📺 We call her the log lady
My log will have something to say about this
We’re a week into fall! The two of us spent last weekend in the same place for once, making festive drinks and watching some of our favorite autumnal content. We even recorded an episode on our top 10 spooky/cozy season shows and movies for the Double Take Podcast, so keep an eye out for that this weekend.
In today’s edition:
Andor
Great British Bake Off
Dark
Twin Peaks
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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Listen to the Double Take Podcast: Spotify / Apple
Our thoughts on brand new shows that we watched, and where you can watch them.
Andor
Keywords: Star Wars origin story, gritty, action
Watch if you like: Rogue One, Firefly, Jason Bourne movies
Jess’s Rating: C+
Andor is a prequel to the movie Rogue One, which was a prequel to the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope. That movie followed a group of rebels who banded together to steal the plans to the Death Star. One of those rebels was Cassian Andor, and this new series explores his backstory.
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live in the Star Wars universe, this show gives you that answer. The attention to detail is incredible — hats off to production designer Luke Hull — and the focus on everyday people and their jobs and day-to-day tasks made me feel immersed in this foreign world. The characters are fleshed out and nuanced, which is a nice departure from the usual all-hero or all-villain personas of the SW universe. Another plus: the showrunner, Tony Gilroy, best known for the Bourne movies, has said that he didn’t want to bog Andor down with “fan service.” As someone who doesn’t catch easter eggs and hardly remembers anything from the movies, I appreciate that. Really, if you took out the space travel and aliens, this could be any spy thriller.
So why the C+ (a decent rating from Jenni, maybe, but not so great from me)? All of my negative feelings come from the fact that the series is just REALLY slow-moving. Gilroy himself admits that the first three episodes need to be watched together, and together they equal the length of a feature-film. But if this were a movie, it would be a truly boring one. Andor has a great cast and excellent world-building, but I need them to pick up the pace a bit.
Length: ~45-min runtime, 4 episodes available now with new ones each Wednesday
Watch on: Disney+
Where we give our takes on reality TV and give these unscripted shows a time to shine.
Great British Bake Off
Keywords: feel-good, baking, competition-reality
Jenni’s Rating: A
The latest season of The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) has finally arrived and I think we’re all the better for it. In the off chance that you somehow have escaped knowledge of this delight of a series, GBBO is a competition-style show that seeks to determine the best amateur baker in Britain. Each week, the contestants compete by creating desserts and baked goods dictated by a theme — there’s a cake week, a biscuit week, a pastry week…you get the gist.
While there is an elimination at the end of every episode, GBBO is somehow the least stressful, least aggressively competitive competition reality show you will ever consume. Contestants regularly help each other out when there’s a crunch for time, and the focus is much more on the food itself and the joy in creating (and eating) something both beautiful and delicious than any rivalry.
The program always has two comedian hosts in addition to judges Paul and Prue (in previous seasons, Mary Berry) and this year sees the return of my fave, Noel Fielding, and Bridesmaids alum Matt Lucas. Put this on in the background while you’re cooking or cleaning or if you need to just feel a little joy. I have only ever felt better after watching The Great British Bake Off.
Length: 60-min runtime, 13 seasons / 130 episodes, new episodes of season 13 every Friday
Watch on: Netflix
Where we highlight shows that have ended or been canceled, and are well-worth digging back up.
Dark (2017-2020)
Keywords: mystery thriller, supernatural, German
Watch if you like: Stranger Things, The OA, Fringe
Jenni’s Rating: A-
Time travel paradoxes, star-crossed lovers, an ominous mystery to solve — this show has it all. If you’re on the hunt for an excellently eerie drama to get you in the mood for spooky season, oh boy do I have the creepy, intricate, mind-bending show for you.
The first few episodes of this German series feel somewhat similar in tone and setup to Stranger Things: a child goes missing in a small town, and a group of local teenagers band together when they notice that something truly weird is going on.
But Dark quickly takes a turn down a much more philosophical route. Relationships in this town are complicated, seemingly everyone has secrets, and the show explores the major theme of free will vs. determinism as four families frantically try to unravel a mystery that spans three generations. If sci-fi noir is a thing, this show is it. The episodes unfold slowly, tensely, and ever ominously, and make it almost impossible to look away until you’ve seen the whole thing through.
This is not a background show or one that allows for any sort of multitasking. Dark demands attention — more so if you don’t happen to speak German. As always, I would strongly encourage you to watch with subtitles, but a dubbed version is available.
One caveat: I write this review without having finished the third and final season, but if my friends and the reviews online are to be believed, the finale does not disappoint.
— Jenni
Length: 60-min runtime, 3 seasons / 26 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
Keywords: drama, mystery, surrealism
Watch if you like: David Lynch films, Search Party, Russian Doll
Jess’s Rating: A
If you’ve watched Twin Peaks before, then you know how hard it is to compare it to anything else. The creator, David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet), has a fairly inimitable imagination. Twin Peaks is a crime drama at the surface level but includes elements of a soap opera, an absurdist comedy, a horror show, and a paranormal thriller all at once.
The first season, released in 1990, follows FBI agent Dale Cooper as he investigates the murder of high school student Laura Palmer in a little logging town called Twin Peaks. Although things seem straightforward at the onset, the facade of provincial normalcy is quickly ripped away to reveal the sinister underbelly of a town with delightfully weird residents. In fact, don’t expect anything to be straightforward; Lynch’s work tends to have a dreamlike quality, which means not everything has a logical explanation.
If you have a tolerance for the bizarre, and you somehow have never seen Twin Peaks, then I would tell you that there’s no time like the present. The dark, eerie atmosphere of the show is the perfect accompaniment to colder weather.
Note: The second season starts and ends well, but with the departure of Lynch in the middle, it’s not nearly as good as the first. And I still haven’t seen the movie or the third season that was released in 2017 😣
— Jess
Length: ~45-min runtime (except for the pilot), 3 seasons / 48 episodes and a movie
Watch on: Paramount+, Showtime
Your shows, returned:
Call Me Kat, Season 3: Premieres September 29 on Fox
CSI: Vegas, Season 2: Premieres September 29 on CBS
Ghosts, Season 2: Premieres September 29 on CBS
Hell’s Kitchen, Season 21: Premieres September 29 on Fox
Welcome to Flatch, Season 2: Premieres September 29 on Fox
Young Sheldon, Season 6: Premieres September 29 on CBS
Ramy, Season 3: Premieres September 30 on Hulu
SNL, Season 48: Premieres October 1 on NBC
The Equalizer, Season 3: Premieres October 2 on CBS
The Walking Dead, Season 11: Returns October 2 on AMC
The Good Doctor, Season 6: Premieres October 3 on ABC
Bling Empire, Season 3: Premieres October 5 on Netflix
Chucky, Season 2: Premieres October 5 on Syfy
Kung Fu, Season 3: Premieres October 5 on The CW
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 19: Premieres October 6 on ABC
Station 19, Season 6: Premieres October 6 on ABC
Walker, Season 3: Premieres October 6 on The CW
Pennyworth, Season 3: Premieres October 6 on HBO Max
Upcoming new releases:
So Help Me Todd: Premieres September 29 on CBS
East New York: Premieres October 1 on CBS
Family Law: Premieres October 2 on The CW
Interview with the Vampire: Premieres October 2 on AMC/AMC+
Reginald the Vampire: Premieres October 5 on Syfy
Alaska Daily: Premieres October 6 on ABC
A Friend of the Family: Premieres October 6 on Peacock
Walker: Independence: Premieres October 6 on The CW