Fans of Television Series

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Illegal(Voot) : As a fan of series' and offbeat cinema, for me, there are few professions that should not be messed with. I mean, when you are using a certain profession, you tend to pick up the tidbits from there for the plot-progression or adding meat to your story. You should not twist it so much that it wrings out the authenticity of the profession just to prove a point, thus diluting it too much. Medicine, Military, Law are few of them. Illegal is one such series. The premise that "In India law allows to sentence a Woman to death, but cannot hang her" is an incorrect and a false statement. There are instances where women in India have been hanged. Now to base a narrative on this, takes the edge off it. Similarly, just to show a strong female lead, the storyline is full of assumptions and "creative liberties". A lawyer, hired to defend someone, openly collaborates with the Prosecutor to punish the accused. The prosecutor openly threatens the accused and records it as an evidence. A reputed firm with a battery of lawyers, "gifts" an amateur 2 sensitive cases which have a potential to bring them down. No one is with the accused during the hearing or trials for a flimsy reason devised at the beginning just to ensure this happens. A lawyer sabotages a defense and goes to join the prosecutor, unpunished. I mean there so many nightmarish liberties taken that at every instance me and my wife were like "Does it even happen that way in the real world?" or " Kuch bhi!" or a more vicious and typical Puneri reaction in assal Marathi!!!!! :D

Its about a lawyer who has a past (Flimsy as I said and a bit convenient), publicly calls out a famous and most influential Lawyer for molesting her friend even before she gets her feet wet in the domain. Funnily, the friend never asks her to do so. Thus establishing her as a "Truth-loving" lawyer. A bit oxymoron-ish. So, now she is offered a job in Delhi (has connections to her past), where during the hiring interview she shows her "being-truthful-always-no-matter-what" side. She's offered a job in probably the most famous and influential law firm(Owned by her ex and his father!) and is given 2 cases. One pro-bono and other because she is a woman. The case she lands up is about defending a rape accused who is the best friend of her Ex and is immensely rich. The prosecutor is an ex partner of this firm she works in! A novice and an amateur she handles both the cases, cahooting in one with the opposition lawyer and going till the SC for the other. The judges in the SC, especially the CJ is a woman - again convenient. Who smiles and looks as if saying - "I am proud of you my girl", shows agreement with whatever the woman lawyer says!!! Argggh!! Nothing in this series seems real. Its like watching a overhyped and over-exaggerated Salman or Shahrukh movie. Piyush Mishra as JJ and Kubra Sait as Meher are the only ones worth mentioning.

Having watched Boston Legal, Suits, HTGAWM, The Practice, Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, Andha Kanoon, Meri Jung, Damini, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Few Good Men, Michael Clayton etc and read almost every novel by John Grisham, this series seems so pedestrian. Not that the comparison is correct, but then we have Criminal Justice in the same category. Too naïve and too childish, this series no doubt has Vikram Bhatt as creative director and a lopsided, biased writer like Reshu Nath. If there is, I am going to stay away from Season 2.

** Apologies for the rant!!
 
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Hotel Cecil (Netflix)- So finally the mystery of one of the most bizarre video on the internet and the subsequent death is solved. It needed a documentary like this to put all the pieces together and come to a conclusion. I can now strike this off my list :D I just hope Elisa Lam rests in peace now. Shows how depression can wreak havoc in someone's life.

Hotel Cecil is a notorious place, besides Skid Row a stretch infamous for drug addicts, prostitution, the homeless, and killers. I was shocked to know that Richard Ramirez, the notorious Night Stalker stayed here!! Its a place where they say evil lets its hair down and enjoys. Serial Killers, Prostitutes, Addicts, Murderers, make it their home. Death and Evil is associated with this place since ages. And that's where Elisa Lam stayed. For those who are interested, below is the link to one of the most bizarre mysteries of the internet. Now solved.

 
The mosquito coast on Apple TV is quite involving. I did not think it will be as involving given the storyline of a man revolting against high levels of consumerism in the US and pursues an alternate and non-conventional lifestyle in which his family also gets dragged in.
On-going series with new episodes every Friday.
 
csd508868306kant said:
NetFlix
Season 1 : This Spanish series spins around a prestigious private school lives being upside down when 3 working class teenagers joins this "Elite" school.
We do get to see a bit of everything like drugs, se*, betrayal , love , friendships, heartbreak and a murder suspense.
It starts with a murder and ends with solving the murder and in between lives of students and families during this thick and thin times. Script is ok , acting and story telling is good . We also see Rio and Denver (Money Heist Fame) playing their part nicely. Though at end viewers get to see the murder being solved and the murderer , but police and school have got the wrong guy. May be plot for 2nd Season.
Please give it try once at-least season 1
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Is this good? I wanted to watch this. But was waiting for a suggestion. Do you recommend?

And btw, Who Killed Sara S02 is already released :D
 
The Mosquito Coast , available on Apple TV, is a serial that showcases the ‘adventures’ of an American family comprising of father , mother and teenage son and daughter. The father is an antiestablishment guy , good with working with hands , obsessively living off the grid and running away from something, his past — which is revealed stingily as the narrative is driven forward , a little incredulously at times — and two persistent investigators hot on the chase . The father is headstrong , the mother seemingly pliant to her husband’s devices , but driven to an extent by her own strong personal political views that align with her husband’s so that she is not so much a suffering wife as she is a willing accomplice. The children are typical for their age , but their nurturing is slowly shaping their worldview. In one of the episodes , the boy , aged 10 or 11 years , innocently asks , ‘what is an x-box?’ The daughter is older , 15 years perhaps. As an adolescent she is coming on her own and though she runs away from home , unwilling to be the baggage in her father’s persistent relocation projects , once found by her father at the bus station, rescues him from being arrested by two local policemen by first boobytrapping one of them and driving away the getaway truck.


So far , it’s premature to say where the serial is heading — geographically it is in Mexico now — but an early hint of a denouement did come , when the father is put in his place by Chuey a young Mexican people smuggler — a coyote —who has reluctantly been persuaded to help the family cross the border into Mexico, much at his own personal imperilment.


The father proselytises his hate for America for its consumerism and waste and wants his family to live a life of active resistance. But Chuey says in his obsession to use his loved ones around him to fructify his own personal agenda and for his lack of empathy , he is in fact the embodiment of the America that he professes to hate.
 
moktan said:
The Mosquito Coast , available on Apple TV, is a serial that showcases the ‘adventures’ of an American family comprising of father , mother and teenage son and daughter. The father is an antiestablishment guy , good with working with hands , obsessively living off the grid and running away from something, his past — which is revealed stingily as the narrative is driven forward , a little incredulously at times — and two persistent investigators hot on the chase . The father is headstrong , the mother seemingly pliant to her husband’s devices , but driven to an extent by her own strong personal political views that align with her husband’s so that she is not so much a suffering wife as she is a willing accomplice. The children are typical for their age , but their nurturing is slowly shaping their worldview. In one of the episodes , the boy , aged 10 or 11 years , innocently asks , ‘what is an x-box?’ The daughter is older , 15 years perhaps. As an adolescent she is coming on her own and though she runs away from home , unwilling to be the baggage in her father’s persistent relocation projects , once found by her father at the bus station, rescues him from being arrested by two local policemen by first boobytrapping one of them and driving away the getaway truck.


So far , it’s premature to say where the serial is heading — geographically it is in Mexico now — but an early hint of a denouement did come , when the father is put in his place by Chuey a young Mexican people smuggler — a coyote —who has reluctantly been persuaded to help the family cross the border into Mexico, much at his own personal imperilment.


The father proselytises his hate for America for its consumerism and waste and wants his family to live a life of active resistance. But Chuey says in his obsession to use his loved ones around him to fructify his own personal agenda and for his lack of empathy , he is in fact the embodiment of the America that he professes to hate.
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@moktan, you are such a wonderful narrator!

I subscribed to Apple TV+ a couple of days ago (having sampled the trial episodes of a few series on it) and ‘Mosquito Coast’ is the first one that wanted to watch, and have been since then.

I won’t/can’t add to your apt and effective edescription of the series’ plot, characters and their individual stories. While that’s all ably written and developed to keep me going and eager to get to the next episode and the next, I am also impressed by the locales and cinematography in this series. The visuals, simultaneously grand and stark/eerie add greatly to the narrative. Even the background score, though subtle, is competent.

And in pure AV terms, watching it (or anything) on Apple TV+, even for a plasma and 2.0 stereo guy like me, is right there at the top of the pile - above Netflix, Prime, Hotstar et al. I can only imagine how much more engaging it’d be on wall-sized projection and surround sound.
 
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Fargo S04(APV): Its by far one of the most promising series out there on the OTT platforms. Barring those not yet watched or reviewed. Rarely comes a series which has rippling effects from the first season. As a thumb rule, the first season is always the best. However, all things considered, Fargo scores very high on following seasons. I can remember only a few - Narcos, Breaking Bad, Bates Motel, Bosch, SoA, The Handmaid's Tale, and just on the periphery House of Cards to name a few.
Almost everything in this dark series is just right for itself. The music, the songs, the dialogues, the direction, the treatment (one episode is shot in black and white for a good 20-30 mins) just to create that effect, and above all the cast and acting. Just right! Its like the curry Mom/Aaji (granny) makes which cannot be faulted - everything's just right!
The cast of Season 4 seems a snug fit in their characters like a hand fits a glove, be it Chris Rock (Loy Cannon), Ben Whishaw ( Patrick Milligan), Jack Huston (Odis) Timothy Olyphant( Deafy), E'myri Crutchfield (Ethelrida) et al. But the one who shines brightly in this star cast is Jessie Buckley as Oaretta. Her "Angel of Mercy" self-christening is apt as she plays that part with so much ease and exquisite vocabulary. Her expressions seeing death shows the "love" she has for the eternal silence. You cannot imagine anyone play these characters than the actors who played them. Like how you cannot imagine Walter without Bryan Cranston, Pablo without Wagner Moura, The Underwoods without Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey and Jackson "Jax" without Charlie Hunnam.
I am sure there must be a review out there on Season 4. Its one of those rare ones which do not warrant a review or a suggestion to watch if you like morbid humor IMHO.
 
Home After Dark is another serial on Apple TV. Once again it is focused on a family. But unlike that of The Mosquito Coast which is running away from something , this one returns to the father’s hometown, still redolent of the past that the man was trying to flee from.


The serial is mainly focused on the antics of the precocious middle daughter who publishes an online journal. This young child with an eidetic memory —almost the homunculus of an investigative journalist — in dogged pursuit of the truth behind the disappearance of a young boy, underpins the main plot of the series.


If one can endure the cringeworthy moments that punctuate American family based movies and serials , this one is worth watching , mainly for the brilliant manner in which Brooklynn Kimberly Prince , essays the role of the protagonist. She has her work cut out. But to her credit she manages to seamlessly transition from a vulnerable young child — are they going to divorce ? she innocently asks her elder sister about her parents — to the hard-nosed detective that is the core of her being, in a manner that is endearingly credible.


This season has ended with a hint of a resolution that is kept smartly open ended to make one wanting to come back for more.
 
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csd508868306kant said:
Finished S02 , Now this is even more gripping , fast pace and bit unbelievable too , lot of twists and turns (which i lost tracks of) .
Is S02 is logical conclusion for Who Killed Sara -- The answer is yes for Alex , but No for Viewers. Seems like there would be 3rd Season to get more truth and dirty secrets.
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Dammit!!!!! :D:D:D:D I am on E06.
 
cooltoad said:
Started watching this show on Disney as it has positive reviews, looks like a good crime show.
www.rottentomatoes.com

Mare of Easttown: Limited Series | Rotten Tomatoes

Small-town Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan investigates a murder as life crumbles around her.
www.rottentomatoes.com www.rottentomatoes.com
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I started it, but having used to binging, I kept it aside till the time all the episodes are aired. But yes, it looks promising. Kate Winslet is amazing!
 
Well my experience regarding Who Killed Sara is different than others. I did like first season but not that much. They tried to add heavy background music, a lot of flesh in the initial episodes and a bit of editor desk job to create some interest around a poor story.

Spoilers ahead :

I started the second season on Wednesday and finished all episodes next day. IMO second season was much worse. Again they tried to make a villain out of a character in the initial episodes only to follow the usual storyline in the later episodes. In the end the least significant character is shown the real culprit which is quite predictable in these so called suspense cum thriller series.
Is there anyone who shares same sentiments with me or I'm just alone in this whole wild world. :)

Right now I'm watching Occupied and living it. Finished the second season yesterday and will start the third season today. First was much better than the second season.

I am waiting for series like Fauda, Messiah and Spy.
 
rsjaurr said:
Well my experience regarding Who Killed Sara is different than others. I did like first season but not that much. They tried to add heavy background music, a lot of flesh in the initial episodes and a bit of editor desk job to create some interest around a poor story.

Spoilers ahead :

I started the second season on Wednesday and finished all episodes next day. IMO second season was much worse. Again they tried to make a villain out of a character in the initial episodes only to follow the usual storyline in the later episodes. In the end the least significant character is shown the real culprit which is quite predictable in these so called suspense cum thriller series.
Is there anyone who shares same sentiments with me or I'm just alone in this whole wild world. :)

Right now I'm watching Occupied and living it. Finished the second season yesterday and will start the third season today. First was much better than the second season.

I am waiting for series like Fauda, Messiah and Spy.
Click to expand...
I stopped watching after 4 episodes season 1. Yet to finish the same becomes too predictable.
 
Watching a movie or an Apple series such as Defending Jacob can become an exercise in empathy. How would one react if faced with the same situation as the protagonists ? A mother or a father of an adolescent boy accused , quite credibly , of murdering a classmate.


Usually whodunnits are preoccupied with finding the perpetrator. There are a few red herrings , false leads but the final denouement does arrive , either by the very physical exertions —may involve a train ride , a stake out in the swamp, some disguises etc — of a Sherlock Holmes type seeker of the truth or through the mental exertions of a Hercule Poirot , usually articulated with great theatrical flair in a room populated by all the suspects , including the actual murderer; the exposition so skilful, thorough and convincing , that right there and then the accused is pinned down , indicted , put away for good. There is closure , a sense of relief , the curtains are really downed , till another murder or a theft causes the cycle to start and close all over again.


Seldom is the movie focused on the victims of the crime. The direct victims are shown to wail a few seconds or minutes of screen time and then quickly dismissed. Keeping them for too long would detract from what the movie or the serial is really about — a mental pornography of the detective’s brilliance. The viewer does not want to partake of the misery of the victims. He wants to be titillated by the detective’s mental acumen. It is definitely not an empathy project. It’s a circus showcasing the acrobatics of the cerebellum.


Or in the more intense and amorphous detective stories like the ones the inimitable Humphrey Boggart excelled in , the movie is a philosophic or moral treatise , perhaps about the nature of the ultimate truth , ineffable , layered and empty like the matryoshka dolls plot of The Big Sleep or even The Maltese Falcon.


Defending Jacob in that sense is different. At one level , it is about defending Jacob in front of a judge and a jury , who must weigh the evidence and the accounts of eyewitnesses and come to the conclusion, which they come to , helped by a certain turn of events that only the artifices of fiction could contrive.


The other Defending Jacob is his defence in the courtroom of the parents’ minds who struggle to know who their child really is.


The question then , isn’t who killed Jacob’s classmate— that would be the premise of an ordinary detective film or a serial — the issue really is about Defending Jacob.
 
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rsjaurr said:
Well my experience regarding Who Killed Sara is different than others. I did like first season but not that much. They tried to add heavy background music, a lot of flesh in the initial episodes and a bit of editor desk job to create some interest around a poor story.

Spoilers ahead :

I started the second season on Wednesday and finished all episodes next day. IMO second season was much worse. Again they tried to make a villain out of a character in the initial episodes only to follow the usual storyline in the later episodes. In the end the least significant character is shown the real culprit which is quite predictable in these so called suspense cum thriller series.
Is there anyone who shares same sentiments with me or I'm just alone in this whole wild world. :)

Right now I'm watching Occupied and living it. Finished the second season yesterday and will start the third season today. First was much better than the second season.

I am waiting for series like Fauda, Messiah and Spy.
Click to expand...
Well, to each its own, brother :) Series like Fauda, Messiah, Spy, Money Heist etc. are very few nowadays. All Crime thrillers almost follow the same plot for all - the least expected person is the culprit. Barring a few. Sometimes it gets too boring, but in the anticipation of a twist or just to know the ending, I continue :)
 
The Expanse (APV): Seasons are ongoing, this series is not a letdown if you are a fan of space fantasies. I had reviewed it I think a few months ago. Season 5 continues the storyline. Last season ended with a major shock and in this season it picks up from there. Nothing much to say about this season as the story continues with Marco Inaros, Belters, Martians and Earthers and their conflicts. There is definitely a Season 6.

The only issue I have is that the interval between 2 seasons is so long that its difficult to keep a track of the story and remember every detail. It somehow breaks the continuity and thus the interest buildup is not how it was at the start.
 
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