#tv reviews

[amaclucky13]

Xena and Gabrielle have got problems. Hope is back. Ares is annoying. Callisto is here. It's like the perfect storm of assholes.

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[zenosanalytic]

I've been watching this anime on Netflix called Ramparts of Ice(link to the wiki. Apparently it was originally a webcomic???), and it's a PERFECT example of how humans totally CANNOT READ EACH OTHER'S MINDS, but constantly THINK They can :> I Love It uvu uvu

It's not really a "Comedy of Manners", but obvsl INSPIRED by that genre, so I will dub it a "Comedy of Psychology" :3 :3 :3

[raventri-reviews]

Amazing Digital Circus Full Review:

An animated psychological horror comedy about being trapped in a digital VR world with no known way to escape. The mystery of how the Digital Circus works and how to escape it drives the show, fuelled by excellently compelling characters and beautiful animation. The show starts off slow, but quickly gets better episode by episode, even if its finale falls a bit short of its potential.

Full Spoilers Below:

The animation is stunningly good, making great use of CGI models that always feel as fluid or solid as they need to be. The show mostly keeps things tame, but every character is incredibly expressive, even ones with minimal facial features like Zooble. There are also a few psychedelic sequences that stand out for their animation alone, such as Jax’s near-abstraction, Caine’s intermission, and Caine’s supervillain song. 

Where the show really shines, though, is its characters. Despite seeming simple on the surface, every one of them is compellingly complex, with their own backstories and internal struggles that all complement one another. It’s delightful to learn about them all over time, especially since we learn about them naturally through dialogue, which makes it feel less like exposition and more like we’re learning about them alongside the other characters as they open up to each other to survive and get along in the Circus. The lightning round episode is particularly good at this, giving us glimpses into everyone’s backstories that are just deep enough to explain their characters without being so deep that they feel unnecessary. The show almost always feels like a proper ensemble, where even if some episodes highlight certain characters like Kinger or Gangle, everybody is always doing stuff that reveals things about their character, expands their character relationships, or progresses that episode’s plot. Even when the show starts more squarely focusing on Jax later on, the rest of the cast almost never loses their presence or relevance. 

While I like all of the cast, my two favorites are easily Pomni and Kinger. Pomni is the glue that holds everyone together, connecting to the rest of the cast and gets them to open up to each other. She’s able to fit into the Circus knowing part of it is a game, but still treats the others like real people. In a sense, she’s the best of both Ragatha and Jax, and there’s a reason why she’s able to bring everyone together during the finale. Even though we don’t get much of her backstory, we learn a lot about her personality since she’s our POV character, and watching her develop from a scared, terrified girl into a natural leader is really cool. Her finally telling off Caine is incredibly cathartic, and her putting all her knowledge together to pull off insane feats like helping Kinger get control of the Circus and reaching through to Abstracted-Jax in the finale is awesome. It feels like we grow alongside Pomni from an outsider to a central core of the Cirus, and that’s part of what makes the show work so well.

If Pomni is the “hero”, then Kinger is the mentor. He’s delightfully funny when he’s insane, and heartwarmingly wise when he’s allowed to get his mind back. Learning about his past and how much he truly knows about the Circus is really cool, and aside from Pomni, he’s the best at comforting people. He’s the one who comforts Pomni, after all, and the first to start rebuilding the Circus after everything goes to shit. There’s a reason why Caine made Kinger insane, and it’s because Kinger would steal the show if he wasn’t. As is, he manages to steal the show anyways.

I really like most of the main cast though. Zooble is fun, and while Gangle is my least favorite, I do like that she grows to love herself, even through the depression. Ragatha’s uncompromising optimism contrasts well with Jax’s pessimism, and watching her and Jax fight over Pomni is fascinating. I wish she was more instrumental in the Jax conflict, because that dynamic feels ripe for strong character moments. I do like that she’s the first one to reconnect with Pomni during the finale, despite everything that’s happened. 

Jax is one of the most interesting characters. I like how sadistically funny he is at the start, until that gets slowly pulled back to reveal that it’s a mask hiding his intense loneliness. Watching him spiral as he slowly re-associates with reality is fascinating, and I love that him pushing people away so he doesn’t have to be vulnerable makes him the most vulnerable one of all. He refuses to engage with the community positively, so without that community, he has nothing left. He becomes the central character alongside Pomni in the latter-third of the show, which makes sense since the whole show is about building community in a world where nothing matters. However, I do think the climax to his arc is handled pretty clumsily, with his backstory being shown via 10 minutes of exposition being told through Jax’s memories. It’s especially jarring compared to how natural and succinct everybody else’s backstories are, and it being the end of his arc means that there’s nothing to really do with this information. Jax can’t change anymore, so it’s just exposition for exposition’s sake. I like his backstory in a vacuum, and it compliments the show’s themes well, but the pacing makes it feel like a whimper instead of the bang it should have been.

Caine is a fun villain to watch develop. The cracks are there from the start, but learning just how far Caine will go to satisfy his ego as the cast stands up for themselves is both cool and terrifying. It’s awesome watching him go full supervillain by the end, even if he crosses the line earlier with the Fake Exit adventure. I do think his redemption is too quick, as he basically just realizes that he was wrong and moves on. Although he is an adaptive AI, so it makes sense that he can just change the dataset he’s pulling from to actually work with the humans instead of against them. I like where he ends up, even if I think getting there was rushed.

The driving force of the show, aside from the characters, is the underlying plot and mystery: how does the Circus work, and how does the cast leave it. It’s their goal from episode 1, even if they can’t always pursue it. The first episode also leaves us with several other unanswered questions, namely what abstraction is and what the Backrooms-type exit Pomni found is. The show is thematically about the characters finding meaning in a meaningless world, but too much focus is placed on the mystery elements for it to not be a major component of the story being told.

In general, watching the characters learn more about how the Circus works is really fun. We learn that the characters all came from different time periods, and that the Backrooms is something Caine had been making based on the real world. The plot really ramps up around the two-thirds point, with the Fake Exit adventure. It’s the first episode to really bring the escape plot back into focus, now that the characters have the chance to actually do something, and it ends with one of the greatest rugpulls in history when Caine reveals that the whole thing is fake. It’s an emotional gutpunch, and one that only matters if the plot - the mystery - is important. From there we learn about the creation of the Circus using brain scans, and how the cast can manipulate the Circus too, at least enough to stop Caine and gain control even if they can’t escape. We get a whole sequence dedicated to Caine’s creation, and the episode ends with his death and the near-destruction of the Circus. It’s an incredible buildup, escalating things quickly but with purpose, until things are on the brink of disaster.

From there, though, things kind of just lose their momentum. The characters just accept that they’re simply code without really saying it, even though it should raise several existential questions. Like, are they even people? As brain scans, their lives literally have no meaning, and their entire quest to escape is all for naught. It makes sense as a reveal - like how the fuck is Kinger’s body still alive otherwise - but it’s not particularly satisfying answer to the mystery. 

Emotionally I really like it, as everyone breaks down and comes apart before Pomni, Kinger, and Ragatha slowly pull them back together. They have already accepted living forever in the Circus to some degree, but with them stuck there, they are able to find new meaning in each other. The scene of them slowly pulling back together as a team is one of my favorites in the show, and the scene where they learn about their real selves and Pomni’s little wave to the camera made me tear up. 

As a climax to the mystery, though, it’s very unsatisfying, since the answer is that there is no answer. It’s all this buildup, and for nothing. I get that you have to choose your own meaning, but for me personally, it makes that whole half of the show fall short. It doesn’t help that we spend half the episode going through Jax’s memories and Caine’s overly-drawn-out-yet-also-rushed character arc, taking away time that I wish was spent on the rest of the cast adapting to their new, permanent reality. We also never learn what abstraction is, which is another big let down. I think it’s the code just getting corrupted, since Pomni can go into Abstracted-Jax’s memories, but that honestly just raises more questions. I think the finale’s emotional bits work really well, but the plot half of the finale is really weak compared to the rest of the show. 

Really, this problem with the ending is so noticeable only because the rest of the show is able to perfectly balance the prevalence of the emotional and plot halves. I think prioritizing the emotional half over the plot half is the right choice, but I wish they had been able to nail them both.

Looking less at the individual details and more at the overall structure, I love that show’s transition from wacky comedy to psychological drama. It’s hilarious at the beginning, particularly Jax, Kinger, and Caine, but almost all of the humor is character focused, so as stakes get more dire, the humor goes away. I like that the humor is still mostly gone from the finale, as the people have control instead of Caine, but instead of being filled with despair, it’s filled with a quiet sense of normalcy and camaraderie. It’s a good emotional throughline, and the humor early on makes the dark moments hit even harder.

I highly recommend checking this one out. Gooseworx and GLITCH did an amazing job, even if the ending didn’t work as well for me as it did other people. It’s a banger show in a vacuum, but given the context of it being an indie webseries, I think this one is gonna go down in history as a major milestone and certified classic.

[voidingintotheshout]

Reading Goals for June 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

OK, I am gay and this is pride month, so I’m probably going to regret only including one gay book but I didn’t honestly want to go through my closet (ha) or my bookshelves to find additional gay books because that feels performative. So here are the books that I have on my list for this month.

The League of Lady Poisoners: illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women written & illustrated by Lisa Perrin. 206 pages.

Platform Decay by Martha Wells. 244 pages.

Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology by Various. 350 pages.

The Tomb (Large Print Edition) by Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry. 546 pages.

A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett. 568 pages.

The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov. 223 pages.

The Oceans of Cruelty: 25 Tales of a Corpse Spirit: A Retelling by Douglas J. Penick. 172 pages.

Lies and Sorcery by Elsa Morante. 774 pages.

Prisoner of Love by Jean Genet. 427 pages.

The Story of a Life by Konstantin Paustovsky. 774 pages.

Max Havelaar by Multatuli. 330 pages

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 4,614 pages. 154 pages a day. Impossible? Yes.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Above are all of the TV Shows and movies that I am going to try to get through in June as well:

Duel (1971).

The green inferno (2013).

Peacemaker.

Call Girl of Cthulhu (2014).

Jackass forever (2022).

Kneecap (2024).

Titan, AE (2000).

Mulholland Drive (2001).

George and Tammy (2022).

Do the right thing (1989).

Mystery men (1999)

Ramy season three.

She hulk attorney-at-law (season one).

Three women (1977).

Bodies (2023; season one).

Kevin can fuck himself.

Rutherford Falls (Seasons 1 & 2)

Mythic quest – ravens banquet.

Charley Boorman (various.).

Living single (1993-1998).

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> reviews of all of this stuff as I finish them or abandon them will go below the cut here, but don’t expect anything down here for a while. Rating system: A is excellent. B is good. C is okay. D is not very good or bad but did what it tried to do. F is something that failed at what it tried to do. This is for things that I abandoned with no plans to ever resume.

Titan A.E. (2000; Film): I really liked this movie. I mean it starts off with the Earth being blown up and humanity being scattered across the galaxy, and because it was a Don Bluth movie, I had very high hopes, and it did not disappoint. There were a couple of odd character changes of heart that happened, conveniently, at points when they were needed for the plot—but overall, I think it was a good movie, and it only suffered ever so slightly from the clunky looking computer graphics that are used in certain parts of the movie. I would rate the movie a B+. The only reason it doesn’t get an A is because it’s got a little too much blood and nudity for it to be a children’s movie and it’s too much like a children’s movie for adults.

Platform Decay by Martha Wells: I still don’t know how I feel about this book. My impressions of it are inexorably colored by the fact that it is the penultimate book in the series because I feel like there’s so little time left with this character, I want all the moments to count. I wanted this to mean more. I didn’t like the pacing of this book. I didn’t like the fact that the first three chapters were really long and slow at least compared to the first four books. I didn’t like the fact that the ending felt really rushed and that you didn’t really understand what was going on until the last two pages of the book. I mean, I always knew that Murderbot was doing the right thing, that was never in doubt, but even now, when I’ve read it twice, I still don’t quite understand the actions of the person who ended up becoming the villain in this book. I know they’re bad, and I have a vague idea of what they did but… It just seems more confusing than meaningful. It’s like trying to apply reality to a commercial or a sitcom episode that you should know better than to apply logic to. I feel more hurt that the book isn’t better than it is. B-.

Rutherford Falls (Seasons 1 & 2) I would say this is a C+ show. I’m a real sucker for the sitcom, but some people really don’t like them because they think they’re stupid. This isn’t the best one though, so if you’re not a huge fan of sitcoms, you would probably say it was a C- but I thought it was OK. It got canceled after two seasons because it was on a streaming service and after two seasons, I think, a streaming service needs to start paying residuals. Either it wasn’t as good of a moneymaker or Peacock just didn’t want to have to worry about paying people for another season. Either way, the show just kind of ends teasing everybody for a third season that never ends up happening. I liked the Native American representation but it kind of reminded me of a different short series, called The Chair, starring Sandra Oh, where the main character, in this case Nathan Rutherford, didn’t really change or grow at all over the course of the series, and so you end up really becoming interested in the series by the other people in it that end up kind of stealing every scene, such as all of the native actors that are in this, as well as Bobbie Yang. Just like in the show The Chair, the people that end up taking something from the script, and working with it, are not the ones that have their names above the title. Ed Helms is ultimately a character actor who can do one thing and that’s not really the type of character that is going to be anything other than an ensemble player, but the other people in this show actually have the range to do something interesting with their careers. It’s a show that had a lot of potential, but didn’t have the intelligence to prioritize the characters that actually had the acting range to do something.

Mystery Men (1999): This is one of the more memorable bad movies I have seen recently. Mediocre writing, Ben Stiller doing his most annoying Zach Braff impression. It’s a lot like Rutherford Falls in as much as the leading Man is the least interesting person in the movie. I mean it’s always great seeing Janeane Garofalo in her prime and Paul Reubens in anything. The one thing that I really liked about it is all of the practical effects. Casanova Frankenstein and his mansion were dazzling. This and the Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit movies are really the best example of before and after CGI. Like there’s no way they would actually use effects that looked this real if the movie was being made today. Everything was handmade and it all looked awesome. Like I wanted to be in that mansion. It was also a surprise and a delight to be able to see Suzy Eddie Izzard in something. C

The League of Lady Poisoners: illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women written & illustrated by Lisa Perrin. 206 pages. I really loved this book. Hearing about all the different myriad ways that women have poisoned people throughout history: profession, love, resentment, insanity. It was wonderful. A-. The book is beautifully illustrated with an amazing cover. It was fun and enjoyable. Readable. It was also one of the most beautiful books that I have actually held in my hand. It’s a book that’s so beautiful, it makes you mad at the shitty looking paper covered hardbacks that major publishers are trying to charge $30 for. This book is a work of art and an amazing history. That is a feminist view of the barter if that’s possible. Wonderful. I did end up taking a few points off, just to be honest that there really isn’t much of a Throughline sense. It’s basically devoting most of its time to chapters where you get 4 to 6 mini biographies of female poisoners that are grouped around shared motive. Therefore, cumulatively the book ends up, just being like “and another poisoner, and another poisoner, and another poisoner.” I really liked it, but I could see some people that weren’t interested in the idea as much as I am finding the book potentially a little repetitive… and I have heard other people talk about how it’s “romanticizing the murderers”, which doesn’t necessarily bother me because that’s what seemingly every true crime podcast does so this isn’t that out of the ordinary for 2026. Also, not to be malevolent, but someone who whines about a book like this romanticizing the murderers just seems like a person who can’t handle their arsenic. Overall, I think it just ends up making all of these women just… Fascinating. Like Jane Toppan is not remotely likable, but she is a fascinating person. I would just never want to be in the same city with her.

Duel (1971): So a friend of mine just nuked the friendship. I hadn't had a lot of friends that aren't high maintenance mental health – wise for a long time so I didn't have a lot of good representation for what normal behavior is. Like I'm used to having my actions policed. If I said a boundary that I'm not really feeling good it needs to be examined and I need to explain why I'm not feeling good. I can't take a day off I need to go and talk to my friend and find out when they might be free. Like if we were supposed to talk tonight, I can't just say I'm not really feeling it and we'll talk another time to be scheduled, I need to schedule it now. Immediately. I finally started setting some boundaries and the person started getting defensive and having a meltdown and shouting at me because I didn't wanna be on the hook to be compelled to talk to this person for an hour or two every month (down from an hour or two every week) when I'm not enjoying it and I'm dealing with a lot of emotional abuse from this person. *Realizes that this is a movie review.* Um, just like the main character deals with in this movie, Duel. It was the first movie released by Steven Spielberg but not his first feature film, since this was a made for TV movie that got turned into a feature film only after his career took off. I love this movie. It used to be the story that my mom would tell because she read this story by Richard Matheson called "Duel" where not much happens, but this guy is chased throughout the desert by this crazy truck driver just because the guy passed the truck driver's rig. It ended up being a story that got into her head when she ended up traveling all across the country in 1979, about 10 years after the story was published in her "farewell to her freedom" trip right before she had me and she knew she would need to settle down. She said it was one of those stories that was so intense and compelling that it just stayed with you... and she's not wrong. The movie is just excellent. It shows you just enough that you find it compelling and fascinating. I like the fact that the ending leaves just enough that you wonder whether the truck driver might've been able to get away from the accident which is phenomenal. I know it's never going to happen but I really wish Spielberg would do a sequel to this. A+

The Oceans of Cruelty: 25 Tales of a Corpse Spirit: A Retelling by Douglas J. Penick. 172 pages I did not like this book. I rated it a C-. So the basic story is that like so many of the characters of the story within this story, the king, one of two main characters, wants to pursue the spiritual path so he abdicates his throne, and so moved, his brother is also inspired to abdicate the throne, leaving the throne empty, and the kingdom in turmoil. A demon takes the throne and is going to use this power to destroy everything that a wise and munificent king would hold dear. It is said by Yogi that the only way to solve this is to retrieve the head of a cursed man from a funeral ground and bring it to the Yogi, if the King is moved by pain to respond to one of the head’s tales, the journey starts over again. Unbeknownst to the King, this is a trick, and the Yogi is actually the demon ruling his kingdom in disguise, and by bringing the head and listening to 25 tales and responding to every one but the last one, the king sets something in motion that might destroy everybody. That’s the premise. Does this sound interesting? Yes? Me too. In the words of Ryder Carroll, that’s why I read it. The problem is that the 25 stories are these concerning, moralistic Sunday school tales about devoting yourself to caste and Hinduism, and knowing the vedas as well and all of this stuff. It’s the kind of pap that I got fed the Christian equivalent back in Sunday school. Every single kid grows up to be the best and most handsome person in the whole world, and they have all of the knowledge and they’re just the bestest Mary Sue that ever existed. Every single story ends with these after school special style lessons about what a good king/Hindu should or should not do. Like I imagine that if there is a Hindu equivalent to Sunday school, these are the kinds of stories that would be told there. There were so many stories about men and women wanting to kill themselves because they couldn’t control themselves around lust and love for someone who they barely knew. Really? As an asexual I find this very dubious. A lot of the stories seem kind of pointless, like it’s just some nonsense to pass the time, and they more or less are. If you don’t read the last section “Diaspora”, I would say the book would be an F, because it sets up this framing narrative as an excuse to just tell a bunch of random tales that don’t go anywhere. Like to contrast it with an excellent series for my childhood, are you afraid of the dark?, the difference between that show and this is that with that show, at the very least the stories themselves are interesting. The stories in this book aren’t actually that interesting. A prince find a pretty woman will do anything to have her or a pretty woman finds a handsome man and will do anything to have him. Who cares? There are so many stories like that. In conclusion, I think that it reminded me of something that John Green said about Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. He said that there’s a reason why the book is mainly taught in history classes, because it is important in American history, but it’s not very good as literature. I think this too is very important in terms of history, but not very good as literature.

The Tomb (Large Print Edition) by Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry. 546 pages. OK, so this is a completely ridiculous book. Like it’s ridiculous in the Jurassic Park sense that it’s ridiculous but it’s a damn good time. So the basic plot is that Attila the Hun who looted most of Europe, but we never technically (according to the book) found all of the loot, has buried all of the loot in various tombs that, discovering them, pieces together his life as a person. Husband and wife archaeological team Sam and Remi Fargo are like an ethical version of Indiana Jones split between two people. For anyone concerned about a female adventurer, don’t be. Remi Fargo is very much in the Laura Croft style, where she is generally speaking more competent than her husband. It’s not like Sam Fargo is some kind of bumbling idiot mind you, it’s just that the person most likely to have supernatural hearing and find the assassin before anybody else is definitely going to be Remi. This is the fourth book in the series but I’ve read a lot of others by Clive Cussler and so I kind of know what to expect here. So every book begins with a time skip between the last book and the current one, so that the main characters have a chance to process and work through anything that came up in the last book. Anyway, my overall opinion on this is that it was a darn fine read and I really enjoyed something that was just fun, but I also felt like I learned some thing about Attila the Hun, which was also pretty cool. Some of the stuff I learned might have even been true! A-

Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology by Various. 350 pages. I want to like this book, but I think that it just had such rigorous editorial control that even though it is from a variety of writers, all the stories kind of sounded the same. I read 40% of the anthology—the first six stories—and it seemed to me, to be slightly flippant, that every single story was about doomed lesbians. Like, not all of the characters were female, some identify as non-binary or trans, and sometimes the connection between the two characters where one of them is doomed doesn’t even identify in terms of sexuality or gender at all, but all of them seemed like sapphics. I guess I was just kind of expecting that an anthology would have a variety of writing styles or a variety of perspectives, but this one had such tight editorial control that it felt like it was just a book written by one person. I guess that’s the issue. I kept reading it because I was hoping for a little bit of variety, but it seemed like every story was this winsome light fantasy or light science fiction involving a doomed sapphic of some sort. I didn’t really want to give up on it but one of the benefits of having a rigid block of books that forced me to choose from one of that group and no others, is the fact that near the end of the month I have to make a decision on whether I want to continue reading this next month and today was the day that that was a resounding hell no. “Data Ghost by Martha Wells was great, but her story seemed in no small part to be an anomaly in the collection. Finally, it’s not lost on me that this feeling of not feeling like any of the characters are like me is the standard experience for most people of color and women in a male dominated society. I can empathize with them better upon reading this, because it doesn’t really feel good to not be able to see yourself in these stories, despite them being good. It’s not really the fact that they are doomed sapphics that bothered me of course. It’s the fact that it doesn’t really matter how any of the stories begin because it’s going to be a female-coded character being doomed, and then the story will be over. It just took all the fun out of it. DNF.

[nicoletteolivier]

Big Mistakes is fucking excellent. Really enjoying this trending take on dialog-delivery that doesn't go line-for-line, but is in a simultaneous improve style, which is both hilarious and more realistic. The story is tight, the excitement level is fun as fuck, and it's really great to get adult content and language where the show doesn't try to pander to censorship, or family audiences. Being that it's Netflix, hopefully it doesn't take four years for another season, and they actually pay the writers.

[filmseries]

Andor - Season 2

"Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks. It leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. Remember this. TRY."

This season is phenomenal! I've never been so happy watching a Star Wars anything in years.

[binged for 3 days: oct24,25,27'25]

[watchnrant]

Interior Chinatown: A Sharp Satire That Challenges Stereotypes and Forces Self-Reflection

Interior Chinatown is a brilliant yet understated reflection of the world—a mirror that exposes how society often judges people by their covers. The show captures this poignantly with the scene where Willis Wu can’t get into the police precinct until he proves his worth by delivering food. It’s a powerful metaphor: sometimes, if you don’t fit the mold, you have to prove your value in the most degrading or unexpected ways just to get a foot in the door. The locked precinct doors represent barriers faced by those who don’t match the “majority’s” idea of what’s acceptable or valuable.

While the series centers on the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community and the stereotypical roles Hollywood has long relegated them to—background extras, kung fu fighters—it forces viewers to confront bigger questions. It makes you ask: Am I complicit in perpetuating these stereotypes? Am I limiting others—or even myself—by what I assume is their worth? It’s not just about API representation; it’s about how society as a whole undervalues anyone who doesn’t fit neatly into its preferred narrative.

The show can feel confusing if you don’t grasp its satirical lens upfront. But for me, knowing the context of Charles Yu’s original book helped it click. The production team does an incredible job balancing satire with sincerity, blurring the line between real life and the exaggerated Hollywood “procedural” format. They cleverly use contrasting visuals and distinct camera work to draw you into different headspaces—Hollywood’s glossy expectations versus the grittier reality of life.

Chloe Bennet’s involvement (real name Chloe Wang) ties into the show’s themes on a deeply personal level. She famously changed her last name to navigate Hollywood, caught in the impossible middle ground of not being “Asian enough” or “white enough” for casting directors. It’s a decision that sparks debate—was it an act of survival, assimilation, or betrayal? But for Bennett, it was about carving a space for herself to pursue her dreams.

This theme echoes in one of the show’s most poignant scenes, where Lana is told, “You will never completely understand. You’re mixed.” It’s a crushing acknowledgment of the barriers that persist, even when you’re trying to bridge divides. Lana’s story highlights how identity can be both a strength and an obstacle, and the line serves as a painful reminder of the walls society creates—externally and internally.

Interior Chinatown doesn’t just ask us to look at the system; it forces us to examine ourselves. Whether it’s Willis Wu at the precinct door or Lana trying to connect in a world that sees her as neither this nor that, the show unflinchingly portrays the struggle to belong. And as viewers, it challenges us to question our role in those struggles: Are we helping to dismantle the barriers, or are we quietly reinforcing them?

[my-film-reel-world]

I Just Watched: Dept. Q – Series 1 (2025)

This Emmy nominated TV series from Netflix is just incredible to watch from start to finish. Tense, atmospheric, and often very brutal in its depiction of violence and cruelty. It is based on the novel series by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, which I haven’t read, but now it really makes me want to check it out as I adore Nordic Noir stories.

The series stars Matthew Goode, who gives a tremendous performance as a former top-billed detective assigned to investigate a cold case involving a shooting that left his partner paralysed and a police officer dead. Goode’s character is sharp, quick-witted, and dripping with sarcasm. He also sometimes develops anger issues and tends to lash out at people. He was just a joy to watch!

The show also stars Jamie Sives (Annika – 2021, In The Dark – 2019-2022) Chloe Pirrie (Hanna – 2021, Carnival Row), Alexej Manvelov (Jordskott, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), Leah Byrne (Deadwater Fell), Mark Bonnar (He appears in pretty much every Scottish project ever, usually alongside Jamie Sives! Also he doesn’t die in this, yippee!!!), Kelly MacDonald (Trainspotting, No Country For Old Men, Brave – 2012), Alison Peebles (The Advocates – 1991-1992), and Shirley Henderson (Trainspotting, Harry Potter), the latter whom provides a chilling, scene-stealing presence. Everyone did a fantastic job in their roles, conveying believable and memorable performances across the board that leaves you gripped and on the edge of your seat throughout.

Not much else to say about this series other than this: If you love slow burn thrillers or you’re a fan of the book series, I highly recommend giving this a watch!

9/10