TV Shows Watched: Black Mirror: S2E4 (Netflix) with audio description, The Waterfront: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description,Stick: S1E3 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Overcompensating: S1E7 (Amazon) with audio description, Adults: S1E3 (Hulu) with audio description, Destination X: S1E4 (Peacock) with audio description, Mindhunter: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Breaking Bad: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description, Sherlock and Daughter: S1E2 (MAX) no audio description

Best Episode: Black Mirror, Runner Up: mindhunter

Best Audio Description: Breaking Bad, Runner Up: Black mirror

Best Performance: Jon Hamm (black Mirror), Runner Up: Benito Skinner (Overcompensating)

Best Moment Of Audio Description: Cleaning Up Literal Human Waste (Breaking Bad), The Blocking (Black mirror)

Black Mirror- In one of the longer episodes of the series so far, White Christmas is one of the kitchen sink episodes that throws several dystopian concepts at you and wraps it in a confounding plot. Hamm is excellent in a role seemed tailored just for him, but the episode has several different smaller parts woven into this larger story, all of which have left me with so many questions. If may not be the best episode, but it certainly is the one I can’t stop thinking about, so it wins in my book. And, there’s a lot of science fiction to describe, with the introducing of real world “blocking”, so a sometimes average audio description track rises above a bit.

the waterfront- i liked the second half of the episode more than the first. It isn’t the Kevin Williamson type of show I was hoping for, like another Dawson’s Creek. This one has a bit more mystery to it, and the closest comparison I can think of easily is Outer Banks. It has a crime element to it, but it also seems to want to develop out relationships, and family trees. The audio description was pretty good, just other things stood out more.

Stick- Owen Wilson’s sports comedy hits the road as our four main characters head off to the first tournament. This episode gave Marc Maron a bit more to do, while ironically trapping him. He’s been a bit one note until this point, but even though this episode seems to explore our young golfer and a potential romantic love interest, what it really did was give maron more of a showcase for his talent and range.

Overcompensating- loved this episode. Brother and Sister head home for the holidays, and Peter is left behind after the leak, but benny brings Carmen along. Our three young leads all develop more, but Benito really steals the show with a couple of scenes, as we see in a flashback how he initially reacted to a friend coming out to him, and one that he had an active crush on at the time, which now gives him the opportunity to be open and honest to his friend who also returned home for the holiday. He also has a lovely moment with his Mom, who you can tell knows, but is just waiting for her son to tell her in his own time.

adults- A nice silly episode about one of the core members befriending someone who might be a killer, while two of the gang go on a misadventure to try and get rid of a gun they find in the house.

Destination X- that poor eliminated contestant got played so hard, but I’m not even mad. The person responsible for it, had no choice, it had to be someone. The least spoilery way to describe this week’s episode.

Mindhunter- If you don’t know, since I’ve been doing catch ups, Mindhunter (like Peaky Blinders), has Netflix follow up movies in the works. I figured it was time for me to check out this well reviewed show, and the pilot blew me away. A terrific show about profilers, not just the typical bullshit, but historically how profiling started. David Fincher’s show is excellent, but I’m cold to the audio description right now. The writing was fine, but the narrator is so incredibly dull and flat. I know some people don’t like performative, but at a point, you’ve also drained the life from your narration, and everyone fell asleep.

Breaking Bad- A terrific episode where Walt has to make a tough call, and hank gives Walt Jr a version of scared straight that is totally unnecessary. The audio description is terrific here, and Diane Newman’s voice is now engrained in my mind as being associated with this universe forever.

Sherlock and daughter- there’s like one or two bad actors seemingly in every episode so far, and they can’t read lines. this show needs audio description, but the premise is fun. I don’t hate this show, I just hate that it has no audio description on MAX.

The Worst- The loser is MAX, however, that is tied to the presumption somewhere along the way audio description was created for Sherlock and Daughter. if not, this isn’t an original for them, so i wouldn’t expect them to create a whole track for something that might be on their service only for a few months.