Will Give TV Recommendations for Donations
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Not interested in books? How about TV? Here are a bunch of shows I’ve been enjoying lately, in the hard-to-take lull between the end of Shōgun (I don’t have to tell you to watch Shōgun, right? It’s what every attempt to recreate the success of Game of Thrones was aiming for, but better) and the return of The Bear. In exchange, please consider donating to keep the lights on here at LGM. The donation links are:
First up, the second season of Interview With the Vampire has started at AMC. Like the first, it is both a quasi-sequel to the original novel/movie—set in the present day, it sees titular vampire and his interviewer reuniting decades after a first, disastrous interview for reasons that neither one of them has fully spelled out—and an updating of it, that pays more attention to issues of race and colonialism. A great cast fully commits to the silliness and melodrama of the story, and gorgeous production values help to give settings like a vampiric theatrical troupe in post-War Paris a sense of heft. But what really makes this show sing is that it realizes its story, for all its darkness and violence, is fundamentally a romp. Watching it is like listening to a long, salacious tale full of sex and blood, featuring a cast of larger than life drama queens who are constantly chewing the scenery, and told by and to people who have ulterior motives we’ve yet to work out, and who are often delightfully snarky to one another.
If you’re not into sexy vampires (or if you’re looking for something to watch with kids) I can give the warmest recommendation to Netflix’s Delicious in Dungeon. It’s a Japanese anime (the Netflix version is dubbed) that follows a D&D-style party as they explore a dungeon, hoping to rescue one of their number who has been left behind. In order to address the logistical difficulty of having to carry food into the dungeon with them, they decide to start cooking and eating the monsters they kill. The result is half fantasy adventure, half cooking show. Which is funny enough in itself, but it also allows the show to take a position of extreme materialism towards what is often a rather wooly fantasy premise, exploring the mechanics and economics of the dungeon (the nearby town, for example, has developed a thriving economy servicing the various parties raiding the dungeon), and the dungeon’s ecosystem, in which monsters’ behavior is often determined by their ecological niche. It’s a completely novel approach to the genre that nevertheless manages to tell an extremely satisfying fantasy story.
Finally, I haven’t watched this yet, but by the time this post drops the new season of We Are Lady Parts should already be available on Peacock (Channel 4 in the UK). This original and irreverent comedy series, about a group of devout British-Muslim women who decide to form a punk rock band, was one of the highlights of my TV watching in 2021, and we have had to wait far too long for a second season. (In the interim, creator Nida Manzoor wrote and directed the delightful Police Society, and star Anjana Vasan made some impressive appearances in shows like Killing Eve and Black Mirror.) Both seasons are only six episodes long, so if you’ve missed this complete treat of a show, now is a great time to pick it up.
All these recommendations and more can continue making their way to you if LGM remains funded for the next year (plus also the politics stuff, I suppose). If you can, please consider donating to keep the blog running.