Brit Box

[Greg]

Yes, I do want to go to Mallorca.

[Drunk Monk]

Yes, Mallorca looks very nice. It seems like something between Barcelona and Toledo. 

We're still chipping on The Mallorca Files. We're over halfway through season 1. There is a season 2 but it's not available on Brit Box yet. It's still cute and comforting and we both see a little of Jennifer Bailey in some of Miranda's expressions.

[Drunk Monk]

Finished The Mallorca Files. It was cute - satisfying in that comfort watch sort of way. Season 2 was released this month on BBC. Hopefully it'll migrate to Brit Box while we still have it.

There was a good Monty Python reference in ep 9 or 10...or maybe it was 8. 

Max & Miranda are actually lousy cops. Stuff their supposed to protect gets stolen. People die around them. Max gets his gun swiped. But they get lucky in the end.

[Drunk Monk]

The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021) - a true life police procedural - 3 eps at an hour+ a piece - set in Wales. Very nicely done. No twists. No gratuitous gore. A team of investigators open a cold case for a potential serial killer who is about to be released from jail. He's incarcerated for minor crimes, not the heinous murders and rape. It had an ordinariness that felt authentic. Wales looks cold and wet. 

Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators - 3 10 ep seasons 45 mins a piece. We're two deep. It's light murder cases but the spin is that it's set in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is super quaint. It had the best pub name ever - the Mucky Mallard. Shakespeare is a former hair salon owner. Hathaway is an ex-DI. Both are overweight, yet charmingly so. They have an assistant, a young fay wannabe actor who does all the dirty work - undercover stuff and hacking - whilst the other two muck about like chummy mallards. We'll probably watch more.

[Drunk Monk]

Shakespeare and Hathaway. We skipped a magician murder because we've seen that plot so many times before. It's such a hackneyed one. I guessed the perp by applying the ol' 'least likely episode character' principle. That was a sure bet with Castle and The Mentalist, especially in the later seasons. The show is B level comedy mystery. Maybe even C level. The only redeeming factor is Stratford-upon-avon. Not sure if we'll watch many more.

[Drunk Monk]

Shakespeare & Hathaway. We watched two more and figured out the perps again. I got one really early but didn't pick up on the transvestite angle. We're probably going to skip to S3.

[Drunk Monk]

The Mallorca Files - Season 2 leveled up. Even more beautiful locations. The Ep was predictable. From the first scene with the food critic dining at the Michelin starred restaurant, we knew he would get poisoned.

Shakespeare & Hathaway - e8 ‘the chameleon’s dish’ was funny. Set in a new age retreat, we were giggling at the Esalen like parody. Then there was the mushroom tea (the actress playing Shakespeare has never tripped - dm knows - but she made an attempt to act so). 

Btw the section of hwy1 that collapses is south of Esalen from us so we could still get there. Stacy looked into it because she’s taken her CEUs there in the past (tax write off) but their pandemic prices are ridiculous - like $1200 a night for a real room - the shared rooms were in the high hundreds. Esalen is odd because it offers these crappy sleeping places for high prices. We stayed there once in the loft above the art studio. That was cool. No beds. Just a liken of pillows on the floor. It was fun tho.

[Greg]

Is that what they call a group of pillows these days? A Liken?

[Drunk Monk]

WTH? How does spellcheck swap pile for liken?

[Greg]

Auto-Defect is not your friend. A lot of times, it plugs in these esoteric words no one has used for a hundred years.

[Drunk Monk]

I actually like that part. The translators are even worse. I was planning to compose an epic poem based on obsolete words but I didn’t get far. I’m not a poet - only haiku because I can count syllables

[Drunk Monk]

Shakespeare & Hathaway - e9 was the murder in the gourmet restaurant cliche but it's the tyrant chef who gets it, not the critic. Figured out the perp although close to the reveal. e10 (s1 finale) was a kidnapping - no murder - and it was rather good. Nice mcguffin. Kept us guessing right up to the end. I think there are 3 seasons total and we'll likely keep watching. It's a comfort show, light comedy with Shakespeare references, so entertaining enough while we eat dinner.

[Drunk Monk]

Shakespeare & Hathaway S2e1 was super cute. A dognapping. Called the perp but then it turned out the perp wasn't a perp after all. Silly fun. We're optimistic that S2 will be better.

[Drunk Monk]

The Mallorca Files S2e6 - this is the season finale because production was shut down by the pandemic. There were more episodes planned and they hope to roll those into S3, but it's all on hold now. It was a decent show, getting a bit pat as detective shows do, but Mallorca is beautiful and the stars have good chemistry. 

Shakespeare & Hathaway S2e2 - a crime at a LARP event. So sword fights. Well, not really. But we have noticed that S2 has yet to have a murder, just smaller crimes, and that's cool.

[Drunk Monk]

Finished all three seasons of Shakespeare & Hathaway. The finale was sweet, although we didn't buy into Sebastian's decision (they should've left it as a cliffhanger) and there was a sword fight! It wasn't good but it was super cute. Not DOOM recommended.

Season 4 was commissioned but it didn't start filming when covid hit. No word on where production stands.