Media Diet - 08 and 09 August 2020 🍿📺
Spent Saturday night and Sunday drowning out my internal monologue with a movie and two tv shows. This is the first time in a while that I’ve actually sat down and binged movies and TV. I think I’ve become a little jaded when it comes to this form of media; whatever time was previously spent on this is now devoted mostly to books.
Birds of Prey:
TL;DR: Meh
Longer Version: Whenever I watch movies of the superhero variety, it seems like they are becoming more and more like games. There’s an exploration phase where you build out the story, then you meet the big boss, you have a team, then there is a boss fight. The seams are also readily visible; visualizing the movie as a game, you can tell where the cut scenes would be. Birds of Prey readily fit into this mould.
Fleabag:
TL;DR: Excellent
Longer Version: If someone asks for the perfect TV show, point them to this. Everything about this is amazing; the humour, each beat, the editing, the storyline. I had this on my watchlist for ages (see aforementioned jadedness) and then spent the day kicking myself for not watching it earlier. A few highlights: the names given to characters, breaking the fourth wall and then breaking that mechanic too, the brokenness of the main character and how that’s approached; I could go on and on. Watch this show and revel in its greatness.
Killing Eve:
TL;DR: S1: Good, S2 & 3: Fluctuates between meh and good
Longer Version: I started watching this because it’s in the Phoebe Waller-Bridge universe, and you can see her fingerprints all over season one. The storytelling is tight but there a lot of elements to the plot that seem extraneous. The extraneous parts were multiplied in S2 and S3, with the worst parts of S2 devolving into a buddy cop drama. When it works, it is a great show with the chemistry between the main leads really shining through. When it doesn’t work though, it is a slog. I was grateful for the forward skip button at multiple points. Bottom line: watch this if you want more Phoebe Waller-Bridge, just don’t expect more Fleabag.
