Netflix Report!

Time for a NETFLIX report!

Me and the fam at the Fortress of Ineptitude watched all 8 episodes of Queer Eye’s 4th season last week.


I’m not a big fan of reality TV as a rule but I Queer Eye is a special case. A quintet of gay guys descend on some hapless person in middle America to make their lives better and it makes for captivating viewing.

In seasons 3 and 4, the five are headquartered out of Kansas City, MO. From there, they venture forth into surrounding small towns and farmland. For all their metro sophistication, the Fab Five always find their groove to help whoever they need to help, even if they have to interact with farm animals.

Sometimes TV makeovers go too far, making the target of the makeover into someone totally different, way too glam or stylish for that person to try and maintain that look. The person can wind up looking too different, too unreal. However, the Fab Five of Queer Eye take a far different tact, looking for what works in their subject and building on that. The participants may look better by the end of the episode but they still look like themselves. 

What makes Queer Eye most interesting for me is how much the Fab Five look to engage with their subject. They share their own stories to draw common ground, to forge connections with each episode’s nominated person. There is a feeling of genuine joy at seeing how far their charges progress by the end of the episode. Yes, the person looks better, their house looks better but the person inside was always there. The Fab Five just helps them see and believe in what was already there. 


I also admire the Fab Five’s professionalism. Even has they are having way too much gay fun, when they get down to business in their respective fields, they know their stuff. Jonathan, the most over the top of the five, will swish and sashay his way through whatever middle America burg he finds himself but when it’s time to get someone’s hair in shape, even as he spouts off glib one liners, Jonathan is good at what he does and it shows. 

Queer Eye makes me sad sometimes. It makes me want 5 gay guys to come into my life and fix things.  I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Over the weekend, I finally watched the last 2 episodes of Santa Clarita Diet’s 3rd and sadly final season. I was reluctant to reach the end since I knew the end would be the end and I also knew the producers did not know it was going to be the end so that meant the end may not be the end.

Maybe I should try that again? 

Yes, season 3 of Santa Clarita Diet does end on a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger that may never be resolved because some dick head at Netflix cancelled the damn show! Come on! Sheila and Joel Hammond deserve a satisfying and happy ending, damn it!  So do Abby and Eric! Those crazy kids have got to make it work, right? 

The end of season 3 does present a dramatic shift in the status quo. For three seasons, Joel Hammond has been desperately trying to maintain some level of normalcy in his world which isn't easy when his wife is undead and has to occasionally eat a person to stay alive. Killing and eating people is way more complicating to a daily routine than you might expect.  Which, as Joel notes, in a civilized society, it's good to know that killing and eating people is not really that easy to do but damned it's frustrating when your wife needs to kill and eat someone and the world is filled with not so good people who need killing and eating like the local neo-Nazi softball team. 

But Sheila who is virtually immortal as long as she occasionally kills and eats people does not want to live forever alone and has put the idea to Joel that she could bite him, make him undead and they can be together forever.

Awwwwwwwwwww!

And also...

Ewwwwwwwwwww!

Joel is not immediately keen on the idea. Eating people is not inherently appealing. Also being turned undead has a way of messing with the undead person's mind and personality. If Joel became undead, would Joel still be Joel? 

But things take a turn in the final minutes of the last episode as Mr. Ball Legs crawls into Joel's ear, climbs inside his skull, makes Joel say "Mama" and then Joel falls over dead.

Sheila leans in to bite Joel, to bring him across to save his life. It seems to work. Joel is alive! Or is Mr. Ball Legs still in control? Is Joel still Joel?

Damn you, Netflix! At least green light a wrap up movie or some damn thing! Don't let Santa Clarita Diet end here!!

Before all things Disney go to the new Disney streaming service for all things Disney, we watched Mary Poppins Returns this weekend on Netflix.  Words cannot begin to describe the sheer joy I get from watching this movie! It still bugs me that Mary Poppins Returns got stiffed at the Oscars this year! It is a more than worthy successor to the first Mary Poppins film with Emily Blunt practically perfect in every way as our favorite magical nanny! And what about my would be best pal, Lin-Manuel Miranda? Man, I love this movie more than a middle age straight man should but damn, Mary Poppins Returns is an unequivocal delight. 

On the opposite end of the Mary Poppins spectrum, my wife Andrea and I have only made it halfway through the 3rd and final season of Jessica Jones. We’ve enjoyed how the season has unfolded so far; it’s just a matter of finding the time. While Andrea has managed to avoid spoilers, I have not been able to completely do so. She doesn't know but I do that things will not end happily one of our principals. 




Coming up in August, GLOW returns for Season 3. I hope Netflix doesn't jerk me around on this one