Idiot Boxing: Aggretsuko, season 1 (2018); GLOW, season 2 (2018)

The usually demure, cute red panda Retsuko, screaming out
her work frustrations at her favorite karaoke parlor. The
lyrics can be hilariously straightforward.

Aggretsuko, season 1 (2018)

A delightfully playful, satirical take on single working life in Japan, with a hilarious dash of cathartic rage.

Aggretsuko's first season is comprised of ten 15-minute episodes. They follow Retsuko, red panda in a Japan populated by anthropomorphic animals of all varieties: gorillas, dogs, cats, lizards, and dozens of others. Retsuko herself is a low-level accountant in a typically hierarchical large Japanese company. As a 25-year old woman in the still rigidly-structured Japanese corporate culture, the quite and cute little accountant has to deal with her bosses foisting unfair workloads on her, as well as the typical under-estimations of her skills and value to the company. Though the cultural pressures prevent Retsuko from speaking up and complaining, she finds release in frequently going alone to karaoke bars and belting out loud, obnoxious death metal songs. Here, she can scream her lungs out to exorcise the demons which she can't release in public.

The show is not much of a commitment, and my wife and I found it consistently hilarious. I actually lived and worked in Japan for two years, though not in a large city and not for a large company like Retsuko. Still, one only needs a passing knowledge of traditional Japanese business culture and gender roles to see the humor in the show. Retsuko's quest for professional satisfaction and a boyfriend are fairly universal desires. And the show creator and writer - known only by the mononym "Rarecho" - has an excellent sense of balancing certain characters' restrained anger with the more eruptive moments of fury. On its surface, this animated show has the kawaii (cute) exterior one would expect from anime (the show is produced by the Sanryo company, which is responsible for the ultra-cute Hello Kitty line of products). This seemingly harmless veneer covers up the very real angst felt by Retsuko and several of her friends and coworkers.

I'm looking forward to the second season, set to release sometime in 2019.

The "Gorgeous Ladies" will have to face more than a few new
challenges as they try to build momentum for their fledging
show. And garish costumes can only help so much.

GLOW, season 2 (2018)

Season two of GLOW - the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling - continues and even improves upon many of the strengths of the initial one.

At the end of season one, the GLOW wrestlers have shown just enough success to justify getting their own set, a season's worth of shows, and a prime TV slot. Of course, scripting and performing a wrestling show can be much easier than it seems. While the ladies had gotten their wrestling and acting skills up to a respectable level, they now find themselves having to ratchet up the intensity. Show runner and director Sam Silva (Marc Maron) is just as on edge and irritable as ever, and he goes on a power trip to ensure that he maintains control over the show. He also limits how many matches will be on each episode, forcing the women to up their creativity and boldness with their wrestling moves. On top of that, several of the women are dealing with personal issues outside of the ring, including divorce, overly zealous fandom, and losing the respect of family members due to their negatively-stereotyped wrestling characters.

This second season went right to the places that I was hoping at the end of the first. With all of the primary players now know, the new season is able to dig deeper into several of the women's personal lives. Of course, we see more of the tense dynamic between Ruth (Alison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin), which is paced and told very well. In addition, we have a very thoughtful episode focused on Tamee (Kia Stevens) as she reckons with her controversial wrestling character "Welfare Queen." There is also a solid story arc with Sam and his newly-discovered daughter, Justine (Britt Baron), who had been a hopeful wrestler in the previous season. All of these stories are balanced and work together extremely well, with just the right balance of drama and humor. Through the season, I didn't feel that there was a single moment or storyline that didn't serve either a comedic or narrative purpose - a flaw than plenty of other Netflix shows haven't been able to avoid (I'm looking at you, Marvel Netflix shows).

Anyone not familiar with the show is of course best served to watch from the very beginning. With a very manageable twenty episodes of roughly 25 minutes each, it's no great commitment to get the full story. And it's a story that's worth it. 

Idiot Boxing: The Defenders (2017); Ballers, season 2 (2016)

The Defenders (2017)

One of Netflix's better offerings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), even if it misses the mark in a few areas.

In the first Avengers-style team up of the Netflix Marvel characters, The Defenders brings together the four grittier heroes introduced on the streaming service - Matt Murdock (a.k.a. Daredevil), Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand (a.k.a. the Iron Fist). Each one is a hero is his or her own way, but they all have demons lurking in their closets. All four are residents of New York City, where the nefarious and shadowy organization The Hand has been secretly exerting control for centuries. The four of them, each in their own ways, comes across The Hand's plot to essentially level New York in order to obtain a mysterious, magical substance from beneath the city's surface. Reluctantly, the quartet band together to stop The Hand, including their deadliest weapon - the assassin Black Sky, who happens to be Murdock's former lover, Elektra Natchios.

I found that The Defenders got many of the necessary elements right. The story finally fills in several details about The Hand and their dark plots which had been teased in the Daredevil and Iron Fist series. We finally learn more about the vicious and diminutive Madame Gao, the presumed dead Bakuto, and the other three "Fingers," who together with Gao and Bakuto make up The Hand's leadership. The show also brings to a conclusion story lines which were left dangling at the end of Daredevil's second season and Iron Fist's first. In fact, The Defenders can very much be considered Daredevil season 2.5. Unfortunately, the show also further highlights some major shortcomings in the first season of Iron Fist, making that entire season feel more like a lame, overly long prequel that one could dub The Defenders season 0.5. All the same, the eight episodes of The Defenders move things along at a good pace, bringing in each of the New York heroes in his or her turn and joining them together quite organically. Once this fully happens, in episode 3, the story clicks along at a satisfying pace that has sometimes been lacking in the other 13-episode, single-hero shows.

Another Netflix Marvel show, another hallway full of hench-
men get beat to hell. This was one of several strong action
sequences in the show - something sorely lacking in its
virtual prequel, Iron Fist.

In addition to the general story and pacing being solid, I found that the characters were handled fairly well. I felt that Matt Murdock and Jessica Jones were written particularly well, feeling very much like the engaging characters who they've been in their solo shows. Oddly, Luke Cage wasn't quite as consistent as I had hoped. He's generally struck me as the deep and silent type, based on the first season of his show earlier this year. While he is often just that in The Defenders, there are moments when he seems a bit more rattled or even unreasonable than he should be. At this point in the MCU, where aliens have attacked several times and other world-threatening forces have arisen and been defeated by god-like superheroes, nobody should be surprised when they are told that organizations like The Hand exist and are trying to exert control over entire megacities. And yet, the writers decided to try and make Luke Cage the skeptic of the group, although he has been shown to be an exceptionally aware and intelligent man in his previous shows. And then there's Danny Rand, the "Immortal" Iron Fist. While he is handled better in The Defenders, he is still by far the least interesting or fleshed out of the quartet. The writers still don't seem to know exactly how to handle him: is he a ferociously angry young man out solely for vengeance? Is he an easy-going, cohesive force who casually throws back Chinese food while the forces of evil gather outside of their hideout? Is he a naive but wise Zen master? They haven't figured this out, though there are some intriguing options for what to do with his character.

The action was some of the best we've seen in the Netflix MCU shows. I can't say it was ever quite on par with some of the best sequences from Daredevil or even a few from Luke Cage, but there are some really fun segments that show off the different abilities and styles of the four heroes. They even worked in a few entertaining "cross-ability" maneuvers, such as Jessica Jones throwing a thug towards Cage, to have him clothesline the poor bastard two feet into the ground.. It was also fun to see Luke Cage simply "tank" hails of oncoming gunfire, while Murdock or Rand literally use his massive frame for shelter before emerging to unleash some vicious martial artistry. Coming on the heels of the woefully tepid fight scenes of Iron Fist, seeing The Defenders get mostly back on track was a relief. I do wish that some of the sequences were better lit and made less use of hyper-quick editing cuts, to let us enjoy the action a bit more, but I found it more than passable.

The Defenders was a success, in my eyes. It juggled several distinct elements and fused them in ways that didn't feel overly forced, and it put together an entertaining tale that was well-suited for an 8-episode series. While it is certainly not terribly accessible to those who haven't seen most or all of the other previous Netflix MCU shows, it should satisfy nearly all fans who have seen and enjoyed them.

Ballers, season 2 (2016)

I had gotten halfway through this season when I grew frustrated and stopped watching for a few months. Fortunately, after I had gone back to it, I found that the show righted the ship fairly well and turned in an enjoyable second season that fans itching for a mature sports show can appreciate.

At the end of the first season, former NFL player-turned-aspiring financial advisor to pro athletes Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and his partner Joe had managed to save a few key clients from slipping away, all while they were seriously considering the risky proposition of setting out to start their own company. Though Spencer's business dealings mostly fall back into line, his health issues continue to be problematic - he dodged one bullet by having a CT scan on his brain turn up negative, but his hip is causing him greater and greater discomfort, leading to higher and more furtive use of prescription painkillers.

These victories and demons follow Spencer into season two, which jumps forward a little less than a year after the first season. Spencer's roster of athletes is still relatively small, including dynamic and quixotic characters like Ricky Jerret and Vernon Littlefield. Spencer and Joe also roll the dice on a very talented but massively abrasive NFL prospect, Travis Mack. All the while, several nasty skeletons from Spencer's playing days' closet are laid bare when he tries to take down a powerful rival in the pro athlete financial advising business. By the end of the season, Spencer is broken down in several ways, clinging to a few shreds of hope that he can have some sort of post-playing days career.

As stated above, I had actually been worried about this show after the first few episodes, as it seemed like it was turning into little more than a showcase for lifestyles of the fictional rich and famous, and celebrity athlete cameos. However, once I went back to it, I was glad to see that the season's arc went back to the drama surrounding Spencer's pride, his injuries, and his desperate attempts to keep several massive egos in check, including his own. The final episode features a straightforward speech given by a tattered, bedraggled Spencer, which actually has some power to it.

A beaten-down Joe and Spencer take stock after dropping
several of the balls they'd been juggling, then going on a
bender. The show's at its best when these guys fail and end
up showing some vulnerability.

I have enjoyed how this show truly has stuck to the off-the-field aspects of professional sports, rather than going the typical route of building each season around a corresponding sports season. That latter approach always leans heavily on the ready-made drama of a player or team's attempts to succeed at their chosen sport. Ballers, in contrast, looks almost exclusively at how such athletes may succeed or fail in any and every other aspect of their lives, be it personal or financial. No, it doesn't do it with the gravity of a well-made documentary, but it's still a unique blend of fun and drama that scratches the itch of anyone who is into sports and the industries built around them.

I can't say that Ballers is an earth-shattering, must-see show for anyone. It is, however, a fun little foray into a vibrant world, with as charismatic and capable a ring-leader as one could imagine in Dwayne Johnson. It's a great lead-in to the upcoming football season, to be sure. I've already dived right into the current season, the show's third. 

Idiot Boxing: Orphan Black, season 4 (2016); Ballers, season 1 (2015)

Orphan Black, season 4 (2016)

A quality return to the strong roots of the show, after what I found to be an overly expansive third season.

In the wake of the overwhleming revelations about more Lida clones, in addition to a whole parcel of psychotic, soldier Castor clones in season 3, season 4 gets back to some of the basics laid out in the first season. Namely, what Neolution was ever truly after, and how Sarah and her sisters can avoid death via the latent illness built into their DNA. Blessedly, the tale narrows its focus more on a smaller amount of characters and goes back to the very beginning of the story and even before, when we get to see what led up to Beth Childs's suicide - the event which drew Sarah into the entire affair way back in the pilot episode.

I have to admit that, after not having watched the show since the end of the previous season, it helped that the pace slowed down and returned to familiar territory. Later in this season, my mind was actually racing to recall certain characters and events which I hadn't seen or thought about in at least a year, but starting this fourth season a bit more slowly was a great help. And while the end of this season did raise a few puzzling questions and may not have offered the satisfaction that you might hope for from a season finale, the pieces are clearly in place for the fifth season - reportedly the shows last.

Sarah (left) and relative newcomer to "Clone Club," Crystal.
The bimbo Crystal is definitely a comic relief, but they don't
overdo her presence - just one of many examples of how this
season gets the tricky balancing act of the show correct.

The story in season 4 focuses more on the power struggle within Neolution regarding the future of their genetic engineering and eugenics projects. The primary players are the young a eerily exotic-looking Evie Cho, and Lida clone Rachel Duncan, who is still recovering from her attack at the hands of Sarah. As Evie and Rachel try to out-maneuver one another, Sarah and her sisters attempt to uncover more truths about their place in the entire affair. While the plot points can get a bit convoluted at times, the important points clarify by season's end.

Like many such briskly-paced thrillers, Orphan Black will occasionally make use of the speed of its narrative to gloss over actions or points that don't always add up. Characters will sometimes act in ways that do not show the intelligence or foresight that their characters are meant to possess, usually in the name of creating interesting dynamics or moving the plot forward. Fortunately, these aspects do not hamstring the show, as they are usually relatively minor points that never sabotage the major themes or motivations.

It's almost a given at this point, but the acting is tremendous. Tatiana Maslany hasn't slackened a bit in her acting gymnastics of playing seven different, very distinct clones. She finally won an Emmy for it, as well, which is beyond well-deserved, if not a year or two late. The rest of the cast holds just as well, but Maslany truly is the show.

I was really pleased with this season. After season three, which had expanded the character roster and scope to almost dizzying size, I was afraid that I was watching a show that had no real end-game plan and was just spinning out ideas in order to keep the show running for as long as they could. Season four, however, showed that there was always a clear plan in mind, and the show is heading towards its ultimate resolution. If the final season even comes close to living up to this promise, this will become a classic of modern speculative fiction.

Ballers, season 1 (2015)

It's not a game-changing, mind-blowing sports drama/comedy, but Ballers had just enough surprises to be engaging.

Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a recently-retired former star NFL linebacker Spencer Strasmore, the show follows "Spence", who is based in Miami, as he tries to forge a new career as a financial planner for current NFL players. The show draws on the antics of rich, immature athletes for much of its entertainment value. A fist fight in a club over a verbal insult. Raucous parties with booze, drugs, and women. More than one athlete too self-absorbed to realize how ridiculous his behavior is. These are not exactly new grounds being broken. While I didn't find many of the athletes' antics particularly hilarious or revelatory, I will admit that there are more than a few good lines of dialogue sprinkled in.

Rather than the inside look at the daily insanity of the lives of some wealthy pro athletes, it is the character of Spence and what revolves around him that gives the show a dash of novelty. Spence represents that segment of athletes that make for the sadder stories. The gifted athlete who forged a great career, but has far less to show for it than he probably should. Although very accomplished as a player, Spence has very little of the financial security that other modern athletes of his caliber ought to have. His attempt to forge a new career as a financial planner seems to be a form of redemption as much as a way to pay his bills. In trying to find his very first clients, he sees men not much younger or further from their post-playing days than Spence is, and he is trying to help them avoid the mistakes that he made. This is, of course, easier said than done when dealing with extremely competitive, egotistical personalities. The drama arising from Spence's attempts to make his clients, and sometimes their delusional entourages, see the light is often compelling, humorous, or both. One memorable example is watching Spence's incredulity when having to tell one of his star clients why its not a good idea to be snorting cocaine off of a woman's breasts in front of dozens of people on a party boat. Such scenes' humor is often carried by Dwayne Johnson's acting and wonderfully expressive face, which bears every ounce of frustration that a parent would have trying to talk sense into a four year old. The Rock has shown his acting chops before this, and Ballers just further confirms that he is far more than just a tall pile of muscles.

Spence and Ricky Jerret, Spence's most volatile client. Much
of this first season focuses on Spence working to not only get
Ricky a solid contract but also helping Ricky avoid acting
like an adolescent in ways that harm his brand.

Another unexpected layer is that Spence himself is also dealing with the physical toll left by his many years playing football. The concern hovering over Spence for much of this first season is the possibility of head trauma - a condition for which he is highly reluctant to get checked out. While the resolution does come, it offers a rather palatable outcome that perhaps undercuts the seriousness of this issue. I only hope that it is revisited in future episodes, if not with Spence directly, then with one or more of his clients. There is also the Spence's ongoing use/abuse of painkilling medication, which is not fully addressed in this season, but is clearly presented as an issue which will be further explored.

I actually liked this first season more than I had expected, although it is hardly breaking breaking any new ground. While it is interesting to focus on the off-the-field issues of professional athletes, much of Ballers is relatively light fare, some but not all of which is entertaining. I'll be checking out the second season to see how it evolves, and if it lives up to the potential this first season shows. 

New(ish) Releases (2015): Creed & Man Up

Creed

Director: Ryan Coogler

Very well-done chapter that lives up to its classic, original forebear.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Creed so much is that I knew very little about it going in. In that spirit, I won't reveal more than the basics. Michael B. Jordan plays Adonis Johnson, son of Apollo Creed, one of the greatest boxers in this fictional world, before he was killed in the ring. Adonis has rather atypical motivations for fighting, and he seeks out his father's former rival and friend, Rocky Balboa, in an attempt to find a trainer.

The story is presented and plays out with enough surprises to feel fresh. Yes, it hits many of the marks that you expect in a Rocky movie, but nothing comes off as stale. Thanks to some crisp writing and excellent direction, nothing feels overdone or sentimental. Director Ryan Coogler clearly has such a love and respect for Stallone's original film that he was able to draw inspiration from the very best parts of that iconic movie. The stakes to the title character feel very high on a personal, emotional level, and this carries through right until the end.

The fight scenes are done extremely well. In fact, I'm willing to say that they are the best of any Rocky movie, and among some of the best in boxing movie history. It's a sport that can be beautiful and brutal, in turns, and this is exhibited with great skill in the several fights carried out in the narrative.

Apparently there is a Creed 2 in the works, which might be a complete mess. Whatever happens with it, Creed is a great sports movie that I think even non-sports fans can appreciate.

Man Up

Director: Ben Palmer

Rom-coms are certainly not me genre. Man Up, however, is among the most enjoyable that I've ever seen.

This was an easier sell to me than most rom-coms, thanks to the presence of Simon Pegg and Lake Bell. Pegg is a well-known and highly respected quantity in the nerd world, where I often dwell. I also know Bell from her sly, hilarious writing and star role in 2013's In A World..., which looked at the odd and male-dominated niche world of movie trailer voice-over narrators. Man Up quickly repaid my faith, as Bell's character Nancy, a professional journalist, is very quickly established as a woman looking to overcome her reticence and skepticism to find romance. Her impish nature takes over when she decides to steal a blind date from a mildly pestering, overly cheerful young lady she meets on a train. When Nancy is mistaken for the young woman by Jack (Simon Pegg) at the train station, Nancy decides to roll with it. This is perhaps not the most imaginative of comic setups, but it more than suffices for this tale, which gets stronger as it unfolds.

As Jack starts to reveal more about his life, Nancy keeps up her charade, wavering between distaste and attraction towards Jack. Unlike most rom-coms, which tend to take place over several days, weeks, or even months, Man Up hits all of the genre's marks in an unhurried tale which covers about 4 or 5 hours. And it does it by taking some amusing left turns, as it reveals traits in both aspiring singles which are both admirable and off-putting, while sometimes quite dark. Both Nancy and Jack come off feeling more genuine than most rom-com characters I've seen, lending a mature tone I often find lacking. There is an exploration of the romantic versus the practical notions of companionship which, while not novel, is handled deftly enough to remain engaging. What I appreciated as much as as anything is that neither Jack nor Nancy is pigeonholed as "the woman" or "the man". Yes, each one exhibits a few of the traits ascribed to their sex by stereotypes, but each one also contradicts them in several ways through their words and actions.

Of course, what is a rom-com without the "com"? The humor in Man Up is steady and solid, running the gamut from effective sight gags to dry sarcasm, with a healthy dose of blue, R-rated dialogue for spice. In keeping with the theme of breaking certain stereotypes, each of the main pair give as good as they get. This is a balance that is very welcome in a class of movie which often plays things rather safe, in terms of breaking out of preexisting character types.

There is certainly not an abundance of romantic comedies which I would gladly watch again. Man Up just made that short list of mine.