260. Web-series Reviews – 101

More web-series reviews…

Wednesday – Came out in 2022.  A sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams' years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday's attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago - all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

I was definitely looking forward to the release of "Wednesday", though I didn't know that it was going to be a series. I had initially expected Tim Burton to deliver a feature length movie, not a series. Not that I am complaining or anything, because this was definitely entertaining.

If you are expecting this to be an "Addams Family" thing, you're in for a surprise. Sure, some of the family members were in the show, but as the title of the show indicates, then this is all about Wednesday Addams, not the family Addams.

The storyline in "Wednesday" was good, it was well-written, but I felt that the end was a bit rushed, as if the director suddently realized that they were out of time and had to close things up before the lights were turned off. But the eight episodes do make for good entertainment, and the writers did a good job at keeping the audience in the dark with this being a who-did-it-mystery.

I was, for the majority of the talents on the cast list, unfamiliar with the cast ensemble in "Wednesday", and that was good, because that is something I enjoy when I watch something. There were some familiar faces, such as Christina Ricci, Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán and Fred Armisen. However, leading actress Jenna Ortega (playing Wednesday) was just just simply phenomenal in the role as Wednesday with her mannerisms, demeanor, appearance, and way of acting. It was definitely a joy to watch her bring this particular version of Wednesday Addams to life on the screen, and she totally stole the show and made it her own. I will say that actress Jenna Ortega makes it well-worth watching the eight episodes.

Visually then director Tim Burton does show his trademark dark, gothic, semi-twisted fingerprint, though it is much toned down in comparison to his other work. But it looks good and definitely added a lot of flavor and atmosphere to the series.

I was genuinely entertained by the eight episodes, though the ending was a bit too forced and rushed for my liking. But, all in all, a series well-worth watching.

My rating of "Wednesday" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

My Take – Worth a watch!

Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie – Came out in 2022.  Truth, as we know it, is need not necessarily true. In modern times, the facts are twisted, exaggerated, and sometimes even fabricated to benefit a few and to feed into the public's appetite for rumours and gossip. 'Vadhandhi' means 'rumours' in Tamil. The series is set to explore the topic from different perspectives. Using the criminal investigation of a sensational murder case in each of the seasons, the series brings forth various facets of the topic.

The murder of a beautiful young girl, seen from the Rashomon-esque perspectives of an unrelenting obsessed cop, a novelist captivated by her grace and an opportunistic news editor.

One of the reviews from The Hindu...

For reasons good and bad, Amazon Prime Video’s latest Tamil series Vadhandhi warrants a watch. Firstly, the way it builds its world is a huge win. In one of its initial scenes, we see a police officer ensure no one sits at the back of an ambulance carrying a semi-decomposed body of a young woman. The worry here is that even a dead body may not be spared by human vultures. This is a dark, despicable world, with many of its characters posing skewed moral compasses.

The series takes the paranoia that this gossip-hungry, patriarchal society elicits in us, and embodies it in this enclosure of a world where most men seem to be lustful animals on the hunt for prey and no woman is safe. Velonie (Sanjana), a young Anglo-Indian girl in Kanyakumari, is killed and Vivek (SJ Suryah), a Sub Inspector, takes the case. The initial episodes are crisp and set up a wonderful base. Velonie is portrayed to have been like a modern-day Cleopatra, whom the men couldn’t resist ogling at. A rumour that assassinates Velonie’s character spreads post her death. Potential suspects are aplenty, but like in most whodunits, within a few episodes, the primary suspects are mapped out clearly. There’s Vignesh, Velonie’s supposed fiancé whom she despises; Vignesh was supposed to pick up Velonie from her aunt’s place on the day she went missing. Three brothers — Santhosh, Sanjeev, and Sunny — who live in the woods with their aged mother and illegally hunt game for a living, have enough evidence against them as well. Other suspects are around the corner.

The overall structure of the screenplay in Vadhandhi is well set up for a whodunnit series. The cliffhangers after every episode do not come across as gimmicky, and there are ample high-drama moments and red herrings placed to keep you going for a few initial episodes. It’s also refreshing to see the creators do away with time stamps, fade-outs, and establishment shots to show the shift in the period in this non-linear narrative; dialogues, actions, and other details in the narrative are used for this.

There is also a visible effort to ground the material to the regional setting, and to let the story unfold within the said geography. Every character in the series speaks in the native Kanyakumari slang. This includes Velonie’s conservative, controlling mother Ruby (Laila), who even speaks English with a taint of the native slang. The landscape of Kanyakumari and the neighbouring districts are used to the advantage of the series. A handful number of distinct sets keep recurring throughout the series — Angel Lodge, the lodge run by Ruby and Velonie; the Sucheendram Police Station; the woods where the three recluse and reckless brothers reside; and Vivek’s house. These create an impression that this is akin to a small-town story, which was the case with Suzhal as well, a series that was created by Pushkar-Gayathri who creative-produced Vadhandhi.

Now, the problems arrive after the few initial episodes. Amidst all the uneasiness and tension that is meticulously built, you begin to wonder why the scrutiny of the “virtue and character” of the victim continues, with the “good guys” trying to prove that Velonie is not what she is projected to be. At one point, even Vivek asks “Velonie nallavala kettavala therila? (I don’t know if Velonie is a good girl or not),” based on her alleged sexual affairs. It makes you wonder if the series is leaning towards victim-blaming sentiments by defining what is good or bad. Is death the punishment for sexually-liberated individuals? What if she was polyamorous? While it is true that the reality isn’t a rose garden, it’s disappointing to see how the counter-actions are all only to deny the media’s narrative, with not even one lead character going, ‘So what if the reports are true?’.

Similarly, there is a revelation about another woman falling prey to a gruesome attack, and while she gets poetic justice in the larger scheme of things, the storytelling could have taken a moment to empathise with that other victim as well. All victims are victims, isn't it?

Another huge concern is a parallel track that features a gang of friends who comment on the sensational Velonie case. We keep getting one problematic dialogue after another from the men here, and they do get called out. However, it also seems like the series is trying to go over and out of its world to show the problematic mindset, when it was already doing that quite well with the larger narrative. The same is the case with yet another track that features Hareesh Peradi as a top journalist Sethuraman. The role of the media in society is a necessary element to explore, but the series takes a rather convoluted route with a lot of detours to show this.

These issues do play spoilsport and tire us ever so often. The series certainly could have been made tighter. Watching such intense content with a slow-burner treatment for over eight hours is bound to eventually get tiresome, especially when the red herrings begin to get predictable and when tested tropes make a comeback. While it's understandable that the initial episodes had to give equal screen space to the key characters to keep us guessing on the whodunit, the later episodes could have been quicker.

You do feel bad for actors like Laila, Vivek Prasanna, and debutant Sanjana who deliver splendid performances. SJ Suryah is at his best in the series and brings Vivek to life really well. Even if it isn’t necessarily binge-able, Vadhandhi is an otherwise fairly engrossing offering.

My Take – Worth a watch!

Psych – Ran from 2006-2014.  Think you are psychic? Shawn Spencer (James Roday) makes his living pretending to be. Shawn and his best friend Burton "Gus" Gu ster (Dulé Hill) own a business called "Psych". They are able to stay in business only because of the cases they work with the Santa Barbara Police Department as psychics. Shawn and Gus go through many ups and downs trying to keep the ruse up. Can they pretend forever? Or is the world they built going to come crumbling down?

One of the reviews from IMDB...

In Santa Barbara, Shawn Spencer (James Roday) is a slacker who was trained rigorously by his police detective father Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen). He solves a few crimes by watching TV. However police head detective Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) arrests him for somehow having inside information. To escape spending time in lockup, he pretends to be a psychic. Police chief Karen Vick (Kirsten Nelson) threatens him with jail if he's lying. He pushes childhood friend Gus Guster (Dulé Hill) into starting a psychic detective agency. Juliet O'Hara (Maggie Lawson) is assigned to be Lassiter's partner but she's mostly dismissed by him.

This show is a simple detective procedural with an interesting twist in the premise. It relies on the irreverent relationship between Shawn and Gus. Lassiter is the butt of the jokes. Juliet is the plucky love interest. Corbin Bernsen is a little wrong as the hard nosed dad but he's aged enough to play that part. Kirsten Nelson is probably the weakest element in the main cast. She needs to be somebody who has a fun time getting angry. The gold standard is always Gilbert R. Hill in Beverly Hills Cop. The visual cues of his observations work very well. The show is irreverent fun and as a procedural, one can drop in every once in awhile. The show is always fun and never really changes.

My Take – An ok series.  Watched the first season and then discontinued. 

Cheers till next time😊!