Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 26

Bricked-In with Your Ex? Netflix’s Brick Trailer Serves Dystopian Terrors

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Imagine breaking up with your partner at their flat, and as you make your move to leave the place, you find you’re trapped with them. That’s a nightmare in itself! And the trailer for the upcoming movie Brick shows what happens when residents find themselves locked inside their apartments as mysterious bricks wall up all their windows and doors. Honestly, it feels very Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado! Horror fans will know this tale, where a dude basically entombs his rival in a catacomb by bricking up the exit. The creepy murder idea was also used in the Netflix horror series ‘The Fall of the House of Usher‘, another tale inspired by Poe’s eerie prose.

But okay, getting back to Brick, which stars Matthias Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Fee as leads Tim and Olivia, the newly broken-up couple who find themselves trapped inside their apartment with a brick wall. In the trailer, as they try to break out, they find out other residents are also stuck because of the creepy brick closures. Are they supposed to die in there? But also, a Lost and Squid Game-kind of twist in the trailer reveals they are possibly under surveillance, so are they part of an elaborate game show? Who knows! “Maybe it’s some sort of twisted escape room,” is a character’s guess in the trailer. Although someone wonders if “the wall is here to protect us?”.

Remember the hilarious viral meme of Rachel Zegler scrunching up her face and saying “Weird, weird, weird” while talking about the plot of Snow White, despite being the star of the film? Yeah, I wanted to say “weird, weird, weird” too at the end of the trailer for Brick, but just not in the same obnoxious way, rather in a more confused manner.

The trailer probably gives away more of the plot than needed, so it will have to deliver a mind-boggling twist to keep things entertaining and satisfactory. Although the cast looks fabulous, and I loved Matthias Schweighöfer in Army of Thieves (not so much in Heart of Stone, though). He has already played an expert locksmith who can break open any safe, but can he break out of this bricked-in nightmare? Fans will have to wait and watch.

“Brick” will be available on Netflix on July 10. You can watch the trailer on YouTube, it’s also embedded below.

A Widow’s Game Review: She Mourns, She Texts, She Kills?

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Inspired by real events, Spanish thriller ‘A Widow’s Game’ (La viuda negra) follows the investigation into a man’s murder, where the primary suspect is his young 26-year-old widow.

Directed by Carlos Sedes, ‘A Widow’s Game’ stars Carmen Machi as Eva, one of the lead investigators on the case, while Ivana Baquero plays Maja, the widow and chief suspect in her husband Arturo’s (Álex Gadea) murder. However, Maja is first introduced as a grieving, religious young nurse who seems genuinely devastated by her husband’s death. But as Eva and her team begin digging into the case, a different profile emerges, one of a serial cheater with plenty of motive to get rid of her husband. With forensic analysis indicating the perpetrator was a man, the police’s primary challenge is to figure out who did the dirty deed for Maja.

‘A Widow’s Game’ is a rather straightforward murder mystery, divided into multiple segments, the first focusing on the investigators’ point of view. This is the grittiest part of the film, with Carmen Machi portraying Eva with a professional, no-nonsense attitude. Since the story is based on a real case (albeit fictionalized for dramatic effect), what stands out most is the police’s patience in unraveling the mystery without jumping the gun based on circumstantial evidence. Their painstaking efforts to wait and gather concrete proof eventually pay off.

There’s a slow, invisible cat-and-mouse game between Maja and the officers. Maja, thinking she’s in the clear, isn’t even aware that a match is still on. ‘A Widow’s Game’ is thus a clever title for the film, which begins to lose steam in the second half. Ivana Baquero is a gorgeous actor; however, her portrayal of Maja, a nurse with two jobs and a split personality, flitting between a pious, heartbroken widow and a woman involved in steamy affairs with multiple men, lacks the memorability one might expect. That said, it sometimes works in the film’s favor, as the audience is never truly swayed by her crocodile tears or victim act. But you never quite get the devious ‘black widow’ energy from her, nothing close to Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct”, Rosamund Pike’s chilling turn in “Gone Girl”, or even Georgia from “Ginny & Georgia”, who’s far more vivacious and cunning as a husband killer.

Apart from Maja, the other suspects in the murder case are three men connected to her, ex-boyfriend Andre, new love interest Daniel (Joel Sánchez), and a hospital co-worker named Salva (Tristán Ulloa). All of them are suspiciously close to Maja, as revealed through her texts, and the third part of the film uncovers what really transpired. The climax, of course, hinges on whether the cops can finally nab the real perpetrator and close the case.

What slows ‘A Widow’s Game’ down is its unnecessary voyeuristic focus on Maja’s sex life, which lacks the intrigue or sensuality to be truly erotic. Moreover, for a fictional thriller, the film often leans too heavily into documentary-style surveillance, repeatedly showing the cops watching computer screens and listening to Maja’s tapped phone calls with friends, family, and lovers. These scenes could have been far more dynamic had the creators used flashbacks or dramatized sequences showing Maja in action, living out the double life of the two-faced widow she is, instead of simply showing us a screen with an audio graphic.

This story would’ve worked better either as a tighter 90-minute film or a longer mini-series, because at two hours, it ends up shortchanging the one person who deserved more attention: Maja’s husband, Arturo. He’s criminally sidelined in his own murder tale, leaving ‘A Widow’s Game’ without a real sense of emotional closure. Arturo remains a vague, almost faceless victim, killed off by a young, ambitious wife with a hyperactive sex drive and zero moral compass, making his fate feel more like a plot device than a tragedy.

Overall, this film is a decent one-time watch for thriller enthusiasts looking for stories inspired by true crimes. Although, this game could’ve been far deadlier and more memorable.

Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘A Widow’s Game’ on Netflix.

Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

Bhool Chuk Maaf Review: Forgive and Forget This Flick

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ stars off with young lovers Ranjan and Titli eloping, however, their plan’s not successful when the cops catch hold of them and call their parents. Titli’s father challenges Ranjan to get a government job in two months in order to marry her, and with the blessing of Lord Shiva, he lands a post, but in a strange turn of events, Ranjan finds himself constantly waking up on his wedding eve and re-living the day. Stuck in the time-loop, he must find a way to get out of it and get wedded to the love of his life.

Directed by Karan Sharma, ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ is supposed to be a time-loop comedy, that stars Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi as leads Ranjan and Titli, living in the vibrant city of Banaras. Unfortunately, the time-loop twist doesn’t even start until after 40 minutes, so those like me who were excited to be thrown into the ‘stuck in the same day’ madness sooner, are left bored with the prolonged prologue.

Also, the writers make it hard to root for a character who essentially does nothing, and is simply whiling away his time. At least Rajkummar Rao’s character Vicky from the horror-comedy ‘Stree’ had a tailoring job, Ranjan from ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ on the other hand, is unemployed and constantly borrows money from Titli, for both their dates and his own hangouts. Titli herself just takes money from her dad. Comically vilifying fathers who don’t want their daughters marrying a streetside Romeo feels very 20th century now. Also, the onscreen chemistry between Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi is lukewarm, Rao had better chemistry with Jahnvi in “Mr & Mrs Mahi“.

Wamiqa Gabbi is loud and unconvincing as Titli, with her puppy eyes and domineering-yet-cutesy attitude coming off as a forced attempt at playing an earthy belle. Rajkummar Rao, of course, has mastered the art of portraying the small-town lover, but the script doesn’t give him the support he needs to elevate the story. The other members of the cast in ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ do not have enough meat in their parts to make a lasting impression.

Once the time-loop kicks in, with Ranjan reliving his haldi ceremony day on repeat, a few funny moments follow. Desperate to break the cycle, he tries everything, until he learns the key lies in helping a complete stranger. Though this stranger is loosely connected to Ranjan, the climactic subplot suddenly tackles a serious issue, shifting the film’s tone in a jarring and uneven way. Not like ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ was very funny or romantic until then either way.

If you’re looking for an entertaining romantic time-loop comedy, watch ‘Palm Springs‘. If you’d prefer a romantic comedy about a man trying to win marry the girl he likes, try the Tamil film ‘Dragon’, which features a climactic twist quite similar to what happens to Ranjan on his wedding day, and both protagonists land jobs through fraudulent means.

Rating: 4 on 10. ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ is on Prime Video.

Read Next: Stolen Review: Tense and Violent, Yes, But Not Quite There

Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

‘Goodbye to All That’ Review: Graves Selectively Digs His World War I Past

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Robert Graves was 19-years-old when he enlisted in the army, fresh out of boarding school, not to keen on attending University yet, so he chooses to join the war instead, and recalls a lot of those experiences in his memoir ‘Goodbye to all That’.

It would be surprising to meet an English Literature student who doesn’t know of Robert Graves, an acclaimed World War I poet, one of the first few to realistically write about the terrors of being in the trenches. Although, ‘Goodbye to All That’ begins with Graves first recalling his ‘earliest memories’, including his mother’s influence on him, and family vacations spent in Bavaria at his grandfather’s place. These first few pages are haphazard and difficult to read, as if going through someone’s fragmented memories, which is really the overall essence of this novel – it’s scattered with random incidents, with some leaving powerful enough impressions to wash out the disappointment from the unnecessary bits.

Before Graves progresses to his memories of war days, where he served with the which form the bulk of the memoir, he writes about his time at Charterhouse, a boarding school where he was often bullied, so he took up boxing to fight back. He candidly calls himself a “pseudo-homosexual” early on, describing how English schools were breeding grounds for inevitable attraction between the same sex. Of course, that was the early 1900s; modern critics and readers would label Graves a bisexual, since he had intense love affairs with both men and women, fathering multiple children.

“In English preparatory and public schools romance is necessarily homosexual. The opposite sex is despised and treated as something obscene. Many boys never recover from this perversion. For every one born homosexual, at least ten permanent pseudo-homosexuals are made by the public school system: nine of these ten as honourable caste and sentimental as I was.” – Robert Graves in Page 23 of ‘Goodbye to All That’ (Penguin Modern Classics edition).

Readers will find only some fleeting mentions of his crush on a junior boy at school and a rather dry account of his marriage to first wife Nancy Nicholson in ‘Goodbye to All That’. After the first few chapters on his school days, Graves begins to detail his World War I experience as a soldier. While the memoir may not match the raw intensity of some war poetry, it offers a poignant look at the chasm between patriotic idealism and personal despair in the trenches. His own idealism around war would slowly be eroded as he would witness comrade after comrade perishing in a war that never seemed to end.

Graves recounts how soldiers, gripped by fear and loneliness, would take their own lives, only for their deaths to be reframed back home as acts of heroism, sparing families the shame of knowing their sons would branded as ‘cowards’. One of the most ironically tragic moments in ‘Goodbye to All That’ is when Graves recounts pausing for a meal at camp, while in a nearby enclosure, a senior officer demonstrating how not to use a grenade accidentally sets it off, killing himself instantly. The reader gets a concrete sense of the absurdities of warfare, including the copious amount of blood and lives lost as meaningless collateral damage in the theater of war, even though the author doesn’t necessarily pour too many graphic details in this memoir.

“Goodbye to All That” was a fascinating read for me in parts because this is the first time I am reading the memoir of a World War I soldier, a famous poet at that. The language and prose, however, aren’t smooth and are probably too alien and colloquial from the early 1900s for foreign readers. Not just that, Robert Graves often simply keeps talking about random famous people he encountered during the war, including a very forgettable anecdote about briefly meeting someone from the royal family. His friendship with fellow poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen makes more sense, and Robert is full of praise for Sassoon’s war poetry and his increasingly anti-war stance. It’s made me want to add “Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man” to my ‘want to read’ list.

It’s clear from “Goodbye to All That” that Siegfried Sassoon was a major influence and inspiration to Robert Graves, although their friendship seems to fade after the war ends, and Graves doesn’t mention him too much. For a memoir over 350 pages long, it’s a curious mix of personal and impersonal anecdotes, making it hard for the reader to get a strong sense of Graves’ true personality. He is a curious, contradictory figure, extremely proud of his stint in the war, yet disillusioned by the politics of it all, passionately lamenting the price paid by common young soldiers (some as young as 14, it seems) for the egos of war generals. At times, it feels like Graves is performing an awkward balancing act, trying to be candidly passionate about views that might be seen as scandalous, while still steering clear of outright outrage or controversy.

“Since 1916, the fear of gas obsessed me: any unusual smell, even a sudden strong scent of flowers in a garden, was enough to send me trembling. And I couldn’t face the sound of heavy shelling now; the noise of a car back-firing would send me flat on my face, or running for cover.” – this is perhaps one of the most moving things I read in “Goodbye to All That”. One of the rarer snippets in the memoir describing the lasting trauma and psychological scars inflicted upon Robert Graves by the war.

As a history enthusiast, the most amusing thing I learned from the book was the British hatred for the French, despite them being allies. Graves writes about how the average British soldier often despised their French peers more than their German enemies, a sentiment he mentions multiple times in Goodbye to All That, making it impossible to ignore. Sample what Graves says while expressing his disdain for 18th-century literature:

“The eighteenth century owed its unpopularity largely to its Frenchness. Anti-French feeling among most ex-soldiers amounted almost to an obsession. Edmund, shaking with nerves, used to say at this time: ‘No more wars for me at any price! Except against the French. If there’s ever a war with them, I’ll go like a shot.’ Pro-German feeling had been increasing. With the war over and the German armies beaten, we could give the German soldier credit for being the most efficient fighting-man in Europe.”

The last few chapters focus on Robert Graves finally leaving the trenches, trying his hand at running a grocery store with his wife Nancy, not too far from Oxford university, where he had studied English Language and Literature. The couple then moves to Egypt, after Robert gains himself a place to teach English abroad, a very short tryst. Writing about his short-lived teaching career in Egypt, Robert Graves abruptly ends the memoir, telling the reader that his life gets quite dramatic after he leaves Egypt, but those experiences are ‘unpublishable’. It’s essentially telling the reader “actually, my life is about to get spicier, and a lot more fascinating, but I have no interest in sharing those chapters with you.”

As the title “Goodbye to All That” suggests, the book focuses solely on Robert Graves’ wartime experiences and the years immediately after, ending around 1926. Just three years later, following the collapse of his marriage to Nancy and a deepening disillusionment with his homeland, Graves left England for good. “I vowed never to make England my home again,” he tells the reader.

If you, like me, haven’t read any World War I memoirs, ‘Goodbye to All That’ could be good place to start, even if it seems slightly all over the place.

Rating: 3.5 on 5 stars.

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Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

‘Who’s There?’: Short Horror Film review

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How well do you know your friends and family? That’s the unnerving question behind ‘Who’s There‘, a ten-minute horror short directed by Ryan Doris and written by Todd Spence and Zak White. The film starts on a deceptively cheerful note, with a single dad making cheese sandwiches in a quiet suburban home. His daughter Brooke has a party to attend, and everything feels light and normal. But when it’s time for her to return, things take a sharp, eerie turn.

What follows is a tense and darkly funny take on the classic “don’t open the door” horror trope. The suspense in ‘Who’s There‘ builds on a single, terrifying concept – what if the voice at your door sounds exactly like your loved one, but something feels off? The entity on the other side starts mimicking Brooke, and then cycles through different familiar voices, trying to manipulate the father into opening up. It’s unsettling, creepy, and weirdly amusing all at once.

Despite a few underwhelming special effects, the short film ‘Who’s There’ succeeds in keeping viewers hooked with its clever pacing and solid acting. The simplicity of the setting works in its favor, letting the sound design and voice acting shine. The father’s rising paranoia and hesitation are relatable, and the final twist delivers a satisfying albeit comedic ending.

Who’s There might not be nightmare-inducing, but it’s a fun, spooky short that plays on everyday fears of trust, deception, and being alone at night. If you enjoy quick horror stories with a psychological edge, this one might be worth ten minutes of your time.

You can watch the film on YouTube.

Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

Stolen Review: Tense and Violent, Yes, But Not Quite There

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

If nothing else, the Bollywood film “Stolen” ironically ends up as a strong cautionary tale against butting into other people’s business. See someone poor, distraught, and dying on the road late at night from maybe a hit-and-run case? What would happen if you help? Best case scenario: you rush them to the hospital in your car, someone manages to record all of it on their phone, it goes viral, you make it to the news, and maybe even win a ‘good Samaritan’ award. Worst case scenario: as you approach to help them, they attack you, beat you black and blue, steal your wallet and drive away with your car. And there are 100 other possibilities in between.

Directed by Karan Tejpal, who co-wrote Stolen with Gaurav Dhingra and Swapnil Salkar, the film operates on a “worst-case scenario” premise, following two brothers who get caught up in the case of a stolen baby due to unfortunate circumstances, leading to violent consequences for the siblings. Abhishek Banerjee plays Gautam Bansal, a wealthy man who goes to the railway station to pick up his younger brother Raman (Shubham Vardhan) for a family wedding, only to find Raman surrounded by an angry mob, with a poor woman named Jhumpa (Mia Maelzer) accusing him of stealing her baby.

The pragmatic Gautam instantly offers to pay off the cops and steer clear from the mess, but his more sensitive brother Raman is moved by Jhumpa’s piercing cries for her child, so he offers to assist the cops to help find her baby. And thus begins the brothers’ quest to locate the stolen child, complicated by a misinformation and viral video accusing the affluent brothers of being child traffickers. The trio is soon chased by an enraged mob who’re convinced they are criminals. It might remind some viewers of the film Afwaah, which also explores the tragic consequences of rumor-mongering, fake news, and viral videos.

The first half makes it hard to be invested in Gautam and Raman’s world, who, despite their evidently clashing personalities, smack of upper-class privilege in their general attitude. Raman’s ‘sensitive Samaritan’ act stems more from a misplaced sense of savior syndrome, exposed in the exceedingly arrogant way he converses with the cops investigating the stolen baby case. He is the ‘main character’ of his world, unbothered by Gautam’s initial warnings that they shouldn’t get too involved in Jhumpa’s business, a suspicious stranger they know nothing about. The sibling chemistry is completely missing between the brothers; they seem to be estranged, but perhaps some sort of familiar banter would’ve lent their relationship more credibility.

It’s Mia Maelzer who stands out as Jhumpa in Stolen. First introduced as a distraught mother who lost her child, her cries in the first few minutes are heart-rending. But when reports start to circulate that maybe the baby wasn’t even hers to begin with, there’s significant suspense in the film over what her real deal is. Is she really a child trafficker, or the victim of some conspiracy like she claims? Mia is raw and unfiltered in her performance as Jhumpa, keeping the viewer suspicious of her motives until the truth is revealed in the end. Until then, the plot keeps the lines blurred between the victims and villains.

Abhishek Banerjee as Gautam wasn’t convincingly cosmopolitan. His character is supposed to serve as a contrast against the impoverished construction worker Jhumpa, but the ‘rich person’ veneer is missing. Yes, he wears the right kind of expressions, be it casual nonchalance, disgust, rage, frustration, or an eventual benevolence. The bothers, especially Gautam, are brutally beaten into eating the humble pie in the film, starting out as brash, bold, then cowering in fear for their lives towards the climax. A series of convenient co-incidences play a crucial role in resolving many unanswered questions in the climax.

The pace of “Stolen” is slightly sluggish in the beginning, but soon moves at a satisfactory speed, the the lead trio going on a nightmarish road-trip of a lifetime. The cinematography too was hit and miss, especially since the first half was so dimly lit, it scuttled the viewing experience, even horror movies aren’t so poorly lit. If the intention was to make the scenes seem darker, gloomier, they could’ve achieved with better lighting.

Part thriller, part horror movie, this film largely depends on the viewer’s perception of the lead characters, if unlike me, you take a shining to Ratan’s ‘knight in not so shiny armor’ act, you’ll enjoy this film a lot more than I did.

Rating: 2.5 on 5 stars. Watch “Stolen” on Prime Video.

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Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

Uninvited Review: Packs Tension but Lacks Payoff

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Vilma Santos is Lilia Capistrano, a mom with a deadly revenge mission in Filipino movie ‘Uninvited’, who infiltrates an exclusive high-society party in the hopes of eliminating those who brutally murdered her daughter.

Directed by Dan Villegas and written by Dodo Dayao, the film opens with a gloomy flashback of Lilia looking for her daughter Lily (Gabby Padilla) late at night, unable to reach her on phone. In the present, she is headed to a party, where she plans to extract vengeance for losing her only child. Aga Muhlach plays primary antagonist Guilly Vega, a megalomaniac billionaire, crime boss, and serial-rapist, whose countless victims include Lilia’s deceased daughter. Lilia disguises herself as a socialite and attends Guilly’s lavish birthday party at his mansion, determined to murder everybody involved in her daughter’s death.

The first half of ‘Uninvited’ is dark, gritty, and tense, with the entire story unfolding in the course of one night, while flashbacks reveal what transpired with Lily in her last moments, after she and her boyfriend Tofy (Elijah Canlas) are kidnapped by Guilly’s men. The young couple’s mangled bodies are discovered by the cops in a field and Lilia finds out who’s behind their murders through Tofy’s mother, who passes her a list of perpetrators. The creators build no mystery by showing her exert some investigative skills in cracking the identities of those behind the crime.

‘Uninvited’ does have some uncomfortable suspense around how the lone, aging Lilia will take down a gang of violent men, even though a party with freely flowing booze makes for an easy setup. And it’s not just the gangsters, Lilia is also intent on eliminating Guilly’s wife, Katrina (Mylene Dizon), and his beautiful daughter, Nicole (Nadine Lustre), both of whom despise the man but stick around for the money.

Despite being the primary antagonist, it’s Aga Muhlach who delivers the most powerful performance in ‘Uninvited’. He is slimy, creepy, and detestable as the narcissistic, libidinous Guilly, whose overconfidence in himself is bolstered by his unlimited wealth and clout. Vilma Santos, on the other hand, isn’t entirely convincing in her body language as the vengeful mother, even though her facial expressions reflect the hatred and pain of grief. Her character simply feels lucky throughout the film, managing to eliminate the men with ease, using the loud party as cover.

After a tense first half, ‘Uninvited’ ends on an underwhelming note. The climax lacks impact and would have benefited from stronger character and story development to justify Lilia’s revenge arc.

Rating: 6 on 10. You can watch ‘Uninvited’ on Netflix.

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Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

‘Good Boy’ Episode 4 Review: More Action & a Car Heist

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Ah, the comic timing of Min Joo-yeong (Heo Sung-tae), the leader of the special police unit made up of former Olympic athletes in the Korean series Good Boy, just keeps getting sharper! He remains the primary (and much needed) comic-relief in the series. Meanwhile, main leads Dong-ju (Park Bo-gum) and Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi) crank up the intensity with some standout action scenes in Episode 4.

Quick recap of ‘Good Boy’ Episode 3: After Dong-ju’s friend Lee Gyeong-il (Lee Jung Ha) is framed for the hit-and-run that killed a customs officer, Dong-ju scrambles to gather evidence against the real culprit: senior customs officer Min Joo-Yeong (Oh Jung-se). To tie up loose ends, Joo-Yeong has Gyeong-il murdered in prison, staging it as a suicide to close the case for good, especially since the cops already have Gyeong-il’s fake confession. But what Joo-Yeong doesn’t expect is Dong-ju’s relentless determination to avenge his friend and pursue justice.

Titled “Float Like a Butterfly,” Episode 4 of Good Boy picks up right where the last one left off: Yoon Dong-ju punches the glass window at the customs office after threatening Joo-Yeong with the consequences of his crimes. The title nods to the famous Muhammad Ali quote – “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” – and Ali happens to be one of Dong-ju’s idols.

The key to cracking the case lies in tracking down the imported car used in the hit-and-run, and this time, Dong-ju has the full support of the athlete-cop squad, including his crush Ji Han-na (Kim So-hyun), who takes back her resignation. Their boss Joo-yeong divides them into two sub-teams to investigate both the true nature of Gyeong-il’s death in prison and the custom officer’s role in it. Joo-yeong pairs Dong-ju with Jae-Hong (Tae Won-Seok), and Han-na with ex-boyfriend Jong-hyeon, leading to instant jealousy and comedic moments.

One of the funniest twists in this episode of ‘Good Boy’? The team hatches a plan to steal the Police Commissioner’s luxury car to lure out car smugglers and locate where they stash stolen vehicles, including the one used in the crime. Cops stealing from cops? Pretty hilarious. And both the execution and fallout of this risky plan are entertaining as hell.

A crucial subplot of ‘Good Boy’ also follows Han-na as she tries to uncover why her late father, also a cop, had possession of a rare limited-edition watch that’s been spotted on criminals like the Golden Bunny, a mysterious figure first introduced in Good Boy’s first episode. Viewers also get a few flashbacks of a young Han-na with her father.

For now, ‘Good Boy’ just keeps getting better as an action-drama with a dash of comedy. Episode 4 is fast-paced and action-packed, striking a solid balance between comedy and serious drama. Park Bo-gum’s charm as the boxer-turned-cop is at its peak, Lee Sang-yi holds his own, and Heo Sung-tae as their chaotic team leader almost steals the show when it comes to the laughs.

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Should They Have Ended Ginny & Georgia at Season 3? Some of Us Think So

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Let’s just say it: Ginny & Georgia should’ve ended with Season 3.

Sure, Netflix loves a hit, and fans love a binge-worthy mess, but sometimes it’s better to let a story go out with a bang rather than drag it out into emotionally confusing, morally grey sludge. And that’s exactly where Ginny & Georgia Season 3 leaves us.

Georgia’s whole “cool mom with a dark past” thing? It was compelling once. But now? Exhausting. Watching her dodge consequence after consequence has lost all charm. In fact, by the end of Season 3, Georgia isn’t even a lovable anti-hero anymore, she’s just… unbearable. Controlling, manipulative, and constantly justifying her worst choices as if she’s some misunderstood martyr. At this point, even the murder she committed doesn’t feel shocking, it’s just one more thing she gaslights her way through. A term she’s learnt from her brainy daughter Ginny.

And about that redemption arc? She didn’t earn it. She doesn’t deserve it.

Georgia finally getting arrested at the end of Ginny & Georgia Season 2 felt like the perfect narrative peak. It was justice, for her many crimes, yes, but also a way to finally shift focus to other characters. Instead, Season 3 hits the brakes and rewinds everything. She’s released, forgiven, re-loved, and back to playing housewife like nothing happened. Meanwhile, Ginny is stuck cleaning up emotional messes and trying to grow… but it’s hard to root for her evolution when her mother keeps sucking all the air out of the room.

And don’t get us started on the pacing. What could’ve been wrapped up in 6 tight episodes gets stretched into 10, with far too many side plots that go nowhere. Paul’s still there but barely matters and OMG what a mess he is reduced too. He definitely didn’t deserve the shoddy treatment from Georgia and yet somehow powers through most of it. Tsk, tsk. Joe, who once seemed like a possible love interest and moral counterpoint, is now reduced to confused stares.

And what was that cliffhanger at the end of ‘Ginny & Georgia’ season 3? That Georgia might be pregnant again? But we can already see the drama, since the first confusion and suspense in a season 4 will be all about ‘who is the father?!’. Because we all know it could either be Mayor Paul, or of-course Joe. But it’s really not enough to justify a whole new season!

The truth is, Ginny & Georgia was at its best when it wasn’t trying so hard to redeem Georgia. When the show leaned into the chaos, the dark comedy, the generational tension, it worked. But by Season 3, it’s just trying too hard to make us believe Georgia’s a misunderstood woman doing her best. She’s not. She’s a manipulator who dodged prison (again), lied to her kids, and emotionally wrecked everyone around her.

So maybe it’s time to close the chapter. Let Ginny grow up. Let Austin get therapy. And let Georgia stay in jail – where, honestly, the story should’ve ended.

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Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)

‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’ Review: Starts Sugary, Ends Snoozy

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

College student Sant runs a food channel, where he devours desserts, and his sweet tooth leads him to the path of romance with dental student Jay in Thai romantic-comedy ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’.

Directed by Pepzi Banchorn Vorasataree (‘My Stand-In’, ‘KinnPorsche’), the 11-episode series stars Ohm Thipakorn Thitathan and Mark Pakin Kuna-anuwit as lead pair foodie Sant and dental student Jay, respectively. Abandoned by his parents, Sant grows up with his grandparents and is constantly doing multiple part-time jobs to fund his education. But he has the most fun running a food channel with best friend Gugg (Poon Mitpakdee), and it’s on his recommendation that he goes to see dental student Jay for a cheap procedure, as he cannot afford professional dental care. Jay begins to romantically pursue Sant, although a rival makes their romance slightly complicated.

While the first few episodes of the series were very cute, ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’ soon ends up being a typical run-of-the-mill romantic comedy by GMMTV, with good-looking actors, a generic plot, and some forcible conflicts thrown into the mix to make it seem like the story has layers. The primary comedic conflict in the series is Sant’s fear of dental procedures, so every time he musters up the courage to see Jay at the dental college, he ends up running away mid-appointment. Meanwhile, Jay is portrayed as a rather composed, happy-go-lucky, straightforward, romantic chap, but the second half of the series introduces some past trauma that really wasn’t necessary in a fluffy comedy show like this.

Ohm Thipakorn Thitathan (last seen in ‘Kidnap’) and Mark Pakin Kuna-anuwit (‘Only Friends’/‘Moonlight Chicken’) have cutesy onscreen chemistry as Sant and Jay, although Sant’s platonic friendship and antics with Poon Mitpakdee’s Gugg were more entertaining. That’s not to say Ohm and Poon should’ve been the primary romantic leads, it’s just that if they were to star in a regular comedy about two bumbling friends running a comedic food channel, it might make for a fun watch. That said, Ohm Thipakorn Thitathan as Sant is like a human dessert (a “total snack,” if we’re using slang), and Mark Pakin adorably wins his character over in the show.

Jimmy Jitaraphol Potiwihok, who played Ohm’s romantic rival in ‘Last Twilight’, interestingly vies for Sant’s affection in ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’. Jimmy plays Captain in this series, a close friend of Jay’s who runs a café where Sant joins as a part-timer, and sparks fly between the two over their shared love for food and desserts. Benyapa Jeenprasom plays Jay’s dentist friend Yada, who Gugg develops a crush on. Their subplot wasn’t very interesting, but it does get a fresher take than the main couple.

While ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’ serves up plenty of sugary moments, it starts to lose flavor from episode 7 onward. The pacing dips, the jokes feel repetitive, and the charm wears thin. GMMTV’s ‘Ossan’s Love’ also felt a bit stretched, but at least it delivered more genuine laugh-out-loud moments. This one? Not so much. There also seems to be a new trend in BL series these days: the bathtub scene with candles, also seen in the recently concluded ‘My Golden Blood’ from the same production house.

Anyway, if you don’t mind recycled plots and just want to watch cute leads navigate predictable conflicts, this might just be your comfort snack of a series.

You can watch the series on YouTube.

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