The moment of accomplishment.. the moment of utter joy is upon me because this is the last Thursday Movie Post of 2019. It’s been an incredible year and well, I’ve made through with flying colours (except that one time I posted on Friday). In all honesty, if it weren’t for this feature I don’t think my blog would have had anything going for it. This was literally the thing that saved my blog in 2019. So I’m very happy to have been apart of this and I will continue to be as long as Wandering Through The Shelves keeps hosting this monumental challenge.
We close the year with another Television Edition and this time we’re looking at rivalry! And unlike last week (where I struggled like no other), I knew all these recommendations the moment I sat down. So let’s do this!
1. THE POLITICIAN (2019 – …)
This year I watched a lot of Netflix because they kept bringing out new shows. The Politician was one of those shows and it was a pleasant surprise. Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan teamed up AGAIN and made television gold. It’s dark, it’s funny and it’s completely bonkers – just the right kind of snack for binging. And just when you think you have the show all figured out, they deliver a great plot twist for the second season to unravel. Do I need to explain the rivalry aspect in a show that has “politician” in its title? Probably not. It’s truly a good show, I loved it. Ben Platt was amazing (Golden Globe nominated, y’all!) and well, he also gets to sing and I don’t think I can ever listen to that song without crying. The Politician also has a strange balance between humour and drama, it makes you laugh (don’t get me wrong) but it also makes you want to cry your eyes out. And I like that.
2. GLOW (2017 – …)
Honestly, at the moment (when I’m writing this post), I have yet to see the third season of Glow. And frankly, the first two were far from my favourite but I enjoyed them (I think). I didn’t end up raving about those though and I soon forgot about them. Yet I felt like since I’ve spent two seasons on it and will probably catch up with the third, I might as well recommend it. It’s about wrestling and the first season focuses heavily on the rivalry between the two main leads. It has, at least for me, a very unlikable main character portrayed by Alison Brie. She’s good in it but I just have a personal grudge towards her character. I love a lot of the supporting characters though, particularly one played by Chris Lowell so at least there’s that.
3. ELITE (2018 – …)
I was thinking of keeping Elite for the foreign TV show theme but I can’t hold out any longer. This is a Spanish show that I stumbled onto on Netflix and it’s amazing! There’s so much… happening that I can’t even describe this show with one sentence. The rivalry aspect is the obvious clash between the wealthy and the poor, the popular and the not so popular teens that have to manage in a school setting. But the show is so much more than that. There’s also murder! (And lots of sex). The second season stumbles a little in the beginning but the end just brought it home for me. I love the acting in it, I live for angry Spanish yelling these days and I can’t wait for season 3. This is why I love Netflix, it gives me shows I would otherwise never discover and trust me, I’ve ventured into so many non-English shows this year. By the way, in case you missed it, I also listed my favourite characters from the show here.
THIS AMAZING SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
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I haven’t seen any of these lol I heard about them and even considered watching Glow but never got around to it, hell I’m only finishing Narcos 2 years after starting it and it’s only because I’m horny for Pedro and this is probably the side effect of his having that helmet on the entire season in the Mandalorian. That’s just….not natural. And a WASTE.
Ha, well, that’s okay I guess… I’ haven’t seen Narcos nor finished with the Mandalorian so, I guess we’re even 😀 And also, I kept wondering during the ep of Mandalorian I watched if it’s really him.. like, it could be anyone 😀
I think sometimes it’s not actually him and he just does the voice lol it’s not a bad gig when someone else is physically there and you just record the lines and cash in the paycheck lol Wait you haven’t seen Narcos? You watch all the stuff on netflix and THAT you didn’t watch?! 😀
I’m thinking that it’s mostly voice work too, like why would he spend all day in costume and then just.. not be seen ever 😀
Yes, when I was just starting with Narcos, I wasn’t so into reading subtitles yet.. now I’m like getting very good with non-English shows so I might watch Narcos soon. There’s so much of it though, I’m afraid for my productivity. 😛
The subtitles are a nightmare for me because I cannot will my eyes to look at them when he is speaking Spanish and I just look at his face and I’m so lost as to what’s happening on that show lol
Spanish is so damn fast too! With Elite, I had to rewind so many times because I didn’t manage to read the subtitles fast enough 😀
I have not heard of any of these shows. The first one intrigues me
Ah that one is really good I think! Surprised the hell out of me. 😉
The Politician – It was a pleasant surprise for me too, I ended up really enjoying it. And yes it sets itself up for the second season in a good way.
Elite – I’ve only seen the first season. It was just OK and I don’t think I’m going to watch the second season. The look the series had was just too Gossip Girl-ish but more raunchy. The series was also just too over telenovela-ish I think, langry yelling thing or whatever is just not my thing.
I loved that about it. The over the top craziness – but everyone to their own style of course! Second season approach a lot of the things that happened in season one and I particularly liked the plot line that followed guilt.