Roadkill and The Undoing: Hugh Did It Best?

If you're looking for your next TV binge, two shows have just concluded their runs on American TV and are now available to watch in one delightful gulp. Starring my two favorite British Hughs (sorry Hugh Dancy, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Dennis, Hugh Skinner and the rest), they both feature excellent performances, twisty storylines, and cliffhangers galore. Get your couch ready, you're not going to be leaving it for a while.

The Undoing: Over the past six Sundays, I have been glued to HBO, watching The Undoing slowly unfold its mystery. It was as close as I could get to a "watercooler" show in the Covid age - I wasn't in the office every Monday, but I sure could expect a flurry of texts from various friends and colleagues to share our latest theories about who the killer might be. The show stars Nicole Kidman as Grace Fraser, a therapist in New York. She's married to Jonathan (Hugh Grant), a seemingly charming and warm pediatric oncologist, they have a precocious son, Henry (Noah Jupe), and they are living a rich, comfortable Upper East Side life. Of course, by the end of the first episode, that all comes crashing down when one of the mothers at Henry's school is found brutally murdered, and the chief suspect is Jonathan.

Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel (which I now need to read), and adapted by David E. Kelley, the six episodes are filled with revelations, red herrings, and sexy drama. Hugh Grant is perfectly cast - at first, I was surprised that he was such a wonderful husband, given that the latter stage of his career has been given over to playing more villainous roles. I was therefore vindicated at the end of the first episode when he became the prime suspect. But then the series showed us how many other suspects there could be, and by the end, it was like, who DIDN'T kill this woman? Through it all, Grant's performance was my absolute favorite, delivering every conceivable human emotion under the sun and reminding us that there is so much more to this charming bastard than meets the eye. 

The rest of the actors are fine, but my God let's talk about the accents. Almost every actor on this show is a foreigner, but they are all playing New Yorkers, except for Grant who blessedly gets to be British. Nicole Kidman's American accent veers into Australian every time she has to say the word "No." Donald Sutherland's pronunciation of "monster" strikes me as being impossibly Canadian. Noma Dumezweni is supposed to be a tough New York lawyer but her mid-Atlantic accent is mostly veering off to the British side of the Atlantic. The only one who really pulls it off is Noah Jupe, who I had completely forgotten was British. As usual, Gen Z for the win. Director Susanne Bier is Danish, so clearly she had no idea her cast sounded like the United Nations, but oh well. The screenplay, Hugh Grant, and ogling those swanky penthouses provided ample distraction.

The Undoing isn't perfect, and some felt the ending was a bit of a letdown. But given how much entertainment it provided up until that ending, it has my hearty endorsement. Murder mystery? Good. Set in New York? Good. Starring Hugh Grant as a complicated douchebag? Gooooooood.

Roadkill: Written by David Hare and starring Hugh Laurie, Roadkill's got pedigree. And while it is a bit soapy and absurd, there's nothing more relevant to our current times than a story about a Conservative British MP who claims to be a libertarian and harbors grandiose ambitions. Like Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie is one of the most charming actors on the planet. You always want to root for this man, but his latter career has consisted of him being decidedly more curmudgeonly and leaving behind his comedy roots to foray into decidedly dark dramas. Over the course of four episodes, I found myself having no idea who I was supposed to root for because I couldn't figure this character out. Is he a hero? Is he a villain? He's a politician, so mostly the latter.

Filmed on location in London and Hastings, this show is your quintessential British political drama. Everyone's squelching about in the never-ending rain and plotting all manner of shenanigans at 10 Downing Street, and the Prime Minister, played by Helen McCrory, is a devious woman who is terribly put-upon and more concerned with fundraising than policy-making. Over the course of 2020, I have gradually come to realize that the world of British politics might be just as terrible as the American world - their Conservative Party is of course much more aligned with centrist Democrats than our GOP, but both parties still seem consumed by the same problems of incompetence and bravado that have plagued us. Roadkill offers up a delicious view into the dysfunction and how even when British MPs purport to be open and transparent in all their dealings, there's always some hidden agenda and blatant political maneuvering. Sidenote: the theme tune and soundtrack by Harry Escott are exquisite - while the opening credits are set to an ominous and foreboding version of the theme, throughout the show you will get other versions, some fast and frenzied, some light and comic, and it's a truly wonderful use of music to quickly convey tone. 

It's only four episodes so Roadkill is a quick and dirty binge that will satisfy your need for a dose of the BBC. There are many plots and sideplots, some more tropey than others (the alcoholic female journalist is always a snooze), but that central Hugh Laurie performance is riveting and commands your attention throughout. If you're sick of the American elections, distract yourself with the notion that the UK sucks too, and indulge in some schadenfreude. What could be more 2020 than that? 

Dash & Lily: Christmas in New York

Five minutes into watching Dash & Lily, I knew I was going to binge this sucker all the way through. It's slightly ridiculous how much this show was made for me, but I mean come on. You're going to set a YA romcom in New York, at Christmastime, and have the opening meet-cute (of sorts) take place at the iconic Strand bookstore in Manhattan, literally the location where I had my first ever date? I fell for this thing hook, line, and sinker.

Based on the Dash & Lily's Series of Dares books by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (which I will now need to order from the library), this show follows the burgeoning romance between two teenagers in New York City, Lily (Midori Francis) and Dash (Austin Abrams). Lily has placed a red notebook on a bookshelf at the Strand with a series of clues, and Dash happens upon it. Intrigued, he decides to play along, and the two become penpals of sorts via this notebook, constantly daring each other to do various activities across New York City and get out of their comfort zones. As all of this is playing out, they are facing their own personal dramas in terms of families and past relationships, with a wonderful supporting cast of actors that keep things lively and engaging. As things progress, in true romcom fashion, you start to wonder if these two weirdos will ever meet in real life, or if too many obstacles will clutter the road to happily ever after. 

I don't know if this is the latest trope, because we also saw this in To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but apparently all YA romances are between girls of mixed white and Asian heritage and white boys who were born too late to become a part of the mumblecore movement. Both Midori Francis and Austin Abrams are charming leads, but I definitely felt more swept up in Lily's life, given her immigrant family and general introversion. Abrams is a low-rent Timothee Chalamet, and since Dash's story is that he is a child of divorce with two exceedingly wealthy New York parents, it's a little harder to not roll your eyes at the poor little rich boy. Also, I always have to suspend a lot of my disbelief when I watch any YA romance; the notion of 17-year-olds falling in love and getting up to all manner of shenanigans instead of just living a loner existence and doing their homework is alien to me. That being said, the romance is fizzy and fun, surprisingly emotional in spots, and while the resolution feels rushed, with many plot holes you mustn't examine too closely, this show is an instant classic. And sidebar: can Pixar please make a movie called Collation? I know it's just a joke for this show, but damn, I really need to watch this romance between a stapler and a blank piece of paper. 

This show hits my New York sweet spot, featuring all the Christmas lights and beauty that makes this city so bewitchingly magical in the winter months. It felt like an I Love New York tourism ad, and I was delighted. It showcased so many activities and locations I won't be able to experience this year because of the pandemic, but getting to experience them all onscreen was the next best thing. Dash eats cannolis at Veneiro's - that's the Italian bakery my parents buy my birthday cake from every year. He visits Bethesda Fountain, which is one of my favorite spots in Central Park, and he drops off the notebook at the Alice statue, which has been my Whatsapp profile photo for years. And the soundtrack features some of my most beloved Christmas songs, including Joni Mitchell's River and The Pogues' Fairytale of New York. 

Look, I know this recommendation is insanely biased, and I may just be writing this blog post for myself. But if you too are a New Yorker who loves this city during Christmas and is sad that the pandemic means the experience won't be quite the same, then you need to be mainlining Dash & Lily ASAP. Everyone else, this is still a charming and lovely series you may love, but you're not gonna love it as much as I do. Now please excuse me, I have to go put up my Christmas tree.

Ted Lasso: Some Soothing Fun

I binged all of Ted Lasso last weekend and it felt like a balm to my soul. After all the uproar around the election, watching this show was like a soothing cup of tea, a reminder that the world still contains delicious new sitcoms with funny and original stories that allow you to forget the world for a spell. So if you're in need of some solace, I suggest you crank up Apple TV+ and settle in. 

The show follows Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), an American college football coach who gets hired to fly across the pond and coach AFC Richmond, an English Premier League football (aka soccer) team, despite having absolutely no experience coaching that type of football. He brings his assistant and friend, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) along with him for the ride, and together, the two men need to face the wrath of the team and its fans who are appalled that these Americans who know nothing about the beautiful game are going to lead their team into ruin. 

If you're wondering how this even happened, it's because the team has a new owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), who won the team in her divorce. Her ex-husband loved this team, so why not hire Ted to make them the laughing stock of the Premier League and spite her ex? Unfortunately, as she quickly discovers, you shouldn't underestimate Ted just because of his folksy charm and constant optimism. This is a man who understands people and knows how to motivate his team to perform as one cohesive unit, and as the show progresses, it becomes a story of how a bunch of sarcastic, world-weary Brits, fall in love with an odd American man who never stops believing in them.

This show is incredibly witty and dense with jokes, both spoken and visual. I loved that they created an entire airline called "Dubai Air" to be the sponsors of AFC Richmond, in an obvious homage to Emirates' longtime sponsorship of Arsenal. There's a joke where Ted is handing out little toy soldiers to his players, and one of them, who is a sweet guy from Nigeria, thanks him but says he would rather not take this token of imperialism. There's the episode where Rebecca is unable to get Robbie Williams to appear in a fundraiser, which ultimately ends with a Robbie Williams' song I hadn't heard since my childhood (sidebar: the show's soundtrack is a wondrous thing, full of tunes that had me bopping along nonstop with an Edith Piaf finale that was just *chef's kiss*). 

Can Ted Lasso be incredibly predictable? Sure. But is that part of its charm? You bet. I haven't even gone into the entire supporting cast and all the side stories and romances and friendships and other human dramas that fill up each episode, but suffice to say, this is a show that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. The ten episodes of the first season follow a wonderful and satisfying arc, but damnit, I need more. Thankfully the show has already been renewed for two more seasons, and I can't wait to see the adventures that Lasso and the gang get up to. In real life, the US and the UK might have a tortured relationship, but on this show, we can dream. 

The Fair Fight Marches On

My first indication that Joe Biden had been elected as the President of the United States of America wasn't a push alert on my phone or a breaking news headline on my TV. It was a sudden outbreak of cheers and honking on the streets of New York City. And I knew we had finally won.

The past four years have been such a struggle. They have revealed everything that is nasty and rotten to the core about this country. Nazis carried tiki torches on the streets, people seeking asylum were imprisoned in cages, and as a pandemic raged throughout the country, the entitled and selfish (including the President) refused to wear masks and endangered their fellow citizens every single day. It has been a relentless barrage of vitriol and all caps tweets. Meanwhile, Republican politicians and news media kept accusing Democrats of liberal bias and being overly sensitive, while any criticism of their cruelty or corruption resulted in epic temper tantrums and bitter recriminations.

2020 has sucked, but on November 7, we finally got a glimmer of hope. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best thing to happen to this country right now. As they gave their victory speeches, they re-emphasized that they cared for all Americans, not just the ones who voted for them. We will have intelligent people in the White House again. They will govern based on facts and reason. I was so relieved on Saturday when I knew they had finally won. I met my friend Laura and she said, "is this what it feels like to be happy?" But this morning, she sent me a link and we are now signed up to phone bank next weekend to register voters for the Georgia run-off elections in January so the Democrats can win back the Senate. It is all so goddamn exhausting.

I don't know what the next four years will look like. But I do know we will have to keep fighting to ensure that the next election doesn't drag us right back into the darkness. So pace yourself. There are more battles to come. 

The Queen’s Gambit: Lush & Languorous

Seeing as it sprang to #1 on Netflix, I binged all of The Queen’s Gambit this weekend. And I have never been more convinced that the world is really bored during the lockdown (or really in need of distracting themselves from the election) if they decided that this needs to be the next great binge watch. Don’t get me wrong, this is an excellent miniseries. But it did not need to be seven episodes long. 

Written and directed by Scott Frank, based on the novel by Walter Trevis, the series is set in the 1950s and 60s and tells the story of Elizabeth “Beth” Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), a young orphan in Kentucky, who is a chess prodigy and quickly becomes one of the greatest chess players in the United States, and eventually, the world. The production design by Uli Hanisch is absolutely impeccable, vividly capturing the look and feel of the era, and the costume design by Gabriele Binder is spellbinding. We track Beth’s evolution from poor orphan girl in a pinafore and terrible haircut, to a sophisticated and glamorous teenager and young woman. But the aesthetics aren’t the point of the series. The point is the chess. 

Oh the chess. There is so much of it. And I expect this series is a godsend to people who play and actually watch chess tournaments. But to me, there could be nothing duller than watching people move pieces around on a board. To be fair, the show does an excellent job of making this seem exciting by amping up the score (composer Carlos Rafael Rivera deserves much kudos for his soundtrack) and having the ticking chess clock in the background to ratchet up the tension and having people communicate the progress of the match in multiple analog ways as they can't simply share status updates via Google. But that technique only works for the first few matches. After a while, I was playing Candy Crush until the damn match was over and we could move on with the plot. 

There’s plenty of plot, with a tone that can oftentimes veer from the cerebral to the decidedly earthy in the blink of an eye, and a whole host of characters that come in and out of Beth’s life. The first episode is actually the most powerful, with Isla Johnston playing the young orphan Beth and showcasing how she first learns to play chess from the orphanage’s custodian, Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp). We then get a wonderful turn from Marielle Heller as Alma, the woman who adopts Beth and proves to be flawed but incredibly supportive of her single-minded chess ambitions. And then there are the many men who flit through Beth’s life, mostly chess players, of course, but who all rally around in pretty fine fashion at the end, in a way that made me really love this series. Too often, we see women’s stories get sidetracked by romance, but in this show, Beth’s almost pathological genius for playing chess is front and center, and her success is paramount despite the many struggles she has to endure. 

Anya Taylor-Joy is the lynchpin of this enterprise and her eyes are probably the reason she was cast. Those large peepers have to do so much acting when she’s just sitting at a chess board, and she is an absolute marvel. Beth isn’t an overly demonstrative character and is generally pretty aloof and reserved. And yet, you can sense her frustrations and elations when she is playing the game she loves, and you do understand the love she has for her friends and family, even if she is not the kind of woman who can readily display that affection. It’s a tour-de-force performance and is the main reason I kept watching. Yes I wasn’t enthralled by the chess, but I sure was enthralled by this character. 

Ultimately, The Queen’s Gambit is a lush and well-crafted series. It is a bit self-indulgent and is a one-trick pony in terms of how it tries to make chess matches seem exciting, but it has an excellent cast that can see this story through and ensure our heroine triumphs. I did find myself wondering if it would have been a tighter and well-paced series if a woman was directing instead of a man who fancied himself as an auteur. We shall never know. But as someone who has been a fan of Anya Taylor-Joy since her sprightly turn in Emma, I’m glad this show has pushed her further into the spotlight, because I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing her in all the things. Less chess, more Anya please!