Category Archives: TV

Up in the Air, Junior Birdman

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Photo by Natali Quijano on Unsplash

Our bags are packed, we are ready to go. Leaving town on a jet airplane today. In the air there is a certain type of entertainment that is never shown on airplanes. Movies that show bad things happening in the air are number one on this banned list. Idris Elba’s new series Hijack is one such offering. That is why I binged it last night. Air travel is normally stressful, add bad guys with guns and you are looking at a very long flight indeed. This seven-part TV series tracks a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. So, the action in this very British thriller unfolds almost in real-time. Even all of the hijacking terrorists are British. Mr. Elba plays a passenger who works as a negotiator. Most likely a business deal negotiator, but in this fluid situation who knows. The hijacker’s plan soon goes astray when another passenger finds a bullet in the lavatory. This discovery accelerates the plot, forcing the hijackers to act sooner than they had planned. While most of the action takes place onboard the aircraft, as things develop elements of this story begin to happen on the ground. I am writing this post before our flights. Looking forward seven-hours seems too short. We will still be in the air by then. Hopefully.

Today, we are only flying domestic. The danger of international terrorism is small, but both of our Southwest flights are scheduled to be on Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft. So, there is still opportunity for some excitement. Back when I was still working there the saying about air travel was, “If it is not Boeing, I am not going.” With all of the problems that Boeing has been having lately, the bloom is off that rose. But this will be my first time flying a MAX8 and I look forward to checking its new technology out. 

Shogun

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Bub’s Japanese Lacquered Box

The streaming service Hulu has rebooted James Clavell’s Shogun with a new miniseries. In 1980, a miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain was spawned. Back in the day, I read his novel and watched this TV series. Then, before the advent of screens, I loved reading large novels. Then I would not pick up a book unless it was at least a couple of inches thick. I have watched the new Hulu series through its penultimate episode and await its finale. 

Shogun is set in 17th-century feudal Japan, but the way of life portrayed is under pressure, both from within and without. The outside world exemplified by the Portuguese are already in Japan, when the English in the form of John Blackthorne arrive. His arrival brings the European tensions between Catholics and Protestants halfway around the world to Japan.

The forty plus years between the 1980 TV series and this recent offering has wrought some changes. The original series was more Eurocentric than this latest offering. In the current version Blackthorne is no longer the epicenter of attention. Instead, he acts as an observer of the events that swirl around him. This signifies some progress after forty years.

The production values of this new series are far superior to the older one. The introduction of subtitles while Japanese is being spoken adds nuisance to this new edition that the later never possessed. An interesting choice by the new show’s creators was to substitute dialog for combat. Shogun is essentially a war story, but except for some brief skirmishes little combat is portrayed. Instead, the combat is represented through dialog, with words substituting for weapons.

“Kings Landing”

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Photo by Geio Tischler on Unsplash

We have begun planning our trip to Croatia for later this year. We had already signed up for a bicycle tour of the Dalmatian Coast, so a big part of this trip is already preplanned, but we intend to embellish the basic tour package a bit. Basically, this eight-day tour begins near Split and then moves south by boat to Dubrovnik. Most, if not all days of this tour feature cycling, but each day’s ride loops back upon itself, so by boat is how we will get from one place to the next. To help us acclimate to the time zone change, we plan on arriving a couple of days early. We have already booked a room at the ballet school that doubles as the tour’s first hotel. Tentatively, in those first two days we plan on visiting the nearby medieval harbor town of Trogir and wander its cobbled streets. Trogir is a UNESCO world heritage site, one of seven scattered along our route south. Another itinerary item is Krka National Park. Its waterfalls look gorgeous.

Then we begin the bicycle tour. Yesterday, we got out on our bikes again for another training ride. Saturday in Forest Park is always a zoo, and this time was no different. Afterwards, we both felt better than after last week’s inaugural ride.

The Croatian cycling tour ends in the Adriatic jewel of Dubrovnik, and we plan on adding on some more time there also. Already a world-famous destination, Dubrovnik added to its fame when the HBO television series Game of Thrones casted it as the fictional city Kings Landing. Needless to say, a GoT themed cottage industry has sprouted there. We will eschew these tourist trap tours, because I already have a map of film locales and the town offers so much else.

That is as far as we have gotten with our travel plans to date. We are notionally considering extending our European travel even further, but so far, we have not gotten there yet. I expect that more YouTube U studying will be in order.

Renegade Nell

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Buckle-up Buttercup, it’s Time to go Swashing!

In 1705 England, Nell “Don’t call me Nelly” Jackson is a commoner, adventurer and unexpected superhero. Returning home after five years at war, she stumbles upon a highway robbery in progress. Circumstances cause her to unleash a sprite infused comeuppance on the robbers. Though given up for dead, her family again welcomes her home. She soon runs afoul of the local lord’s ne’er-do-well son, whom she also trounces. He frames her for murder, and she is soon wanted throughout the country. On the run, it is the outlaw’s life for her now. The life of a notorious highwaywoman. Nell with her younger sisters in tow flee and are pursed by all of the forces of aristocratic society both natural and supernatural. 

An oft spoke description of her is that there is something unnatural about Nell. Certainly, having your own personal Tinkerbell qualifies in that, but more elementally she is a woman who does not behave like a woman. Or at least not how a woman is supposed to act. Nell’s independent and freethinking mind is extended to thoughts on 18th-century problems of class, poverty and the press. Her adventures are generally lighthearted, in a YA way. The supporting cast is wide, varied and sometimes helpful, but it is Nell’s grit, wit and luck that powers her through most difficulties. Created by Sally Wainwright of Happy Valley fame and featuring Louisa Harland from Derry Girls, Renegade Nell, which dropped Friday on Disney+ is a lark.

Not My Father’s Perry Mason

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Supercharged 1935 Auburn

Tonight, Anne has her Chicago night, but for me Monday night is Perry night. HBO’s TV series Perry Mason airs each week’s new episode on Monday. This is not my father’s Perry Mason, which is now in its second season. Its first season was fine. Its main purpose seemed to be to introduce the audience to this quite different version of Perry Mason, which is more closely aligned to the original written material. Set in Depression era LA, Mason, a PTSD afflicted WW I vet, is a mess, always on the verge of losing it. Unlike my father’s Perry Mason, here each season is devoted to one murder case, instead of the more familiar Raymond Burr MO of one case an episode and where the real perpetrator was always telegraphed by whom Perry called to the stand after the last commercial break. In this new series, defendants are not sprung through a climactic on stand confession of the real murderer (Except in one of Perry’s fevered dreams). In fact, they might be the murderer, but only in the most innocent of ways.

Outer Banks

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Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

My latest guilty pleasure is the YA suspense-comedy Outer Banks. How did I get here? Well, it is the end of the month, which is always a lean time for streaming. I had been watching the new National Treasure teen suspense series on Disney+, but it only dribbles out, one episode per week at a time. I needed more content if I was going to make it into February. Somehow, Outer Banks popped up. I guess one treasure hunting set of teens are as good as another. In National Treasure the kids are seeking the treasure of the Aztecs that was hidden from Cortez. In Outer Banks, it is a 200-year-old treasure ship that had grounded ashore, ladened with gold. Here the treasure is just the McGuffin, the hook to lure you in. The true pleasure of this series is seeing a bunch of beautiful people, enjoying themselves in a warm and sunny locale. Did I mention that it is January? There were already two seasons out, with a third one scheduled to drop next month. In this series the protagonists are a group of local poor kids called the Pogues, who while away their time, skipping class, drinking, and running from the local County Mounty. The Pogues are the people who work to maintain the seaside mansions of the seasonal rich, the Kooks. In this class struggle the Kooks are the antagonists. Head Pogue, John B, had just lost his father at sea, leaving him orphaned, underaged and hunted by family services. It seems that being voted off the island like this is the ultimate form of Pogue punishment.

This raises a point of contention that I have with the show. The Pogues are supposed to be sixteen but are played by actors in their twenties. I should overlook this point, especially since the characters act much older than high school students. Almost immediately, nameless baddies begin to chase these kids, who are at first trying to solve the mystery of John B’s father. This soon morphs into a full fledge treasure hunt, in which seemingly everyone on the island knows more about this treasure ship than these kids trying to find it. Another quibble that I have with this series is that no one of note ever truly dies. Their body is not recovered. That is because they are awaiting the next season ending finale for their big reveal. Still, quibbles aside, it was an enjoyable time waster, if not exactly high drama that I burned through in just a few days. No one ever gets hurt, at least no one of note. In about a month, the third season will drop, and I will pick it up where I left off. One of the advantages of coming late to the party is not having to wait too long for the next season.