TV Binge: Queer Eye (Season 5, 2020)

Queer Eye (Season 5, 2020)

Cast: Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness

A new Fab Five set out to Atlanta Philadelphia to help some of the city’s people refine their wardrobes, grooming, diet, cultural pursuits, and home décor. – IMDB

Season 5 of Queer Eye couldn’t have been released at a better time. With the world being hit by many things including pandemic. Its not been a great 2020 and yet, Queer Eye’s message from the first season always feels like we’re not defined by our differences but our similarities and that’s why every season, we see them moving to different place in the United States as well as picking different people with varying gender, backgrounds, etc. With the latest season changing base to Philadelphia, its yet another batch of “heroes” to discover all with their own touching stories.

At the fifth season of Queer Eye, its still full steam ahead. There are some very small changes to their structure. Its not really needed since they had a pretty good balance. With each person and what they need to makeover, its more about finding that more emotional change to clear out some of that emotional baggage and burden and then balancing it with the other external elements of style, home design/organization, food, grooming. In that sense, while Karamo’s role of culture is a big one, it meshes in with some of the other Fab Five’s task.

What really does stand out in Season 5 is that this season, they picked a lot of people who on different levels related more to one of the Fab Five group and gives them their time to guide each of these people with their own personal experiences. It feels like sometimes the show does help the people they choose but at the same time, it also helps the Fab Five grow as well as there is an obvious change (in a good way) of how they are as people. One of the best parts of watching shows like this is not only seeing the nice makeovers and the shock and often gratitude of the moment but also seeing these more personal stories being told that are very well relatable on different levels. Its the positive vibes that flow in every moment and the value of being able to embrace change that gives so much life to the show itself.

At the fifth season of Queer Eye, you pretty know what to expect from the show. Its a makeover show but somehow, it brings a lot more to the table than just that. Its about everyday people and their difficulties and how to get their life back on track. I’m sure that the show works on many levels because its relatable. Sure, we’re not going to go and do some intense makeover but its a way to look at the people around us as well as even our own lives and issues in a different light and with it, whatever positive message applies to the viewer. Bingeworthy, emotional and sending out positive vibes as always.

Hopefully, we’ll be seeing the sixth season of Queer Eye sooner rather than later.

TV Binge: Gilmore Girls (Season 5, 2005)

Today, we’re continuing the very overdue Gilmore Girl binges. We’re at Season 5 now! The show’s kept a fairly good pace up till now. Before I get ahead of myself, remember that if you haven’t seen Gilmore Girls, that this season 5 binge recap will have tiny spoilers just because of the continuity of the story. I try to keep to the things I liked and disliked so that its brief but there’s things I really can’t avoid.

Gilmore Girls (Season 5, 2015)

Creator:

Cast: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Scott Patterson, Sean Gunn, Kelly Bishop, Matt Czuchry,

Season 4 ended with quite the cliffhanger. It took us into Season 5 with a nice change in pace. For one, the Gilmore Girls are more or less in a disagreement resulting in Rory’s eventual departure for the summer with her grandmother. Of course, there was separation all around as the reason Emily Gilmore left was because of her decision to have a divorce over a decision in Season 4 that she disagreed with because it would possibly push Lorelai and Rory away. With the family relationships in a tangle, it only signaled in more conflict as the boyfriends for Lorelai and Rory marched in and out of their respective lives. Season 5 had a lot of coming to terms with their situations and being okay with it.

In many ways, Season 5 was a very strong season. It had both conflicts between our favorite mother and daughter but also life situations that proved how amazing their relationship and support system was. There were a lot of hilarious moments and balanced equally with more serious outcomes.

What follows now will most likely head into spoiler territory if you have not caught up so consider yourself warned…

Let us start with some arcs that I loved/ liked:

Emily and Richard

Season 5 spent a good deal of time with the previous generation of Gilmores. An almost forty year marriage that was put into separation. What started out as putting up a front turned into a downright hilarious spiral to their separation from the start and then came back to having the couple separated and then their reunion. It does spark a lot of silly moments, once of the first including Emily Gilmore climbing out of the basement window and shedding her skirt in the process. Just a quick example but it was nice to see how their relationship fell apart but came back together. It was a long-awaited focus on Emily and Richard Gilmore that was quite needed.

Marty

Marty’s character arc started last semester as “The Naked Guy” and its nice to see him coming back as his character meshes really well with Rory and for a good part of the first two years at Yale, he is somewhat of a support system as they sit down to study together and hang out and he brings over food from his random jobs here and there. He is someone that seems to be on the same wavelength as Rory because they both don’t come from privileged families (in a way) and they speak the same language. In this season, he doesn’t get a ton of arc but its enough to really see their friendship be solidified in a certain way. I have read some stuff here and there that ships Marty and Rory. While I think Marty is a stellar arc, I never thought he was meant for her but more as a comparison of the change she’s incurring through college.

Lorelai and Luke

Let’s be honest. This pairing was eventually going to happen since day one of Gilmore Girls. Luke and Lorelai just needed to fall into the right timing in their lives to embrace it. This season gave them still a lot of hardships however, there were still a lot of fun moments as they learned to adapt to each other’s lives. Its never easy to date a Gilmore Girl especially with the family ties baggage that comes along with it.

Logan & the Life and Death Brigade

Season 5 took a lot of time building up the entrance of Logan as a love interest for Rory. Matt Czuchry does a great job and taking on this character. While I’m totally part of the Jess team, I do believe that Logan had to come into Rory’s life and teach her to not be afraid to live her life and actually experience it even if it meant taking risks and chances. Some of those ties to Logan did bring on some bad repercussions and Rory did try to change who she was for him but in the end, they do change each other for the better in many ways as well. However, Logan does draw many parallels to her own father and its probably why its takes a while for Lorelai to enjoy it. However, lots of great fun moments with them both good and bad.

Sookie and Jackson

I can’t remember if I’ve talked about it before but Sookie and Jackson are absolutely hilarious. Especially in Season 5, they also have a stronger arc as they embrace the arrival of their second child while Jackson fights for justice and then ends up running for Town Selectman (I think that’s the title) and his duties drive him crazy after he wins. Its all kinds of crazy as they both are truly hilarious characters that play off each other as a couple so well in the quirkiness and most awkward of ways.

Paris: Rory, Doyle, Yale Daily News

As the series goes on, its hard to not love Paris for her straight forward, blunt and no filter dialogue. She’s hilarious in both her expressions and just how she is. Both in her journalistic efforts which bring on some funny moments and in her eventual pursuit for her relationship with Doyle, the editor of Yale Daily News and is a slightly silly character as well. She and her ways is starting to be a solid part of Rory’s life that Rory herself seems to have accepted and learned to be okay with in general. Its a lot of fun times as they have clashy conversations which tend just get forgotten and their friendship grows stronger despite of it all.

Lane & Zach/Hep Alien

Hep Alien has spent a few seasons growing. Its characters involved also becoming more familiar. Particularly since Lane chose to rebel against her mom’s wishes to follow her own dreams which turns out that being an adult and living seems to be getting in the way in this season. Its great to see sucha motivated character in Lane especially as she starts to learn that he likes Zack of all people. Zack however does turn out to be one of slow but harmless characters and leads to their own good moments as they embrace the idea of being together and as their relationship develops and finds a balance within their band.

One of the arcs that I got why it happened but wasn’t a particular fan of:

The Second Try with Rory and Dean

Dean is an okay boyfriend. In perspective of him once being a great boyfriend, it felt inevitable that the arc would lead back there. The way it happened however was not something I particularly thought was good. However, Gilmore Girls succeeds in showing off the messiness of life and the bad decisions the Gilmore Girls all make before realizing what is right for them. Plus, first loves are known to linger on our minds so its hard to really fault anyone in this situation however, their second try might have the right feelings there but it seemed to still lack the timing and growth that they both needed.

Gilmore Girls’ season 5 succeeds as a whole as probably having some of the funniest moments of the show and leading the characters each into their own development. Time to get on with Season 6 shortly!

Somewhat of a detailed TV binge format here. I am still trying to figure out what works best.

TV Binge: Once Upon a Time (Season 5, 2015)

Moving right along in the incredible attempt to catch up with Once Upon a Time, I wrapped up Season 5. Once Upon a Time continues to twists up some of the tales and puts together some interesting pairings which is one thing that I love the most about the show. Plus, after so many years, its hard to not love a lot of the characters. It also helps that last year I did end up going to visit the little town that its shot in in Vancouver and totally fangirled which makes seeing Storybrooke so much more personal (in my mind).

Once Upon a Time (Season 5, 2015)

Creator: Adam Horowitz & Edward Kitsis

Cast: Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle, Jared Gilmore, Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Colin O’Donoghue, Emilie de Ravin, Rebecca Mader, Sean Maguire, Liam Garrigan, Greg Germann

 Maybe its the fact that hopping back to this that I forgot how packed Once Upon a Time but Season 5 feels like there is a vast amount of characters that traverse the path in the few villains they do cross. As a little season 5 recap, the season picks up where the 4th ends with Emma taking the responsibility to be the Dark One and gets sent back to The Enchanted Forest. The rest of her family finds a way back and they eventually end up in Camelot where they meet King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. They have a secret to complete that involves the search for the Dark One. Somehow they get sent back to Storybrooke and Emma has lost the fight and has embraced has her dark side while wiping away everyone’s memory. A course of events sends Hook to the Underworld where they also follow and get trapped by Hades and confront some of their own people they have lost. When they do find a way back to Storybrooke, they get tricked and sent to The Land of Untold Stories where they meet the infamous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I think that about covers the general outline.

Season 5 is crazy packed as everyone embarks on a journey about their value and whether they are good and evil and being okay with who they are. Some extremities are taken which of course take a turn for a bad the lingers into the next season. Fairy tales are about happy endings and if Once Upon a Time has taught us anything, its that they are quite the rare occurrence in the show especially when it involves Regina and Emma. Being the Savior or a Villain both doesn’t give you the merit to have the happy ending. However, Season 5 may feel packed but its great to see the twists on these characters. In fact it expands on these characters as they also meet Merida and help her with her quest to become queen of Dunbroch.  We flash back to see Mulan and Red Riding Hood and Dorothy and their connection to everything. Of course, it wouldn’t be this show without Rumplestiltskin and his secrets along with trying to get back Belle which also sees a twist on her story and Gaston. Snow also once knew Hercules as well. We see some characters exit the show as well as the Underworld allows some characters to eventually either move on in a good or bad way. Thinking back to the season feels really busy but at times, that is what works to keep us on our toes and always learning that this world still has a lot to offer as they can breakaway from the fairy tales as well as take characters from classics. That is the magic of why I love Once Upon a Time.

The villain this season did have quite a spark. I have to say that in the few times that I’ve seen Greg Germann, he’s always been so fun to watch. This time, he plays Hades and not only does he resemble how Hades looked in Disney’s Hercules but he does take on that villainous role really well. Talking about villains, while I did enjoy the whole Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde bit, the way Mr. Hyde talked was so grating and annoying. If anything, that was the only thing I didn’t like about this season. Once Upon a Time also has these villains that are truly horrible and ruthless. However, they also have this story that gives them a moment of hope for redemption and its always that unknown of whether it will happen or not. Another point of why I do like Once Upon a Time a lot is dealing with the character development and this season may be busy but a lot of the characters had their moment to truly see their thoughts and things they haven’t been able to let go of and in many ways, they did embrace themselves.

Overall, Season 5 was a lot of fun. While you could argue that the huge amount of characters made the story very scattered, somehow it still works very well to keep it fun and adventurous to watch as our characters grew and truly embraced issues that bothered them and confronted their monsters both mentally and physically. A really nice collection of villains and heroes in Season 5 and I’m looking forward to watching Season 6.

TV Binge: Orange is the New Black (Season 5, 2017)

Next up in the overdue TV Binge recaps is the newest season of Orange is the New Black. I saw this some time before Fantasia Festival so it got backed up but here we are.

As usual, if you plan on watching Season 5 and haven’t yet or haven’t caught up with Orange is the New Black, this is a spoiler warning. The content itself will fall into some spoilers.

Orange is the New Black (Season 5, 2017)

Creator: Jenji Kohan

Cast: Taylor Schilling, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Dascha Polanco, Selenis Leyva, Nick Sandow, Yael Stone, Taryn Manning, Lea DeLaria, Adrienne C. Moore, Laura Prepon, Jackie Cruz, Natasha Lyonne

 Orange Is The New Black has come a long way from what it was. Last season took away Poussey and had the Black Lives Matter theme while giving a riot the grounds to start with the new guards coming in place and showing their true colors. Whether it was from inexperience or from their brutality, they all contributed to the rebellion and with all that has been going on, Daya ends Season 4 holding a gun to the despicable Humphrey’s head. The questions that lingered over their heads were plentiful. What direction would this take?

Season 5 has 13 episodes however the show’s time frame is the processes of a riot or prison shutdown that the prisoners enforce over three days. With the different groups in Litchfield, the prison falls apart. The main powers now go with the Latinas as Daya uses her gun to stay in control. Daya however is also controlled by Maria. However, the power shifts eventually turn to Leanne and Angie. While the powers shift, we have groups dealing with the trapped but not able to escape in time celebrity, Judy King who is now being turned around for others to bid. Taystee and her crew are trying to use this riot to make it mean something and get justice for Poussey’s death. While there are peacemakers outside that are happy to sit this one out to not increase their sentence with Alex. Unlikely friendships and alliances, unsolved or repressed issues that has surfaced and many of how to approach this riot and lockdown on Litchfield is what makes this season what it is.

My main issue with this season was the slow start. I know some of my friends enjoyed the entire season. I’ve been feeling this way about Orange is the New Black for a while now where it stumbles on finding its footing and its starting to get lost in what made it great in the first place. However, somewhere around episode 4 or 5, I remember something happening that truly changes the pace and from there on, its emotional and funny and quirky and odd. The characters find where they stand and what they want. We start seeing characters from outside the facility and the balance of those trapped inside also. This seasons’s heavy hitters had a change of pace, giving more spotlight to Taystee, played by Danielle Brooks. While she was always one of the main characters, this season gave her more emotions to deal with as well as inner conflict and finding her strength. At the same time, the girls who play meth heads or drug addicts or whatnot, Angie and Leanne also get more space as their stupidity takes the spotlight when they end up miraculously having the power and abuse it in the oddest way. Boo also has something of a stronger story arc which links to Linda, Caputo’s girlfriend who gets caught up in the mix from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. At the same time, the highlight definitely goes to Red and Blanca forming an unlikely alliance.

That is really all I have to say about the latest season of Orange is the New Black. Overall, it takes a few episodes to find its footing, then its a crazy ride to the finale. We tackle the characters trying to find peace with the death of Poussey as well as focusing on a few other relationships and how this whole situation may have brought out the best and the worst in everyone. There are some fun, funny, stupid and a lot of over the top moments. Its not my favorite season but it definitely won me over as we got to the end. The finale was pretty satisfying and it’ll be interesting to see how the next season will go with how its all turned out.