392. Web-series Reviews – 207

More web-series reviews…

The Midwich Cuckoos – Came in 2022.  Midwich, a small English commuter town, is liberal and aspirational, populated by families and affluent streets. A place where nothing much happens - that is until the twilight hours of a summer's day when a sleepy corner of Midwich is plunged into panic. People pass out on their feet without warning, without reason. Anyone who tries to enter meets the same fate. And nobody can understand why. When the mysterious blackout is lifted, life for those affected returns to apparent normality - except every woman of child-bearing age inside the zone has suddenly and inexplicably fallen pregnant. As news spreads and tensions simmer, it is up to gifted psychotherapist Dr Susannah Zellaby (Keeley Hawes) to help support those affected. Susannah's own daughter, Cassie (Synnøve Karlsen), has fallen pregnant and Susannah harbours deep concerns about who, or what, is behind this phenomenon. Local officer DCI Paul Haynes (Max Beesley) is tasked with maintaining order but unbeknownst to them all, a terrifying force is building in Midwich. These children - potential parasites - flourish under the very love and care that their families give them. Who are these children? And what do they want?

A review from IMDB...

An suspenseful and interesting premise dealing about several strangely emotionless and unsettling children all born at the same time in a small village in Midwich . It starts at a small village in England is completely subdued by an alien presence for an entire day. The scene is a village called Midwich in which a rare event overcomes the idyllic location . When the mysterious blackout is lifted, life for those affected returns to apparent normality - except every woman of child-bearing age inside the zone has suddenly and inexplicably fallen pregnant. At the same moment, every single person and animal in town has passed out just as suddenly ; some unknown force has put all the inhabitants of Midwich to sleep. Everybody falls into a deep, mysterious sleep for several hours in the middle of the day. As news spreads and tensions simmer, it is up to gifted psychotherapist Dr Susannah Zellaby (Keeley Hawes) to help support those affected. Susannah's own daughter, Cassie (Synnøve Karlsen), has fallen pregnant and Susannah harbours deep concerns about who, or what, is behind this phenomenon. Local officer DCI Paul Haynes (Max Beesley) is tasked with maintaining order but unbeknownst to them all, a terrifying force is building in Midwich. These children - potential parasites - flourish under the very love and care that their families give them. Some women give birth various strange children with supernatural power and extraordinary intelligence .When the army gets involved, they find this force has precise boundaries. A few hours later, this strange force disappears and everyone wakes up. The mystery remains unsolved for weeks, but it has a sequel. Later on , every woman capable of child-bearing is pregnant . All Midwich women of childbearing age are unaccountably pregnant . Nine months later, the babies are born, and they all look normal, but it doesn't take the "parents" long to realise that the kids are not human or humane . And the glowing-eyed children, they have will prove to be worse than what they could have feared. The children that are born out of these pregnancies seem to grow very fast and they all have the same blond hair and strange, penetrating eyes that make people do things , all of them have telephatic powers , the stare will paralyze the will of the villagers . They result to be mind-controlling demons or aliens . Meanwhile, government officers along with local officer Paul Haynes attempt to stop their plans of conquest .

This classic Sci-Fi thriller in seven episodes contains chills , suspense , intrigue and creepy events about some precocious deadly children and their quest of power. Dealing with a thorny issue: women become pregnant by brood parasitic aliens, in fact long time ago, M. G. M. Shelved the project, because it was deemed potentially inflammatory and controversial, specifically due to its sinister depiction of virgin birth. Eerie and strange plot very well developed by writers: showrunner David Farr, Sasha Hails, Namsi Khan, Laura Lomas, based on John Wyndham novel titled "The Midwich Cuckoos" that focuses a British village visited by some unknown life form which leaves the women of the village pregnant. Performance is frankly good as main cast: Keeley Hawes, Max Beesley. Along with others as Aisling Loftus, Marianne Oldham, Lara Rossi, India Amarteifio, Hannah Tointon, Rebekah Staton and Samuel West. Special mention for the children who cause real terror, adding the creepy effects of their glowing eyes that were made by matting a negative image of their eyes over the pupils. Intriguing and atmospheric musical score and packing appropriate cinematography photographing splendidly the scenarios from the village . This suspenseful and thrilling series was well directed by Rilla Jennifer Perrott (3 episodes), Börkur Sigþórsson (2 episodes) and Alice Troughton (2 episodes). Rating : Good due to provide tension enough and pleasant screams for the viewer.

My Take – A good series!

 

Black Doves – Came in 2024.  Helen embarks on a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Caught in the crosshairs when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen's employers call in Sam to protect her.

A review from IMDB...

This 6-part Netflix spy-thriller promised much but ultimately didn't quite fulfil all it might've. With a top cast including Keira Knightley as a ninja-kicking, gun-toting action heroine, ditto Ben Whishaw as her former mentor and now colleague, expectations were high. Both of them are operatives for the top-secret mercenary espionage organisation called Black Doves, whose controller is Sarah Lancashire, doing her best Judi Dench "M" impersonation in a dreadful platinum blonde wig.

It certainly starts with a bang as we see three young people killed in Central London. The trio were working together but alone, seeking to expose some grand conspiracy. There's a separate plot strand which takes in the off-screen death of the Chinese ambassador to Britain, whose party-central daughter has also inconveniently disappeared, threatening all sorts of international political strife. It's no great surprise to see these two developments converging later on, both stories overlapping with Knightley and Whishaw's doings, not least because she, besides being married to the Government's Minister of Defence, himself caught up in the political fall-out over the ambassador's death, was herself also having a passionate affair with one of the three killed at the start.

Various other characters are brought into the kaleidoscopic narrative, as Knightley and Whishaw get drawn deeper and deeper into an ever-more inscrutable plot while a body count builds up around and about them of mountainous proportions, occasionally at their hands, while Whishaw still has time to rekindle an old romance.

Sharply directed with credible playing by its starry A-listers, for me, it somehow failed to deliver on its early promise, flying away on an overloaded plot which relied too much on coincidence, shoot-'em-up violence and quirky, offbeat characters.

By the time it's all resolved at the end, I felt it had fallen somewhere between James Bond-type fantasy and Le Carre-type realism, with the escapism unfortunately winning out in the end.

When I started viewing it I felt inclined, for almost the first time ever, to binge watch all the remaining episodes, it seemed that good, but by about episode 4, I'm afraid the cracks were showing, for which no amount of sharp dialogue and quick quips could compensate (and there were some good ones in there).

It did pick up again for a tense and exciting finish even if it relied a lot on exposition and didn't seem to quite know when to stop. However it eventually did and even did so with a "Die Hard"-ish type Christmas-time tie-in but ultimately it all felt a bit too contrived, convoluted and confusing to really work for me.

My Take – Worth a watch!

 

The Sticky – Came in 2024.  Ruth Landry is a tough middle-aged maple syrup farmer, who turns to crime when the bureaucratic authorities threaten to take away everything she loves. She teams up with a hot-tempered Bostonian mobster, and a mild-mannered French-Canadian security guard to carry out a multi-million dollar heist on Quebec's maple syrup surplus.

A review from IMDB...

As Episode 1 of "The Sticky" (2024 release from Canada; 6 episodes of about 30 min each) opens, we are reminded that "This is absolutely not the true story of the Great Maple Syrup Heist", which took place in 2011. In the opening scenes, the local Quebec police is called to quell a disturbance, only to find the body of a man in a maple barrel, murdered for reasons unknown. We then are introduced to Ruth, who tends to her maple tree farm but as it turns out she doesn't have the proper license for this, and she may lose the farm... At this point we are less than 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: This is a dark comedy series from Canada, more specifically from Quebec, where maple syrup is big business. I have no idea to what extent this mini-series accurately reflects what happened in the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2011, but frankly it's not even relevant. The reason is that this mini-series is absolutely hilarious and fun from start to finish. I laughed out loud quite a few times throughout these 6 episodes as this mini-series is quirky, dry, and even absurd at times (in the best possible way). The no-star ensemble cast is stellar. Comedy, good comedy, is incredibly difficult to do, but this mini-series delivers.

"The Sticky" started streaming on Amazin Prime last month, and I just discovered it. I watched all 6 episodes in a single setting. THis mini-series is currently rated 82% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are in the mood for a quirky dark comedy starring our neighbors of the north, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

My Take – Worth a watch!

Adios till next time😊!!