The Queen's Gambit, Big Sky and Soulmates

     My Top Three This Week 

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. We are closing in on Christmas and Thanksgiving is next week. There are some very good options out there now and I will be watching the new season of His Dark Materials myself and I am catching up on a great series The Leftovers I wanted to finish. But here are a few really good things you should be watching.

1) The Queen's Gambit a Netflix Original is something you should be watching right now!! I cannot say enough good things about this miniseries. I love when I am immersed in a world I know nothing about. This time it is the world of chess. A young Beth is orphaned at the age of nine and placed in  an orphanage where she becomes addicted to two things- librium and chess. Since this was the early 50s the girls were managed with medication and Beth discovers the orphanage handyman Mr Shaibel playing chess with himself in the basement, She becomes intrigued and starts playing with him every day , learning quickly. He discovers that she has a unique gift and soon enough she is playing tournaments and winning . She is adopted at fifteen and soon becomes very attached to her new mother who later becomes her biggest supporter, pulling her out of school and registering her to play all across the United States. The better Beth, becomes, it also becomes apparent that she is paying a price. There are so many good actors in this , it would be hard to name them all but Marielle Heller is superb as Beth's adoptive mother. Isla Johnson who plays a young Beth is uncanny and Anya-Taylor Joy is heartbreaking as the grown up Beth. The set design, wardrobe and cinematography is without question one of the best I have seen lately.

2) Big Sky on ABC is a new series from David E. Kelley ( Big Little Lies, The Undoing) and it starts off with a level of intensity that will have you immediately hooked. One of the first series set in the Covid world- we don't know yet if it is just starting or the middle of it. A young detective (Ryan Phillippe  in the middle of a separation, gets involved in the disappearance of two girls on their way from Colorado to Montana who happen to be visiting his son. Without giving any spoilers we are introduced to some unsettling characters right from start. This is episode one and it ended with a bang. Literally. Some great actors -Brian Geraghty, John Carroll Lynch, Valerie Mahaffey, Brooke Smith and Katheryn Winnick all have great acting pedigrees and that Montana sky is its own character. This is on my must watch list.

3) Soulmates on AMC+ is an anthology series with a theme. From the co writer of Stranger Things and Black Mirror- this is set in a world just fifteen years from now. A world where there is a test that can determine your soulmate. These stories reveal the cost of finding a soulmate and whether that is the true love connection we are all looking for and what happens when your soulmate is married, a different gender or suddenly is deceased. Heartbreaking, disturbing and often thought provoking. Some very good actors -Charlie Heaton, Malin Ackerman and Bill Skarsgård . Some stories are better than others and all very dark. I liked it.

Bonus: Friendsgiving available for rental is a perfect frothy comedy antidote to all the drama. It has a great cast - Malin Ackerman, Kat Dennings, Aisha Tyler, Jane Seymour, Ryan Hansen are just part of the funny cast. A group of close friends gather for a dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner and bring along some odd guests (Christine Taylor). Nothing groundbreaking but a fun watch.

The Undoing, Utopia and Emily In Paris

    My Top Three This Week 

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. In past years we have always said that November was the month of gratitude and giving thanks. I think we can add hope to this.I am grateful and hopeful that in the months ahead good things are coming. Christmas is on the horizon, but in the meantime I have some Fall favorites for you. 

1) The Undoing ( streaming on HBO Max) is only three episodes in and I cannot wait for the next one. This thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant as Grace and Jonathan Frazer a wealthy , happily married New York couple. She is a clinical therapist and he is a talented oncologist and they have a well adjusted son in a private elite school. But then her husband goes missing and a mother from the school is found murdered and her neat and tidy life is blown to pieces. Jonathan was keeping a lot of secrets from his wife and Grace is thrown into a whirlwind of deceit, a murder investigation and an illicit affair. Written and directed by David E. Kelley ,this is a ever deepening psychological thriller and Kidman is at her best as Grace and breathes life into every scene and Grant is fantastic as a smarmy doctor. Some other greats in this is the beloved Donald Sutherland as Grace's father and Edgar Ramirez as Detective Joe Mendoza. This is a high recommend .

2) Utopia streaming on Prime is a hallucinogenic acid trip in the best possible way. Members of an online chat room are obsessed with this graphic novel called Dystopia that features a young girl named Jessica Hyde who has been fighting to stay alive while her scientist father is forced to create world ending viruses ( too close to home right now, just wait)  for some very powerful people to keep her alive. The motley crew have become so entangled in the story and the easter eggs embedded that when a new novel is unearthed called Utopia and is being auctioned off at a convention they agree to meet in person and buy it. It turns out that Jessica Hyde is real, the story is real and people are being murdered to find her and get their hands on the pages from the story. This is one of the most gory, trippy series I have seen and it is riveting. There are some great actors in this. John Cusack, Rainn Wilson. Camryn Manheim. But some of lesser known young actors Ashleigh LaThrop, Dan Byrd (Cougar Town) Farrah MacKenzie, Desmin Borges (fantastic Ross Geller energy) and Sasha Bianca Lane as the unflinching Jessica Hyde. Christopher Denham is a standout  as Arby in this brilliant cast.

3) Emily in Paris is my favorite guilty pleasure. A Netflix Original created by Sex and the City's Darren Star and is the perfect antidote to all the chaos in the world. Emily (Lily Collins, who happens to be Phil Collins daughter) is hired to be the American counterpart for a marketing firm in Paris. It is the perfect fish out of water story - a midwest girl coming to glamorous Paris . She is media savvy and finds herself at odds with her new team and especially her new boss Sylvie ( the wonderful Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) who has no time for a typical American girl who speaks no French. She slowly makes a new best friend( Ashley Park-Mean Girls The Musical) and has some great flirtations basking in The City of Lights. Some beautiful cinematography and a wardrobe from Patricia Fields and witty dialogue and lots of eye candy make this a November binge. 

Bonus: I Am Not Okay With This has been sitting in my Netflix queue for a while. I decided to try an episode and I was hooked. Starring two "IT" alumni Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff , this is the story of Sydney, a high school girl dealing with the normal high school drama and an unfortunate situation at home. She has some anger to deal with and it is coming out in an unusual way.She has a couple of big secrets and when the uncontrollable anger starts building things start breaking , trees uproot and people get hurt. She confides in a good friend and they try to figure out how much power she has and how to control it. This is a unique take on the super hero and I enjoyed it. Lillis and Oleff have a great chemistry and Sofia Bryant shines as her best friend Dina.