📺 Animal Control, The Consultant, and Liaison
Welcome back to Thursday. A few anticipated shows and seasons arrive(d) on our streaming services this week. Season 3 of The Mandalorian hit Disney+ yesterday, Daisy Jones and the Six drops on Prime Video tomorrow, and You Season 4 Part 2 will be up on Netflix before our next newsletter.
But let’s focus on the now. We’ve got comedy, satire, and thriller content to review for you this afternoon. Happy reading, happy watching.
In today’s edition:
Animal Control
The Consultant
Liaison
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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In this segment we each give our take on the same show. Will we see eye to eye?
Animal Control
Keywords: workplace comedy, sitcom, Joel McHale
Watch if you like: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Mr. Mayor, Superstore
Length: 30-min runtime, 3 episodes out so far with a new one each Thursday on FOX (Friday on Hulu)
Watch on: FOX/Hulu
Joel McHale (Community) is back on primetime TV with a new workplace comedy set in an animal control precinct in Seattle. The sitcom follows a reliable formula that we’ve seen before, with a group of mostly unenthused employees going about their day, dealing with in-office shenanigans and on-the-job hijinks.
There’s something comforting about a show that sticks to a familiar structure, and admittedly I’m a sucker for a workplace sitcom. The in-jokes, the will-they-won’t-they flirtationships, the familiarity amongst people that may not actually like each other but have to spend most of their waking hours together — it’s a (mostly) fool-proof recipe for comedy.
Animal Control hit the ground running in its pilot episode with a crew of characters that seem to already have good chemistry and comedic timing together — something you often have to wait a season or two to get from a new sitcom. Joel McHale isn’t straying too far from his Jeff Winger character here, but the rest of the cast (the highlight being Vella Lovell of Mr. Mayor) bring new quirks and zaniness to the table.
The show did make me laugh quite a few times in its first two episodes, and I’m cautiously optimistic that this could become a solid comedy in my rotation. It just needs to lean into the humor originating from the ensemble cast, and not so much from the animal gags.
Jess’s Rating: B
I went into this series extremely skeptical, but quickly found myself opening up to the possibility that Animal Control might actually be kind of….good.
The show does a great job right off the bat of introducing characters (and relationships) that I’m already excited to root for. McHale is treading familiar ground as misanthropic team leader and ex-cop Frank, and the interactions with his optimistic rookie parter, Shred (who reminds me of a cross between Brett Dier and Andy Samberg) are very cute. The chemistry of the rest of the ensemble is solid, too. My main criticism is that the animal-related gags — central to the show’s premise, I suppose — go over the top pretty often and unfortunately don’t lend very much to the overall humor of the series.
However, if they can keep up the momentum they’ve already set with these first two episodes and tone down the cartoonish animal-related bits, I think this show will be a winner.
Jenni’s Rating: B
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
The Consultant
Keywords: psychological thriller, mystery, satire
Watch if you like: Black Mirror, Russian Doll, Maniac
Jess’s Rating: C-
The Consultant is a psychological thriller that satirizes the corporate experience. The story begins when a dramatic event disturbs the workforce of an LA-based tech/gaming company, and a consultant (Christoph Waltz) mysteriously shows up to improve the business.
The first episode of the series is a wild ride, and sets the tone for a show that will be part puzzle-box mystery, part dark comedy. However, the rest of the episodes don’t deliver on that promise. What starts out as absurdism becomes earnest solemnity, and the questions that are posed early on never get answers.
One bright spot is that Christoph Waltz is, as always, incredible to watch. He gives a fully committed performance as a psychopathic boss. Unfortunately, he is carrying the entire show on his back, and there are limits to what a single person can do. There are some memorable moments, and the show is aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately The Consultant is just an allegory wrapped in vibes, with not much actual plot.
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 8 episodes
Watch on: Prime Video
Liaison
Keywords: espionage, thriller, British-French
Watch if you like: Homeland, 24, Bourne Trilogy, Tehran
Jenni’s Rating: D+
Liaison, created by Virginie Brac and Ollie Butcher, is a British-French thriller following two agents — and former lovers — who find themselves reunited in combat of cyberattacks threatening the United Kingdom. Or…are they trying to protect the foreign hackers who have supposedly stolen crucial and dangerous information?
It’s hard to work out who wants what and who the viewer is supposed to care about in the first episode. The action shifts rapidly from Syria, to France, to the UK, and the first 45-minutes is a convoluted mess of government officials, hired contractors, and foreign ministers with differing but *very important* agendas. There’s somehow so much going on, but also nothing very original. It feels a lot like all the political thrillers I’ve avoided in the past: violent, high-stakes, with generic middle eastern “terrorists” and an existential threat to a Western government. Throw in the freelance operative with a troubled past and a conflict-of-interest romance and we’ve got ourselves a cookie cutter (though muddy) espionage drama.
I’ll be honest, this genre is not my usual brand of entertainment, so do with that what you will. But also know that I think if it were my genre of choice, I’d be a bit bored and disappointed by the lack of substance and ingenuity in first episode of Liaison.
Length: 60-min runtime, 1 season / 1 episode so far, with new ones every Friday
Watch on: Apple TV+
Your shows, returned:
Sex/Life, Season 2: Premieres March 2 on Netflix
Next in Fashion, Season 2: Premieres March 3 on Netflix
Grand Crew, Season 2: Premieres March 3 on NBC
The Voice, Season 23: Premieres March 6 on NBC
Perry Mason, Season 2: Premieres March 6 on HBO
You, Season 4 Part 2: Premieres March 9 on Netflix
Top Chef, Season 20: Premieres March 9 on Bravo
Upcoming new releases:
Daisy Jones and the Six: Premieres March 3 on Prime Video
History of the World: Part II: Premieres March 6 on Hulu
Rain Dogs: Premieres March 6 on HBO
How did it take me this long to discover this newsletter? As someone who has a crazy detective Notion board to keep track of shows, this is a game changer <3