Pasckie Pascua's Nerdy Squirrel Reviews: TV Series.

“The Morning Show” (Apple TV+) Season 4. Media drama examines the characters and culture behind a network broadcast morning news program.         Season 4 concludes with Alex and Cory conspiring to take down UBN CEO Celine Dumont after she orchestrated the cover-up of the Wolf River story and left Bradley Jackson held hostage in a Belarusian gulag. The plot culminates in Alex, with Chip, her father, and Cory's help, broadcasting Celine's incriminating phone call, leading to her ruin and release of Bradley.         Yet that story only actually developed in the last 3 episodes, or it was there all along, but the show's dizzying slew of back-stories, subplots, side-dramas, and multiple characters confused me.         I get the point of it all or the real-life/current-politics or real-VIPs that this series is pushing down our throats. The convoluted ruckus also somehow ma...

“The Beast in Me” (Netflix) psychological thriller about a bereaved author who is obsessed with a new wealthy neighbor, who was a prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife.        As the author Aggie Wiggs, Claire Danes has found ease in delivering unease (pun intended). Of course, in “Homeland,” her Carrie Mathison serves as template for super-stressed or depressed characters. In “The Beast…” Ms Danes’ paranoid look counterpoints Matthew Rhys ’ sinister cool as the neighbor Nile Jarvis. That interplay is the synergy that makes this cat-and-mouse thriller effective.         Yet overall credit goes to director Antonio Campos’ masterful handling of the brilliantly twisted, juggled and pieced-together script by Gabe Rotter and Daniel Pearle. The turn of events are not implausible and the progression of the characters’ behavior tread credibility and common deduction.        ...

“Man vs. Baby” (Netflix) British comedy , follow-up to “ Man vs. Bee ” (2022). Rowan Atkinson reprises his role as Trevor Bingley. Premise: Trevor Bingley has taken a quieter job as a school caretaker. A lucrative Christmas penthouse gig lures him back — and when no one collects the Baby Jesus from the school nativity, Trevor finds himself with an unexpected companion over the holidays.        At least for me, Rowan's antics don't grow old. I always laugh. In this “made for the holidays” shenanigan, there's an added poignancy and heartfelt denouement. Only 4 episodes so this series is a good watch for the family after the Christmas dinner. 🎥💻📽 “Old Dog, New Tricks” (Netflix) Spanish comedy. A gruff rural veterinarian loses his clients and is begrudgingly forced to join an animal boutique managed by his niece.         The first two or three of this 9-episode series were witty, funny, and suggest better install...

“Chief of War” (Apple TV+) historical drama miniseries. Premise: Based on true events , the story begins at the end of the 18th century when the four major kingdoms of the Hawaiian Islands were in a state of war: Hawaiʻi , Maui , Oʻahu , and Kauaʻi . The series follows Kaʻiana , a warrior chief ( aliʻi ) of Kauaʻi who travels outside the islands, returns home, and joins a bloody campaign until, at the last minute, he rebels against the unification of Hawaiʻi that took place from 1782 to 1810 under Kamehameha I.          Jason Momoa , series co-creator with Joseph Pa'a Sibbett, is Kaʻiana. The hunk gets to project his acting potentials here behind the obvious macho brawn. Jason can actually act.         But the real attraction of this series is the material or how they recreated a significant chapter of Hawaiian history with commendable authenticity and brutal ferocity, backstopped by the enthralling panor...

“Slow Horses” (AppleTV+) Season 5, British spy thriller , based on the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron . Slough House is an administrative purgatory for MI5 service rejects who have bungled their job but have not been sacked. Those consigned there are known as "slow horses," a pun on "Slough House.”        I don't mind if this very enjoyable series goes to Season 20. And I'd like the current cast, led by Gary Oldman, to stay. As Jackson Lamb, the boss of this whacked team of MI5 rejects, his charming obnoxiousness (!) is the life of the show. The misfits are brilliantly orchestrated and shrewdly distributed per need, drama, comedy, and thrill. My most favorites are Aimee-Ffion Edwards as the jumpy and constantly pissed Shirley Dander, and oh yeah, Christopher Chung as the arrogant tech weirdo Roddy Ho. Ho indeed is the upper fix of Season 5.        Season 5 plot: The team investigates a series of terrori...

“Down Cemetery Road” (Apple TV+) British television thriller series based on the novel of the same name by Mick Herron . A woman hires an investigator after an explosion and a girl goes missing on the same night in a quiet suburban neighborhood.         “Down Cemetery Road” is from the poem by Philip Larkin, “Toads Revisited.” The line: “Give me your hand, old toad; / Help me down Cemetery Road.” But nope, I still don't get its significance to the entire thriller drama. No matter, never mind.         Emma Thompson as bored private investigator Zoë Boehm, with spiky hair, and Ruth Wilson as “an inquisitive Nancy Drew wannabe by personal circumstance” Sarah Trafford, with her perennial nerdy/clueless look--are the life and spice of this series. Although the other characters are not in the stereotypical mode, kinda darky/funny actually in the nature of Mick Herron's creations. “Slough House” or TV's “Slow Horses,”...