Sick Note

There are only two reasons why I started watching Sick Note. The first one was because I saw Lindsey Lohan was in it. I don't know why I was so intrigued by that but I have to give Netflix some credit, they didn't add her until the second season and by the time I actually got to that season, I was somewhat invested. The second reason was because I was sick and didn't have the attention span for anything I really cared about. The result was a show that was a little more entertaining than I originally thought, but does illustrate some of the issues Netflix is having these days with the choices they make with their original content.

Sick Note follows the story of Daniel Glass (played by Rupert Grint). Daniel is a loser who smokes pot, plays video games, and doesn't have a whole lot going for him. At the start of the show everything is seemingly going wrong for him and there's a sense of justification to it at the start. His girlfriend (played by Pippa Bennett-Warner) who he doesn't pay attention to breaks up with him, and the job he doesn't focus on indicates they're going to fire him. But then Daniel goes into the doctor and is told by the bumbling fool Doctor Iain Glennis (played by Nick Frost) that he has cancer. Daniel is reasonably distraught by this and we do see a hint of a human side of him. But the people around him rally around him. His girlfriend gets back together with him saying that she's going to take care of him. His work rallies around him and even use him to promote their health insurance business. But in the same episode, Daniel is notified that that moron Glennis made a mistake and he didn't have cancer after all.

As usually happens in most shows, Daniel can't tell people fast enough before they start making huge plans and once they've made those plans he feels bad about telling them he doesn't have cancer but he also takes advantage of how nice people are being to him.

He devises a plan with Dr. Glennis to hide the fact that he doesn't have cancer and they will say he was cured in 6 months. Of course what follows is the hijinks involved with these two trying to keep their secret hidden, including murder, corporate scandal, drugs, weird friends from America, and a lot of weird shit in between.

I don't know if you can tell, but I lost interest in this show after I was no longer confined to the couch and realized there are much better things to watch out there.

The best way to describe this show is to recognize that everyone in this show is a horrible person and its very, very British. Neither of which I'm opposed to. I will say there are some moments in the first season where I did laugh because I do like dark humor, I do like British humor, and there mixture they do make with some random appearances from Americans like Don Johnson, and Lindsey Lohan does make for a show that could have had some potential. But as is, it just feels overly mean spirited and cringeworthy.

And this show is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like its grounded in reality but then you have a guy who shows up wearing a phantom of the opera mask just normally and we're supposed to accept him as a character. These characters are so unlikeable like the girlfriend sleeping with Daniel's best friend even after she knows Daniel has cancer, but then we're expected to feel sorry for Nick Frost's character when he's having marriage problems when he's just as horrible of a character. The police officer played by Daniel Rigby is actually getting close to figure out the secret but then he assumes that is a KGB plot to kill Daniel's best friend... and then dresses as a woman in the second season for some reason. If all of this sounds super confusing to you, I can promise you, it doesn't get any less convoluted.

I get the feeling that the first season felt a little more streamlined and enjoyable for me and I lost interest in the middle of the second season when things got really weird, but I can say this wouldn't be a show I would go back and rewatch in any circumstances. I highly doubt I'm even going to finish the second season because I couldn't handle how wacky it got. I like wacky but its gotta have a purpose and not make me feel like my brain is being melted.

 Performance wise, its really hard to say anybody did a really great job. I mean at least as far as the main characters go, nobody is horrible. Even Lindsey Lohan was somewhat interesting.

But nothing shines. I've seen all these people in better movies or shows and I prefer them there instead of here. This just feels like a weird mess.

Overall, if you're looking for something on Netflix, I can promise you there are better things out there. I wouldn't waste your time with Sick Note.

But Sick Note does underline an interesting trend we're watching play out when it comes to Netflix.

Netflix had an initiative in the past few years where they have expanded their original content to make up at least half of what is available on their streaming service. On one hand, I understand this choice and in the years since, I recognize how brilliant Netflix was in doing it. In a world where EVERYONE is making their own streaming service, Netflix was smart in creating a library of exclusive content that people are going to have to give up if they think that they're just going to unsubscribe from Netflix as soon as Disney's Streaming Service comes out. You can do that, but you're not going to get your Stranger Things, your House of Cards, etc. That is the smart way of doing it. Netflix will still have its licensed properties, but the bigger draw to the streaming service, ideally will be its original content.

The downside of that however is that Netflix is greenlighting just about anything that comes across their desks. A dark reboot of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Make It! A Wrestling Show starring Alison Brie, Make it! A Christmas Prince, MAKE IT TWICE! And I'll admit, some of the stuff coming out of Netflix recently has been pretty good. The Haunting of Hill House was phenomenal in my opinion. The way they've utilized comedians like Hasan Minhaj to talk about current events is great. I've even heard Glow and the Sabrina the Teenage Witch are pretty enjoyable. But the hope is that those shows will float to the top and shows like Sick Note will just be forgotten. I just don't know if that's the case.

Once House of Cards, Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, and The Haunting of Hill House is binged or in the case of the Marvel shows cancelled, what else is left? I'm looking at a list of Netflix Originals and there are two shows I am interested in watching out of countless other piles of hot garbage like Sick Note.

To be fair, this is occurring at a time where a show like Daredevil is getting cancelled even after a phenomenal third season. I think we are facing a transition point in Netflix. I remember a similar transition point happening before shows like house of Cards came out and Netflix started this original content initiative. But I am predicting that we are entering an ebb in the natural ebb and flow of Netflix content. Sick Note is not the show you want as the front man for Netflix. The strategy of throwing everything at the wall and hoping it sticks is struggling for Netflix. Sick Note could be the start of a dry spell for Netflix until we get back into the flow of great content.

But those are my thoughts on Sick Note. What did you think? Did you like it? Am I totally off and there are just some great Netflix gems out there I'm missing? Feel free to send me those recommendations and thoughts by commenting and discussing below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for shows and movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading.