📺 This is Mr. Fibbly. He is a squirrel.
Happy Thursday. Everyone you know is watching Stranger Things this week — even the King of modern horror is weighing in. Far be it from us to be the exception. Read to the end for both of our takes on the latest season.
In today’s edition:
The Essex Serpent
Made for Love
Stranger Things
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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Where we each choose a recent-ish show to review and feature every week.
If you love a spooky Victorian Era romance, try… The Essex Serpent
Keywords: gothic romance, historical drama, limited series
Watch if you like: Penny Dreadful, Broadchurch, Jane Eyre
Jenni’s Rating: C
This miniseries starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston is, at first glance, a bit all over the place. The opening episode sets up a mystery about a legendary sea creature (or something less supernatural but more sinister, perhaps?) plaguing the residents of 1890s Essex, as well as a loosely related side plot about doctor from London on the cutting edge (hah) of open heart surgery. But the “central” mystery and subsequent examinations of science vs. faith are only background to the true core of The Essex Serpent: the romantic entanglements of our main characters — the aforementioned doctor, a wealthy natural historian and widow (Danes), and the married Essex vicar (Hiddleston).
If you’re into slow burn Victorian era stories (think Wilkie Collins Woman in White) and excellently eerie cinematography, you’ll likely enjoy this. For those of you who care more about shows that “get to the bottom of things” than vibesy gothic romances, I’d advise you skip it.
Length: 60-min runtime, 4 of 6 episodes out so far, with new ones on Fridays
Watch on: Amazon Prime
If you like satire and absurdist comedy, try… Made for Love
Keywords: dark comedy, sci-fi, satire, big tech
Watch if you like: Upload, Black Mirror, Russian Doll
Jess’s Rating: B
Made for Love is one of HBO Max’s best original series, yet I know very few people that watch it. (Shout out to my sister, Sam, for recommending it). It’s equal parts dark comedy, absurd comedy, and satire, and it’s very wacky.
The show follows Hazel Green (Cristin Milioti, “the mother” from HIMYM), a woman who is married to a tech billionaire CEO named Byron Gogol (gotta love the lack of subtlety there), as she tries to escape Byron’s controlling clutches. Not only does he keep her trapped in his virtual-reality mansion — she literally hasn’t been able to leave in 10 years — but he has developed a device to implant in her brain that will let him see everything she sees, hear everything she hears, and even convey her thoughts and feelings to him.
The satire of big tech is the backdrop, but the show is really about Hazel reclaiming her life as she goes from docile housewife to scorned woman in her villain era. There are bits of absurdity along the way that keep the tone light, even though the premise is dark. It sometimes feels like the show doesn’t know where it’s heading, especially in the second season, but it’s consistently fun to watch.
Length: 30-min runtime, 2 seasons / 16 episodes
Watch on: HBO Max
True to our title, in this segment we each give our take on the same show. Will we see eye to eye?
Stranger Things - Season 4
The 4th season of the beloved retro horror series, Stranger Things, came back to Netflix last week after a 3 year hiatus. All of the new episodes clock in over 1 hour, with the finale episode reported to be 2.5 hours long. Does the show justify its feature-film-length episodes? Both of us are weighing in with our thoughts this week and we’d love to hear yours too.
Length: ~80-min runtime, 7 episodes so far in S4 with two more coming on 7/1
Watch on: Netflix
This season has started off with its feet even more firmly planted in the horror genre than the last. It’s gorier, jump-scarier, and more ‘in-your-face’ than the slow creeping sci-fi eeriness of S1-2, and I’m not a huge fan.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m invested in the new mystery tying Hawkins to the “Upside Down” and want to know what happens in the evolving relationships of our core cast of characters (except for Nancy and Jonathan…why am I so annoyed at their storyline?), but I feel nostalgic for the innocence and lower-budget charm of OG Stranger Things. I wasn’t prepared for Grudge or Exorcism levels of scary! Everything this season is more elaborate and a little less compelling to me; the parallels drawn between this season’s new otherworldly “big bad” and the gang’s D&D monsters feel especially contrived.
I’m absolutely going to watch the whole thing, but I low-key think I would have been happier if the Duffer Brothers had ended this show after 3 seasons and just left us wanting more.
Jenni’s Rating: C+
I’m enjoying this season so far, but in a way that feels like when you watch your favorite childhood movie as an adult — you’re trying to recapture the feeling you had when you first watched, but it’s not quite the same.
The main plot in Hawkins is compelling and clever, with a fun bit of stunt casting (that I won’t ruin in case you haven’t watched) and a heavy reminiscence of 80s horror films. But the jumping between locations and plots is jarring and often kills the momentum, in addition to the fact that the side plots are just not that interesting.
The best thing about Stranger Things was always the camaraderie of the central characters. With them all split up and strewn across the globe, we’ve lost that. And the episodes are definitely longer than they need to be. It feels like the showrunners have decided to go for shock and awe — more horror, longer episodes, bigger budgets — instead of trying to recreate the magic that made the show popular in the first place. Is it still one of the better shows on TV? Yes. Is it the worst season of the series so far? Also yes.
Jess’s Rating: B
📩 Have thoughts on the newest season of Stranger Things? Reply to this email with your take and we’ll feature some of your responses in next week’s newsletter.
Your shows, returned:
The Orville, Season 3: Premieres June 2 on Hulu
Borgen, Season 4: Released June 2 on Netflix
Floor is Lava, Season 2: Released June 3 on Netflix
Physical, Season 2: Premieres June 3 on Apple TV+
The Boys, Season 3: Premieres June 3 on Amazon Prime
P-Valley, Season 2: Premieres June 3 on Starz
Roswell, New Mexico, Season 4: Premieres June 6 on The CW
American Ninja Warrior, Season 14: Premieres June 6 on NBC
In The Dark, Season 4: Premieres June 6 on The CW
Upcoming new releases:
This is Going to Hurt: Premieres June 2 on AMC+/Sundance Now
Irma Vep: Premieres June 6 on HBO Max
Ms. Marvel: Premieres June 8 on Disney+
Queer as Folk: Premieres June 9 on Peacock
The "Made for Love" recommendation is spot on, thank you! The cover art and the trailer just did not appeal to me on casual browsing but, after reading your review I gave it a shot. I loved it and am already caught up to season 2.