I have a bad habit when it comes to watching TV. I can’t make up my mind on what I want to watch, so I watch multiple shows at once. I start shows before I finish watching them. I’m currently watching six shows on four different streaming platforms. My goal would be to finish what I have started before watching another show. I wanted to share what I’m juggling through watching and my goals for what I want to watch next.

YouTube

Critical Role

I have talked about Critical Role multiple times. I’m surprised at how invested I am in this campaign. I’m still on campaign #1, Vox Machina. I’m on episode #26 during the Briarwood Arc. Many fans of Critical Role started watching campaign #2, Mighty Nein; however, I’m a completionist. I wanted to start from the beginning to see how Critical Role developed into the popular series it is today. I have become a big fan of this series and how each character serves a purpose in the group. I would love to finish campaign #1 by the end of 2021, although with each episode being 3-4 hours long, I’m not sure if I will accomplish this.

Disney+

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I tried to watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars multiple times, but never got past the first season. This time, my fiancé agreed to watch with me. I’m happy I tried to re-watch this series again because now that I’m in the middle of season #2, I’m enjoying the show. I found season #1 to be slow to watch. My fiancé and I are in the Mand’alor’ story arc, which plays nicely into The Mandalorian. This is another series I hope to complete by the end of 2021.

X-Men Animated Series

Earlier in the year, I started watching the X-Men animated series from the ’90s. I’m loving this series! It’s rejuvenated my love for the X-Men. I’m still in season #1 when Cable was introduced. My favorite characters have to be Jean, Storm, or Gambit. I’m excited to keep watching, especially because the Dark Phoenix story arc appears later on in the show. I’m inspired to read more X-Men comics since I started watching this show. I’m excited to finish this series.

Hulu

Scandal

I started watching Scandal back when I was still in college. I ended up getting to season #5 before moving on to another show. With Scandal off the air, I was determined to finish the show. Similar to my first time watching the show, I watched seasons 1-4 quickly, and I’m stuck on season #5. If I don’t get through season #5 by the end of 2021, I will move on to watching something else.

Netflix

Hollywood

Hollywood is a series created by Ryan Murphy detailing the drama of Hollywood in the 1950s. I was looking for something steamy to watch, and Netflix recommended this series. This didn’t disappoint, and it was exactly what I was looking for.

Schitt$ Creek

This show doesn’t need an introduction. Almost everyone I know has watched this series and raved about it! When I was visiting a friend, she put on the first season. I don’t have anything to add. This series is phenomenal. The humor is witty, especially when it comes to Moira and David. I’m struggling to watch this because I’m not in the mood for a sitcom. Eventually, my friend is going to give me shit for not finishing this show, so I do need to finish this.

Those are all the shows I’m watching! My goal would be to cut down on the shows I’m watching by not starting anything new and finishing the shows I’m on. Once I cut down on the shows I’m watching, I can finally use my Funimation subscription and add anime to my watchlist.

I started figure skating when I was six. My aunt was a competitive skater who became an instructor. Figure skating became a big part of my childhood, and while competition appealed to me, I wasn’t devoted enough to make it my life. The biggest scandal to hit figure skating was the attack against Nancy Kerrigan and how much Tonya Harding knew about the attack beforehand. I had I, Tonya on my watchlist for a while, and last weekend I decided to finally watch it. I, Tonya is an intriguing biopic about Tonya Harding’s life while also bringing up various themes such as classism in skating.

Tonya Harding (played by Margot Robbie) was thrown into lessons at a young age by her mother, LaVona Golden (played by Allison Janney). LaVona is shown early on to be both physically and mentally abusive on multiple occasions, while LaVona only admits to hitting Tonya once. Tonya’s father moves out, and Tonya is struggling to live under her mother’s roof. She meets Jeff Gillooly (played by Sebastian Stan), who provides enough charm and wit to boost Tonya’s self-confidence. As Tonya moves out with Jeff, she soon finds that he is also abusive. Tonya, still trying to skate, is suffering from poor scores due to the judges’ thinking of her as “white trash” and not the best representative for competitive figure skating. As Tonya’s relationship with Jeff is explored, it’s shown how a simple death threat idea somehow escalated into the infamous knee blow with Nancy screaming “why why why”.

The acting in this was phenomenal. Allison Janney won a well-deserved Oscar for her performance in this. Each actor was invested in the role they were portraying. I didn’t know much about Tonya before this movie, but now I feel like I have more empathy for her.

While this film does offer a lens of sympathy for Tonya, it exposes Tonya’s flaws as well. Tonya states several times, “It’s not my fault”. While Tonya grew up poor in an abusive environment, it also seems she blames everyone for her problems. It’s the judge’s fault she scores the way she does, and it’s Jeff’s fault for planning the death threat; however, Tonya seemed on board with the death threat if it meant succeeding in skating. This film could have been on Tonya’s side for everything, but I like the way this film provided a sense of balance. It lets the viewer know how rough Tonya’s upbringing was, but also reflects on how this upbringing made Tonya a flawed human being.

Another interesting aspect of the film was the idea of classism. Tonya was poor, and her mother had to sew her costumes for her competitions. Figure skating and hockey are two of the most expensive sports to play. There are figure skates, costumes, ice shows, lessons, the accessories for skating, etc. I did look into this, and while Nancy’s father struggled to pay for lessons, she also had private lessons at a young age. Additionally, once a figure skater becomes competitive, it’s all about the marketing deals. I remember Michelle Kwan was advertised on everything! Tonya was looked at as an outsider with a rough family background. I wonder if Tonya grew up rich, would her story be different?

I, Tonya was everything I wanted from a biopic. It discusses Tonya’s life, makes an interesting commentary on various societal themes, and has incredible acting from start to finish.

For my brother’s birthday, I went over to my mom’s house. We had steak, had family dinner debates, and played a board game. During our dinner discussion, we talked about movies we would always watch growing up. This led to a discussion about strong female characters in the early ’00s. I wanted to create a list of my favorite heroines / kickass women in various forms of media.

Elektra

Elektra is a widely criticized movie and was considered a box office bomb. It’s not comic-book accurate by any means; however, I loved this movie. I always requested watching Elektra. I liked her katana’s, and I would play pretend in our backyard pretending to be Elektra. This is a movie I will always be fond of, despite its flaws.

Hermione

While I have been trying to distance myself from Harry Potter, I can’t make a list like this and leave out Hermione.

Padme

This was when I learned female characters could be written so poorly. I cannot believe George Lucas wrote in a script that she “lost the will to live”. Give me a break. I like the fan theory where Palpatine drew upon her life force to save Anakin. I know it’s not canon, but it gives her death way more clarity.

Evelyn (Evy) Carnahan

How can you not love Evy? Evy is first featured in The Mummy as a librarian who’s a bit clumsy. She is intelligent, capable, and helps Rick (played by Brendan Fraser) escape from the tomb. In The Mummy Returns, Evy is the same, except it’s clear Rick has taught her how to defend herself. She’s featured in more action sequences in the second film, which I was a huge fan of. Both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns are movies I would credit as to why action movies are often my favorite genre of movies to watch.

Martha Jones

I’m cheating with this pick since I started watching Doctor Who as an adult. Although I think I would have liked Martha still, even if I had seen Doctor Who when I was a kid. Martha Jones is the most underrated companion. I find a lot of people don’t like Martha because of her obvious crush on the Doctor. This isn’t the fault of Martha, but the writers on Doctor Who during her era. Martha calls out racism in one particular episode where she lists off the bones of the hand when a woman doesn’t believe she’s capable of being a medical doctor. Martha is easily one of the best companions of Tennant’s era.

Let me know which female heroines you loved growing up in the comments below!

My fiancé took off work on the release date of Zach Synder’s Justice League. My fiancé is a big DC fan. While I didn’t hate the original Justice League, the movie felt like a mess. There were rumors of a Snyder Cut; however, with DC’s movie track record, I didn’t get my hopes up. After my fiancé finished watching the movie, he came into the office where I was working and couldn’t stop talking about how good this film was. I was still skeptical, but I agreed to watch it with him the following weekend. I was pleasantly surprised because Zach Snyder’s Justice League was amazing. It was way better than WW84.

My expectations for watching the Snyder Cut were Joss Whedon’s movie with more scenes. To be blunt, this was a completely different movie. Cyborg (aka Victor Stone) in this full version had much more of a character arc than in the theatrical release. In this film, Cyborg’s origin story is told on screen. The relationship Victor has with his parents, how Victor’s father ends up helping the League, and Victor listening to a recording from his father saying how proud he is and how he is fortunate to be given a second chance. Ray Fisher (who plays Cyborg) has been the most vocal about Joss Whedon and his abuse of power behind the scenes. I can understand Fisher being upset after the theatrical release because his character’s backstory was erased. Cyborg is easily the MVP, and his role in splitting the mother boxes was crucial to preventing Darkseid from coming to Earth.

The return of Superman is so much more satisfying in the Snyder Cut. As Cyborg is pulling apart the mother boxes, Steppenwolf comes up behind him, about to deliver a devastating blow, when Superman appears, blocking the attack in his black suit. Superman pummels Steppenwolf, buying more time to assist Cyborg. I could feel myself getting amped at seeing Henry Cavill back in action at just the right moment.

Another surprising moment for me was the role of the Flash (aka Barry Allen). In the theatrical release, Barry seemed incompetent and immature. In the Snyder Cut, Barry is much more aware of his powers and the speed force. In the final battle, Cyborg isn’t able to pull the mother boxes apart in time, leading to the Justice League losing. However, Barry notices this and runs back in time to produce the energy needed to split the mother boxes. This moment was special to watch because, without Barry’s help, Darkseid and Steppenwolf would have won. In this version, each member of the League has a role. Without one of them, they would have failed at various steps of their plan. In the theatrical version, this wasn’t laid out.

If I had been told months ago that I would have liked the Snyder Cut better than WW84, I would have laughed. The Snyder Cut was everything I would have hoped for from a film adaptation of the Justice League. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. was trying to control Zach Snyder’s vision, leading to the theatrical version. Zach Snyder’s Justice League was amazing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was my favorite movie of 2021.

With the discontinuation of DC Universe, HBO Max has collected all the DC content. As a DC fan, I prefer the DC animated series to the live-action movies. As someone who was disappointed by Wonder Woman 1984, I wanted to watch a DC title with promise. One series that has been highly rated is the Harley Quinn animated series. This series centers on Harley Quinn getting away from the Joker and building a strong friendship with Poison Ivy. I loved every minute of this show! It’s raunchy, hilarious, gory, and showcases Harley as being the complex villain that she is.

In the first season, Harley (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) finally dumps Joker and tries to establish her credit as a villain. Always living in Joker’s shadow, Harley creates her supervillain team consisting of Poison Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell), Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark, and Sy Borgman. As Harley performs more villainous acts, she’s invited to join the Legion of Doom, which infuriates Joker. Throughout the season, Harley has to reckon with how Joker treated her and how her life can’t solely be about getting back at him. She needs to move on, and her team helps her do this.

At the heart of this show is Harley Quinn’s friendship with Poison Ivy. In the comics, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy end up in a romantic relationship. The show develops this as a slow burn with the season #2 finale leading into Harley and Poison Ivy confessing their feelings for each other. Harley needs Poison Ivy as she tells Harley the truth. The Joker doesn’t love her, and she deserves better. Poison Ivy needs Harley in season #2 to help her realize she’s getting married to the wrong person. Their friendship is fun to watch.

This show is hilarious! The witty one-liners and subtle references to pop culture are well-written. Any show that can make me laugh until I cry is much needed during this time. Adding to the comical relief was the way the villains were given personalities. King Shark is a big shark teddy bear. Clayface loves theater and improv, and Doctor Psycho called Wonder Woman a slur, which led to him getting kicked out of the Legion of Doom. It’s the hypocrisy of using a slur that gets Doctor Psycho banned, even though the Legion kills people regularly.

While DC’s film universe has been mediocre, their animated series is a hit. Harley Quinn is no exception. With only two seasons, it won’t take long to finish the series. The Harley Quinn animated series can be streamed on HBO Max.

If I have extra time at work, I listen to TED talks. One TED talk I recently watched was by lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who talks about racial injustice within our legal system. Bryan Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to those arrested illegally and those who are innocent of the crimes they have supposedly committed. The Equal Justice Initiative fights back against the use of capital punishment in certain states. He wrote a book about this injustice titled Just Mercy, which the movie was based on. I watched Just Mercy, and it left me feeling broken and infuriated.

Just Mercy follows Bryan (played by Michael B. Jordan) as he is beginning to establish the Equal Justice Initiative. While reviewing cases in Alabama, he’s introduced to Walter “Johnny D” McMillian (played by Jamie Foxx), who’s in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Walter has lost hope in his case due to several lawyers offering their assistance and then declining the case. It’s not until Bryan meets with Johnny’s family does Johnny realizes his intentions are pure. Bryan faces several roadblocks in the case, such as being physically intimidated by the police, the blatant refusal by the judge of a retrial, even though the evidence is shady, and the reluctant town, which is convinced Johnny is guilty. Bryan barrels through the obstacles, and ultimately, Johnny is released from prison.

The cast of this movie did a great job at replicating Bryan’s story. Michael B. Jordan has quickly become one of my favorite actors on screen. I wasn’t expecting to see Brie Larson in this. She plays Bryan’s partner. Jamie Foxx, of course, does a great job. The best performance in this film comes from Rob Morgan, who plays another death row inmate, Herbert Richardson. While Bryan does everything in his power to rescue him, Richardson is executed. Morgan’s emotional performance as he awaited being escorted to the electric chair was powerful. Where was his Oscar Nomination??

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this movie infuriated me. After watching the film, I read more about Johnny D’s story, Richardson’s story, and another inmate featured in the film. The movie is accurate based on these real events. Our justice system is broken, and Bryan is one of the passionate fighters who is fighting a just cause. Racism is responsible for putting Black men in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. As a reminder, this story took place in Alabama in the 80s. This only occurred 30 years ago. I’m against the death penalty, and this movie reminded me of why I hold this stance.

Just Mercy was a heartwrenching story. It’s a film that’s uncomfortable to watch, although that’s part of the importance of the film. I have added Just Mercy to my TBR on Goodreads.

My mom was a teenager when Elton John released “Rocket Man”. I told my mom I watched the Rocketman biopic, and she reminisced about Elton John and how his music had shaped her younger years. When I spoke to my mom about Elton John, she mentioned his charity work for HIV/AIDS and how he was a personal friend of Princess Diana. This biopic focuses less on his charity work and more on his life story. I thought this was a fun, musical film. The soundtrack is also quite good, as I often find myself listening to it while I work.

The film opens up with Elton (played by Taron Egerton) in rehab, wearing an orange horned costume. The film shows Elton’s (his name at birth was Reginald Dwight) home life with his absent father, stern mother, and lovely grandmother. Elton is a brilliant piano player, leading him to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Eventually, Elton partners with Bernie Taupin (played by Jamie Bell), who writes the music Elton plays. Elton, like many musicians, is thrown into the rock and roll scene by his manager, John Reid (played by Richard Madden). Elton struggles with his sexuality, weight, and his home life, which leads him to go to rehab.

I thought Taron Egerton did a fabulous job portraying Elton. Taron did do all of his own singing, which was something Elton wanted for the actor who played him in the movie. Richard Madden is one of my favorite actors, and he was ruthless in this movie. If you haven’t watched Bodyguard on Netflix, you absolutely need to. Bernie and Elton’s friendship is so special, and it felt like Jamie and Taron had legitimate chemistry together.

This biopic does feel a bit more like a musical than other biopics I have watched. I found myself comparing this to Bohemian Rhapsody while watching the film. In Bohemian Rhapsody, it was less of a musical, more of a serious film with the music playing in the background. In Rocketman, there are choreographed musical routines, especially towards the beginning of the film. I’m a bit picky with musicals; they are usually not my favorite genre to watch. However, I think Rocketman feels like an Elton John movie, and it captures Elton’s flamboyant persona.

Towards the end of the film, words appear on screen detailing Elton’s life post-rehab. He has been sober for 28 years! He’s been sober longer than I have been alive. There is a brief description of Elton’s charity work with AIDS. The Elton John AIDS Foundation was established in 1992 to end the HIV epidemic. I remember watching an Oprah Winfrey interview with Elton as he talked about why he needed to change and why he’s passionate about HIV. He mentions the death of Ryan White, who was a teenager who died of the disease. Elton used his fame and fortune to help others, and I think that’s something I wish Rocketman would have touched on more.

Rocketman was a fun film with a decent soundtrack. Rocketman can be streamed on Hulu.