The Punisher

The Netflix Original The Punisher is an exciting and thriller show. It is about an ex marine named Frank Castle. When serving in the war he was ordered to do many things that he did not agree with. Certain corrupt people in the military were performing very unjust torturing techniques. Frank Castle new about the torturings so the military tried to kill him to keep it a secret. The military tried to kill him but he got away so they ended up killing his family. The military portrayed Frank Castle as a criminal and told people that he was killed. This makes for a great revenge storyline that sets up the whole show perfectly. Revenge is a common characteristic in movies because most people like comeback stories.


Frank Castle got a new identity and started working as a construction worker. He is a very sad and angry man. In one episode you can really see the anger in him because he gets to work early and stays late breaking down cement walls with a sledge hammer. Later in that episode he was at the construction site in the middle of the night getting his anger out. He saw some fellow coworkers trying to kill another coworker by throwing him in the back of a cement truck. He kills all of them and saves the man in the back of the cement truck. This is the start of the show and begins the storyline.


A man that goes by the name of Micro is another main character in the show. He was also turned on by corrupt people. He found Frank Castle and wanted to team up with the people that crossed both him and Frank. Micro was shot in the chest and then fell into a river. Luckily for him, he had his cell phone in his shirt pocket and the bullet hit the phone and did not penetrate his body. He couldn’t go back to his house and family because his family would be killed if they knew what had really happened to him. Micro and Frank make a good team because Frank is a former marine with unique skills sets, while Micro is an advanced computer hacker that can hack into just about anything.


While Frank Castle and Micro are teaming up, there is another storyline taking place. Agent Madani and agent Stein are go looking for Frank Castle. Everyone believed that Frank Castle was dead, but agent Madani knew he was not. She was wanted to take him down because she believed he was a criminal. When she started to do more research on him she found interesting information. She found out that he was set up and by higher up people. She started investigating on these corrupt people and wanted to take them down after her partner agent stein was killed. She is now wanting to team up with Frank Castle to take down these people.





This show is a great and intense show that as many twist and turns throughout the first and only season available. It shows the how motivating revenge can be.

A Closer Look at Adventurous Brutes

While La Casa de Papel may immediately gain the viewer’s attention through its alluring Romance title, those who hold themselves to a higher standard should be warned: this television show is not for the faint of heart. The tale follows a young woman named Silene Oliveira (secret name, Tokio), who is wanted by the police for successfully executing fifteen heists. Just as she was on her way to meet her mother, a mysterious man lets her know about her imminent capture. She learns that the man is known as “The Professor”, but he refuses to give more information.

As the story progresses, the viewer may find themselves unable to take a hiatus. The plot develops at a fairly quick pace, and unnecessary information is left out to fast-forward straight to the action. After the Professor states that planning for the heist is going to be a five month process, the story continues straight to the day of attack. The director was also sure to keep the heist from ending by the time the first episode came to a close.

We are connected to the band of uncouth characters, perhaps as a means of escape from our periodically overbearing lives as people with developed ethics. Fictional narratives such as these are an enigma in the way that even though we possess a proper set of morals, we still find ourselves hoping for the success of Tokio’s malicious deeds. This is evident when the love interest of Tokio is shot after an error on her part. Those who watch will be aware that they share Tokio’s pain on potentially losing her second partner. The director reinforces this by inserting a flashback into the story highlighting Tokio’s relationship with her lover.

As hinted at previously, the viewer should be aware that La Casa de Papel contains some uncivilized content. Of course, the supplementary debauchery only serves to support the main theme of thievery. The plot is littered with firearms, murders, and bare-chested women. The dialogue can, at times, contain talk of coitus and other vulgarities. The theme of sex outside of wedlock also makes its way into the plot - I would advise anyone who may be offended by this to take note of the transgression, yet try to not let it taint your perception of the plot in general.

A television show such as La Casa de Papel may be fitted for a younger, ruder audience, but that may not stop a more proper individual from enjoying it. I would encourage people of any social standing to give this show a proper viewing. After all, such a show offers a proper individual something that Wuthering Heights cannot: a plot with a fast pace, a chance to see how the other half lives, and how the character’s struggles lead them to take their misfortune into their own hands. The same way that books provide an escape into the unknown and dangerous, La Casa de Papel lets us live life as the ruffian we never became (thankfully).

A Look into the Normalcy of Royalty

Peter Morgan’s historical drama, The Crown, follows the lives of the British royal family, specifically focusing on Queen Elizabeth II. The show allows curious viewers to explore a world that the vast majority of audience members has never been exposed to. However, more importantly, it also reveals the normalcy of the royal family and the trials and tribulations they undergo, humanizes legendary figures who play on a world stage, and demonstrates that to be great does not require great circumstances of birth, but rather great character.


The events in The Crown and their worldly scale keep viewers precariously on the edge of their seats: the threat of war; the rise and fall of a nation; the writing of history itself. Simultaneously, the show deals with issues and decisions that are very relatable to the normal members of the audience: trying to decide how best to raise one’s children; keeping the fire of a relationship going long after the honeymoon phase has ended; balancing professional duties with personal desires. Even the most normal person in the audience can relate to these struggles and can relish in the commonalities between themselves and members of the royal family.


While showing the normalcy of the royal family, The Crown also allows viewers to see that despite their portrayal in the media as being virtuous and well-principled people, members of the royal family face many of the same moral dilemmas as common people: extramarital affairs and their aftermath; situations that, even just on a personal level, can have consequences for the actor; forgiveness, or the lack thereof. These are facets of life no one, royal or not, may be exempt from. The show is a friendly reminder that no one is perfect.


While the show does highlight some of its main characters’ imperfections, it does display the great courage of these characters. Life in the spotlight is hard. It is harder still, however, when the whole world is affected by the decisions that are made in that spotlight. The decisions made by Elizabeth II, the queen, and her family, impact large groups of people and have great sway on the morale of society and the world as it is known. To succeed in such an atmosphere requires tremendous amounts of courage and perseverance, especially in a society where politics are dominated by men. For Queen Elizabeth II to not only thrive but to survive in that environment draws on her vast reserves of determination, inner resolve, and confidence. Besides making decisions that affect the general populace of the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (among others), the Queen has to be steadfast in her decisions and show no signs of weakness.

In conclusion, The Crown, created by Peter Morgan, shows the normalcy, humanity, and great courage of its characters, allowing the audience to see that the difference between them and the characters they may look up to is not so great: courage and resolve in the face of overwhelming odds and circumstances makes all the difference.

Seven Point Six Billion Merits

Seven Point Six Billion Merits

**SOME SPOILERS**


The second episode of the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror is called “Fifteen Million Merits”. The central character in the episode, Bing, is a machine. He wakes at the same time each day in a room full of screens, and walks to a room full of screens where he and countless other people pedal bikes to accumulate “merits” while they watch various different and odd programs that are advertised in random pop-up ads. Bing has presumably been in his routine for a very long time. Later he hears a woman, Abi, singing and bonds with her over a short time. To Bing, it is the first real thing he has experienced in his time pedaling in the compound where the episode takes place. He uses fifteen million of his merits to purchase a ticket for her to show off her singing on one of the programs called “Hot Shot.” Things take a turn for Bing and Abi when she is given an interesting proposition. To be blunt, one of the judges offers Abi a position as a performer on a pornographic program called “Wraith Babes.” Bing is forced to watch the one thing he viewed as important transition to something perverse. He breaks down, and becomes a shadow of the shadow he already was. He becomes a workhorse, focused on regaining his merits to perform on “Hot Shot” himself.


This episode rewards the observant, as the message of this episode can be hidden in the complicated world of this episode. The obsession with the power of spectacle continues from the first episode, with much of the observable philosophical influence seeming to come from Guy Debord. In the 60's, he wrote The Society of Spectacle where he proposed that understanding spectacle is critical to understanding society. To Debord, images and appearance has begun to govern social interaction since the Industrial Revolution. This spectacle is born when our social lives become governed by the economy. In “Fifteen Million Merits” entertainment is heavily integrated in every aspect of personal and interpersonal interaction. Bing rides a bike pointlessly for hours to accumulate these “merits” which he can spend on necessities, entertainment, or customizing his virtual doppelganger. All of the characters live in rooms full of screens where ads are played constantly. Anything outside of this economy are confiscated. Abi folds a penguin with paper from her lunch, and it is taken because it does not exist within the bounds of the cycle of labor.


Bing finds something real in Abi, and buys her the ticket as an act of economically unsound personal sacrifice. But there is no room for authenticity in this world. Everything is a commodity to the powers-that-be in this episode. Innocence, effort, rage, and everything wholly human are bought and sold.


Debord points out a very critical point where this commodification takes place, and we can observe this point in our own lives. When “being” becomes “having” the spectacle has taken over. Wearing a Nirvana shirt makes you rebellious, drinking Pepsi makes you an activist, and having a bumper sticker or sticker on your laptop makes you just about anything you could want to become. This is exemplified by the virtual “me” that each person customizes to be “them.” Also the “merits” each person had obtained is displayed on leader boards, and if your “merits” are exhausted you are dressed up in a yellow jumpsuit, relegated to clean-up after the bikers. Black Mirror takes it several steps further in “Fifteen Million Merits,” but the argument is observable. Sometimes that is what science fiction does. It takes the future and the amazing technology that may someday be possible, and uses that premise to point a mirror toward the present.


The message of this resonates effectively with me. It is interesting, deep, and not immensely heavy handed. The obvious highlight of this episode is Daniel Kaluuya. His acting is truly immersive and impressive. This second entry improves on the first and has continued to rope me in happily.

Not Always As Innocent As They Seem

Not Always As Innocent As They Seem

Netflix Original series American Vandal is a parody of a documentary style film. The film starts with the vandalization of 27 cars. The cars belonged to the teachers of Hanover High, and were vandalized with a spray painted penis on each. The school system immediately pointed fingers toward troubled teen, Dylan Maxwell. The series continues with the introduction of another student named Peter Maldonado. Peter works for the High School news station, and took it upon himself to prove the innocence of Dylan Maxwell. The camera of the show then transfers to that of Peter’s camera, and starts the main story. The series from here on is shot like a documentary. The show is taken very seriously, with underlying jokes and a hilarious story to begin with. The main plot of the show has many ups and downs. The plot has a few unexpected twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The biggest aspect of American Vandal that really stuck with me after I finished the show, was the ending. The entire show leads you to believe a certain scenario, all of the signs point towards a specific outcome for the ending of the series. Fortunately, the ending came completely out of left field and would make heaviest hearts drop. In my opinion, one of the biggest characteristics that determines how much I enjoy the show, is the shock of the ending. The shock of the ending really forces the show to stick in your mind for a few days, it forces you to tell all of your friends.

A problem that I had with the series, was the repetitiveness of the rise and fall action. Nearly every episode, Peter would find information that would support Dylan’s case, only for it to fall through by the end of the episode. The constant rise and fall caused a sense of boredom. The reason it caused boredom, was because of the predictability. When Peter would find more evidence, I just expected him to find another to disprove it. In my opinion, a show that has a longer and more suspenseful rising action, to a big reveal, poses more of a positive reaction.

Another issue that I had with the series American Vandal, was the introduction of more than 15 characters. The premise of the show did need a few characters, but it is hard to keep up when introduced to this number of people. Nearly every person that is introduced, has some sort of relevance to the story. This means that the viewer must pay much closer attention, and remember small details about each individual. I found myself constantly pausing the episode, to remember what character was linked to what evidence. To me, there is too much going on, to get the full effect of the series.

Through and through, I really enjoyed the Netflix Original series American Vandal. Following the wild ride from Peter Maldonado’s eyes, in his pursuit of serving justice to the Hanover High school system. The show had its ups and downs, but overall, finished leaving your jaw wide open. If I were asked, “Would you recommend this show to a friend?” You bet I would.

Coaching Kids Off the Streets

This week I watched the Netflix Original Coach Snoop, a documentary series featuring Calvin Broadus (also known as his famous personality Snoop Dogg). The show follows Snoop Dogg as he owns and coaches a youth football league for kids and teens living in urban Los Angeles. Snoop’s mission is to provide a safe and fun alternative pastime for kids and teens living in impoverished and crime ridden neighborhoods; if the kids are playing organized football after school, they cannot be in trouble or involved with local gangs.

In the pilot episode, Snoop Dogg declares that helping kids to avoid being involved with drugs or violence is a passion of his due to his own personal history with gangs. Specifically, he cares about the kids whose parents are actively or formerly involved with gangs. The parents and Snoop work together to keep the kids and teenagers safe from the violent neighborhoods. Additionally, while Snoop Dogg is known for frequently smoking marijuana and living the stereotypical “rapper lifestyle”, he makes a clear distinction between Snoop-The-Rapper and Coach Snoop. Snoop does not bring drugs or alcohol near the kids, nor does he talk about those substances. When Snoop is engaged with the kids, he loses his rapper alter ego and becomes a protector and supporter of his football players.

I highly enjoyed watching this show as it caught my attention in the beginning and held it throughout each episode. Firstly, the prospect of watching Snoop Dogg on television is probably enough to intrigue anyone under the age of thirty enough to watch at least one episode. Snoop Dogg is quite an interesting and even comedic character in his rapper life; he brings these elements and others into his role as a football coach for the young men in Los Angeles. Secondly, the show is heartwarming; Snoop’s relationships with the kids grow as he spends more time with them and as he continues to encourage, challenge, and support them. 

I also liked this show for its format. Coach Snoop is a documentary and therefore relies heavily on interviews and direct address. While Snoop Dogg receives a majority of the screen time, I appreciate when one of the kids or one of the kids’ parents gives a testimonial. When the kids give interviews, they reveal what they are thinking and occasionally give background on events that have happened in their lives as a result of where they live. Further, I believe the interviews with the parents validate Snoop’s mission and add depth to the episodes. Some of the parents are in gangs or were previously associated with gangs, and therefore their children are in added danger of becoming involved with crime or violence. By having the parents explain their unfortunate situations in private interviews, they legitimize the purpose of the football team: to keep the kids safe and off the streets. Additionally, each episode has a run time of less than thirty minutes, which makes it easier and more fun to watch. I enjoy shows with shorter episodes for with each new episode comes a new sub-plot or interesting event, making the overall show seem more diverse and exciting.

            While I watched this show on a whim since my older brother turned it on, I will likely continue watching the rest of the season. This show is entertaining while also promoting the noble cause of helping children in less fortunate situations.

I never had a babysitter like that..

Though the Netflix Original The Babysitter is under the horror movie category, myself and many other viewers weren’t in the least bit scared. Except this was intentional in this case, unlike some other horror flops. There was several deliberate moments that changed the tone of this movie from scary, to comical.
It starts out about as normally as can be. A frail kid that can quickly be identified as the main character is talking to a pretty girl. Then we get the first comedic line from her when she blatantly says her mom doesn’t care about her dad’s “douche” car. Then we get more typical background scenes when me meet the hot babysitter through a typical bullying scene of that main character, Cole. The next time we stray pretty far from the zone of horror into the zone of comedy is when Cole is up late texting the pretty girl, Melanie, about what Cole’s attractive babysitter might be doing after dark. Melanie says orgy, and Cole doesn't even know what that is to respond. But Melanie convinces him to go watch and find out, and Cole ends up seeing much more than he should. Downstairs is an innocent game of Spin the Bottle, that quickly turns into a gruesome human sacrifice. But all the freaks babysitter Bee brought into the house do is laugh about how unevenly the blood is coming out of two gashes, which really overrides the gory scene. Cole is still watching what he thought was going to be a sex adventure from the top of the stairs, and when everyone realizes that he has seen too much, the rest of the movie turns into a mad dash to get rid of him.
Throughout all the chase scenes, many of the actions are so exaggerated I become tempted to call them “visual hyperboles”. A ricocheting bullet hits one of the cult’s members, Allison, directly in her right breast and she just loudly complains about that until she sits down in a chair to bleed out. Cole shoots a large firework at another member, Sonya, blowing her up to get her away from him. One of the bullies from the beginning of the movie returns to egg Cole’s house, and though he is chasing Cole, yet another member named Max stops and gives him advice on standing up for himself. Nothing is even remotely scary anymore. 
The movie is far from horror now, but all the elements are still there. If all the comedic relief scenes were removed, we could watch a movie about a scared young boy who put so much trust into his babysitter (and best friend it seems), only to be hunted down. And that is terrifying, to watch someone so innocent and youthful fight for the right to stay alive. But every single silly line of dialogue and overscted scene that flips the tone completely around is intentional. The idea of satanic ritual circles is already well overdone in the horror genre, but not so much the idea of a satanic ritual circle that is actually a horror comedy about a naive boy’s friendship with his babysitter. It was completely intentional for the tone shift of this movie to make it stand out.

Unbreakable

If you’re anything like me, when a show isn’t interesting at the beginning, you don’t want to continue watching it. I told myself I was going to watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for this blog post so I had to keep watching. Now I tend to watch reality shows or shows that are set in the past, but Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a show set in the present about, you guessed it, Kimmy Schmidt. She was just rescued from a bunker in the ground in Indiana, along with three other women, all who are referred to as “The Mole Women.” They were lured down to the bunker by their reverend who has brainwashed them into believing that there was a nuclear apocalypse and they are the only ones who survived. While it is a good plot line, it just isn’t something I would usually choose to watch. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a show that I would watch if I had finished all my other Netflix series.

Kimmy and the other Mole Women are brought to New York and interviewed on the Today Show by Matt Lauer and then put back on a bus to Indiana. Kimmy stops the bus and wants to stay in New York, as she would only be remembered back in Indiana as one of the Mole Women. While this seems like a good idea, she only has a middle school education and is pretty naive to things. She ends up finding an ad in the newspaper about an apartment and accepts the place within one minute of meeting her roommate and new landlord.

After the landlord, Lillian, tells her the place is hers if she comes back with a job, Kimmy finds a job as a nanny at a rich woman’s house. When she goes back to let her landlord and new roommate, Titus, know she has a job that “pays $17 an hour under the tables,” they let her move in. All she has is a backpack with a few books she had in the bunker and the cash that was given to her from the fund for the Mole Women. Her bag gets stolen from her, which is a big deal because that was basically all she had, plus it had all her money in it.

Throughout all these things, Kimmy keeps telling herself that she is unbreakable and keeps going. The word unbreakable is part of the theme song for the show. A neighbor of the man who held the women captive is interviewed when they are rescued. His interview is turned into a song and is used at the beginning of the episodes.

A couple of interesting things to point out are how Kimmy is naive and how sheltered she was down in the bunker. Both of these are sort of tied together in that she is so naive because she was sheltered down in the bunker. The women wore fully covered dresses and used each other for mirrors down there; they were forced to literally sit in front of each other and describe the other woman, pretending to be her mirror. Being sheltered like that, Kimmy, of course, didn’t know a lot of the technology of the day when she was rescued. This is an issue because she wants to hide that she is a Mole Woman. In one scene, Kimmy is in a public bathroom and laughs hysterically after finding out how to use the automatic sink and automatic hand dryer, things we take for granted. She goes to a candy store and decides she will have candy for dinner. She only buys one bag of candy in the entire candy store though, which is interesting because she somehow has the willpower to not splurge on a ton of candy. When she comes across a Chanel store, she comes out wearing a pair of sequined, embroidered, light-up pink shoes- something a middle schooler would have worn like ten years ago, which is fitting for Kimmy since she only has a middle school education.

As she continues exploring New York, she comes upon a horse that is tied up and let it free, probably because she was tied up down in the bunker and then let free (not literally tied up though). At one point she is giving her roommate, Titus, a pep talk when he was down on his luck and tells him he will sing at the Grammy’s one day with Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, both of whom have passed away but she wouldn’t know that. These little tidbits throughout the show kept me interested and added a little bit of humor. As I did end up enjoying the show, I loved seeing and hearing those little pieces as Kimmy was trying to keep her being a Mole Woman a secret.

Back at It Again with the End of the F***ing World

Following my last blog post, I decided to continue on with the series The End Of The F***ing World. “Episode 2” was the same length as “Episode 1” and I was still amazed at how much stress the writers could bundle into a short 18 minute episode.

This episode starts off with Alyssa and James standing outside of their crashed car, which was confusing because the last episode did not end with a crashed car. The writers used a flash forward and flash back to explain the situation and I thought it was an interesting add to the episode instead of everything being in chronological order.

After the scene flashes to present time, James is still having visions of killing Alyssa which I do not think will go away until he either kills her or someone else. At this time, Alyssa is feeling free and says they can do anything now, so of course they go play laser tag. I thought it was something fun that they would do to take their mind’s off of things. Instead, James had zero fun and Alyssa got them kicked out of another place, yet again. After getting kicked out, they go to another diner which does not seem too promising as Alyssa got them kicked out of one already.

While eating, Alyssa brings up a very good point that I was not thinking about previously -- when James’s dad was going to call the police. James’s said his dad would not call the police. That response shocked me because his home life was not like Alyssa’s; his dad actually cared about him. Alyssa took his word and asked if he had any money to which James responded no. Alyssa did not have any money either, so of course they dined and dashed. She explains that her dad told her “if it’s a chain, it’s free reign,” which she says is like Robin Hood but I do not personally agree.

At this time, they are back in the car and Alyssa distracts James by saying they should have sex in the car without stopping. This causes James to drive into a tree trying to get his shirt off. Without a car, they are forced to hitch hike with an odd man who is trying to buy a dog for dog fighting. This whole scene stressed me out because I was waiting for the driver or even James to kill someone. James was still having visions of killing Alyssa and the driver was giving off really weird vibes.

The driver takes them to another diner and Alyssa agrees with me by thinking he is a murderer. She ends up being pretty rude about it and abruptly leaves. James and the driver end up going to the bathroom and this is where things got weird for me. Alyssa decides she needs to apologize (Note: this is a first) so she goes back into the diner, the bathroom more specifically, and finds the driver has put James’s hand over his genitals. Alyssa ended up threatening the man by saying she’d call his family and tell them about his weird fetish if he did not give her his wallet. I was happy she did this because it shows that she does care about James.

Afterwards, they end up at a motel and Alyssa goes into the bathroom to cry. James, being James, pulls out his knife and invisions killing her again, until he could hear her crying through the door. She comes out and makes a call to her home and my heart broke during this scene. Her step dad answered and she asked to talk to her mom and he goes on to say that she does not want to speak to her. This whole time the mother was listening and did not do anything to talk to Alyssa. I totally feel for her when Alyssa said she does not want to go home ever again. The episode ends with Alyssa and James cuddling in bed, with James still picturing murdering her.

In the end, this whole episode was a circle of me hating and then feeling bad for the characters. This episode was not as stressful as the first one was, but I still was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I do enjoy this show but it is one of those love-hate relationships where I go from being entertained to wanting to completely stop watching. I probably will continue watching the series, and I hope to continue writing about how it goes.

Crocodile Tears

Black Mirror’s episode called “Crocodile” tells the story of a woman named Mia, who is involved in a hit-and-run, in which she is the passenger of the car that hits and kills a cyclist. Because both Mia and the driver, Rob, were under the influence of alcohol when it happened, they decide to dispose of the body rather than report the incident. Fifteen years pass and Mia, now a very successful architect, is confronted by Rob. He tells her that he wants to come forward about what they did. But Mia, fearing the consequences that will affect her career, decides to silence Rob by killing him. When Mia then witnesses an accident, a memory recalling device is used on her in order to see what really happened. Mia is unable to repress her recollections of Rob’s murder, so she goes on a killing spree to try and cover her tracks.

The mention of a crocodile is not found in this episode which leaves viewers questioning where the title comes from. This has caused many different theories about the meaning of this episode’s title. In my opinion, the title is a sort of metaphor that describes Mia’s underlying evil personality or is used to illustrate her insincerity.

Much like a crocodile, Mia quietly waited to attack her prey by pretending to be an architect and a family woman. She did not attack until she was threatened, which caused her to come out of the dark, murky water with vigilance. Her kills do not come from passion or heartache, rather they come from her dispassion and ruthlessness. Also, crocodiles are known for their very distinct memories. Since this episode deals with a device that can retrieve memories, this could be another reason why the episode was named after such an intelligent creature. When someone is considered to be thick skinned, it means they are capable of handling tough times while having little to no emotion. The skin of crocodiles is often referred to as armor because of its thickness. Mia obviously has thick skin, like a crocodile, if she can murder multiple people without it affecting her psychologically. Crocodiles are also cold-blooded animals, which describes Mia’s actions completely.

The term “crocodile tears” is used to describe tears or expression of sorrow that are insincere. The promotional image of Mia where her face is covered with tears suggests that while she may be crying, it is not because she is sorry, but most likely because she is exhausted from all the killings she administered. Initially, when the biker is killed, Mia seems to be more emotional than Rob when they decide to dispose of the body rather than tell anyone about what happened. The viewer later finds out that she is far more capable of merciless acts of violence. After her killing spree, Mia is seen at her son’s school play where she is crying “crocodile tears”. This false display of emotion shows that Mia is only crying for herself, not for the ones she had killed.

The title of the episode called “Crocodile” in Black Mirror’s fourth season most likely stems from the actions and emotions, or lack thereof, of the main character, Mia. In many ways, Mia is the embodiment of a crocodile.

Did Dylan Draw Dicks?

American Vandal is a satirical series about a case of vandalism at Hanover High School in California. In the first episode, “Vandalism and Vulgarity,” we find the main character, Dylan Maxwell, accused of painting dicks on the high school staff’s cars. However, Dylan and his friends claim that he was nowhere near the scene at the time of the incident. The school board investigated and decided to expel Dylan on the accounts of his class behavior and an apparent witness. Peter Maldonado works to find evidence of Dylan’s innocence.


“Vandalism and Vulgarity” utilizes an unsteady camera for the majority of the episode. Outside of the television reports of the vandalism, it appears as though someone is simply holding a camera. This homemade feeling makes the series more personal. It feels as if we are watching a serious interview made by a real student.


This episode opens with an interview. With a defeated look on his face, Dylan answers questions about the vandalism. The tone of his voice reveals his dejected spirit and annoyance towards the school. In the scattered pieces of this interview, he remains calm, but is clearly feeling hopeless. Jimmy Tatro, the actor that portrays Dylan, does an amazing job of convincing the viewer that he was truthfully by a classmate.


Because it is a satire, American Vandal adds subtle yet clever humor to break the otherwise serious vibe. For example, when the character Alex Trimboli recalls what he had apparently seen, the repeated phrase “*spray-paint noise* Dick,” just crosses the line into the territory of a humorous gag. The line itself could feasibly be said by a high school student being interviewed as a witness to a crime, but the duration lets the viewer know it is meant to be laughed at.


As well as drawn-out jokes, this mockumentary reveals its true intentions by exploiting a few stereotypes. First, we see they typical prankster of every high school: Dylan. He clowns around in and out of class and is a little too dense to consider the consequences of his actions. The other students interviewed for the character and narrator Peter’s investigation also fall into a stereotype. Most people think of teens as only interested in gossip and their image. All of Hanover High’s students fit this mold. Every interview shown shows an outwardly confident kid that is more than willing to spill the tea over the latest big event. These character tropes add an element of humor to the show to help poke fun at true crime documentaries.

Overall, “Vandalism and Vulgarity,” from American Vandal, does an excellent job of creating a satirical crime documentary.





Works Cited

“Vandalism and Vulgarity.” American Vandal, created by Dan Perrault, and Tony Yacenda, season 1, episode 1, Netflix, 15 Sept. 2017.

Big Mouth: A New Kind of Humor

Big Mouth is a Netflix Original series that is only one season in. The show takes vulgarity to the max, creating very disturbing and what the hell kind of situations while you watch it. However, the longer the show goes on, the more interesting it gets with how creative the humor really is. The show personifies puberty into a monster that follows the children of the show around, leading to many lewd situations. The uncomfortableness of what you are watching is what makes it funny.


The episode “Pillow Talk” is one of the biggest examples of this. The main plot of the episode revolves around main characters Andrew and Nick going to Manhattan in order for Nick to make out with Roland. She was a girl that Nick had met at a camp, and wanted to continue that. However, what is way more interesting about this episode was the subplot, where thirteen year Jay was having sex with his pillow. That is already uncomfortable, but it gets better. The whole problem is that the pillow is pregnant, and Jay will now have to deal with being a father, but the pillow turned out to have cheated on him and have sex with one of his brothers(“Pillow Talk”).


The subplot of this show is absolutely ridiculous, but that was the beauty of it. The humor is so dark, and that is what makes it so great. These kids are all in way over their heads, with all of them making decisions based on their hormones rather than actual reason. The funny and relatable part is, many people who watch Big Mouth are those who finally got over this stage of their life. To go back and see the types of things that happened when they were thirteen or fourteen years old, though obviously overexaggerated for comedic effect, is hilarious. The show makes you think “is that really how it was?” and the more and more time that is spent on that, the more it becomes true.

Big Mouth is definitely can almost be defined more as an experience than a show. Though a comedy at heart, exploiting the awkward teen phase and everything that comes with it, what it conveys is truly something bigger. It is almost a relief to be able to look back on it and think “I sure am glad I am not like this anymore.” It is very self-aware, and it makes sure that you know what you are getting into as soon as you see the preview on Netflix, with the character Nick propping his phone up with a boner. Big Mouth isn’t the highest quality, but it sure is something different.

Don’t Look Away: A Series of Unfortunate Events “The Bad Beginning” Parts 1 and 2

    A Series of Unfortunate Events is the first Netflix original I ever watched, so it holds a special place in my heart. Therefore, while I may be biased in saying this, I think A Series of
Unfortunate Events is a good show for the whole family. Children will be able to appreciate the bizarre world in which the story takes place, while adults may take pleasure in some of the references made. For example, when the Baudelaire orphans eat supper with the Poe family, the brothers Edgar and Albert discuss whether a raven or crow is being served at supper (a reference to the Edgar Allen Poe poem “The Raven”) and the orphans wonder what pasta puttanesca means (it means pasta in the style of the whore). The show also references words that may be unfamiliar to younger viewers, so it becomes necessary to define, sometimes in a way which cleverly furthers the plot. In this way, younger viewers learn vocabulary words and adults get an extra chuckle at the somewhat irrelevant and humorous definitions. However, these aren’t the only the features that make A Series of Unfortunate Events an entertaining experience for all.

    Another thing that makes this show shine is the performances. The original books featured sparkling and witty dialog written by Daniel Handler. Much of this comes in the form of double entendres told by Count Olaf and misunderstood by the other adults. It seems almost impossible to most children that grown-ups could be so stupid. Count Olaf appeals to children in many ways, in particular by being extremely hammy. Few actors could carry this off with enough sincerity to not alienate the adults in the audience and continue to be a serious threat, and while the 2004 movie chose to cast Jim Carrey as Count Olaf, I believe that the series made the better choice in casting Neil Patrick Harris. Harris has experience in theater, a medium in which at least some overacting is required. The rest of the cast is exceptional in their respective roles, including Patrick Warburton in a somewhat uncharacteristic role as the grim Lemony Snicket and the newcomers Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes as the somewhat bland Violet and Claus Baudelaire. While this may seem like poor child acting, the boringness of the children contrast with the extreme wackiness of the adult and lets the audience relate with the orphans’ plight.

    A Series of Unfortunate Events is quite a charming show. The show is awash in a gothic aesthetic which helps communicate the peril of the situation. Some gothic characteristics found in the show are dilapidated buildings, melodrama and isolation for the pure-hearted heroes. In A Series of Unfortunate Events, our heroes are surrounded by inept adults who only hinder their progress, effectively rendering them alone in the world. This leads to them having to fight their way through a mountain of chores and the legal system in the first two parts. Yes, while the events ahead of you if you watch the show may be unpleasant, you just can’t look away.