khanyisiwe dikile

Oustanding, brilliant, binge -worthy. I'm not even exagerating when I say this show provides for some top shelf, A grade viewing. A crime thriller meets superhero action.

Without getting into the details of the story, I will say this is such a haunting masterpiece. A wild emotional rollercoaster that is not the easiest watch but still draws you in at every turn. It deals with the topic of sexual abuse and finding one's identity in the most raw, uncomfortable, yet authentic way. The only show I can compare it to would be Michaela Coel's "I May Destroy You"- same dark theme and unfliching take on sensitive topics, paired with the most believable performances you'll see. Donny is not the perfect victim, and neither is Martha the perfect villain. These are just 2 broken people whose paths, unfortunately, happen to cross. At first, it's easy to get frustrated with Donny's choices and simultaneously hate Martha, but the more you get to know Donny, the more heartbreaking his story becomes. We don't really get to peek behind the curtain of Martha's life... but the show does a great effort at showing us the sadness and loneliness of her life, how she sometimes seems to not be in control of her actions. Worth the watch, if you have the emotional capacity to accommodate it.

Wasn't really a movie- more of very long high budget music video, complete with JLO's signature water splashing dance sequences. Very stunning visuals, but other than that this movie has nothing else going for it : shallow plot and no memorable characters at all.

Ok, I'm gonna go against the grain here and give this series a "meh" of 10. You've probably gone through a lot of rave reviews before you found this one...and I know I'm one of the outliers here, because this is is a fan favourite, so I'll quickly get to the point of why this is not hitting the mark for me. First of all, the biggest issue I had throughout the series was that I was questioning the validitiy of the story: I really found the premise of the show a very hard notion to concieve. Honestly, who (in their right mind) would willfully dedicate a portion of themselves wholly to their 9-5? Now this could be a subjective take, but the thought of having a version of myself stuck in the office for eternity triggers my claustrophobia and gamophobia. Yes, I know our protagonist couldn't deal with the loss of his wife and therefore he opted for the severance programme at Lumen, but you can't convince me that a life of perpetual corporate slavery appeals to a guy who's grieving and on the verge of giving up on life itself. Also,what DOES Lumen Industries DO? Besides the controversial severance part, what does the outside world know Lumen's core business to be? How do they make money? I mean it's not a "does it exist or doesn't it exist" scenario because the world knows about the severance programme, but I don't remember a scene where any outside person, including journalists, ever asked for an explanation of what Lumen does. I know what the Innies say they do...but I don't think deleting 'scary numbers" would make sense to a CNN journalist or the average person, so why is it that no one has ever asked that question on the outside? Even the Outies who join, have they never wondered what they will be doing once they become part of the programme? Also, what makes Mark so special that they would want to keep tabs on him in particular, outside Lumen? There is nothing about him to have ever suggested that he would be the main reason for the sequence of events...so why was there a special focus on him? Petey re-intergrated and the Chip lady who inserted the chips in the first place went rogue...both these facts are known to Miss Cobel, but yet she chose to put a laser focus on little unassuming Mark who was oblivious to everything and simply reacted to circumstances he found himself in. (which Miss Cobel didn't even have foresight on). So why did she care about Mark then? Having to rely on future seasons for possible answers to the most basic questions about the foundation of the story is not very appealing to me at all. Overall the plot was too weak for me, and not at all plausible. The main character really had nothing to do with the story...so overally I would say this was mediocre. 5/10!! Maybe add 1 for the good cinematograpy, making 6/10.