It’s been slightly over 7 months since I wrote my review for the first 10 seasons of South Park (that can be found here). And as promised, here’s the review for the rest of it. Yes, I am as finished with South Park as humanly possible for just now, but I am nowhere near finished with the show itself, as it always finds a way to stay funny, relevant and to piss a lot of people off.

The later seasons of this show definitely felt different. It’s almost like as time went along, it was harder for them to make fun of everything (or you know, just stay focused on just the “easier” targets like Mormons, Scientologists) and they felt obligated to reflect even more on what’s happening in the world/USA. Especially with 2016 presidential election. If I remember correctly, that was the first season that actually had a story-line from start to finish throughout the entire season. Almost a proper narrative, not just two/three episodes in the row about the same topic, but around that time, they have decided to go with parallels/jokes for certain topics (election, climate change, political correctness) and making them the main focus of entire seasons, which was pretty smart decision.

What I hoped would potentially come back, or they might touch upon, is Stan’s depression, as South Park definitely isn’t afraid to address/delve into something a bit more serious and those few episodes in the middle of season 15, where everything Stan hears is shit, everything that he used to love is no longer bringing him joy… that definitely seemed relatable, especially in these (unfortunately still) weird COVID-19 times. I honestly wouldn’t mind if the creators somehow brought this story line back, especially since they are already dealing with the pandemic (that of course, might have been caused by someone from South Park) it would only feel natural, as how it eventually played out was… sad, true, but felt unfinished.

What I honestly admire and love about this show is how it won’t die, sell out, or rush. No matter how many times people try to cancel it (and it looks like lately people have been trying) they are not only still going strong, but they always manage to fire back at those critics, but not in Donald’s (sorry, Mr. Garrison’s) way of “No, YOU!” but in genuinely funny way (like that one time how they reminded us that everybody ignored Apu from The Simpsons being dubbed by white actor, which of course became a thing). And yes, not every single thing South Park does is “subtle”, no question about that. But that is their main strength, they don’t have to be subtle. Because they represent America, the best and the worst of it. And of course, America doesn’t like that.

It’s like that guy, who’s overly self-confident, who is always boosting about having the best body, until he sees himself in the mirror. Or a girl, who’s always talking about being “totally different than the other, normal girls” just for you to discover, she’s not that different at all. Throughout the years, that’s been the biggest strength of this TV show for me – being the mirror for (mainly) USA. Plenty of times, uncomfortable, non-PC kind of mirror, that we might want to laugh at, ’cause ‘Merica, am I right? But deep down, we all know it’s more sad, than funny. But we laugh anyway, because what else is there to do? Nothing is black or white, nothing is just bad, or just great and South Park is here to remind us of that. And we should be grateful. I do appreciate somebody, who can still make fun of anything and just “say it as they see it”, even though that means sometimes, you might disagree with the message, or you might think they take something too far. But guess what? That’s totally fine, it would have been a boring world if we all agreed with each other all the time, plus good art should push boundaries.

Even after 23 seasons and one Pandemic Special later (which was brilliant) I still can’t wait for more episodes to come and here’s me hoping they won’t stop, get cancelled, or get bought by Disney anytime soon, as that would be a shame (and properly ironic on top of that) 😉

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

It’s tempting to jump on the bandwagon of “everybody get’s a Netflix show nowadays”, especially when talking about Hoops. Especially after really weak start and this one was a bit… not great, let’s just say that. Usually, the first episode sets a bar and the rest of the TV show follows, luckily with this one, if you stick with it, it does get better, albeit not that massively.

Don’t make any mistakes though, so far, after watching the entirety of the first season, would I recommend it? Maybe, but with a warning – this is not something “deeper”. Take BoJack Horseman (2014 – 2020) – a quirky, sometimes bit too filthy and darker TV show that started like a typical quirky comedy, just to pull the rug under you half way through the first season, where after that you knew this show will be different. Hoops is not that. Hoops just… is. At least, for now.

The first two episodes or so feel like the writers just discovered swear words, so they are trying to utilise them all as much as they can and (I never thought *I* will write something like this) but it was a bit over the top. And that’s coming from a guy who swears a lot. Luckily, soon after there was an actual humour not just based on the fact the main character is a proper looser, who had never amounted to anything in his life, and the show does get better. But so far, it hasn’t reached level of quality we’re used to with the TV shows lately and that’s why all the reviews I’ve seen for this TV show are what they are. Because Hoops just kind of is there, with a few decent laughs per episode, but at the end of it, where you are waiting for something more to happen, you’ll find there is not much meat there.

And maybe that is the point of this show? Maybe we are so used to everything being some sort of parody, social commentary and anything in between, a show like this one feels a bit odd, as everything it wants is just to make you laugh in any way it can. Sometimes it works (the 8th episode entitled Death was my favourite) sometimes it doesn’t (the very first episode was just really awkward and not really funny episode to begin with) and after the 10 episodes that are available so far, I am intrigued as to whether there will even be a second season and if so, will it be any better…?

That’s why I don’t want to rush to any “definitive” judgement, as we only have 10 episodes to judge this show on. And if the TV show world has taught us anything, sometimes, it takes a season or two for a show to find its strength and get going properly. Will this be the case for Hoops? Maybe. Would I recommend it based on what I’ve seen so far? Only to somebody, who doesn’t expect anything more than dumb humour and is fine with characters, who are on the shallow side. Is there a massive room for an improvement? 100%. Will I be watching season 2, if there is one? Yep, to see whether Hoops will evolve into something better, or whether it’s a one trick (or in this case, dead) horse.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

When you see any promotional materials for Bob’s Burgers, such as posters or trailers, you might think – why? Do we need yet another cartoon family? What is so different about this family? Well, the quick answer to that would be – pretty much everything. And that is what makes it unique.

Bob’s Burgers is a really nicely animated. There is something about their style of animation, that just looks great, but also not too perfect…? I am by no means implying the animators are not doing their job properly, quite the opposite! Their style to me is great looking animation, and that little touch of not being too “polished” or “perfect” is what makes this show unique from the visual point of view. Plus, they let bunch of animators/fans animate entire episode and that’s something I’ve never seen before (it’s first episode of season 8).

I can name three things that make this show so unique from any animated family show that’s currently out there – voice acting, humour and the family dynamic. Let’s break them down, shall we…?

What makes the voice acting standout from other animated shows, is out of the five main family members, two women characters (Tina and Linda) are both voiced by different men. You could say those men are taking their jooooobs… (reference here) and you’d be right, but also that makes both of them not only unique, but somehow more interesting, as you’d expect different voices coming out of those characters. It genuinely works and it’s not even distracting, so after a while, it’s completely natural to you that those two characters sound like that. Plus, H. Jon Benjamin isn’t praised enough (not only for this show, but for his work on Archer (2009), his voice is truly great) Eugene Mirman‘s Gene is a great character with plenty of unexpected one liners (Bob: “Wait, maybe you shouldn’t know too much going in, I think it’ll be better that way.” Gene: “Like the Iraq war.”) and Kristen Schaal has the hardest job in this entire cast – Louise shouldn’t be as great/likeable as she makes her to be. But Kristen found a way to make Louise not only a great (even though slightly mean) character, but also a relatable one with great sense for a dark humour. That brings me to me next point…

The humour in this show is really sneaky. What I mean by this is plenty of time the jokes are not something that would have you laughing all the time, or where the show would try to cram as many jokes into one minute as possible. This show relies more on a delivery of those jokes and plenty of puns. So many of jokes sneak up on you, unexpectedly, mainly from Gene. What also helps is every character has a different sense of humour – Bob’s more into puns, Tina’s into innuendos and inappropriate, mumbling jokes, Louise is the queen of sarcasm… every family member has something else to offer, they compliment each other really well and that… leads nicely to my final point as to why Bob’s Burgers is different from any other animated TV show.

I really appreciate that no matter what happens, the family comes first and they feel like they care about each other. They never cross any lines and if they do, just slightly, they know they have done something wrong, and will apologise. Plus, it’s refreshing to see a family where:

1. Parents are encouraging their children and loving them unconditionally no matter what. No matter what they say or do, Bob or Linda always say something to the extent “That’s great honey, as long as you want to do it, we will be here and cheering for you.” and I’d like to think people will get some inspiration from this.
2. They are truly equal, in a sense that there is no “lovable idiot” (and let’s face it, when comes to animated TV shows, it’s usually the dad). This is what makes the Belcher (or as Teddy would say Burger) family truly unique, they are all clever in certain aspects and where they struggle, their spouse will help them out and other way around. Bob has his genius moments, and his dumb moments, same as Linda. This took me a while to realise, as I’m so used to the formula “dad is dumb, but lovable, mum is the clever one” that I didn’t know what it was that felt truly different about this show, until I’ve realised that.

This is why I’ve fallen for Bob’s Burgers. The best word to describe this show is unique, as there is almost nothing “normal” about any of them, they all have their little quirks you won’t find anyplace else, but that’s why you will fall in love with all of them. Even if there are episodes that are centred around a specific character (and they each do get a couple of episodes like that throughout the 10 seasons so far) you will never go “Oh, this is Louise centred episode, that will be boring”, as any of the 5 main characters bring something different to the table. I can’t wait for 11th season and the movie!

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

How I feel about RuPaul’s Drag Race I’ve covered here, so of course, now when I am fully on this RuPaul train, I do feel like I want to write a thing or two about All Stars, where the contestants, who got close, but not quite there (except maybe one exception) are given a second chance to shine, to show us whether they have changed (or not) since their original season, or how their drag evolved.

I can’t lie, I am loving this, maybe even more than the traditional Drag Race, as everything is taken to another level. After all, everybody in this competition knows exactly what they are signing up for (well, maybe with one or two exceptions, but no spoilers here) and most of the time, you end up pleasantly surprised about some queens who had time to work on themselves, their art and this show is the ideal platform for them to showcase it. And sometimes, you kind of confirm that some other queens would probably not be the most pleasant to be around.

My only two concerns about the future of this show would be:

• The time in between this and some drag queens and their original seasons.
• The time in between seasons in general.

Let me explain… sometimes, you can tell the producers are more than aware who is (or was) the fan favourite and they bring them “straight” from their regular season into the All Stars, which to me is a bit questionable. I honestly believe there should be a bigger gap between any drag queen’s season and their All Stars appearance, so they can learn a thing or two, develop themselves a bit more “out and about” (even though I do acknowledge in this COVID era it’s easier said than done) and maybe couple of years later they would get the invite. As Ru would say himself “a fan favourite All Star don’t make”, they should truly be the best of the bunch, who ended just before the finish line. That brings me to my other concern…

Seasons 2 – 5 were given to us in 4 consecutive years. And yes, most of the queens deserved to be there, but some (I am not going to name names) didn’t feel like they should have been there. Or maybe the better way to put this – I’d expect different drag queens instead of them. I know, this a matter of a personal taste, but given the season 5 now wrapped up and because of COVID I don’t think there will be any of the regular Drag Race or All Stars for some time (unless they already had something prior, with these show you never know). For a regular Drag Race, that hurts a bit, but for All Stars, I do believe this might be a good thing. I honestly think there should be a “buffer” of at least 2/3 seasons (AT LEAST) between any queen being eligible to appear on All Stars, so they’d not “run out” of actual interesting queens. The last thing we, as fans want, is for this competition to become a show, where eventually everybody got a second chance. It would be a nice idea, but it’d “cheapen” the All Stars effect.

But these two are my only “worries” for the future of All Stars. I really hope this show will continue delivering fun, interesting and most importantly entertaining content, I can definitely see some queens from season 11 and almost every queen from season 12 (that honestly was a really strong season) coming back. But I wouldn’t want to repeat the mistake of having plethora of queens from the same season back in the same All Star season, as that might result in a bit unfair elimination (cough, All Stars season 2, cough, the Ro-Laska-Tox covering each other’s backs, COUGH COUGH). It’d be great if the seasons were more evenly spread to prevent this drama/alliances that undermines the effort and entertainment value of this otherwise enjoyable show.

Overall, if you like/love the RuPaul’s Drag Race, the chances are you will also like/love this show, as so far they have (mostly) done it correctly when comes to who comes back and gets a second chance. And it’s still the kind of fun I am not ashamed to have.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think of it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

This is the very first time I’m reviewing a reality TV show, rather than a traditional, narrative TV show. And RuPaul’s Drag Race is the pinnacle of reality TV – every season, we get 12 (give or take) new “queens”, who compete in various challenges for a title of the new drag superstar. And believe me, you’ll have a lot of fun along the way.

I do need to warn you a bit – the very first season is known for having… let’s just say a very brave choice of camera filter…? Luckily, they have quickly realised it wasn’t the wisest choice, so you can actually see a bit better (and more clearly) from the season 2 onward.

What makes RuPaul’s Drag Race different from any other reality TV show, is it knows exactly what it is and isn’t afraid to showcase it. The drag queens can be anything from nice, fishy (meaning looking as much as a woman as possible) bitchy, feisty, manipulative… and the list goes on and on. But you can bet one thing – they are never boring doing it. Also, more episodes you watch, the more you realise how much talent these queens need to have. Consider this, the challenges vary from singing, making their dresses (plenty of times from none traditional materials), having their make-up on point, being able to move/dance for the lip syncs, and more… And at that point, you truly find an admiration for them, as being a drag queen isn’t easy, if you give it your all. And most of these queens sure give it.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been watching this reality TV show, I was always looking forward to it, even though given the reality TV show nature of it, as the seasons went on, they tend to go more for the “sob stories”, that sure pull your heart strings every so often, and you can tell that sometimes, there is a drama for a sake of having one. But, as of the last season, this show has managed to “stay” in more interesting territory (the art/hard work that goes into the drag) and didn’t focus on any particular drama too much. And therefore RuPaul’s Drag Race was a fun escape into a world I, as a straight white male, have known nothing about. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun watching it.

What I admired with the season 12 was the way how they had to deal with not only COVID-19 (the finale was online, but somehow it worked) but also with the fact one of the queens had catfished some people (article here) and they managed to basically cut around her, showing as little of her as possible, while still giving us all the necessary information. As that story broke only a few days before that season premiered, it must have been hard mainly for the editors to go back to their material and re-do most of their work, but my hat is off, as they’ve managed.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is almost like a weird mix of candy corn, bubble gum, bunch of padding and make-up, that shouldn’t work as well as it does. But somehow, it pulls you into a world most of us doesn’t have a slightest idea about and manages to capture our attention for its entire length. I for one am hoping that it will last for a few more seasons, so we can get some more memorable queens who can give us more unforgettable moments, lip syncs for their life (did I mention that’s how RuPaul establishes who stays, or shantays, and who goes home, or sashays away, by (usually) 2 queens lip syncing for their life)? I remember the very first time seeing that, I was just confused about this whole situation, but once you see some proper lip syncs, you understand that it is an art, to be a great lip syncer. I would write something like “this is my guilty pleasure”, except I don’t feel guilty watching it.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I remember starting this TV show back in 2008, when it was in its third season, arguably its peak, where every joke landed, the story line was really interesting and I really enjoyed the concept of the show, no matter how nonsensical it was (honestly, what dad would tell their kids these stories?). This was my happy place… basically until it ended.

And I know this is fairly controversial opinion to have, but even though the quality did drop a bit over the last couple of seasons, I still enjoyed it and… I did like the finale. Had to think about it at first, because it did take me by surprise, but more I thought about it, more I liked it. Of course, it is impossible to talk about THE most disappointing finale of all time (well, until Dexter or Game of Thrones came around, is that fair to say…?) without going into the spoiler territory, so…

Beware, SPOILERS are coming!

I honestly do understand where plenty of fans were and still are coming from, not liking the way this show ended. I mean, what TV show would put you through 9 seasons, where the concept is about how somebody met their wife/someone’s mother, but we not only don’t get to spend plenty of time with her, but once Ted finally meets her, it doesn’t take too long and she dies! I remember watching that for the first (and so far, only time, but I am planning on re-watching it at some point) and being shocked by that too. And for the first couple of minutes, right after that final episode, I was as most fans still are, mad. Why would they do that? Why waste time on something that doesn’t pay off? And of course, we all could’ve seen him and Robin were destined for each other!

But then I slowly started to realise something – How I Met Your Mother was always about approaching sitcom tropes from slightly different angle. They have often played around with unreliable narrator and most of the time it was funny, they didn’t even shy away from some sad moments (Marshal’s dad dying). So of course, we should’ve seen some curve ball thrown our way. But this is not the main thing.

The thing that made this show so great, was the fact they weren’t shy to get real. And what’s more real that sometimes, even if you meet the girl of your dreams, she might die sooner than you think? That the person you were supposed to be with, was close to you the entire time, but you both had to wait some time, go through different situations, partners etc., before you both are at the same place, where because of your past experiences, you see now what do you actually want/need? Black Mirror made this idea into one of the best episodes of that show, Hang the DJ, which I can’t recommend enough, as it illustrates what I am talking about in a really great length. Yes, we could’ve seen Robin was the right person for him, but there was a reason they didn’t stay together the first time they got together, they both had some growth to do and had to go through life “separately”, facing different situations, to realise what they want.

Like it or not, that’s life and sometimes, even if you plan everything and do every single thing 100% correctly, you might still fail, or lose the person you love the most and it might not even be your fault. Once I’ve realised this, I appreciated this TV show even more and that is why I want to re-watch it. Also, people nowadays tend to forget one thing – it’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey. And this is how I feel towards this TV show or above mentioned Game of Thrones finale – just because you didn’t like that final episode/season, or it didn’t fulfil your every desire, it doesn’t mean the entire thing wasn’t worth it. But we are so “goal oriented”, we often forget that.

How I Met Your Mother might not be perfect sitcom, sure, I’ll give you that. But it will always have a special place for me. This show is for me, what Friends is for a lot of people, which (unlike this show) I actually grew up on. But the more I grew up, the less I “liked” (I am using this really lightly, as I still like Friends, I just don’t *love* them as most people do) the show. Whereas with How I Met Your Mother, it’s kind of the opposite. More I remember this show and more I think about the ending, the more I appreciate it. I know plenty of people (if they ever end up reading this :-)) will have issues with this statement, but for me, the choice will always be a simple one. I will always choose How I Met Your Mother over Friends, no debate.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Rick and Morty is one of those shows, that became a bit hard to discuss and say you really like/enjoy, as some, and this is really important, only TINY, yet vocal minority of this show’s fans, give this masterpiece a really bad name, as they are just simply cringy. I don’t know who came up with this analogy, but somebody said “Those cringy fans believe they are Rick, but in reality, they are Jerry”. And I couldn’t agree more. So, hopefully we can move on, just wanted to address the fact I am aware of the “stereotype” of what some people believe are Rick and Morty fans, and let you know, most of us are pretty normal people, who won’t shout at you random stuff, or tell you how dumb you are if you don’t happen to enjoy this show.

This review is based on all 4 seasons of Rick and Morty, some spoilers might be involved.

Ok, before I address my only worry with the future of this show, let me just say I love it wholeheartedly. I find it fascinating, that somebody finally utilised the full potential of animation, and went crazy, balls to the walls fun, that at the same time, isn’t a mindless one. Where every episode tries to make a point, even though the characters, through their meta, fourth wall breaking kind of humour, usually laugh at the point to its face, and kind of laugh at us too…?

This show has answer for everything, they know exactly what the fans are expecting from them, and they’d rather wait couple of years working on a season, than releasing something, that’s not up to their standards. That’s why there are usually 2 year gaps between seasons, something that’s rare (I honestly can’t think of another narrative, none anthology TV show that would currently do that). And I do admire that, because that shows level of dedication and respect to the fans, where you don’t want to disappoint them. So kudos for that. But…

And this isn’t a big Nicki Minaj kind of but(t), but it’s worth mentioning – it’s also good to remember to have fun while creating it. What I mean by that, is the first two seasons are excellent, as most of them are singular episodes, that are funny, clever and work really well. The third and fourth seasons are also great, with some groundbreaking episodes, mainly the fourth season, some of the animation battle scenes, where each second, there are hundred things happening at once, are truly breathtaking. But some of the episodes are bit too self referential, some of them are too fourth wall breaking, where if you do just that, and stop focusing on the adventures… it could become a bit dull.

I will be the first one to say Rick and Morty is really, really cleverly written show, there is no doubt about that. And that’s the thing, fans won’t forget that. I honestly hope over the next couple of seasons, we will get more episodes like The Vat of Acid Episode, rather than Never Ricking Morty, where I understood what that episode was trying to do, but deconstructing the narrative structure might be funny for a short bit, but not for a full length episode. Because even the smartest thing ever will eventually bore you to the death, and you can understand it all you want, that doesn’t matter.

But that’s pretty much my only… it’s not even complaint, it’s just a slight worry about the future of this show. But I am sure the creators are capable enough to know what’s best for the show and how to maintain that standard, that’s quite high. I trust them, as even the “worst” episode (and I paradoxically think, the very first episode might be the weakest one) is still fun and there are plenty of things to get from it. I’m using the term worst really carefully, as even the pilot episode isn’t bad at all, it’s just not as great as what comes after it.

This is a definite recommend, where I once again need to make sure we are on the same page – ignore the (vocal minority) of annoying fans and give this show a chance, if you haven’t yet. I assure you, you won’t be bored, and you are in for a ride throughout the galaxy, and parallel universes and… everything in between.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke