This month’s watchlist is as varied as this list can get. Coincidentally, the three shows are all on the same platform, Apple TV. The shows themselves, however, are as different from each other as a bright sunny day in winter with butterflies of all colours flying around is from a dark, stormy night with mayhem and destruction all around that makes you feel like doomsday has arrived.
DISCLAIMER
Let’s get the doom and gloom out of the way first, shall we? If you are anything like me, Cate Blanchett’s presence itself should be enough for you to tune into the show. However, once you do tune in, you will realise that the casting of the show is in fact one of its greatest strengths because every single actor on the show is impeccable, which in turn ensures that every single character leaves a mark.
Blanchett predictably is brilliant as Catherine Ravenscroft, a television documentary journalist who finds her life, family and reputation starting to fall apart when the sins of her past come back to haunt her in the form of a novel where she is the primary character. There are other brilliant acting performances too, be it Sacha Baron Cohen, known mostly for his trademark dark, borderline offensive comedy, playing a loving husband who is starting to understand that his beloved wife is hiding quite a few skeletons in the cupboard or Kevin Kline as the bereaved father and widower who has dedicated his remaining years to avenging his family.
Leila George as young Catherine is the embodiment of the phrase, “femme fatale”. The story, which is essentially a revenge plot, is told using a non-linear narrative — as is quite common now for this genre. The intrigue and hype surrounding the show can also be traced back to its creator and director, Alfonso Cuarón, who had previously directed Gravity, Roma, Children of Men and this time adapted Renee Knight’s novel for the screen. His masterstroke lies perhaps in the atmospheric depiction of the story. Along with his cinematographers Bruno Delbonnel and Emmanuel Lubezki and his music director Finneas O’Connell, he creates a world where it becomes extremely easy for the audience to empathise with the characters on-screen, especially when it comes to Kline’s Stephen Brigstocke, whose anger, loneliness and grief start to feel like your own.
Disclaimer is certainly not an easy watch. The depictions of grief and loss are so real and almost tangible that they will make you squirm and after a certain point, everything turns grey as the lines between right and wrong start to blur. However, by then you will be so invested, perhaps disturbed too, that you will not be able to let go of the show before you know how it concludes for sure.
TRYING
Trying is proof that sometimes you can engage the audience without a convoluted plot, without twists and turns at every step. You can tell a simple, slice-of-life story with seemingly ordinary people as your central characters and still win hearts as long as yours is in the right place, because that is essentially what this show is — it’s all heart.
Jason (Rafe Spall) and Nikki (Esther Smith) are in love and are ready to start a family of their own. More than anything in the world, they want a child. However, in a cruel twist of fate, they are biologically incapable of conceiving. The only door open to them now is that of adoption, an option that carries its own set of complications. For the adoption panel to consider them fit to be parents, they not only need to make drastic changes to their own lives but also prove that they have a strong support system in the form of friends and family.
Except in Jason and Nikki’s case, their family and circle of friends consist of the oddest goofballs. Both Spall and Smith are perfect as the protagonists Jason and Nikki respectively, portraying their flaws and quirks to perfection, yet managing to endear themselves to the viewer. What really wins you over are the supporting characters. There is hardly any character on the show who doesn’t add to the overall feel-good nature that is its mainstay. One has to mention Imelda Staunton as Penny Wootton, the social worker attached to Jason and Nikki’s case.
Penny is the personification of a warm, reassuring hug and Staunton plays her perfectly. Although the story doesn’t go beyond exposition to delve into her life, it leaves you wanting to know her more, know her better. I could go on about the cast and other characters, but it would be better if I just leave you with this much — Penny is just an example. There are several beautifully written and brilliantly performed characters on the show who are so real that they will remind you of your own friends and family, or maybe even of certain facets of your own being.
One of the main reasons for that is that the dialogue on the show doesn’t feel like dialogue, even though they are replete with humour and exaggeration. Somehow, they will still feel like conversations we have almost every day. This is the reason I feel that the writers are the real heroes of the show. Trying is also another example of how British comedy is in general far superior and more intellectually engaging than their American counterparts. In a nutshell, Trying is slice of life, Trying is mush — without being mushy, Trying is beautiful.
SHRINKING S02
The new season has dropped and I want to recommend it once again. We are already familiar with the primary characters of the show but while most of the first season was invested in establishing the character arcs and conflicts, and most of those conflicts seemed to have been resolved in the first season itself, the second season has certainly upped the stakes. In the first season, we met Jimmy (Jason Segel) a psychiatrist trying to keep his life from unravelling after losing his wife in a car accident. On the other end of the prism, we had Paul (Harrison Ford), Jason’s colleague and idol, who was trying to cope with Parkinson’s. The common thread between the two was how both of them had unwillingly and unintentionally started alienating themselves while reeling from their respective crises.
The central crisis of the show this time around, is the resurfacing of Lois, the man whose inebriation caused the fatal accident that killed Tia, Jimmy’s wife. Jimmy starts to spiral when amidst another crisis he finds himself face-to-face with the man responsible for the death of his wife. Paul, on the other hand, is still trying to come to terms not only with his disease but also with the fact that he has found love yet again, this late in his life. While a part of him wants to give in and let love take over, his commitment issues and habitual isolation start restraining him.
Shrinking is a beautiful analogy for the human condition. Psychiatrists are often our last chance at redemption. We believe they can help us get out of our own ways and find bliss or peace at the very least. However, we often forget that the very people we look to for answers are human too. They have their own troubles, their own crises, their own rock bottoms. Shrinking is a role reversal of sorts in that respect as it puts the analysts under our observation, and what a beautiful lens we look at them through.
NOTE: At the time of writing this article, Shrinking is four episodes into season two, Trying has concluded its fourth season and Disclaimer is five episodes into its first season.
