Is this just an ongoing story over a couple seasons of a guy trying to solve his murder?
Finished The Stranger on Netflix last night. Based on the novel by Harlan Coben, which was the only reason I watched it.
Iāve only read one of Cobenās novels (Tell No One), and only then because it was on sale for like nt$30 at Amazon a few years ago. The only thing I took away from Tell No One was the authorās name (I think book was about a doctor). I read the darn thing in two or three settings; the narrative velocity was irresistible. Coben is an extremely skilled storyteller. I think heās sold about a zillion books.
Anyway, The Stranger is an odd production. Itās an American story that takes place somewhere in England, with British actors throughout. It can be a little jarring (are there high schools in the UK? Do they have graduation ceremonies like US high schools? Would UK kids attend a school assembly or would it be called something else?). I believe the novelās rights were purchased by a British production company and shot in Manchester, hence the odd mix of elements.
Like the one novel I read a few years ago, most of the tension here comes from certain lies people in close relationships tell among themselves, the secrets they keep as a result, and asymmetric information generated by such interactions.
I kept watching it because itās Coben, the cast is great, the peculiar American/Brit mix of things that happens is interesting, and itās only roughly 400 minutes in 8 episodes.
If you make it through the first five episodes, I challenge you not to binge the last three in one long go.
Even so, the ending isnāt great, some of the key characters could use more development (uh, almost all of them), and some soapiness comes to the front too often and to some slight irritation which I couldnāt ignore.
Iād say if youāre stuck inside with some time to kill, itās worth a binge. 6.5/10
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The French movie based on the book gets great reviews. Use subtitles.
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Say no more. Probably the only way I could understand any dialogue at all, I reckon.
They Gotta Have Us
Was pleasently surprised at how well the interviews were conducted and edited together to weave an interesting pov about AA films.
The show looks great on 4K.
āI am not OK with thisā on Netflix. Sort of Stranger Things vibes? But with older high school characters and more creepy/WTF/I donāt get whatās going on. Very short episodes and short first season.
āGrace and Frankieā. I blame my mother for getting me into that show.
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Iām now late in Season 1 of Counterpart. Really really good show: closest in genre I guess to a Cold War spy thriller, but based on the sci-fi premise that our world divided into two identical copies about thirty years ago, and since then those two worlds have diverged more and more. (Itās set in the present day; divergence was around 1988.) Thereās one tunnel where you can cross between the two worlds, and different agencies are in charge of managing that border and handling exchanges of information. Since this is a spy thriller, once in a while these agencies are also killing people in attempts to save / murder millions more people. JK Simmons (most famous as J. Jonah Jamison in Spiderman perhaps, but heās far better an actor than I ever realized! - oh, er, I see he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Whiplash, so I guess for many people his range isnāt a revelation) plays two versions of himself, something of a soft but happy ānice guyā in this world and a hard bitten cynical super agent in the other world, and of course part of the show is figuring out how the same person wound up going down two such radically different paths.
Mild spoiler for one way the two worlds have diverged, revealed around episode 2 or 3:
How ironic that a show I started watching as escapist fare during a plague features one world where 7% of the population was wiped out by a plague.
It was cancelled after two seasons because no one watched it, despite fantastic reviews (100% at Rotten Tomatoes for critics, 90% for audience, FWIW). I suppose thatās what you get when youāre on Starz and no one can even find your show, sadly. However, fortunately they had two seasons planned from the start, and apparently the story does wrap up reasonably well.
Available on Amazon Prime in the US and perhaps other territories. Iād refrained from obtaining it by other means because Iād heard rumors itād soon be on a streaming service. Then it did indeed appear on a streaming service, but not in Taiwan, so Iām making use of a copy that, um, fell off a truck onto my hard drive or something.
If anyoneās read and liked China MiĆ©villeās The City and the City, I find the feel of Counterpart very similar; also not far off The Americans, although Iāve yet to get beyond Season 1 in that show.
Narcos: Mexico season 2.
Dry, unremarkable performances and a storyline that makes little sense. An occasional one-liner makes one chuckle but otherwise itās like watching a telenovela.
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Brightburn, ugh. I donāt think the body gore was nearly as bad as advertised, with the exception of one scene involving a pickup truck and badger (thatās worded on purpose).
The good news (for me) was that itās the only movie Iāve seen on Netflix since Annihilation where I did not check the wiki/Plot summary from time to time because boring. After the first ten minutes I actually dropped everything and watched it straight through until the credits.
The bad news was the credits. Seriously, Gunn had to include a nowhere-else-seen character - a paranoid and raving Michael Rooker - in a credits scene and a photo of Crimson Bolt to tie shit to his stupid superhero universe? Afraid that kinda ruined it for me.
Itās watchable, Iāll give it that. Iām out if thereās a sequel, though. Thanks, but no thanks.
Just binge watched Dark season 1. What a pleasant surprise. The first episode gave supernatural horror vibes but it slowly morphs into something much much better. The closest comparison I can make is Lost when it was actually good.
Netflix original international shows killing it. Dark, Kingdom and Money Heist are all amazing and I am sure there are others I havenāt heard of.
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Yeah not impressed by the first 2 episodes. Definite soap opera feel. Sticking with it though.
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So we just consumed this like it was gonna disappear if we didnāt. Rocketing into my top 10 TV Series of all time, this is gonna get Carol Kane (huge fan since Taxi) an Emmy for Best Supporting. I will also predict that Pacino and Logan Lerman will both be up for Best Actor.
So many amazing scenes, such courageous and imaginative writing in the hands of exceptionally talented actors, and even though I wasnāt a fan of how the exposition was handled at first, it kinda grew on me.
I donāt wanna spoil too much, but Travisā last line is maybe the best thing about it all. 10 episodes to set up that 1 line, those 5 wordsā¦they really should try to have Season 2 ready for as an October surprise. Love to see Olā Freddy Drumpf make an appearance.
So, ya, stop watching whatever it is you think you gotta see and binge binge binge this instant classic now.
And yes, it is okay to punch Nazis.
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Iām on episode 6, I think and as cute as Deigo Luna is, I want to his enemies to prevail. His acting is so dry and boring.
Canāt stand the DEA characters.
And surprisingly, El Chapito has nada charisma. Like really? This man changed the entire Mexican drug game.
Production values are poor (the crack dope dealers were just so wrong).
Iāve got this in my watchlist. Will watch after Narcos.
Agree with you on every point there.
On the other hand, Better Call Saul is off to a roaring start.
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Never got into it and too bad because the trailers look good.
So, you think Luna is cute huh?
lol. Sure, why not. He looks a lot like my brother!
Curb is also going to epic levels of silliness. Lots of laughs so far
Ohhh I need receipts on your brother 
Curb I donāt think I can watch. HBO right?
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Amado is cool though.