Pasckie Pascua's Nerdy Squirrel Reviews: TV Series.

“The Bombing of Pan Am 103” (Netflix) British drama , about the 1988 disaster of Pan Am Flight 103 , which was the deadliest terrorist attack in British history .          The unfailing lure of this series is obvious. And this show is almost a mechanical reenactment of the ensuing investigation of the tragedy. Less dramatic tension, more technical exposition. No complaints, whatsoever. 🎥💻📽 “House of Guinness” (Netflix) historical drama about the family behind the Guinness brewing company in 19th-century Ireland and New York, and the consequences following the death of Benjamin Guinness , the man responsible for the company’s extraordinary success.        This series is created by Steven Knight, the dude who gave us the remarkable, hugely-entertaining period pieces “Peaky Blinders” and “A Thousand Blows.” Mr Knight upped the grade a bit in “House of Guinness” with some “Downton Abbey” glamorous drama an...

“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...

“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...

“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 ...

“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...

“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.      ...