Quaran-TV, part 11

[dolorosa_12]

For various reasons, I didn't end up completing a huge number of TV shows in June — just four of them. However, those four covered a pretty broad range of genres — cooking/social history/memoir, fantasy, and historical drama between them.

The shows in question were:

Domina: a historical drama set during the end of the Roman republic/assassination of Julius Caesar/early years of Augustus' time as emperor, depicting events from the perspective of Livia Drusilla. This is very much of the Game of Thrones prestige HBO drama with lots of sex and violence TV genre, which I found mildly amusing given it was in some ways HBO's Rome series in the 2000s — which covered the same historical period — that began this particular trend.

The Nevers: the Victorian fantasy series about (mainly) women who develop supernatural abilities, and the persecution they experience at the hands of the state as a result. This was the show that was somewhat tainted by Joss Whedon's involvement (he has subsequently left the project), and it's certainly quite a Whedon-y affair: quippy dialogue, superficially feminist, tropey, etc. I have to say that I quite enjoyed it — James Norton was great as a scenery-chewing, bisexual, aristocratic hedonist, I liked that there were basically three or four different tropey Victoriana stories running concurrently, and most of the characters were a lot of fun. That said, the final episode had a really stupid twist that I felt undermined everything that had come before it, and made me retrospectively annoyed with the show.

High on the Hog: a Netflix show which is part culinary history, part social history, and part personal history about Black cuisine in the US. The first episode looks at the interconnectedness between African cooking (specifically that of Benin) and Black cooking in the US, the second episode mainly focuses on North Carolina, the third is about cuisine in the north of the country (mainly New York, DC and Philadelphia) and the fourth is focused on Texas. It's not really a cooking show — in the sense that although there is a lot of cooking and eating, it's not teaching viewers how to cook the recipes showcased — it's really about the history of Black people in the US, using food as a window. I highly recommend it!

The Ghost Bride: a Malaysian TV series set in Malacca in 1890 about a young woman who becomes caught up in various supernatural and afterlife shenanigans after a wealthy family asks her to become the ghost bride of their deceased son. I found this show delightful, and loved every single character — and it also made me really hungry!

Comments

[ambyr]

Ooh, The Ghost Bride sounds fun! And it looks like it's on Netflix in the US.

[dolorosa_12]

It's a lot of fun — and I'm glad you'll be able to watch it without any difficulty in the US.

[schneefink]

Which particular part of the final episode of "The Nevers" are you referring to?

[dolorosa_12]

The explanation for why they had developed superpowers.

[schneefink]

What, not a fan of the suddenly appearing mysterious aliens? xD Yeah, that was... a thing.

[dolorosa_12]

No indeed. I hate reveals that make it clear one character's entire relationships with other characters is built on a huge lie.

And it was so unnecessary! They could have handwaved everything — it's the kind of show where you don't really need an explanation for why people have superpowers.

[chestnut_pod]

HOLD ON, is The Ghost Bride an adaptation of the Yangsze Choo novel from 2013?? I had no idea it had been adapted! I absolutely must go check this out.

[merit]

That was my first thought too! I didn't realise it was /that/ popular either.

[dolorosa_12]

Apparently so! I had no idea it was an adaptation of a novel — now I want to read the original!

I think it's a Netflix original, so it should be available on Netflix no matter which country you live in.

[chestnut_pod]

Thank you! This is a real treat. I do recommend the original novel, too.

[merit]

I sometimes only watch a show a month so four seems perfectly reasonable. However, short series may be the way to go...

[dolorosa_12]

It feels like a lot less than usual, but that may not necessarily be true. I just feel like I've watched a lot less TV than in the average month.

High on the Hog is only four episodes, and The Ghost Bride is only six.

[aimedatthestars]

Oh I loved High on the Hog. It's so beautifully shot. Also motivated me to go out and eat oysters!

[dolorosa_12]

It really is beautiful, and it's the perfect example of a story that could only be told by the specific showrunners, academics, culinary historians, chefs and community figures involved: so much of its strength lies in just letting everyone speak about their expertise and experiences and seeing what happens.

I'd known that oysters used to be a cheap food eaten workers and poor people in the UK (before becoming a luxury item), but I hadn't known that it was the same thing in New York, so that was an interesting discovery for me! I'm glad the show motivated you to try them.