I feel like Natasha Lyonne really Gets Me, ya know?
Sweet jumping Jesus, I loved this show.
Literally anything I could say about the clever plot would be a spoiler of some sort, so I’ll just say the acting and writing are terrific. Lyonne’s performance is spellbinding – rough, raw, and hilarious, but Charlie Barnett and Elizabeth Ashley also shine. Ritesh Rajan is gorgeous. Brendan Sexton iii (Hey, remember the “I’m gonna rape you at 3 o’ clock” bully from Welcome to the Dollhouse? That’s him!) kills his role in a really special way that I predict is about to give him a solid career boost.
Check out the definition-of-cool playlist of the show’s songs, too.
Dull and drawn-out Silence of the Lambs wannabe. “Just the facts, ma’am.”
I’m not a David Fincher fan. I think his only really good movie is Zodiac, otherwise I think that somehow his chilly style prevents people from seeing just how flat and on the nose his work is.
Mindhunter was filmed in my hometown, though (My childhood Dairy Queen is in it!), and I am interested by Jonathan Groff, because he’s an out gay actor and because I think his performances are weird. Not in that fake, attention grabbing Johnny Depp way, more in an, “I don’t know if I think that is good or awful,” way.
I don’t know if I think Groff’s performance here is good or awful, either. His natural charm keeps shining through the cold fishface he sinks into as his character becomes increasingly obsessed with his serial killer work. He’s definitely watchable, and the other actors do their best to shine through the low-key material they’re given. Holt McCallany is especially good.
It’s just all so… gray. Happy Anderson elevates his scenes by flirting with camp, and a less stagnant director could have really turned that into something special, but Mindhunter doesn’t want to be fun or suspenseful. It wants to be Serious, and it has all the flat affect of a modern Dragnet.
Don’t even get me started on the stupidity of that recurring cat thing. I’m still mad at how that pays off.
You has too much soap and not enough suspense, but TEotFW might get a little deeper under your skin than you’re comfortable with.
You is the miniseries adaptation of Caroline Kepnes psycho stalker boyfriend bestseller. I’d read the book and not been terribly impressed, but the series stars the (sexy but much-too-skinny-here) Penn Badgley and features one of my favorite actors, Lou Taylor Pucci, miscast here as a standard millennial fuckboy.
You isn’t very good, but it’s certainly watchable, especially if you want to watch something while you knit or play solitaire or bake cookies. It’s classic glossy basic cable soap, with the bonus of added murders and a limited time commitment – although even 10 episodes stretch the plot a bit thin.
You suffers dramatically, though, because it really wants you to think its psycho, Joe, is dreamy. A murderer, but dreamy. The problem is, you don’t like him although you know you shouldn’t, you’re constantly being encouraged to like him. Of course the actor is, himself, dreamy and spends a lot of time staring longingly and flashing his impossible smile, but the show also backs him up with a sympathetic backstory and an (effective) relationship with an at-risk neighbor kid.
The sweet surprise is that things end really badly anyways.
The End of the Fucking World (which is a comic book adaptation) also deals with questions of identity vs perception, but has the opposite problem. When its psycho starts planning to murder the object of his (possible) affections, the show is actually difficult to watch. I was creeped by him, worried about her, and OMG I CAN’T.
But I did, and I was – eventually – very glad. The acting is terrific, the twists are frequent and satisfying, and Jessica Barden is stunning. I won’t say much more so as not to spoil anything, but it’s a treat for an adventurous viewer.
Come for the ridiculous plot, but stay for the suspenseful set pieces.
The performances are good and I was especially impressed by Nina Toussaint-White, who always found ways to add depth to her rather stock character, but the plotting is murky and has a real fondness for cliches. And, gosh, but there are a lot of plot holes. In the last episode, the hunky but unreliable hero mutters, “Only one person in this conspiracy knew about my children.” DAVID! LITERALLY EVERYBODY IN THE CONSPIRACY KNEW ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN. It’s not like they were a secret. But that’s all the justification a story like this one needs for a random character to suddenly give an evil chuckle and explain their sinister motivation to the police. It’s pretty dumb.
Still, even as I became increasingly aware that The Bodyguard wasn’t as smart as it wanted me to think it was, every episode succeeded in thrilling me at least once with some solid suspense.
I’m a sucker for bullshit like that and so The Bodyguard gets a cautious recommendation.
in the dark 