Originally published June 6, 2019
Ep. 1: "Nothing in This World is Easy" - [8/10]
Ep. 2: "The Great Escape" - [8/10]
Ep. 3: "A Warm Body" - [8/10]
Ep. 4: "Alan's Routine" - [9/10]
Ep. 5: "Superiority Complex" - [8/10]
Ep. 6: "Reflection" - [8/10]
Ep. 7: "The Way Out" - [9/10]
Ep. 8: "Ariadne" - [8/10]
Groundhog Day-esque miniseries about a woman who finds her day restarts every time she dies. It's an immaculately produced and very stylish piece of filmmaking, full of sharp dialogue and appealingly coarse performances. Only three directors worked on the show, and all three retain a gorgeously precise visual style, full of careful framing and warm colours. I think what's most remarkable about this show is how smoothly it transitions between comedy and drama, which I think it accomplishes by blending the two together: most of the comedy has a dark undercurrent, and the dramatic scenes are still given some levity by the irreverent dialogue and performances. I actually found several long sequences in this series to have a strange, hazy feel, visually expressing the characters' numerous downward spirals. It's also full of thrilling twists, and yet despite featuring a strong central mystery, it mostly just uses the reset technique as a jumping off point for its fascinating character study, as well as for a wide variety of unpredictable narrative shifts. The mechanics of time travel are never made entirely clear, but perhaps that's for the best, as such stories are best when they don't get bogged down in minutiae. Rather, it's a truly idiosyncratic and at times challenging series, and a lean one as well: a mere half hour per episode over eight episodes. All of that makes it a very compelling binge-watch, but it's also thematically layered and psychologically complex, and it's the show's dramatic integrity that truly sets it apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment