In the past I would usually stick to one series, watching it through, then move on to the next.
I’ve been alternating between these series however. I’m enjoying the experience.
Ratched on Netflix. This is a TV series about the wicked* controlling head Nurse Mildred Ratched from
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest when she first comes to the sanitarium in 1947. I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s disturbingly dark in places but has moments of poignancy, mystery and lots of machination. Ratched is played by Sarah Paulson. (I remember her as Merlin the ghost girl from American Gothic - remember that weird show? Paulson’s appeared on a lot since then, including several series of American Horror Story.)
Paulson is great in the role. I thought they might go down the cliched route of portraying her as a good person and showing her moral decline, and while there is an element of that, she shows great ruthlessness from the start. She’s got her reasons though, and she is certainly a complex character, and it’s fun to see her machinations. In one episode she
organises a horrific murder -which doesn’t go to plan, but also shows great sympathy for other characters.[/
The supporting cast are very good too. I don’t think we’ve met any of those characters yet (one plus of setting this so far before One Flew... ) so that gets rid of any worries, of “I know how they end up” that may be an issue for prequels. (It’s rarely an issue for me, as it’s all about the journey, for me, but I know many are bothered by that sort of thing. There’s a doctor character who struck me as a pretty awful man, performing lobotomies willy-hilly (and awful hot cold bath treatment, in this case to cure two lesbians of their ‘deviancy’. An awful, ambitious, cowardly little fellow. And seeing some of his back-story was incredibly disturbing.
And then last episode, he made me almost feel like I had something in my eye with his tearful “I think I actually helped someone!”, moment, after apparently successfully treating a MPD patient with great empathy. And it didn’t come across out of character. . That’s range for you.
Paranormal on Netflix. Another period piece, this time set in 1970s Cairo. It’s a foreign language series mostly performed (if that’s the correct term) in Arabic. I’m enjoying this a lot. The filmography is very dismal (in a good way) considering this is set in such a hot country. I like the melancholic cynical lead character a lot, and the supporting cast are good. If I had any criticism, it would be that I find some of the paranormal stuff a bit on the nose. I don’t mind some straight supernatural elements, but I wouldn’t mind some things being a bit more ambiguous. I appreciate the X Files already did that, though. Oh there’s a creepy little girl in it too, and spooky children always hit the right chill factor with me, and I like that we aren’t sure what her motivations are.
Vikings - final series on Amazon Prime: Enjoyable series so far. Kudos for continuing the quality after
killing off Ragnar Lothbrock. (Name is misspelt as it has Norse characters).Ripper Street on Amazon Prime: I’ve only seen one episode of this Victorian police drama, but I enjoyed that a lot. It went to a pretty nasty place some might find disturbing, but it’s kinda in the title, isn’t it?
The next two I can’t really help seeing piecemeal since they’re released weekly (although American Gods missed a week for the last episode, apparently due to American Super Bowl and Starz schedule. (It premiers in Starz in the US the day before apparently, then on Amazon Prime the next day.)
WandaVision on Disney+: I won’t say much about this, except I’m enjoying it a lot and, concerning last episodes end: “A-HA HA HA HAAA!” Also don’t switch off during the over-long end-credits for this episode as there’s a little mid-credits bit. You might want to ffwd though.
American Gods (latest series) on Amazon Prime: Its a little slow with the main series thread, but it’s enjoyable enough. Glad they’re doing more with Bilquis than Gaiman did.
It occurs to me, all but the latter two are period pieces.
*In the literal sense of the word. I don’t use that word to mean ‘good’. Actually that was something that occurred when I was at secondary school, decades back. Do the kids still do this? I think they say ‘sick’ now instead.
