There is no question about it – we are living in the days of peak television. How else could I have let this fantastic show sit on my “to watch” list for nearly 2 years?

I have been a huge fan of Scott Speedman since the Felicity days. So when I heard they were making a TV series based on the Animal Kingdom movie and Scott Speedman was set to be one of the main cast, I added that to my list of shows to watch. And just recently – having finished Line of Duty which is another show I will be writing a post about soon – I spotted it on Netflix and dove in head first. Wow, what a ride!

Having completed all the episodes presently available, I went to watch the movie again. I had seen it a while ago but the main thing I remembered was Ben Mendelsohn and his dark, malevolent presence in that film.

If you have seen the movie do not think of it as a spoiler for the TV series – almost none of the events of the movie appear in the TV show as yet and I have seen season 2 episode 7.

The main thing the movie has given the TV show is the cast of characters and their backstory. The show begins in a very similar way to the movie, but then the TV show moves off onto a different path and what a delight it is to travel with it.

If I had to describe this show, it would be a longer version of Point Break. The surfing is there, the jumping out of planes, the robberies, the crime planning, the California setting, virtually everything that was great about Point Break is present here. However they have added to it a fantastic cast and some highly talented and experienced crew.

I love what they have done with Smurf – played by Ellen Barkin – in particular her costumes are great but they have taken her character from the movie and stepped it up like 300 notches – not only is she the matriarch of this crime family but she is a huge part of it, basically the ringleader of it, choosing the jobs, allocating the work, laundering the money, making big decisions. I loved the scene where she is ironing male underwear, too. This role in the movie gained Jacki Weaver an Oscar nomination. Due to so much excellent television Ellen Barkin has not received any nominations for her portrayal of Smurf and that is a great shame.

Shawn Hatosy is playing the character of Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody – played by Ben Mendelsohn in the movie – and Shawn is really amazing in this role, SO CREEPY. Before I saw this my one question was who could possibly do justice to that role and now that question has been answered. It is very interesting that in the first season I felt quite scared by his character but in the second season somehow they turn the tables a bit and I found myself cheering him on and hoping he might find what he is looking for.

There is a lot of shirtlessness and nudity which you will either love or dislike. I’m totally fine with it myself. There are some other aspects to this show which people might not enjoy – definitely some violence but it is not pointless, it fits in with what is happening on the show and it is not done just for kicks, there is always a reason for it.

Me personally the one storyline I did not enjoy was the detective trying to get info on this crime family by whatever means necessary. I think that went a little too far and by the end of the first season I wanted to slap that detective for about an hour. I was truly grateful when she did not show up in Season 2, at least she has not yet, though there are still a few episodes left to watch.

Some interesting names popped up in the directors chair – in particular Regina King, Laura Innes and Emmy Rossum have all directed episodes of this show.

Where can you see this in Australia? Netflix only at this stage, I am afraid. :/

Based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, you will hear a lot of big words used to describe this show. The IMDB description says “Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.” which is more 50 cent words than your average sentence involves. I prefer the version that Elisabeth Moss gave on the Seth Myers show.

“Try to stay with me it is a little far fetched. It is about a right wing fundamentalist group who takes over the government, and takes away all of women’s rights.” The story really is not quite that simple and it is not just the womens rights that vanish – plenty of men get punished and killed on this show as well. Though there is one scene where you might be right on board with that as a concept.

I read the book a few months ago knowing this series was on the way and knowing I would want to see it because Elisabeth Moss is one of my long time favourites. She is the true star of this series, she is the center of this story and she is absolutely magnificent. She will greatly deserve every award she wins and I have no doubt it will be all of them available. However she might face some competition from Evan Rachel Wood for her incredible performance in WestWorld.

When I heard that Joseph Fiennes would play the Commander and Yvonne Strahovski would be Serena Joy, I really could not picture that having read the book. I had seen much older people in those roles. However it has worked out for the best, because somehow Yvonne made me feel empathy for Serena Joy – certainly not something I expected and not something I experienced when I read the book.

Samira Wiley – who Orange Is The New Black fans will know as Poussey – is another stand out cast member in a show full of amazing performances. O-T Fagbenle is incredible as Luke and Max Minghella is great as Nick the driver. The costumes are beautifully done.

Taken by itself this show is terrifying enough. When you combine it with some of the other shows of recent times – WestWorld in particular has some similar themes along these same lines and I typed some thoughts about that here – we might be in the middle of peak television right now, but it is also the middle of scary as heck television, in my opinion.

Starting tomorrow the full series is available on SBS on Demand – for free. But here are my suggestions re watching it –

This is NOT a show to binge watch. You need to take some time between episodes. You need to let it sink in. The first 3 episodes are especially heavy to watch. This is not a show for right before bedtime because it will make you think and you won’t get to sleep. I’ll be honest and say even when I watched the episodes early in the day I found myself thinking about them at bedtime. They resonate pretty strongly.

Having said all of that, I do think this is a very important show to watch especially right now, with all the recent talk of internment camps for certain groups of people etc. Are we at the top of the slippery slope that could lead us to a world like this? I sincerely hope not. :(

I don’t normally love an ad but this one is very well done. If you have Foxtel or some form of cable you may have already seen it. I would never have thought of it. This is perhaps why I do not work in advertising. :)

So refreshing when you are swimming in a sea of funeral insurance ads.

I gave up watching The Walking Dead about halfway through season 5. While I loved some of the characters, I could not continue to stomach the constant overtone of “99% of people in this world are bad people” that seemed to run through nearly every storyline.

I think it was the cannibals that sent me over the edge. Though it was lovely seeing Carol be all kick ass against the cannibals in the season five premiere, the concept that people would be terrible enough to eat other people – especially when it was not an emergency situation like a plane crash but a situation where so many people have died and there should be more than enough food at Costcos across America to keep these people eating for many, many years..

Now we are watching Westworld, a show where there are robots in a theme park specifically for the humans to go on holiday and do.. whatever they like.. to the robots. The themes in both these shows are somewhat similar – that given the opportunity, humans will be evil. That deep in the heart of all of us is a desire to rape, pillage, maim and murder. To watch the world burn, and actively participate in the burning. Whether it be people, or robots.

I want to believe that these TV examples are not how things would actually go. I want to believe that deep in the heart of all of us there is actually a desire to be good. To help each other, build things, build a community, celebrate each others successes and push each other to do better.

After recent events, I am fearing that the TV examples are the closest to reality and truth, and the things that I want to believe about my fellow humans are simply silly naive daydreams.

——————————————

I feel like there will be an awful lot of award nominations for Westworld. The cast includes some all time greats including Sir Anthony Hopkins and Thandie Newton is just blowing my mind every single week with her huge talent. The acting is incredible. The show is utterly gorgeous to look at – Utah helps, but it is filmed beautifully. I cannot stop looking at the costumes – in particular the jewellery on the house of ill repute girls.

I can watch shows where I do not like or agree with the underlying themes, especially when everything is so beautifully done, as it is on this show. If you feel the same, you probably should be watching Westworld.

The first episode of Bosch airs tonight – Wednesday 29th July at 9:30pm. If you tune in at 8:30pm you can catch 24 Hours in Emergency as well! ;)

Here is the trailer for season one of Bosch-

If you catch it make sure to let me know what you think. It is a slower paced show, at least to begin with.