Rejuvenating Spirits - November 26 - Friday Video Distractions

 

   Black Friday, and for this year it's the final Friday of the month. Next Wednesday it'll be December.
     If you're here in the states, you at least have a shot at this being an extended holiday weekend. Workplace and other complications, blended with the all of the food prep, took over this past week through midday Thursday, followed by too much food and a necessary collapse. Now I'm regrouping, and trying to enjoy the momentary calm.
     Last Week's post still has some things I haven't yet gotten to (seriously, there's so much I've mentioned in this series of posts that I've not made the time for, that it's almost daunting), though I did watch and enjoy the full run of South Korean supernatural thriller Hellbound in the first half of last weekend.

     I've generally been enjoying the CW's 4400, (which I wrote a little about back in October, before it was launched) a reboot of the 2004 series built around the idea of 4400 people who had gone missing in wildly disparate places over the course of decades, all mysteriously reappearing in one spot, none of them appearing to have aged a day, and none of them seeming to remember any passage of time since the moment they disappeared. In each case they each gradually came/are coming to realize that somewhere in the process each one picked up a different paranormal ability.
     Even aside from other issues, the series concept is something to roll over in the viewers' mind at the level of wondering how it would be to be suddenly plucked from your life, then dropped back down years or even decades later. The people and world you knew, rolling on without you -- worse, them not being sure if something horrible happened to you, or if this was a choice you made. Depending upon how long the absence, there may not even be people to attempt to reconnect with. If there are, the reality is that they've gotten on with their lives -- lives that no longer included you.  As a point of necessity, they adjusted. The space you occupied in their lives has in some way been filled. Are you even welcome anymore, or have you long since become settled business?
     So far I'm letting this new series unfold as its own thing, rather than look to the earlier series (which ran 4 seasons/44 episodes) for how things were explained there. We've only had five episodes so far, and the cast is large, so it's taking time to establish and develop even just the characters they've been giving the attention to.
     The new series finds the reappeared people to mostly be people of color and minorities, though it also includes gay and transgendered people such that the general sense seems to be that what they have in common is that they're all representatives of marginalized communities.

     I watched and enjoyed the first two episodes - newly-arrived this Wednesday - of Disney's latest Marvel Cinematic Universe series: Hawkeye. The start of a reluctant mentoring process, as the now mostly former-Avenger finds himself tangled up in the life of a gifted superfan during a holiday reconnect trip to New York with his kids.
     So far it's the farthest along in the timeline that we've gone, with a battered and weary Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) trying to reforge bonds with his kids, and sort out his life while there's time. The situation Thanos' bejeweled glove snap - and the similar corrections made by the heroes -- left everyone's lives scarred. For Clint, specifically, five years passed where his wife and children were gone - turned to smoke - and he was in a dark, dark place, on a vengeance tour of criminal and terrorist organizations as the sword-wielding Ronin. At great sacrifice, the vanished were restored to being in a compromise move (in Avengers: Endgame) which brought everyone back as they were, to a world where the other half of the people had felt five, hard years pass.  As mentioned above, for Clint those

were especially dark years. Part of what this series will be about is his dealing with the legacy of his actions during that time, when he thought his life as husband and father was dead. Humor and pathos, the present and the past wash over him and the audience as we see events going back to the 2012 Chitari invasion of New York - the debut of The Avengers - and how it set the course for Kate Bishop, the above mentioned superfan, who is well on the path to taking on the mantle of the man who inspired her during the darkest day of her childhood. Part of the humor mentioned above comes in the form of a Hamiltonesque musical, Rogers, celebrating the life of the former Captain America. A production rife with factual errors, and understandably more than a little difficult for the long-suffering Clint to take in stride; the show is part of his family trip itinerary in New York.
     Anyway, I've been enjoying that so far. The first two episodes dropped this week, and the remaining four will drop one per week, each Wednesday, through the week before Christmas.
     Also as mentioned last week, and also on Disney+, Thanksgiving saw the arrival of part one (of three) of Peter Jackson's documentary Beatles: Get Back. I made it about halfway through that first

part before the odd hours, the holiday prep work, and the extreme fat and carbs of the holiday meal caught up with me. It's a terrific project for any fan of the group, really taking us inside what were the final few weeks of the Beatles, even though none of them really knew that's what they'd turn out to be.
     That first episode starts with a history of the group, going back to 1956 and the formation of The Quarrymen, quickly moving up to where the events of this documentary begin: The small stretch of time where the band was under the gun to pull together what would be the Let It Be album. They had a narrow window in which to adjust to a production space at Twickenham studios, compose (in some cases dusting off old, unrecorded songs) and rehearse the songs, and record them for both the album and a live performance, and to do all this in 21 days. Indeed, the production space they're using is booked to be rebuilt for the filming of the Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers film The Magic Christian, immediately after they vacate. (That also reminds me that I wrote a little about that film back in September of 2020, during the first year of this blog. The piece even includes a still-working link where one can watch the film on YouTube.)
     The mythology of these sessions in the past 50 years have been dominated by the dark elements, as the enduring take-away from the album was that the band broke up. This project is a fresh look at the reality, which reveals a great deal of camaraderie among a quartet who were bonded by years of collaboration, friendship, and head-spinning experiences.
     The second part arrives on Disney+ today, and the final one on Saturday.
     Shifting hard, I did want to take a moment to note an odd addition to my recent viewing. USA and

Syfy have been running a limited series (8 parts) continuing the story of Chucky, the serial killer who mystically migrated his soul into a child's toy, a Good Guy doll. I'd seen the early films in the franchise, going back to the debut Child's Play (1988), but had long since lost count. It turns out there were seven films in the franchise, the most recent of which was 2017's Cult of Chucky. This series follows the events of that film, and allowed them to have 8 hours (minus commercials) to both advance the story and answer numerous questions its fan base had about the character's history.
     Somewhere along the line in the movies, and particularly emphasized in this series, the story's gotten enmeshed in gender fluidity, queer identity and relationship issues, along with related (mostly) dysfunctional family dynamics, and bullying. The series even features contemporary versions of multiple characters from the film franchise, and even includes a fourth wall busting part for Jennifer Tilly as Jennifer Tilly, now inhabited by the soul of the homicidal character she played earlier in the franchise - who turned out to be a big Tilly fan. If you have a means of moving onto someone else's body, becoming your favorite star becomes an option. It's a bit of a head-spinner, but somehow it all, oddly, works.  Here's the trailer for the series.

     The resounding critical and fan success of this series, combined with the general bombing of the recent attempt to reboot the franchise, seems to put character and series creator Chuck Mancini in the driver's seat, should he be interested in staying there. The eighth and final episode will air next Tuesday. Whether or not there are plans to continue hasn't been stated - at least not where I've seen - and I'm not sure how much this project was built as a final word on the character. As it's a property tied to corporate interests, and appears to be making money, it's unlikely it's just going to be abandoned.
     It's all very violent and profane, as you might expect. Somewhere in the blur of quick research on the details someone stated that one of the odd rules negotiated allowed the Chucky character to say the word "fuck" up to 10 times in an episode. I find the accounting style intersection of prudish decorum and someone's odd notions of artistic expression to be a hoot, conceptually. It's a strange, new world out there. If you have cable you almost certainly have Syfy and USA, which also means you have access to these On Demand.
     Speaking of decorum defied, I was very happy to see that starting next Wednesday, December 1st, FXX will see the return of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia for a new season - its 15th. This is the season dreamed up during the pandemic, and the first new episode immediately takes us into what The Gang was up to during it all. The remainder of the season appears to, paradoxically, see them traveling more than usual. I'm looking forward to it.

     They remain a set characters one only wants to encounter as fiction - where they're entertaining demons. No sane person would want real-life versions of these characters anywhere near their lives.
     We'll be getting two episodes each week, with them appearing on Hulu the following day.
     That same Wednesday, over on Netflix, we'll see the return (for a third and final season) of that streamer's reboot of '60s series Lost In Space. I was fairly recently able to let one fan know that this was coming back for a final season, which was welcome news to him because he'd presumed it had simply, quietly, been canceled as the second season arrived way back on Christmas Eve 2019 -- just weeks shy of two years ago.

     The trailer reminded me I should do a little memory refreshing about how and where everyone was left at the end of season two. The full series will arrive all at once, as things generally do on Netflix.
     There's a long tradition of shows being created in other countries only to have U.S. versions produced. One recent addition to that category is the current CBS paranormal sitcom Ghosts.

The thumbnail core is that a young couple inherits a run-down estate from a recently-deceased, not-quite-aunt the wife didn't know about, they check it out, and the idea to turn it into a bed & breakfast takes root. There's some misgivings in the mix, but circumstances eventually get the couple on the same page. An incident (more on that in a moment) sees the wife momentarily killed, but revived. Upon recovering, she gradually comes to realize that she can now see and hear the spirits of the dead. Moreover, she learns that the estate she inherited has a cohort of disparate spirits from various eras, all geographically bound by their deaths, and apparently having some unresolved issues that prevent them from doing what most spirits do -- disappearing into a white light.
     The spirits have generally gone a little buggy in their years of being incorporeal, unable to interact with the world of the living, and doing so on an isolated piece of property. Having a "Living" who can see and hear them is a great joy for them, but a major distraction and general burden to poor Alison (BBC)/Samantha (CBS), who constantly has to remind herself that they're not physically there, and no one else can see or hear them. Their appearances, including dress, are essentially how they were when they died. As much as being able to interact with someone who's alive is a treat for them, in general the living are an annoyance. Not only noisy and intrusive, and inclined to rearrange the physical environment, the sensation of having someone walk through them is disruptive and painful. Consequently, when they overhear the plans to convert the place into a bed & breakfast/hotel, potentially disrupting their afterlives with waves of vacationing invaders, they're strongly opposed. Initially they try to use their abilities to scare the couple off.
     The BBC One version began airing in 2019, is in its third series/season (the six episode series already aired, but with a Christmas special coming), and has been renewed for a fourth. Here in the states it's part of the vast, deep archive of material to be found on HBO Max, which is where I'm catching up on it. Here's the BBC version's trailer.

     CBS is still currently rolling out its first season of the show, and I recently caught up with the 8 episodes aired so far via Paramount +. The U.S. version has Rose McIver as the wife/one who can see and hear the ghosts, and it took me a few beats to realize I knew her from her lead role on the CW series iZombie (2015-19. There she was a reanimated, undead character who could absorb the memories and personalities of others (deceased) by eating their brains -- which makes this latest role a little funnier. Here's the series trailer for the U.S. version.

     Early indications are that the U.S. version is going reasonably well for CBS, beating out the viewing numbers on all but Young Sheldon among CBS' sitcoms, but it's still far too early to tell if this will be enough to see it renewed for a second season. I've no idea what the show is costing them to produce, between the size of the cast, effects and whatever licensing agreement is involved with the folks across the pond.
    The U.S. version's ghosts are largely North American analogues of those found in the BBC version, perhaps the greatest difference in versions being that while the BBC version's oldest ghost is a caveman, the U.S. version is a viking. They each died due to a lightning strike, and each have a ghostly ability to disrupt electrical lighting.
     In general, both versions are entertaining and the characters varied (if simple) enough to be interesting. The formulaic sitcom elements can wear a little, primarily when a gag is telegraphed and one is faced with the painful roll-out of some awkward situation anyone without severe brain damage saw coming several beats earlier, but generally it's innocuous fun, and we find ourselves wanting to find out more about some of the characters' back stories, along with seeing if any of them will be allowed to grow as characters.
     A quick TCM note for this Saturday: They have a theme pairing, with 8 pm (Eastern) showing It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) and at 9:30 Alien (1979).  Each with the same core plot of a long space voyage where a dangerous, alien stowaway is picking off the crew, one by one. The earlier film's age and extremely limited effects budget is going to suffer in the comparison - how far the tech and industry respect for the genre changed over those 21 years! - but it was one of those fondly-remembered films from childhood.

     Certainly, as ever, TCM has a wide and sometimes wild array of programming, so it feels foolish to narrow the selection this way, but this was one of those instances where the pairing was what made it pop for me. I'll be recording them mainly for the intro and outro presentations for each, as they're prime time selections and are almost certain to have them. I don't know if a guest host is involved.
     As I don't have a ready link to a free copy of that film, I'll add both the trailer:

     ... and five and a half minute intro and outro piece from a TCM evening where guest-host/curator John Carpenter discussed the film with late, lamented TCM front-man Robert Osborne. Poor video, but a good frame of reference for the film.

     It's likely I've forgotten to spotlight a few things, but not only are there still too many things I've already brought up in recent columns that I haven't made time for,  I also simply don't want to delay this week's piece. Nothing prevents me from adding something to this later in the day, if it comes to mind.
      My personal schedule's largely suspended for the holiday weekend, my hours in disarray, and I'm having the twin urges to make a breakfast plate of Thanksgiving leftovers and catch this week's episode of Star Trek: Discovery... because it's a semi-holiday Friday and I wanna.
     Once more, I hope this finds you well, warm, fed, and with some time to enjoy something. I hope to see you back here next Friday. -- Mike