Synopsis- Ex insurance investigator Nate Ford leads a team of specialist criminals in a Robin-Hood type enterprise, where they help the victims of government and big corporations whom the law has let down. Kinda like a really badass, illegal Citzen’s Advice Bureau.
Medium- DVD
Entirety or episode?- Entirety
Overall verdict- Leverage is awesome. It’s not only fast, witty, awesomely scripted and plotted, and full of characters so characterful you are just guaranteed to fall in love with every one of them, it’s also really feel-good. I think it’s the feel-good aspect that hooked me so much. Even the best dramas I find tend to wallow in angst quite a lot, which I have a limited tolerance for. The whole point of every Leverage plot is the fight for justice, and I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that pretty much every episode has a nice, satisfying, happy ending where justice is served.
The plots and schemes for each job are intricate and clever. Every episode is fast paced and funny and there is never a dull moment. It can be cheesy at times, but in a thoroughly charming way, and I’ve caught myself tearing up frequently at how genuinely sweet this gem of a show can be.
The characters and their relationships are all very well-rounded and realised and just incredibly likeable. That’s it. This is just an incredibly entertaining, smart, funny and likeable show that will leave you feeling better for having watched it. It’s also mercifully free of ‘oh, boy’ moments regarding gay/trans/sexist jokes (although there’s quite a lot of honey-potting that goes on with the female characters I guess) In fact I think I only had one or two cringes throughout the whole series.
Screen time- Main character in a handful of episodes
Accent- British
Mark’s character- Jim Sterling is a bastard, but he’s a proper suave, charming bastard who manages to perfectly pull off being an antagonist without being a bad guy. He used to work with Nate, but they end up as rivals, with Sterling remaining one step behind tracking the Leverage group down for their altruistic crimes, until he ends up collaborating with them and then striking up a sort of deal where he lets them remain in operation in exchange for them helping him catch the bad crooks for Interpol.
I love Sterling. He’s another absolutely Sheppard role, and Mr S plays him brilliantly. He’s also dryly hilarious, and comedy is one of Mark’s strong points, so he’s just glorious to watch in this role.
Highlight- Another show where there’s too many to list, but…
- That bit in the finale. You know which bit. I won’t spoiler ;)
- Parker getting excited about anything. Money, Christmas, sugary snacks, burglary. Parker is the best.
- Parker making friends.
- The purely sweet in-team romances.
- Everyone’s character arcs and backstory.
- Sterling in the lift.
- Sterling play-acting being drunk.
- Sterling and Eliot’s hate-hate relationship.
- I’m here for Eliot’s confusingly terrible dress sense.
- I’m also here for Sterling’s truly beautiful suits.
- Hardison getting appreciated for his incredible work.
- The fight choreography, hell yeah.
- How much the characters genuinely like and care for each other.
- The finale. Tied up perfectly <3
Rewatch?- Absolutely yes
(I’ve not done many screencaps because I imagine there are tons of Sterling floating around here that I can just reblog!)
Synopsis- Five misfit superheroes muddle through saving the world multiple times over, whilst coming to terms with their own identities and finding the man who brought them all together.
Medium- https://www.dcuniverse.com/
Entirety or episode?- Entirety
Overall verdict- Doom Patrol is SO GOOD. Guys, it’s just SO SO GOOD. I knew it was gonna be amazing when I saw the cast list plus Jeremy Carver, but oh man, it is CAPSLOCK GLORIOUS. I can’t really do it justice in a paragraph, but suffice to say it made two grown men cry repeatedly during more than one episode, the character progression is absolutely top-notch, the casting and acting is perfect, the writing is some of the best I’ve seen in recent years and it is HILARIOUS. It’s kinda like Preacher meets X-Men, but better than both.
Screen time- He’s only in two episodes so far (4 and 5), but he’s a main character in both of those (and he gets to cuddle a cute puppy in ep 5 because I know that’s information that’s relevant to everyone’s interests.)
Accent- British
Mark’s character- Kip is a drunken, chain-smoking, scruffy, sweary chaos magician who wields a gigantic flaming sword and yeah, it’s every bit as hot as it sounds. Apparently he was meant to be Constantine, but DC couldn’t get the rights from Vertigo at the time, so Grant Morrison created Kipling and based him off Richard E Grant as Withnail and yeah, it is every bit as cool as it sounds. Mr S gives an outstanding performance as ever, bringing a playful edge to a grouchy misanthropic character that is totally delightful. While I wouldn’t say he’s exactly a good guy (all the characters in Doom Patrol are brilliantly nuanced, it’s just that great) he’s satisfyingly practical and blunt, and also incredibly badass whilst still displaying that streak of cockroach preservation that was so admirable in Crowley. In short – yeah, I proper love Kipling. One of my all-time favourite Mark S roles, and I really hope he’s back in Season 2.
Highlight- Really, too many and too spoilery to mention – just go watch!
All the dialogue in Doom Patrol is a total delight, but Kip is a particular highlight.
Synopsis- A special ops team made up of military specialists go undercover to thwart various baddies, in the name of the US of A.
Medium- Rip of a dodgy VHS copy
Entirety or episode?- Entirety
Overall verdict- SOF is what it is. It’s a 90s American Jerry Bruckheimer show about special ops soldiers, so don’t expect it to be particularly forward-thinking in terms of ‘foreigners’ or equality and diversity. It also covers some pretty dark themes, although most of the really bad stuff (torture etc) occurs off-screen. That said, it’s actually a lot better than most shows of the time period in terms of, well, not being a complete bag of poop. Whilst there are some huge nope moments (lesbians as a punchline, some really choice racist dialogue, numerous rape threat storylines, I could go on) it’s an easy watch, it’s fun and fast and has a cast of really likeable characters who you’ll grow to love (yeah, even Benny Ray, who’s a total dudebro.) It’s also cheesy af, which ups its fun quota by a huge amount. I enjoyed it a lot.
Screen time- Main character
Accent- Cockney (and occasionally Irish!)
Mark’s character- I may be biased, but CJ is by far and away the best thing about SOF. He’s another character that Mr S absolutely inhabits. It’s also nice that he’s probably the most uncomplicatedly nice character in Mark’s back catalogue – he’s a legit action hero. He’s also the comic relief, which means that he not only gets all of the best lines, but is also the most relatable. Also, the fact that he’s often portrayed (I think unfairly) as the most ‘cowardly’ or ‘the weak link’ also makes him the most nuanced and relatable character of the crew. His backstory with his brother is genuinely upsetting and Mr S puts in a typically excellent performance in a lot of very highly emotional scenes. In short, CJ is frankly adorable (despite being a badass ammunitions expert). He’s a chirpy cheeky chappy, enthusiastic, full of bravado and bullshit, always has a (terrible) joke ready (so the others can tell him to shut up) and is absolutely loyal and (almost) fearless in the face of danger. And he really, really hates Libyans.
Highlight- I’ve made copious notes, so there’s really too much to list here, but here’s a few.
CJ knows ‘every lyric of Fleetwood Mac’ (he’s also into Nine Inch Nails!)
CJ in Broken Play, dealing with PTSD. He looks absolutely terrified in the flashbacks and it’s devastating. How he cradles that gun because he’ll kill himself before they’ll take him alive again, oh my heart.
CJ “Do you like cake?” And he damn well baked that cake, too!
CJ spinning drumsticks at the start of ‘Collateral Damage’.
Teddy Bear’s Picnic: the earworm that won’t quit.
CJ building a defibrillator ffs and refusing to give up on Chance.
Honorary mention for Mother in ‘Hired Guns’ <3
Every time CJ starts to tell a joke and everyone tells him to shut up. “What was the punchline?” “You know I make it up as I go along.”
Every time CJ shows that he’s actually a whole league more intelligent than anyone gives him credit for.
Rewatch?- Yes, but I wish they’d release it on DVD to buy, as it’s impossible to find and the quality of the VHS rip I bought is dreadful!
Synopsis- Val and half of the team are hired by Trans Global International Finance to test out a new AI security system in an LA skyscraper. However, bad guy Nero and his team have also broken into the building.
Medium- Youtube
Entirety or episode?- Episode
Overall verdict- So, of all of the many, many (well, 66) shows I’ve watched during this project, VIP was the one that proved next to impossible to get hold of. It’s NOWHERE, guys. There are episodes up on Sony Crackle, just not the ones with Mr S in. There’s a DVD, but only of Season 1. There’s the odd episodes on Youtube and Daily Motion, but not the ones I was after in English. I even messaged all the Pamela Anderson fan sources I could find (not a single one got back to me…) So, I ended up having to watch AI Highrise on Youtube, with a really loud Russian voice-over (48 ½ Hours is literally nowhere to be found). This resulted in me probably not having the best grasp of this episode, however, I also get the strong impression that this show is far from rocket science. It’s silly, camp and fun, with Pamela Anderson trotting around on spike heels in a see-through shirt, solving crime (or something). PI Vallerey Irons has a team of really quite adorable-seeming comrades, and the whole thing comes across as weirdly cute and wholesome, despite that it’s evidently mainly trading off, well, cleavage. Even the poison darts that the rogue building AI fires at the team (really) are fluffy. Also, this has one of the most batshit plots I’ve ever encountered – they ultimately defeat the AI (spoiler alert) by Val getting off with a Hot Shirtless Random (he’s shirtless because it was really hot when him and Val were crawling through the air ducts to escape the bad guys… right) so the AI decided it was in love with her too, and when told that it couldn’t be in love with a human because it’s a computer, it got so sad it shut down, thus overriding the self-destruct bomb. Guys, I did not remotely hate this, and I have no regrets having taken the time to watch it, even though I caught about one word in twenty, and I would very much like to watch a version that I could hear properly.
Screen time- Main character for this episode.
Accent- English
Mark’s character- OK, so from what I can gather from what I could make out despite obscuring voiceover, Nero is a typical Sheppard baddie, who breaks into Trans Global to steal piles of cash and then blow up the building to cover his tracks (as you do). He’s obviously a grade-A turd (he injects Trans Global guys with poisoned truth serum in his first scene to get what I presume were the building/safe codes) but he’s cool, competent and collected. If you’re prepared to watch something with the sound off just to see Mark look all smirky and sleek in a white boiler suit, then this is the Youtube offering for you. Heads up, he also gets to ride a motor bike in this one.
Highlight- The bike.
The boiler suit.
Pamela Anderson hiding under a table while a computer system fires fluffy darts at her.
“It’s really hot in these air con ducts, we best take our shirts off” LOL FOREVER.
“Oh my God my mascara’s melting!” <-- one of the few lines I could properly make out, and it’s a good ‘un.
The bit where Hot Shirtless Guy falls out of an air vent and challenges Nero in hand to hand combat made me howl with laughter.
Val defeating Nero’s henchwoman with… makeup..?..?
Also, I realise Hot Shirtless Guy is technically a goodie, but there’s just something intensely satisfying about watching him get his arse completely handed to him by Nero (until Val somewhat unsportingly tasers Nero in the head.)
Rewatch?- If I can ever find these two episodes in English, I will be delighted to watch them properly, because this show looks hilarious.
Synopsis- Two hit men bide their time waiting for their mark, in a tense and claustrophobic film noir.
Medium- I was lucky enough to get in touch with the director who was kind enough to give me a private link so that I could watch the film in order to review it - unfortunately, I’m not able to share that link publicly, sorry guys.
Entirety or episode?- Entirety
Warning: this review contains serious plot spoilers!
Overall verdict- I spent a long time trying to track this one down, and in the end I was lucky enough to get in touch with Anders Dalgaard, who not only wrote the screenplay but also directed and edited the film, and made it possible for me to watch the film. In my research I read that the production was completed, with a tiny production team and cast, in a limited set, on a micro-budget of only around £20,000. This makes what was achieved with this film - which was Dalgaard’s debut feature-length piece - all the more impressive to me.
I’ve read mixed reviews on this film: some accusing it of pop philosophy and naïve stylings, others comparing it to Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’. A clear parallel for me with Beckett is that Nether World is ambiguous, cyclical and often confusing but absolutely invites interpretation.
On my first watch through, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, but the whole thing looked beautiful to me. It’s full of gritty, black and white gumshoe-noir shots, and saturated, dreamlike flashbacks/flashforwards packed with intriguing symbolism reminiscent of Twin Peaks. The story and its imagery played on my mind until I watched it for a second time and started to unpick some of the themes, and unravel what I interpreted from the plot.
On one level, this is a thriller about two ‘Agents’ (assassins) from ‘the Company’ who are paired up to perform a hit together. At first, it seems like they have little in common. Old Timer (William Morgan Sheppard) is brash, cynical and jaded, whilst California (Mark Sheppard) is an idealistic young soldier, only in it for the money to support his pregnant wife. However, as time passes it becomes clear that they have a lot more in common than it first appears – literally: a shared past/future; a shared existence.
The majority of the action takes place in a literal nether-world – the liminal, chthonic space of an underground parking lot in the height of a stifling heatwave. This highlights the repeated themes of being trapped, suffocated; caught in a purgatorial loop.
The slow reveal of California starting to realise what’s going on is subtly and expertly written, and stunningly performed by both of the lead actors. The repetition of footage in certain scenes is used very effectively, enhancing the theme of mistakes endlessly repeated.
Upon watching the film a second time, I noticed so much foreshadowing and so many lovely little details. California pointing the gun first at Maria, then at himself, in the first flashback sequence is an eerie prediction of their fates. There’s a lot of that in Nether World – too much to explore in a brief review, but I kept noticing new details and deeper layers.
“I’m not like you,” California repeats to his jaded partner.
“There’s no escape from me,” could be a direct response from Old Timer to that claim: I’m still not entirely sure whether he directs that to the Photographer, or to California. As time passes (although, according to the clock, no time has passed at all: another unsettling anomaly of this situation, and a further comment on how things can’t help but repeat themselves) California’s behaviour becomes increasingly like Old Timer’s. We watch him become Old Timer before our eyes: first figuratively – with the smoking, drinking, the breakdown of his morals and marital fidelity - and then literally. As Old Timer says, “You’re not hunting me. I’m hunting me.” We realise that this has been a single, unreliable narrator all along, the story told from the fragmented point of view of a murderer driven mad by the mistake he replays over and over again in his mind. Finally, what was left of his younger, optimistic, self disappears completely and he is left with what he has turned into: the abusive father he was too late to kill; he has nothing left but to finish the job. The idea of ‘turning into our fathers’ is lent additional gravity by the fact that the two lead actors are father and son.
This feeling of going around in circles – literally and metaphorically: the repeated motif of spiralling stairs; the repeated patterns of disillusionment and violence – is a key theme of Nether World. The action both starts and concludes with the protagonist killing himself, neatly bookending the narrative.
The process of watching this film, of figuring out what was going on, and interpreting my own meanings from it, absolutely delighted me. I’m very grateful for having had the opportunity to watch it, and I hope that one day it’ll be available on public release for others to enjoy too.
Screen time- Lead role
Accent- American
Mark’s character- California is an example of what Mark Sheppard can do when given good material to work with. He’s a brilliant, nuanced character with a ton of backstory and depth and Mr S plays him phenomenally well. His interaction with Old Timer – (played with equal skill by his dad, William Morgan Sheppard) – is wonderful. His chemistry with Natalia Ivanova who plays California’s wife Maria (also brilliantly) is genuinely sweet and believable. This story is a true tragedy, as we get to see the long-term development of a character, the degeneration and demoralisation of a man who starts out idealistic and believing in justice. And Mr S makes you feel every single blow.
Highlight- Those beautiful, dreamy desert shots, all pastel colours and neo Western.
“I’ll get you another one.” “I wanted this one.” OOF. I feel ya, Maria.
THE GOLDFISH D:
The moment, at ‘Allentown’, when the penny first starts to drop for California.
“I’m not like you!” Way too sad and relatable.
“Now. Say something smart.” I dunno why, that just gave me chills. It was the delivery.
When California realises.
That final reveal/transition at the peephole.
That final desert shot with the veil.
Rewatch?- If this ever becomes available on DVD I will buy a copy and watch it many, many times over.
Title- Dollhouse (Omega, 1x12, Man on the Street, 1x6, The Target 1x2)
Year- 2009
Character- Agent Graham Tanaka
Synopsis- Underground organisations known as Dollhouses hire out people known as Actives (the ‘Dolls’) to wealthy clients. These Actives have their personalities wiped and a new personality loaded depending on the requirements of each assignment. FBI Agent Ballard is investigating rumours of these illicit establishments, mainly trying to track down an Active named Echo.
Medium- DVD
Entirety or episode?- Entirety (but just rewatched Mark’s episodes recently)
Overall verdict- This is pretty much the most Whedon series to ever Whedon. As in, it is sharp, interesting, absorbing, thought provoking, full of witty dialogue but also intensely convoluted and problematic. I have pages of notes from my rewatching of these three episodes, so it’s hard to boil them down to a succinct review because I could talk at length about the themes and implications of this show – suffice to say, it’s never boring. And the fact that it’s creepy af and super problematic is, in this case, kinda the point – so I’m inclined to give it a lot more passes than say, Firefly, which is also creepy and problematic in places, but needn’t be.
Dollhouse raises a ton of interesting points regarding identity, truth, beauty, consent, the nature of happiness, free will, reality, humanity, trust, relationships, control, how we’re manipulated by society and the media – I mean, it really is a fascinating premise, and whilst the execution sometimes misses the mark, it sometimes hits it dead-on and some of the episodes are actually pretty moving and affecting. (Some, however, are really daft.)
Saying that, despite having a ‘badass female protagonist’ it feels pretty male-gaze and there’s a ton of cringey damsel-in-distress stuff, and the mind-control aspect (if manipulation and abuse storylines upset you, maybe skip this one) can get a bit heavy. It makes me wonder how it would have been received if it had been a vulnerable, hot young male protagonist with a capable female handler instead of the ‘obvious’ vice versa.
All in all, it’s kinda an exploration into what makes us human;what makes us us – but in my personal opinion, whilst it’s definitely worth a watch, Battlestar Galactica and Supernatural both do those themes better.
Screen time- Brief
Accent- American
Mark’s character- Tanaka is a hard-boiled senior FBI officer who is utterly sceptical about the ‘urban legend’ that is Dollhouses. He’s sexist, he’s very crude, he’s a bit of a dick and he’s a coward. In short, he is simple, straightforward and easy to dislike. I’d like to have seen what he’d have turned out like if he’d had chance for a bit more character development, as I think he could have ended up with a lot more depth - as a character he has promise. It could’ve been even more interesting because apparently Mark wasn’t first choice for the role, but when he got it (Whedon wanted him in the series, apparently) he apparently asked to keep the (clearly Japanese) name. I wanna know that in-character backstory. As it is, Mr S plays him excellently and looks great as ever in a smart suit. But he doesn’t get a whole lotta airtime and is mainly used as a device to inconvenience Ballard.
Highlight- Ballard beating the cake out of Tanaka and nearly breaking his arm.
That final ‘shoulder to the wheel’ gesture in ‘The Target’, oof.
“Maybe she’s broken” – when Sierra is crying. OOF ONCE AGAIN.
“I’m sorry for your loss. It doesn’t make you any less of a predator.” Well, at least THAT is acknowledged.
Some of those twists, though.
‘In dreams’ in ‘Omega’ is some truly chilling music usage.
“I’m just the porchlight, waiting for you.” That gave me slight feels.
