Author: Diana Paul

Jewel in the Palace–Shining Through

Written by Diana Paul on April 15, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Jewel in the Palace–Shining Through

Based on a true story about the first woman physician in Korea, Jewel in the Palace (2003) takes the viewer on a 54-episode journey. Part melodrama, part court-intrigue, part-Shakespearean. An orphaned little girl, Jang Geum, born of aristocratic parents who were betrayed at eighteenth century court, finds herself homeless and desperate. After becoming literate as well as accomplished watching her mother cook, she soon excels in both scholarly classics and the fine art of cooking. Though only ten years old, Jang Geum wishes to avenge her parents’ wrongful deaths as well as...

Bad Sisters (Season 2)–Not a Bad Season

Written by Diana Paul on April 7, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Bad Sisters (Season 2)–Not a Bad Season

The sophomore season of a much-adored and praised debut always seems like a Sisyphean task. Usually, the return is the dreaded sequel. But there are exceptions, of course. In the case of Bad Sisters’ second season, the writing (by Sharon Hogan) and narrative surpass the first.. The four Garvey sisters are still being hounded by police officer, Detective Inspector Fergal Loftus (Barry Ward) two years after the murder of Grace’s abusive husband, John Paul. Thinking they had gotten away with murder, the cold case is reopened and a particularly tenacious and astute police...

Adolescence–A Parent’s Heartbreak

Written by Diana Paul on March 30, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. 1 Comment on Adolescence–A Parent’s Heartbreak

In this four-episode Netflix mini-series, Adolescence is a crime drama focusing on how the arrest of a thirteen-year old boy for murder affects his family and classmates. In the first episode a British SWAT team abruptly invades a working class home and ransacks the house before handcuffing the boy and taking him in a squad car to the police station. The entire booking and interview process chronicles the minor’s terror and the parents’ helplessness as they passively witness his crying and pleading with police. The Miller family does not understand their legal...

Zero Day–Weaponizing Cyberspace

Written by Diana Paul on March 24, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Zero Day–Weaponizing Cyberspace

In this Netflix mini-series starring Robert DeNiro, a national security cyber-crisis challenges the US government and its citizenry to face unseen cyber terrorists. Are they domestic or Russian? Zero Day explores both possibilities. A “zero-day” vulnerability is a flaw in software or hardware that is unknown to the vendor or developers, meaning there’s no patch or fix available to address it. There are “zero days” to fix the weaponizing of cyberspace because the hackers have already exploited all possible solutions. Enter George Mullen (Robert...

Descendant–The Last Slave Ship

Written by Diana Paul on March 16, 2025. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. No Comments on Descendant–The Last Slave Ship

Descendant is a National Geographic-produced documentary about their mission to discover the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to bring African people to the US. The Clotilda arrived in Mobile Bay, Alabama in 1859 carrying 110 men, women, and children as cargo. The Clotilda was illegally transporting these people. The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in 1807 was flaunted and the slave trade continued even after the Civil War ended. Hoping to remain under the radar, the owners of the Clotilda set the ship afire to destroy evidence and avoid possible criminal...

A Real Pain–Heartache

Written by Diana Paul on March 9, 2025. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on A Real Pain–Heartache

Somehow imagine a comedic road-trip between two polar-opposite young cousins–David and Benji– to Auschwitz. That is A Real Pain, starring Jesse Eisenberg (“Social Network”) and Kieran Culkin (of “Succession”). The two cousins are given an all-expenses paid trip to Poland by their now deceased grandmother to honor her survival from Auschwitz and to remember the unthinkable. David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) are not as close as they once were growing up together in New York. Both are fond of their grandmother and grieving for her. David is now gainfully employed, has...