janesonthego Reviews

The Rookie (2018– )

Show Is Gr8 but music sux

[8/10 · 27 December 2023]

Love the characters, the writing, the show's values, the pace, the balance of soap and drama but EVERY SINGLE TIME something is happening, the person in charge of using music to create tension picks the most painful, extreme, irritating, music track (one which could not possibly appeal to a majority of viewers), and blasts it so loud it is physically painful, then i have to mute the show for 5 mins and rely on subtitles. Normally i could ignore rubbish music, but the dialogue is inaudible. It seems to be a growing trend in tv/ movies, but the Rookie takes this to a whole new level. Seriously, just fix it. Please.

Other than that, it would probably be my favourite cop show.

Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

A Perfect Treat

[9/10 · 9 July 2022]

Don't be put off if, like me, you found the 2019 Downton Movie a messy, disappointing farce: Julian Fellowes has redeemed himself with the Downton Abbey : A New Era movie just released (2022). The plotlines are once again credible, and in keeping with the character of the characters we came to know so well over the 6 well written and produced seasons Downton Abbey graced our TV screens.

Fascinating social history, perfect costumes and set design, subplots carried to their logical conclusions, and lots of loose ends neatly tied off.

(Can't say more about why this was so enjoyable without spoilers, but it really was perfect.)

Killjoys (2015–2019)

Characters, Values, Fun & Some Mystery

[7/10 · 9 May 2019]

In 2016 I had no access at all to Australia's not great anyway broadband, and my viewing options were severely limited. The only reason I tried Killjoys is cos the DVD case said "from the Producers of Orphan Black and the Creator of Lost Girl". Sure enough, Killjoys has a good balance of drama and humour, and values I don't find annoying.

Can't compare Killjoys to much other sci-fi. Forty years ago after wading through 1 and 1/2 volumes of The Foundation Trilogy I decided if women are not relevant then the price of club membership was too high. Never managed to stay awake long enough to see the whole of the first Star Wars Movie. Did the robot warn the boy in time?

Episode 1 of Killjoys is clunky, but it tries. The larger storyline takes a few episodes to set itself up. I don't need expensive sets, I am after character, values, and surprises. A likeable handful of characters, including a sentient spaceship, travel a sector of space known as The Quad. Killjoys get paid for completing warrants, which is to say they enforce the law by contract, they do not question the law. Not all grades of warrant require killing. The warrants chosen, enforcement methods and leisure time activities provide the character and values.

On the surprise front, the idea of a currency unit named Joy won me over instantly. Strip mined wastelands and the world described in Killjoys are dystopian but almost VR shots of the Australian economy if you take away the PR trimmings. The other "world-building" aspects are equally impressive.

For a show that doesn't bother at all to labour issues like race, class, gender, stolen generations, consent, family or the assumption of a social contract, it sure has a lot to say in passing. And on the way, we get to try and unravel some mysteries. It's a refreshingly different show, and both Thom Allison and Mayko Nguyen have sometimes delivered lines that left me chortling for days.

After 4 seasons I won't be devastated when the next season wraps everything up, but I've enjoyed the ride, several times now. This is not the greatest show ever made but still way better than 8 out of 10 shows on offer.

Good Trouble (2019–2024)

No Trouble Loving Good Trouble

[9/10 · 14 March 2019]

The Fosters was awesome on many levels, and after 5 episodes my list of favourite shows now includes Good Trouble. I guess we all want varying things from the dramas we watch - so long as the stories are character driven and allow for personal growth, and the main characters are likeable, I don't mind spending time with one or two people I would avoid in real life. Some of Callie and Mariana's new loft mates are a bit abrasive, and their workmates are ****s, but without conflict there would be no story. At the beginning of the pilot episode Callie and Mariana are in the same outfits and UHaul they were in at the very end of The Fosters.

Cierra Ramirez is exceptionally talented, has great comic timing (a gift), and never murdered a line in 5 seasons of The Fosters. She's the perfect person to play Mariana - set up by the writers with a propensity to stretch the truth or delude herself, and with no respect for anyone's secrets but her own. These flaws often are what keeps the stories moving. She makes up for these unforgivable traits by being fierce, whether protecting someone she cares about or cutting through other people's BS. Her breakthrough moments and her sense of fun are highlights, for me.

No, Callie has never seemed promiscuous or needy to me, but then I've never understood why anyone would expect most people to become attached, engaged and married happily ever after to only one person in a lifetime (unless the story is set in the 16th century or something). I'm in my 60s and happy for these characters to act their age - gosh, I might even learn something when one of them makes a mistake.

The pace of the storyline seems less frantic than The Fosters.

Another thing I don't understand is reviewers who whinge and moan about the show's "liberal" values. Well, duh! If they find it all so unbearable why on earth don't they watch something else? It's like smacking yourself in the eye so you can resent having hands.

The setting and sets for this series are just yummy, and the art theme is a bonus. The sequence in 01x05 involving the 1957 photo from Arkansas (see... no spoiler!) is typical of the occasional treats I've come to expect from these prducers. My only wish is that, as we are getting a lot of flashback sequences, writers would find a way to make this slightly less confusing. As on The Fosters, I sometimes find myself wondering, not where, but when we are, in a story.

Supergirl: Not Kansas (2018) Season 3, Episode 21

The World Don't Revolve Around Kansas

[8/10 · 4 February 2019]

Honestly, most of the reviews here for this season sound like they were cut and pasted from a Troll Template. What's the point of a story, regardless of genre, if it is not actually "about" something? Sure, if one or two episodes are not to your taste we would like to know why, but turning up for every episode of the same season and using a dozen aliases to complain is just laughable.

A small comment or two about guns is hardly a debate, and for an enormous number of viewers OUTSIDE "Kansas", it helps humanise Americans to show there are one or two people who are not fully paid up members of the NRA. This show does not have an exclusive target audience of Adult American College graduates - of course whatever debate there is on any topic will be limited. As for the supposedly leftist or "liberal" slant of this show - are you serious?

After the sexist tripe of Season 2, this one has been refreshing. Mon-El has redeemed himself, and Supergirl is growing up. No, I did not leave endless reviews complaining about Season 2, I accepted that I keep coming back despite my disappointment because I have had an unconditional love for Kryptonians since George Reeves first wore double breasted suits to his job at the Daily Planet.

This is a good, solid episode with a little bit of Zor-El family time, some new twirly cape-fighting tactics, some futuristic stuff, the ongoing battle between good and evil, and for the youngsters attending this school of life, some more stuff about life, love, dementia, and how people can agree to disagree without necessarily hating each other.