The Last of Us (2023- )

The Last of Us (Season-1)

Created by: Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann
Based on the video game of the same name.

Having been a fan of Craig Mazin from his Scriptnotes podcast & Chernobyl - I was always curious about this show. Late to the party, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The show is structured in a way that it can be an anthology whenever it wants, it can explore subplots and the main plot too whenever it wants. It's mostly because the world building is so solid, that any part of the world seems gripping. My favourite episode is Ep. 3 (Bill & Frank's epic love story). That single story has an epic nature to it, and this story being just a part of the world makes the world too epic. Looking at the posters, and having no clue about the game - I thought it's the story of a father and daughter - navigating through a post apocalyptic world. But the story is better - it's that of a man who loses his daughter and happens to be with another girl of the same age. I feel like stories like these are more compelling - stories of bonds which are not familial - but are as strong as familial bonds. It somehow makes their relationship greater. Case in point, Sivagami - Baahubali.

My only disappointment with the whole show was the last episode. It felt rushes. There was too much happening in the main plot in the last episode and him killing doctors to not operate her - felt like a dicey thing to do. They're doctors. And she could possibly save the whole world. That oddly stood out to me. But apart from this one thing, I absolutely loved the show and especially the tone it cracks - it builds terrifying tension like a thriller, it scares you like a horror, it has very strong drama and emotions too. Got transported into the world right from the first minute of the first episode. 

This Is Us

This Is Us (Season 1)

There was a research done with a huge sample space, spanning over years - about what makes people happy. And the singular conclusion to this very broad question turned out to be - people and the relationships you have with them. Period. Everything else is negotiable. Yes, they found that poverty leads to misery and a certain amount of wealth is needed to erode that. But beyond a certain point, any amount of added wealth doesn't really add up to the happiness. I wrote about this because in the day and age of individualism, ambition and liberty, a show like This Is Us is a gentle reminder about how beautiful it is to have a loving family and a community around. It inspires us to value people around us more. 

One of the most interesting aspects in this show is how the characters feel so much for something we'd naturally not feel so much. For example, if a character's mother dies in a film and the character is crying their lungs out, we understand that. But what makes the characters in This Is Us even more adorable is, the father cries his heart out when one of his three babies is stillborn. This is not a situation that would move everybody. I was thinking, big deal, they have the two other babies. But the father cries his heart out for the life that the baby could've had. This is what makes the show beautiful. It reminds us to not lose our heart. It reminds us to be more loving and compassionate, again and again.

The non-linear structure of the show enriches the experience of the show. It's not just used for style. For example, when we get to know that Rebecca married Jack's best friend Miguel, it's heartbreaking whenever we see Jack and Rebecca being happily in love. We know that this isn't forever. We know that the poor guys didn't know that this wasn't meant to be forever. And in the scene where Jack and Miguel go to watch Rebecca perform, it's just a simple scene based on the setting, but just the sheer placement and the timing of the scene hits us so hard. It talks about how everything could change in a matter of time.

Jack & Rebecca - the story of this couple is so beautiful. Both of them are madly in love with each other, and it's always endearing to see a married couple express love like this day and again. Because, in pop culture, usually romance films end where the couple gets together. So all the romance exists only before they get together. But doesn't the actual story begin after that? Whenever Jack tells Rebecca that she's the most beautiful woman in the whole world, the way he says it, I buy it. I know that Jack means it with all honesty. This inspires us to fall in love and be courageous enough to love with our everything. For me, the best moment was when Jack tells Rebecca that he discovered his purpose in life - which was to make her happy. I could never be that guy, but it's endearing to see one. 

And we see a perfect couple like this go through some shit in their marriage. A couple who we thought could never fight. But then you realize that couples don't fight because they love each other lesser than usual, but because they love each other more than usual. For Jack, when his purpose in his life is to make her happy, he's obviously going to be shaken up with the idea of the marriage falling apart. This is precisely why Jack gets entirely shaken when Rebecca goes to on a tour with her ex-boyfriend. A strong man like him becomes this angsty kid who starts fighting, until he sees Rebecca and settles down. He needs to see her, be safe with her, and know that they'll be fine. That is all he wants. It's so endearing to see a man madly in love with his wife. This is precisely why I really enjoyed Ricky Gervais' After Life too. 

This show depicts different facets of love, one of which is the selfish love. Rebecca says, I cannot lose my kid (Randall). I cannot. You don't how to feel about this. Do you feel good that she feels so much love towards an adopted kid? Or do you feel bad about why even after having 2 kids of her own, why is she being too possessive and selfish about the 3rd one? It's so confusing. You don't love the characters nor hate them in situations like this. You just sit in wonder. 

Rick and Morty S1 Analysis

Rick and Morty S1

Created by: Justin Roiland and Dan Horman

Streaming on Netflix.

Rick is a crazy cynical scientist. He is Morty's grandpa, he takes Morty along for his science adventures. Morty is a fretful kid, who is always anxious and nervous even about the slightest of things. The fun is generated through our awareness of these characters, and after that whenever Morty is anxious, or whenever he says 'aww... Man', it's low key funny. And when the situation is too big, even before we see Monty react, we'd start laughing. And of course, Rick is the one saying the most absurd, unpredictable, dark things. It's seems like such a simple premise, but the level of complexity they explore in some episodes just expands the scope of the show. 

The premise caters to our inner child and rightfully so, because it justifies the form of animation. It caters to the inner child because as you're a kid or a grumpy old man, you don't crave for dopamine hits as much, and you aren't on the pursuit behind anything. You mostly get happy through the simplicities of life. We are more in the state of zen in these times, which is represented through Rick. Morty's fretful nature comes out from a sense of naivety, so it's not anxiety inducing as we watch. I enjoyed the first few episodes the most, the later episodes started becoming in the same territory one after the other - which probably explains why I'm more into movies than shows. I get bored pretty fast. But, I loved getting introducing to the world of this show.

Kudi Yedamaithe Analysis

Kudi Yedamaithe (2021)

Adapted and Directed by: Pawan Kumar

Created and Written by: Ram Vignesh

Streaming on Aha.

It's a time loop based show, where two characters find themselves waking up on the same day with the memory of the earlier days. They slowly open different stories that happen within that day as the show progresses. It's well written and executed. With this premise (or genre rather), the show can be anything. They chose to put this in the setting of a thriller. Kidnapping children. Murders. Investigation. It dips into other territories too for a bit, but it mostly stays on the plot heavy thriller space where there is high tension throughout. Durga is played well by Amala Paul, there is a bit of character exploration too, and it's done in a way where there's some mystery there too. The track of her husband being dead is played out in an interesting way, and it's used as a nice cliffhanger to the show.

One issue I found with the narrative was that, after a point, it just felt like a game, especially when Durga gets to know that she failed saving the kid. So they get to a state where they are okay with losing because they know that they have another chance. The time loop and the entire premise felt a bit futile and purposeless at that moment. I just wish there was a deeper meaning explored for the tool of time loop. Having said that, the show keeps us intrigued and it's binge-able because of the consistency in character and tone, which I think is the most important quality for a show.

The Family Man S2 Analysis

The Family Man Season 2 (2021)

Created, Directed and Produced by: Raj & DK
Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Samantha, Priyamani
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Spoilers Alert.

The series opens with a terrific 7-minutes which sets up the conflict of the entire season very well. The best part about the show is it's funny and tension evoking at different times, never feeling out of tone anytime in the show. The funniest was the ending of Ep-4, where Srikanth and Talpade get caught near the dead body, I watched this scene thrice already. I loved how they didn't hesitate to set up the show cross culturally, and how there is a lot of Tamil dialogue. Though they create a lot of fun through the cultural differences at times, that's not their only resort to comedy. It mostly comes through the quirks of Manoj Bajpayee and his initial track of how he deals with drudgery. 

I love how the series picks up tension as the episodes progress, the subplot of Dhriti getting trapped is brilliantly done throughout the show. I love how they had some internal conflict for Kalyan - and how he is struggling between two very strong choices - war and love. It finally comes to an end with a lot of stake for Srikanth. It's personal for him, everything could break apart for him - he'd probably even lose his wife, and also for his cause. I liked what they did with Raaji - Sam did a great job in spite of it seeming a bit out of tone in a scene or two. The threat that she could be, comes through the coldness very well. It's interesting how they deal the Srikanth - Suchi track, always by hiding something - they don't show us the drama there. Perhaps because it'd turn out to be out of tone of the show. Yet, the way their arc progressed in this season was interesting - I'm interested to see how Srikanth will deal with what Suchi tells him.

The action scenes with the long takes are amazingly done - whether it's the rebels attacking the police station to get out Raaji, or the climax episode - the way the camera goes in with the characters as they go in a car, come out of it - it makes the experience so immersive. I'm excited to see the next season, the premise is simple and just kick-ass.

TVF Aspirants Analysis

 TVF Aspirants (2021)

Created by: Arunabh Kumar, Shreyansh Pandey
Written by: Deepesh Sumitra Jagadish
Directed by: Apoorva Singh Karki

Set in the world of UPSC aspirants, this show tells us the story of struggles, perseverance and mainly about dealing with failure, pulling ourselves together back again and moving on in life. The setting of Old Rajinder Nagar comes through extraordinarily by the way they shot it - both in exteriors and in interiors. They set simple, filler scenes in the canteen which has walls in the background with posters of toppers. In a stationery shop where they are getting notes. Students are walking in the background. Some naysayers are around. The madness and the chaos is constantly visible. The curiosity that kept building by how Abhilash is a collector now, in spite of him failing in the last attempt - that was interesting. Though, I figured that they'd use some convenient loop hole and cover it up, it was very helpful in bringing out the ending - where they show the relentless pursuit of a dream. The way he happily goes back to pursue it, even after 4 years of failure. There are beautiful moments in the show, where they talk about the fear of failure, about not knowing what to do - like the moment in Panchayat where Jeetu rants - these are the moments where we can see ourselves in the characters which TVF nails every single time. This time, the music helped like crazy. Whenever the violin track picks up, I was totally pulled into the show. 

For me, the casting of Dhairya didn't work that much. She felt a little out of place. She looked too elegant, well groomed, and poised for a UPSC aspirant, who generally don't even sleep that well, and for sure don't have time to take care of themselves that well. Or maybe she's an exception. But on the face value, it seemed a little off. Whenever Guri, Abhilash and SK fight - to keep the drama and tension high - they say insane shit to each other and it feels out of character. Who'd say stuff like, 'You ended up at Rajinder Nagar, what a failure you are' for something so trivial, and then they get back together so casually. I'm like: WHAT! Friendships can break when you say such stuff. It's the truth, but you wouldn't want to purposefully hurt or insult your friends so often right? And also, because of the lack of subtlety in these fights, we immediately give up on the drama and think that 'yeah, they're fighting now' and let it be. But the Guri, Abhilash fight in the finale was so convincing. Overall, I loved the show.

Normal People Analysis

Normal People (2020)

Starring: Daisy Egdar-Jones, Paul Mescal
Based on the novel of the same name.

It's a super intimate show. Most of the scenes of the show feels like a conversation that happens inside of a warm blanket. Like cuddle talk. Even the voices sound that way. This is a show which you perhaps can't watch with your friends. Because you can't watch it without having your guard down. It puts you in that spot. It makes you vulnerable. There are some amazing songs that are used in the show, you could check out for some good music recommendations. My favorite is 'Warped Window'. There's an amazing scene where she talks about her new partner is into pain and rough stuff - and he asks her to elaborate. That scene captures how you sometimes knowingly get into a spot which would lead to pain. It's perhaps because of the fear of unknown, that he wants to ask her and know everything so that he'd at least know.

The show ends at a space of moving on, the feeling of having done with a phase in your life. They talk about how good they'd have done to each other. That's the feeling that I resonate with the most. Where you cherish what you had, along with missing what you don't. The show captures something beautiful - where people talk about their feelings very well. They talk about even simple stuff. About feeling awkward that the other person didn't introduce them to their friends. Also the scene where she says that, 'I'd have liked it if you wanted to do it' - the cuckold thing. She says that I like doing things for you. All of this feels so banal, and futile - but perhaps it leads to a feeling which feels purposeful. 

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story Analysis

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020)

Directed by: Hansal Mehta

Starring: Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Dhanwanthary

Streaming on Sony LIV.

This is one of most riveting series I've seen in a long time. The show is set in the 80-90s and it authentically portrays the world of trading, and the stock markets. Stock markets is a world of ambition, success, greed, failure and it's a place which tests your mental strength everyday, especially in day trading. It's a place to go to, for self exploration. You'll definitely understand your strengths, and weaknesses.

Harshad Mehta is inspiring - not because he went against the system - that even a person jumping a signal, does. He is inspiring because he did the unthinkable, unimaginable and the way he capitalised on every opportunity he got. Of course, he got carried away by the money, the adrenaline and the power and he risked everything at a lot of points - but I'm sure he'd be a great trader and probably one of the wealthiest people in the world, if he was alive today. 

Pratik Gandhi was so good as Harshad, the way he carries the angst, in a subtle way throughout the later part of the show - that depicts the character's mental strength. The lingo is so authentic (I can say that with my trading experience) - 'market paisa kha gaya' and phrases like that are very commonly used in the pit, of course along with a lot of creative profanity.

Sucheta Dalal - she tries to bring order in the system. My understanding of crime and punishment isn't so deep, but I was wondering if bringing order in this scenario did well or harm in the larger scheme of things. I think it's the same case as the vigilante hero, where in spite of breaking rules - their intentions aren't malicious. Although in this case, it's a little dicey because there is a lot of self interest involved - profit for himself (apart from the booming of the market). Also he's trading with people's money without their consent, and a trader like Harshad (with such insane risk taking abilities) could have lost a lot of money.

The way they balance perspectives of both Harshad and Sucheta is interesting - because at times we're rooting for Sucheta to find some information, because of the amount of work she puts and when she finds out some news - we feel good as well. With Harshad, empathy is created purely because of the underdog - rags to riches angle. The show never shies away from using trading jargon, and at times even when you don't exactly understand what they're referring to - we only get more curious (as opposed to feeling small and eventually losing interest).

We see a lot of tube lights in the frame, this contributes to the lighting as well as to get the vibe of the 90s. The show has the tonality of a docu-series and this is so tough to achieve when you're recreating everything and without using real footage, which is why the intercutting in the ending just blew my mind.

First Person Analysis

First Person (2000-01)

Directed and Produced by: Errol Morris

This is an interview series of people who are from unconventional professions and very different walks of life, some even shocking. Most of them have professions related to death in some way, one cleans up blood in a crime scene and helps the family of victims with the logistics of it, another is into cryonics (look it up if you don't know what it is, I was shocked too), another case where a talking parrot was the only witness in a crime scene, another woman who is into relationships with serial killers, another person who is the smartest person in the world but is just a professional bouncer. It is something to know about psychopaths, serial killers to understand what humans can be capable of but this series of guests are arguably, good people and all of them are on the legal side of the law - it's just that the things that they do are so weird that it's almost difficult to not judge them but by getting them to talk for awhile - he makes us empathise with them and this show just challenges our ability to be open minded.

This series was shot unconventionally - Errol Morris built 'The Interrotron' - a device similar to a teleprompter - where Errol and his subject each sit facing a camera and their faces are projected to the other person on a two-way mirror in front of the lens of the camera. For us, it feels like the subject is talking to the audience by looking into the camera, and for the subject, it feels like they are talking to the person by looking at their image - it's a win-win. They use extreme close up shots of the subject sometimes, to create an unsettling feeling. I'm yet to watch his documentary The Thin Blue Line, where after the film about the inconsistencies in a murder case - the case is reconsidered and the convict is proven innocent and set free.

Better Call Saul Analysis

Better Call Saul

Firstly, about the pacing of the show - it isn't made like a Money Heist where they grab our attention right from the first minute and keep us hooked throughout. It takes its own sweet time, to explore characters. This show doesn't have much of action, special effects and stuff - it purely works on writing and acting. One of the reasons the show works is, every layer of a character is explored with a subplot or a backstory. Jimmy's old friend - his story adds a layer to his character. Jimmy's experiences with Mike, it adds something and his experience with Chuck, Kim, Howard, and almost every character he meets - his life experiences with them add to different dimensions of his character. With Marco, he experiences death; and the way Chuck shapes up his character - it's so layered and multidimensional. 

The Breaking Bad Universe is like a Western set in the modern world, where there is quest for money, power and characters find different ways, cut corners to get what they want. I love this setting, where these characters are left in the dessert with loads of money for days together - it must be an enlightening experience where you have what you were seeking for all your life, but now it's useless. Better Call Saul is a study of humans, in the capitalist dog eat dog world. While watching both BB and BCS, I got a lot of situations where I was confused how to feel and it made me question a lot of things about myself. I love films which are a deep study of the human condition in today's world.

With Breaking Bad, we get an idea of where the show is heading towards - with BCS, we have no clue what would happen in the next episode and I love how every episode starts with a flash forward, or a flashback of a character - for example, how Jimmy's father being cheated a lot of times makes Jimmy believe in 'kindness will only make people exploit you' and you can do anything to not get exploited. The subplot with the scholarship fund, that scene adds a layer to Jimmy's character - it doesn't add anything new, but it lets us see him from an empathetic eye, about how he feels about getting another shot at life.

I loved Jimmy's film references, and his stint with film students, 'If you want to be a filmmaker, grow a pair' and 'I hope your parents enjoy funding you for the rest of their lives'. 

Aarya Analysis

Aarya (2020)

Created by: Ram Madhvani, Sandeep Modi
Based on: Penoza by Peter Bart Korthuis
Written by: Sandeep Shrivastava, Anu Singh Choudhary

Spoilers Ahead. Read it after you've watched the show - it's streaming on Hotstar.

I'm not a big fan of shows, but the only reason I love them is because of the writing - the way there are several conflicts, subplots, character arcs - long, short; and how all of them are interconnected to a single world, and the way all are resolved by the end. This show too has several conflicts, after the first episode the internal conflict of Aarya's family is dealing with the loss, her quest to find out who killed Tej and why, the pressure from the police and the external conflicts, saving evidence from police, dealing with the gangsters and people who are threatening to kill her and her family. Each of the conflict is treated with respect, and somehow every subplot of a character is connected to the main plot - whether it's Veer's girlfriend being blackmailed, Aru's connection with Bob and how that ends up, the way Aarya's mother is fed with her husband and tells Aarya the truth - all of them lead up to the main plot and we don't feel like we've wasted our time with a character who is not relevant to the main plot.

Daulat is the Kattappa here, loyal to the family and he kills Baahubali (Tej) on the orders of Sivagami (the head of the family). It's an interesting twist, but the reason for this felt a little convenient - the eavesdropping didn't feel convincing. The way they reveal Daulat being the killer to us an episode before the characters knowing it, is an interesting tool where we, the audience, are at an advantage and this builds up suspenseful drama. We know that they'll answer this somehow, and give it a resolution but to see how - is what makes us wait for more. Shikawat's betrayal is interesting - it's a 'message' to the viewers that your 'last mistake' to cover up your earlier ones won't be the last one. Jawahar is an interesting character in the show, they not only make him obviously suspicious so that the audience would not be suspicious of him - they have him actually fuck up, and reveal them like twists which makes him actually suspicious. In a whodunnit, the writers and the audience are playing in a loop of 'you'd think that I'd do this, so I'll do this'.

The world of the show is authentic and everything feels so convincing, Aarya's parental family is a different setting, her and Tej's family is a different setting - and all of them seamlessly co-exist - the makers of the show differentiate these two worlds carefully, not only through location, and production design, but also through writing, especially with the usage of colloquial dialogue. If the second season, is again going to be a similar cat and mouse chase between Aarya and the syndicates, I'm not that excited, but I want to see where the characters end up, who they meet and what new internal confllicts they have.

Bandish Bandits Analysis

Bandish Bandits

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Created by: Amritpal Singh Bindra, Anand Tiwari

I think one of the primary questions of life is should we be happy with what we have, the Western philosophy, to accept yourself for who you are or should we strive for excellence, the Eastern philosophy, to push yourself to the limits and discover who you are. Films like Boyhood, Wake Up Sid support the former and in films like Whiplash, Black Swan, Dangal - the latter. This conflict is beautifully portrayed through Tamanna's character and her character arc is the best in the show, where she turns from former to the latter, for better or worse. I wish they focused on this trait of her's throughout the show, they call attention to this only in the last few episodes of the show.

This show is about the obsessed artist, or rather obsessed artists. This is a decent foray into the world of Indian classical music, I was so inspired by the amount of hard work they do to pursue excellence. Now, I'm even more excited and waiting for Chaitanya Tamhane's The Disciple (which is also about Indian classical music) which is the only Indian film in 20 years to be in competition in the Big-3 (Cannes, Venice & Berlin) film festivals. The world of Indian classical music is shown in this show, along with the context of the pop culture that exists. The show doesn't give us a stance of being oblivious to today's world. But sometimes, it felt like the portrayal of today's world was media's idea of today's world rather than the reality. 

The show meanders a lot, it goes from one conflict to another very fast without letting us feel one. The subplot of the uncle where he sells his art, was so touching. The ending two episodes felt so good, where Mohini explains what music is and how you can find rhythm in every activity - the portrayal of music felt so profound here. Mohini's story has a feminist undertone and it's done beautifully, it's show don't tell here as well. They show us what patriarchy is capable of and they show us what humanity and equality could be capable of. When Panditji asks Mohini to sit on the table, that's a beautiful moment. 

Tiger King Analysis

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

Directed by: Eric Goode, Rebecca Chaiklin

Streaming on Netflix.

The reason this documentary series feels so weird and wacky is because, the character Joe Exotic – is so contradictory, multi-layered and unapologetic. Apart from the character, the world of the show – it is about people who own zoos of big cats, conservationists of big cats and people who work there and for some reason this world has so many characters who are visibly messed up in some way or the other. This world and setting is something that I have never even known before – so it was interesting for me to watch this show.

Joe Exotic is unapologetically narcissist, he is passionate for his work and he does it in his own way, he wants to change things in the world – irrespective of the understanding of his abilities to do so. One admirable quality about Joe Exotic is, if he wants to do something, he’ll go for it without caring about the odds, without caring if he’d make a joke of himself and he just does his own thing. Joe Exotic’s character is portrayed in a way that whether or not he hired someone to kill Carole Baskin, doesn’t really make a difference in our understanding of his character – it might make a huge difference in legal terms but by the way we see him, nothing much changes for us. This, I think, is a character study in the most human and accurate way possible – because we see different accounts on him, we see him talking and behaving, we see what choices he makes, we see what he could be capable of and luckily, he had a reality show where he unabashedly talks without any censor.

Carole Baskin is another character, but we see her primarily from the perspective of Joe and hence I didn’t feel like I could make some sense of her from my own perspective. She has a mystery in her own life as well, but we can’t easily come to conclusions about what kind of a person she might be out of that. The docu-series feels like a fictional TV show, it has several dramatic events happening and it’s a good choice they made to make it into a series rather than a documentary feature. Apparently, during the research process for an intended feature, is when they discovered that there’s lot more content to explore and hence a series.

Paatal Lok Analysis

Paatal Lok

Created by: Sudip Sharma

Produced by: Clean Slate Productions

Available on Amazon Prime Video

The tonality of the show is similar to Sacred Games, because of the number of themes they explore about the dark reality of India. The major theme of the show is class divide, as they explain the title of the show being about the lower class people being parasites in Paatal Lok. They explore religion, caste, violence against women, violence in general, psychopathy, politics, media, corruption in the entire system, hierarchy among colleagues, infidelity, sexuality, parental abuse and I'm sure even more. This show which has the premise of an investigative thriller, when four goons are busted when they are about to murder a high profile journalist in the country, but when you go deep into it, we see the things which have made them who they are and it gets more dark. The show has tight cliffhangers that I was forced to binge-watch the show and the duration felt so seamless, because the characters were well written. As the actors were saying in an interview, the backstories of all the characters is present in the show, which are usually given as notes to the actors for preparation. In spite of the brilliant performances by Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi, the show doesn't rely on their performances, it relies on the writing of the show.

This show has a Fincher-esque yellow tint all over which we didn't see in most of the Amazon Indian original shows till now. Netflix used that in their shows like Sacred Games, Delhi Crime and I think that by not using that yellow tint, the world feels even more grounded like how we saw in Mirzapur or in Panchayat; whereas this yellow tint subconsciously adds a dramatic effect to the world we are watching. Show runner Sudip Sharma said that they took 2 years to write this show, which totally makes sense because every character in the show has a meaning and a purpose; either they have an arc and learn a lesson or what happens to them helps in sharing the worldview of the show. Now, it feels like the investigative thriller plot is just a tool to explore all these character motivations and arcs and now even if the revelation was something else, it wouldn't matter.

Broadchurch Season 1 Analysis

Broadchurch (Season 1)

Created and Written by: Chris Chibnall

A kick-ass murder mystery show, watch it on Netflix.

This show is about the murder of Danny Lamiter, a 11 year old boy, in a small town Broadchurch. It is an 8-episode show, each of 45 mins. It has similar pace across the entire show, even the 4th and 5th episodes are equally engaging and tight as the 1st and the last episodes. The investigation carries for about 60-70% of the show and the rest 30-40% is the drama, the aftermaths of a family and their suffering for the loss and the conflicts between the detectives, their personal lives and their past baggage. This show is constructed so well in terms of having suspects and clearing them off, they have 2 suspects who aren't cleared till the last episodes, they have 4 suspects who are cleared by the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th episodes each. Each suspect is created with an absence of alibi, a lie and a history of violence and they are cleared off with a smaller crime, which is unrelated to the murder which they were trying to hide from the detectives or through a traumatic past which explains their history and their unusual behavior in the present. This has a lot of scope for drama and it's not just a whodunit. 

I think British detective shows/films are well made because in British detective fiction was A-list literature like Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes whereas in American detective literature was sold in pulp materials, which was considered low art because it was cheap to buy. I think detective stories, if told with a blend of drama, can be made for excellent, chilling and riveting tales. By the end of the 7th episode, I felt such a high that I was going to watch the finale right away and find out who the killer is, that was the sort of suspense that this show built and created. The spirit of Broadchurch and the milieu was captured well, in spite of the mood and tone of the show. I'm not as excited to watch the 2nd season because the murder is solved and I'm not as interested in the drama between the characters.

True Detective Season 1 Analysis

True Detective Season 1 

Created by: Nic Pizzolatto

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson

This show is an investigative thriller, where two cops Rust and Marty are investigating a murder case of a prostitute and it is shown beside Rust and Marty talking about these experiences several years later. They use this as an extra tool to reveal character, yet they don't do it in an expository way where for example Rust is saying that Marty is a brave man or such, but they narrate incidents and talk about them from their own present perspectives. There isn't much of a character arc in both of them, they are almost the same even after those many years and in spite of they getting challenged in a lot of aspects, they might have become more stronger mentally but the fundamental nature of their characters are same because they are strongly opinionated people.

It's interesting to see how an unsolved case can haunt a detective for years as much as it feels like it's his purpose in life to solve this case and he won't matter even if he loses his life in the process. People say that every cop has such a case in their career which they get attached to and it becomes difficult to look at things objectively. The show isn't made like a Netflix original that's made now where there is a tight screenplay and the show is compelling throughout, this show is more of a slow burn and in spite of events happening slowly, it slowly spikes our interest. I can recall at the end of the 6th episode, Rust and Marty decide to hang out and chat and it's not a very compelling event but for some reason I couldn't wait to see what happens next. It's because the characters of Rust and Marty are written in a way that doesn't shy away from the nuances of reality. 

When religion comes into play with such gruesome crimes, it is even more scarier because we know what kind of trace religion can take people in and what they can be capable of. I got recalled of Se7en, as there is also a video essay by LFTS analyzing Se7en and True Detective. I'd look at this as a drama more than as a thriller, because of the way the show is conceived and the pacing of the show.

Money Heist Part 1 & 2 Analysis

Money Heist

Created by: Alex Pina

This show has a simple plot, you can figure that out from the name of the show. By the end of the first episode in the first season, I was wondering what the remaining episodes will be about. My imagination of the show told me that I was looking at it from a narrow perspective. What baffles me the most is, how the show manages to keep us hooked for that long when we get bored by even watching some films. I figured out what they did is, they keep increasing the stakes as we keep progressing and the stakes in the beginning are shown with tension so that the scenes with more stakes are effortlessly engaging. At the beginning, we think they go to rob the bank, then they say that they'll print money. The one plot point which kept the show going for so long, is that the robbers didn't want any hostages to die. If this plot point wasn't there it would've been so difficult for the show to be this engaging. We hardly see any twists in the show, what we see are turns, plot points and they are used as cliffhangers. The turns in the story are so interesting and there are many turns the story takes, it is super dense, there is a lot of story happening which is why it feels tight in spite of it being for that long. 

Arturo's character was so irritating to watch, it was similar to watching Skyler in Breaking Bad. These characters are well nuanced and brilliantly performed to make us feel strongly against them. I'd call these 'spoil-sport characters'. Both these shows are anti-hero shows, here the good guys/cops would be the villains. We don't hate the villains because it is their job to go against our heroes and stop them but we hate these characters because we the audience are supporting the anti-heroes whereas these characters in spite of it not being their job, they try to disrupt our anti-heroes which is why I'm calling them 'spoil-sport characters'. Spoil-sport characters are a brilliant tool to make the audience feel empathetic towards the hero, we hate the spoil-sport characters so much that we start rooting them to learn a lesson and then the writers make them meet our hero, so what happens? Bingo, we are rooting for our hero!

Panchayat Analysis

Panchayat

Created by: TVF

Starring: Jitendra Kumar, Raghuvir Yadav, Chandan Roy, Neena Gupta

This is a show which you can't not love. It is such a breezy slice of life, fun kind of a show which could've easily gotten boring if it wasn't done well and content like this is risky because if you are making a thriller or a high concept film, it has to suck really bad to get boring which content like this can easily lose your attention in these days of instant gratification through social media. This show takes you to a village and puts you there with these amazing people whom you'd otherwise not get to meet. 

Jitendra Kumar as Abhishek is so good in the role, he portrays the frustration of missing out a lot of things in life very well. My favorite moment from the show was when Abhishek lashes out at everyone about he feeling lonely and that night, they all turn up to party. This show follows a short arc format where you can actually shuffle the episodes and watch them too, but there are some relationships which develop over the course of time. But apart from that, they deal with an issue in every episode and close it there. I so badly wish, they did more number of episodes.

The world of TVF has some elements in them, they talk about competitive exams and people who struggle for them or about competition in general. They don't look at education as being nerdy, of course they don't support views of education being the only factor to judge people but they look at education from a different perspective than the other content creators, it can be because a lot of people in TVF have cracked competitive exams, what do you need more than a first hand experience to express your voice in a certain world.

Fargo Season 2 Analysis

Fargo Season 2

Created by: Noah Hawley

The people and the world of Fargo has been created and portrayed so well, that it almost feels like a sub-genre in crime films like how you'd have noir, gangster, heist, psycho killer, slasher; you can also have a sub-genre called Fargo. The first season and the film Fargo gave me a certain idea of what this world is, we have insane violence going on by people who get stuck in a situation and try to come out of it and they end up going deeper into it, we have some honest cops trying to curb violence and it's mostly a conflict between them. With this season, they have pushed both of them; we have around ten characters who are trying to fix things or make things worse, everyone ends up doing what they want to do by resorting to crime and there is a huge web created where at the end what's happening is nothing but a rampage of killings. We have one incident which happens in the first episode, where a guy is sent to convince a judge about a case and the chain of events that follow, creates enough events for 10 episodes of about an hour each. The way the events have been created is remarkable, the one-liner of the show is super dense.

The cinematography is brilliant, we have beautiful landscapes and frames all over but the sinister world that is created gives a spooky vibe to these landscapes. The amount of characters, their motivations, their actions and the number of crimes that happen in this show gave me the feeling that the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men and Fargo Season 1 tried to give that they don't get why people are resorting to violence. I got that in that film and the first season as well, but here in this show I felt that and no character had to speak it out to remind me of it. In spite of this show being made for Netflix, we see the black blank screens in between which are usually left out for commercials when they are made for TV. I couldn't get their motivation for this choice, but I think the creators have a positive view on materialism and consumerism in general because they'd think people and families would be happy when they watch TV together, go out and spend time together instead of resorting to violence.

The End of the F***ing World Season 1 Analysis

The End of the F***ing World Season 1

Written by: Charlie Covell

This show is about a 17-year old James, who believes himself to be a psychopath and Alyssa who meet and get along because they are bored by the monotony of the world. Both of them want to break the rules and they feel that they are at the wrong place around the wrong set of people. The arc of the show is that James discovers himself to not be a psychopath because he starts caring for Alyssa at some level and this angle is fleshed out very well. If James would've met you or me, he wouldn't even have bothered to have a conversation but since he met someone whom he could relate to, or someone who is even more risk taking than he is, the better side of him comes out. 

The performances in the show by the lead actors Alex Lawther and Jessica Barden is so convincing in their roles, especially because characters like these are not easy and the voice over is also challenging to pull off. The episodes are 20 mins each and I don't know why they made this choice instead of long and less number of episodes. Is that because they weren't confident that the material would be engaging for like 40-45 mins or is it because the episodes have a turning plot point every 20 mins? This could've also been a movie, the format and the structure is similar to a movie. We meet two characters, they decide to go on a road trip, we have a premise and they keep meeting people in the journey and finally they discover and know more about themselves. I'm unable to figure out the creative motivations behind the choice of the format of the show.

The first season had a good arc and this makes me curious as to what they've done in the second season, but usually it's very difficult to have an as good arc for the second season when there's this good closing for the first season and a good example for that would be 13 Reasons Why. What is the show about, entirely changes when they extend the show just because they're excited to explore more dynamics between the characters. You can't explore the romantic lives of two characters of a gangster show in the next season, so shows aren't about characters, they are about a certain aspect of their characters. But I'm curious to see what they've done in the 2nd season.