In June there were new shows and returning series again, so there's even more of nothing to watch. Or is there? Let's figure it out.
From
For some reason this show didn't make it into the previous roundups, even though its new fourth season just ended. And it's not in the schedule my bot parses either. Some kind of mystery.
Yes, some kind of mystery is the genre of From. Various outsiders end up in a sinister little town that you can't leave, and on top of that, at night strange people come out of the woods who smile and say hello, but as soon as you get closer, they start tearing everyone to pieces. You might think From is based on Stephen King: the setting, the scares, the atmosphere are similar. But no, it's an original story. Though the maestro of horror himself watched the show and praised it.
All in all, decent mystery, watchable. Over four seasons, the only thing that's started to get on my nerves is the Que será será song in the intro.
Cape Fear
Vicious killer Max Cady is released from prison due to newly discovered circumstances. And off he goes, apparently, to take terrible revenge on the main characters — the family of the prosecutor and the lawyer who once sent him to prison.
It's a remake of the 1991 film where Max Cady was played by Robert De Niro. Which in turn is a remake of the 1962 film. Which in turn is based on a book.
The show isn't very gripping, a sort of thriller chewing gum. You can watch it, or you can not.
Alice and Steve
A comedy about how Steve, in his golden years at a respectable 50, decided to start a romance with his best friend Alice's 26-year-old daughter.
Steve is played by Jemaine Clement from "Flight of the Conchords", but there's nothing else good in the show. It's not funny, not sharp, and the authors can't even properly make fun of zoomers. Feel free to skip it.
The other Conchord, by the way, recently showed up in some New Zealand spy comedy, but I don't really feel like watching it.
The Agency
A more solid story. A story about how a CIA agent decided he no longer wants to fight reptilians, Illuminati and other intelligence agencies, but wants to love a black woman. The woman is beautiful and smart, no argument there. But you don't just leave the intelligence services to love women. Yet the hero wants love really badly, so he schemes at work, pretends to be busy, and then sneaks off to the woman. Julia Roberts Richard Gere is also in it, but he doesn't do anything special, apparently because they didn't assign him a woman of his own.
The first season was quite watchable, but by no means a masterpiece. 7.4 on IMDb
I Will Find You
An action thriller mystery based on a Harlan Coben book. Shows based on this author get stamped out pretty often lately. The main character is serving a life sentence for murdering his son, when suddenly (5 years later) he's told that not only is he innocent, but his son was probably never murdered at all. Because he seems to be quite alive. But someone did kill someone, otherwise where did the sentence come from? Clearly a conspiracy by you-know-who.
There isn't much new to watch this month, so this miniseries is quite watchable. Again, not a masterpiece: well made, but not without flaws.
Sugar
The show starts as a classic, even canonical LA noir. Hollywood, a detective story, betrayal, a flashy car, inserts of retro films. And the main character John Sugar (Colin Farrell) is dramatically charismatic, he'll dance, he'll sing, and give the villains a sugaring when the occasion calls for it.
And so the show goes on, in this pleasant old-school style, with a light touch of a conspiracy of reptilians, Illuminati and intelligence agencies. But closer to the end, when you're smiling contentedly and saying "God, how I love BTS neo-noir", the following happens.
A car pulls up to a house we haven't seen before. The devil jumps out of it. He runs inside, takes Chekhov's gun off the wall, runs out onto the porch and shoots the viewer right in the face. Then he jumps into the bushes, where he sits down at a piano and plays either Fly Me to the Moon or I Wanna Be Sedated, but it doesn't matter, because the viewer can't hear anymore anyway.
If after such a wonderful twist all you want is to twist the writers' ears off, fine, I can understand you. But if you carried on with the words "We've watched worse crap than this" — then here you go, the second season has started. You can keep watching.
House of the Dragon
The third season is underway. The second season achieved the impossible — it outdid "The Rings of Power", airing at the same time, in boredom. And here the first episode even showed a lively 20-minute battle. But because the second season was so uninteresting, it's pretty hard to remember or figure out who is fighting on which side. We'll see further on, maybe we'll manage to sort it out.
As always, you can see what's coming out today or this month in my bot @tv_botopotamus_bot on Telegram or Max.