What I’ve been Watching on Television Lately

Here is my latest television viewings lately that I wish to share with you. I tend to watch a lot of television but I do like to catch up on some Netflix series at the weekend.

One Day

Everyone was talking about One Day so I thought I’d give it a watch. I can’t say it was my kind of thing, it was quite tedious at times. But then you look a little further and it is interesting to find out how people turn out. How they change and develop, how their relationships develop.

There were some humorous parts but nothing that made me actually laugh.

There were some frustrating parts, and parts that made you think about your own life and how you could have done things differently.

I can’t give away the ending, but it’s quite typical. Is anyone ever meant to be happy? Just grab life while you can an enjoy it for what it is. That’s basically the story. That’s life. I do think I get why everyone was talking about the ending though, It is very emotional.

In conclusion, I think it was worth watching but maybe not entirely my type of program.

The Bletchley Circle, San Francisco

This popped up just after I’d been looking at photos of when we went to visit Bletchley Place a few years back. I felt it was a sign. It didn’t feature Bletchley Place much as the cast moved to San Francisco.

It was very good though, a great thriller, very fast paced and lovely to see the women in control. The code breakers at Bletchley paid a big part in the war. In this series they cracked codes to solve crimes.

Their were 8 episodes in this series and each crime was committed and solved over two episodes, so great for binging when you need to break as you only have to watch two episodes at a time.

I actually really enjoyed this series, but it wasn’t really what I expected. Maybe I should go back and watch the original Bletchley Girls.

3 Body Problem

I’ve not read the books and to be honest, they look a bit tedious. But the series drew me in being a Sci-Fi Fan. I thought it started really good, then it waned a little in the middle, but then it became really interesting again. I can see why the books would not be my thing.

I thought the concept of aliens has been done before, but the means of communication was interesting. They are coming to take over in around 400 years, they try to make humans understand why they were coming and how we could live alongside them. However, it wasn’t to be. As always, no-one understands the complex nature of humans and mis-understandings were obvious.

We had the usual run of story where aliens are concerned. The immediate human response of destroy them before they get here. The others trying to communicate and are convinced that the aliens are coming to save humanity.

I thought the group of scientist friends were compelling and I was truly invested in them. The characterisation was really good and at times very emotional.

I liked the gameplay where the aliens tried to get their message across with virtual reality headsets. I was wondering why they didn’t continue this but then at the end I realised this was just the first series and it hinted that there would be more gameplay to come.

I will definitely be watching the second series when it is released. I just hope it doesn’t take 400 years! In fact I’m almost tempted to read the books after all, just so I know what happens next.

Damsel

Damsel is a movie starring Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things Fame. It’s a typical fairy tale with kings and queen’s and castles, and the marriage of two young people from different cultures. In this story though, the new princess is to be a sacrifice to a dragon.

The Dragon itself is CGI but very well done. Millie Bobby Brown, the unsuspecting bride fights back as long as she can.

More of the story comes to light as to why they need to sacrifice brides to the dragon and how many have been sacrificed in the past. It does have some interesting twists and turns and I enjoyed the ending. Definitely worth a watch.

Barbie

The Barbie movie is now available on Sky television and I actually stumbled on it just as it was about to start. I thought it was quite original and it definitely had a story to tell.

I thought the scenery and actors were great. (I do have a big crush on Ryan Reynolds who plays Ken.) I like that in Barbie world it’s the women who are most important and the men take a back seat. I also like how all women are called Barbie and all men called Ken, well, apart from Alan.

The transition from Barbie’s world to the real world was surreal and very humorous. I loved that Ken thought that just because it seemed to be men in charge that he could just walk into the roles that the Barbie dolls had held in Barbie’s world. It certainly gives you food for thought but it’s all a bit ‘ditsy’ and the humour tends to fall between being flat or way over the top.

There were some really good parts, and America Ferrara’s character Gloria’s speech was pretty spectacular. Some of the songs were fun if a little corny. I did love Billie Eilish’s ‘What was I made for’

As someone who has been subjected to many of the Barbie animated movies thanks to having little girls I did find it very different. But as a child, I preferred my Cindy doll!

All the Light We Cannot See

It took me a while to dive into this but I’m so glad I did. Set in France during WWII and the German occupation of the seaside village of Saint-Malo

It was loosely based on the book by Anthony Doeer. I’ve not read the book but I can where it differs and I think that maybe the book is more intense and the ending is different.

The story jumps between timelines of the present and how they got there. The two main characters are a blind girl called Marie who operates a radio in her uncles attic and sends messages to American troops. Originally her uncle transmitted stories of hope and peace to young people all over the world and had many followers. One of these was the other main character, a young German boy called Werner who is in an orphanage with his sister. Werner is picked for the Nazi army because of his unique talent with radios and he ends up in a strict training camp.

Marie’s Father is a curator at a museum in Paris to begin with and he tries to smuggle some jewels before the Nazi invasion. They are all captured except on which he takes with him when he escapes to Saint-Malo with Marie.

Another character is the Nazi general Von Rumpel who is obsessed with finding the jewel that Marie’s father has hidden.

The story is very intense and has some extremely emotional parts. The ending is quite different from the book. (which I may just have to read!)

What have you been watching on television lately? Is there anything you are looking forward to?

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