I saw some write-up awhile back for a new British series called Manhunt, and I thought it was a running series. Nope, just 3 episodes. And based on a true story, the hunt for a killer of a young woman in the middle of a park. Not my usual fare, honestly. I don’t often do mini-series and true crime rarely interests me. Truth is often in the eye of the beholder in a lot of the fare, and I prefer it not try and tell me “this is how it really happened” in a creative non-fiction.
But I watched the episode, with a relatively newly transferred Senior Investigating Officer, Colin Sutton. His wife is a behavioural analyst, but he doesn’t put a lot of stock in her psycho mumbo jumbo. Instead, he prefers boots on the ground going door to door.
What bothers me a bit with the protrayal is that he seems to be latching on to the direct route to the killer almost immediately. Hey, there’s a clue over there — nope, rubbish. Here’s a clue over here — nope, rubbish. Here’s something — yes, that’s the lead we need. Really? Seems a bit self aggrandizing to me, turning the lead into a super cop with a nose for crime. More divination than Sherlock Holmes’ deduction.
In the opening, he is dealing with possible links to other murders, internal politics as to who gets to be his second in command or not, lost evidence in earlier cases that might be linked, and a heavy reliance on CCTV footage that may or may not lead anywhere. I also find it bothersome that there is almost zero drilling down on the victim. Nothing about her life, possible suspects, they immediately decide it was someone random. I also can’t quite figure out how you kill someone in relatively broad daylight/nightime in a park — it is so obvious to see her that a passing pedestrian sees her lying on the ground and calls it in. Which means the victim and her killer could also have been easily seen, and the killer would have been seen by the victim coming too from quite a distance away. Plus there were people in the park not long before, so not exactly deserted either.
The lead actor, Martin Clunes, is awesome…very understated, very simply presented, and very compelling. He seems like a soft-spoken plodder and he is calming to watch run the case. There are good supporting characters, and they seem more like reporters working on a story than cops hunting a murderer.
Nobody in the EP really stands out except Clunes, and I would normally be on the fence for the future of the show. As soon as I saw it was 3 EPs only, I assumed that meant it was a mini-series. Nope, they’re bringing it back for Season 2. I have NO idea what that will be about – same characters? Different cases? This one is over in 3 EPs. And if it wasn’t so short, I might have gone with CANCELLATION. I’ll watch the other two EPs just to see what happens, but it isn’t really my kind of show, even with great acting by Clunes.
As a small peek behind the blogging curtain, I thought I would start with my thoughts going into this post. Partly I do so as a stalling technique. I have no idea what I’m going to write. Which is highly unusual for me.
Normally when I have a post in mind, my brain starts composing it far ahead of my fingers hitting the keyboard. I think about how I’m going to structure it, how I’m going to explain my take on something, how I’m going to convey my thoughts. And in so doing, I let my thoughts coalesce into something I hope is worth sharing about the topic, even if the topic is me, myself and I.
A month ago, I chose a different path to healing from depression than I normally would choose. Normally, and I use that term loosely, I would choose to either weather the storm and try to push through (often unsuccessfully) or I would shut down, drop some balls that I was juggling, and take time to “heal my busy mind”. Instead of my tried and true methods, I choose to say Fuck the Universe and ignore whatever signals I seemed to be getting and just plow ahead. Not pushing through the storm, not shutting down, more just ignoring it.
I realize in hindsight that it was kind of like “fake it til you make it”. I chose to behave as if I wasn’t depressed to see if I could fake my body out of the depression. I dressed it up a bit more than that, drew on a different form of internal energy (anger) than I normally do, and started blasting as if I was at the top of my game, not the bottom of a valley.
And it sort of worked. I knew it wasn’t sustainable in the long-run, I knew I was going to pay at least a small price for my energy burst, but for the first couple of weeks, it worked.
I re-started doing memes, and deliberately chose not to try and get a formal format that was uniform, coherent, formal. Instead, I went almost willy-nilly in choosing images I like, marrying them to old memes that I had done before, and sharing them. How did I do? Well, it is 30 days later, and I have produced 37 new memes and shared 28 of them. Almost every day I did one. Let’s see – 2 book quotes, 8 humour, 4 lunch notes, 2 music quotes, 12 quotes so far.
I also started working my way through a backlog of “comics of the day” that I have saved, and shared those too. About the same number of memes for the month, over 25. Almost one every day. Plus I sorted literally hundreds of other ones and filed them away…ones that I liked, but not enough to share at this point. [FtU #01 – The universe can go meme itself]
I also started pushing ahead on finishing a MOOC about metaliteracy, although I only did another week or two. I’ll finish the assignments, but I don’t care about clicking the boxes to get the note that it’s complete in the system. I can take what I want from it, write a few blogs, move on. [FtU #02 – MOOC this, universe] In the meantime, Jacob has been taking a coding course, and it got me a bit more interested in Unity. I found an online MOOC for programming in Unity and C#, downloaded and installed Unity and Microsoft Visual Studio, and completed the first couple of exercises (much like my high-school coding course, it starts with output commands to a raw screen to say something like “Hello World!”). It’s pretty basic, but that’s okay, I need to ease back into it. I also downloaded a whole whack of other learning materials too for coding, we’ll see how those go.
Finally, I broke down and reconstituted my astronomy hobby, chose hope as my passion and mantra, and tried imaging some astro targets. And I had some success. I rebuilt my astro log book in a Word doc I can use on my tablet, took a whack of images, tried stacking, reviewed some software. I threw myself into it. And it worked. Just in time for the weather to thumb its nose at astronomers here in Ottawa, but still, I’m back in the thick of it. [FtU #03 – My astronomy hobby – Here’s looking at you, universe!]
I had more activities planned, even though the astronomy took over more of my time than I expected (setting up a portapotty for the star parties, buying my son a scope, ordering some extra accessories, etc.). I had my birthday in mid-June, turning 51. I was even doing better at work, so much so that my boss even commented on it. I was producing more, volunteering more, being more “positive”. An online friend noticed too.
Except I also know that it was feeling a bit false, which is really hard to explain. I was doing better, but that isn’t the whole story. My energy lasted until just past mid-month, and then slowly started to fade. I knew it was coming, I fully expected it, but still, it’s a bit annoying. My wife was traveling for a week, so I was doing single parent duty, and that part was fine, although a bit more tiring. But even when that was over and she was back, I noticed my energy levels were down still. I was still faking my positive energy glow, or rather I knew it wasn’t completely the whole story. The foundations weren’t quite as strong as they were earlier in the month. I can’t keep up the same energy boost the whole month. I can kick in afterburners for a short while, but then they shut off and I have to rely on the boost to coast me through the rest of the month.
And as some form of gravitational depression started to drag on my trajectory, I let myself slide a bit the last few days. Which also gave me time to take stock. Blasting through a few barriers was fun, quick wins to give me more confidence, but I also know that I dropped a LOT of other balls to be able to focus on those quick win areas. Like my weight, eating healthy, etc. My weight has slowly crept back up in recent months, as I knew it would, and my A1C number rose slightly in there too. Not enough for me to panic or anything, but a reminder that the rocket boost was nice, but it was in areas that are not my core goals right now. Just nice ones to raise my quality of life for a bit.
But if I want to also improve my quantity of life, i.e. living longer, I need to get back to some of those other goals. I’ve got some ideas for my next “blast” for July. But I also need to get back into making my lunches for work, taking my snacks, etc. And working on a long-term health project in the basement.
I don’t know what the FtU campaign will look like specifically for July, but it starts tomorrow. Let’s see how I do. And maybe next time I write, I’ll know what I’m going to type before my fingers hit the keyboard.
The initial premise of L.A.’s Finest is two hard-edged female cops kicking ass and taking names in the City of Angels. Hard-drinking, hard-loving, hard-working, busting heads and kicking butt, all while giving each other a hard time. One black, one white, one street, one almost a soccer mom. This isn’t Cagney and Lacey, more like Lethal Weapon with women.
What do you need to make it work? Gravitas in the main actors.
First up is the white soccer mom who can flip people around and shoot up a store, all while cracking jokes. Jessica Alba plays Nancy McKenna. I like Alba, I do. Even as Storm in the Fantastic Four. Not as much as I loved her as butt-kicking Max on Dark Angel though. There, she was young but the moves gave her an edgy feel to her. Here? She’s a caricature. It seems almost like a comedy, not an action show. Her husband as a prosecutor is fine, but nothing to write home about, while her daughter steals every scene she’s in (Sophie Reynolds, hope to see you again some time!).
Her partner, the black street gal, is former DEA with a secret (she was captured and tortured, and she’s on the hunt for her bad guy). Gabrielle Union plays Sydney Burnett, who sleeps with anything that moves (she even has “to go” cups for them to take their coffee with them the next morning). And like Alba, she has a wisecracking grin on her face most of the episode.
And it is hard to get a handle on the show. Is it supposed to be a comedy? Because it isn’t funny. Is it supposed to be a drama? Because it isn’t serious. Is it supposed to be good? Well…
Pilots are notorious for being uneven, mostly as the actors haven’t found their groove yet. But this show? I felt like I was almost watching a spoof of every bad show with gung-ho cops. And what did I say they need? Gravitas. What don’t they have? Anything worth holding your attention.
Even in a really scary take-down scene, I never felt any tension. Nada. Zip. There was nothing invested because there was nothing to invest IN. Pass. And I’m predicting CANCELLATION.
Somewhere between Dynasty and a telenovela, you can find the Grand Hotel premiere. The premise is centred around the last family-owned and -run hotel on the Miami strip. The family’s mother died sometime ago, leaving a son, a daughter and a husband. The daughter has just finished her MBA, and is returning home looking forward to running the hotel with her brother, assuming that the long-term plan still holds — eventually it will be the kids’ hotel.
Except Dad hasn’t told them he’s selling it. He’s been losing money for years, he has a new wife who doesn’t get along with the step-kids, and there is a lot of behind the scenes drama at the hotel:
A concierge with the hots for a housekeeper;
A housekeeper who’s pregnant thanks to a money guy at the hotel;
The money guy who represents some loan sharks;
A HR manager who has been with the hotel for years; and,
A new all-purpose male staffer who can help act as waiter or whatever else needs doing.
Yet the intrigue starts in the midst of a hurricane. A chef from the kitchen has a meeting with the step-mom, and the step-mom speaks in oblique terms that the chef has something that doesn’t belong to her. The chef isn’t cowed however, as she calls the step-mom’s bluff, because the chef knows something about what the father has been doing. All general, no specifics, etc. And then in the middle of the hurricane, the chef is chased outside, she gets knocked out, and her body (dead or alive?) is dragged off. The action picks up one month later as the daughter returns from her graduation, just in time for her step-sister’s wedding.
And of course, most of the people are hot, well-dressed, and all jumping in each other’s beds.
Demián Bichir plays the father, Santiago, and he plays him like he’s suffering from a great weight. Like maybe he’s dying or something. A lot of IMDB credits, none of which I’m familiar with. He’s okay, nothing special to watch.
Roselyn Sanchez plays the step-mother, Gigi. I thought she was okay back in the day on Without A Trace, but all dressed-up playing a caricature here? Straight out of telenovela casting. Pass.
Wendy Raquel Robinson plays the HR manager, Helen, and all she does in the premiere is threaten people. Like Bichir, lots of IMDB credits and none of them have I seen. Space filler, but who knows, maybe she’s a killer.
Shalim Ortiz plays the money man, Mateo. I liked him in Heroes, and he might have something to do in other episodes, but in the premiere, he doesn’t do much of anything.
I could follow this line and mention all the workers, but really, the only three with any real presence are the brother, the sister, and the new waiter who is hiding the fact he’s the brother of the chef who disappeared during the hurricane.
Denyse Tontz plays the daughter-with-the-MBA Alicia and while she is cute, a bit of the girl next door, spunky, has some grit and brains, etc., she just seems INCREDIBLY YOUNG. There is zero gravitas with her. She seems like a 12 year old disappointed that people aren’t jumping to support her ideas. She’s decent, but not enough to wrap a series around, even with her soap opera experience.
Bryan Craig plays her brother, Javi, and he has a bit of flair. Mostly picking up and sleeping with anything that moves. Even better if their boyfriend is nearby and it’s just a hookup. He’s missing a leg, cause unknown, but he’s happy to exploit the limb for sympathy if it gets him in some girl’s pants. I saw the first episode of last year’s Valor, but I don’t particularly remember him, and none of the other credits jump out at me either. He’s decent, and if he was the main character, it would be a toss-up for the future.
By contrast, Lincoln Younes as the undercover brother of the missing chef gets lots of screen time. Always looking sincere, always charming, always ingratiating, always eager to please. And it’s supposedly a shock at the end to realize he’s the chef’s brother (yeah, it was obvious), and it makes NO SENSE based on how he was acting with several other characters earlier. He’s reluctant to get further involved with the owner’s kids for example (Javi and Alicia) yet they are the perfect window into the operations at the Grand. You know, the thing he needs to find out what happened. Instead, he acts like he needs the job, kind of attracted to the sister, embarrassed (not afraid) when she finds out he’s a waiter, blah blah blah. Not egregious, just inconsistent. And like the previous two, not enough to wrap a series around.
If there was more about the missing chef, I might have felt SOMETHING, or if the daughter didn’t seem like a princess coming home to a coronation perhaps. Either way, without it, I’m not going to be watching, and I’m going to have to predict CANCELLATION. Something “more” has to happen to have any chance at renewal.
The new show Dead To Me would be an unlikely show to attract my long-term interest, based on the premise alone. Two women at a grief counselling sessions become friends against all odds — one is acerbic, one is light and carefree. One has a secret, one has family issues. And that’s basically it.
So if you’re reading this, I’ll let you know that I have spoiler info at the bottom that is huge for the series, but comes out in Episode 1, so I don’t feel like I’m really revealing too much. It’s hard to review the episode without talking about both reveals.
First off, the acerbic one is Jen, played by Christina Applegate. Maybe you loved her on Up All Night or Samantha Who? or even Jesse. Or maybe even way back to Married…With Children. Blunt revelation — I didn’t like her in any of them. So it wasn’t like I started watching and was expecting to love her. Except she’s pretty damn good here. Good mix of light-heartedness in a couple of places, but she does edgy without being bitchy pretty well. She’s alone now, a bit of anger issues, because her jogging husband got hit by a car, died, and the car drove off.
Second, Jen meets Judy at a grief counselling session in a park next to the ocean. (WTF? Never mind.) Anyway, Judy says her husband died while they were eating dinner, a heart attack at 44. So there’s some “common life experience” going on here, supposedly. But Jen is dark, Judy is light, and they kind of bond a bit while the others seem flighty and flaky, including the pastor running it. A bit of dark humour.
Now Jen is played by Freaks and Geeks star Linda Cardellini, who also did Brokeback Mountain (waitress Cassie) as well as Velma in Scoobie Doo’s live version, but I don’t really know her work. She’s good, I liked her too.
So the bonding goes along and goes along…late night phone calls, late night drives, watching TV shows together, getting high. It’s all good. Right up until the first secret is revealed — ** spoiler ** Judy’s husband isn’t actually dead. And he’s not her husband, it was a boyfriend. So Jen has a shit-freak, and calls her out for faking everything. But Judy’s pain isn’t with the BF, although it is pain. She miscarried.
Jen and Judy get past it, they’re still going to be friends, and Jen offers to let Judy stay at her guest house. Because, well everybody has a guest house, right? Anyway the move-in part leads to the second giant reveal ** spoiler ** Judy’s got a car in a storage locker with a completely banged up front bumper…i.e., we’re to assume she’s the one who killed Jen’s husband. Dun dun dun. So when Jen said Judy had issues, Judy wasn’t kidding when she said Jen had no idea.
But there just isn’t anything “there” for me. The nice friendship bond between the two of them isn’t going anywhere for me. And I can’t see how there is anything there for the long-term. Maybe it could have been a movie of the week. Or even a serious movie with more drama invested. But I just don’t see a hook to keep me.
I’m even going to predict CANCELLATION. Which is too bad, both actresses do a decent job. I just wish they had a better show to work on.
