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BRITISH CRIME DRAMA. “Trigger Point.” / “Gone.” / “Traces” Season 1 and Season 2. / “Intruder.” / “Grantchester.”

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“Trigger Point” (Britbox) Season 3. British crime thriller . Explosives officer Lana Washington and her team investigate a sinister revenge plot targeting corporate managers. As Lana hunts a bomber attempting to expose a corporate asbestos cover-up, she battles her own escalating trauma, PTSD, and a dangerous dependency on prescription medication.       This series is all Vicky McClure as explosives expert Lana Washington. As in the 2 previous seasons, the storytelling can be melodramatic and the dialogues, soap-operatic. But it's easy to ignore them for the thrills.        The plotting or writing trajectory is so powerful that you can't possibly stray your eyes away, no second is wasted. That is the given in this high-velocity series. What was missing in the first 3 seasons is a deeper navigation of Lana's personal demons. That she isn't superhuman, regardless of her steely resolve to defuse bombs that could easily break...
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POLITICAL DRAMA. “The Agency.” / “Man on Fire.”

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“The Agency” (Paramount+) Season 2. S py thriller . CIA operative Brandon Colby/Martian (Michael Fassbender) navigates treacherous double-agent operations to secure the release of his captive lover, Dr. Samia Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith). Simultaneously, the London CIA team unravels a Chinese/Russian espionage plot tied to an American mercenary known as Viking.         The emphasis on spying aesthetics and the internal dis/mistrust in the “agency” as they carry out missions is both intriguing and entertaining. Season 2 has more graspable structure and sense in behavior of the main characters than in Season 1. And there's more dramatic tension as well. With a bankable all-star cast, the ensemble performance alone is expectedly worth a binge-watch.        Since this series is a remake of the acclaimed French TV series “Le Bureau des Legendes,” which ran for 5 seasons (2017-2018), Season 3 of “The Agency” seems immine...
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BASED on BOOKS. “A Woman of Substance.” / “Lord of the Flies.”

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“A Woman of Substance” (Britbox) British historical drama , based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Barbara Taylor Bradford . Spanning six decades, this series charts the rise of Emma Harte from penniless Yorkshire maid in the early 1900s to powerful 1970s business mogul . Stars Brenda Blethyn and Jessica Reynolds .        The obvious attractions of this neatly-crafted series: The infectious “rags to riches” melodrama, the fiery feminist passion, the allure of the period vibe, plus the inspired performance of Jessica Reynolds as the young Emma Harte, and Brenda Blethyn 's less intense but commanding screen presence as the “current” Emma .           A binge-watch guilty pleasure, indeed . 🎥💻📽 “Lord of the Flies” (Netflix) drama adventure, based on the 1954 novel of the same name by William Golding . Following a plane crash, a group of young boys become stranded on a tropical island in the Pacific ...
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CRIME DRAMA. “Ride or Die.” / “The Hunt.” / “I Will Find You.”

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“Ride or Die” (Amazon Prime) action adventure comedy . Two friends have to go on the run from a mysterious enemy. One of them is secretly a highly trained assassin. Stars Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham .        The plot is tired and drained (although the scriptwriting is effectively fluid) but obviously that's not the allure of this women-fronted series (the antagonist is also a woman). The attraction is the jumpy chemistry between Hannah Waddingham's elite assassin Judith, and Octavia Spencer 's Debbie, an American wife of a member of the British Parliament . Plus the action is kickass, courtesy of Hannah. 🎥💻📽 “The Hunt” (Apple TV+) French action thriller. After a hunting trip turns into a deadly shootout, four friends who choose to stay silent find themselves targeted for revenge.        The series had some issues before airing due to claims that its story was plagiarized from the 1973 novel “Shoot” by D...
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BRITISH CRIME DRAMA. “The Diplomat.” / “Blindspot.” / “The Witness.” / “The Gathering.” / “The House Across the Street.”

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“The Diplomat” (Britbox) British political thriller. Laura Simmonds (Sophie Rundle) and Alba Ortiz (Laia Costa) are British Consul workers in Barcelona who act as part-lawyer, part-counselor, and part-cop to protect British nationals in distress.         The premise is different from the usual British crime/police procedurals that I watch. However, irrelevant of the multi-faceted roles of the protagonists, the series failed to inject dramatic fervor or entertainment measure in all its 6 episodes.         Sophie Rundle is fine but nothing much for her to show here other than the cute half-smile. Writer Ben Richards and directors Jill Robertson and Jennie Paddon seemed like a Lifetime soap crew. 🎥💻📽 “Blindspot (Britbox) British mystery-thriller. A witty CCTV operator with a disability, who believes she witnesses a murder but gets ignored by a corrupt, apathetic detective.      ...
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HISTORICAL DRAMA (based on real events or people). “Lawmen: Bass Reeves.” / “Dominion Creek." Season 1.

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“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” (Netflix) historical Western , co-produced by Taylor Sheridan . The miniseries is based on the life of one of the first African American Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River, Bass Reeves.          As Bass Reeves, David Oyelowo carried this engaging series with grit and grace of a Denzel Washington and cool sternness of a Sidney Poitier. Although the preachy moralism sort of annoys me in some instances, the fluid pace and never-boring scripting, a facet of Mr Sheridan's work, kept the dramatic tension alive. 🎥💻📽 “Dominion Creek” (Amazon Prime) Season 1. Irish Western . Set during the Klondike Gold Rush , it portrays the lives of three Irish brothers in the fictional town of Dominion Creek who possess their own mining claims.        The first season is a compelling watch for the overall performance, tight storyline, and production design that brings you to the muddy dishevel ...
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DRAMA. “The Bear.” Season 5. / “Margo's Got Money Troubles.” / “Adult Material.”

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“The Bear” (Hulu) Season 5, Series Finale. D rama . Talented haute cuisine chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) inherits his family's Italian beef sandwich shop. He returns home to Chicago to run it, leaving behind his world of working in Michelin-starred restaurants.         The majority of the (final) season takes place over a single day, picking up the morning after the previous season's finale, in which Sydney , Richie and Natalie learn that Carmy has quit the food industry and left the restaurant to them. With no money, the threat of a sale and a torrential storm in their way, the new partners must band together with the rest of the team to achieve one last service, hoping to finally earn a Michelin star .         Nothing really happened here. Tired, bored, redundant. I watched it to just get over it. Done. 🎥💻📽 “Margo's Got Money Troubles” (Apple TV+) comedy-drama . Margo Millet’s tumultuous jo...
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