Missing You: A mystery begging to be forgotten

Photo: Netflix

It’s a testament to Netflix’s vaunted algorithm that I just discovered the service’s years-long collaboration with Harlan Coben. A popular mystery writer, Coben has had a deal with the streaming service since 2018 that has produced 9 shows in multiple languages. I was aware of a grand total of 0 of them until a week ago. The algorithm is so strong that I wasn’t even seeing the discussion of these shows online! That is true power right there.

Jokes aside, Missing You is my first foray into the mysterious and twist-heavy world of Harlan Coben. An adaptation of his novel of the same name, Missing You follows detective Kat Donovan who discovers her missing fiancé on a dating app and soon uncovers a vast conspiracy full of dark secrets, murder and dog breeding. The last part might seem like an odd addition, but it’s honestly the most original thing in the show.

Villainous dog breeders are just one part of the rich tapestry Missing You weaves. We have a police chief who is hiding something, a best friend who is hiding something. We even have Kat’s mother who, you guessed it, is hiding something. There are so many twists and turns packed into these 5 episodes that you become numb to them. How many secrets can one person have?

Maybe the plot twists would work better if these characters actually felt real. Instead, the show’s cast mainly consists of people waiting to give Kat, and by extension the viewer, plot information or recap her complicated backstory. That we so rarely leave our heroine’s perspective only makes this flaw more obvious. Everybody exists only when Kat is in the room with them.

Rosalind Eleazar’s performance as Kat is the show’s bright spot. Donovan is the type of hyper-capable detective you’ve seen a million times before. Eleazar imbues her with enough vulnerability to make her someone worth rooting for, even when the writing falters. Kat’s overly complicated backstory is essential to the show’s mystery, but it prevents us from ever truly getting to know our protagonist. This, coupled with the insistence of the writing to tell us how good Kat is at her job rather than show us, holds her back from being an interesting character.

Missing You isn’t a terrible show. Instead, it commits a worse sin: it’s forgettable. That must be why there are so many scenes where viewers learn the same information they uncovered a few scenes before. I get it. Attention spans are rapidly shrinking, but shouldn’t we have a little more faith in the audience? Especially when they can rewind with a few clicks! For a program like this, though, that refresher might be necessary. Even then, I doubt you’ll remember much once you’re done.

Final Verdict: Tune Out

Dexter: Original Sin focuses too much on the past to offer anything exciting

Paramount+ with Showtime

Somehow, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, Dexter has become a franchise. The original series dragged its bleeding body across the finish line over a decade ago, but America’s favorite serial killer refused to die. Even a years-later sequel series aiming to end the story couldn’t hold him down. Divine intervention and, presumably, a truck full of cash has brought our killer of killers back again. However, before we get to Dexter’s resurrection (coming this summer!) we must first look at his past.

Dexter: Original Sin is a prequel series looking back on the murderous beginnings of Miami’s premier forensics technician. All your favorites are here and decidedly younger! The cast features Dexter, his father Harry, his sister Debra, and his teammates Angel, Masuka, and LaGuerta. It’s hard to believe there’s room for any characters not part of the original series. I can only assume we’re a few seasons away from a doe-eyed Doakes joining the force and giving Dexter a rousing “surprise motherfucker!”

Original Sin is in the tricky position of having to add interesting plot beats to a history clearly filled in during the original series. The prequel often struggles to provide meaningful details about Dexter’s past. Instead, the show adds in layers of flashbacks like a very lazy nesting doll.

The opening scene frames the entire show as Dexter looking back on life as he dies, revives, and waits for his next series. The show is technically one big flashback. It’s like Better Call Saul meets Young Sheldon with slightly more murder. We also get flashbacks interspersed throughout each episode of Harry’s past. It’s unclear in the episodes I watched whether this is something Dexter is also remembering or just a lazy way of padding out the runtime. Either way, they don’t add to the proceedings besides giving us a look at Christian Slater in some truly awful de-aging makeup.

To be clear, that isn’t a rag on Slater. His performance as Harry Morgan is one of the show’s bright spots. Probably due to him having actual material to work with. The actual star of the show, outside of Michael C. Hall’s fun narration, is Patrick Gibson. As our Young Dexter, it’s easy to write off Gibson’s performance as simple mimicry. While he does absolutely nail things like Hall’s coy smile. He also adds a level of naivety that feels real to the character at this stage. The show’s best scenes are when Dexter and Harry are together.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast just isn’t as interesting. Even Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, doesn’t have much to do with her role as Dexter’s certainly doomed boss. It’s poor Debra Morgan who gets the worst of it though. By virtue of being a teenage girl written by people much older, Deb gets saddled with some truly terrible dialogue.

Like many current franchise installments, Dexter: Original Sin feels like it is solely in conversation with itself. Everything builds to moments of fan service and little Easter eggs designed to have you pointing at the screen like DiCaprio. None of it lasts in your mind for long. The show’s prequel nature also means that it can’t go too far outside the established box. There is likely stuff to enjoy if you’re a fan of the original series (I consider myself a fan of the first half.) Taken all together, though, Original Sin feels a bit like Dexter himself, empty inside.

Final Verdict: Tune Out

Knightley and Whishaw make Black Doves a perfect gift

Photo: Netflix

There are few forces as powerful throughout TV history as the duo. From Lucy and Ethel to Niles and Frasier, from Mulder and Scully to every police procedural ever, a good duo is often crucial to the success of a series. Black Doves continues in this rich television tradition by featuring the year’s best new twosome.

Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw star as Helen Webb and Sam Young. Helen is the wife of Britain’s defense secretary and also a spy working for the titular Black Doves organization. Sam is a “trigger man” otherwise known as an assassin, who prefers to work freelance and far away from the UK. He’s brought back to protect Helen from danger in the aftermath of her secret lover’s murder. The plot only gets more complicated from there, with elements from Helen and Sam’s past adding to the intrigue.

While the overall conspiracy plot is interesting, it takes a backseat to the show’s true focus: the relationship, both past and present, between our two leads. Black Doves features copious amounts of flashbacks, a narrative tool that frequently gets overused. Often, flashbacks can feel like an excuse to pad out a story that doesn’t have enough juice. That it works here is a testament to clever writing and the incredible performances from Knightley and Whishaw.

The chemistry between the two is so fun that the show seems to lose energy when they aren’t on screen together. Knightley plays Helen as a woman desperate for revenge but unsure how to go about it without ruining her secret life. She is outgoing and social in front of others, but sad and raging underneath. Whishaw, by comparison, is withdrawn and calculating, using one-liners as a way of coping with his job. The show takes its time revealing our duo’s connection to each other, but the payoff is emotionally satisfying thanks to the character work in the present day scenes.

Set during the holiday season, Black Doves calls back to classic action films (Shane Black movies specifically), with an added level of brutality. Our first action scene ends with our leads splattered in blood. That level of real-world violence certainly won’t be for everyone, but does a fine job of introducing us to the realities of this profession. The show also loves a good close-up shot. At least once an episode, one of our leads stares into the camera. It provides a great excuse to showcase some brilliant face acting.

Black Doves succeeds by blending various genres together, often in the same scene. It’s a spy thriller that deftly handles comedic beats with no tonal dissonance. It can add in elements of political intrigue or romance and still feel true to the world it’s created. This isn’t a grounded show. I’d argue it isn’t even trying to be. This is John Wick meets Guy Ritchie with a dash of holiday cheer for good measure. You can do much worse than that at this time of year.

Final Verdict: Tune In

Creature Commandos offers a new version of the DC Universe

Photo: DC Studios/Warner Bros. Animation

After more than a decade in the world of superheroes, James Gunn remains one of the most reliable barometers of quality. In a genre as overly-reliant on formula as superhero films, Gunn has carved a path for himself. Although others try to copy his blend of violence, humor, and well-timed needle drops, none succeed. Perhaps this is why DC picked him to co-head their latest attempt at a cinematic universe? Well, that and the fact that there aren’t many others willingly to anger the mob of indignant Zach Snyder fans.

Creature Commandos is technically the first official installment in Gunn’s new DC Universe, although it features plenty of callbacks to his other franchise works. The animated series follows a crew of monstrous misfits brought together, by force. Their mission is to protect the princess of a small country from a sorceress who wants her dead. In other words, it’s the plot of a superhero show.

There are other elements at play, but the series is seemingly uninterested in any overt form of world-building. Gunn peppers in Easter eggs to the larger universe but focuses the bulk of his attention on establishing the characters, content to leave background elements unanswered. This can come across as lazy in the wrong hands. Here it works at making this world more interesting and lived in. We don’t need to know why there’s a sorceress who wants to take over Wonder Woman’s island. We just need to know that it’s her goal.

Gunn’s style is on full display here and that obviously will be a deal-breaker for some. If you weren’t a fan of The Suicide Squad, odds are good you won’t care much for this either. Creature Commandos revel in the freedom that animation gives to get as gory as possible. Eyes pop out of skulls, entire bodies disintegrate into bloody mounds, it all runs together after a while.

The show runs on an obvious formula that becomes apparent around the third time we see a climatic fight scene set to a semi-obscure song. Every episode (outside of the first, which is focused on assembling the team) revolves around one of our titular creatures. We then jump between the present situation and that character’s past, using their backstory to explain their current actions. It’s possible this technique will get old in the episodes to come. So far, it succeeds largely because of strong writing and a string of great voice performances.

Creature Commandos often feels like Gunn getting in one last madcap burst of sex and violence before moving on to the work of building a superhero franchise machine. It seems unlikely that his Superman film will have the same level of viscera and maybe that’s the whole point of releasing this first. This show is its own thing. That’s what makes it work. If the goal of Gunn’s DCU is to attract creators who can bring their own styles to an increasingly homogenized genre, he’s laid out the perfect blueprint here.

Final Verdict: Tune In

In Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, everything old is new again

Photo: Lucasfilm

Star Wars has always been for kids. George Lucas said so himself and if you’re reading this, you were likely first exposed to the franchise as a child. I say this not to excuse the poor appeals to children that Lucas and Disney have made throughout the years, but to establish why I was skeptical about a kid-centric spinoff. There’s also the now-ancient specter of The Phantom Menace that creeps into mind anytime children are involved with this franchise.

I’m pleased to report that Star Wars: Skeleton Crew exceeded all my, admittedly low, expectations. The series follows four children as they journey back to their planet after getting lost in a galaxy far, far away. There’s more to it than that, but this is a classic coming-of-age adventure with a Star Wars twist. That it works so well is a testament to the kids involved.

Led by Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, the cast of child actors have a fun dynamic with one another that makes up for their thin characterization. It also helps that they talk and act like actual children. You’ve got Wim as our adventurous protagonist and his best friend and resident alien Neel as the comedy sidekick. With Fern as the scoundrel-type, always looking for a scam and her friend, the tech geek KB. Add in decrepit, pirate robot SM-33 (Nick Frost) and the promise of Jude Law and you’ve got yourself a solid cast.

If you’ve seen any sort of press for this show, you’ve heard “Amblin Entertainment” listed as a heavy influence. Co-creators Christopher Ford and Jon Watts have dropped the Spielberg-backed production company’s name in multiple interviews. You can see the influence in everything from the suburbs that our quartet call home to the overworked, often absent parents. Even the visual style calls to mind hits like E.T. and The Goonies.

Skeleton Crew overdoes it at times with its lighthearted tone, but never lets you forget that there are real stakes here. These are children thrust into a situation that has put them in constant danger. That the show never shies away from reminding you of their mortal peril is a point in its favor. It’s light and breezy, with a tinge of the darkness necessary for this story to work.

Star Wars is at its best when it has obvious influences to work off of. This show takes the children’s adventure films of the 80s and filters them through the franchise, creating something new. That it doesn’t feel like a rehash or a series of references for fans is a welcome relief. Skeleton Crew succeeds by keeping things simple and sometimes that’s all you need.

Final Verdict: Tune In