I recently finished the fourth and final season of the Philip K Dick novel-inspired The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime.

In an alternate reality, Nazi Germany and Japan win World War 2. It’s twenty years later and the USA has been divided up with the Nazis owning the East, Japan the West, and a no man’s land in between separating the two.

American Collaborators run the East for the Reich while Americans in the West are subservient to their Japanese captors.

A resistance spanning both coasts starts to distribute black and white films in which the US won the war.

Are the films real?

It’s a hard not to watch series that pulls you in quickly with layers of plot and shifting alliances. Occasionally brutal like the Handmaid’s Maid’s Tale, but never gratuitous.

4/4 stars ⭐️

<><><>

What was the Last Series you finished since the Pandemic Started?

<><><>

As always, please react with a 🚀 if you’d like to join the conversation.

I have an Amazon Prime subscription and they keep coming up with great content. The series I finished watching most recently on Prime Video is Fleabag.

I had heard a lot of great things about this show, so I started watching it on a whim. It took me a couple of episodes to align with the tone of the show because it felt so different from anything I had seen before. It has such a strong female voice and I was at times taken aback by how blunt and forward it was with expressing so many things. I am sure there are a lot of shows that are shot from the female perspective, but this one seemed very fascinating to me.

Season 1 takes us through how Fleabag is living with this guilt inside of her and it sort of makes her be an asshole because she thinks that's what she is worth for. By the end of the season she finally gets some closure and the audience experiences the same catharsis.

Season 2 was more entertaining for me since now Fleabag is now mostly rid of the guilt from Season 1 and it makes the viewer a bit relaxed too. There's plenty of humor and we have the addition of the excellent Andrew Scott to the cast. Fleabag often breaks the fourth wall to talk to the viewer and midway through this season, writer and main lead Phoebe Waller-Bridge tried something really different with this aspect. As a viewer it catches you completely by surprise but it is delightful! I will spoil no more, but urge you to watch it and experience it for yourself.

Nowadays though, I am in need of some comfort food and am back to watching old reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel-air.

I've watched a few one off's since lockdown started but only 1 series, which I'm not sure I should admit to.

Future Man comes from the mind of Seth Rogan, and is about as low-brow on the intellectual scale as that should imply. It's definately aimed at a young male audience, a segment I don't belong to in body at least but it had it's amusements and is definately a new take on the sci-fi time travel theme, and it makes some amusing social references.

Thanks for the invitation Stephen!

Unfortunately (for the panel), I do not watch TV; well not on a regular basis anyway, so I have little to offer. But would like to tag along to see where the panel goes.

I'm into books. No specific genre. I will read anything about American history and Americans who have captured my attention, oftentimes for no specific reason.

We enjoyed Outer Banks on Netflix. This engaging story of teens on a treasure hunt contrasts the natural beauty of the islands with the deep divisions between the 'have' and 'have not' communities living there.

Episodic TV shows?

Well, I truly don't make the time to really go that far down the hole to view TV in that manner...even before the pandemic.

I do watch sports on occasion...all but basketball. Thus, the last few weeks has me even further away from the TV. Too many projects being done around here at home.

News shows? The local 30 minute newscast, yes. The national news after that? Sometimes, the virus coverage being very east-coast centered is beginning to wear on me even more.

I can rot my brain more efficiently on-line, I suppose. Perhaps the thread will trigger something; I'll stick around and read along with @Munch

😆

Just finished season 3 of Westworld, which has consistently been my favourite show on TV since it first appeared.

So many different threads are woven into this show; robot sentience, immortality, the nature of humanity, transhumanism, freewill (or lack thereof), future economics, political structures, inevitable conflicts etc.

Shame it was just 8 episodes, really.

Going to have a crack at "DEVS" next.

Just in case anyone thinks I never laugh, I would suggest a nice little British comedy called "SPACED". Co-written by Simon Pegg before he discovered Hollywood, Tom Cruise and the rest. Both the series are on Amazon Prime I think.

Some scenes were filmed here in our village.

Still trying to figure out why they named it "Outer Banks". The wife watches the show and the scenes I've seen look nothing like the Outer Banks. Especially given most of the show is shot in the Low Country of SC and near Savannah.

It's definately aimed at a young male audience, a segment I don't belong to in body at least but it had it's amusements and is definately a new take on the sci-fi time travel theme, and it makes some amusing social references.

OMG, I loved the trailer for Future Man! Especially the Back to the Future and The Last Starfighter references. This is exactly the well-crafted mindless entertainment that we all need sometimes.

Thank you!

🙏🙏🙏🙏

Artistic license perhaps? It bothers me when a regionally-based show contains scenes obviously shot far from the namesake area but it has become almost the rule rather than the exception. Budgetary and logistical issues behind it no doubt, but out of place geography still detracts.

And...I suspect "Outer Banks" sounds a lot catchier than "Pluff Mud".

Love Westworld, I've got 1 episode left of season 3 to watch. There is a Westworld topic on Cake.

WestworldAnyone watching it? It's a pretty amazing series.www.cake.co

I started Devs last night, I found the first 20 minutes of episode 1 a bit slow but it got interesting after that. Maybe it needs it's own topic too?

I started Devs last night, I found the first 20 minutes of episode 1 a bit slow but it got interesting after that. Maybe it needs it's own topic too?

I would be grateful if you or @CygnusX1 kicked off such a discussion.

the virus coverage being very east-coast centered is beginning to wear on me even more.

This is why.

I'm a little behind on TV series as I rarely have watched too much in the last 4 or 5 years due to being on the road so much, so I'm watching stuff that I guess all of you watched a long time back.

Breaking BadBreaking Bad is an American neo-Western crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The show aired on AMC from January 20, 2008, to September 29, 2013, consisting of five seasons for a total of 62 episodes.en.wikipedia.org

Ozark (TV series)Ozark is an American crime drama web television series created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams for Netflix and produced by Media Rights Capital. The series stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as a married couple who relocate their family to the Ozarks for money laundering.en.wikipedia.org

Better Call SaulBetter Call Saul is an American television crime drama series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. It is a spin-off and prequel of Gilligan's previous series Breaking Bad . Set in the early to mid 2000s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series develops Jimmy McGill ( Bob Odenkirk), an earnest lawyer and former con-man, into a greedy criminal defense attorney known as Saul Goodman.en.wikipedia.org

NarcosNarcos is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are based on the story of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who became a billionaire through the production and distribution of cocaine.en.wikipedia.org

If this pandemic continues then I'll be using this as a resource for what's next...but hoping I won't need it.

I can rot my brain more efficiently on-line, I suppose. Perhaps the thread will trigger something; I'll stick around and read along

Have you heard of the series Mighty Trains?

They have completed three seasons, the first of which is free on Amazon Prime. Here’s a trailer for the new season.

<><><>

I haven't finished any series recently. I'm currently going through Brooklyn 99 on Netflix (now watching season 3) and I'm alternating that with Kim's Convenience. I've watched up to season 3 but since season 4 was just released I'm rewatching the previous seasons to get back up to speed with the story before starting season 4.

Thanks for all these suggestions. I recently watched two which might be worth adding to the list: One was Quiz"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz_(TV_series)

Who Wants to be a Millionaire was a world wide series hit, and I never knew that people had figured out a way around the system.

The second one I watched was Unorthodox. I did have a huge number of issues with this - the Netflix version which is different than the book. But nevertheless I am glad I watched it.

Unorthodox | Netflix Official SiteA Hasidic Jewish woman in Brooklyn flees to Berlin from an arranged marriage and is taken in by a group of musicians - until her past comes calling.www.netflix.com

They have completed three seasons, the first of which is free on Amazon Prime. Here’s a trailer for the new season.

Nope, I've not heard of it. My wife has a perfectly good Amazon Prime account - and has had it for several years, but we've not taken the time to look at it.

Someday...

I finished the series, Dispatches from Elsewhere. A random group of people work together to solve clues leading to the location of the fictional artist Clara.

The group members joined what they thought was a scavenger hunt game, but they begin to wonder if there really was a Clara and whether things are more sinister than the game suggests.

Very strange yet wonderful one season series.