New series alert! I figured doing a once a week series would be a good way to get me writing more and I can talk about all the shows I’m watching in a not review format. So let’s dig into the first slate of shows.
Young Justice, Season 3: so I got 12 episodes in to this new season and I just cannot watch anymore episodes. While the show does maintain some of the previous seasons’ magic and it’s nice to see the OGs grown up, this new season’s approach to narrative and character is all over the place. There are so many repeated beats with new chracters, Brionne especially, that make me long for the days when the team wasn’t so large. Why am I being made to endure Superboy-esque trantroms two seasons after I already endured them? The show also took the move to the DC Universe streaming service as a chance to make a more adult show and I’m not sure it is worthwhile. Someone died on screen in 11 straight episodes and we have seen tons of people maimed and blood…and for what? The first two seasons dealt with death and struggle in much more efffective ways, even not showing blood on screen. I also have never watched a cartoon show that is more aggresively heterosexual in its pairings than Young Justice. It’s funny that the Young Justice creator said there were gay folks in the show in the first two seasons. They must have been, and continue to be, in the background cause this show has been walloping us over the head with every pairing. You could see Brione and Violet coming from a mile away (another rip off of Superboy and M’Gann), Megan and Connor are engaged, Dick had Oracle, Garth has a girlfriend, and even Black Lightning has hooked up with someone and I just….what are all of these relationships storylines doing in a season that’s about stopping a child trafficking ring?
Sex Education: The first half of this series is spectacular, which makes the messier second half seem bad in comparisson, but collectively they make a really good show. I enjoyed this new take on the high school sex comedy and the character work being done by everyone is wonderful. The show introduced me to the amazing actor Ncuti Gatwa and for that we should all be grateful. I have to say though, I was pissed off at one particular storyline in the finale that centered around Adam, the school bully and fuck up. I don’t have much room in my heart for characters that are bullies and the show never has Adam be remorseful for or truly attempt to change his ways. You can’t have him have an intimate moment with someone, threaten to kill them, and then try and give them a cute moment moments later. Adam is trash and his trash should not bring down the other character’s growth (which it will if they go down this road in season 2).
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S4E7: I haven’t seen an episode of this show since the first season but I saw a clip of Jon Bernthal flirting with Titus and felt compelled to watch this episode. It reminded me of the positives and ngetives of that show’s first season run. Kimmy’s stuff wasn’t as funny as the supporting performers on her own show. Loved the joke about how older women love shopping at home stores and turning it into a club. The standout was of course Titus and Bernthal, whose love sick dopiness gives way to something more meaningful. I want to see Bernthal in a comedy so badly, maybe even a romcom.