08 | Weekly Roundup #2
In this issue: Class, The Law According to Lidia Poet, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Glory, and Shadow and Bone (S1-2).
Welcome, welcome!
I hope you’re all well and happy weekend ahead 🕊️
We’re getting back into some of the TV shows/films I watched in the weeks gone by and how they fared. You know the drill — let’s go!
Class
Genre: Crime Drama, Social Commentary
Language: Hindi, English
Gist: An Indian remake of Elite, it follows the dramatic turn of events when three low-income students win a scholarship to study in an uber-lux private school.
Review: What instantly attracted me to Class was its lewk: The color toning, the boujee vibes, and a great Indian class commentary.
As a remake, Class has to narratively replicate about 70% of Elite’s toxic, exaggerated storyline, which gives it a very limited box to work within as certain structural parts of the story can’t really change. Still, it’s easily overlooked when you see how well the show adapts it, not only within an Indian context but for an Indian audience.
I saw a LOT of tweets about how this show is unrelatable, pointing out that the portrayal of elitist Indian rich kids/schools is unrealistic. But just because one hasn’t been exposed to this side of India, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist1. And Class is a notable attempt at highlighting that.
You will like Class if you liked … Elite, The Heirs, Degrassi: Next Class, Outer Banks.
SYWT? It’s worth a watch!
The Law According to Lidia Poët
Genre: Crime Drama
Language: Italian
Gist: A dramatization based on the real-life Lidia Poët, the first modern female lawyer whose fight against her disbarment helped with women’s working rights.
Review: As expected, I’m drawn to any production that has a badass female lead and Lidia Poët is just that! To my happy, happy surprise, I later found out she was a real person!
The best part about this show is how genuine it is, and I’m not talking about just sticking to the facts about Lidia’s life. There’s no sugarcoated moment of triumph — Lidia gets knocked down repeatedly and is shown no compassion, given no support. When you get to the end of S1, it is ascertained that life is hardly fair for the fairer sex, and watching Lidia navigate that is inspiring indeed. Like I said, she’s like the Khaleesi of the 19th-century Italian law world.
You will like The Law According to Lidia Poët if you liked … Enola Holmes, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Queen’s Gambit, Queen of the South.
SYWT? Definitely check this out.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Genre: Superhero
Language: English
Gist: The Shazam family returns to face a new threat: the Daughters of Atlas. Can Billy Batson defeat the fury of literal gods as he navigates growing out of his teen life?
Review: Objectively, I was “entertained” by the movie so that explains the score. Decent visuals, decent jokes. But was it a good movie? Nah.
The competition is tough enough with a superhero movie coming out every few months & the dearth of ways to make them unique or even interesting. What Shazam! had going for it was its bubbly cast who were dealing with issues that are not normally depicted in superhero movies: the foster care system, found families, puberty, etc.
Shazam 2 mentions these issues but instead of building it as the heart of the movie, they invested screen time on villains and relationships we really don’t care about. So, of course, when the movie ends with “family is everything,” we’re not really convinced. They carved off their biggest selling point.
Plus, the HUGE disconnect between Asher Angel’s Billy and Zachary Levi’s Billy is JARRING. They’re two completely different characters instead of being the same person.
Before the release, I assumed Shazam! would be a part of James Gunn’s new DCU. Now I’m not so sure.
SYWT? Wait for it to come to streaming.
The Glory
Genre: Crime Thriller
Language: Korean
Gist: A victim of extreme bullying, Moon Dong-eun dedicates her whole life to exacting revenge. And boy is it glorious.
Review: No one does school bullying as intensely as the Koreans. So when you see Dong-eun’s skin getting charred off by a hair straightener at the hands of her bullies, you too are ready to commit your life to her revenge.
If you want to know how much I loved this (besides the perfect 10 score), I took a day off work and binged Part 2 for 8 hours straight when it was released. I was glued onto every moment, as the show explored what kind of “glory” one can get when they decide to abandon all virtues, be ruthless and avenge themselves.
But moreover, I thoroughly cherished how it depicted the loved ones you gain through misery — the ones who are ready to cross any line to do you justice.
You will like The Glory if you liked … The Penthouse, Itaewon Class, Get Even, Revenge.
SYWT? YES YES YES. Dong-eun’s journey of revenge is one you cannot miss.
Shadow and Bone (Seasons 1 & 2)
Genre: YA Fantasy
Language: English
Gist: Alina discovers she is a Sun Summoner who could bring down a dark force that has been tormenting the nation of Ravka. The B-plot focuses on the Six of Crows, a group that specializes in thieving and heists.
Review: The show fuses together two of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse series, Shadow and Bone and The Six of Crows2.
While I don’t like the two being meshed up, the writers have done a decent job with the narrative. Alina’s story takes center stage as the more serious one with higher stakes — harping on the “chosen one” trope, she straddles between joining the good and evil forces. The Crows, on the other hand, indulge in amusing antics and bring in the much-needed humor which intersects with Alina’s own missions.
This Yin-Yang adds to everything that makes Shadow and Bone a good fantasy show without being too cringy or over the top — all with an engaging lore to explore and backed by some really big bucks GCI. Plus, did you notice that it also stars Prince Caspian from Narnia? Ah, made you look!
You will like Shadow & Bone if you liked … Teen Wolf, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, His Dark Materials, The Witcher.
SYWT? This is for a more niche (fantasy-loving) audience — So if you find yourself within that group, this is a good, high-production series to get into.
That’s it for this week!
Added the “you will like this” bit as a way of trying out something new. Let me know if you find this useful & I’ll make sure to include it whenever possible.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts — so let’s take the discussion further in the comments below!
Before I go:
If you’d like to read the previous issues, here’s a link to SYWT’s archive.
Looking for any title in particular? Cue the database — This has the list of movies/TV shows covered so far with ratings and links to the newsletters they were reviewed in.
What’s stuck in my head:
Salutations,
sal.
Exhibit A: A 13-year-old going to a private school in Mumbai narrated how the rich kids in her class bullied a girl of darker skin tone and implied she was a slave. Exhibit B: I personally (and physically) stopped a 15-year-old private school kid from “hanging out” with an older dude at 11 in the night. Apparently, these types of relations were normal in her friend circle.
To be completely honest, I watched this series only because I am a big fan of the Six of Crows novels, and to this date, I am of the opinion that it should’ve gotten a show of its own, instead of being merged with Shadow and Bone.