"Jury Duty", "The Afterparty" Season 2, "Hijack" & Some Other Bonus Content

Basically a TV recommendation dump. Enjoy.

Source: Plugged in / The cast of Jury Duty being interviewed as part of the mockumentary narrated style of the show

COVID Shows Stick, Sorta

Last Summer, my brood had COVID. As such, we watched a lot of TV and for whatever reason, I have a lucid recollection of all the content that I consumed during this period. This recall of shows seems to be an actual phenomena as whenever I spark conversation about, ‘What were you watching when…’ it doesn’t really matter when the person(s) had COVID or where they were, they can all place the shows or films that they watched during their bout with the illness. Ask me about pythagorean theorem and I will claim brain fogginess but ask me why Devi should have chosen Ben in lieu of Paxton in Season 3 (Never Have I Ever) and how toxic the Daxton / Pavi pairing was, and I’m all theories.

Source: Collider / Ben & Devi enjoying each other’s cerebral company.

In my COVID bubble aka my bed and sofa sanctuary, it was a coveted time to unguiltily and shamelessly watch whatever, free of most judgement, and core to the programming list was YA (young adult) fare, including Never Have I Ever and The Summer I Turned Pretty (Team Conrad, S1 and Team Jeremiah, S2, because I mistook Conrad’s non-verbal tendencies for empathy and kindness).

Mixed into the YA dream, there was the oddly placed Chinese mystery Miss S, which is ripped from a Moonlighting / Remington Steele / Frankie Drake script, featuring a sassy and fashion-forward female detective and handsome, stubborn male policeman solving crimes together in 1930s Shanghai and it’s so censored I don’t think there was any cursing or even chaste kissing. I went back to revisit Miss S after COVID and couldn’t get into it. I chalk it up to mental fatigue.

Last but certainly not least, I also binged a few seasons or episodes of Call the Midwife and that one holds up in a post-COVID non-fugue state as do Never Have I Ever and The Summer I Turned Pretty incidentally, and if there are any TSITP fans or Jenny Han stans here, I want to know if you’re Team Conrad, Team Jeremiah or Team Belly. I don’t think you can overlap here. I’ve invested serious thought into this.

Source: IMDB / Miss S uses her powers of deduction to sleuth her way through a vital clue. The other woman is thinking, “Can I break for lunch now?”

Now For a More Serious Segue

With the SAG-AFTRA strike, we’re not yet seeing impacts to near-term Summer TV release schedules with regard to delayed programming IMHO, but we will be seeing delays in the Fall and beyond with quality shows. No matter where you fall on the spectrum of standing with the actors and writers in their protest for livable wages in the era of streaming and the threat of AI, enjoying solid programming that’s inspired and creative is a purely human feat and that is to be recognized and celebrated. So now that you know where I stand, some of the best examples of recently released fun shows that celebrate our humanity, in all its forms, are on my roster here. Please feel free to share yours as well.

In no particular order and with no real spoilers:

Jury Duty - Sir Laughs-a-Lot or Serves Lots-of-Laughs

Jury Duty, a multiple Emmy nominated comedy came up on my Prime Video queue for months before I gave it a whirl. It’s described as “a reality hoax sitcom” and its narration is a familiar mockumentary style (think late 00s, early ‘10s shows like The Office, Parks & Recs, and Modern Family) format. The premise is that everyone on the show but one dude is an actor and is aware of the fact that the trial presented is make-believe. Poor Ronald Gladden, a Home Depot Project Manager, thinks he’s been chosen for a real life jury which makes everything that’s said and that happens on this show even more absurd given this lens. Think The Truman Show, but way funnier. The most recognizable actor in the bunch is James Marsden, whose level of self-effacing humor and deprecating style is up there with Ryan Gosling’s Ken portrayal in Barbie this Summer. He’s fantastic and leans into the fame and attention-starved actor stereotype beautifully.

The Freevee label made me think the quality might be lacking on this show but with no real evidence to support this. I just wasn’t aware of any other Freevee shows and the name doesn’t inspire premium confidence. Either way, it seems like Amazon is going “all in” on programming for this streamer, which they acquired from IMDB back in 2019.

After I finally clicked the watch button, I haven’t looked back. I highly recommend you give this one a try if mockumentary sitcoms are your thing. Family Trivia: Ike and John Barinholtz’ dad plays the judge proving the apple doesn’t fall far from the funny farm, or tree.

The Afterparty Season 2 - Worthwhile Death by Humor & Cinematic Style

Here’s another one I was skeptical of: The Afterparty on Apple TV+. Maybe there’s a theme here to set expectations lower and then be pleasantly surprised? I didn’t jump on the season 1 bandwagon even though this murder mystery comedy has all the qualities I look for in crime fare:

1. Everyone is trapped in an aesthetically pleasing place. Note: It helps when there’s a big bash or wedding type event.

2. Someone’s been murdered and everyone had a motive to murder the person because he/she/they were totally detestable. Pretty much any Agatha Christie.

3. People couple up or buddy up to solve the crime, and we all assume they aren’t the murderer, but inwardly we all know they can’t be because we care too much about them and are too invested in their happiness beyond the confines of the show. Yeah, I’m here for it.

4. Youngish, cool people with personality are suspects. In the case of this show, everyone was hipster-y cool-good-for-a-proper-Millennial-hang-gang quality that I’ll cop to it, I found a little intimidating.

5. Sam Richardson (of Veep, I Think You Should Leave, & Ted Lasso)

   

   Source: LA Times / Sam Richardson flexes his muscles.

6. New cast every season, save a few of the staple characters like Sam Richardson, Tiffany Hadish and Zoe Chao

Season one, I watched 2.5 episodes out of the 12 episodes. It doesn’t impact my ability to watch, understand and enjoy this entirely new season so if you want to skip ahead to season 2, go for it. I found watching the last episode of the prior season helped explain some of the relationship context between Sam and Zoe’s characters and spoiler, the bad guy from the prior season has a cameo in this season.

For folks who aren’t familiar with the show: Each episode focuses on a new suspect and is told from the storytelling perspective and style of the narrator suspect. For example, in Hannah’s episode (sister of the victim, played with pitch perfect precision by Anna Konkle of Pen15), we get a very Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom) motif running throughout. In the fiancee of the victim, Grace’s episode, we go back in time to Regency era romance. Think: Bridgerton or Pride & Prejudice. Part of the fun of this show is guessing what kind of episode will transpire based on what we know of the personality of the suspect. It’s glorious.

Hijack - Where Tensions Run Deep & If Your Blood Pressure Isn’t Elevated, You’re Doing Something Wrong

Who would have guessed my psychological thriller breakout hit of the Summer would have been a show about a 7-hour plane ride being hijacked en route from Dubai to London? Given that I’ve taken 4 long flights this Summer, not me. And one of the episodes I watched aboard a flight coming back from the Middle East. Go figure.

Each episode is one hour onboard the plane so that’s what gets us a full season of action here. The show was tense and begs the question of, if a plane is hijacked, is the dude sitting in business going to be the one that saves everyone? I don’t think so.

The parts that I enjoyed most were the psychological levers at play with the hijacker negotiating and how the passengers respond to the chaos of what’s unfolding around them. The show made you actually care about the people in the plane. I will say I didn’t care so much for anyone on land though and there’s was too much screen time dedicated to those folks.

Trigger Warning. Hijack has some rather patronizing patriarchy BS in the form of Idris Elba’s character - a mastermind negotiator manipulating just about everyone - from the dumb, violent hijackers to the patsy government workers to even his family but it’s for a collective good of saving peoples’ lives, so does this make it ok? In this Hijack universe, I’ll give it a pass and you should too. Overall, it’s riveting. A season 2, though? I’ll pass on that. No more hijacks please.

---

Justified: City Primeval on FX Hulu is the main crime show watch I’m reviewing at present.

• Episode 1 Review

• Episodes 2 & 3 Reviews

---

Want to read a novel that’s basically a show?

Subscribe to Clicking + Waiting - my first novel and a story about love and self-acceptance. It’s also a gift for Taylor Swift fans. Read it wherever you get your Substack(s). Chapters released weekly on Fridays.