Summer/Fall 2022 TV
Nov. 11th, 2022 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroMaggie (Hulu, Season 1) – I wanted a stupid sitcom and this fit the bill. In the vein of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Tru Calling or Wonderfalls, Maggie is an actual psychic who gets visions of people’s futures, but the visions are incomplete or unhelpful enough that she ends up with events twisting around to get exactly what she saw and absolutely not what she predicted. The major conflict of the season, of course, is a love triangle, which I have to admit I’m tired of. The stinger at the end reveals that Maggie is having conflicting visions of two possible futures—of the man marrying both her and the other woman. (Which upends the show’s premise that the future is immutable, of course.) I realize what this will mean if there’s a second season, but I’m going to just imagine that the vision further mutates into a polyamorous group wedding. Otherwise, it’s standard sitcom nonsense. Characters develop new skills, traits or interests for a single episode just long enough for the jokes to land. Intelligence yo-yos as the plot demands. Maggie gets accused of being a fake at a psychic gathering so she can get depressed about it…never mind that everyone else at the gathering is a goddamn psychic (including her mentor!) and should know better. I was entertained but I’m absolutely not recommending this to anyone.
Ms. Marvel (Disney+, Season 1) – There were some changes from comics, particularly around Kamala’s powers and their source, but I found it all acceptable and actually kinda prefer the hard-light constructs to stretchiness in a live-action medium. As is now standard for Marvel stuff, they had some really well-cast characters: Kamala, Bruno, Nakia, and Kamala’s whole family were spot-on. I loved the Jersey City mural references, though the geography of their Jersey City is…not right. (And don’t get me started on the subway train.) Overall fun.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Disney+, Season 1) – Oh my god, you guys, the CGI is so bad. It’s like the worst Gorilla Grodd appearances in The Flash, but for pretty much every scene. This was clearly written by someone who lives on the internet and loves to mess with the fanboys, because so much of the script was responding to various things I’ve seen rolling around Tumblr and fanfiction circles for a decade. The finale was a fourth-wall-breaking mess that only kinda put itself back together; but I appreciate that it called out that “tying all the strings together” required making Jenn a bystander on her own show rather than making her character arc central to it. This was messy and inconsistent, but the episodes were only a half-hour each and they generally individually fun. I’m not going to claim it’s brilliant, but it was something a little different and I was entertained.
The Imperfects (Netflix, Season 1) – A mad scientist attempts to address a genetic disorder with synthetic stem cells with the ultimate goal of building superhumans; but we get this all from the viewpoint of three unknowing test subjects whose superpowers are unwanted side effects: The comic book artist werewolf (chupacabra), the singer with super-hearing and a sonic scream (banshee), and the asexual with super-pheromones (succubus). It’s a very “aware” show, that acknowledges things like shibari, monsterfuckers and, yes, actual asexual people. (I’m actually kinda surprised it hasn’t been appearing on my Tumblr dash.) For an impulse-watch I ended up pleased with this and would likely watch a second season.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount+, Season 2) – Remains hilarious! The deep cuts this show is willing to go into are great, but you can also often enjoy it without knowing them all. (I had to look up Sonya Gomez because she seemed like a cameo but I’d forgotten the one TNG episode she appeared on!) This manages to stay both a parody of Trek and very true to the core ethos of Trek at the same time. Highly recommended for Trek fans; start with the first season.
Ms. Marvel (Disney+, Season 1) – There were some changes from comics, particularly around Kamala’s powers and their source, but I found it all acceptable and actually kinda prefer the hard-light constructs to stretchiness in a live-action medium. As is now standard for Marvel stuff, they had some really well-cast characters: Kamala, Bruno, Nakia, and Kamala’s whole family were spot-on. I loved the Jersey City mural references, though the geography of their Jersey City is…not right. (And don’t get me started on the subway train.) Overall fun.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Disney+, Season 1) – Oh my god, you guys, the CGI is so bad. It’s like the worst Gorilla Grodd appearances in The Flash, but for pretty much every scene. This was clearly written by someone who lives on the internet and loves to mess with the fanboys, because so much of the script was responding to various things I’ve seen rolling around Tumblr and fanfiction circles for a decade. The finale was a fourth-wall-breaking mess that only kinda put itself back together; but I appreciate that it called out that “tying all the strings together” required making Jenn a bystander on her own show rather than making her character arc central to it. This was messy and inconsistent, but the episodes were only a half-hour each and they generally individually fun. I’m not going to claim it’s brilliant, but it was something a little different and I was entertained.
The Imperfects (Netflix, Season 1) – A mad scientist attempts to address a genetic disorder with synthetic stem cells with the ultimate goal of building superhumans; but we get this all from the viewpoint of three unknowing test subjects whose superpowers are unwanted side effects: The comic book artist werewolf (chupacabra), the singer with super-hearing and a sonic scream (banshee), and the asexual with super-pheromones (succubus). It’s a very “aware” show, that acknowledges things like shibari, monsterfuckers and, yes, actual asexual people. (I’m actually kinda surprised it hasn’t been appearing on my Tumblr dash.) For an impulse-watch I ended up pleased with this and would likely watch a second season.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount+, Season 2) – Remains hilarious! The deep cuts this show is willing to go into are great, but you can also often enjoy it without knowing them all. (I had to look up Sonya Gomez because she seemed like a cameo but I’d forgotten the one TNG episode she appeared on!) This manages to stay both a parody of Trek and very true to the core ethos of Trek at the same time. Highly recommended for Trek fans; start with the first season.
