Series Review: Insatiable

"Being skinny, don't mean sh*t if you are ugly on the inside" is probably the best thing to come from the Netflix Original series "Insatiable" -which I am probably dropping from my #NowWatching list (I officially gave up on episode 6) but just continued watching so my review will have some merit. 

The dark comedy from 'Dexter' producer Lauren Gussis tries to be relevant and earn "woke points" by having an overweight lead character who deals with themes like body image and bullying. The show having a racially diverse and queer cast but they seem to be doing more harm than good as they present a plot wherein the female lead, Patty Bladell (Debby Ryan) -who used to be overweight; can only be happy if and when she becomes thin. She loses the weight by punching a homeless guy who was trying to take her chocolate, breaks her jaw and goes on a liquid diet for a number of months. 

The show manages to make fun of religion, sexual identity, body image, Southern society, statutory rape, molestation, adoption, pageants and honestly, abortion and honestly every topic under the sun. 

Patty says: "Now that I'm thin; its my turn to get the guy"  

I actually know of couples wherein the cute boy next door goes for the chubby girl. There is such a thing as "chubby chasers" you know and its disappointing to think that the boys in the series only take a second glance at Patty now that she's thin and pretty but wouldn't have given  her the time of day before. 

Now that Patty is thin, all that she wants to do is to get revenge on all those people who ever made fun of her but she ends up just hurting everyone around her. She is a selfish character with no redeemable quality whatsoever. Its so hard to root for her, when all that she thinks of is herself. 

When the trailer dropped I didn't that there was a lot of backlash with the possible fat shaming that the show will be projecting. It got so bad that there was even a call to cancel the show and probably Netflix should have. 

With the backlash from the series, Netflix has defended it saying that it is all 'satire' but the thing with satire is, in order for it to work, it has to be intelligent, your audience must be in on the joke, you must be winking at them and they should be laughing with you and with "Insatiable" trust me - no one is laughing. 

The characters are all annoying, they are all selfish and seem to live in their own bubbles, its so suffocating that they all seem to run circles around each other, as if their small town in Georgia is the smallest place on earth. They all seem to all have done some twisted, sick, unforgiving thing to each other. 

One of the few things that I liked about the show was the relationship of Patty's pageant coach Bob Armstrong (Dallas Roberts) and his social climber wife Coralee (Alyssa Milano). Yes, they both are weird in their own insatiable needs, him to  be the best pageant coach and her to be the ultimate Southern socialite but they are both partner in crimes who love and support each other, until the show ruins it. 

Also, all the parents in this show seem to allow their children to run wild and do as they please and alright just abandons them. No wonder these kids are so confused and just keep finding themselves in one bad situation after another.  I hate how the show leaves so many plots hanging and unexplored. Its as if the writers are just throwing everything at the wall and trying to see whatever will stick. 

3/10. Given that the finale was a cliff hanger-I am curious about what will happen next but not out of concern for Patty that's for sure. You just never get to like her to care about her. If the series survives another season, they should think of a major overhaul. 

Netflix Series Review: Jessica Jones Season 2

Taking a back seat from its predecessor, Season 2 of Marvel Netflix's "Jessica Jones" fails to push the envelope and challenge the status quo, unlike the first season, which dealt with themes and issues like abduction, rape and abortion head on, something unprecedented at that time.

The new season also struggles to find its villain that it even had to bring in the ghost of Season One's past villain, David Tenant's incredible performance as Kilgrave in order to bring some semblance of the series' known darker themes.

Pursuing an ambitious plot, our reluctant heroine (Krysten Ritter), through the persistence of the now annoying wannabe superhero/best friend Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) starts looking into her mysterious past and how she came about her powers. In the course of the investigation Jessica unlocks a dark secret which may change everything that she has come to know about her tumultuous life.

The different troubled and colorful characters of the series (Trish, Malcolm and Jeri) go  through a lot of changes and some character growth on their own. Eka Darville (Malcolm Ducasse) steps up on the plate and showcases his character's full potential. With Jessica always being reluctant to explore the potentials of her abilities and the possibilities of helping other people, Trish (Ittttt's Paaatsy!) is all for it, even if it means risking her own life to do so. We already know that Carrie-Anne Moss' Jeri Hogarth is one bad ass character but in this season we see her in a different light, an empty shell of her former self, the once powerful lawyer must use all of her abilities in order to stay on top, becoming this season's image of female empowerment. Something which ironically our titular character (Jessica Jones) fails to do throughout the season as she only reacts to situations rather than facing them head on. 

Without a doubt, Ritter delivers another impressive performance, possibly tying her to the character forever and making her face, the face of Jessica Jones. She brings her A game to a challenged plot and narrative and gets away with the audience cheering for her. 

6.5 /10 -Despite the lack of shock value like the first season, season 2 of Jessica Jones continues on the story of an anti-hero who never wanted powers but was given them anyway, the struggles she goes through and the sacrifices she had to make as she constantly goes through everyday doubting herself and her potential. The story has then expanded to her relationships to the people around her, people she has loved, hated and has been forced to work with. These characters have grown and changed but Jessica has stayed the same, how all of these will play through in Season 3 (should the show be renewed, which would most likely be the case) is something that you as the audience would still want to know and follow. 

Season 2 of Jessica Jones is now streaming on Netflix. 

Netflix Releases Marvel’s Jessica Jones Franchise Trailer

Jessica is back and doing things her way.

In anticipation of the highly-awaited second season, Netflix released the franchise trailer for Marvel’s Jessica Jones. With flashes back to the first season, the trailer explores Jessica’s path to season two, while she shows everyone how to fight like a woman.

Marvel’s Jessica Jones returns for a second season on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2018, on Netflix

Watch the trailer here.

Taking on Jessica Jones

As a self proclaimed writer, I always like challenging myself, you know, really writing something. I feel alive when the words are quickly forming in my head and rushing to get either on paper or online. There are times when I just need to write for the sake of it, just to get a post up, just because I need to. So when my Managing Editor assigned me to write about the new Marvel-Netflix series Jessica Jones, I was both excited and a bit apprehensive.

Excited, because I love every opportunity to get to put on my writing hat on and really get the juices flowing. Apprehensive because the series is critically acclaimed with every critic writing about it. People I look up to are either already done with the series or are currently watching it and have been raving about it on social media. So yes, writing about my opinions was a bit nerve wrecking.

I didn't want to come across as naive or silly in my thoughts and opinions of the series and I guess that's what had me staring at a black paper longer than usual.

In the end, once inspiration hit, the words came and I was able to fill up one page, then another, and another and before I knew it, I was done!

You can check out my Jessica Jones write up on www.flipgeeks.com 

or you can click on the link here.