All Forms of Art

  Finally, here it is, the first Portuguese show on Netflix ! Did I like it? Yes. Am I impartial? No. Glória tells us an intense story of espionage during the Cold War . It is not the kind of synopsis that would make me watch a show, but I gave it a try since it was our first. I was not disappointed. No one is who they claim to be Typical of any good spies’ movies, no one is who they claim to be or who they seem to be. And most characters are entirely aware of that. As a result, there is no safe place, not even inside the family. It builds a whole environment where everyone mistrusts everyone, creating lots of suspense and... It works! After a couple of episodes, I was slightly nervous. Portuguese history as well The plot is clever, and the writers had to do a lot of research, for sure. Elements of the Cold War were well connected with what was happening in Portugal at the time - the dictatorship, the PIDE (political police), the colonial war in Africa. It had an interesting psyc...

  Although I watched the first part of season 5 when it was released, I waited for the second part to do this review. I wanted to be sure they wouldn't ruin the show last minute, as happened in many others before. They didn't. When the 5th season came out, I wasn't that willing to watch it. I was tired of the concept. It was time to finish the story. I gave it a try, and fortunately, it was a good ending. Nerve-racking as always When I started watching this season, I thought, "Oh, I knew it, this is terrible." I didn't like the first couple of episodes: too much shooting and fake blood. Things got better, though.   Around the third episode, Money Heist becomes the nerve-racking, full of emotion show we were used to. Impossible to look away from the screen. Alicia This character grew into one of my favorites. She evolved wonderfully throughout the story and ended up as a magnificent character. I loved it, but she has her flaws as well, right?  Let's face i...

  I'm sure you already heard about Squid Game , also known as Round 6 in some countries. If you didn't… Well, it's not possible. It is a true phenomenon in the streaming platform Netflix , and it has been a target for polemics. Why? Squid game is a Korean show about a group of people playing children's games in a deadly version to earn money. With the right amount of mystery, drama, and action, the show is about to make the title of most-watched ever on the platform. The Chosen Ones When I first started watching the show, I found it a bit creepy. My reaction to the first episode was, "Wow, what the hell?" One of the first questions that may pop into your mind can be, "Who are these people?" The whole organization is creepy and weird. It will probably make you uncomfortable. The players, on the other hand, have an exact pattern. They are people full of debts, living in misery, and desperately in need of money. How far would they go to get it? How f...

  Young Royals is a Swedish show about a prince being integrated into an elite boarding school. He is sent there, after a viral video on the Internet creates a scandal. A teenager in the middle of an identity crisis, as any other teen. Yet, he has responsibilities. He is a Prince.     Good Characters One thing that I’d like to highlight about this show is the quality of the characters. There are no shallow characters. Each one of them has a personal story, their pains, and their struggles. Everyone has good and bad sides. All of them need understanding. August, the Prince’s cousin, is one of the main characters, and he is absolutely hateful. However, his complicated life story makes him more human to the viewer. I also feel the need to reinforce the fact that the teen characters in the show are really teens. Instead of the 20’s years old actors American TV put on as teen characters, these kids are very young, with acne and all the “flaws” an average teenager has. Th...

  Alert: the following text contains spoilers! Elite presented us a fourth season as addictive as always (check reviews for previous seasons here and here ). The way each season is built, making you know what happened, and looking back to find out how you got that result is a formula that works year after year. After the last season, where most characters graduated, things changed a bit in Las Encinas . I loved the new characters and the dynamic they brought to the school. Yet, even though the formula works (after all, we’re still watching), after four seasons, it starts to get a bit too much “bad luck”, don’t you think? More tragedy? More death? In a high school? What was an interesting crime show is becoming repetitive and unrealistic. New protagonists We still follow the older students’ lives in this season, but the new characters quickly assume themselves as protagonists. I would say Mencía and her accidental entrance into the world of prostitution is the great protagonist of...

  Equinox is a Danish horror show full of mystery and surprises. A small town, secrets, rituals, supernatural creatures… everybody looks a bit insane at some point. Speaking of rituals, why do they need to be disgusting? I mean, that egg! Inconsistencies While I truly liked the show, there were a few inconsistencies that I can’t avoid.  The whole drama happens in the 90s. The class of 99 disappears, yet most references are from the 80s. Why? No clue. Music The kids are into punk music. Well, it is okay, you don’t always follow what is trendy, right? However, there is a scene in the music store, where you can see a Queen poster on the wall (yes, the British rock band). For fans like me, the photo in the poster is well known, from the beginning of the 80s.  Technology Again, the tech used by the kids seems outdated. They are listening to music on cassettes. Yes, I remember to do it too, but it wasn’t the most common. Besides, I have a different question: Why no one has a ...

Can you hear me? is a Canadian show, located in Montreal, that will probably surprise you. Three friends with terrible life circumstances have a single precious thing: each other. They don’t seem to have an acceptable lifestyle. They are weird, make unbelievable choices, and sometimes, they can shock you. Yet, you can’t help but feel a little empathy. Friendship The main character in this show is friendship. In the first episode, after an anger management session, we follow Ada back to her friends. For a while, all we see is a random conversation between a group of close friends. You’ll feel the outsider of the group.  The three girls (Ada, Fabiola, and Carolanne) have a fantastic connection. Yet, they have very different ways to deal with the world. Ada is impulsive and responds with anger and, sometimes, violence. Carolanne simply shuts down. She is the quietest member of the group, and it is difficult for her to open up. Fabiola is a hard worker that tries to help everyone, but...

Luna Nera (Black Moon) is a story about witch-hunting, this time, with real witches - stregas - in 17th century Italy. Full of teenage characters, love seems to be one of the main ingredients of the plot. Love secrets, forbidden loves, an environment of romance clashes with the brutal treatment of the women accused of witchcraft. Ade, the protagonist, is a young woman in the discovery of herself, scared and full of uncertainties. Yet, she bravely accepts her mission, fighting against her anguishes and indecisions.  The Benandanti The witches' main enemy is a group of masked men that hunts them with no mercy. Their looks are already terrifying, even before they do anything. But, at the end of the day: what's their motivation? What beliefs lead them to that cruelty? Yes, that particular group of women they're hunting was of real witches. Yet, if you take a close look at the benandanti criteria… almost any single woman could fit them. In this group, we have two interesting ...

Freud is a bizarre Austrian-German show about the beginning of Sigmund Freud's career. It puts a young Sigmund Freud in the middle of the social-political conspiracy. Were you expecting a biography? Sorry to disappoint you. The main idea is, no doubt, weird. I'm not exactly sure about what I saw there. Only in the last couple of episodes, you can make some sense of a few things. FEW. Entrance I could not ignore the entrance of the show as it is one of the best things about it. It is very curious. If you pay attention, Freud's bust changes at each episode. Each change represents the different topics or issues approached — the integration and disintegration of the self, so crucial in Freud's theory.   Mysticism Everything seems fine until the story begins. It is not about psychology - not as we understand it - but rather about mysticism. It is focused on local folklore, mystical stories, and supernatural beings.  The main plot is around t...

(Spoilers ahead.) Elite is one of the best teen drama shows I’ve watched, and season 3 brings us a new death and a new mystery. After Marina’s killer returns freely to Las Encinas , the rage, revolt, and depression seem to spread amongst the students. They know that nothing will be like before. The feelings are complex, confused, and the kids don’t know what to do with them. Social and economic status seems to be above the judicial system. Yet, the transformation suffered by all the students is the protagonist of the season. Many teenage shows tend to picture the characters as if they are merely underage adults. Here is where Elite went further and better. Yes, they do things that usually only adults do. Yet, the way they deal with them shows the truth: they are little more than children. Lu’s Fall Lu was the villain from the previous seasons. She acts with extreme arrogance since the beginning, pretending she was untouchable. Yet, with her father discove...