Welcome to the September 2021 Deets and Geets newsletter, “He Said / She Said.” This month, we talk about the highs and lows of our pop culture discoveries broken down by the streaming services on which we watched them.

HULU

Reservation Dogs: High

He Said: Reservation Dogs is the truth! Along with Rutherford Falls, this show is such a breakthrough for Indigenous representation on mainstream mediums. Indeed, all the directors and writers are Indigenous, and Indigenous folk are involved at every level of production. The show gets Native humor right and does so much to dispel stereotypes of Native people, especially the one that says Native people don’t exist anymore. Although the nations of the protagonists aren’t specifically identified, the show is set in the Muskogee Nation and many of the characters speak Mvskoke. Small town/reservation antics, but universal appeal. Highly recommended, though, not for the kiddos even though kiddos are featured.

She Said: What a fun and sweet show!  The core crew of the “Rez Dogs” is a group of Indigenous teenagers in Oklahoma with dreams of moving to California – so desperate to leave their present reality behind that they steal a food delivery truck in the first episode, only to get into a turf war with the rival “NDN Mafia.”  We meet lots of other community members as the show progresses, and as the Rez Dogs continue trying to make money, learn how to defend themselves, and work through their feelings about family. The writers give us characters and situations which are relatable and absurd at the same time. The humor is witty and even subtly sardonic at times, without ever feeling preachy.

The White Lotus: High

He Said: This show reminds me why I don’t like resorts—what is designed to be a relaxing experience becomes stressful because of other people. Plus, I’m not really into being waited on and/or entertained by “the locals.” That said, it is hilarious to see from a distance how others navigate social mores in a resort setting. The show is a slow burn that definitely pays off in the end. While not mind blowing in regard to storytelling, the arcs feel natural to the cultivated universe.

She Said: This is a wildly entertaining, meme-worthy, and think-piece-spurring series about a bunch of mostly rich and white people who go on vacation at a fancy resort called The White Lotus in Hawaii, and the relatively of-color staff (including displaced locals) who are tasked to tend to their whims.  Many of the characters and the situations they get into are cringey and frustrating in a very realistic way – across race, class, and gender.  And therein lies the think-piece gold, in figuring out what the show is ultimately saying about comfort and complicity, and about whose stories should be centered.  The pacing and casting are on point. Check it out!

NETFLIX

The Chair: High

He Said Nothing.

She Said: I loved this Sandra Oh starrer!  It was just the right length to tell its story too: 6 episodes.  Sandra Oh plays Ji-Yoon, the first woman of color to chair the English department at the university where she works.  It is no easy feat dealing with denigrators all around: the old-timers with different ideas of who should be honored and promoted; the media misquoting her in the midst of an ongoing scandal; the self-righteous love interest who feels entitled to her loyalty; and the Bernie-Bro-energy Zoomer students who refuse to consider any such practical constraints when a woman of color doesn’t make instant, radical change upon getting a foot into the door.  On top of all that, Ji-Yoon is a single mother to a hot-headed little girl.  The show is largely light and does a good job of blending in drama and tenderness.

I’ll be happy to watch a Season 2 if there is one, but I think the way this season wrapped up would be a satisfying and affirming culmination. There are also some aspects of the show which I could see as being frustrating and (inadvertently?) reinforcing regressive norms, and I’m sure women in academia will have much more meaty and interesting things to say!

Mimi: Low

He Said: This Hindi-language remake of a Marathi movie is more polished, but still the same bollocks. While it holds a mirror to the ills of colorism, ableism, and sexism, it also blows kisses to the same isms. The acting from the main cast is admirable considering the script, but the overall production made me want a brain shower afterward.

She Said: Whyyyyyy!!!

This supposedly comical movie is about a young woman named Mimi with Bollywood dreams, whose body is creepily eyed by a white American couple as the ideal vessel to carry their baby.  The colonizers have been roaming around India looking for a surrogate (which, ew already) and they specifically like the idea of not just a healthy but also an attractive, tall young woman bearing their egg and sperm because apparently that is relevant?  Somehow, the story manages to get even more gross and wrong, not least including the way in which the white baby boy is exalted without any sense of satire. 

This movie is based on a Marathi movie called Mala Aai Vahhaychy!, which is apparently taken up more dramatically, and has good reviews.  I tried watching the first 10 minutes and it was pretty much unbearable watching this cigarette-smoking white woman being leered at by the locals – at least the Bollywood version didn’t go into that sort of white woman caricature. Apparently there is also a Telugu movie that’s called “Welcome Obama” and the “Obama” is a reference to the white child?!?!?!?!

APPLE / iTUNES MOVIES

Halloween Franchise

He Said:  Among the slasher film killers, Michael Myers has the least satisfying lore. I’ve only seen the original, the sequel to the original, Halloween H20, and the 2018 “direct sequel,” which is the beginning of the franchise retcon or retelling of something. In this case, this suggests the real Halloween films are only the 1978 version and the 2018 version. I think they should allow for the 1981 Halloween 2 film to be included for sake of continuity and character motivation. It continues right where the first left off and would make the protagonist’s PTSD even more understandable (per the 2018 “direct sequel”). My guess is they want to do away with the “Samhain” reference, which hints that there is something dark or evil lurking within Michael Myers that is beyond that of mortals. Without that reference, we are left wondering why has Michael been waiting ever so patiently to break out of incarceration to hunt Lory and why she knows he will come for her. Classic slasher movie stylings otherwise, but the motivation aspect is sketchy.

She Said: I didn’t watch any Halloween movies until this past weekend, when suddenly I watched three, starting with the original 1978 one, then jumping to the 2018 “direct sequel” where we were supposed to ignore all the other ones in between (which was great since I hadn’t watched them yet), and then Halloween II which was made in 1981.  Given that this retcon version was like a 40-years-later thing and supposedly the first face-off between serial killer Michael Myers and Laurie Strode since 1978, I thought it would have some sort of twists and turns and big reveals, if not an end-all to the franchise.  Alas, while there was some good action and some showcasing of clever defense strategies – and some element of intergenerational girl power – there was no depth at all as to the “why” of MM’s relentless decades-long pursuit of Laurie, with so many violent and largely slut-shamy casualties along the way.  Especially after watching Halloween II, to which the 2018 movie gives a couple of nods and which had way more in the way of the lore of this whole Michael Myers business, the ending was very unsatisfying, like just a cheap way to keep prolonging the franchise.  This whole variety of slasher movie is why I didn’t really take to horror as a genre until much more recently.  Apparently there will be a sequel to the 2018 version coming out next October – Halloween Kills. I will probably watch it, but I’m not expecting much more than another murderously hollow affair.

Physical: High

He Said: Rose Byrne plays hilarious characters— always the deadpan everywoman who is pushed to the edge (even if it’s of her own making) and rises up to do big or intense things. Her portrayal of Gloria Steinem still fits this description save for already doing big things by the time we’re introduced. Physical provides for her a vehicle to play a mousy housewife with a heart of lion. She’s kind of a horrible person, but she’s aware of this and tries not to be, which makes it a bit endearing. The first season doesn’t end with a bang, but I’m interested to continue her journey.

She Said: This series set in Southern California in the 1980s stars Rose Byrne as Sheila Rubin, the wife of an aspiring politician, who has a secret life binge-eating and purging bags full of fast food in hotel rooms while her daughter is at school.  She also starts secretly indulging in aerobics, which allows her to escape to a high-energy neon fantasy world where she is in control.  The show is tragi-comic, and although Sheila is often a really crappy person, it’s pretty funny to see and hear the contrast between her true inner thoughts and what she expresses.  I didn’t think the show rounded off that well in the finale – it neither seemed like a compelling way to end it, nor did it leave me too interested in watching a subsequent season – but it was decent time-pass.  It probably could have just been a four-part miniseries instead of 10 episodes.

HBO MAX

In the Heights: High

He Said: I don’t usually watch musicals or theater by myself. Maybe because they are designed to be communal experience? Either way, this sentiment includes streaming musicals. I couldn’t see myself sipping a beer solo on a Sunday afternoon while rocking out to “Benny’s Dispatch,” but it was a very fun movie to watch with LRK. Lin Manuel Miranda’s brands of dancing, singing, rapping, and storytelling are all over this as with the broadway hit Hamilton. Recommended for fans of musicals and those on the fence. Piragua! Piragua!

She Said: I thought this Lin Manuel Miranda production was perfectly cute, with a nice twist at the end of the stories that the main character Usnavi is telling a group of children about his youth, friendships, and love in Washington Heights. Ambition, jealousy, and gentrification are among the themes explored through colorful song and dance.  Worth a watch!