krankydoodle

I actually finished watching Light Shop and liked it a lot, to the point where I'm trying to find a show with similar vibes but am not having much luck. I did have some issues with it, though. The last episode, especially, seemed off to me in terms of pacing. There were multiple scenes where I was sure things were wrapping up, only for the story to keep going. I'm also a bit confused about the rules of how the world works. But none of that bothered me much and I really hope there's another season.

I'm new to K Dramas and have had a hard time figuring out where to start, but Light Shop on Hulu caught my eye. It's one of those mystery box-type shows that introduces a lot of characters and storylines without explaining how they're connected, which is just what I love. I watched the first episode and enjoyed it, but I've never seen a show on Hulu that has so many ad breaks and it really kills the eerie vibe. Has anyone else watched it? There's a forum here for it but no posts so far.

I've finished watching the season and will be interested to see what others think of the last episode. I agree with @chitowngirl that some developments were strangely skipped over and am not sure I like some of the choices made that will presumably play out next season. Anyway, I just found out that there's a British remake of the show called Patience starring Laura Fraser in the Raphaëlle role and Ella Maisy Purvis as the title character. I wonder if an American version is in the works too.

I binge watched seasons 4 and 5 and enjoyed it, but boy did the characters really annoy me sometimes. Mike, especially, can be so frustrating. The way he treated the French translator in the episode where they met with potential buyers was so obnoxious. I did appreciate that we got more backstory for some of the other ghosts but I'm not sure how I feel about the finale. Anyway, I think it's interesting that they're already talking about bringing everyone back for a movie (contains spoilers for the final episode).

If the Village People are expecting to get paid by Trump, they shouldn't hold their breath.

Dalgliesh could benefit from longer episodes. When they revealed the murderer at the end of episode 2, I had to struggle to remember who the person was since I think they'd only had 3-4 lines of dialogue until then. The story in episodes 3 & 4 was messy. They dropped a significant plot point from the book that would've explained some of the victim's actions. I don't know about digital smoothing and I've liked Bertie Carvel in other things, but I agree with others that the character doesn't come across as very interesting. My memory of the books is that we spend a lot of time in characters' heads and there aren't a lot of big emotional moments or exchanges, which probably makes them challenging to adapt.

That's fair. I think it plays out differently for me when the characters are played by actors I recognize. It bothered me in Cat Among the Pigeons when he floated an accusation against a character played by Claire Skinner who'd almost just been murdered herself and then hinted at the recent miscarriage she'd been trying to keep secret. I still love Poirot and the show, but those kinds of jabs stood out to me more than when I first watched these episodes.

I've been rewatching some episodes and it really struck me this time how awful Poirot could be to some of the suspects when he gathers everyone together for the final reveal. In Mrs. McGinty's Dead, one of my favorite episodes, he points the finger pretty strongly at two different people before naming the real killer. One was kind of a jerk, but still. I know it's to heighten the tension and draw out the reveal, but the amount of time he spent painting each as the potential killer seemed excessive. Speaking of that episode, I was delighted to find out that there's a Swedish crime-comedy tv show titled Agatha Christie's Hjerson based on Ariadne Oliver's fictional detective. Has anyone watched it? Or listened to Audible's dramatization of The Mysterious Affair at Styles with Peter Dinklage as Poirot? As on Game of Thrones, his accent can be a bit shaky and Rob Delaney gets over the top for me as Alfred Inglethorp, but I thought it was solid overall. It's been a long time since I read the book or watched the tv episode, but I think this makes some minor plot changes and leans darker by spending more time on Hastings's trauma from the war.

I didn't like that Pip was willing to stay quiet about the hit and run accident to protect her friend's sister. Maybe that stuck out to me more because I just watched another mystery series (Whitstable Pearl) where one of the leads has spent years haunted by the unsolved hit and run that killed his wife, but I was a bit surprised that there wasn't more discussion about Pip's decision. I'm in the camp that found Pip and Ravi lacking. Emma Myers is appealing but her accent was shaky and I thought Zain Iqbal was kind of flat. I didn't like a lot of the changes from the book, but I still thought the show was decent enough that I'll probably watch the next season.

If you have Disney+, you should also cancel more than a month before the Black Friday deal. That's how I was deemed ineligible for the Hulu deal this year.

Prime Video has their deals up, but I didn't see an offer for Max. Most of the prices are a little higher than they've been in previous years if I'm remembering right, so like $2.50/month instead of $.99/month. Amazon doesn't seem to be promoting them as much either.

‘Smash’ Musical to Open on Broadway in 2025: "The long-in-the-works musical will begin performances on March 11, 2025, at the Imperial Theatre ahead of opening night on April 10." I rewatched some episodes last year and had a good time, but am surprised there's still so much interest in a show that was cancelled over 10 years ago.

I remember watching an interview with Newt Gingrich years ago where he claimed that violent crime was on the rise. The reporter pushed back saying that FBI data didn't support that and that violent crime across the country was actually down, but he countered that Americans didn't feel that was true so that's what he was going with. I mean what do you even do with that? It's vibes over facts, I guess.

I've turned to mysteries as a distraction. I gave up on The Author's Guide to Murder at about the 20% mark. The main characters were irritating and I didn't care enough about the story to continue. It's about 3 mystery authors who come together to write a book and stumble into a murder investigation where all become suspects. I haven't read any books by the authors (Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White) before but they're apparently pretty popular, so this was disappointing. I'm having better luck so far with Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch about a pony trying to find and get revenge on the owner he thinks abandoned him. When she's accused of a 25-year-old murder that occurred around the same time as their separation when she was just a child, he gets involved in the investigation somehow.

I'm so glad they released all of season 9 at once on BritBox instead of doling them out one at a time. This was another enjoyable set of episodes, though I don't think I'd count any of them as favorites. The final episode was a nice farewell, but I hope--as mentioned in that one--that they do come back with specials.