Shout out to the TV series “Mythic Quest” on Apple TV+. If you are interested in something funny and about a video game making company (think “Silicon Valley”) you’ll love this show.
Season 1 was hilarious. The bonus episode during COVID was genius. The episode before Season 2 and the 9 episodes of Season 2 were funny but also mature. They had their funny moments but somehow it felt like someone decided to add a bit more depth to the show and have the episodes not be just funny but also feel free to be sad or emotional when needed. This latter bit is what separates it from “Silicon Valley” for me. I don’t know if I enjoyed this bittersweet nature of the episodes that much, but all said and done I think I did and I think I see why the writers decided to add more depth to the show so it’s not just some sitcom you’d watch and forget about. There’s genuine moments in there about women empowerement, relationships, workplace pressure, doing what you want to do… all sprinkled with loads of funny moments, but never too much, just enough to round everything up nicely.
Anyhoo, go check it out if you haven’t already!
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On the subject of TV shows I’d also like to recommend “Loki”. I never expected to love this show as much as I did when I began watching it. (We binge watched the entire season last week after all episodes were out). To me the Disney+ TV shows felt like a money grab – fans of the movies will sign up for Disney+ just to watch the shows, and they come out once every week so you are signed up forever (unless you binge watch like I do so just sign up when everything’s out and watch them all together in one month). But both “Loki” and “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” impressed me. “Wandavision” did too, but to a lesser extent… I felt the last episode to be weak, and while I loved the 70s and 80s sitcom vibe that wasn’t enough to totally bowl me over.
But “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” impressed me with how it handle its subject matter and developed the characters (not just the title characters but others too) and “Loki” had the time travelling/ philosophy geek in me clapping with joy at the way the show developed. “Loki” is probably my favourite of the lot as of now, and huge props to the creators for how it was written and directed. I don’t even want to start writing about how excited I am with the time travelling parts of it… please do watch it if you are even remotely into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). All episodes are great, but ooh that last episode was somethin’! ;o)
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Lastly, “The Serpent” is out on Netflix. This is a BBC show about Charles Sobraj. I had no idea about this person except that he was a serial killer or something; and I found the way the storyline kept jumping around (different times, different viewpoints) very irritating… until around the second episode or so my mind clicked into place with it and then things were fine and I appreciated why the director chose to present it that way. (In that sense it’s like how sometimes when you read a book you need to give it time for your mind to sync up with the author’s writing style/ mind/ presentation… so don’t give up immediately basically if you don’t like it). Only 8 episodes, but very well written and acted, fast paced, terrific performances by everyone… I highly recommended it. As I grow older I’ve noticed that I am very fussy with TV shows and don’t like most of them, but I am glad I encountered this on Netflix and stuck with it.