📺 Emily in Paris, Kaleidoscope, and Paul T. Goldman
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In today’s edition:
Kaleidoscope
Emily in Paris
Paul T. Goldman
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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Listen to the Double Take Podcast: Spotify / Apple
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Kaleidoscope
Keywords: heist, drama, crime
Watch if you like: Ocean’s 8/11/12/13, Logan Lucky, Hell or High Water
Jess’s Rating: C
Netflix’s new miniseries, Kaleidoscope, follows a career criminal and his crew as they plan and execute a massive bank heist worth $7 billion. Each episode tells a different part of the timeline: 7 years before the heist, 6 months after the heist, etc. The show also has a unique gimmick — every viewer is delivered the series in a randomized order.
While the concept of a non-linear story with episodes that can be watched in any order is intriguing, Kaleidoscope fails to deliver much more than the original concept. It’s a heist story, and it’s one that we’ve seen before. The non-linear aspect works well enough in that the story is understandable in any order, but the randomization of the episodes ends up feeling contrived. There’s clearly one or two configurations that would be most enjoyable to watch the series in; if you get too many of the climactic episodes early on, the pacing will feel off, and if you get the characters’ backstories too late, they will not be as impactful.
Beyond the questionable gimmick, there’s nothing that interesting about this story. The characterizations are trite, the twists are too little too late, and the heist itself is one of the weakest parts of the show. If you’re looking for the thrill of watching an Ocean’s 8 level heist, you won’t find that here.
— Jess
Length: ~45-min runtime, miniseries / 8 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
These popular shows came back with new episodes. Here’s what we thought, how they compared to previous seasons, and where you can watch them.
Emily in Paris
Keywords: campy, romantic comedy, quirky
Watch if you like: Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, Younger
Jenni’s Rating: C
The latest season of Emily in Paris dropped on Netflix in the last weeks of December and it’s more outrageous than ever. This Darren Star creation follows Chicagoan and social media marketer Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), who moves to France in order to “provide an American point of view” to the well-established French marketing firm her company has just acquired. You can probably guess how well she gets along with her new colleagues. In addition to the work and lifestyle clashes she’s experiencing, Emily also finds her love life has gotten a bit more complicated in the City of Light.
This show is junk food to the extreme. People like it because it’s so ridiculous and campy, and because you don’t have to think very much while watching. Is it so bad it’s good? That all depends on what you’re looking for. I can imagine some folks will find it too silly and fluffy (read: empty and frivolous) to enjoy, but if you, like me, sometimes find it relaxing to sit through mindless, yet visually stimulating romcoms, go on and indulge. Emily in Paris is fun to watch in the way that it’s fun to flip through a fashion magazine from Hudson News at the airport. If I did it too often or if the magazine were just a bit longer, I’d be bored and annoyed and wish I hadn’t forgotten my headphones.
A quick caveat about the third and most recent season, however: I liked it decidedly less than the previous two. I don’t know if the frequent swapping of romantic interests is starting to get to me or if the plot is finally getting too messy for me to stomach.
— Jenni
Length: 30-min runtime, 3 seasons / 30 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
True to our title, in this segment we each give our take on the same show. Will we see eye to eye?
Paul T. Goldman
Keywords: comedy-drama, docu-series, partially unscripted
Watch if you like: Borat, Nathan for You, The Rehearsal
Length: 30-min runtime, 3 episodes out so far, new on Sundays
Watch on: Peacock
Paul T. Goldman is a show that’s been in the works for 10 years and comes to us from director Jason Woliner (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm). Based on a book that Goldman himself wrote about the disillusion of his marriage, the story also includes his mission to takedown his ex-wife’s alleged international crime ring.
Paul plays himself in the show, which weaves in and out of a traditional drama series and the behind-the-scenes process of filming the series. The blend of documentary and dramatization is bizarrely captivating and allows for the show to become a deeper exploration of truth vs. perception.
Like The Rehearsal, there are elements of this series that make me deeply uncomfortable and that feel a bit morally ambiguous. Namely, it’s hard to tell whether Paul is always in on the joke that’s happening on screen. The juxtaposition of a real-time, potentially unreliable narrator within a documentary-style show is incredibly interesting!! But am I a bad person for thinking so?
Whatever my moral standing, I am already hooked on this weird story and need to find out how it all unfolds, so I will definitely be watching the rest.
Jenni’s Rating: B-
I’m always skeptical of documentaries for what their underlying agenda is — what are they manipulating me to feel? But with Paul, the question plays out on the screen: What is Paul’s end goal? Is he trying to be famous? Is he trying to save others from making similar mistakes in the pursuit of love? Is he a reliable narrator? With that uncertainty at the heart of the series, it’s hard to know what to feel, and that’s both its point and its downfall.
Although the mystery at the heart of Goldman’s tale is somewhat intriguing, I can’t help but wonder why I should care about a naïve man who ignored major red flags and was taken advantage of. (To be fair, the first 3 episodes don’t delve much into his ex-wife’s crimes.) But my bigger issue with the series is that it feels exploitative, like Woliner wants us to be in on his joke, with the joke being Goldman.
Jess’s Rating: C+
Your shows, returned:
Ginny and Georgia, Season 2: Premieres January 5 on Netflix
DC’s Stargirl, Season 3: Premieres January 6 on HBO Max
Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Season 3: Premieres January 8 on PBS
Bob’s Burgers, Season 13: Premieres January 8 on Fox
The Cube, Season 2: Premieres January 8 on TBS
Family Guy, Season 21: Premieres January 8 on Fox
Vienna Blood, Season 3: Premieres January 8 on PBS
Name That Tune, Season 3: Premieres January 11 on Fox
Vikings: Valhalla, Season 2: Premieres January 12 on Netflix
The Capture, Season 2: Premieres November 3 on Peacock
Upcoming new releases:
Copenhagen Cowboy: Premieres January 5 on Netflix
The Rig: Premieres January 6 on Prime Video
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches: Premieres January 8 on AMC/AMC+
Alert: Missing Persons Unit: Premieres January 8 on Fox
Koala Man: Premieres January 9 on Hulu
Lingo: Premieres January 11 on CBS
The Traitors: Premieres January 12 on Peacock
Velma: Premieres January 12 on HBO Max