"Circe" by Madeline Miller

This book, by very young Madeline Miller, is a wonder.  Beautifully lyric and literary, it is still accessible.  And it does for the Greek myths what Marion Zimmer Bradley did for the Arthurian legend with "Mists of Avalon".  "Circe" takes the feminine point of view and an epic tale and make them human and relatable.  Circe is a child, a young woman, a girlfriend, an outcast, a lover, a parent.  Her life spans centuries but the ache she feels, the distance and loneliness, is real.  She becomes a fully fledged woman by the end but we travel the road with her, seeing the growing pains and the sacrifices.  She is not perfect but she is like us.  We celebrate each step towards her self actualization.  It is one of those books I didn't mind reading slowly because I didn't want it to end.  When it did end, I cried.  Just a bit.  It was the only ending which would bring peace.  Brava.

Oh, Canada

Very few network shows, and a growing number of streaming shows, are filmed in the United States.  More than 60% of what you watch these days is filmed in ... Canada.  Which explains a lot.  But first, the list of projects filmed in Canada.

On ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX

High Potential
Watson
Tracker
Fire Country
The Hunting Party
Found
The Irrational
Brilliant Minds
Doc
Murder in a Small Town

Almost all Hallmark and CW shows are filmed in Canada, as well as streaming shows like Handmaid’s Tale, The Boys, all of the new Star Treks.  Shows on AMC, TNT and others, like the recently departed (pun intended) “What We Do in the Shadows” are also filmed there.  It’s a long list.

So, why?

1.        It’s cheaper.

2.        Canada is wide open – fewer roads to shut down, more places to film with a lot less people.

3.        Canada is diverse.  It can look like places in the US.

4.        It’s not that far away.  Toronto to NYC is only an hour and a half by air, Vancouver to LA is 3 hours. 

5.        Seasons.  Canada is suffering from climate change a tad less than we are.  If you need snow, they have it.  If you need a real Spring, as opposed to a couple of cool weeks, you are good.  And in the Summer, you have a LOT of daylight.

Does it lower the quality of the shows? 

Depends on your tastes.  Lead actors (some of whom are from the US) are just as good, if not better.  They are just a little less famous.  The actors generally look more human and less like runway models and semaglutide addicts.  Diversity with the actors is just like here, but you see more Asians and fewer Hispanics.  My issue (and it is just my issue) – some of the “day player” actors (those who appear in a single scene, for instance) – can be a tad weak.  Canada just doesn't have as deep a pool of actors to draw from, and it shows.  There is also a subtle thing about storytelling.  The Canada “vibe” comes out now and then … a little lower key, a little darker … than in US produced shows.  That’s not a bad thing, but it is palpable (to me anyway). 

So grab your poutine and your remotes and settle in.  This trend, tariffs or not, is likely to stick around.

And the Award Goes to ...

And here we are again.  SAG Awards, 2025.  Below, my thoughts and my votes.

FILMS:  “Meh”.  Beautiful filming but few, if any, films which raised the bar.  Favorites included women-forward films like “Emilia Perez” and “The Last Showgirl”.  There were tired themes done well – cognitive decline in “The Great Lillian Hall” and another musician biopic where the women are set pieces in “A Complete Unknown”.  There were creepy-as-hell films, “The Substance” and “The Piano Lesson”.  Clever films which made you think, like “The Brutalist”, “Conclave” and “A Real Pain”.  “Sing Sing” brought tears aplenty.  At least one film I loathed, “Anora” (it ran rampant on my feminist sensibilities) and the sparkly fun of “Wicked”.  But nothing which rocked the boat.  Films which made an impact but nothing that said, “Wow”.  A so-so year for so-so times.

This year’s nominees in the STREAMING/TELEVISION category were … bleak.  But not bleak like in past years, where themes of death and loss have prevailed.  Bleak as in film noir.  Dark.  Violent.  Depraved.  Ugly.  I swear, if I heard “psychological thriller” or “true crime” one more time, I was going to hurl.  There is a morose malaise which filters through nearly every project.  Can’t say I enjoyed many of them, including the comedies. Even some of the so-called funny stuff had an “edge” (although “Nobody Wants This” was charming).  There was just a prevailing sense of hopelessness and few characters you really wanted to succeed.  Not my speed.  I will say, however, that almost universally, the “filmmaking” aspect of the shows was extremely high.  “Ripley”, “True Detective:  Night Country”, “The Penguin”, “Baby Reindeer”, “Disclaimer” and “Under the Bridge” were nothing if not artful and beautifully brought to screen.  In the end there was only one drama which truly drew me in.  “Shogun”.  It is a cinematic masterpiece with Shakespearean overtones.  A showcase for brilliant actors.  A sensitive and layered script.  I had put off watching it because I knew there were lengthy subtitles, but once I started in, I could not turn away.  Paradoxically, it is large screen in concept and yet humbling and very real in execution.  These aren’t characters, they are people.  Are there bad guys?  Sure.  But every single role is multi-dimensional.  There are no simple reasons for anyone’s behavior.  There are even laughs now and then, as there are in real life.  Colonialism is dealt with realistically while the Japanese culture is respected and put at the forefront.  I would hesitate to say that this treatment of the famous Clavell novel is about the conqueror.  It is about the nation he stumbles into and the people trying to make the best of bad hands.  Worth the time.  And the tears.

Deciding on my votes was difficult.  In some cases, there was an overabundance of choices, in other cases no choices at all.  Below are the ones I settled on.

The Motion Picture Nominees are:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
ADRIEN BRODY / László Tóth - "THE BRUTALIST"
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET / Bob Dylan - "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN"
DANIEL CRAIG / William Lee - "QUEER"
COLMAN DOMINGO / Divine G - "SING SING"
RALPH FIENNES / Lawrence - "CONCLAVE"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
PAMELA ANDERSON / Shelly - "THE LAST SHOWGIRL"
CYNTHIA ERIVO / Elphaba - "WICKED"
KARLA SOFÍA GASCÓN / Emilia/Manitas - "EMILIA PÉREZ"
MIKEY MADISON / Ani - "ANORA"
DEMI MOORE / Elisabeth - "THE SUBSTANCE" 

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
JONATHAN BAILEY / Fiyero - "WICKED"
YURA BORISOV / Igor - "ANORA"
KIERAN CULKIN / Benji Kaplan - "A REAL PAIN"
EDWARD NORTON / Pete Seeger - "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN"
JEREMY STRONG / Roy Cohn - "THE APPRENTICE"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
MONICA BARBARO / Joan Baez - "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN"
JAMIE LEE CURTIS / Annette - "THE LAST SHOWGIRL"
DANIELLE DEADWYLER / Berniece - "THE PIANO LESSON"
ARIANA GRANDE / Galinda/Glinda - "WICKED"
ZOE SALDAÑA / Rita - "EMILIA PÉREZ"

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
ANORA
CONCLAVE
EMILIA PÉREZ
WICKED

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
DUNE: PART TWO
THE FALL GUY
GLADIATOR II
WICKED

The Television Program Nominees are:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
JAVIER BARDEM / Jose Menendez - "MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ STORY"
COLIN FARRELL / Oz Cobb - "THE PENGUIN"
RICHARD GADD / Donny - "BABY REINDEER"
KEVIN KLINE / Stephen Brigstocke - "DISCLAIMER"
ANDREW SCOTT / Tom Ripley - "RIPLEY"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
KATHY BATES / Edith Wilson - "THE GREAT LILLIAN HALL"
CATE BLANCHETT / Catherine Ravenscroft - "DISCLAIMER"
JODIE FOSTER / Det. Elizabeth Danvers - "TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY"
LILY GLADSTONE / Cam Bentland - "UNDER THE BRIDGE"
JESSICA GUNNING / Martha - "BABY REINDEER"
CRISTIN MILIOTI / Sofia Falcone - "THE PENGUIN"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
TADANOBU ASANO / Kashigi Yabushige - "SHŌGUN"
JEFF BRIDGES / Dan Chase - "THE OLD MAN"
GARY OLDMAN / Jackson Lamb - "SLOW HORSES"
EDDIE REDMAYNE / The Jackal - "THE DAY OF THE JACKAL"
HIROYUKI SANADA / Yoshii Toranaga - "SHŌGUN"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
KATHY BATES / Madeline Matlock - "MATLOCK"
NICOLA COUGHLAN / Penelope Featherington - "BRIDGERTON"
ALLISON JANNEY / Vice President Grace Penn - "THE DIPLOMAT"
KERI RUSSELL / Kate Wyler - "THE DIPLOMAT"
ANNA SAWAI / Toda Mariko - "SHŌGUN"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ADAM BRODY / Noah Roklov - "NOBODY WANTS THIS"
TED DANSON / Charles Nieuwendyk - "A MAN ON THE INSIDE"
HARRISON FORD / Paul - "SHRINKING"
MARTIN SHORT / Oliver Putnam - "ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING"
JEREMY ALLEN WHITE / Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto - "THE BEAR"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
KRISTEN BELL / Joanne - "NOBODY WANTS THIS"
QUINTA BRUNSON / Janine Teagues - "ABBOTT ELEMENTARY"
LIZA COLÓN-ZAYAS / Tina - "THE BEAR"
AYO EDEBIRI / Sydney Adamu - "THE BEAR"
JEAN SMART / Deborah Vance - "HACKS"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

BRIDGERTONTHE DAY OF THE JACKAL
THE DIPLOMAT
SHŌGUN
SLOW HORSES

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY
THE BEAR
HACKS
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING
SHRINKING

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
THE BOYS
FALLOUT
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON
THE PENGUIN
SHŌGUN

 

"Leave the World Behind" by Rumaan Alam

Soon to be a Netflix series coming to you.  (Spoilers) I've read way (way, way, way) too many post-apocalyptic books.  This one was different.  It was the beginning of the apocalypse -- which isn't completely defined.  When the reality of the event becomes clear, the book is done.  In the meantime, we have explored racism, culture, privilege, family dynamics and ... a lot more.  It's a literary novel (finalist for the National Book Award) which is meandering, cerebral, maybe even a touch lazy in pacing.  It examines very normal people in extraordinary times.  There are few heroes here, but there aren't clear-cut villains, either..  Most of the reponses are ... well ... real.  The result, for me, was a tinge of sadness.  That when the worst comes, people don't rise above.  That's the lesson we always try to tell to children, that the good people run towards the fire.  This book makes it clear that such a take might be a fairytale.  The truth of calamity is complex and layered, and often not something which brings out our better natures.  Which left me feeling ... ?  I will be very interested in how a nuanced story like this translates onto the screen.

"Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee

(Spoilers) For lovers of "To Kill a Mockingbird" this is a hard pill to swallow.  Written before Mockingbird, which acts as a prequel to this tale, we see here an adult "Scout" returning to her hometown.  She has the experience so many of us have -- seeing our heroes with new eyes when nostalgia meets hard reality.  She (and the readers) see the flaws glossed over in Mockingbird.  It is a more nuanced tale.  Scout is trying to find her place in the world, and finding herself in the process.  She turns to her father, Atticus, only to find an aging man who is more racist than she ever imagined.  He believes in the law, but not in equality for Blacks.  The man she looked up to spouts replacement theory, talking about the "invasion" of mongrels. the book starts slowly but quickly becomes rich with the prose which made Harper Lee such a good writer.  Scout's internal dialog ebbs and flows with bits of conversation around her, weaving the story together like a tapestry.  There are lots of memorable and noteworthy quotes, many which are very applicable to today's America.  The book ends more with intellectualism than heart, however, and there are no clear answers.  "To Kill a Mockingbird" was a terrific lesson on our nation's dark history, but this book is a balancing note of where we went from there.

"Descendants"

This film was so innocuous I actually watched it twice, unaware of having seen it before when I watched it the second time.  While sweet and cute, it is also absolutely unmemorable.  It's a typical Disney film of late.  Decent, if not outstanding actors lost in a watercolor haze.  Songs are nice but not catchy.  Dialog is inoffensive, plotlines are gentle, the climax doesn't ... climax.  While the ingredients are there the end product is like a bread that doesn't rise.  It's okay.  Just not fabulous.  And not memorable.

"Deadpool and Wolverine"

Do I really need to review this?  I mean, everyone has seen it and it's just as brilliant, outrageous, gross, hysterically funny and rude as every other Deadpool movie, and maybe even more so.  Huge snaps to Ryan Reynolds who WERKS it, baby.  Everything, and I mean everything, from moment one is turned on its side and made fun of -- even the inevitable next spinoff hints.  One last word -- "dog".  'Nuff said.  Mic drop.

"Engaged by Christmas"

Finally.  I mean, it ain't Shakespeare, but there are a lot of positives here.  There is energy.  Sparkle.  Snappy dialog.  They veer from the "formula" just enough.  And the lead actress, Brittany Bristow, looks enough like a young Sarah Paulson that I had to Google her and see if she is a relation (she's not).  SPOILERS.  The lady of the tale, Ms. Bristow's character isn't a transplanted city girl trying to heal wounds in her country home.  She's a native of the town who quits her job, tries to open up her own agency, and gets dumped by the guy she's ready to marry.  Yes, she is hard-driving, controlling and inflexible, but that softens out quickly and the viewers realize the guy of the story has similar issues.  In case you miss that, it is stated by one character to the other.  The hiccup happens, is overcome and they all live happily ever after.  But without the saccharine.  

"A Carpenter Christmas Romance"

Maybe it's me.  Finding a decent holiday romance movie this year has been seemingly impossible.  "A Carpenter Christmas Romance" is not it.  Snarky Sasha Pieterse and her visually interesting co-lead with a slightly slushy delivery, Mitchell Slaggert, play characters in deep need of anti-depressants.  The chemistry between them has minor sizzle but no real sparks.  Most of the dialog is delivered with a "just don't have the energy to make this happen" vibe.  The red meat story of a town ravaged by fire and an ex-military guy helping out the homeless didn't appeal.  Halfway through I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed.  Still looking.  Suggestions welcome.

"The Merry Gentlemen"

Talented actors and Chad Michael Murray's surreal abs can't save this holiday movie from being the epitome of every so-so Christmas movie ever.  The meet-cutes, the tropes, they are all there.  Admittedly, there is some awesome choreography but it wasn't enough.  I was checking my email half an hour in.  Love Britt Robertson but not the best project I've seen her in.  Blah blah blah.  Next ... 

"Agatha All Along"

For one of the endless Marvel spinoffs, this wasn't bad, although this one episode-a-week thing really brings down the enjoyment factor.  An incredibly high-end cast and a very neat premise, along with more than a few twists I really didn't see coming, made this a fun go-to.  In some ways it was a great show which could have gone maybe an inch or two more and been spectacular.  A follow-up to "WandaVision" (which ~was~ spectacular), it opened in a way which is both very funny and a terrific homage to the previous show.  It takes a turn, and then, after we settle into the concept, takes more turns.  There are life lessons, reflections, and a lot of learning.  I'm not saying that Agatha finds redemption in the sense of becoming a good person but I appreciate that the creators let her be ... complicated.  Kathryn Hahn is perfect for the role, bringing every sigh, look and verbal intonation one could imagine.  Her performance is so deep she is like a bottomless well.  The only downside is (spoiler alert) an amazing supporting cast which -- sadly -- don't make it through all the episodes.  Totally worth the eight episodes.

No, "Die Hard" is not a Christmas movie

Yes, "Die Hard" takes place at Christmas.  But, unlike "Home Alone", I would argue that absolutely nothing in the plot or the actions would change if it were set, say, during the Fourth of July.  My argument (spoilers ahead):  John McClane travels to see his estranged wife, a rising star in an LA firm, just before the 4th of July.  He brings a really big teddy bear for his daughter (maybe it's her birthday).  He shows up at a staff party and everything goes wrong.  He uses his cop instincts to fight back against the terrorists/thieves.  After he kills the first one, he sends the guy down the elevator in red-white-and blue hat with "God Bless America" written on the guy's shirt.  Throughout, various people hum patriotic country songs.  NOTHING else changes.  The response of the cops (who probably think the gunfire is fireworks), the ulterior motive of the bad guys, the way McClane takes each one down and figures out what's going to happen.  In other words, the fact that it is Christmas has almost nothing to do with what happens or how it happens.  That being said, it's a good film.  Bruce Willis gives his patented funny, grounded, fairly real guy in the middle of extraordinary circumstances thing.  The combination of terrorism/robbery and a kind of riff on "The Towering Inferno" makes the tight film engaging.  Bonnie Bedelia and the whole cast (particularly Reginal VelJohnson, Alan Rickman and De'voreaux White) round out a strong group of actors you want to watch.  And the leading lady isn't a size 0 Barbie girl.  See, women looked like women in films in the 80s!  It's an engaging action film.  But it's not a Christmas tale.  

"Cinderella" (2000)

I love a good Cinderella tale.  From Leslie Caron in the 1955 "The Glass Slipper" to Julie Andrews in the 1957 "Cinderella" TV special, I've been known to spend a day watching one Cinderella after another.  Which made this film ... painful.  Rarely have I seen such a simple story so badly mangled.  Set in the Middle Ages -- or 1920s -- or 1950s -- or 1970s??? it liberally steals from Shakespeare (Lear and R&J), "Beauty and the Beast", "Mary Poppins", "The Wild One", "Misery", the original Grimm tales and more.  It comes off like some weird acid-trip/film noir version of the tale with cheap porn music scoring.  Brilliant actors like Kathleen Turner and David Warner are awful.  She's fake and over-the-top, he's flat.  Not as flat as lead actor Marcella Plunket who, long before Botox, manages to spend nearly the entire film without making a single expression.  Prince Valiant (really) is just as lackluster.  He actually says "Girls aren't cool".  OMG, who wrote this tripe?  Oh, and Daddy never dies.  It's ... weird.  Kind of robs the lady of her raison d'etre, you know?  And don't get me started on what they do to the glass slipper part of the story.  The ball has all the subtley of the 1960s Batman TV show mixed with your average teen horror film.  In the end, the milquetoasts end up together, of course, but it reads more like "The Graduate" than "Happily Ever After".  Tomorrow I'm clearing my palette with "Slipper and the Rose" or "Cinderella" (1965) with Leslie Ann Warren.  I need to forever wipe this atrocity from my mind.

"Fleishman is in Trouble"

Not sure why it took so long for me to get around to watching this series.  I guess I kind of thought it was some dry humor thing set in New York City.  It's not.  Based on a novel, it's a limited series about a man getting a divorce.  It's also about a woman who's not sure she wants a divorce.  It's about raising children, facing middle life, being Jewish, finding happiness, making peace with the life you have chosen, figuring out what love is ... and so much more.  Actors are great (although Jesse Eisenberg's frenetic patter is beginning to feel a little old).  The story is compelling and identifiable and not too dark.  It's just very real.  There are some knowing smiles along the way.  It was a worthwhile weekend binge.

"Madame Web"

(Spoilers) I often like to watch films otherwise trashed by critics.  Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't.  In the case of "Madam Web" the critics are not wrong.  This film fails on pretty much every level.  Casting, concept, direction, script, you name it.  There is Dakota Johnson in the lead role as Cassandra Webb (could you hit us over the head more??)  Her character, with a typical difficult backstory, is emotionally supressed.  Which translates to emotionally flat.  Her whispery voice makes her seem like a drifting waif, not a superhero.  Her flashforwards are "Inception" level confusing and gave me a bit of a headache.  And she drowns.  A lot.  Then there is Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O'Connor who play the rambunctious teens Ms. Webb is supposed to save.  Let's start with the fact that these women are more parodies of teens than actual teens.  They each try to overcome the stereotypes they are given (good girl, bad girl, nerd) but have little success.  There is Jose Maria Yazpik, a Mexican national, who plays a Peruvian with real heart.  But looks nothing like a Peruvian native.  Which is typical for Hollywood, which clearly thinks all Hispanics are alike.  The greatest offense here, however, is Tahar Rahim, a villian who is just ... "huh"?  He starts out evil, he ends evil, and his entire motivation is to stop a future event which is continually built up throughout the film ... but NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS.  It's just kind of a hot mess.  As an origin story, there is, of course, a lot of exposition.  The typical path of the character having a normal life, then getting the "gift", rejecting the gift, accepting the gift, then beating the crap out of the bad guy.  Squeeze in three more characters and keeping the film under two hours makes it feel choppy.  Events seem disconnected, characters can't develop.  Again, you have to love Hollywood, which clearly feels that a single female character can't carry a film on her own ("The Marvels").  It was also the first Marvel film in a long while without a cute cut-in during the credits.  Which sends the ultimate message:  The studio knew this was a bomb and didn't even bother to try.

"The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade" by Ann Fessler

Yes, I still read books.  But it takes a lot longer than digesting the constant flow of streaming media.  In any case, this book, which isn't new, was a revelation.  It made me think, a lot, about the hew and cry from the right that "all unwanted children can be adopted".  What these narratives show is that the issue is far, far more complicated than one might imagine.  There is the sense by the adopted child that their birth mother didn't want them, that somehow they, as children, were unworthy.  There is guilt and anger and shame from the mothers.  There are few women here who said, unequivocally, that this was the right thing to do.  But most felt pressured, lied to, manipulated.  They felt a profound loss of control.  Many turned to drugs or alchohol and dangerous pursuits.  They felt a sense of being inherently "bad" and that dictated their moods, their mental health, their choices, their lives.  This event, which they were told was momentary, colored their world, and their personalities, for decades to come.  With some facts but mostly stories, it is hard to read these very personal tales and not feel moved.  The role of women in society (then and now) underlays much of the fabric of this book and makes one sit back and wonder about the role of motherhood -- how it is portrayed, how it is in actuality.  A powerful read, this one appeared in my "Little Free Library" and I could not be more appreciative.  Not easy, but perhaps necessary.  Check it out.  

Say Goodbye ...

Much like last year, there is some blood on the floor with the summer cancellations.  Well, tears anyway.  There were the ones we knew about:  “Young Sheldon” (Waaaaahhhh!), “Bob Hearts Abishola”, “Station 19”, “Quantum Leap”, “Transplant”, “Umbrella Academy”, “A Discovery of Witches”,  “Star Trek:  Discovery” and “Sweet Tooth” (more Waaaaahhh!).  There were surprises, like “So Help Me Todd”, “Julia”,  “Not Dead Yet” and “Reginald the Vampire” (CLIFF-HANGAR!), not-surprises like “Extended Family”, “Lazarus Project” (ANOTHER CLIFF-HANGAR!) and “Spencer Sisters” and shows I had already quit on, like “La Brea”.

I wouldn’t be so sad but every year the newbie list gets thinner and the quality more iffy.  For the past five years or so I’ve said goodbye to a lot more shows than I am adding.  So far, all we have for the fall is:

CBS – “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage”, “Matlock”, “NCIS:  Origins”, “Poppa’s House” and “Watson”. 

ABC – “High Potential”, “Doctor Odyssey”

FOX – “Rescue:  HI-Surf”, “Murder in a Small Town”, “Universal Basic Guys”

NBC – “Brilliant Minds”, “Happy’s Place”, “St. Denis Medical”

I’m betting that this time next year fewer than three of these are keepers.  And my DVR will be even lighter than it is now.

Farewell "Manifest"

As with other things, I took a while to get around to the final episodes of this series.  It was always good.  It was never great.  But the premise was kind of fun and the characters really grew on me.  I mourned the passing of a number of them.  The show always bordered on the whole Christian thing (which it leaned into more in the end), but never went full-on preachy.  The lessons here were more about community and forgiveness and choosing good.  With a twist of L. Ron Hubbard weirdness.  I enjoyed it, particularly as the series progressed.  The weaknesses ... drawing things out too much to keep the premise going, adding in romance after romance after romance, creating circular storylines where you kind of yelled "move it ALONG" ... pretty much went away in the last ten episodes.  But the issue was ... the show went the other way.  Plotpoints were rushed or skipped altogether.  It made the flow a little bumpy.  Characters appeared and disappeared and I got a confused because information was left out.  It was like reading CliffsNotes.  I guess what I don't understand is why they didn't just lengthen the episodes to cover the needed scenes.  That's what you do in streaming.  And yet the episodes were all tailored to broadcast specs, running 42 or 43 minutes.  In any case, this is a bit picky.  The wrap-up was good.  There was a real effort to honor the characters, the storyline and to complete the mission.  In the final episode I feared a "Lost" moment -- a few times.  But they swerved.  And it was all happy-shiny time for the most part (despite one really bad attempt to use special effects to age a character down).  Loves made and lost.  99% of the characters were squared away (two weren't, but that was kind of an oversight, I think).  The resolutions were satisfying and made sense.  Final take -- it's worth the binge.

"The Curious Case of Natalia Grace"

Typically, I don't watch this kind of stuff.  I don't watch real-life crime shows, docu-dramas, etc.  I find them exploitative and watching them feels dirty.  Like tragedy porn.  But when children are involved, I'm sometimes drawn to these kinds of programs.  I guess a part of me wants to know if the kids came out of it okay.  If they got their lives back together.  I'm usually disappointed.  Rarely, if ever, is there a happy ending when abuse is involved.  And so it goes.  This two season series reveals a lot of ugly.  So much so that I kept putting it aside.  I would watch an episode or two, then stop.  It was just too sad.  There are lies upon lies.  Manipulations and fabricated tales.  When all is said and done, however, I came to a few "truths" I will hold onto.  (Perhaps the draw of these things is to play judge and jury?  To feel empowered to judge others?)  Is Natalia Grace a sociopath?  No.  Was she an adult masquerading as a child?  Absolutely no.  She was a child.  And from birth she was saddled with health issues, abused and passed along.  To more abuse.  She was ten, and had suffered a LOT, by the time she finally found herself in a situation where she was treated with decency.  Where she was finally hugged and valued.  Where she was treated as a child and truly cared for.  Does she have issues?  Oh my, yes.  She is angry.  Defensive.  Perhaps abusive in some ways.  It was all she ever knew.  But here's another bottom line for me.  She was surrounded by adults.  Were some abusive?  Absolutely.  But others, like her stepfather, say they couldn't stop the abuse.  Couldn't help.  And that, my friends, is just bull****.  There were adults and a child.  Blaming the child for her behavior as a result of her abuse, refusing, as the adults, to step in, is criminal.  Period. 

"Renfield"

Listed as a comedy, I expected something along the lines of "Reginald the Vampire" or even "What We Do in the Shadows" (both are truly fabulous, by the way).  What I got, instead, was a gorefest which made "Deadpool" look like kiddy fare.  Great actors (honestly, I would watch Awkwafina read a dictionary, not to mention the delightfully bereft Nicolas Hoult with his puppy dog expressions) can't save a film which is just ... graphic.  I mean, there's some dialog.  But nothing clever.  Nothing to grab and hold your attention.  Twenty minutes in, I was checking email and shopping online as the bodies piled up.  Oh well.