Picard (Pilot Thoughts)

I never thought I'd actually say this because I don't think anybody in the world has said this, but I am now slightly interested in getting CBS All Access purely to continue watching this show.

It's been a while since I've done something like this but I figure it will probably be a while till I see this series in its entirety, I wanted to write down some of my initial thoughts on Picard, the new Star Trek show on CBS All Access, the premium streaming service that nobody has.

This show had a couple of things going against it from the start because the truth is, outside of some general pop culture references, I really don't know a whole lot about Jean-Luc Picard or Star Trek The Next Generation. I only watched a little bit of the first season and my knowledge purely comes from pop culture jokes and stuff Star Trek fans have told me.

But despite my lack of knowledge, I do really enjoy Patrick Stewart as an actor and I've seen enough of him as Picard to get a somewhat basic idea of the character.

And this is the first thing that was really impressive about the premiere episode of Picard, it really doesn't matter if don't know jack about The Next Generation.

To be fair, you do have to know that Picard was in Star Fleet and that Data was an android that was on that show as well, but outside of that, pretty early on there is a bit of an exposition dump that catches you up with where Picard is in his life and where the story begins.

From there we see a world were Picard has been retired from Star Fleet for a while. Instead of portraying him as a washed up hasbeen like I think the formula would have been, the retired Picard is kind of how I think of lot of fans would have imagined him.

He's living quietly at a bougie vineyard with the most adorable pit bull I have ever seen and I want it. He dreams of his past life and he clearly misses the adventure, but instead of the stereotypical hero in his twilight who might have a substance abuse problem and his life is miserable because he's not doing his hero stuff, Picard is pretty well adjusted to retirement. He doesn't even seem bored with it. He's just going about his business with some old man retrospect of the glory days and I actually really liked that.

But it wouldn't be a show without some conflict and Picard is ready to hear his call to action when a young girl shows up at his vineyard clearly in danger. Dahj (played by Isa Broines) comes to Picard looking to find out who she really is when danger comes knocking at her door and the show quickly becomes Picard starting an investigation into who she is and her significance in this new world post the events of Next Generation and the movies that go along with it.

Like I said, the show does a pretty decent exposition dump at the start of the show that brings you up to date on where the world of Star Trek is and what are the hot button issues of the day, especially when it comes to the prohibition of androids in the aftermath of events that might have been in the movies or not, but it doesn't matter. The show keeps things relatively simple so new comers aren't really lost.

Furthermore, the budget of this show is clearly higher than Next Generation was so its able to throw in some action that would usually be reserved for material like the J.J. Abrams Star Trek films. But at the same time, the show, even in the first episode, starts to hit on some social commentary that I think could be really interesting moving forward with the show.

I won't give too much away because the first episode is currently available on Youtube for free. I don't know how long that'll last, but I do recommend if you're interested at all to check out the show and get a taste for yourself. At the very least you get to see probably the best pit bull on screen that, bonus points, was a rescue before it was brought onto the show so hurray!

The biggest problem with the pilot isn't really the show itself, its more the fact that this show is on a platform that I honestly can't name a single person with access to. I have no doubt that the show has the potential to be really awesome. But all the energy gets sucked out of it when nothing on the streaming service really looks like something I'd be interested in (save Twilight Zone).

Look, I can't speak to the rest of the series. Hopefully some day in the future I'll be able to watch the entire season and do a complete review of the entire season, but it doesn't kind of underline a problem we have moving forward as more and more streaming services begin cropping up. CBS All Access is a great platform if you are a huge Star Trek fan because their original shows are Star Trek Discovery and Picard. It's also great if you have a fondness for shows on CBS but the problem is, the majority of the time, people don't just concentrate their viewing on shows from one network.

Another example problematic example in the future is going to be NBC's streaming service Peacock (horrible name). It's a great business model to have The Office streaming on it because they've seen how much that's been a boon for Netflix over the past few years. But beyond that licensing, what is there to look forward that is new on Peacock? A Battlestar Galactic reboot? A hacky reboot of Saved by the Bell, all of which are in the speculative or development phases.

I get it, there are far too many shows for everyone to watch. That is a sad pill to swallow, especially for a show like Picard. As much as I say the show is accommodating for viewers who don't know the Next Generation history, it's still not going to connect with all audiences if you're not into Star Trek.

So how do you connect audiences to a show when the distribution platform is also in need of a real outreach plan? I wish I knew.

Free sneak peeks on Youtube is not a bad start. (Got me talking about it didn't it?). Part of it is relying on star power like Patrick Stewart, another part is relying on Nostalgia, you can point to Disney Plus that is doing that and then some to bring in your subscription. But I would hope that we live in a world where quality shows like Picard are the ones that get rewarded. Unfortunately I don't see that being the case.

Netflix is unsurprisingly the reality check. Having infrastructure, a history of having the fall back licensed properties that people just binge watch in the back ground, and developing enough content for it to feel not only enjoyable but "prestige" gives me a feeling that despite losing some important licensed content, Netflix is going to be fine, at least for the time being. And I say that knowing that there is a lot of shit on Netflix that was just funded because they were looking for something to stick and while they have some that did like Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, and House of Cards back in the day, there is a lot of stuff that has come and gone just for the sake of saying there is original content on Netflix.

This has delved long enough into an 11PM tangent so I will wrap this up. The pilot of Picard suggests that this show is far too good for the platform its on. I would love to say that it is worth paying 7 dollars a month to wait week by week for the new episode, but the truth is that I'll probably wait for the entire season to come out, get a free trial, and binge watch the entire thing before I have to pay a dime, as much as that bums me out that that is the case. I don't have the devotion to Star Trek to put that money down for this show, regardless of how good the pilot episode is. But overall, I think it was a really great show that not only could do a lot of justice for a beloved character (something not often well done these days), but also bring in new fans to Star Trek, despite how much of a fans show it is.

But those are my thoughts on the pilot episode of Picard. Have you seen it? Do you own CBS All Access? No shame, I just honestly don't know anybody who has it so I'd just find that interesting. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as your requests for TV shows and films that 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!

Fleabag (Season 1)

So I will give Amazon Prime some credit. I watched some shows on the platform before the past few months but I had varying degree of enjoyment. Shows like Man in the High Castle, Sneaky Pete, and Jack Ryan are by no means bad but they are just slow as hell and I couldn't bring myself to watch the second seasons of any of those shows (that might change with Jack Ryan). But since watching the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I decided to give the platform one more chance and not only did I blow through The Boys in a day or so, I have moved onto Fleabag... and its fine.

Fleabag follows the story of a twenty-something woman living in London (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). The woman is never named and is only credited as Fleabag. The story mainly centers on her life in London, dealing with relationships, her family, and her job in the midst of a time of personal conflict and tragedy.

The show itself is a comedy... mainly. Like most high art television these days, a "great" comedy can't be a straight comedy it has to be a dramedy with some really hilarious moments and some really serious and sad moments as well.

And Fleabag actually does a pretty good job at it. Not only that, but it uses its time incredibly well. There are 6 episodes in the first season and they are all thirty minutes long. I blew through the first season in one night. A side note is that I'd like to one day look into why it is so much easier to binge watch 6 30 minute episodes culminating in three hours of television, than it is to watch The Irishmen.

But I really enjoyed how concise Fleabag was. I think Amazon has finally figured out how to make a show that doesn't drag and Fleabag almost flies by at an almost whiplash pace, but it was entertaining enough to have me sitting there for pretty much all three hours straight.

The show distinguishes itself with a main character who continuously breaks the fourth wall in order to give an extra layer of comedy as well as insight into the character of Fleabag and I think Phoebe Waller-Bridge does a really good job with that. She's very funny but at the same time you connect with the character very quickly.

I've read some criticism that the first season doesn't give a whole lot of motivation or connection to the character in the first season, and I could see that. The character itself is pretty sleazy as she goes from relationship to relationship causing a lot of wreckage in her path really just for the sake of messing with people. I'll explain why it doesn't bother me in a little bit, but overall, her character didn't bother me a whole lot because the show set her up as a rough around the edges character from the start. I knew what I was getting into and by the time I was starting to question why I was rooting for a character who breaks up with her boyfriend every time she wants her house cleaned, I started to see other relationships that redeem a lot of it. Again, I'll get to it, but I think the writing and pace of the show helps make up for some of the bad character traits that get fully explained until the end of the season.

The asides themselves are pretty funny and she transitions seemlessly from these fourth wall breaking moments right back into the action. My problem is not so much with her execution of them, its more how frequent they show up. There are moments of dialogue where she will interject and comment on almost every sentence of dialogue and then other times where she doesn't say anything at all. It feels disjointed at times.Furthermore, at times it feels like half the show is just her giving the Jim Halpert look into the camera smirk reacting to the silly things other people around her say.

What also helps is the cast around Waller-Bridge because there are some really talented people with really distinct personalities surrounding her coloring in her life. There is her sister Claire (played by Sian Clifford), her sister's sleezy husband (played by Brett Gelman), her father (played by Bill Paterson), her step mother/former godmother (played by Olivia Coleman), and a series of relationships and hook ups that she experiences throughout the show as sex is often a default for her to work through her problems.

The more charming moments are the ones between her and her sister Claire because they are vastly different and I get the feeling that a lot of people might identify or at least be able to recognize a similar dynamic between siblings in reality because this relationship is pretty well done.

But the relationship she has with her sister is where the idea that Fleabag is an unrelatable character doesn't really fly with me and it might have been the sibling relationship that helped me understand that early. Despite Fleabag being a rough around the edges character, you understand from the start that she cares about her sister, even when the relationship is cold. So I think above all, this was the relationship that I was the most interested in throughout.

The other characters are pretty fun, especially Olivia Coleman. She's been an actress I've always seen in shows, especially making appearances in British shows, before but it wasn't until recently that she started getting larger parts and being allowed to really shine and I'm really glad that's the case because she is a treasure.

One thing that might turn some audiences off is the emphasis on Fleabag's sex life as it does play a pretty big role in the show. The subject matter is pretty mature. Now I think a lot of it is funny and there's probably something to be said about the female experience as this was a show that Waller-Bridge wrote based off of her personal experience as a woman living in London so in my opinion its done well. But part of Amazon's new push to make a dent in streaming programs is to go no holds bar with their content like this and The Boys, so just a fair warning, if you're not entertained by a lot of sex jokes, Fleabag might not be for you.

I guess you might be wondering at this point what, if anything is the big criticism I have of this show and the truth is, outside of the unevenness of the fourth wall jokes, there wasn't a whole lot to complain about this show. But I guess the biggest note I have is how much it just didn't make much of an impression on me.

This might be totally an issue of personal preference but the main reason I stuck around with this show for the whole season was because the episodes were so digestibly short and there were only 6 of them. To me, it felt more like a three hour long movie rather than a TV show and one that I enjoyed, but probably wouldn't come back to just because its not my personal preference.

Now I have read some things that say that Season 1 is a little uneven and it really ramps up in season 2, so don't be surprised if one of these days I get bored and a Season 2 review pops up. But the emphasis is, if I get bored. I didn't not like the show, but I didn't enjoy it enough to keep going, despite seeing a lot of things I can say technically make the show well written. Overall, I can't give a full endorsement of the show because it just wasn't my preference. It might be yours though, and if it sounds interesting to you, I'd say go for it!

Have you seen Fleabag? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for TV shows and films 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!

The Boys (Season 1)

Are you looking for subtlety? A world that isn't poking fun and itself and super hero fandom in almost every shot? Are you looking for something that is timeless and will age wonderfully? Are you looking for a world that makes you feel hopeful and one that isn't gratuitously violent? Well The Boys might not be the show for you.

Honestly, it makes sense that something like The Boys would come around sooner or later. With the over-saturation of super hero films in the zeitgeist, and the immense lucrative popularity of Deadpool poking fun at it, it makes sense that we would get a show that essentially has the tag line, Superheroes are bad and we're going to kill them in this show.

The Boys takes place in a world where not only do superheroes exist, they're mainstream celebrities with endorsement deals, sponsors, managers, and all the trimmings of celebrities you can think of.

Seriously, one of the truly impressive things about this show is how built out the world is. Vought, the corporation that sponsors the main Justice-League-like team in this world, The Seven, is a really well developed company whose sole business is the marketing and managing of super heroes, but it goes beyond that. Superheroes are integrated into politics, into religion, into culture. Superheroes not only fight crime but they star in their own superhero films. Vought is a not so heavy handed analogy for what Marvel, and in turn, what Disney would be if Iron Man and Captain America were real people. The company is figure headed in the show by the Vice President, Madelyn Stillwell (played by Elizabeth Shue)

I'm sure part of that is shown in the comics, but as per usual, I haven't read that so I wouldn't know. Overall, the attempt at realism is so succinct that its almost obnoxious, but it makes for a really funny and really dark scenario for the premise of the show. I'll get to the obnoxious part of this show in a little bit.

The show mainly centers on Hughie Campbell (played by Jack Quaid), who after a horrific tragedy involving his girlfriend and a Flash-like superhero named A-Train (played by Jessie T. Usher), he is recruited by a mysterious British rogue named Billy Butcher (played by Karl Urban) to take vengeance on A-Train and all the super heroes that have caused damage to both of them and others.

At the same time, a young woman named Annie (played by Erin Moriarty) lives in Iowa with her mother (played by Ann Cusack) and has been training to use her super powers of super light(?) to go to audition after audition with the hopes of joining The Seven. In the first episode, she gets her wish and is brought into the ranks of the elite superhero team. But she quickly figures out that superheroes are more celebrity than heroes and that unearths the dark underbelly of the super hero celebrity life style that happens to look a lot like the celebrity underbelly that exists today...

Yeah, within the first five minutes of meeting this character, probably within five minutes of starting this show, you can probably guess what kind of social commentary its trying to make on the world we live in and they are not subtle about it, AT ALL.

In fact nothing about this show is subtle. The show goes out of its way every episode to hold on the rating warning of the show because it has large amounts of blood, gore, violence, sex, nudity, etc. It's tackling some really mature subject matter and they don't hold back any punches.

The problem is, its kind of predictable because the show is almost trying too hard to be the darkest thing you can imagine.

If you heard that they were making a dark show about superheroes and how they're pretty much like celebrities, the first things that would pop in your mind are probably correct, and if they're not, they probably will be in season two. The first 10 minutes was me saying, WE GET IT YOUR DARK!

It's not all bad. The show is pretty funny, and I have a dark sense of humor so I didn't not have fun with it. I think one of the better comparisons would be with RoboCop. It's saying something about corporatism, greed, and too much power concentrated in one place. I suppose if you're going to make that message and you have no holds bar to go as gruesome and mature as you want, why not right? I just think there were a couple of times where somebody could have pumped the brakes and said, less is more.

But talking about the good things about the show is not hard because there is a lot this show does right. It's obvious that the superhero characters are parodies of the known superheroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, etc. And it would have been really easy to keep things surface level just for the laughs. I mean there is a Batman-like character named Black Noir which literally means black black and I find that hilarious.

But instead, the show does a pretty good job diving into the psychology of these heroes and why they ended up the way they are. Even the characters you find despicable, the show takes the time for the audience to get to know them a little bit better and at the very least, you can laugh at their pain.

I do think one of the real accomplishments of this show is how much the world feels lived in. For how much it is for sure a parody, it takes the time to develop a world where Superheroes exist and how they would affect culture.For example, the Superman analogy in this show is called Homelander (played by Antony Star) and he is probably what would happen if you bred Superman and Captain America together and he was an asshole. He becomes this symbol of the American way of life that is very comic book-y but still manages to be intimidating. When Homelander is on screen, its like Darth Vader with an Oedipus complex, but you can imagine what he would mean to America if this was the world we knew. The best example I can think of is if the movie Bright were turned into a TV series, but better. Again, nothing subtle about it, but I don't think its supposed to be.

The cast is great. The show doesn't feel overly star studded and they use that to their advantage. I think they casted a bunch of unknowns to prop them up as celebrities in this world in order to fill it out more.

The two people with the most real life clout are Karl Urban (who is just down right charming), and Elizabeth Shue, and even then, I don't think most people consider those two to be A-List celebrities.

I realized after I finished the show that it is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and suddenly a lot makes sense. I did feel like the over the top gore and mature content reminded me a lot of one of their other projects Future Man and if I had known that Rogen and Goldberg were behind all this from the start I think I would have shifted my mindset instead of having it shifted for me.

On a side note, Hugie is the exact same character from Future Man, a nerdy 20 something white dude who never got out of his parents basement until the events of the show, but does he sure have a heart of gold.

For the most part, I enjoyed him and Annie's relationship. The show does a half way decent job providing a humble beginning for their relationship and there is a bit of chemistry between of two that makes it charming enough.

I don't think either Jack Quaid or Erin Moriarty are particularly strong actors, but I think the writing really helps them and they do a good job working with a script that is pretty clever.

The person who is clearly having the most fun is Karl Urban. I was worried he was just going to be the leader with the trench coat, but I often forget how talented that guy is.

I obviously can't speak to the accuracy of the characters or the story to the comic book because again, I have not read the comic books but I think they did a good job with everyone.

Other stand outs would be Elizabeth Shue who seems to be acting the hell out of this show, as well as Antony Star and Dominique McElligott who plays the Wonder-Woman analogy, Queen Maeve. They do a really good job establishing these characters relationships and how they've been members of this celebrity super hero community for a while. I imagine they'll explore that more in season 2, but they do a good job establishing relationships and building upon them throughout the vents of the season.

By the way, Simon Pegg is in the show but he's in a criminally underutilized role. You have Simon Pegg, you don't put him as the main characters dad who doesn't do anything, what're you doing Amazon?

When it comes to the downsides of this show, I've already mentioned a few times that the show lacks any kind of subtlety, and that makes for some pretty cringe worthy episodes, especially episode 5 where they delve into religion. Woof.

I think my main issue with the lack of subtlety in this show is how of the moment it feels. Yes, topics like Me Too, Superheroes, Corporate vertical integration, social media craze, even propaganda in the name of national security are all really good topics to talk about, but I get the feeling that this is all going to feel a little dated for anybody who watches this 20-30 years from now.

Yes, issues like sexual harassment/assault are probably (unfortunately) going to continue to be an issue in the future, but like a lot of parody, its parodying the trends and topics of the moment. It might seem relevant now, but I don't see it remaining timeless.

I'll probably mention one more compliment before I get to the closing because I've noticed that other shows on Amazon Prime have a problem of pacing but they're starting to understand which moments they can rest on and which ones they don't need to. I would say the only episode that had Amazon pacing was episode two. I imagine it was more background information, but after episode 2, the season really picks up.

I guess my overall thoughts on The Boys is that I was entertained by it. Its off kilter enough for me to feel like my viewing experience was very different than other shows I've seen in the past. Pretty sure I said the same thing about Future Man and it applies to the Boys. It's got protagonists and villains that are a little different than what you'd really expect, and they're playing around in a developed and funny world.

My biggest issue is that at the end of the day, the show just feels like its capitalizing on the trends and zeitgeist of the moment. I don't think its saying anything too profound, nor is it really saying anything that hasn't been said before.

Its true, we've been doing superheroes for a while. It is overplayed. There is a reason why movies like Deadpool, and even this show, are pretty popular. When we've been saturated with a certain zeitgeist for so long, I think we definitely need something off kilter to point and laugh at how seriously we've taken something like the MCU, or superheroes in general. I think Deadpool hit the iron when it was its hottest... in 2014. Since then the new thing is to combine this parody mentality of superheroes, something that's already starting to feel overplayed, and combine it with social commentary.

Are a lot of the criticisms and messages in The Boys timely and necessary? Yes. I think when you play through the thought exercise, corporatized superheroes can be a good parallel for a lot of things like sleazy Hollywood execs being at best creeps, and at worst rapists. And The Boys seemed to have the budget and latitude to take on these subjects with no holds bar.

But I think when people talk about about super hero fatigue, we all thought it was going to come in the form of people not going to super hero films anymore. Instead its just manifested into a self-hatred counter culture that shits anything good that has come out of properties like super heroes. It categorizes someone being passionate about their interests as being toxic, and while there is something to be said about toxic fandom, there is nothing wrong with people enjoying something pop culture that has wide spread appeal. Everything is so cynical now that even after watching this whole season and enjoying it, there's still something about it that turns me off because its so overt.

At this point I feel like I'm rambling so I'm going to wrap this up. The Boys has a lot of things going for it, while at the same time being about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. I enjoyed watching it and I'll probably watch the second season, but there is a little bit of a love hate relationship as I spent the majority of the show feeling like I was being knocked over the head with the messages and commentary on a lot of things that won't be as relevant in 20 years.

Its a good show for the moment and as it is still in "the moment" its worth checking out. But the more we move away from the topics this show is commenting on, the more its just going to feel dated.

But what did you think? Have you read the comics? How does the show compare? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as requests for other 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!

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season 2 and 3)

So my original plan was to do a season review for each season and talk about the individual elements of each season that I liked and what I disliked. However, I blasted through this series so quickly that it just feels like I'm going for quantity over quality. There are some pretty good things to talk about when it comes to each season and I'm going to try and dive into that as best as I can, but looking back, I do think that season 1 of this show is a great introduction, while Season 2 and 3 take that introduction and go into absolutely amazing places with it.

So the end of Season 1 has Midge Maisel (played still by Rachel Brosnahan) with a budding career in stand up comedy that is still on shaky ground after she blasted famous comedian Sophie Lennon (played by Jane Lynch) and was black listed from a lot of the known clubs in New York.

At the start of the second season, she has been given another chance to start doing shows, but it is paired with some social drama of her mother (played by Marin Hinkle) fleeing to France after she believes she has nothing for her in New York, and her ex husband Joel (played by Michael Zegen) figuring out that she does stand up comedy. Suzie (played by Alex Borstein) is trying to get Midge in a position where she can do more shows and become more popular, but there are some personal and familial issues that get in the way of that becoming a reality.

And of all three seasons, the second is clearly the weakest of them.

It's not bad, there is a lot of interesting back and forth between Midge, her family, especially her father Abe (played by Tony Shaloub), as well as a complicated relationship with her ex-husband where there are clearly feelings there, but Midge is committed to leaving that old life behind her. That's mainly her arc of the second season, recognizing the life she's leaving behind with this new career and deciding whether or not that's the life she wants to lead or not.

A hefty portion of the season is spent in the Catskills, a Jewish summer getaway that her and her family have been going to for years, and I think if that was the entire season, it would have been a really strong season.

As it stands, the season kind of meanders a little bit. There's a string of time where they're at the Catskills and she's trying to enjoy her summer but all the while Suzy is trying to get her gigs. But on top of that she's also in New York for some of that time and she has to work, and try and become popular in spite of being black balled, and she goes on a tour, and then she's having relationship issues with both Joel and a new character, Benjamin played by Zachary Levi. It's all just kind of a lot to pack into one season. Whereas season 1 was her figuring out exactly what stand up is and how it might change her life, Season 2 kind of double dips and says, her life is changing, but it could also change more depending on her choices, and while some of it is good, some of it is kind of boring.

But one part that is done really well is the relationship between Midge and Suzie. I didn't talk about Suzie a whole lot in my first season review, not because she's bad, but because she definitely shines more in the subsequent season when they start developing her as a character.

You figure out more who she is, what her flaws are, and what the relationship with Midge means to her. And good lord is she funny. Alex Borstein has a background in comedy, from Mad TV to Family Guy, but in this she becomes very, VERY funny and she's honestly one of my favorite parts of the show. I'll talk more about her when I dive into Season 3 some more, but just know, she's definitely a highlight of the rest of the show.

Her parents continue to be a highlight as they start making changes in their own lives based on second and third tier consequences of Midge's decisions. Again, they're a great part of the show and are a testament to the brilliant writing.

And then there's Zachary Levi.

Let me be clear, Zachary Levi is actually really great in this show. He's a really likable character and at no point do you ever feel like he's a foil to Midge's progression. But the arc he plays in the show does create some noted problems with the character of Midge and the way the show structures its characters that are so good, its almost to their detriment.

Similar to Joel, Benjamin is a good guy. Moreso in fact and I think a lot of people are happy that he starts this relationship with Midge because they are good together. But at a certain point, especially if you know there's going to be a third season, you know this relationship isn't going to last, and its like a Chekov's gun waiting to go off, but you don't know how.

So I will give the show credit, the way the relationship does end does work to create a human element of Midge. She's not perfect, and the way that she deals with Benjamin is not great, and that comes to a cusp in the third season in a brilliantly done way. But it is an example of how this show creates situations that you kind of roll your eyes at and know they wouldn't be happening if the main character was just a little smarter in the decisions she makes.

Now to give the show some credit, I think it also works to its advantage to create a character that is incredibly likable, but also incredibly flawed. In a show that is about personal drama, it helps to have a complicated character that the audience can root for, but we know has flaws that are going to get her in trouble but she can learn from.

But it works towards the problems with Season 2 that a lot of the conflict seems manufactured and if certain things happened differently, a lot of those problems could be avoided.

But I'll say, a lot of those problems go away once Season 3 rolls along and while the second season took me a little longer than the previous season to get through, Season 3 went back to that high quality comedy and writing that I got from the first season and this time had a little bit more of a solid through line. So overall, Season 2 is the weakest, but it does build a lot of the foundation so Season 3 could absolutely knock it out of the park.

My theory is, the subject of season 3 was something the show runners wanted to eventually get to, that being Midge going on tour and becoming more and more popular as a stand up comic, but they knew that Season 1 didn't get them there, and they weren't totally sure how to get there with Season 2, so they kind of floundered with some ideas they knew would work for Midge still early in her career, then put it into twelfth gear with the third season.

The second season ends pretty dramatically with Midge being asked to go on tour to open for singer Shy Baldwin (played by Leroy McClain), breaking off the engagement, having a terse fling with Joel before she leaves (ugh), and her father leaving his stable employment turning the family upside down. But the biggest cliff hanger is that Suzie is asked by Sophie Lennon to be her manager and help her break into stage acting.

The third season is mainly her tour and getting to know the new life of living on the road and performing. Her and Suzie travel to many places around the country and build some really great relationship with the people on tour, including Shy Baldwin, his bass player Carole (played by Liza Weil), and Shy's manager Reggie (played by Sterling K Brown). Meanwhile, Sophie is preparing for her Broadway debut, playing opposite to a famous actor (played by Cary Elwes).

What I like about this show is that it doesn't really beleaguer the moments where characters who are friends have information that the other character doesn't know and might be upset if they did know. The best example of this is Suzie deciding she's going to be Sophie Lennon's manager. She doesn't hide that from Midge for longer than an episode and instead that knowledge becomes a part of their relationship and the drama of the show.

Speaking of which, this is where Suzie probably shines the most. She's dealing with Midge, and Reggie, and Sophie, and other elements that I won't get into because I don't want to spoil it and she's just hilarious throughout. But she also has some of the most dramatic moments in the show that just knock it out of the park. I'm pretty sure Alex Borstein won an Emmy for her role in this show and that makes me really happy because she definitely deserved it for this role. Jane Lynch is also really good for a character that showed up only a little bit in the first two seasons, she brings it in what is mostly a funny role but can also be pretty dramatic as well.

When it comes to Joel in the third season, it is a continuation of him going off and finding his own purpose in his life after he realizes that he's not going to be a stand up comedian, especially after he knows that he'll never be as good as Midge.

He puts himself into his work and his kids and actually becomes pretty successful, while at the same time, hoping one day he'll be able to forgive himself for the mistakes he's made in the past.

This is where the character becomes very relateable and difficult to tread, especially since he still has his moments where he's not very likable paired with the times that he is.

He decides to open a club in the third season and while its something that is really only starting in the third season, it actually keeps him as an engaged character in the show and someone that, while he's not my favorite character and he has flaws, he still feels intrical to the show.

A few minor notes, her parents end up going to live Joel's parents (played by Kevin Pollack and Caroline Aaron) which is actually pretty hilarious and, as stated before, Midge continues to meet a slew of characters.

This is more of a side note, but someone has to answer the question, why does everyone who watches this show absolutely love Lenny Bruce?

Lenny Bruce never seemed to me to be a serious character and not even close to being a romantic interest of Midge's and I really liked that. To me, he seemed like an almost spectral character who would show up, him and Midge would talk about stand up and relate, then he'd go away. He was steeped in mystery and that's what really worked about him. But for some reason, they allude to the possibility that Midge could have a romantic interest in him and I really have no interest in that whatsoever.

I am finding myself enjoying stories that are able to create good relationships between males and females that aren't sexual and I saw the relationship between Lenny Bruce and Midge as that for a while. And while they don't actually have sex, they definitely allude to the possibility of it happening in the future which I don't want. It's not gonna break the show if they do, but the more Lenny Bruce shows up, the more the mystery leaves and I don't like that. I like the character more than I like the possibility of there being a romantic relationship there.

The overall verdict on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is that it is probably one of the best shows on Amazon Prime at the moment. I have watched a couple of Amazon Prime shows now and the biggest problem I have with them is that they are incredibly dry and drag. No matter how much you say the first season of the Man in the High Castle is, I will still say, it's slow as hell and I didn't really enjoy that first season.

Maisel is the first show that I blew threw in a very short period of time and its because the show is impeccably well done. Is it perfect? No, but I would say it learns from its mistakes and even at its worst, its still a solid show that I wouldn't mind revisiting even in a couple months just to watch something calming and fun. Seriously, if you haven't watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, do yourself a favor and check it out on Amazon Prime.

But what do you think? Have you watched all of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? Are there other Prime shows that I am missing out on? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films and TV shows 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!

The Crown (Season 1)

So last year around this time, I started watching a lot of the movies on my Netflix list that I wanted to watch but never put the effort into watching with the goal of clearing out my queue. And while I probably still need to do that, I think my theme for the end of 2019 was to watch some of the shows that were on my watch list but I never got to for some reason or another. This, not surprisingly, is more difficult than movies because its anywhere from an 8 to 12 hour commitment at least to get through a full season of these shows. However, this year I focused on some really great shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Crown that that felt very attainable.

It might have been the recent royal drama that made me get into The Crown, not because I'm particularly interested in the domestic drama, its more a curiosity as to why other people are so interested in it. When a royal wedding happens, I couldn't really care less about it but a lot of people do and I wanted to investigate that a little bit.

The first season of The Crown follows the story of soon to be Queen Elizabeth II (played by Claire Foy) in the years following World War 2. In the first episode, she marries Prince Phillip (played by Matt Smith) and it starts the course towards her eventually becoming Queen in the wake of her father, King George VI's (played by Jared Harris) death.

Obviously, the show is a historical drama taking from the actual life of Elizabeth and Phillip throughout the latter part of the 20th century at a time where Great Britain's role in the world was changing. I found a lot of entertainment in this because I have a distinct interest in history and politics. But where The Crown really shines is how its able to stay above the fray when it could easily delve into the melodrama of the privileged monarchy that a lot of shows devolve into. While relationships and scandal are involved in the history of the monarchy in Great Britain and there probably are some liberties taken with the show, I feel like the show is trying to say something greater than just the scandal, instead its trying to make a point on the history of Great Britain and the political system that is the monarchy, without going too deep into the House of Cards, everything is awful motif.

This is really where Claire Foy shines because from the beginning, she starts off as a young Queen learning the ropes of this antiquated system that has years of baggage and political gridlock that makes it what it is at the time.

There's a really interesting history lesson to be had in this show and Elizabeth is actually a really great vehicle for that. While she's grown up in this world, she's learning it at a similar rate that we are while at the same time transforming from this naive new monarch to a really popular one that is on the path to greatness by the end.

While there is an overarching arc for all the characters throughout the season, the use of time really makes each episode its own 1 hour movie accounting the early life of Elizabeth in her early years as Queen of England, returning to her and other characters who have their own motivations. But again, nothing feels gratuitous or necessarily down right evil, everyone just has their own view of the world and how they view the monarchy. Sure the vehicle is thrown Elizabeth, but everyone has their own view and individual episodes delve into individual characters.

A crowning (no pun intended) example of how those episodes of this season are done well is the performance of John Lithgow as an aging Winston Churchill at the end of his time as Prime Minister of Great Britain.

The use of his character as a former war hero in a changing environment like Great Britain in the fifties is done masterfully throughout the season, but mostly in the 9th episode "Assassins". It's a slow burn, but it gives a great look into a man who was once the Father of Great Britain deciding on what his legacy is going to be and when its time to call it quits. Its an underlying theme of his throughout the season, but it comes to a head masterfully in the 9th episode.

Lithgow is actually the one outlier in this show as the majority of the cast is made up of really prominent British actors playing these larger than life historical figures with incredible realism. I'm not sure why Lithgow was the only American tapped to play such a huge figure in British history, but he does a great job.

Another stand out is Matt Smith as Prince Phillip, the husband to Elizabeth. I think he has a really interesting role as the husband to a woman who is expected to be this larger than life figure. I wonder how much of my liking to this character was to the fact that he's played by Matt Smith, a former Doctor, and how much of it was due to his performance which is really good, but he is a complicated character that isn't boring in his enduring support, but complicated in that he loves his wife, but wants his individuality and his freedom to live as he pleases, something that is not permitted for someone of his status. He and other characters underline the underlying tone of the tradition versus modernity. Furthermore, the show takes an in-depth look at the internal struggle between duty and love with three really good examples, one of them is Phillip, the other is Princess Margret, (played by Vanessa Kirby)

Vanessa Kirby plays Elizabeth's sister, a person I didn't know existed who has a pretty complicated history and relationship to the monarchy. A big plot point of the series is her relationship to her late-father's personal attendant Peter Townsend (played by Ben Miles).

This of course is paired with her and Elizabeth's uncle, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII (played by Alex Jennings) who abdicated his responsibilities as king, passing it onto Elizabeth and Margaret's father and changing their lives forever.

These end up being some of the juiciest and more interesting parts of the series because they highlight the systemicness of the monarchy and how rigid the rules are, both out of historical precedent, as well as being utilized by older establishment forces to maintain the status quo.

Some of my favorite moments of the first season was watching these characters being torn between the love they have for people, and the love they have for their country and their family.

I feel like Alex Jennings does a phenomenal job of that, especially in the fifth episode where Elizabeth is crowned Queen and the mini movie focuses a lot on the former King and the alienation from the family due to his desire to marry the woman he loves.

What sets The Crown apart from other shows is how grand and important it feels. Whether its the music, performances, or the historical themes questioning tradition versus modernity. It starts to ask the question, what is the role of an antiquated system like the monarchy in a changing world like the one that existed after World War 2. And while there are mentioned of how the world is changing, I never get the feeling that any of the characters really know how the world is going to end up in the next half century and how the system they've known for centuries is going to change.

The show does take a little bit to get going, especially as you're trying to ascertain who everyone is. Who is married to who, who is related to who, who has what job, etc, it does get a little bit confusing at the beginning. But it is a good history lesson on a subject I don't think a lot of Americans know about, without succumbing to the melodrama that might come with a royal family drama. It is also pretty dry. There's no high stakes action, a lot of the drama comes from politics and the look we get into the system of the British Monarchy, so just be prepared to slog through some British jargon and politics.

I think the appeal of this show is how these historical events and larger than life historical characters are going to be portrayed in a live action medium, but I think the success of The Crown is more than that.

Anybody can dress up like the Queen of England or Winston Churchill, its a lot different if you can connect to these characters and understand what they're going through, and I think The Crown does it very well. It brings to life a piece of history and it does it well. I can't speak to the accuracy, but if you want accuracy, watch a documentary. I feel like The Crown gives the subject entertainment value, while at the same time keeping it dignified when it could easily be exploited for the sex and drama that usually comes out of a show like this. While that is definitely implied, The Crown feels like character studies more than anything and an entertaining history lesson on an institution I think a lot of people don't understand.

But those are my thoughts on Season 1 of The Crown. If anything, this show has made me want to buy the Hans Zimmer theme song on Itunes because it is awesome. Comment and Discuss below what you enjoyed or didn't enjoy about The Crown. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for other TV shows or 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!

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season 1)

So weird story, but when Rachel Brosnahan hosted SNL after her success in this show earlier last year, I, having not watched the show yet, only knew her as the prostitute from House of Cards. Fast forward a year later, after watching the first season, I had totally forgot that she played that role in House of Cards and only see as Mrs. Maisel now. It's great how a role can change things so quickly.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel follows the story of Miriam "Midge" Maisel (played by Rachel

Brosnahan). She is an upper class Jewish housewife living with her husband, Joel (played by Michael Zegan) in 1958 New York City. From the start, Midge is a powerhouse woman. She takes care of their two kids, is active with her friends and family, is incredibly charismatic, never balking at an opportunity to talk and make people laugh, and most important, presents herself as the perfect wife to her husband who is a business man wanting to break into stand up comedy.

However, after one bad night at the comedy club, Joel reveals to Midge that he's having an affair and that he is leaving her, very, VERY abruptly. I'll talk a little bit more about this when I dive a little deeper into the character of Joel, but this break up seems to come out of no where in the season premiere episode. I'm not saying its bad, especially since it is the catalyst for the entire driving effort of the show, but it does seem very odd, even after you finish the first season.

Anyway, after drinking a good amount of wine, Midge goes back to the comedy club where her husband had bombed that night and she goes on what she thinks is just a drunken rant, but actually turns out being a really strong and funny stand up set.

It's noticed by the manager of the club, Suzie (played by Alex Borstein) and she convinces Midge that she has the potential to be a really great stand up comedian.

The rest of the season is Midge working with Suzie to develop her stand up skills and routines while at the same time trying to hide her new secret life from her family and friends, including her husband, her quirky father, Abe (played by Tony Shalub), and her overbearing mother, Rose (played by Marin Hinkle).

And overall its a pretty fun ride.

If you have read this blog in the past, you might notice that this show is definitely not in the usual wheelhouse of shows I watch. And obviously, it didn't appeal to me when it first came out. It wasn't that it looked bad, it just didn't jump to the top of my watch list. I'm usually not the type who will watch a show about people just going about their every day life without some kind of high speed action, magical additions, or something strange going on. I just haven't really enjoyed shows about every day life, even if its set in the 1950's. The closest equivalent was Mad Men and I didn't even get through all of that because my interest faded after a binge of the first four seasons.

But there is just something calming about Maisel that makes it a really funny and relaxing show to watch. It's not like there is no drama, and I will talk about the stand up element of the show, but even the drama in the show is just a little bit different because its drenched in smart comedy, unique characters, and helped by the fact that you love all these characters, especially Mrs. Maisel herself.

The most interesting thing about Midge Maisel is that in this show, she is essentially a super hero. By day she goes about her business, taking care of her kids, balancing her family and work. But at night instead of fighting crime, her super power is stand up comedy because the stand up sets she and the other comics she meets are really good.

One thing I will say about that is that it feels like the comedy is funnier when its a character you like. I think I always found Midge's stand up really funny because I was invested in her character and I wanted to see her succeed. And I would bet that they put a lot more work into her stand up sets than the other people who show up for one bit and we never see them again.

One other thing that I'll say about the stand up is that they slightly indicate that the show is going to go beyond her doing stand up and instead delving into a feminist political speaking out message. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to the female empowerment message of the show, but there is a difference between her doing stand up for the purpose of making people laugh, and delving into a Nanette style stream of consciousness about how much life sucks. There is a time and place for that, and the show does well enough spreading a message of empowerment just through the journey of this character, the fact that Midge's stand up makes me laugh and isn't just blatant, "WOMEN ARE POWERFUL" actually makes the message stronger in my opinion.

But the other reason this show is so calming is just how low the stakes really are, but how high they feel in the eyes of our main character.

Tony Shalub and Marin Hinkle are just brilliant as these quirky Jewish parents and there is so much to love about the dynamic the two of them have but also the relationship they have with their daughter. Midge clearly loves them a lot, but the relationship is often strained because of what they expect of her and how that contradicts with what she ends up wanting for herself.

I have since binge watched the second and third season so maybe this is coming from a wholistic view of the series all together, but it is so great seeing how much Midge changes from the beginning of season one to the end of it, while at the same time maintaining the persona and vibe that you fall in love with at the beginning of the show. I believe all these characters are related and that's part of why the situations that they get into are so funny.

But I think another element of why the show is good is that it continues to highlight the humanity in characters in any other show we would absolutely hate and that's shown in the character of Joel Maisel perfectly.

Joel is a really complicated character because at the beginning of the show, there isn't a whole lot to like about him. He's selfish, he's short sighted in his seemingly perfect relationship with Midge, and he just comes off as this privileged guy saying woe as me.

But even in the first season, I didn't totally hate him and that's probably because you figure out pretty quickly that Midge doesn't hate him, not completely. They still try to make the relationship of parents to their children work and their families are so close that its impossible not to be involved in each others lives.

I'll probably talk about Joel more in the review(s) I do for the subsequent seasons, but I think it's most prevalent in the first season when I say Joel is the despised spouse in a TV show.

The best example of this is Skyler White from Breaking Bad. There was so much vitriolic hate towards her when Breaking Bad was running that people eventually started feeling bad for the actress who played her because her character that she put a lot of work into was so despised.

There is definitely a conversation to be held about the differences between Skyler White and Joel Maisel, especially on how they're treated based on their gender, but I think there are a lot of interesting similarities, mostly that the show both paints him as this privileged douche but also it makes him an interesting character with hopes, dreams, and ambitions that happen to contradict that of the main protagonist that we probably are rooting for more.

Again, the show never definitively says that Joel is a bad guy, even though I initially thought they were going to. He causes harm to Midge and its easy to call him a little bitch boy, but is still a sympathetic character with an intriguing part of this series, especially in the later seasons.

I'm going to cut this review a little short because I feel like there is a lot more to say about the show with a full series as it stands review, which will be coming soon, but I wanted to create a review for this first season to say that I blasted through this season in a day because it was so funny, so interesting, and so captivating, whether its through the characters, the plot, or just the art of stand up comedy that I find myself interested in from the get go.

If you haven't started The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the first season is a great introduction to this character and the world she and her family lives in. A lot of shows I've been watching take a little bit to get into but Maisel hooked me from the start and I'm not really surprised that me viewing the seasons of the show overtook my review writing. Its a surprise for Amazon which has previously had shows that feel like they drag on and are slow as hell. Maisel maintains the same quality, but keeps me engaged from the start. I highly, HIGHLY recommend Mrs. Maisel and I'll probably be writing more about it in the future.

But those are my thoughts, what did you think of the first season of Mrs. Maisel? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for TV shows or 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!