October and November TV shows

We only finished two TV shows in October, so I decided to roll them into November's log, and then we only finished the last November show on 30th. As a result, I'm writing this post in December, which is not normally how I like this stuff to be done! Nevertheless, the post — though late — is here. We finished six shows (or individual seasons of shows) in the past two months, which are as follows:

Lidia Poët, a historical drama about the first woman to receive a law degree and practice law in Italy. This is, shall we say, very Italian — everyone is ridiculously beautiful, everything is incredibly melodramatic — and presumably quite changed from the actual experiences of the real 19th-century Lidia Poët. But if you want a fluffy, case-of-the-week show in which a feisty, relentless woman fights institutional sexism against a soapy backdrop of romantic entanglements and family conflicts, this is the show for you.

Reservation Dogs, a show about Native American teenagers living their lives on the titular reservation, struggling with the past and present, and dreaming about the future. The tone is surreal and comedic, but there are some pretty heavy themes here, and although I find it life-affirming due to the love all the characters have for each other and the sense of community spirit, I wouldn't say it's a happy show. The writing is sharp, the young actors are fantastic, but don't go in expecting a gentle comedy.

What We Do In the Shadows, the most recent season of the mockumentary about vampire housemates living in a sharehouse in Staten Island. This is more what I'd recommend if you're wanting low-stakes comedy. At this point, I'm not sure I have much more to say about the show — it's still fun, and can obviously be spun out indefinitely, although whether that should happen is another question entirely.

The Newsreader, an Australian drama about a fictional TV newsroom in the 1980s. I absolutely loved the first season of this show, and would recommend it unreservedly to anyone feeling the loss of The Hour, another historical drama that weaves real-world moments in current affairs with the interpersonal stories of its fictional characters. The Newsreader had an added charm for me in that both of my parents were Australian journalists — my father as one of the country's best-known TV political correspondents for over twenty years, including in the time period covered by the show — and a lot of it rings incredibly true to the point of being too close to home! However, I feel that in the second season the balance between real-world Australian current affairs and the struggle to report TV news shows thereof, and the characters' soap operatic lives, is no longer right — by the end of the show, the emphasis was very much on the latter, which was not to my liking.

The Great, an irreverent and smutty black comedy about the reign of Catherine the Great. I enjoyed this a lot in the initial seasons, and the chemistry between the two leads, and many of the actors playing secondary characters, was excellent and carried what would otherwise be quite a one-note story, but I have to say that I think it ended at the right time — on a high. I also feel that by the end it was hard for me to feel enthusiastic about a show whose premise was essentially 'Russians are so violent and imperialistic, hahaha!'

Lupin, on the other hand, has been cruelly cancelled before its time. The third season remained its usual delightful self — with its protagonist 'gentleman thief' engaging in every more audacious and absurd heists and trickery — but the stakes were much higher (essentially the safety of Assane's entire family depended on his ability to pull off these various heists), and caused temporary ruptures in a lot of the show's key relationships, so there was much less of a sense of play than had been present in previous seasons. The show ended on a cliffhanger and then was cancelled by Netflix, which is incredibly disappointing.

And those are the TV shows I've seen over the past two months. Did any of you watch any of these?

Friday open thread: non-religious seasonal events

Tomorrow — as long as the weather remains clear — Matthias and I will partake of one of our favourite annual traditions: the Mill Road winter fair. This takes place every year (apart from during pandemic lockdowns) on the first Saturday in December. Mill Road is a long street in Cambridge with a lot of restaurants and little supermarkets — all very international (South Asian grocery stores, East Asian grocery stores, Italian delis, Central and Eastern European supermarkets, North African, Korean, Indian, and Chinese restaurants, and so on). During the street fair, all the shops, cafes and restaurants in the street — including those that don't typically serve fresh/hot food on the premises — have stalls in the street selling food or drink. In addition, street food vans and craft stalls set up in a nearby park and carpark and sell their wares. You can wander up and down the street for hours, trying to narrow down a choice for lunch amid all the variety, there are parades, and it's just generally a lot of fun, if you enjoy that sort of thing.

It's seasonal, in the sense that it happens every winter, but it's definitely not a Christmas thing — food fair, not Christmas market. And it's the inspiration for today's open thread prompt:

What is a non-religious seasonal event (it could be local, regional, national, or just a personal/family tradition) that you enjoy and in which you participate regularly?

I'll close this post with a final reminder that I'm collecting links to people's fandomtrees signups and holiday love meme threads on a previous post. If you're worried about either of these things getting lost in the feed, sticking them here might be a helpful thing to do.