eireluvr-54089 Reviews

Ghosts (2021– )

UK Original Is Great, This Show Is, Dare I Say...BETTER?

[9/10 · 19 May 2024]

If you like fun ghost stories and good comedy writing please watch this show. If you liked the original from the UK but, like me, felt like you needn't bother with this version, you need to absolutely watch this show.

The overall story follows the original version generally, but details and even some of the stories have changed. There are similar characters, but "North Americanized." The scout leader, matriarch of the house, and military guy are here with similar stories, but we've got a businessman, Viking, indigenous storyteller, hippie and roaring twenties jazz singer instead of a politician, stoneage guy, poet, peasant, and noblewoman. Instead of plague victims in the basement, we've got cholera victims. The annoying rich neighbors are prowling around. There's even a headless greaser from the 50s instead of a headless Elizabethan aristocrat...oddly though, greaser guy sort of just disappeared after a couple episodes (not a pun...he literally just never showed up again until later in the season) whereas Sir Robin has quite a few episodes to stumble around in the UK show.

There are even bonus ghosts that pop up in some of the episodes with their own stories intertwined into the plot.

British humor and American comedy is delivered differently; I grew up loving British comedy shows on PBS. My fear was that a US remake of a the original might lose the important nuances in "translation." BUT this version delivers the same vibe; it keeps the sweet, genuine family feel between the ghosts and the livings, it just has a different spin (and because of this it doesn't feel like you're rewatching every British episode over again).

So. When I need to re-binge Ghosts...now I've got two to choose from. I absolutely love both shows. (Although, at this time I've only been able to watch 3 of the 5 seasons of the UK version). I am glad to hear this one is being picked up for a fourth season.

Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023)

I Like Season 3 The Best

[8/10 · 15 May 2024]

Picard is a darker (literally), gorgeous production. The graphics are well done without being over the top. The cinematography is beautiful and the sets and costumes are well designed.

The serial-driven stories, rather than episodic, was a change that worked well. While I liked the new characters (some more than others) I really showed up for the familiar faces: Picard, Seven, Data/Soong-ancestors, and the small cameos of original cast members.

I didn't mind the spicier language of the series. It was, honestly, more realistic. The action was consistently great, there was no gratuitous nudity or gore, just a loving embrace of sci-fi goodness.

I did not think S1 and S2 were awful, but like most reviewers I believe Season 3 is what Picard should have been all along. I did like S1 better than S2. But S2 stands out simply because it was so antithetical to TNG. While I thought the time traveling in S2 started out as a nice homage to some of the period episodes of the original show, it just went on too long, sometimes veering into ridiculous. Everyone broke the one rule (blend in without getting caught) from the get-go yet everyone escaped with relative ease. (I have to say the FBI plotline was so far-fetched I kept waiting for a teeny tiny X Files reference just for an inside joke. But alas, opportunity missed.)

But Season 3? Outstanding. Most of that is having the original characters back as well as giving some of the most memorable original guest actors some great cameos (or at least honorable mentions). The story lines were truer to the original series, and we have been gifted one of the most unlikeable, annoying, frustrating, kooky villains to grace the series: Captain Vadic portrayed with obvious relish by Amanda Plummer. She gave Q's John de Lancy a run for his money with delicious delivery.

I wish they had brought the original cast in sooner. Maybe they thought the original cast was too old to carry three seasons? I think, with some quite humorous quips about their ages through all the seasons, that S3 proved these older actors can solidly carry an action show.

It's worth noting that in Patrick Stewart's autobiography he talks about if Picard had changed in 20+ years, it would stand to reason the other characters would as well. Therefore the nuanced (or sometimes blatant) shifts in their characters added freshness and realism.

Doom Patrol (2019–2023)

Quirky Psychological Weird Character-Driven FUN

[8/10 · 1 January 2023]

Perhaps people who dislike this show outright or gave up after season two expected a more action-driven blow-em-up show? I've seen it negatively compared to The Umbrella Academy or The Boys (which are both fantastic). I had zero expectations coming into this show and fell in love with it immediately. Doom Patrol ostensibly keeps pace on the current super-hero-show highway but on closer inspection it's really merrily speeding along on a parallel road doing its own weird thing. The characters are well cast (particularly Brendan Fraser, Alan Tudyk, Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby and Michelle Gomez), the writing is filled with sardonic wit and quirky subplots woven into a long play-out of deep psychological (and highly dysfunctional) character development. As a fan of Monty Python, Kids in the Hall and Supernatural (so good to see Mark Sheppard and Ruth Connell here!), suspending belief for some of the oddball storylines and details is easy. Season three threw oddity and dark humor into overdrive and sometimes it feels like fishbowl scripting: write a bunch of nouns, adjectives and verbs onto slips of paper, throw them into a bowl, pull out a handful then write a story using it all. Visually it's simple and beautiful by turns, with great sets and effects that are high on the practical side, using CGI where it enhances the story rather than engulfing it. It has a hip retro vibe helped by amazing hair/makeup and costume design fabulously pulled from every decade back to the 1910s. The only reason I don't give it a full 10/10 is because there are some loopholes and unanswered questions, and just an ever-so-slight whiff of tiresomeness in the characters' self-pity even after three-plus seasons of heavy duty soul searching.

Marple (2004–2013)

Let Go of Your Expectations

[8/10 · 3 September 2018]

My best advice for viewers of this series, especially for diehard Christie fans? Let everything you know about Miss Marple GO. Let it go, forget what you've read, what you've watched. Give up on comparisons. Let the 30's become the 50's. Let the artistic liberties override the canon. Stop being the Christie aficionado, expert, fanatic. Put your expectations in the bin and relax.

I basically learned to read with Christie novels...she introduced me to a lifetime obsession with detective stories, especially British-based adventures. I grew up loving Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence, and Miss Marple. I read and reread all of the stories. I also watched all the PBS/BBC adaptations over the years and yep Hickson was, in my mind and obviously in the minds of the majority of the raters here, the best personification of Jane Marple.

But in letting go of what I expected to see, and in allowing myself to NOT compare McEwan to Hickson and canon to plot changes, I was able to enjoy this series for what it is: a delightful, campy, visually wonderful entertainment opportunity. If you have any questions about how the look and feel of this series is, just watch the introductory titles.

Just. Let. GO. And allow yourself to enjoy the fun. If you can't, well, you're definitely going to be disappointed, which in and of itself is....disappointing.