While we do love us some books, believe it not, we do have a life outside of reading. So to highlight our other pop culture interests, on the last Monday of each month, we each will highlight three other “happenings” from the last month. Big events on favorite TV shows, new movies we’ve watched, old movies we’ve “discovered,” etc. Pretty much whatever we found of particular interest outside of the book world during the last month. Share your own favorite things in the comments!
Joint Pick
We are both “Star Trek” people, and like many it’s safe to say that “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is our favorite series of the franchise. One of the many reasons is because of Captain Jean Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart’s iconic leader of the Enterprise. So when it was announced that Picard was getting his own show (called “Picard”, appropriately), we were both pumped. It takes place a couple decades after the end of “TNG”, and shows a retired Picard trying to live his life after Star Fleet, and his controversial exit from the organization. But when he encounters a mysterious stranger, he finds himself drawn back into the messy politics of Star Fleet, a potential conspiracy, and a dangerous rescue mission. Not only does Stewart come back, we also get to see Data, Riker and Troi, and Seven of Nine. It’s a dark show, but we are both greatly enjoying it.
Serena’s Picks
Emily and I used to watch this show quite a bit while we were in college. We even rented a bunch of seasons from Blockbuster…so, yeah, we’re old. But at some point or another, amidst all of the vast amounts of shows available, I fell off the wagon for this show. The other side of the coin of all these different shows is the exhausting effort of trying to weed through it all to find a next thing. And finding myself at that point, it felt like the time was right to go back to this show and finish off the last 3 or so seasons I had missed. It’s a fairly standard procedural forensic show that gained much of its popularity on the chemistry between its main characters, Dr. Temperance Brennan and FBI Agent Seely Booth. By the point I fell off, the two characters were married and had a child together. But I was happy to see the show continue well past this point as it proves that it’s not only OK to have you main couple romantically pair up (avoiding the 10 year saga of will they/won’t they ala “Friends” which is also exhausting), but that your show can continue to succeed and be interesting after this point.
Mini Series: “The Night Manager”
My husband and I watched this mini series over a couple of nights. He had already watched it, but I, for some reason, had never gotten around to it. I haven’t read any John le Carre, a very esteemed spy thriller author who’s book the show is based on. But again, my husband has and had really loved most of them. For me, the stellar cast was the main point of interest. Obviously Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie are excellent, but I also always love Olivia Colman in whatever she does. Between all of that talent, and a tense story of a hotel manager who, through various circumstances, ends up going under cover into the inner workings of a weapons dealer, I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of this show. If you like spy thrillers or have read le Carre’s work, this is definitely a mini series worth checking out.
Kate’s Picks
Video Game: “Pokemon Sword and Shield”
As someone who has loved Pokemon since she was a tween, I was very excited to try out the new Switch Pokemon games, “Sword” and “Shield”. My husband and I got each other the games for Christmas/Hanukkah, and I was able to dive back in this past month after taking a break post holiday down time. Both “Sword” and “Shield” take place in a whole new region of the Pokemon world, this time seemingly based on the U.K. Not only are there brand new Pokemon (some of which do, admittedly, verge on the ridiculous), there are a lot more side things you can do outside of catching and training Pokemon. Not only can you trade and design Trainer cards, you can change your character’s outfits and hairstyles, and you can also cook recipes for your Pokemon! I’ve enjoyed getting to know my Pokes a little better in this game.
Hunting down and killing Nazis who have infiltrated American society? Sign me the fuck up. This new show is part historical fiction, part spy show, part action movie. The premise is simple: in the 1970s a number of Nazis have come to America and are hoping to establish the Fourth Reich. It’s up to a rag tag group of hunters to track them down and kill them before their plan can succeed. The story is thrilling, clever, and chilling, and the cast is superb. Al Pacino plays a holocaust survivor in charge of the hunters, Carol Kane is an older member of the group, and both Lena Olin and Dylan Baker are a couple of the Nazis in hiding, and boy oh boy are they terrifying. Throw in Jordan Peele as a producer and you know you’re going to have a subversive and well thought out story with a lot of emotional prowess. Also, given the recent rise in vocal white supremacy, it’s a cathartic, if not sometimes difficult, watch. But content warnings abound: the anti-semitic and racial violence is VERY hard to watch.
The Library Ladies 