rattfan | New shows I'm watching

It’s a public holiday, so quite peaceful around here for a change. I did get woken up from a nap but that was thanks to a friend’s phone butt-dialling me. I knew it was him because it’s the second time and I don’t think anyone else will be sending me greetings from Quaeda, which is apparently the random word chosen by his phone to leave as a message.

This post is about stuff I’m watching at the moment. I happened to light upon Apple Plus TV, a new streaming service I knew nothing about, simply because I hadn’t yet used their free trial period. They have a very small selection which I didn’t count but I think it’s only around 10 shows, all their originals. Two shows seemed interesting, enough that I did stay after the week’s trial was up so I can finish watching them. I'll put the rest behind cuts because there are mild spoilers for the first few episodes.

One show is called See, features Jason Momoa and is a far future show where everyone is a survivor of a long ago pandemic which left the human race blind. Fantasy elements are twins born who can see, with a mysterious father who can also see and is regarded by the ruling elite as a heretic for propounding “vision,” the sense which destroyed civilisation. There's also an Inquisition that travels around on horses, with hunting dogs, dealing with heretics and “witches.”

I find it interesting to see the show’s take on how a primitive tribe who can’t see gets along, what their workarounds are. My first thought was any sneaky predator, like a big cat or a wolf pack, would just have them for lunch, and indeed they go to huge lengths to avoid/eradicate these. They’d do all right here in Australia until they trod on a snake or spider, but I think they’re supposed to be in what was the USA.

You can pick on any number of things, as always when the subject is a “what if.” I wonder if children could learn to read on their own, when their culture has no tradition of reading to children or even the concept of what books and reading are. I did learn on my own, but I was certainly read to and taught these things. Without that guidance – even with ABC teaching books - could children make the jump? That’s something we have to guess, as the show’s creators did, and the children have to manage it or they’ve got no story.

I don’t want to spoiler it too much and indeed, what I’ve said already are things that are shown or flagged in the first and second episode. There are certainly rather corny elements, but overall I like the characterisation and the story, though there’s one character I absolutely can’t stand. That’s okay, though, I rather think we’re supposed to abhor her.

The other show is called For All Mankind and it’s produced by Ronald D. Moore, who was also behind the remake of Battlestar Galactica. This is an alternate history of the space race, jumping off from the point where the Americans are beaten to the moon by the Russians. It does a very believable ‘60s and ‘70s; people in space, not so much. I’d heard no publicity at all about either show, which is good, I then get to decide for myself. Good stories, perhaps lacking pace for some of it, but interest is sparked when President Nixon decides they need to have women in the program.

There’s believable period sexism, for sure, including attitudes towards gay characters, but I’m not sure, given what I’ve read about the prejudices regarding black Americans during that era, that they’re quite so spot on with those characters. These are at the forefront of my brain right now, having read Hidden Figures and also The Help. I’ll certainly finish watching the eight episodes, ditto for See and then see if there’s anything else on Apple’s selection that might be interesting