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!
Serena’s Picks
TV Show: “Severance”
I started watching this one with my husband in January actually when he promised that “the second season was already out!” Lies! Apple is doing that super fun thing where they release episodes weekly and make us all question why we bother with this whole streaming thing anyways! All of that aside, this is such a weird, weird show. On one hand, it explores a lot of deep questions about morality and what makes life worth living. And on the other hand, all the people in this world, other than maybe one or two exceptions, are just big weirdos! Sometimes it’s hard to know where the show is drawing the line between social commentary and humor, but ah well. The cast is excellent, and I’m excited to see where the next season takes things!
TV Show: “The Recruit”
The second season of this show released in proper fashion: all at once! The first season of took me by surprise with how well it balanced the action alongside the humor. And this second season was much the same! A lot of that success comes down to the great performance by Noah Centineo. He manages to both convey extreme competence but then, on the very next beat, an extreme level of naivety that plays for laughs. It is also nice to find a show that is willing to just let its heroes try and be heroes, doing the right thing just because it’s right. Of course, the show still doesn’t shy away from exploring the corruption and “good of the many” quandaries that so often plague larger organizations or those in roles of power either.
TV Show: “Strike”
The sixth season of “Strike” tackles the story from “The Ink Black Heart.” It’s hard to say whether I have favorites in this mystery series, but I’d say this one is definitely towards the top, so I was excited to see how the show would handle it. At this point, the show has managed to never step wrong, so it was less a concern that they would bungle it, but more, how would they go about adapting one of the books that seemed to have one of the biggest casts of the lot? Well, by golly, they did it again! Beyond managing to squeeze a fairly complicated mystery into a short season, the show continued to hit it out of the park with the casting. Seriously, everyone is pitch perfect. And, at this point, Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger simply ARE Strike and Robin.
Kate’s Picks
TV Show: “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
So I held off last month of listing the newest season of “Drag Race” in case the season kind of fizzled out. There have been a few seasons where I’ve listed it and then ended up not finishing or being generally underwhelmed, and after such an amazing 16th season I was thinking it would be hard to live up to it. And when it started I was a bit nervous. But it became clear for me (and David, of course, who comes over every Sunday to watch) that this season is not only filled with talented queens, but also MEAN AND THEREFORE ENTERTAINING ONES. My favorites this season are generally NOT mean, with my front runners Suzie Toot and Onya Nerve bringing not only fun drag, but fun personalities (with Jewels Sparkles as a close third, as she is also very fun). We will see how this season progresses, but as of now I am VERY happy with it.
Netflix Show: “Cobra Kai”
The time has come. It is now time to say goodbye to Johnny Lawrence, and let me tell you I am not ready to say goodbye to my beloved sadboi himbo karate master and all his growth, cattiness, heart, and hotness. OH GOD I DON’T WANT TO SAY GOODBYE TO “COBRA KAI”! But I must, as the last seasons final episodes have dropped. As Miyagi-D0 returns to the States after the traumatic death of Cobra Kai member Kwon during the Sekai Taikai, everyone is shaken. But their karate showdown isn’t over yet, as a final showdown between Miyagi-D0/Eagle Fang and Terry Silver’s new team the Iron Dragons comes to the Valley. Because of course is has to come back to the Valley. Okay one last thing about Johnny. This was ultimately his show, and his growth, his depth, his COMPLEXITY was well met here. As someone who has had a thing for him since I first saw “The Karate Kid” back when I was a tween and he was the villain, I feel so, so vindicated. This is how you do a redemption arc in all its messiness, joy, heartache, and triumph. I am going to miss this show. But I’m so happy with how it all ended up.
Film: “Companion”
I took Valentine’s Weekend to do a lot of calming and self-care centered activities, and one of those activities was going to the movies with my Terror Tuesday pals to see “Companion”. Even though I didn’t like the previous movie by the creators (“Barbarian”, I really didn’t like you!), I thought that “Companion” looked intriguing. And MAN was it not only a lot of fun, it had a LOT to say about tech ethics, misogyny, and ‘nice guys’. Iris is going on a weekend away with her boyfriend Josh, who she see as the love of her life. But what Iris doesn’t realize is that not only is Josh hiding the fact that she is a ‘companion’ robot (aka a sex bot), but he and his friends have a nefarious plan that place her right in the middle of a deadly scheme. I absolutely adored Sophie Thatcher as Iris, and I really, REALLY loved the way this movie takes on sexism and questions about AI and whether or not a robot can have true feelings, consent, and humanity. I loved every minute of it. Sophie Thatcher nailed it as Iris, but I also really loved Lukas Gage as himbo Patrick, who is also a bit of an outsider as another ‘significant other of a friend group member’.
The Library Ladies 