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HITS & MISSES OF THE WEEK...
  • 22 Dec - 28 Dec, 2018
  • Malaeka Amir
  • TV TIME

SALLY4EVER

There’s no hiding the fact that Julia Davis is absolutely spectacular at what she does. She’s given dark comedy a whole new meaning, setting up a standard so high, it can be defeated by her own works only. Sally4Ever serves as an example.

Sally (Catherine Shepherd) and David (Alex Mcqueen) have been in a relationship for quite a while (ten years is a long time). And quite frankly, Sally’s tired of her constant stuck-in-a-cycle life. She goes to work, comes home, spends some time with her boring, vanilla boyfriend, sleeps and then repeats. On the other hand, Emma (Julia Davis) is an eccentric and charming lesbian who exudes self-confidence and sexuality, working as an actress as well as a singer but in search of something exciting that’ll bring her more fame, maybe.

It’s these traits of her that catch Sally’s attention when a flyer related to one of Emma’s gigs is thrusted into her hands by the woman herself. Intrigued and in search of some spice, Sally finds herself at the nightclub where Emma’s performing and vows to come back after the show ends. The two meet, and sparks fly of course, the aftermath being that they’re inseparable.

Sally’s misery is perfectly portrayed by Catherine whose face is neutral majority of the time – not in a bad way. She just looks so done, like mood. Julia obviously does a great job too, she somehow manages to mix Emma’s character with desperate + courageous + narcissistic. Miraculously, it turns out great. Not to mention just how impeccable she is at cracking jokes without the least bit of sympathy or feelings.

Sally4Ever has the ability of making you laugh at the most awful and miserable situations without any mercy, but once you settle, the guilt feels concerning. The show’s dark humour pushes against all boundaries of morality but manages to not cross the line at the same time.

Rating: 4 Stars


NIGHTFLYERS

A sci-fi based on a novella of the same name, Nighflyers ventures deeper into the life of Astrophysicist Karl (Eoin Macken) who, in an attempt to defeat the deathly disease spreading quickly on Earth and killing people worldwide, assembles a team under Captain Roy Eris (David Ajala) and plans on passing through “The Void” to meet some extraterrestrial creatures that might help them in their plan.

The team includes xenobiologist Rowan (Angus Sampson), cyberneticist Lommie (Maya Eshet) who has the power of communicating with the ship using a chip inserted in her arm, chief engineer Auggie (Brian F. O’Bryan), and psychiatrist Agatha (Gretchen Mol) who’s coincidentally Karl’s ex. Agatha invites Thale (Sam Strike), an unstable psychic who for some reason is referred to as “L1”. The reason Thale is on the ship is because Agatha believes that his ability of getting inside other people’s minds might work on these extraterrestrial beings as well, and Karl believes her. But the thing that would really get your skin crawling is the thought that Thale might not be the only one on this ship with this mindboggling ability.

The ship named Nighflyer is the same exact ship you see in every other sci-fi, with its visible metal pipelines lining the walls, sliding doors and the bangs which echo with every movement. This isn’t the only common thing about the series, another example is Karl’s wounded heart due to the loss of his beloved daughter, adding to the growing list of damaged goods. Honestly, the show would be greater if the ship was loaded with a better and a larger cast instead of everyone being made the background characters. I can’t tell if it was a problem with the budget or to help incorporate the feeling of detachment felt by the stars.

It seems as though Nightflyers has bitten into more than it can chew by being something that can’t provide a great scare and isn’t as outstanding to become a remarkable sci-fi. Hence, it’s stuck in an uncomfortable place in the middle of that.

Rating: 2.5 Stars


THE BISEXUAL

Starring the half-hour long dramedy is Desiree Akhavan as Leila, the said bisexual in her 30’s who when proposed by her girlfriend Sadie (Maxine Peake), with whom she’s been sharing not only a home since the past ten years but a business as well, freaks out and moves away, deciding to explore the part of her sexuality (and herself) which likes men. Regardless of how rich she is due to her well off business, she insists on moving into a shitty apartment, becoming roommates with an equally shitty person, Gabe (Brian Gleeson), a novelist still bragging about his book which magically hit big. After a failed sexual encounter, Leila finds herself breaking into her ex-girlfriend’s apartment only to stop at the sight of a new woman in her bed, who is, as expected, The Secretary.

Desiree, having been more of a comedian than an actress, pulls off one liners in the most driest ways paired with a deadpan expression, leaving you spluttering and gasping. The writer did a magnificent job at portraying this emotional rollercoaster of a show. I think that the show reminds people that realisation/coming of age isn’t a thing that happens once in your lifetime and then leaves you. It’s constant and can occur at any age.

For a society that is currently exploring all aspects of the LGBT+ community, the flexibility of biology and whatnot, The Bisexual might just give them a sufficient amount of entertainment.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

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