Hello, everyone. Happy Pride Month! 🏳️🌈 This middle aged emo kid here will always stand with the LGBTQ+ community against any hate or prejudice 🏳️🌈 I’m back and I’m rested and ready to give you some Pop Culture recommendations for your weekend. This week I have thoughts on the new season of one of my favorite shows, THE BOYS. I also talk about the second season of the series PHYSICAL and the horror flick DASHCAM that I had the chance to watch at TIFF last year. And this week I’m sharing a playlist with ten songs to compensate for the week I missed.
Before I go I wanted to say thanks to Kathryn from MEMEFORUM for the shoutout she gave this newsletter a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoy reading her newsletter as well and I highly recommend it.
To celebrate the arrival of TikTok embeds on Substack here is a TT of me resting last week (and yes, I’m a cat).
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QUICK THOUGHTS
PHYSICAL returns to Apple TV+ for its second season. Created, written, and executive produced by Annie Weisman, the series follows Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne), a wife and mother in the '80s who builds an aerobics video empire while battling extreme personal demons and a vicious inner voice. The series has always straddled the line between drama and humor, and it has never shied away from dealing with important themes. I really like Weissman's attention to creating the character of Sheila. She's complicated and definitely an antihero, yet you still want to root for her. Byrne continues to show that she is up to this challenging role that requires her to be witty, vulnerable, strong, and sometimes even terrifying. This time, though, her character is not the extremely insecure and miserable lady we met in the first season. She's in recovery and dealing with her problems. Sheila's relationship with her husband Danny (Rory Scovel) has also changed. After all the drama they went through in the first season, they switched roles. She is out there growing her business and making good money while he is spending most of his time at home, looking after their daughter. Throughout the 10 new episodes of its second season, PHYSICAL does a good job juggling sexism, eating disorders, humor, drama, and political criticism. And on top of that, the show has a killer soundtrack. I had a great time watching it and I think you will too.
PHYSICAL season 2 premieres today, June 3 on Apple TV+ followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday.
DASHCAM is a live streaming footage horror movie that is an undeniably wild ride but definitely not for everyone. The flick is set at the beginning of the pandemic and revolves around an arrogant and narcissistic live-streamer/improv musician named Annie (played by the very talented musician Annie Hardy). She decides to skip L.A. for London, takes her ex-bandmate car, and makes the mistake of giving a lift to an old lady who is not what she appears to be. So yeah, I don’t know about you guys but I’m so done with pandemic movies. I watched this one last year at TIFF Midnight Madness and at the time, I thought it was ok. Mostly because it has an interesting mix of jump scares and social commentary. However, the polarizing protagonist and her Karen-like behavior in the first act will make a lot of people very annoyed and probably give up the movie. I don’t blame them, I thought about doing the same. Overall, I think that DASHCAM is a messy flick and it feels very dated in 2022. I like how gory and disturbing it is but the combination of dashcam and iPhone footage makes the movie painful to watch unless you are really into found footage horror films. I can’t finish this review without saying that Annie Hardy did an outstanding job playing one of the most unlikable characters I’ve seen in a while. She also managed to create one of the most entertaining end credits ever. Probably better than the movie itself.
THE BOYS Season 3
THE BOYS is making an amazing comeback with a gruesomely fantastic season 3. The series resumes a year after Becca's death. Homelander is still coping with the consequences of Stormfront being revealed to be a Nazi. And Butcher is working for the government. The series delivers even more degenerate superheroes, societal satire, obscene comedy, gory violence, and twisted psychosexual neuroses. You know, all the good stuff.
Honestly, I don’t think you guys are ready for all the craziness you’re going to get in this season. I had a chance to watch all 8 episodes and without spoiling anything I can tell you that you will be blessed with things such as — a massive superhero orgy (Herogasm), a big Hollywood-musical-style song-and-dance number, some very funny cameos, and a lot of very gory fights. The storyline offers a moral debate this time, how far are you ready to go to attain your goals? The season’s central theme is about Soldier Boy, played masterfully by SUPERNATURAl alum Jensen Ackles. As a result, it allows the series to not only explore new aspects of the plot in the present day but also to go into Vought's past in the last 60 to 70 years.
However, I think some people will be upset with the way the show is portraying the Alt-right and Anti Wokeness people. I can see already some grow ass men complaining online that their childhood was ruined or something. But the whole social satire shouldn’t have been taken so seriously. It is just jokes, people.
In my opinion, season 3 is the craziest season of THE BOYS yet. it's so good and I had so much fun watching it. It’s just pure enjoyment for those who like such horrific (in the best possible way) things. Kudos to the writing team and all the actors involved in this season for such a great job. Also, thanks to Amazon Studios for having the guts to create something so unique and not go on the easy route of the formulaic, soulless superhero movies and shows that other studios keep spewing.
THE BOYS season 3 will premiere on Prime Video with 3 episodes today, June 3. Following the season 3 premiere, additional episodes will launch weekly on Prime Video.
TOP 10 SONGS
These were the 10 songs on heavy rotation in my house last week. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.