Television reviews – Page 3

Full Circle–Around and Around

Written by Diana Paul on August 28, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Full Circle–Around and Around

The title, Full Circle, represents a belief in Guyana ritual and magic to break a family curse. Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder), a Guyana racketeer, has had a curse placed on her family, resulting in the murder of her beloved brother-in-law. Intent on breaking the curse, Mahabir creates a circle of vengeance–what comes around, goes around. Literally, she orders a retaliatory murder in Washington Square Park, in New York City. To break the curse Guyana traditions must be followed, requiring a circle for the crime to be drawn...

Paradise–Time is Money?

Written by Diana Paul on August 21, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Paradise–Time is Money?

In Paradise, a German dystopian sci-fi thriller, Aeon has become a multi-billion dollar big-pharma conglomerate, founded by Olivia Theissen (Iris Berben) and her team of scientists. The biotech corporation has developed a revolutionary genetic tool that can reverse the aging process and presumably delay death. Donors of DNA, who are compatible with wealthy recipients, exchange years of their lives for money–lots of it. Time is the currency. And only the very rich can benefit from this age-defying technology. In...

Hijack–Unfriendly Skies?

Written by Diana Paul on August 11, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Hijack–Unfriendly Skies?

In this seven-episode miniseries, released June 29, we see Sam Nelson (Idris Elba), a professional business consultant and expert negotiator, attempt to persuade four terrorists to peacefully land a Dubai-London flight. Each one-hour episode simulates an hour of the seven-hour flight. The panicky passengers, mostly from Dubai and Great Britain, are ill-suited for the required teamwork and unified strategy to overcome the terrorists. Sam, walking a tightrope between the passengers and hijackers, must convince the hijackers that passengers only want to see their families...

Trial by Fire–A Personal Ordeal

Written by Diana Paul on July 26, 2023. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. No Comments on Trial by Fire–A Personal Ordeal

Trial by Fire, based on the memoir written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, explores the lack of legal accountability and justice following the Uphaar fire in a Delhi movie theater in 1997. Fifty-nine people were killed, mostly families treating themselves to an afternoon at the movies. The Krishnamoorthy couple lose both of their teenage children in the tragic disaster. What follows is a first-hand look at the frustration of the victims investigating the Uphaar theater fire. Neelam organizes other victims’ families to advocate for a fair...

The Last Thing He Told Me—Things Unsaid

Written by Diana Paul on July 9, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on The Last Thing He Told Me—Things Unsaid

Based on the popular novel by Laura Dave, The Last Thing He Told Me is an Apple+ mini-series in eight episodes. It tells the story of Hannah, a newly married second wife (Jennifer Garner) and her teenage stepdaughter, Bailey (Angourie Rice), who go in search of the suddenly gone-missing husband and father, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau- Jaime Lannister in “Game of Thrones”). The FBI suspects Owen of involvement in a high-tech Ponzi scheme. Owen leaves a two-word message for Hannah: “Protect her.” The problem: ...

Stranger (Season 1)–Let the sleuthing begin

Written by Diana Paul on June 5, 2023. Posted in Television reviews, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments on Stranger (Season 1)–Let the sleuthing begin

Stranger is a Korean crime thriller in two seasons (2017-2020) and was included on the New York Times 2017 list of Best TV Shows. Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok (Cho Seung-woo) underwent surgery as a child removing part of his cerebral cortex so that he would not suffer from the excruciating pain of hearing high-frequency sounds. However, the postoperative result was an extreme absence of empathy, a lack of social skills similar to autism spectrum disorder and its associated lack of communication, difficulty in expressing emotion through facial expressions, and lack...