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hilary_brooks
Reviews
Tiny Beautiful Things (2023)
Sublime!
This show was so beautiful and moving that I was just left stunned as it appeared to end with Claire finally reckoning with her Mother's death. First off, Hahn and Pidgeon are incredible and rarely are we gifted a female led show let alone one so compelling. I didn't read the book but I have seen Wild so I knew parts of it were true and others had to be fiction. Another review here stated they prefer the book but it had to divert from Strayed's real life story or it would have been Wild all over again just as a show so I think they did an incredible job building the fiction off the true original narrative. I doubt there will be a second season but I think they could do something absolutely wonderful with just one more order of 8. So much was left hanging or never fully revisited/realized. I loved it. We need more content like this. Reese Witherspoon just keeps knocking them out of the park! A win for those who only wanna watch stories worth watching rather than being overloaded with second rate content. Hello Sunshine is golden:)
The Good Place (2016)
It wasn't just good; it was the absolute greatest place!
I just binged this show in September-October of 2022 having become enchanted with D'arcy Carden from A League of Their Own on Prime and I was not expecting to actually fall so deeply in love with a show. It's the perfect cast, the perfect friendships, the perfect love stories and the perfect ending. We need more shows like The Good Place. It has a complete story arc over 50 episodes with a million twists and turns. It's brilliant and joyful and everything wonderful a TV show should be. In the words of Jason: "Foles!" Give it a chance. You won't regret it. You'll be better for watching it. <3
Xo.
Everyone Is Doing Great (2018)
If ur a One Tree Hill fan, u'll love this!
I find I've binged everything new that interests me so this was a welcome surprise and it's really great to see James Lafferty play a totally different character than Nathan Scott. I think u'll find it funnier having seen him and Stephen on OTH.
The L Word: Generation Q (2019)
It shouldn't even be called The L Word!!!
Review after 2 epis:
The new showrunner, Maria Lewis Ryan has sorely missed the mark with Gen Q. If I were watching this show separate from the original, I wld just find it boring and underwhelming; I'd rather watch Lost Girl, Wynonna, Orphan Black, Sense8 which are way more interesting even Work in Progress which is fabulous and has found a way to portray new queer culture just via plotline.
The reboot is no longer oddly even a lesbian-centric show. It's about random things happening to people that just happen to be gay but cld just as easily be hetero and I get that's the truth in real life: gay people do all the same things straight people do - have jobs, friends, families, lovers, hobbies, passions, etc. But this is supposed to be entertainment and the whole point of bringing back the show was because they said that one gay character on a show isn't enough and they were filling a void that no other show took up after the OG went off the air and they are yet to fill that void. But..there is a BIG difference between being straight and being gay; it's why we have gay pride not straight pride. The gay spots and girl parties in NYC look nothing like what my straight friends do when they go out. The original showed that. So far Q hasn't (where's the fun too?). I get that the original L Word was like gay 101 and this isn't the original but shouldn't there be some connection to the original beyond Bette, Alice and Shane at least in tone. This new iteration barely talks abt gayness/being a lesbian and what that's like.
Additionally...We have no idea why the newbies are even friends. We've heard very little about any of the missing original cast and they're dragging out plot lines like why Bette is running for mayor and what has Shane so down (I won't spoil it). There's no lesbian meetup spot like the planet and I get all those places have closed in LA but create one (which I think Shane is going to do). But even Bette, Shane and Alice are disjointed in this new iteration. Alice is still fabulous but what is her s/l really? Her purpose? Finley is so F'in annoying and a poor excuse for a human being let alone a supposed Shane 2.0. She's merely a caricature. She acts dumb and immature and is a moocher and awkward with women which is a real waste of Jacqueline Toboni's acting prowess because normally I love her.
Overall, you know that when the best s/l on a supposedly lesbian show is about a trans gay man, Micah, then there's a problem. Why even call it the L Word? Again, I get that it can't be dyke 101 like the original but they could at least discuss the new wave of queerness facing the community.
I hope to be proven wrong and that the 6 epis remaining leave me loving the show but IDK if that'll happen. It seems like they are trying to be overly diverse and so the diversity gets lost. It's trying to be everything and portray everyone and a show just can't be expected to do that.
The end of the original 2-hour pilot did two things. 1) Left me wanting more; and 2) was the catalyst for my coming out. So far 2 episodes into the reboot and it has done and wld not have done either of those things for me. We waited 10 years for The L Word to come back but not in this form. It's a real shame.