Five Series to Binge-Watch on Netflix (that I haven't seen yet)

 

 

 

I may have mentioned before that I have watched the 1990s version of House of Cards (which is awesome and I would recommend it to literally anyone) over and over again so I’m interested to see how the Americans have ruined adapted the series. I’m already noticing a difference with the name. (Underwood? Was Urquhart too difficult to spell? Actually never mind, I had to google the spelling) but the plot looks mostly the same, just adapted for American politics. What I really want to know is whether the whole taking over politics thing is Underwood’s idea or his wife’s. In the original series, his wife (called Elizabeth) was the manipulator, planting little ideas in her husband’s head, and I want to see that carry over into this new series.

 

 

 

 

When it comes to online trends, I’m usually several months behind the pack but I simply haven’t had time to see the prison drama yet. All I know is that a new inmate who I don’t think has served time before and is also possibly a socialite is forced to do porridge. Oh and the prisoners talk in this weird American prison slang (I learnt that from a Ricky Gervais advert!). It may or may not feature lesbian romances and almost certainly features the new inmate in the shower apparently taking too long. OK so I watched the first few seconds. That doesn’t mean I’ve seen the tv series.

 

 

 

 

I’m told the period drama focuses on famous explorer Marco Polo’s journey to heretofore unknown parts. I believe I also read somewhere that he’s setting out to find his father although what his father could be doing in these heretofore unknown parts is a mystery in itself. I’ve seen a trailer and the settings used and people showcased here are interesting and intriguing enough for me to at least watch the first episode. The episode list on Wikipedia is getting me all excited (Episode 5 is called ‘Hashshashin’! Wasn’t that an ancient order of assassins?) so I want to see how they weave history with story. Or more importantly, which parts of history they weave with story.

 

 

 

Confession: I was never the biggest Breaking Bad fan but even I took a liking to dodgy lawyer Saul Goodman. I don’t know how he was presented during the later seasons but when he was introduced in season 3, I liked his charm and charisma, his efforts to get the main characters out of the scrapes they’d manage to get themselves in and the fact that he was the only character who ever smiled so I can see why Vince Gilligan ultimately decided to write a spinoff. The bad news for me is that the spin off takes the form of a prequel (and I detest prequels) although apparently it somehow covers the events of Breaking Bad and the after-effects. Maybe we’re flashing back to a particular event each week. That doesn’t sound so bad.

 

 

 

 

On its Wikipedia page, the show is described as ‘James Bond meets Arrested Development’ and as a huge fan of the latter, I’m looking forward to seeing the series. I don’t know much about the plot but what I do know is enough to have me interested. A master spy working at ISIS (no, not that one!) is having to deal with cases of global espionage and the fact that his mother (the wonderfully awesome Jessica Walter) is also his boss. Apart from that, the page has little-to-no information on the plot.

 

 

So ends the most uninformed blog post ever (apart from the bits I got from that fount of all knowledge: Wikipedia). Good thing that was the point, right? At least writing this blog post has got me stoked for a good old-fashioned Netflix binge. The bad news is I’m not going to have time to watch all these series, am I? Always a downside.