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deadlythesaurus
Reviews
The Americans: Urban Transport Planning (2018)
I Missed the 80s (Until Now).
I had to give the episode nine stars because I'm still hooked like it's meth, but MAN, it's painful watching Ma 'n Pa Jennings spiral downward. Elizabeth's 25 years of PTSD turning her into a chain-smoking murder bot is bad enough - forget her going Full Metal Crawford "coaching" Paige - but Philip turn into a nattily dressed @$$hole sales boss is too much to bear. He's gonna start actuating his potential any minute now. PUT THE CAR PHONE DOWN, PHIL
At least Stan is steady and constant. He's a steady, constant big dumb lump of wet paper towel, but he IS dependable that way.
If character IS destiny, then there's a real mass-casualty Greek tragedy of an outcome building here - but it's too easy. Can't wait to see how it all plays out.
Reign (2013)
Take it for what it is: sugary pretty soapy fun
I'm newly hooked on this show, having reached my limit on how often I can watch the same "It's Always Sunny" episodes without a break.
UP FRONT - if you're looking for history here, KEEP MOVING. It's not history except in the loosest possible "inspired by" sense. Enjoy it for what it is: "Falcon Crest" with chamber pots (which this series is much too pretty to actually show, thank god).
As for the criticisms of the fashion and music I see in other reviews, Reign is doing what Sofia Coppola did with Marie Antoinette's story: reinterpreting it in modern terms to make it easier for a modern audience to relate on an EMOTIONAL level to these characters. Obviously, Mary and her ladies wouldn't have danced around to emo-sounding pop tunes. But is it so hard to imagine that they would have danced, and taken pleasure in new music or a new dance style, or felt a thrill at sneaking out in some fashion that would scandalize their parents? In order for us to feel the same "ooooohhh!" factor they feel when encountering something new and exciting, we're given something that elicits the same response from US, with all our modern sensibilities and tastes and standards.
You've seen the portraits in museums and textbooks. How much would you enjoy watching those people model the latest in damask straitjacketing and triple-chin powdering? You wanna get down to the latest harpsichord jam? Count the rotting teeth in the kiss scenes? Be my guest. I prefer to get my history (of which I AM an avid reader)from other sources, and let a show like this - however soapy and over-the-top it gets - serve as an enjoyable reminder that no matter how much fashions and customs change, PEOPLE remain, on the inside, much as they've always been: crazy AF. ;)