Euphoria
I don’t know why, but when Twitter told me Zendaya got a leading role in a series, I knew I’ll have to watch it. I haven’t seen her in too many films, the first time I googled her was after Taylor Swift’s video, ‘Bad Blood’, then she had a small role in a Netflix series, then finally I saw her in the last Spider Man film. I might have a small crush, so I’m probably biased, but I find Rue’s character in Euphoria incredibly exciting. After the first episode I made a deal with myself: fine, one more episode, and then we’ll see. Now I’m on episode five, since that’s the last one for now. The show’s style, the characters, the way they talk are all really raw. Rue, a 17 years old drug addict, fresh from rehab, Jules, the other lead is a trans girl who just moved into town. The show is about teens, the usual high school setup, and the problems mostly reflect those of our days. Zendaya is incredible in her role, while Hunter Schafer as Jules isn’t bad, but nothing special either. The story isn’t only about Rue, there’s also Nate, the aggressive football player who grew up learning nothing but toxic masculinity from his father and Kat, who’s trying to earn some money by doing online porn. I don’t know where the season’s headed yet, but I can’t wait for the next episode.
Gentleman Jack
Many people kept telling me that I’d find this one interesting, but I’m sceptical about British dramas. Two weeks ago I subscribed to HBO GO and I was like, why not? It took me one and a half days to binge the first season. This show is wonderfully good. The story is about the life of a real person, Anne Lister, who lived in the 19th century. Anne kept a detailed diary, parts of it coded, which were only deciphered in the 1930s. The story takes place in Shibden, England, where Anne moves back to and takes over the running of her estate. Miss Lister lives her whole life as an eccentric, at least in the eyes of her peers, when in reality she’s just a misunderstood early lesbian activist. Once she’s moved back in to the family estate, she meets the owner of the neighbouring lands, Ann Walker, whom Lister wants to marry. The whole story is engaging, cleverly sprinkling in Anne’s feminism and the characters’ development. It’s refreshing that this isn’t another coming-of-age teen drama, these people are all over that, the point is them dealing with the prejudice of their age.
Tales of The City
I’ve loved San Francisco since I watched Charmed, one day I must visit it. I can’t really put the reason into words, but something attracts me to this city. This feeling is reinforced by Netflix’ Tales of The City. The show was adapted to TV by Lauren Morelli, from the original book by Armistead Maupin. Not the first miniseries based on the book, but the first starring Ellen Page. The story takes place at a house in San Francisco and mostly follows the lives of the tenants. The owner, Anna Madrigal gathered a bunch of LGBTQ+ people and the plot is about their everyday dramas. In the first episode Mary Ann Singleton comes home, which upsets the status quo, and we move forward from here. The whole show is colourful, the characters are interesting, and if you’re more interested in human drama than complex plots, this is the perfect entertainment for you. Or if you’d simply like to watch Ellen Page finally play a queer character, it’s also for you.
Trinkets
This Netflix series is about three kleptomaniac girls. Elodie (played by Briana Hidebrand) recently moved into town and has a hard time finding her place at school. At the kleptomaniacs anonymous group she meets two of her schoolmates, this is how the characters come together. In the second episode it turns out Elodie has a girlfriend, or at least she claims she does. The stories of all three girls are a bit different, but nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s the usual high school setting, with all the characters coming from different cliques. The season starts out bumpy and slow, the cast are too young and the story doesn’t really show any promise beyond a cliché high school drama. None of the plotlines are too deep and we’re only given superficial answers to why the girls wound up where they are. Maybe the story will pick up pace later, but the first few episodes didn’t convince me to give it another chance. I await your arguments to the contrary!
Translated by Zsófi Ziaja
