831 Contributions by: Isabella Endrinal (Page 54)

While based on a rom-com novel, Not Dead Yet adapts it with a supernatural twist… And proceeds to forget about it. The book that inspired the series is structured like personal journal entries, with the classic gratitude list, from a forty-year-old writer wanting to restart her life. Unfortunately, the US series removes the confessional vibe, by shoehorning ghosts into the plot. Instead of developing an appreciation for life through interviewing dead people’s loved ones, the ghosts lecture it for her, individually doing so until they disappear when their obit gets published. As a result, lessons aren’t internally realized and the relationships she forms feel hollow. Any dynamic she forms with a fleeting ghost or their loved ones could easily be brushed away in the succeeding episode. In adding the twist, Not Dead Yet fails to juggle its additional ghostly plot line, while also missing the empathy wanted by millennials missing generational markers.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Angela Elayne Gibbs, Gina Rodriguez, Hannah Simone, Lauren Ash, Rick Glassman

Miss Adrenaline: A Tale of Twins isn’t exactly terrible, but the series isn’t something new. Alternatively known as Romina Poderosa, the show’s plot points are telenovela mainstays without anything new to say. This series has all the twin tropes: The secret twin. One rich, one poor. Both tragically separated at birth for reasons unknown.

With Romina’s biking, there could have been cool stunts and unique escape scenes that mark it different from car chases. However, Miss Adrenaline doesn’t establish the twin chemistry that would make us care about Romina’s succeeding revenge plot. And as Romina impersonates her twin, the show snuffed its chances for further spectacular bike stunts.

Genre: Drama

Actor: David Palacio, Juan Manuel Guilera, Juanita Molina, Kevin Bury, Zharick León

At first glance, Irresistible doesn’t have the toxic ex-relationships, love triangles, or melodramatics known in the romance genre. As the main couple meet organically, and they’re able to share their ideas about love, the series had a promising slow-burn romance, that might be dialogue-heavy, but could possibly give out insights that any viewer would benefit to hear from. However, the casual way the protagonist Adele gets diagnosed with PTSD makes it feel like an insincere depiction of the disorder. And knowing that the male lead Arthur is married, and that they have such a casual fling, makes it hard to care if they’ll end up together. While there’s something that could be said about certain types of healing happening only through a relationship, Irresistible’s approach doesn’t seem to be headed that way, especially when it only has six episodes to tackle its nuances.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Camélia Jordana, Corentin Fila, Salomé Dewaels, Simon Ehrlacher, Théo Navarro-Mussy

Director: Antony Cordier, Laure de Butler

When France is portrayed on the silver screen, we’re more used to seeing the nation’s capital, Paris. Netflix instead takes us to the coastline of Marseilles in crime thriller series Blood Coast. As the Marseilles police team, led by police officer Lyès Benamar, hunts down the people behind the drugs, Interpol agent Alice Vadal gets transferred from Paris to the coastal case, possibly for revenge for her father. It’s a familiar plot, and the crime thriller goes through the motions in a slow, but predictable fashion, alternating between the police team and the organized syndicate behind the foreign drugs flooding the coast. The resulting show feels a tad boring, though it’s thankfully limited to only six episodes.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Crime

Actor: Idir Azougli, Jeanne Goursaud, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Olivier Barthélémy, Tewfik Jallab

Director: Ivan Fegyveres, Olivier Marchal

Rating: TV-MA

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Adeel Akhtar, Danya Griver, Dino Fetscher, Emmett Scanlan, Hattie Morahan, Joanna Lumley, Marcus Garvey, Michelle Keegan, Richard Armitage

Rating: TV-MA