Welcome to the Deets and Geets Newsletter: He Said, She Said for March 2021. Check out our quicktakes below on the pop culture happenings that piqued our interests so far this month, all broken down by streaming service.

APPLE TV+

The Servant

He said: Intriguing first and second seasons with some creepy scenes peppered throughout. Series seems to be winding down—this is not necessarily a bad thing. The show is called The Servant, so figuring out who Leanne is and who exactly she serves is part of the show’s mystique. Once that mystery is solved, however, the show should probably wrap up. That said, I’m looking forward to seeing the coming (cult?) war foreshadowed in the last scene.

She said: I found Season 2 quite underwhelming for a Shyamalan production.  I was expecting some game-changing twist or shocking revelation, but I didn’t see anything that was divergent or unexpected from the groundwork laid in Season 1.  It is described as “psychological horror,” but it turned out to be more of a psychological bore.  I will skip Season 3 if it happens.

DISNEY+

Falcon and the Winter Soldier

He said: We weren’t expecting Disney+’s latest Marvel outing to be more than wall-to-wall action, but the first episode has a good action/drama ratio and sets up a deeper dive into the  titular characters’ lives.  We’re looking forward to next week’s episode and the imminent introduction of Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter aka Agent Peggy Carter’s niece. If you don’t know who any of these people are, get caught up.

She said: Action is not really my genre, and elaborate fighting scenes with different types of flying vehicles, gunfire, fancy stunts, and machines I don’t know names of really bore me. So when Super Star Agni first told me about this show and I knew that both of these characters are closely linked with Captain America, I surmised that I would probably catch some z’s during the first episode and then opt out of the rest.  But aside from that one fancy violent scene, I really enjoyed it!  It’s interesting to see the characters having to lead ordinary lives in the present, with Sam applying for a bank loan with his sister, and Bucky asking someone out on a date.  Obviously, there will be more action-y stuff brought up from their pasts and moving forward as a new Captain America is on the horizon, but there is enough human connection in there to keep me interested.

WandaVision

He said: Marvel expands its fandom tent with this entry. Unique way to draw upon the Wanda / Vision connection from Age of Ultron and Infinity War, and to reveal Wanda’s backstory. Recommended for sitcom fans as well as fans of superhero fare. Wondering if this will lead into a villainous side of Wanda *dun dun dunnnn*

She said: “What is grief if not love persevering?” Oof! WandaVision has Marvel-ously accomplished so many things at once: Meme gold, an interesting plot, an homage to American television over the decades, and an expansion of the characters and plotlines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

HBO MAX

Allen V. Farrow

He said: Good look into the accusation of sexual abuse against Woody Allen involving his then 7-year-old daughter. Definitely biased against Allen, but the case made against him is compelling. I was never a Woody Allen fan and haven’t seen any of his films all the way through, so being made aware of his pattern of filmmaking—older male mentor figure paired with an eager, impressionable young female—was revealing and a bit off-putting even outside of the Farrow v. Allen case. That said, I think a two-part series would have done as well to make the case.

She said: This four-part documentary about Dylan Farrow’s allegation that her step-father Woody Allen molested her when she was seven years old—and Woody’s aggressive campaign to undermine that allegation by insisting that this whole thing was a story hatched by Dylan’s mother Mia because Mia was jealous that Woody was sleeping with Mia’s other adopted daughter Soon-Yi—is obviously made with belief in Dylan Farrow, and compassion for Mia Farrow. Yes, the facts are presented selectively, but regardless of how many additional facts were left out though, one thing is clear: Woody Allen is disgusting!  OK, I thought so before watching this documentary too, based on creepy comments he has made in interviews, the pervy gaze that comes through on and from behind the screen in his films, and the fact that he slept with the barely-legal stepdaughter of his long-time girlfriend. Still!

The documentary introduces us to the actual text of reports and interviews with family, friends, and people who worked at different levels of the investigation.  Contrary to the public spin which made her out to be some impressionable child with a fantastical story, the texts and interviewed officials confirm that Dylan has been incredibly consistent with the core facts, and indeed showed signs of having been sexually abused. Also, it’s evident that Woody Allen has the type of access and connections in American society and particularly in elite East Coast circles which would basically guarantee his impunity in the (undeniable) event that he did commit a crime.  

I happen to have a pretty low opinion of Woody, just in case that wasn’t obvious.  But, I get that some people love his cinema and his brand, and have a hard time reconciling their fandom with believing that he could be a predator.  They would rather believe that Mia is the crazy b that coached Dylan into inventing this whole thing.  But many truths can coexist, and we need not buy into this weird absolutist phenomenon of having to embrace or reject public figures and everything associated with them, wholesale.  Mia could have been a weirdly controlling and abusive parent, as Moses Farrow, another stepson of hers and Woody’s, has alleged.  Mia could have been jealous of Woody and Soon-Yi.  Woody could be a witty writer and director.  Woody’s cinema could be culturally iconic.  Woody could have truly cared about his adopted children—including Dylan.  Brains are complicated and sometimes deranged and so is patriarchy, and none of these aforementioned possibilities undermine Dylan’s truth.

NETFLIX

Bombay Begums

He said nothing.

She said: Firstly, it is wonderful to see Queen Pooja Bhatt back on screen! She embodies all of the strength, elegance, and confluence of buoyancy and gravitas that one would expect from the woman who lit up the screen decades ago in films ranging from Sadak to Prem Deewane.  

As of this writing, I have just started Episode 5 of Bombay Begums, so I basically still have two more episodes to go.  I won’t give my overall thoughts yet, but my one tip is to watch at least two episodes, if you are on the fence after finishing the first.  I didn’t think the set-up in that first episode did the future ones justice; it leaned in too hard on the girl-boss vibe, and I found the canned liberal feminist precocious tween voice-overs a bit off-putting.  As you keep watching though, the show pulls you in with the complex drama in the lives of these five women, sensitively portrayed by Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami, Amrutha Subhash, Plabita Borthakur, and Aadhya Anand.  They are all constantly having to negotiate with their own bodies, their loved ones, and external pressures—and, they all wield their own hurtful and opportunistic behavior at times.  There are moments of tenderness and levity too; it’s not all misery! 

Series creator Alankrita Shrivastava had also worked on Made In Heaven—if you liked MIH, there is something for you here as well.  Instead of Delhi’s elite though, you get five women from different walks of life converging in Bombay: the aforementioned defiant tween; her resolute CEO step-mom; a small-town twenty-something exploring her newfound freedom only to be shut down by Bombay-style slut-shaming (and worse); a bar dancer-turned-sex worker trying with dreams of starting a factory; and a rising executive conflicted over how much of “it all” she wants to take on.  Pour yourself a steaming cup of chai in a white porcelain mug and give it a watch!

The Umbrella Academy

He said: What I initially thought would be a derivative superhero show turned out to be a fun ride for two seasons so far, even though the time travel / apocalypse tropes are used for both season. I’ve never read the comic book  the show is based on, so I can’t say if they nailed the source material, but the episodic nature of the storytelling works well. It’s more of a show about family and relationships than wearing masks and fighting crime, which I think many shows are doing these days to shake up the superhero genre. Not as violent as Amazon Prime’s The Boys, it dispenses the same gritty humor at times. Looking forward to season three, but I hope time travel and apocalypses aren’t the overarching themes.

She said: Superheroes, time travel, well-choreographed sibling brawls, and a smashing soundtrack – what a fun ride!  Waiting eagerly for Season 3, and especially curious about Vanya Hargreeves on account of Elliot Page’s personal developments; and Ben on account of what we saw at the end of Season 2!