What I Did during Winter Break

As mentioned in my intro post, I am a graduate student. I am currently going for my Masters in Mental Health Counseling and I am almost at the finish line. I can’t wait to taste the sweet victory of graduating. Any fellow or former graduate students understand my pain? After ending my Spring semester and beginning my Summer semester with a pandemic to then having a fully remote Fall semester with no breaks (the insanity), I decided that I was going to dedicate the holidays to nothing. Literally nothing. With no talk of school work on my agenda, my only plans were to escape reality and binge watch as many shows as possible. And boy, did I. 

What I watched:

Netflix 

Dash & Lily

Rating: 7/10

This show was so cute! It was the perfect Christmas, mushy, teeny bopper gumdrop production. It also includes a cool scavenger hunt starting in a book shop. I mean, come on. The dream. They did have the token minority characters be the guiding light of the two main characters’ journeys, which I figured would happen. I truly need that trope to disappear but hey, I wasn’t upset about it. You had your typical moody loner boy who hates love and laughter and your cheerful, “everything is amazing and beautiful and I obsess about Christmas year round” girl. There was a little bit of drama involved when it came to lovers of the past, but overall, it was an easy watch. I would recommend it if you just want a cute show that doesn’t require much thinking. It’s 8 episodes and each episode is about 30 minutes. Easy binge.  

Emily in Paris

Rating: 5/10

Not sure why this show is getting another season because I firmly fell asleep and had to go back to rewatch episodes. Lily Collins does her thing as Emily, an American working at a marketing firm in Paris. Romantic thralls with various Parisian men ensue and she eventually gets her life together. Okay, Arielle, why does that sound so bad? It’s not the plotline itself. It was really the lack of, how do you say, je ne sais quoi? There wasn’t a lot about the show that intrigued me but I kept watching. I guess that I hoped it would get better? Emily’s character was boring and selfish.Very American of her, I guess. Her and Gabriel, gross. #JusticeforCamille. The Parisian aesthetics were cute but overall *bâillement*.

HBOMax

The Undoing

Rating: 8.5/10

If you love murder, murder mysteries, rich white people drama and Nicole Kidman, this is the one for you. Anything that requires Nicole Kidman to be a WASP with a psychopath for a husband, please sign me up (Big Little Lies stans, wassup). Mrs. Keith Urban was in her bag and I want Hollywood to continue casting her in these shows. Sylvia? Ride or die. Henry? Cute but can we talk about his sociopathic tendencies? That staredown at the restaurant? The deflection of his father’s question? The fact that he ran the dishwasher twice? No? Okay. 

I loved it from start to finish. I still can’t believe that the obvious suspect was in fact the suspect. I really tried to think outside of the box and even got confident that it was Henry because, like I said, sociopathic tendencies. I will continue to watch rich white people mess until the end of time. Why? Because it fuels me, honestly. It’s a great escape from the reality that black people are being murdered and kidnapped and no one’s talking abou- Anyways…

Great acting. Great plotline. I didn’t give it a 9 because I wanted more from the reveal. Like it was shocking but it wasn’t a jaw dropper. 

Hulu

A Teacher

Rating: 4/10

Kate Mara plays a teacher who begins an affair with her student played by Nick Robinson. I knew the actors were adults but the plotline just made me uneasy. I just couldn’t get into the predatory relationship and I think that that was the point but I just found myself wanting to cuss out Kate Mara the whole time. I didn’t feel bad for her at all. 

I like that the show gave a warning that it was a grooming situation so even the show is like “Please don’t ship these people together. This is illegal”. I didn’t even finish it. I got to the episode where she drunkenly confesses to her fellow co-worker, another teacher (dumb), that she’s having an illicit affair with her student. I didn’t  need to continue watching to know what the outcome will be. Her husband will probably leave her, she’s gonna lose her job, and then *plot twist* she’s pregnant with Nick’s baby. Bye. 

Disney +

Mulan

Rating: 8/10

Okay, so anyone who knows me knows that I love a musical, Disney movie, or anything that brings pure joy to one’s life. I already knew that the Mulan remake wouldn’t have the iconic “True to Your Heart” by 98 Degrees or Mushu but I was still open. A lot of people said that they didn’t like it but again, I wanted to give it a shot. Visually, the cinematography was beautiful. The imagery of the palace, the village, the colors, all great. The action scenes were fire. But while watching, I felt like the music could have still been a part of the film. I don’t think that it would have taken away from the story. The “I’ll Make a Man out of You” scene was dope but it would have been even better with the song. They tried to sprinkle a little bit of the original music in the score but it needed more. I think that music adds to the plot and drives it, which this one needed more of. Some parts of the movie, I felt, were a little campy. There were points where the dialogue felt like I was watching those old overdubbed martial arts movies my parents loved to watch growing up. I don’t know if that was a director* thing but it kind of turned me off a little bit. The cameo by Ming-Na Wen really made me happy for some reason, I thought that that was amazing. I don’t know why. Films make me emotional. Leave me alone. But overall, I didn’t hate it. 

*The director and screenplay writers were White so it makes sense now.

What I read:

An Awakening: The Battles Unseen by Milena Braga

Rating: 5/5 stars

Not only is Milena one of my best friends, she’s one of the best writers I know. This is Book One out of an amazing trilogy. How many of you can say your best friend wrote a trilogy? Definitely one of those books that will keep you interested. My rating could be biased but I loved it. I’m currently reading the second one. 

Four teenage girls from different families are suddenly thrown into an alternate universe learning that they’re actually sisters and promised queens of a kingdom they’ve never heard of. With each of them having individual powers that control ice, fire, lightning and earth, they have to come together to defeat an enemy that’s been trying to destroy them since birth. It’s got everything: drama, mystery, romance, murder. The main characters are all young women from diverse backgrounds with superpowers.  I mean, come on! We love representation. I would recommend this to anyone. I will also link her website so you can check out her other books!