Maid, The Premise, and culture grab bag
Character-driven "issues" shows, plus miscellaneous TV/film updates
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Maid and The Premise, two shows about the fabric of American society, both socioeconomic and cultural.
Click here to listen to the full episode on the web
Or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, or other podcast apps.
03:00 Maid, a Netflix limited series, is a stark, compelling, uncomfortably realistic depiction of what poverty looks like.
There are no tiny violins, no sugarcoating, no persistence porn. This delivers the hard truth of it raw (and, as Pelin notes, this is focused on the story of a young, pretty, white woman, so you can imagine how many additional barriers there can be when it comes to race and/or language). All that stands between making it one step ahead and your life totally falling apart is just one bad thing: being late to a job, an unexpected illness, running out of childcare.
Although this series is dark, it is not without joy or humor. Maid is also lifted up by its performances, including a stellar Margaret Qualley in a career-making role, a nuanced Nick Robinson playing a character who is afforded a huge amount of complexity, and a whole slew of supporting characters.
28:47 The satirical anthology series The Premise, streaming on Hulu, is wildly uneven but redeemed by one standout episode.
Here’s the TL;DR guide to navigating this series, which has reviewed mixed to negative reviews:
Episode 1: SKIP
Episode 2: YES WATCH
Episode 3: WATCH
Episode 4: SKIP
Episode 5: WATCH
At it best, this show plays like a collection of modern-day parables with unexpected paths and performances. But at its worst, the things that some episodes are trying to say are simplistic and myopic. So, you know, follow the guide!
38:45 Plus, culture notes served quibi (“quick bites”)-style this week.
We offer a couple of mea culpas (Ted Lasso, Foundation), a general check-in (Squid Game), and some excitement (Succession, Batman).
Bonus links
Here’s my story that I mentioned at the top of the episode, please give click$ 🙏
SUCCESSION!!!!!
A thread with a lot of context behind the real-life forces that shape Squid Game:
And heads up we will be talking about Dune. Here’s a sneak peek of Pelin’s assessment:
That’s it for now! See you next week.
— Jenny
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Inquiries, complaints, and recs for what to watch can go to criticismisdead@gmail.com.
Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu