Five shows should be easy to rank. Right? I also squeezed in a movie, so this short list is somewhat deceiving.
1) Killing It (Peacock)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
The 6th episode of this increasingly more and more hilarious sitcom found Craig outside in a massive line waiting to vote just to make his daughter happy, while being followed around by an insurance agent. Meanwhile, Jillian’s sister is the literal worst. Or maybe her dogs are. I can’t tell. Probably both.
Episode Grade: A
2) Miss Marvel (Disney Plus)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
In the second episode, we got a different flavor. Instead of continuing to push head on with the level of disapproval from Kamala’s mother or her family, we spent a good amount of time at a Mosque. Good job Disney for really going for it. And Bruno started to get his own storyline, suggesting he might be more important to the overall story arc in the long run, perhaps setting him up to be like a Ned to Kamala’s Ms Marvel. A potential love interest, and hopefully a potential villain could make the third episode even more interesting, making this show trending in the right direction.
Episode Grade: A-
3) All Rise (OWN)
English Audio Description Available?: No
Sadly, a move to cable in order to get saved seemed to cause All Rise to lose audio description. But, at least one of the two cast members I thought was leaving the show in the season premiere turned out to be sticking around, and pursuing holistic law during the run of the season. The main case was interesting enough, and somewhat timely. Plus, the continued drama around Lola’s election win feels very… 2020.
Episode Grade: A-
4) Pachenko (Apple Plus)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
In the whatever episode I’m on in this season, Sunja went off to live her new married life, while Solomon learned an important cultural life lesson of how the world still really saw him. This show is so interesting, even when it moves slowly, as it explores themes I had no idea even existed. This deep rooted racism between the Japanese and Koreans is so profoundly important to learn about. Watching Sunja’s mother trying simply to buy white rice, native to her country, but finding it next to impossible to do because white rice is reserved for Japanese customers. I’m glad I’m watching this, even if some of the dubbing voice over work is really not great.
Episode Grade: B+
5) Obi Wan (Disney Plus)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
in the fifth episode of “Where is Leia? Does anyone have eyes on Leia? We need a buddy system for Leia. If she gets kidnapped a third time…” we find that Vader has followed Leia’s droid to this Jedi hideaway, leaving Obi Wan to strategize quickly, which apparently means trusting Leia, who has done nothing in the last five episodes worth trusting. The last time he trusted her, they got a ride from someone who tried to turn them into the stormtroopers. So, her rate of success is low. In 4 episodes, she managed to be kidnapped twice. Leia is best kept trapped in some kind of box so she can’t get into trouble. But, Obi Wan tries to have a heart to heart with Reva MacIntyre, who survived Anakin’s slaughter of Jedi children. Apparently she’s been seeking revenge on Anakin, she’s just not very good at that part of the job. In the end, the useful ex-storm trooper that has been helping Obi Wan and Leia blows herself up to serve as a distraction, obi Wan turns himself in to help buy time for the others to get away, and Reva decides to finally fight Vader. But you can probably guess how that goes, considering Vader is in Episodes 4, 5, and 6, and no one knew about Reva until Obi wan. Someone should have warned her that she’s not in the sequel.
Episode Grade: B