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    We finished watching season 2 of Atypical last night. Ends on a couple of 'what will happen next' moments. Not really cliff hangers, but I want to know what happens next.

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      It's something of a new TV bonanza for me at the moment. We have new seasons of Bojack Horseman and American Vandal on Netflix this past week. Killing Eve is finally airing in the UK (first episode verdict - enjoyable enough, but no Fleabag). The Good Place starts again this week. The Expanse season 3 is due on Netflix any week now, based on when season 2 aired.

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        Well, it seems that James Buckley (Jay from the UK "Inbetweeners") has a job on a US sitcom. An NBC thing called "I feel Bad" which has, on paper, a terrific cast. First two episodes have been... patchy, and Madhur Jaffrey has been woefully underused (as the mother), but it all looks reasonably promising.

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          Mayans, a spin-off of Sons of Anarchy, very similar in being watchable for the photography and to see where it takes the premise but never credible. Leading actor is a bit wooden also, as if that's a requirement.

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            The second season of Nordic Noir series Springfloden (Spring Tide) starts here in Finland soon. Probably riding on the coat tails of The Bridge a bit, but I quite enjoyed the earlier episodes. Has that made it as far as the UK or elsewhere?

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              Not here (Canada) to my knowledge. We are watching Karppi — retitled Deadwind by Netflix — which is decent, though more gris than noir I'd say.

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                Watched Season 2 of Ozark. Very enjoyable again, if pretty formulaic. I like most of the actors, and love the scenery. The plot doesn't do much for me, and has that Sons of Anarchy thing where you start with an interesting premise and the show could be very good if you just keep trying to maintain the premise, but instead they just feel a need to keep escalating it more and more and more. I wish they'd just stick with Jason Bateman trying to launder money low key in the Ozarks and not fuck up his family.

                Starting to watch (as in, watched the first episode of):

                Mrs Maisel, which was great.
                Barry, which was kind of entertaining, but probably needs a few episodes to catch its stride.
                I Feel Bad, which was very clunky and heavy handed.
                Kidding, which was really quite intense and weird and disconcerting, and I think might be a very good show despite Jim Carrey playing the kind of hammy character Jim Carrey often plays which normally really annoys me.

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                  I binge-watched Killing Eve this week on a friend’s recommendation, after being put off by the trailer which looked all style-over-substance. Also there’s a bit of “kookiness” by the female characters in the first couple of episodes but they got past that with some stellar acting and breathtaking action. Not sure that making female psychos bisexual isn’t a bit of a trope, but it wasn’t overly sexaaayyy.

                  I’ve probably made it sound proper shit, but it’s very good, and properly-paced IMO. Not dragging like a Nordic noir and not so speedy it’s confusing.

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                    Yeah, I loved Killing Eve (which for some reason was available in the US earlier than the UK, despite being a BBC production). There was a lot of style, but I don't think it was style over substance.

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                      I’ve just started watching Mrs Meisel and am loving it. Started watching The Top of the Lake but it’s too grim when you’re a bit stoned, and the colours in Mrs Meisel are great. Maybe I’ll give murder mysteries a break for a bit.

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                        Very much our neighbourhood.

                        She voted in the primary in character during a break in filming.

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                          I really like Rachel Brosnahan. I thought she was great in (the massively underrated) Manhattan, too

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                            Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
                            Watched Season 2 of Ozark. Very enjoyable again, if pretty formulaic. I like most of the actors, and love the scenery. The plot doesn't do much for me, and has that Sons of Anarchy thing where you start with an interesting premise and the show could be very good if you just keep trying to maintain the premise, but instead they just feel a need to keep escalating it more and more and more. I wish they'd just stick with Jason Bateman trying to launder money low key in the Ozarks and not fuck up his family.
                            About midway through season 2 I pretty much gave up. My wife is still invested and has clued me in to how season 2 ended. Your quote, "but instead they just feel a need to keep escalating it more and more and more" perfectly summed the season up to me. It got so ludicrous w/ the couple fixing 64 death-defying problems each episode - the Laura Linney character was ridiculously over the top and that turned me off.

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                              I stuck with Ozark s2 to the end, but found it nowhere near as satisfying as s1. Agree that the pace of multiple problem set-up & resolution each episode was getting silly.

                              Compare that to Better Call Saul s4 (so far). I really love the slow pace and sparse dialogue in that show.

                              Also a thumbs up for Killing Eve from me. The story may be ridiculous, yet it had a feel of a enjoyable spy spoof in the (tv) Man From Uncle mode. And the acting from the leads was great. Jodie Comer looked like she was really enjoying her role as the the psychopath assassin.

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                                Mayans has become surprisingly good (three episodes in). Totally implausible plot but the drama, tension and character dynamics reward the suspension of disbelief. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than binging on this.

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                                  Originally posted by slackster View Post
                                  I stuck with Ozark s2 to the end, but found it nowhere near as satisfying as s1. Agree that the pace of multiple problem set-up & resolution each episode was getting silly.

                                  Compare that to Better Call Saul s4 (so far). I really love the slow pace and sparse dialogue in that show.
                                  Totally agree.

                                  Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul -- the high bar for Crime Drama for my money - deeply engaging story where the viewer is kept on their toes and very little is telegraphed (though w/ BCS, there's a bit of foreshadowing if you remember Breaking Bad). Cinematically it is extremely aesthetically pleasing. Incredible array of characters who are not caricatures.

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                                    Loving 'Killing Eve', although we're resisting the temptation to binge watch (due in part to the fact the BBC iPlayer on Virgin is such a clunky, buffering, slow-loading mess). I predict that Jodie Comer is going to be a huge star.

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                                      Caught up on Sharp Objects, a little a bit of southern gothic noir meself....

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                                        I assume that only me (and my wife) are watching and enjoying ITV's version of Vanity Fair.

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                                          No GO, my wife likes it too, I am not liking it much though, I really dislike Becky Sharp as character and how she is being acted , all those "quirky "looks into the camera. And I think those starting credits try just too hard.
                                          Nice and glossy though, and I like the detail on the British Napoleonic uniforms - if I thought really, really hard I could probably remember the reference of the Humbrol Yellow for the collars and cuffs, - last Sunday's episode is on the Freesat box to watch tonight. So i will be watching it anyway I suppose.

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                                            We're watching Vanity Fair and enjoying it, probably despite rather than because of the clumsy attempts to make it seem contemporary. The John Lewis version of All Along The Watchtower does its best to drive you away before it even gets going.

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                                              I watched the first three episodes of Vanity Fair but I gave up. It looks a bit flat and the dialogue seems all about getting the story from A to B as quickly and smoothly as possible. I don't "know" any of the characters but they aren't quite broadly drawn enough to be caricatures.

                                              I'm pacing myself with Killing Eve as well.

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                                                Totally up to date now on How To Get Away With Murder (Seasons 1-4). It's your standard ABC 'young adult' crime drama, but it's well written and cleverly plotted out. Viola Davis is equally lovable /loathable in the lead role. The support cast ('the kids') are varying degrees of competent. And the 'adult costars' are both pretty bad, but forgivable.

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                                                  I watched all of Maniac. I don't think I really understood it, but then that's partly because it didn't really hold my attention. It just kinda felt like a chore. Good performances, though.
                                                  I'm now in Season 2 of Narcos. I'm expecting that they'll finally kill Escobar by the end of this season and then next season is about the Cali cartel. I believe I read there will be a season 4 about the Mexican cartels.

                                                  It's pretty horrific. Escobar murdered so many people that I find myself sympathizing with the Colombian colonel who repaid that by murdering a lot of Escobar's guys. But Escobar only had an opportunity to rise to his position because of the obscene inequality in that country, the demand for coke in the US, and the war on drugs. Perhaps a nasty conflict was inevitable, even if the country's only crop was corn, given that much of Colombia seems to be running a feudal system of landowners vs peasants. But the US certainly poured a lot of gas on that fire and its not clear that anyone really benefits other than politicians, drug-runners, and arms manufacturers. The show is portrayed from the perspective of one of the US agents who gradually comes to see the whole situation for the disaster that it is.

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                                                    I can't rate Narcos highly enough. Season 3 is also strong, and the ending definitely teases a Season 4.

                                                    [Edit. S4 premieres in November, 2018]

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