Welcome to my Monday Newsletter. This week, I am looking at the new limited series Expats, Masters of the Air and Griselda, the latest episode of True Detective: Night Country and more!
There were three big premieres this past week but none of them were super exciting to me personally. The one I enjoyed most though was Expats, a Prime Video limited series based on the 2016 novel The Expatriates. The series, set in an expatriate community in Hong Kong, follows the interconnected lives of three women (Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, & Ji-young Yoo).
The first two episodes were not perfect by any means but they interested me enough to definitely keep watching. I was frustrated in the first episode when the characters just kept talking around an event that was meant to be a secret from the audience. This isn't some mystery box show, I don't think it needed to keep what happened a secret until nearly the end of the second episode. And the very obvious vagueness in dialogue to keep the actual event a secret got irritating after awhile. It was wholly unnecessary. Obviously something happened to Kidman's son, obviously it had to do with Yoo's character. Why the need to keep it such a secret? I also wasn't convinced that a series that only has six episodes needed to spend an entire episode in a flashback.
However, on the plus side, there are some really strong performances. Nicole Kidman is doing her usual Nicole Kidman thing so either you're going to like that or not like that. And Ji-young Yoo had some really interesting moments in the first two episodes. But the standout was definitely Sarayu Blue. I only knew her from NBC's dreadful short-lived comedy I Feel Bad and a pretty thankless role on The Unicorn so I didn't have much to go on but I thought she was dynamite in the first two episodes. She really elevated every scene she was in and I am most interested in her character. The series also has some really pretty visual flourishes. I'm in for the rest of this miniseries despite some frustrations with the first two episodes.
Like all TV viewers, I have my preferences for types of shows I like. And I have my preferences for types of shows that I don't like. But sometimes there's a show that seems right up my alley that doesn't work for me such as NBC's Smash or Showtime's The First Lady. And sometimes a show in a genre I normally hate breaks through for me. I hate zombie shows but I love The Last of Us. I hate vampire shows but I love What We Do in the Shadows. Another genre I've never cared for is military dramas. Unless you count A Few Good Men (which is really more of a legal drama), I can't think of a military movie or TV show I've ever really enjoyed.
I'm sorry to say that Masters of the Air does not break that trend for me. Apple TV+'s follow-up to HBO's acclaimed Band of Brothers and The Pacific is very competently made. The visuals can be very stunning. The CGI for the air scenes are less impressive but there's some really pretty images on the ground. There are good performers (even if it seems like Austin Butler has not totally lost his mumbly Elvis accent). There was a good level of drama (the accidental fly into France in the first episode was heart-pounding). But I'm not going to stick with this show because it's just not for me. I'm sure others who are more into the genre will love it.
Not too much to say on this one. I'm also not a big fan of dramas about the drug industry. Griselda is the newest Netflix series from the Narcos creator and focuses on Griselda Blanco, a Columbian woman who became one of the biggest players in the Miami drug trade world in the 1980s. I only watched the first episode and can see the appeal but it's not for me. The mood and period setting works well and Sofia Vergara is really strong here. She elevates the material but it wasn't enough for me to keep watching. Given that it's Netflix, it will probably be the biggest hit of the three (and Narcos was a big hit for the streamer).
The third installment of True Detective: Night Country, airing last night, is really starting to get into the nitty gritty of the mysteries of the season now that they have done a very solid job establishing the main characters. I'll probably say it every week but Jodie Foster was such perfect casting for this show. I love that her role is the type of gruff, messed-up, foul-mouthed role that is typically reserved for men on prestige dramas. Yes, she's working for the good side but the show doesn't really try to make her that good or redeeming a person and that's refreshing. I love the whole "ask the question" bit that Foster's Chief Danvers does, which seemed so wonderful in the last episode with the young cop, Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) turned out to be a thing she does all the time that annoys other people, especially Trooper Navarro.
Speaking of Navarro, I thought this episode was easily the best yet for Kali Reis' character. I was not totally sold on Reis for the first wo episodes but she was much stronger this week, especially when she finally got more one-on-one time with Foster. Unlike Expats, the show doesn't try to talk around its mysteries or reveals. It reveals them in a proper amount of time without trying to get too cute about it. In this episode, it was offhandedly clarified the relationship between Danvers and her stepdaughter, Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc) and some of the Navarro/Danvers backstory was shown (or at least Danvers' version of it).
I'll leave the more eagle-eyed mystery box observations as well as thoughts on that terrifying end to the episode to others. I don't have time to dissect some of these shows as much as some do and I enjoy listening to things like podcasts The Watch and Prestige TV Podcast dissect each episode. But I'll also note the ambiance and technical design continues to be exceptionally strong. Each house that any character goes into is so fully lived-in and decorated. Of course the constant night adds to the ambiance but so does the fact that it's a few days before Christmas. I know there was originally a plan for HBO to air this in the fall before the strike delayed but this feels like the perfect show for cold January nights.
SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
It's another week with some high profile premieres. On Wednesday, FX has the season premiere of Feud. Seven years after Bette vs. Joan, the campy series is back with Capote vs. the Swans. It's an all-star cast but you never know if Ryan Murphy shows will be inspired or a complete mess. On Thursday, NatGeo has the season premiere of Genius. This season is subtitled Genius: MLK/X and focuses on, you guessed it, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. It's the first season to focus on two characters. The anthology series has seen diminishing returns in awards buzz and critical acclaim since its first season, focused on Albert Einstein. We'll see if this season can buck the trend. Thursday also has the second season premiere of Clone High on Friday. On Friday, Prime Video has the long-awaited premiere of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. The series has been in development for forever and was originally meant to co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge instead of Erskine. Prime Video is dropping all eight episodes which is surprising for such a high profile series (that's not on Netflix). The week rounds out with the 12th and final season premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. The show has been off and on HBO since 2000 so who knows if this is actually the end but it's being billed as if it is.
ODDS & ENDS
- I know it's sort of a desperate move by Comedy Central but I am thrilled that Jon Stewart is returning to The Daily Show, even though it's only one night a week. His voice has been very missed and his Apple show didn't fill that void. I really don't watch much late night anymore but I will absolutely be checking out the Stewart episodes of The Daily Show. I would love to see it become permanent with Stewart always doing Monday and they find a permanent host for the other nights, much like Rachel Maddow does with her MSNBC show.
- I'm not sure I'm going to stick with Death and Other Details. The third episode left me pretty bored and thinking "do I really care enough about the mystery to watch five more episodes?" We'll see.
- We have a rematch of the Super Bowl from four years ago with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers meeting again in football's biggest game on February 11. I'm pretty bored by the matchup after a bunch of exciting teams were in the mix. But Chiefs-49ers was my preseason prediction so I'm always happy to get a prediction right. For the record, I picked the 49ers to win it all back in August.
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