Marvel’s Defenders

The Netflix original show Marvel’s Defenders is a show that provides a crossover of the characters of the other Marvel Netflix originals. The characters come from the shows Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil. This show takes place throughout the Harlem and Hell’s Kitchen portions of New York City. These characters are all fighting their own fights when they realize that they are all fighting the same enemy, an ancient organization known as The Hand. The Hand, supposedly has been controlling the world for about 2,000 years and they are in search of something that they suspect is in New York City. The Defenders don’t enjoy working together at the beginning, but seeing as it is the only way to defeat the enemy, the work together.
The main reason the Defenders did not want to work together at first was because of their similar stubborn drive that makes them good for continuing to try and fix a city that is very messed up. The characters have each had their own struggles that are explained in their individual Netflix original show respectively, but they let these problems prevent them from having good social interactions with most people. They let their past experiences and emotions get the best of them and that prevents them from working well as a team.
Once they start to share stories, they all start to realize that they are not the only ones that have had terrible struggles and challenges. Once they start to share more, they began to trust each other. This provided for better teamwork between them. They actually started respecting each other and the opinions of the others. One common drive that they all share is a love for their friends and the city they live in. That is why all except for Iron Fist is a vigilante savior of the city. All of them have given up many opportunities to become heroes but to them it is worth it because it is part of them.
I liked this show not only because it combines the characters from four of my favorite Netflix Originals, but also it has a lot of action and suspense. It also has plot twists that I was not expecting, which I love because with most shows that I have watched recently, I have been able predict most of the supposed “plot twists”. There is a point when plot twists get predictable but this show did not fit in this category. It was very hard to predict anything that was going to come next, which made me very excited to watch the next episode to find out what was going to happen. To go along with the action, there were many fight scenes that involved all of the characters showing of their fighting talents and abilities. When the Defenders all fight together as a team it is a very powerful force to reckon with.
The Defenders is not only a good show overall it shows just how good Netflix originals can be. With all the action, suspense, and teamwork it is one of my top three Netflix Originals that I have watched to date. I would highly recommend people to not only watch this show but the origin series for the characters for this show.

What Happened To Terrence

**Spoiler Warning**

Tommy Wirkola’s What Happened To Monday is an eerily possible dystopian film from August, 2017. The film addresses the threat of overpopulation in a world left crowded and hungry. To remedy this problem, the government creates the Child Allocation Act which dictates that only one child per family is allowed. The character Terrence Settman quietly works around this rule as he raises seven identical granddaughters, named after the days of the week. Since they are identical, the sisters learn to work together to live publicaly as a single individual, a woman named after their mother, Karen Settman. After the eldest sister, Monday, doesn’t return from their job, the sisters decide to work against the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.) to find out what happened to her.


This film does a great job at a few key things that make the movie as a whole worth rewatching. The emotions conveyed throughout make the viewer empathise with the characters. The scene in which Thursday loses the tip of her finger may be one of the most intense. The graphic imagery paired with the fear and disappointment in Terrence’s expression creates tension. That tension grows as we watch the sister’s granddad prepare to amputate the tips of all of the girls’ fingers to match their rebellious sister. In order to maintain their secret, they must be exactly the same. In the final moments of the scene, Monday’s terror slap us in the face as she finally realized the implications of their illegal existence.


In scenes set in a public place, the frame is absolutely full of people. The viewer feels crowded and claustrophobic. Extras are everywhere, sometimes obstructing the view of the main character. Wirkola gives us a convincing window into our potential future.


Out of all these faces we see in the crowd, Noomi Rapace is one of them. But, more accurately, she is seven of them. Rapace shows off her skills as an actor as all of the Settman siblings. In a single film, she portrays a pothead, a computer whiz, a blonde bombshell, and four more. Each sister has her own unique personality despite being played by one person. The range of Noomi Rapace’s acting in this film alone is truly amazing.


Although the film has many technical strengths, the plot has issues that detract from the potential of the film. The holes don’t quite make the film swiss cheese, but a few points make us question the writers’ choices. The most obvious discontinuity is how that the seven sisters have a distinctly non-American accent as adults. Terrence, who raised them in seclusion, has an American accent. The strongest indicator of this plot hole is that the sisters as children sound just as American as their granddad, but Rapace does not conceal her accent when she plays them as adults.


Another unlikely situation is how easily Tuesday and Thursday revere their eldest sister, Monday, after her death, even though it was she who betrayed them to the government. In the space of a few seconds, they go from fighting to kill, to familiar tenderness for their dear sister. Though it is understandable to be at the side of a dying relative, the acting and directing made the scene unconvincing.


Some smaller plot holes exist, but the last obvious one is how Terrence Settman disappears from the film with no explanation. As the most influential figure in the girls’ lives, it is confusing why Wirkola chose not to show when and how Terrence left the septuplets lives. An appropriate subtitle might be What Happened to Terrence?


The film’s strengths make it worth watching. The flawed plot, however, prevents it from being an outstanding film.

What Happened to Democracy?

The Netflix original movie, What Happened to Monday, portrays a dystopian world where the government, to combat overpopulation, enacts a single child policy. The government supposedly freezes the children for a later age of prosperity, but Terrence Settman rebuts this and instead raises his seven identical granddaughters with a single identity. This Netflix original covers a wide variety of interesting ideas and topics, but what interested me the most was the portrayal of the European Federation and the Government structure imposed. In the movie’s first few minutes it explains how and why the one child policy, called the, “Child Allocation Act,” came into effect. It explains that Nicolette Cayman, a scientist, head of the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.), and a candidate for parliament, created the legislation to ensure the prosperity of the human race. Throughout the movie, it is revealed that the government has reinforced military checkpoints and that the city that the Settman sisters live in has a strong military or police presence to find and apprehend non-first born children, or siblings. Many of these displays of government power would appear as critiques of authoritarian rule, but the character of Nicolette Cayman running for election proves that the government is actually some sort of democracy. This begs the question, why would people elect representatives that oppress citizens, break apart families, and use tremendous force to enact order? It is shown that many people are unhappy with the government early on in the movie, but yet the movie states that the one child policy has been enacted for an extended period of time (at least 30 years). On one hand the lack of change in government policy proves to be an intriguing premise. This shows that the government has oppressed the people to such a degree that while they may disagree with the major life changing policy, the people carry an apathy towards change. This could be due to propaganda, suppression of information, or countless other aspects. I personally think that the government was oppressing desenters and had a very successful misinformation campaign. This stems from the fact that throughout the movie we see a clip of film where a doctor tells the viewer that siblings are cryogenically frozen for a better tomorrow. We also see an elite military force try to kill the seven sisters with precision and accuracy that leads to the idea they may often perform similar operations. These observations would fit into the narrative of this dystopian world, but seem somewhat unrealistic. The other argument discussing the state of government, would argue that this is unrealistic. Having a government that is a democracy with this level of oppression and dislike from the populous seems very unlikely. In one of the film’s first scenes a child is shown being taken away from her parents and thrown into a van by C.A.B. agents. This is met with disapproval from the crowd. This along with the number of cases discussed where siblings must be found and dealt with leads me to believe that there is not large public support for this kind of policy. Common sense and an understanding of contemporary politics would dictate that disapproval at the level the movie suggests would lead to massive change in the other direction by some level of government. This, in fact, is even shown at the end of the movie. After some negative information comes out about the process of enforcing the one child policy, the government quickly overturns the policy. The outrage grew, of course, due to the information but was already at extremely high levels beforehand. It is hard to believe that a government would go from no action to full repeal on a policy never well liked or received. Overall the portrayal of the government in What Happened to Monday? was foggy. I believe it was an interesting, albeit unrealistic, portrayal of a dystopian democracy trying to ensure the future for its citizens. This being said I think the movie should have pursued a route where public approval for the one child act was higher, or allowed for a government that was either non-democratic or was democratic in name only. This would have, in my opinion, allowed for stronger world building and helped the story with some of its most glaring plot holes.

The Natural Comedian

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee struck me as only a slightly amusing sequence of conversations between Jerry Seinfeld and Seth Meyers. These two comedians are generally pretty funny on their original shows, but watching them interact in a natural setting was incredibly lackluster. The show was seemingly set up with a series of distractions (like sporty cars and artsy lattes) to reel in viewers, but after a short viewing the whole series falls flat. Moreover, the episodes are shorter than your usual television show by at least ten minutes, so I’m a little surprised that the episodes aren’t full of quality content. Maybe that is a tip off that an entire television episode shouldn’t center around an activity that most shows film in a single scene?

In the show’s defense, director and comedian Jerry Seinfeld may have been going for a more “natural” feeling setting between himself and Seth Meyers. In that case, I can understand why he chose to go for a less scripted situation. Jerry Seinfeld does a great job of putting together a natural scene for the two of them to talk in; what better way to show a person’s casual side than to take them out for coffee? Unfortunately, both Jerry Seinfeld and Seth Meyers are most famous for their scripted acts. Their talks were funny at times, but without a premade set of jokes, they just strike me as two charismatic people enjoying themselves -  nothing to make a show over.

Even days after watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, I am still confused with the purpose of the cool cars in every episode. Why does the car that Jerry Seinfeld drives matter? Is the car supposed to be some sort of incentive for the guest comedian to get coffee with Jerry? I suppose I could blow it off as some sort of interesting distraction for the sake of making decent TV, but the episode begins with background information about the car. Jerry also makes a point of mentioning it to Seth Meyers on their way to the coffee shop. Of course, one could also make the point that the car must be important to the episode because it is mentioned in the title. But the original question remains unanswered: why tie the concept of a nice car in with a show mainly focused on the conversation between two funny people?

I must say, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has been a real disappointment in more ways than one. The intriguing title and big names definitely caught my attention, and the 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS held my attention for about 5 minutes. After that, the show gave me the depressing realization that Seth Meyers and Jerry Seinfeld aren’t always funny. It may have been naive to think that before watching the show, but it certainly doesn’t help to have video proof of the two of them not living up to the standards that they’ve set on Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld. From now on, I think I’ll just stick to watching “Weekend Update”.

Consequences of Cosseting Parenting

Black Mirror is a Netflix original television series that aims to shock its viewers by using hypothetical stories to warn society about the dangers of the quick advancement of technology. Each episode is a sort-of short film that stands alone and they each have different plot lines and actors. This is satisfying for a consumer of Netflix to be able to start and finish one storyline without the need to follow episodes in order or feel the obligation to watch the series for hours at a time. It also gives the viewer more power to be able to pick and choose what stories they are interested in.

The episode that I watched most recently is titled “Arkangel” and is in Black Mirror’s fourth season. The plot revolves around a mother who is very much a cosseting parent because she worries about her daughter constantly and makes sure to always have an eye on her. When the daughter gets lost after a visit to the park, the mother is motivated to further her obsession of control by implanting a device in her daughter’s brain that gives her the power to see through her daughter’s eyes and know her location. She also is able to control what her daughter sees by blurring situations that would cause her stress levels to rise. A few years later, the device is banned from being produced and implanted, so the mother decides to stop using it. When the girl becomes a teenager, she begins lying to her mother about her whereabouts. The mother decides to restart the device again, which causes family tension and eventually leads to the two having a very intense fight.

One of the most compelling things in this particular episode is the aesthetic of the cinematography. The director provides visuals that are consistent in color scheme and are also very clean and organized. The plotline also keeps viewers engaged because it gets them thinking about their own life and ways that they have normalized and abused technology. Particularly, this story implements the ideas of privacy between parents and their children and how much surveillance is too much. The majority of Black Mirror’s audiences can relate to some sort of parent or child relationship that involves control.

This specific episode made me think about what my life would be like if my mother had this kind of control over me. I would be a much different person if I had limitations set on my experiences and had to live my life worrying about what my mother could see. I fear that I would also lack emotion due to the blurring filter because I would not have the ability to learn how to cope with stress and recognize when someone was in pain or needed help. I also began to think about what I would do if I were put in this position of control. It must have been very hard for the mother to quit using the device. She got used to having so much control over her child that she became almost addicted to it. It makes it easier for the mother to worry after knowing that there is a way she could intervene. This is something that I fear could happen to me or anyone else with that kind of power.

Overall, Black Mirror’s seemingly unrealistic ideas about technology's impact on society should be considered so that if similar advancements are made in the near future, we will have an understanding of how detrimental they could possibly be to not only society, but also for future generations.

Obsession With a Murderess

Alias Grace caught my eye because I watched another show inspired by one of Margaret Atwood’s novels, called The Handmaid's Tale. Alias Grace is a short series about a woman murderer, Grace Marks, who is referred to as a murderess. Usually shows depict a man playing the role of a murderer, and that’s what makes this show so different from other murder mysteries. It is set in the 1850s and during this time, women were not taken seriously and their roles were mainly maids and housewives. It was such a big deal that a woman actually murdered someone, or was thought to have murdered someone anyways. There are many pieces of the murder and of Grace’s story through foreshadowing and flashbacks.
Grace finds herself in Toronto working in the Kinnear household, as a maid, after her family sailed from Ireland to Canada. Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper end up being murdered, and Grace and her boyfriend, James McDermott, who was also a worker for Kinnear, are blamed. While McDermott gets hanged, Grace gets thirty years in the Kingston Penitentiary. Grace had been imprisoned for fifteen years before the reverend brought Dr. Jordan to Toronto to interview Grace, in hopes he will write a report in Grace’s favor, so the board can get her released. Through the interviews, we get the story of Grace’s past through flashbacks. She has an awful past with an abusive and drunken father and her mother’s death on the ship over to Canada.
Grace’s mother’s death on the ship is foreshadowed. During one flashback, we see the family coming aboard the ship and Grace’s mother sees three crows in a row on one of the sails. She tells Grace that she will not see land again and that the crows mean death. Later in the flashback, sure enough, she dies due to a tumor in her abdomen. Another foreshadowed aspect of the show is about Mary Whitney’s death, Grace’s room mate and fellow maid in the Kinnear house. Eventually, we find out that Grace and James McDermott were planning on running away together after the murder, and on the paper for Grace’s trial in court, she used the name Mary Whitney. Grace tells Dr. Jordan that it was a particular name to her and then goes on to say that Mary was dead by that time so she wouldn’t have minded Grace using her name.
Grace said she had wicked thoughts before when she was talking to Dr. Jordan, and her first was when she boarded the ship to Toronto. Her four younger siblings were lined up against the railing on the ship looking back onto land at something and Grace considered pushing one or two overboard. She was standing behind them and said that way there would be one or two fewer mouths to feed and clothes to wash. Her second wicked thought was when her father was passed out on the bed and she was putting ashes into a large, black, iron bucket. This was after Grace had woken up from her father throwing her against the wall in frustration from breakfast not being done when he wanted it done. On top of knocking her out, as she woke up, her father was above her kissing her and saying sorry, then attempting to rape her. She was cleaning the ashes and picked up the bucket and carried it above her shoulder over to the bed, but stopped herself and went back to cleaning as before.
These aspects of Grace’s life are things that Dr. Jordan is interested in. The obsession with the murderess, Grace Marks, was throughout Toronto and that’s why Dr. Jordan was brought to interview her. Some people weren’t sure if she was completely guilty or not, and some people were for her being released, like the reverend on the board. Grace was so young when the murdered occurred, just sixteen years old, so some people thought she should be let out. They thought she could have been persuaded by McDermott. As I haven’t seen enough of the show to know whether she gets released from prison or not yet, I don’t know any more clues to the murder either. I do plan to finish the series, though, as it has sparked my interest to not only watch the first episode for this blog post, but to finish the series too.

The Butterfly Effect

You may think that you have seen it all when it comes to time traveling shows, but are you in for a hoot or what. Have you ever had the thought of what if this whole life is imaginary, or what if everybody around me was working together to save the world, but no one knew. I would not consider Travelers as being one of your ordinary time travel shows. This show is science fiction, but the directors very lightly touch on the scientific aspect of time travel. The question that the viewers are left with is who is real and who is a Traveler from back in time.

Travelers is nothing new when it comes to shows on time travel, but the unique thing about this show is that the travelers move from the future to the present. A specific group of 5 individuals from the future take over the lives and bodies of 21th century individuals just before they are about to pass away. I really love how the show portrays the “passing over” scenes. With each of the 5 individuals whose bodies are used as a host for the travelers, there is a clock in which has the hosts estimated time of death. The clock slowly winds down and the next thing the viewers know, the travelers are waking up after death (most from hitting their heads on something.) The hosts have learned to send their conscious thoughts into their past. They take all the knowledge and the lifestyles of the persons body they inhabited. That however leads them to inheriting their hosts lives with all its up sides and all its down sides. Some of these Include drug addictions, illnesses, and abusive boyfriends/ baby daddys.

It is intriguing how this show takes place in our present, but the travelers are from hundreds of years in our future. Where they are from, the present is long gone, and humanity is endangered. No one really knows where the travelers universe is located or what their lives looked like before coming to the 21st century, but what the viewers do know is that the travelers came here for one reason and one reason only. That reason is to carry out missions that will hopefully prevent humankind’s tragic fate. Not until the end of episode two of season one, do the viewers discover that the travelers are far from being alone in the present day. There are tons of other travelers all over the world, but everyone has a different idea about what saving the world should look like or even means. This is why not every mission is pleasant. Going off of that, not all the travelers are pleasant people either.

My theory about Travelers is that it would never work in real life because of something called the “grandfather paradox.” This basically states that if one were to go back in time and kill their grandfather, then technically in the future that person would not be in existence. Therefore one could never go back in time and kill their grandfather so that he would be alive and then that person would exist again and alternate universe would be created. Overall this is a binge-watching show and I would recommend it, just keep the fact that this would never be plausible in real life in the back of your head.

Way Back When

Growing up as a kid in the 90’s Full House was an essential part of my childhood. I can remember staying up till the crack of dawn at my grandparents house just to catch the hour long special of Full House that came on Nick at Night. As I grew older, Full House became part of my cousins adolescence as well. The more people that I talk to, the more I come to discover that Full House was a part of people's raising. Children from the 90’s grew up with the characters from Full House and still hold on to them today.

Mid 2015 there had been talk of Netflix creating a spin off from the beloved show Full House, and on February 26, 2016 Netflix released the debut of Fuller House. Same house, same family, just 30 years later. I have no recollection of ever watching a full episode of either show: Full House or Fuller House until today. When watching episode 1 of Fuller House I noticed the adaptation to the modern decade that the producers made.

Although there are many more differences than there are similarities between the two shows, Fuller House still holds on to the same values Full House did back in the 90's. After speaking with my peers and reading reviews online, I feel confident in saying that Fuller House also tried to keep the same principles and family values that Full House did. Fuller House shows the viewers life lessons through each episode. Some of these lessons include: never lying or going behind someone's back because there will always be consequences for your actions. Family is also a huge aspect that both Full House and Fuller House are based on. Families come in all different shapes and sizes, and through these two shows the viewers are taught to be grateful for their own families that they were gifted.

In season 1 episode 1 of Fuller House, the viewers are already shown the continuation of the importance of family. The viewers are briefly reunited with every character from Full House minus the Olsen twins. DJ, Danny’s daughter is left to raise her three children on her own after her husband passed away on a call as a firefighter. It appears that Joey, Jesse, Danny, and Becky all have other priorities that they must accomplish, so therefore they will not be on many more episodes. After eveyons is about to embark on their new journey in life, they overhear DJ talking about how she is scared to raise three boys all on her own (Jackson, Max, and Tommy).

This is when family plays a huge role in the show again. The viewers are shown what family really means to the Tanner family, and what it means to be a helping hand in the roughest of times. After overhearing DJ express her concerns, everyone says that they will ditch their priorities and stay with her because family comes first. Stephanie (DJ’s sister) then steps in and says that it is her turn to help out in the family. Kimmy (DJ’s childhood best friend who lived next door) also decides to stay and help DJ in the everyday struggles of being a mom. Even though Fuller House shares the same values that Full House once did, the show focuses more on the lives of the adults, rather than the struggles of raising a family. I hope that Fuller House instills the same values in children today that Full  House instilled in me.

Cooking and its importance to society

Fire draws us together in many ways and that is when cooking is originated from. I never knew that cooking could be such an art. After completing the first episode of Cooked a Netflix Original, I was astonished at how much food impacted me without even knowing it. The act of eating is something that we nonchalantly go through each day. Do you ever think about what your eating? What about where the process of cooking originated from? The act of cooking is based off of the basic 4 elements of life: fire, water, air, and earth. In each episode, Cooked shows us the importance of each of the basic elements and how it has impacted the way we eat and cook today.

Fire is a very powerful thing. In a way it is a sign that you are going to eat. The disappearance of fire from our lives has had a huge impact on the way we as a society view cooking as a whole. Civilization really began around the cook fire. Cooked takes us through the journey of Michael Pollan a foodie/ author, and the life of some aboriginal hunters. These hunters live in very nice villages with modern homes, but on the weekends they take a trip to their homeland to continue spreading the awareness to their younger generations about the importance of fire. Humans evolved from cooking food over fire and the aboriginal hunters would like those traditions to stand on.

There are elements of traditional ways of eating that we have lost and/or given up on. Hunting serves as a perfect example for this. Hunting is a safe haven for people in general, but especially those who have certain illnesses that a treated through medications. Some of the citizens that have to take daily medicines will go out to the country and be able to throw away that days dosage. There is something about being out in the wilderness that gives these people a sane feeling. It is a therapy for them. Hunting stays of important to these families because when one hunts their own food, their going to treat their food with more respect, than just having it served on a platter to you and not being a part of the process before consumption.

Humans are unlike any other animal in the aspect of food. We are biologically adapted to eating our food cooked. In other words, cooking is basically baked into our biology (no pun intended). Cooking relieves us from the work of chewing, and any other animal species spends about half their lifetime chewing up their food to get nutrients. We are drawn to certain foods through coevolution and we are hardwired to like specific foods such as fruits. This is because of the sweet natural flavors it gives off.

The last yet most important aspect of cooking is to cook your food after the hunting is completed. Barbecuing is the most popular way for the hunters to cook their food, and they turn it into a ritual. The definition of barbecuing is to smoke the meat over a fire for a long period of time and the flavor comes from the wood. It is thrilling to hear that three- four thousand new compounds are created when you cook meat over a fire. The pleasure around food is something to live for, and how one can make beautiful meals from one simple thing being fire is astonishing.

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

Netflix fails at directing, and producing its relatively new release of the show Atypical. Atypical is centered around the life of Sam. When looking at Sam he may just look like your average high school nerd, but what people fail to realize is that Sam falls somewhere along the autism spectrum. Like any other eighteen year old boy, Sam wants to find love. There is only one issue. Sam doesn’t exactly comprehend the social cues that “neurotypicals” or I would understand. This makes it hard for him to make friends and keep lasting relationships. In attempt to bring awareness of those who fall on the autistic spectrum, Netflix plays its cards perfectly to fit into the stereotypes that every other director who attempts this unsuccessfully makes.

Personally I loved this show, that was until I started looking at the reviews people were saying about it online. I have read a few books that have protagonists who are autistic, and my family has a friend who is also autistic, but prior to watching Atypical I had only known a miniscule amount of information about those who fall on the autism spectrum. Because I knew so little to begin with I thought the management did a wonderful job on the direction and the casting and for that matter the production of the show. While viewing Atypical you are not only entertained but also informed on what people on the spectrum suffer through. Maybe this was a little too much though. Maybe the directors exaggerated a mile past the accepted perception of the autism norms.

As I try to recall back to watching the show I can remember laughing a whole bunch. The dark comedy that Atypical portrays is not acceptable to laugh at though. Many times the directors would inadvertently use Sam’s disability as the punchline to a joke. An example of this can be found in the very first episode when Sam has a date that ended in him pushing his date off the bed after she takes off her shirt. I guess this isn’t funny, but there were many different ways for the crew to go around the “failed first date” scene. The only thing that failed was Netflix’s production of it.

In the midst of scanning reviews and reading countless articles online about the show Atypical, I discovered the answer to one of my questions that I had had since completing the season. I had wondered what sources Netflix used in trying to create an accurate portrayal of a protagonist that falls on the spectrum. It was verified by many sources that Netflix has not confirmed if the producers made a conscience effort in including writers/ directors who have autism to make the show more realistic and not so over dramatised. This is the problem with movies/ tv shows nowadays; there is so much information out there about autism, and all this research is being done, but no one is trying to comprehend the information by speaking with someone who is actually autistic. Netflix will inevitably keep misrepresenting subjects of this sort until they stop beating around the bush and actually speak to someone directly on the autism spectrum. Until then enjoy the show, but don’t take anything full heartedly.