Slowly but surely, we are close to a year of quarantine and although we had a rather free summer, as of the end of last October we can practically only enjoy TV, Netflix, HBO GO and other streaming platforms as our entertainment, once again. It is hard to believe that after all this time there are still three series I have never written about, have an LGBTQ+ line and are worth watching.
The Haunting of Bly Manor
It is not entirely true that I have not written about this series before, because for a long time I thought of this show as the second season of Haunting of Hill House. Whereas it is a fully independent series well understandable even without Hill House. Only the actors and some of the creators are shared in the two series. The story is based on Henry James’s horror novella: The turn of the screw – yes, a bit frightening, but with just a couple of „cover your eyes” scenes. The story is amazingly good, the cast provides a lavish portrayal. The characters of Dani, Hannah Grose and Owen are so well thought out that I’d love to live with them in this house even if I’d have to move in with ghosts as well. The LGBTQ+ line is there of course, we have Kate Siegel too, and I have to say I’m still not over how the series ended.
Ratched
My all-time Sarah Paulson fanning out resulted in Netflix’s Ratched to get on my plate. In general, I am not drawn to murder-thriller-horror stories, but this series is so beautiful that I couldn’t stop watching it. The story is the prequel of the 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest unfolding how nurse Ratched ends up where she is in the movie. From an LGBTQ point of view, we have Cynthia Nixon in the role of Gwendolyn Briggs whose storyline is intertwined with Mildred Ratched’s. The series is a bit slow, but the visuals and acting make up to it, and to be honest I haven’t watched the last episode yet, as I don’t want it to be over.
The Wilds
Autostraddle recommended me this series (of course) and after such a review title (Amazon’s “The Wilds” Brings Lesbians to a Deserted Island) I just had to watch it. It doesn’t really stand in line with the thriller theme and I wasn’t expecting much, as a matter of fact, I was quite sure it won’t bring anything new. I was expecting a Lord of the Flies-The Hunger Games combo at most and I wasn’t wrong. On the other hand, I was very much mistaken about it not being able to show originality. After a crash, a group of girls are left stranded on an island where there is nothing and nobody besides them – at least for the first glance. As the story unfolds, we find pieces of the puzzle, and what was absolutely refreshing that the background story of one lesbian character was focused on her anger issues rather than her being a lesbian. I loved that the drama is not whether she is being sent from home or not, because she is a lesbian/had come out. The other characters seem interesting as well, as of now there is one season up, I am definitely awaiting the second one.
Translated by Zsuzsa Petrás
