and strange, and surprisingly original. Elizabeth Olsen SHINES in every decade - she is just wonderful. By the third episode, I was fully excited by what was next only to be severely disappointed by the fourth episode. It feels so unnecessary to explain what's going on so...quickly? I prefer to keep guessing, I guess. But instead, we were all forced to watch this episode of exposition and explanation, and now I've sort of lost interest in it all. Hopefully, the next episode will fix things.
3. Defending Jacob - I guess this isn't exactly "new" new, but it's new to me (and it just came out last year. TV is just moving too quickly). I like the story of this, but it's not exactly original. I kind of assumed how it would end (and I was right). There's still some good stuff - Jaeden Martell is a good little actor. Chris Evans is better than usual (although his Boston accent comes and goes as it pleases, which could have been done on purpose since it seems thicker when he is talking to certain people, but I don't believe that Evans is that good of an actor to plan that out. Sorry, not sorry. Also, I totally forgot that he's FROM Boston, so my initial impressed reaction to his accent is revoked). There's also some bad stuff - specifically all of the scenes in which Evans is being interrogated. They are just really boring scenes, but also there is NO light. It's all side lit by "natural" light through the windows, but it takes place in an official building - there would be lights on in the room! Did they think it made the scenes more mysterious or suspenseful (let's make the room dark to symbolize how "dark" this story is. Fucking idiots). The story is also really dragged out to a frustrating degree - it could have been 2 episodes shorter by cutting a lot of the repetitive melodrama. I do want to read the book now, though, so that's a plus! Although, it's taken me a whole month to read 200 pages of The Goldfinch (it's great, but I just find it so hard to focus on reading at the moment).
4. The Great North - There's only been two episodes, so far, but it's really cute. From the creators of Bob's Burgers so I had high hopes (which doesn't always work out - I tried watching that Central Park show and I made it through two episodes. The singing. I can't take the singing. It's all so bad.). This has a cute premise and some great voice actors - Nick Offerman, Jenny Slate, Will Forte etc. There has also been some great visual gags and laugh out loud jokes - which is very reminiscent of Bob's Burgers. My favorite is the Pittsburgh Steelers joke. I laughed for like 5 minutes. I'm excited for more!
5. Lupin - This show is spectacular - on par with Killing Eve, for me and that's saying A LOT. I never even heard of it, but it was recommended to me on Twitter when I asked about some new shows to watch. I saw Omar Sy in the cast and immediately put it at the top of my list. It's just so much fun and it moves really quickly, which makes it very easy to binge watch (I watched the first episode right before bed, then watched the other four episodes the next morning). And, as expected, Omar Sy is DELIGHTFUL. He should get an Emmy for his smile alone. His smile is just infectious. The story is a basic crime caper mystery built around the famous "gentleman thief" Lupin, but the way they tell it feels fresh and exciting. On a side note: when did Netflix decide to auto dub foreign language projects? I didn't know the series was in French, I just thought there was something wrong with the sound synching at first. I kept restarting it, like an idiot. I had to go to the settings and change it to "original language" and add the English subtitles. Does it do that for everything now? Because that fucking sucks.
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