I decided to check out the hot new limited series, Ripley (Netflix), which has All Of us Strangers star Andrew Scott playing Tom Ripley, in a loose reimagining of The Talented Mr Ripley. Translating a book to film often shortens the material, but into a limited series, and you can keep a lot more of the subject matter. The question is whether or not this sustains the run as well as the film managed to. Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning c-star. The audio description here was perfectly fine. If I had any note, it would be to lean more in on the opulence. There’s a bit of this wealth being exhibited as well as the beauty of the locale, and all of that creates what I’m sure is a striking richness to these characters. Based on the first episode, I think the audio description has given us everything we need to follow this show, though. I’m going with top tier.

I did finally listen to The Traitors (Peacock) in their “tell all” episode, hosted by Andy Cohen. It strikes me how dismissive everyone was of MJ, who blocked the winners on social, and has a grudge. I think everyone forgets, she voted to end the game, and was willing to share the winnings with the other two. She’s being chastised for her feelings, but her feelings are quite valid. She knew everyone left was faithful, voted to end the game, and it was the selfishness of the other two that got her cut. “It’s a game, deal with it.” Really isn’t the right thing. I don’t even know how to grade the audio description for a talkback like this, but there are flashbacks to footage throughout the season. In general, I’ve been unimpressed by the audio description on The Traitors, and Andy saying everyone’s names does most of the heavy lifting. I’m gonna stay consistent. Bottom tier.

Ark: The Animated Series (Paramount Plus) in its third episode continued the story with this new tribe that seems to hate Michelle Yeoh’s character, but we do learn more about the past, and also the past of one of the new characters, John. I think he was the first character we had flashbacks of what their life was like before Ark, other than the lead. In the end, a soldier from the opposing force rides in and is quickly defeated, but where does that leave everyone? In terms of audio description, the written description is better than the narrator, who just doesn’t have the right tone or experience in her voice. It all feels like this was a learning experience. Middle tier.

Another episode of The New Look (Apple Plus) brought Chanel and Dior closer to the end of the series. At least, I think this is a limited. It is so hard to tell anymore. Apple’s shows don’t disappoint in terms of audio description. Top tier.

I watched the highly discussed episode of The Good Doctor (Hulu), which used its final season position to leave us with a devastating ending, but also to make a point in a reflective view about the real world right now. The internet was posting a lot about having a surprise death this episode, so I was on the lookout, and I honestly did not think it was this character until right before it happened.Without spoiling things, there was a character who usually doesn’t have as much screentime or dialogue, who was getting a lot more, which is usually indicative of a looming exit. But it wasn’t that. Nice fake out. I don’t know where we are going with Sean’s storyline. The woman was coding on the table, and she wanted to explain herself, and Sean ejected his perpetually problematic intern. Yes, you could say that we see a lot of sean in her, but at the same time, not. She’s not as brilliant, that’s why he has a show. I worry that the show is trying to make a point that isn’t necessarily the one it should be making. It is a “spectrum” which feels very ableist by forcing the one attending who is also on the spectrum to deal with the new student who is also on the spectrum. You wouldn’t see this in other forms, where the black doctor would get assigned the black students. Because, there’s an understanding that people are different. I get this as a blind person too sometimes, when someone sighted that I’ve known for a while encounters someone else with vision loss. Our levels of vision can be totally different, and the periods of time matter. No group should be treated like a monolith, and I’m getting concerned that The Good Doctor is standing by its problematic storyline of assuming that Sean was the best choice for their one ASD student. Hopefully, Sean is able to, and the show allows him to make this point, instead of railroading him with some other nonsense. Otherwise, he’ll be the magnet for every med student with autism for the rest of his career. The audio description here is underwhelming, but not the worst I’ve heard. It’s hard to say it comes anywhere near what Tristan Snyder was doing last season though. Middle/Bottom tier.

And finally, The Rookie (Hulu), had some storylines this week to be sure. All kinda random. We wrapped up the lawsuit against Nolan, who talked Bailey into temporarily taking in a toddler that was found in a closet at a murder scene, while Bradford had his past come back to haunt him, and Aaron’s therapist is super shady.