Say what you will about Amazon (and I do) but they are putting some of the most original, creative and brave shows out there right now. I’ve already talked about several of their shows and why they work. And today we’re going to talk about another one. Truth Seekers.

I won’t lie, I was first drawn to Truth Seekers because I am a huge fan of Shaun of the Dead. I tend to have certain actors that drive me to watch anything, and Simon Pegg is one of those actors. (He’s also amazing in Star Trek.)

Sometimes that leads me to watch some shitty things. Truth Seekers is not one of those times.

The story of season one is thus. Gus, a cable repair tech, is saddled with training a new partner named Elton. 

Elton John. Yes, that’s real.

This is stressful for Gus because he likes to work alone. But it’s also getting in the way of his ghost hunting side gig.

Yes, Gus is a Youtube persona who hunts for ghosts. 

This is all well and good when he’s posting time-lapse videos of a door opening by itself. It becomes quite another sort of adventure when the ghosts start acting like they’re in a horror movie and not in an episode of Ghost Hunters.

So let’s talk about the three biggest reasons Truth Seekers works. 

The characters

Okay, I point out characters in almost every single why it works post. There’s a reason for that. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t care. A good cast of characters can save a dull story faster than the other way around. 

Every one of the characters, from main character Gus to Elton’s agoraphobic sister Helen, every character feels real. Everyone feels like someone you might honestly meet on a day to day basis. 

More than that, though, is the interactions between characters. Gus is devoted to his dad, even though they fight constantly. He misses his wife every day, and he’s not the least bit shy about it. Elton and his sister have a relationship that gets better the more you learn about them. 

I cared about each of these people. I wanted them to succeed. I wanted them to be okay. There wasn’t a single character I didn’t believe to be an honest person. This is because we see the bad along with the good. We see selfishness, anger, pain. But these aren’t just traits thrown in so the authors could say they made a character with good and bad traits. The flaws and strengths of each character made sense given what they’d been through.

Everyone’s got a secret

Mind you, my opinion of these things came from watching the whole first season. It takes that long to get to know each character’s true motivations. Why does it take that long? Because everyone is lying to each other all the time.

Not for cruel or selfish reasons. The reasons for the lies are best left discovered by the viewer. 

This works so well because there are so many secrets waiting to be discovered. And every secret is a payoff for the viewer. These payoffs are scattered through the season, keeping the viewers guessing while doling out bits of satisfaction as we go along.

The ending is shocking but makes total sense

This is something I love in fiction. Something so hard to do. The ending of this season is a twist. It’s a hell of a twist and I don’t dare ruin it.

That being said, once you know the ending you’ll see all the little clues that led up to this making perfect sense. It’s hard to do. But if you can create an ending that is surprising but also makes sense, you’re golden. 

So what do you think? Have you seen Truth Seekers? Do you think it works? Let us know in the comments below. 

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Spoiler alert. 

I don’t feel like enough people are talking about this show. That’s a shame because it’s a tightly written story. We marathoned both seasons within three days because of course, we did. But if you’re looking for something else to watch while you’re stuck inside, you should consider this. Here’s why it works.

Let’s start with that theme song. I’m a sucker for a good theme song, and this is a great one. I never skip it, I always let it play. The song is good, but so is the imagery. Pictures and paintings of the main characters through the ages are funny. More importantly, though, it gives a feel of who the characters are. That’s something we’ve come away from in recent years. But as this show is character-driven, it makes sense that the theme song gives such a good feel of the characters.

The show is about vampires, of course. And while they do show the vampires as hunters and killers, they lean heavily into the sexual aspect of the vampire myth. But not in a sexy way. Oh no, this is hilarious. Like Lazlo’s vagina topiary. This wouldn’t have been half so funny if he wasn’t so damn proud of it! Or the way Nadjia talks about her lover. She thinks it’s very dark and romantic. It comes off as silly, but in the best possible way. 

Which brings me neatly to the next reason why What We Do in the Shadows works. It’s funny! At no point does this show take itself seriously. The characters think a lot about themselves, but they’re ridiculous. They’re silly and selfish and they always think they’re entirely right.

Take, for instance, Colin Robinson. He’s an energy vampire. He’s a Daywalker, and he can feed off other vampires. All the other vampires in the house are scared of him. This sounds like a really tough, badass character.

 

Until you realize that he talks his victims to death. And that he has an office job because that’s his feeding ground. And he wears bland clothes and glasses. He’s a really funny character.

 

What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary. But unlike many of the other popular ones, it feels like it could be. The camera crew is attacked a few times. They never show up anywhere you wouldn’t expect a crew to be. At least one time a camera guy is locked in a well with the vampires, about to witness their fiery, sunny deaths. And I swear you can see the camera shaking. I’m highly amused that the least realistic mockumentary show has the most realistic camera crew.

From a visual perspective, the show does a great job of portraying the feel of an old, gothic mansion. Everything is dark wood paneling, red drapes. It’s all very heavy. The shadows stretch in just the right angles. Every scene is very dark, but also colorful.

Unless we’re at Colin Robin’s office. Then the tan and gray are even more striking by contrast.

Finally, let’s talk about my favorite part of the show.

Guillermo De la Cruz. 

Guillermo is Nandor’s familiar. He wants to be a vampire. But as the series progresses,

we start to realize one thing about him; he’s going to crack hard. We can start to see this in the very first episode when Nandor forgets their anniversary. We also find out later that Guillermo is related to Van Helsing. There is vampire hunting in his bones. This becomes apparent when he starts accidentally killing vampires. All of this becomes a good thing for Nandor and the other vampires after they accidentally invoke the wrath of the vampire council. Slowly, as the series progresses, Guillermo becomes filled with rage and kind of becomes a badass. The last episode, which I loved, includes him wiping out an entire theater of vampires to save our main characters. And then, standing atop two theater chairs, he says, “My name is Guillermo De la Cruz.”

 

Because the vampires he’s defended for two seasons don’t even know his last name. 

If you haven’t seen What We Do in the Shadows, I can’t recommend enough that you watch it. And if you have watched it, leave a comment below. I want to know what you thought of it.

I’m still marathoning old shows, at least for now. As usual, I hate myself and have decided to do Camp Nanowrimo this month. I decided that three days before the end of June.

(Okay, I’m being too hard on myself. What happened is that I realized I was way behind where I wanted to be in my novels for the year. So I needed to clear my plate and put novel working first for a whole month.)

But all that aside. I finally got around to watching all of The IT Crowd.

I’m amazed it took me this long. I work in technical support, I love British comedy and I have a weird tolerance for laugh tracks. I don’t like them, but I can tune them out. 

I’m not going to say the show is genius. I’m not even going to say it’s great. But it’s good, it’s lasted, and it works. Let’s discuss why.

In describing The IT Crowd, I kept coming back to one phrase. It’s relatable, but then it

goes past that and becomes ridiculous. Let me give you an example. We’ve all messed up at work. Most of us haven’t set a fire extinguisher on fire and just let it burn for hours. We’ve all been on bad dates. We usually don’t have chocolate pudding on our faces the whole time, only for our date to think it’s literal shit.

 

While the characters get into ridiculous circumstances that are somehow relatable, it doesn’t end there. The characters themselves are caricatures of people we might very well have in our own lives. 

No one is as socially awkward as Moss. But I bet there’s someone in your life or at your job who you think of every time you see Moss. I have a friend who seems just like Roy. To my knowledge, he’s never run through his place of work without a shirt on. But he doesn’t tell me everything, so who knows? And I have, for sure, forced my feet into shoes that were too small because they were just so cool! (They were baby pink Sperry’s. Don’t judge me.) But I didn’t let it get to the point of crippling me. 

I have a soft spot for any show that manages to surprise me. They’re rare. And they’re even rarer when we’re talking about relationship predictions. And I was sure, from episode one, that Roy and Jen were going to end up together. And they don’t! And that makes perfect sense for them. It would have been awful if they’d gotten together. It would have ruined the show. I think we see that way too much. We don’t see enough friendships between men and women. I was never so thrilled to be wrong.

Finally, let’s talk about catchphrases. Is there any more iconic one than, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” It’s good advice, it’s funny, and it’s so true for anyone who works in technical support and IT! If literally anything isn’t working, turn it off and back on. It was even referenced in Dr. Who. Hell, it’s been suggested several times that we should turn 2020 off and back on. And if I could find a way to do it, I would.

Now I want to hear how you think. Have you watched The IT Crowd? What worked for you?

Want to help out the BLM movement? Are you an artist or writer? Leave a comment below or email me at nicolecluttrell86@gmail.com to get involved.

Normally I stick to speculative fiction on this site. But frankly, I think everyone needs a feel-good show right now. And since I just watched all of Shitts Creek in the span of like, a week, I wanted to bring it to your attention.

I didn’t watch this show as it was coming out. I was barely aware it existed. But, being at home more than ever we were running out of shows to watch. So we thought we’d just check out the first episode, see what it’s about.

And we were hooked from there.

So let’s break it down. Let’s talk about why this show was so good. And why I hope to see a lot more like it.

Let’s start, as always, with the characters. Every character on the show is lovable. But also sort of awful. Let’s take David, my favorite character, as an example. He’s self-centered, obsessed with material goods and has the weirdest fashion sense I have ever seen. When in a relationship he’s weirdly distant and clingy at the same time.

He’s also a really good big brother. While Alexis has been running all around the world and getting herself into all sorts of trouble, he’s been at the ready to help her. He’s still there for her, even if he’s there in the most acidic way possible. 

David also has a head for business. He’s smart, good with numbers, and understands what people want. 

If a character is too good, we can’t stand them. It’s unrealistic. And it sort of makes us hate ourselves a little by comparison. But if a character is too bad, we don’t like them. I don’t like watching someone be cruel to others and mess their life up time and time again. A blend of good and bad is entertaining, comforting and realistic. If we can see that other people are flawed but still good, then we can allow ourselves to be as well.

Most of the shows I watch are kind of horrible. Rick and Morty, Dead Like Me, Angel, The Orville. Bad things happen, characters have real falls from grace. People get addicted, divorced, maimed, fired, lose their kids, go to jail, get beaten half to death, or the whole way.

Nothing really bad ever happens on Schitt’s Creek. Yes, there is tension. Yes, there are problems. But nothing that is emotionally scarring. And right now, when there are so many awful things going on, that’s a comfort.

However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t growth and change. It’s hard to see if you just go episode by episode. But, in the same way we change without really noticing, the characters do too. The care they feel for each other and the town deepens. Their concern for other people widens. They open themselves up to loving others. They learn the value of earning what they have, which they’ve never had to do before. By the end, they’re still themselves. But they’re better, deeper people too.

So what do you think? Have you watched Schitt’s Creek? What other feel-good shows would you recommend? Let us know in the comments below!

I am a big lover of alternate history. I also have this weird fascination with stories about WWII. So it’s no surprise that I enjoyed Man in the High Castle. It seemed almost custom made for me. What would have happened if America had lost WWII?

This isn’t the first story to explore that theory. Hell, I don’t think it was the twenty-fifth to do it. But despite going over material most of us have already read before, the creators of this show managed to do it in a new and fresh way. A way that grabbed my attention and the attention of millions of others.

Until that is, they lost it.

But we’re not to that point in the story yet. Let’s talk first about what the show did that worked.

Let’s start with the Smiths, who could be considered the first family of the Reich in America. The parents are John and Helen Smith. They are the picture of American 1950’s perfection. Except, of course, for the fact that they are all nazis.

This is part of how the story crept under my skin. John’s everything a good American man should be. Good at his job, a loving father. But there he is with a swastika on his arm. Oh, and the little matter of killing people who oppose him. There’s Helen, the picture of a 50’s housewife, but she has nazi buttons on her collar. It’s a reminder of how close we all are to that sort of life.

Life is good for the Smiths. Until it isn’t. Until their son is diagnosed with an illness that marks him for death. This brings to light a very simple and horrific truth that this show brings to light quite well. This sort of life works very well for people who fit in. For people with the right skills, right skin color, right body. For those who don’t fit into a very specific mold, this sort of world is heartless and unbearable. The part of the show that worked best for me, the part that I cared about the most, was watching the Smith family break until they didn’t fit anymore.

The other sides of the show were just as deep. Julianna, an American living in the Japanese controlled West Coast, dives deep into the world of the man in the high castle. She finds out that she and a few others can switch between different alternate universes, bringing back home videos to inspire hope. 

All of this blended in a science fiction alternate history story that was riveting.

Until the last season, when the creators came to a confusing conclusion.

They decided to take everything good about the story and throw it out the window. Or, taking it to such an extreme as to be no longer enjoyable.

They also made the baffling decision to murder several beloved characters. 

The story focused more and more on Juliana, which I wasn’t thrilled with. She’s always been the most unlikable character. They also separated the characters, going so far as to trap one character into an alternate universe. There, she finds characters that we know in a specific way acting the lives they might have had if America had won WWII. You know, our time. While that was a fetching concept for an episode or two, it didn’t hold up. 

All in all, I didn’t even finish the last season. For a show that had me sobbing over the death of a Nazi youth, it worked hard to just make me not give a damn anymore.

Falling From Grace is available now! Get it on Amazon.