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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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AUSTRALIAN DRAMA. “Boy Swallows Universe.” / “The Survivors.” / “Playing Gracie Darling.”

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“Boy Swallows Universe” (Netflix) Australian coming of age miniseries . Set in 1980s working-class Brisbane, Australia. It follows a precocious teenager who navigates a chaotic life with an incarcerated mother, an alcoholic father, a heroin-dealing stepfather, and a mute brother who communicates by writing in the air.         Based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Trent Dalton and collectively or separately (per episodes) directed by Bharat Nalluri, Jocelyn Moorhouse, and Kim Mordaunt, from a script by John Collee , “Boy…” could be a top 5 TV series treat on my 2026 list. Definitely a recommended family weekend binge-watch entertainment.         The mood is a bit melodramatic but neatly orchestrated. Although I have seen so many dysfunctional family dramas in my lifetime, this gem is told with fresh warmth and adorable humor. Most of the performers won awards in Australia's Logie Aw...
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COMEDY. “Search Party” (Netflix) Season 1 to Season 3. / “Can You Keep a Secret?” / “Such Brave Girls.”

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“Search Party” (Netflix) Season 1 to Season 3. D ark comedy . A group of friends who become involved in the search for a missing young woman and the events that result from their involvement.        I really enjoyed Season 1 of this series. The script was tight and full of intrigue and mystery, plus very funny. Alia Shawkat possesses the charm and allure that drove the interest high. Her Dory is an unending creativity. Plus, John Early's Elliott was simply hilarious. Elliott is gay but John's gay, despite the cliche mannerisms, is still original.        However, in Season 2, following the “solution” of Season 1's search for Chantal, things started to crumble. The fun waned into contrived seriousness. Worse, in Season 3, the premise sunk into dark confines that aren't even “dark comedy” So by episode 3 or 4 of S3, I gave up. I can't imagine, this series went all the way to Season 5. I don’t want to know why and how. 🎥...
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BRITISH CRIME DRAMA. “Legends.” / “Malpractice.” S1 and S2 / “A Taste for Murder.” / “The Bay” Season 5. / “Rules of the Game.”

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“Legends” (Netflix) British crime thriller. A dramatisation of the true story of British undercover Customs investigators, relatively inexperienced, who infiltrated the drug world in the early 1990s. The cast includes Steve Coogan , Tom Burke and Hayley Squires .         The fundamentals of the genre are well-served sans the action bombast and overwrought drama of most Hollywood thrillers. The narrative is clear-cut without being contrived. The dramatic tension is felt but not too hysterical. And the ensemble performance is remarkably restrained but they delivered the point across. 🎥💻📽 “Malpractice” (Hulu) British medical drama . Season 1 stars Niamh Algar as an embattled doctor embroiled in a medical scandal. Season 2 stars Tom Hughes as a psychiatrist under investigation by the Medical Investigation Unit (MIU) after a new mother commits suicide following a missed diagnosis.         Both in relativel...
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