It's been another week of hopping around trying out new things. The only show I completed was the Netflix Christmas film a merry little EX-MAS. That's only because it's all of a piece, and the others are multi-part or ongoing series.
a merry little EX-MAS (Netflix)
This is the only new to me Christmas movie I've found so far while hopping around services I've wanted to watch. It's a romantic comedy, and manages to be sweet and funny.
Kate (Alicia Silverstone) has just inked the divorce papers from her town doctor spouse Everett (Oliver Hudson). She gave up the life she really should have had in New York as an architect to move to a small town to be with him, and now wonders if it was a mistake. The kids are grown and don't need her, she feels, so she secretly plans to sell her perfect gingerbread cozy house after Christmas and pick up where she left off.
Her spouse Everett has already moved on with Tess (Jameela Jamil), to Kate's surprise. While preparing for Christmas she meets Chet (Pierson Fode), a good looking, way too young fop who follows her around like a puppy. Once both of the new romantic interests are in play, things get complex with friends and family. Worth watching just for the house they call "The Mother Ship".
A Man On The Inside Season 2 (Ep 1-3) (Netflix)
Charles finds himself pretending to be a visiting engineering professor at a local college this season. A laptop with key information has been stolen, and there are plenty of suspects. Charles is accepted into the academic community easily.
One of his suspects is a music professor near his age played by real life wife Mary Steenburgen. He's smitten almost immediately, and she seems taken with him as well.
Quite a bit of time is spent on his boss Julia's estrangement from her very crooked mother, whom she consults on cases nonetheless.
I've just watched the first three episodes, but season two feels lacking the humor and pathos of season one. So far!
A Murder At The End of the World (Hulu) (eps 1 and 2)
Author and hacker Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) is the daughter of a coroner. She's obsessed with crime scenes and serial killers, particularly those involving girls who just disappeared or who were found and were difficult to identify.
As a teen, she meets Bill (Harris Dickinson) online. He shares her obsessions, and they eventually meet and work on some crime solutions together. One night at the abandoned home of a serial killer, they're exploring in the basement, and then he's there. This, and apparently Darby, scare Bill, and they don't speak again till six years later when they're both invited to the home of a super wealthy tech giant. He's invited eight people to his retreat in a remote location in Iceland.
One of them is Bill, who she still has feelings for, though it isn't clear if he feels the same.
When there's a murder, Darby uses all of her investigative and hacking skills to find the killer.
I just watched the first two episodes, but will watch the rest. While the first episode was intense and compelling, the second episode seemed slow, with a great deal of screen time focused on Darby's face as she pondered and typed. I found myself looking at her pink hair which seemed to change color in every scene.
High Potential (Hulu Season 1, eps. 1-5)
While reading the most recent forum posts of Elspeth's Reddit, someone commented that High Potential was another show where the character had a really out of this world wardrobe. I've got to say, Elspeth's wardrobe often seems as if she escaped clown school, but High Potential's Morgan Gillory is rocking a completely different clothing inspiration.
Morgan Gillory has a stated IQ of 160, but she's working at the LAPD nights as a janitor. She has authority issues, and can't stop telling people things perhaps they don't want to know. She has three kids, a teen girl Ava who is having issues, a 10 year old boy Elliot who is her mirror intellectually and personality wise, and a baby Chloe who has the best smiles. Any scene with Morgan and these kids is worth the price of admission.
When she accidentally knocks over files in the Major Crimes office, she glances at the crime scene pictures as she's picking them up, then looks at the murder board above her and makes a correction to the board.
This makes the detectives crazy the next morning and they demand to know who messed with the board. Morgan informs them of their mistake based on what she has seen, pointing out in the photos things that don't add up. It's something we see all the time these days, the brilliant mind that processes thing faster and differently. They could solve the crime in a trice if you listened to them.
Lieutenant Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) wants to give Mallory a chance to help with cases as a consultant, and agrees to a raise from her janitor salary, daycare funds, and a promise to look into the disappearance 15 years ago of her first husband.
Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) isn't happy at all being paired with this off the wall "consultant" who knows nothing of police work or methods.
I watched five straight episodes, so clearly I liked the show.
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