Little Fires Everywhere

The innate bitchiness of Reese Witherspoon - let's talk. Since I first laid eyes on her with Mathew Broderick in Election, I've loved to hate her. She has a knack for picking roles about wealthy white overachieving women who you detest; she is really good at playing them. She was great in Big Little Lies and she is great in Little Fires Everywhere, her latest A-type bitch role. What's it all about? It's based on Celeste Ng's book of the same title. It's about  Elena Richardson (Witherspoon), mother of four, who never fulfilled her dreams because she had too many kids but puts on the facade that everything in her life is perfect. In walks Mia Warren (played by Kerry Washington) and her teenage daughter, Pearl. Mia is an artist with a mysterious past. Mia gets a part time job as a waitress at a Chinese restaurant and she discovers her co-worker left her baby one desperate night at a fire station. The baby ended up in the arms of white failed-fertility couple who just happens to be good friends of the Richardsons. Mia sets out to get the baby back for her co-worker. That's all I want to tell you. There is a lot going here. The show is about motherhood, it's about race relations, white privilege, coming-of-age experiences, gay love, and even poses the question, what is art? Lots and lots of stuff for only 8 episodes of an hour each. The entire cast is marvelous and the whole show is riveting. It's one of the most thought provoking series I've watched in a while and it gets my highest recommendation. My wife loved it too. Catch it on Amazon.

After Life

What's it all about? It's about Tony (Ricky Gervais) who has lost the love of his life to cancer and is in a very dark place. Tony is an atheist who doesn't believe in an afterlife and now that his wife is gone, doesn't really have any good reason to carry on. As a result, Tony says and does pretty much whatever he wants. He is a bit of an asshole, but a very charming one. Tony works at a very small community paper run by his brother-in-law who lets Tony get away with his outlandish behaviour because Tony is grieving hard for his deceased sister. The tiny paper is filled with oddball characters. They cover goofy and silly stories of people who just want their picture in the local paper for ten minutes of fame. Tony's life is jammed packed with characters - which is the charm of the show. He has a dad with dementia whom he visits on a daily basis and talks with the pretty nurse who works there; he has hilarious sessions with his toxic male therapist; a quirky relationship with a sex worker; and a funny hostel relationship with the postman. I've always liked Ricky Gervais  - partly because I'm also an atheist and I tend to like my humour dark - but in this role, as Tony, you can see Gervais stretching as an actor, diving deeper into more personal stuff. It's good, he's good. I was impressed. Catch it on Netflix.