Category Archives: Ethical struggles

2019, Acceptable for teenagers, Acceptable Trash, Accidental Death, Amusing banter, Black humor, Clever Plot, Comedy, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Quirky, Uncategorized, Vulgar, Witty dialog

Dead to Me (2019)

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From IMDB:

A series about a powerful friendship that blossoms between a tightly wound widow (Applegate) and a free spirit with a shocking secret.

From Netflix you can stream 10 half hour episodes of this Netflix original TV series.

Before going any further, let me assure you this series is very profane acceptable trash.

Who on earth thinks of such crazy plots full of surprises? In this case the answer is Liz Feldman. Her story line often caught me unaware and forced some real belly laughs.

Jen Harding (played by Christina Applegate) is in mourning because her late husband Ted was killed in a hit and run auto accident. Judy Hale (played by Linda Cardellini) was driving the car accompanied by her boy friend Steve Wood (played by James Marsden).   Judy wanted to call the police but Steve convinced her to hide the damaged car and keep the incident secret. Judy then spends 10 episodes trying to make Jen’s life happy.  Along the way all kinds of often funny difficulties pop up.

Feldman’s plot ends with a question mark that could conceivably lead to a second season. Hopefully that second season would be just as much fun.

 

 

2019, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Trash, Bad high school, Career Competition, Child abuse, Cold Cases, Complicated, Corny at times, Dancing, Detective, DNA, Drama, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Fashion, Gay theme, Illegitimate Child, Mediocre, Melodrama, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Narcissistic Personality, Netflix Streaming, Psychopath, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Suspense, Uncategorized, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent, Womanizing

What/If (2019)

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From IMDB:

An anthology series which tackles a different morality tale, and the ripple effect of a single decision that changes the trajectory of an entire life.

From Netflix you can stream 10 episodes of this soap opera. Each episode lasts between 40 and 60 minutes.

Anne Montgomery is the villain and most prominent feature of this acceptable trashy melodrama. She is played by Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones) who looks awfully good for her 50 years. Of course it does not hurt her appearance to wear not only tons of makeup but to wear in each new appearance an astounding designer creation. Best of all you can hear her lisp for all ten episodes.

Harlequin Books, the leaders in trashy bodice-rippers, will send you a story plot and will pay you to fill in the details. Suppose, in similar fashion you want to write a Netflix Original screenplay. What should be in the plot to be current in 2019?  Here are some suggestions (where we were motivated by this marvelous series):

  • In each couple, one of the partners must be hiding some terrible, guilty secret which prevents that person from being truly open with the other person.
  • One of the couples must be a gay couple. They should engage in least some filmed threesome sexual activity.
  • For each couple there must be a third party who has some destructive relation to one of the partners.
  • Some character must be a homicidal sociopath.
  • Financial dealings must complicated by the fact that you can never know whom to trust.

Probably I could extend the list, but those selling points should be enough to tempt you to watch almost 10 hours of acceptable trash. As a further inducement to wasting all that time, I am happy to reveal that by the end of episode ten, all problems have been resolved. Moreover, the plot leaves an opening for another thrilling set of trashy episodes.

Thanks to former colleague Kellie Trainer for suggesting this binge-worthy series. She and I have a motto:

WE LOVE TRASH!

2015, Acorn TV, Based on a Book, British, Brother-Brother relations, Cancer theme, Carpentry, Could Be Sad, Deportation, Detective, Drama, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Lawyers, Mother-daughter relations, Romance, Terminal Disease, Terrorists, Wrongful Arrest

Capital (2015)

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From IMDB:

The residents of an affluent street in London are busy getting on with their lives, when suddenly something very strange happens. Every house in the street has an identical, mysterious postcard pushed through their letterboxes that simply states “WE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE”. At first, the residents of Pepys Road dismiss the notes as some sort of marketing campaign but gradually as events begin to escalate it becomes clear that there is something more to this strange occurrence than something as mundane as that.

From Acorn TV:

Based on John Lanchester’s bestselling novel, this complex and resonant drama starring Toby Jones and Rachael Stirling is a “beguiling” (The Daily Telegraph, UK) and “alarmingly recognizable” (The Times, UK) depiction of contemporary life in England’s capital city.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 4 episodes of the one season complete story.  Each episode is about 45 minutes.

Five subplots associated with the same block in London are involved:

  • Ahmed’s Pakistani family runs the corner grocer. One of his brothers is falsely accused of terrorism.
  • Roger (Toby Jones) is an investor with a ridiculing wife.
  • Mary (Lesley Sharp) looks after her ailing mother Petunia (Gemma Jones).
  • Bogdan is a Polish is a building contractor who falls in love with Roger’s nanny. He is renovating Petunia’s residence because Petunia dies and Mary wants to sell.
  • Quentina, the neighbor auxiliary policewoman, has VISA problems.

Lesley Sharp played DC Janet Scott in the enjoyable series “Scott and Bailey”.  Gemma Jones, who was 73 during the production, has a huge resume including playing Claire Slater in the TV series “Unforgotten”.

Almost every subplot, except for one real tragedy, ends happily. Fearing the worst, I was almost afraid to watch the fourth and final episode.  Well worth the watch!

 

2011, Acceptable Trash, Acorn TV, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Assisted Suicide, British, Bullying, Career Competition, Courtroom scenes, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Lawyers, Mediocre, Melodrama, Private Versus Professional Life, Revenge, Romance, Soap Opera, Suspense, Wrongful Arrest

The Case (2011)

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From Acorn TV:

In this suspenseful British legal drama, a husband is put on trial for his wife’s death-but was it murder, or an act of love? Tony Powell (Dean Andrews, Life on Mars) claims he helped his terminally ill wife (Caroline Langrishe, Judge John Deed) commit suicide, but when he appears to be hiding something, his lawyers fight for the truth behind the controversial case.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 5 episodes of this complete story. Each episode lasts about 43 minutes.

Basically this series is a slightly better than  mediocre soap opera. Dean Andrews  ( Robbie in “Last Tango in Halifax”) as Tony Powell spends most of the time looking mournfully guilty. His two lawyers, Julie and  Sol, cannot decide whether to have an affair.  Julie devotes a fair amount of time cat-fighting with the office witch,  Valerie. Meanwhile Valerie prowls desperately looking for love (or just sex). You get the idea, right?

As background noise while doing something worthwhile this soap opera will suffice.

 

2018, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Acorn TV, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Based on true facts, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Child abuse, Cold Cases, Depression, Detective, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Father-daughter relations, Forensics, Government cover-up, Mental Illness, Mildly Violent, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Physical child abuse, Police Politics, Psychiatrists, Psychopath, Revenge, Serial Killer, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish Detective, Underdogs win

The Truth Will Out (2018)

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From IMDB:

After a long sick leave and recovery police detective Peter Wendel is back on duty. He is commissioned to form a new team to reopen unresolved murder cases, however he soon finds himself with a rather third rank and conflicting staff. Soon they are in the center of a new case. An unknown murderer claims that Sweden’s most infamous murderer is a fraud – that he never committed the murders he’s jailed for. High reaching implications are to be exposed, involving even the Swedish government.

From Acorn TV:

Detective Peter Wendel wants to create an elite team of investigators to crack cold cases. When the police receive a tip that Sweden’s most notorious serial killer is a fraud, and therefore eight killers might have gone free, Wendel gets his chance–but only the dregs of the force are available to work the case. Can his lowly group solve these high-profile crimes? Swedish with English subtitles.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 8 episodes of this complete story. Each episode lasts about 43 minutes. Swedish with English subtitles. Formerly Acorn TV advertised itself as “All Things British” but evidently their intent has changed.

Plaguing Peter Wendel throughout the episodes is the sorrow over his brother’s suicide. Because he refuses to accept the verdict of suicide he becomes so mentally ill and a bit violent and must be hospitalized. Now that he is released from care he faces the prejudice that he cannot do his job properly which only makes his job proving that the Minister of Justice erred in pronouncing a man guilty of serial killings.

His ragtag trio of helpers turn out to be diamonds in the rough, especially the older woman “administrator” who shows herself to be clever, very observant, and even capable of head butting.

What compelled me to binge watch was the injustice of the cover-up by the upper echelons and the efforts of a detected named Temo to discredit and remove Peter Wendel.

Because the pace is quite S L O W,  you might easily be tempted to stop watching after the first episode. Stick with the well crafted plot to see clever vindications.

 

2007, Acorn TV, Animal story, Assisted Suicide, Australian, Blackmail, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Ethical struggles, Father-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Sheep Farmers, Small Town

Rain Shadow (2007)

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From Acorn TV:

After a 10-year drought, tensions reach a breaking point in the small Australian farming town of Paringa when a mysterious disease begins to ravage the local sheep. Tough-minded veterinarian Kate McDonald (Rachel Ward, The Thorn Birds) struggles to save her community with the help of a feisty new assistant (Victoria Thaine, The Caterpillar Wish).

From IMDB:

Rain Shadow was shot in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and is set in the fictional district of Paringa, a dry land farming area in a rain shadow. It tells the story of two characters who become the means of each other’s future. It stars Rachel Ward as district vet Kate McDonald and Victoria Thaine as new veterinary assistant Jill Blake

From Acorn TV you can stream  6 episodes, each episode lasting about 50 minutes, of this Australian production.

A rain shadow is an area of land that lies behind a mountain which gets almost no rainfall. This side of a mountainous area is away from the wind.  Even this film from 2007 speaks several times of climate change.

Life in this remote part of South Australia in a rain shadow is harsh and difficult. Survival of a farm is precarious at best and an awful lot of hard work. As a consequence the inhabitants of Paringa are a tough group of people who interact at times begrudgingly. In this story the farmers that we meet raise sheep, many of whom are infected with Johne’s disease.

Johne’s disease is a contagious, chronic, and usually fatal infection that affects primarily the small intestine of ruminants. Johne’s disease is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis , a hardy bacterium related to the agents of leprosy and TB.

Of the several themes in this story, including Kate’s hidden sorrow and farm foreclosures,  the Johne’s disease is prominent. Jill’s ethical struggle is whether to notify the authorities about the problem, which would lower the property and sale values of the sheep farms.

As a welcome relief from crime stories, this very human drama is well worth seeing.  If you liked “A Place To Call Home”, then these 6 episodes are a must see.

Amazon Prime, Amnesia, Clever Plot, Conspiracy, Drugs, Ethical struggles, Government cover-up, Government human experiment, Harmful Medicine, Military, Paranoia, Psychological Thriller, PTSD, Suspense, Uncategorized, War Veterans

Homecoming (2018)

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From Amazon Prime:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes, including Best Drama Series. Good intentions. Erratic bosses. Mounting paranoia. Unforeseen consequences spiraling out of control. Heidi (Julia Roberts) works at Homecoming, a facility helping soldiers transition to civilian life. Years later she has started a new life, when the Department of Defense questions why she left Homecoming. Heidi realizes there’s a whole other story behind the one she’s been telling herself.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 1 season, 10 episodes of this complete story.  Each episode lasts approximately  a half hour.

Julia Roberts  ( age 57) is no longer a young romantic figure. Instead she does a credible and serious job as a woman unwittingly caught up in a sinister plot that takes awhile to reveal itself.

Bobby Cannavale  (age 48) does a superb job at portraying an amoral and smooth operator in the destructive enterprise.  Here is a man who can put a verbal deceptive spin on whatever scheme his corporation is concocting.  We see a lot of this  behavior nowadays (in plots and political life and military life): characters that convince you that everything is just fine and legitimate using standard business world speech patterns. Meanwhile, in reality, nasty things are happening.  Vietnam?

Stephan James (age 25) is somewhat of a newcomer.  His role here as one of the many victims is well done and convincing.

However, of all the characters I most admired  how Shea Whigham presented Thomas Carrasco, a determined and humble Department of Defense cog-in-the-wheel who stubbornly refused to stop investigating.

Because the episodes are so short, it is easy and compelling to binge straight through to the end.  When you have finished, ask yourself if such a thing could really happen.

1996, Abduction, Adopted child, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, Assisted Suicide, Bloody scenes, British Mystery Series, Bullying, Child abuse, Cold Cases, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Father-son relations, Forensic pathologist, Gay Bashing, Homophobia, Jealousy, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Prison, Psychological Drama, Revenge, Romance, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Sexual Tension, Sister-sister relations, Stepchild, Suicide, Suspense, Teenagers, Theft

Silent Witness (1996)

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From Amazon Prime:

Forensic pathologist Dr. Sam Ryan has an all-embracing, passionate notion of justice that can lead to trouble in her personal and professional lives, but to Sam, each dead body deserves the truth.

Believe it or not, this detective series which takes place in Cambridge, England has twenty-two (22) seasons.  In fact from Amazon Prime you can stream seasons 1 through 21. Season 1 offers 4 complete stories, each about 1.5 hours. In seasons from number 2 onward  each of the 4 stories consists of two shorter episodes (about 45 minutes) instead of one long episode.

Normally I don’t review until I have finished all the seasons but 21 seasons could take a long time to get through.  Unfortunately every story we have seen so far has been so good that we are tempted to binge watch. When wife Kathy wants to continue watching “NOW!”, that is a sign we have latched onto something worthwhile. “Law and Order” was another example of years of watchable entertainment.

Amanda Burton, born and raised in Northern Ireland, plays the stunning and determined forensic pathologist Dr. Sam Ryan (yes, HER name is Sam). Many other actors survive from season to season but Burton is the shining star.

Running through the seasons are her relations with her sister and working colleagues and her love affairs. As is often the case in detective stories (she is not a member of the police department) there is the usual conflict of her personal life with her professional life. An added complication is that she gets emotionally involved not only with her cases but also with various colleagues with whom she has serious differences of opinion regarding her cases.

FIRST AMENDED REVIEW: Sam last appears in Season 8 episodes 1 and 2 entitled “A Time To Heal”. She leaves the job eventually a young woman takes her place.  From then on the series goes somewhat downhill: first the plots start to look like any old American gangster story, and secondly the episode descriptions found on the Amazon web site and the descriptions that you download with the episodes are misplaced. We stopped watching at that point.

SECOND AMENDED REVIEW: My advice is now to continue with Season 8. When a story seems boring or mediocre, just skip to the next story. Remember each story consists of 2 episodes. It won’t be long before the stories become better. As of this amendment I am on Season 11 and it is dynamite.

THIRD AMENDED REVIEW: In Season 8 Episode 5 we first meet Dr. Nikki Alexander as a young woman just starting her career as a forensic pathologist.  From then on through all of Season 22 she remains in the series whereas almost all the other actors are replaced.  For the 15 seasons you actually see the actress Emilia Fox age as do the other actors. This character is wonderful to the very end of the series.

Sometimes grim but always engaging drama! DO NOT MISS!

2010, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Boating, Cold Cases, Corruption, Detective, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Flirting, Forensics, Interest in cats, Jealousy, Lesbian Theme, Love Story, MHz Choice, Military, Murder, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Romance, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Swedish Detective

The Sandhamn Murders (2010)

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From IMDB:

Viveca Sten’s popular novels come to life in “The Sandhamn Murders”, a perfect mix of Nordic crime and the beautiful surroundings of the outer Stockholm archipelago.

Addendum: There are now 8 seasons on MHz Choice. Whereas the first 5 seasons were not too harsh,  the remaining 3 seasons could be tense and wrenching to watch.   Nora’s marriage choices are surprisingly bad while her true love interests change from season to season.

From MHz Choice you can stream this Swedish mystery and romance series. Each of the 5 available seasons consists of 3 episodes, each lasting approximately 45 minutes. There was a season 6 produced in 2018.

Recall that MHz Choice offers only foreign language programs with English subtitles.

Of all the many characters, only the two main characters appear consistently in all the episodes. Thomas the detective is played by Jakob Cedergren whom we mentioned in the review for “Those Who Kill”.  Nora is played by Alexandra Rapaport.  Thomas and Nora are strongly attracted to each other.  Thomas starts out as a divorced and grieving father. Nora starts out in an unhappy and picture-perfect marriage.  Throughout the series the theme is “will they get together or not?” which adds to the soap-opera-as-mystery-series.

Stories are good. Acting is just fine. Scenery is appealing because the filming takes place always in the summer holiday islands.

Here is a human series without a lot of gore. Not a serial killer in sight. Suitable for teens.

 

2017, Acorn TV, Big Pharma, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Detective, Drama, Ethical struggles, Harmful Medicine, International thriler, Irish Detective Series, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Police Politics, Sister-sister relations, Sociopath, Suspense

Acceptable Risk (2017)

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From IMDB:

When her husband, Lee, is murdered, Sarah Manning comes to realize that she knows nothing about his past. Sarah begins to question who Lee actually was and what he did in his work for a powerful global organization. And why did Lee, a salesman, need to carry a gun?

From Acorn TV you can stream 6 episodes of this international conspiracy mystery based in Dublin. Each episode is about 50 minutes.

Sarah Manning (played by Elaine Cassidy) is the mourning but puzzled widow. Detective Sergeant Emer Byrne (played by Angeline Ball) is the  member of the Irish Guard (i.e. police) who despite the obstacles placed before her by her formerly honest Chief Superintendent James Nulty (played by Lorcan Cranitch)  is determined to pursue the murder case. Sarah is surrounded by relatives, police officers, and pharmaceutical employees all of whom have something to hide.  Hans Werner Hoffman (played by Morten Suurballe) presents one of the coldest sociopaths I have seen in a drama.

Such a binge-worthy plot is well worth your time.