Billie Doux: For me this week, it's all about Ozark. Don't you love it when you try something and it's really good, and there are multiple seasons to watch? I decided to give Ozark a try last week and I'm already in season three.
If you haven't seen it (apparently everyone has but me) Ozark is about a clever Chicago accountant named Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman in a subtle, internalized performance) who thinks he can keep his distance while laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. Instead Marty winds up with a nearly impossible challenge: successfully laundering eight million bucks in one brief summer season at Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, or he and his wife and kids will be killed. Ozark wants to be Breaking Bad, and honestly, it's so tense and engrossing that it comes pretty darned close. It makes me wish I could review more stuff. Which I can't.
Bateman and Laura Linney, who plays Marty's equally clever wife Wendy, are terrific leads. But the real stand-out in this series is Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore, a smart, vicious teenage local who becomes a big part of Marty's life. She's amazing.
Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore on Ozark |
Samantha Quinn: I've started rewatching Agents of SHIELD because I wanted to finish out the series finally (originally stopped in the middle of season five for some reason I don't remember). Unfortunately Netflix is dropping the show at the end of this month, so now there will be a very long wait until Disney decides to put it on one of their streaming platforms... sigh.
So I went to see Uncharted last weekend with a friend because it was really the only viable option; I'd already seen Spider-man and had no interest in Halloween or Jackass 4. It was fine, but I kept feeling like I was watching Tom Holland audition for another role. He was charming and good in the role, but he is not Nathan Drake (at least not the one from the games). This would be fine if they nailed everything else around him, but Sully is not Sully, he is Mark Wahlburg trying to be snarky and gruff. At least we got a really great Chloe Frazier (Sophia Ali), who basically stole the film. Seriously, where did she come from? Oh... Grey's Anatomy and it looks like she's lead in a series called The Wilds. Might have to check that out.
Victoria Grossack: I'm watching grandkids. No TV.
Billie: Lol, Victoria.
Victoria: Well, it is my first time to see them in person in two years.
Mark Greig: I've been watching Hayao Miyazaki's classic 70s anime series Future Boy Conan, which has finally been given an HD western release after being stuck in legal limbo for decades. If you love Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli I strongly recommend checking it out. Next up I'm going to watch the very first Lupin III series that Miyazaki worked on. I also finally got around to watching the first episode of Yellowjackets this week. I enjoyed it and mentioned it to my sister, who then put me to shame by burning through the entire first season before I even got to episode two.
Mikey Heinrich: I also burned through all of Yellowjackets' first season over the course of a weekend. As someone who is already terrified of flying, it did not do me any favors. But Lord of the Flies is my favorite book, so they totally have me.
Finally got around to checking out Barry over on HBO Max, which is completely delightful. Has anyone in history had a more charming second act to their career than Henry Winkler? And of course, like the rest of the planet, I obsessively watched Peacemaker, which was just so much better than it had any right to be.
Primarily, though, I continue my quest to finally watch all of Star Trek, after having seen almost none of it before the pandemic started. I'm up to the start of Voyager, season five. So far I'd put DS9 as my favorite of the Star Trek series, but I've been enjoying Voyager. Although I get the impression that Jennifer Lien got done pretty dirty behind the scenes.
Shari: I know I’m late to the party but I’ve recently started watching Star Trek Discovery with my mother. We’ve just finished season three. I love the way they’ve managed to change up the Star Trek recipe while still paying homage to its roots. If you don’t already know, each season is one continuous story arc as opposed to the Star Trek’s typical episodic nature. And even the things that feel very un-Trek like all fit in… eventually. Oh, and did I mention the cast is top-notch?
Mikey: I cannot wait to get to that!
Mark: I'd fallen really behind with Discovery and was hoping to catch up before season four started, but then it got pulled from Netflix here. Luckily Amazon will still have Picard so I won't miss season two, which I'm really looking forward to since 12 Monkeys' Terry Matalas is taking over as showrunner.
Mikey: Did I see correctly that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds starts in May?
Mark: Yes, May 5th. Season three of Lower Decks will probably start up right after. We're at the point now where there will be Star Trek shows on all year round.
Mikey: Hmm. At my current rate, I should be somewhere in season two of Enterprise around then. It's incredible how long 26 episode seasons of shows seem to be when you're used to the current models.
An Honest Fangirl: I’ve been watching a lot of weird stuff lately. Mostly one-off true crime documentaries. In terms of currently running shows, Amazing Race and Next Level Chef are the only ones I’m watching weekly. Amazing Race is… yeah, the season is weird. They started filming pre-pandemic and then had to take a break due to everything shutting down. They resumed the race after 13 months or something. The pacing is very odd as a result of this.
I also finally took the plunge and started paying for Paramount Plus. I’m getting ready to binge (and review. Finally) Evil. There’s some other interesting shows on there too that I might try. But Evil first.
Year round Star Trek. If you had told me that five years ago I’d have thought you were nuts.
Mikey: 'But Evil First' is my new personal mantra.
Fangirl: When in doubt. Evil first.
Mark: Did someone say... evil?
Samantha: Evil was weird in season two, and it is still deeply uncomfortable to watch, but very good.
Fangirl: Interesting. Good to know. I know very little about season two. Deeply uncomfortable is fine, as long as its good. But might need to take breaks in begweje bingeing. Thanks for the heads up! (Although there’s a confirmed season three, so that’s exciting.)
I just started episode three. (Not liking this episode at all so far. Loved the first two.)
Josie Kafka: I recently tried Yellowjackets, too! I loved the first episode. The music was so on-point. That was my era. I stalled out a bit, though, at the prospect of spending too much time in the woods in the 1990s. I was more interested in the present-day plot, and more than a little terrified at how dark the 1990s plot would get.
I did watch the first season of Miracle Workers, which is on HBO Max. Daniel Radcliff and Steve Buscemi in a farce about the bureaucracy of heaven. It was quite charming in a lowkey way. Each episode is about 20 minutes, so it's perfect to watch while eating a lonely meal.
Hooray for Evil!
Baby M: Not too long ago, I pulled Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October down from its place of honor on my bookshelf and read it again for the first time in a couple of decades. It was quite a sensation back in the day because Tom Clancy did such a good job of describing how submarines operate that he was investigated on suspicion of having stolen classified information. As a fast-paced spy thriller, it's just as entertaining a read today as it was when it first came out.
Joseph Santini: For me this week was season two of Raising Dion; I was terrified by Brayden, in love with Tevin, confused by the whole thing with Pat, and enthralled with how Alisha Wainwright developed the character of Nicole. Wasn’t so excited by the ending, but the post-credits scene made me grin. Fingers crossed they renew this for a third season, and that Dion’s Dad from season one comes back.
Shari: I've also watched the first two episodes of The Gilded Age. It is exactly as advertised – an American Downton Abbey. Complete with similar music, camera movements, and upstairs/downstairs narratives. Christine Baranski is definitely giving Maggie Smith a run for her money. The cast is great and the costumes and settings have me in awe. I'm completely hooked.
Fangirl: (next day) Evil update: I… MAY have binged the entire first season yesterday in one sitting. Oops.
I may also immediately want to watch it again specifically to look for certain things in the background, like the color red. Also apparently there are multiple puzzle pieces hidden in each episode? I saw none of them but the Internet tells me they’re a thing.
So that’s fun. Probably going to put on the original CSI (starting from the first episode) as background noise while I turn my outlines into actual reviews today.
Billie: So what should we call this "what we're watching" thing we just did?
Mark: How about The Doux Discuss for a title? Weekly Doux Debate? Weekly Douxcussion? The Weekly Watch?
Billie: Weekly Douxcussion. Too funny. Someone told me once they thought "Doux" was pronounced "Ducks." (It's Doo.)
So you guys. What do you think? What are you watching this week? Post a comment and let us know.
But Evil first!
ReplyDelete(I'm so stealing that picture for the show page, by the way. It's perfect.)
Ended up switching out the original CSI for the NY version. Paramount doesn't have every season for the original, only the first two and the last one. (Lame.) But it has all of NY, Miami, and Las Vegas so I jumped ship. I forgot how much I liked the NY version. Granted, I'm very biased because I grew up in the area, but there's something about the at times bad accents and the locations that is just very comforting and familiar. And Eddie Cahill has incredibly striking blue eyes.
I also pronounced Doux as "ducks" for the longest time.
> I also pronounced Doux as "ducks" for the longest time.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Long live the Agents of Ducks.
> Unfortunately Netflix is dropping the show at the end of this month, so now there will be a very long wait until Disney decides to put it on one of their streaming platforms... sigh.
Yeah, same here, but with Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I'm currently watching DD season two. Here is hoping it doesn't take too long for the shows to pop up somewhere else.
I don't hate the idea of us being the Agents of Ducks.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching Ozark too, and I like it a lot. It doesn't really feel like BrBa at all though. Maybe the premise, but even within its first season it felt more and more different. That blue filter took a little getting used to, I have no idea who in production insisted on it. Anyway, love the old man with the oxygen tank. Hope he sticks around. And of course I like the main difference from BrBa which is **s1 SPOILERS** the fam already knows about the business and the stakes.
ReplyDeleteI was also pleased with how enjoyable/funny Santa Clarita Diet was, which is also something I've only seen the first season of. My sole motivation to watch it was to see more of Skylar Gisondo so I'm grateful the show itself turned out to be more than watchable. There's a lot of disgusting bits involving the zombie wife lol, really not my thing (especially this thing with an eyeball), but I can manage. The show is also surprisingly sweet, which is something I've missed since finishing Parks & Rec
Uh were we allowed to chime in with our own side stuff or are we supposed to respond directly to the shows mentioned in the post?
onigirli, chiming in is fine, always. It's always great to hear what our readers are watching. I did try Santa Clarita Diet and it was a little too gross for me. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved Santa Clarita Diet! That's where I fell in love with Ramona Young before she was Mona on Legends of Tomorrow. Plus Liv Hewson, who is now on Yellowjackets, thus tying this all together :)
ReplyDeleteI say absolutely chime in with your own stuff! I have no official capacity with which to say that, but I'd love to know what you're watching.
This was a lot of fun hearing what shows people have been watching! And a great way to pick up new shows!
ReplyDeleteI have been really enjoying Snowpiercer and Jack Whitehall Travels with My Father! Snowpiercer is a good thriller series about the last vestiges of humanity on a train. Travels with My Father is an incredibly funny travel series. It's a good way to be able to travel when we can't currently, and it's super funny!
Another really good and funny series is Ted Lasso! It's a real joy!
I haven't watched it yet, but I'm planning on watching the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel soon.
Thank you very much for writing this!