Under a Red Roof

Hello All! Welcome to another addition of my favorite programs of the past three years or so. I don’t know what your watching habits are like, but Greg and I cycle through platforms. Sometimes we’ll have one for months, other times a week or two. We just finished a Netflix cycle, and as I was browsing, I saw a whole slew of titles I had forgotten from the last time, so this portion will be pretty Netflix heavy.

Let’s get to it, with Apple Cider Vinegar. A woman desperate for attention jumps on the early days of Instagram and falsely claims she healed a brain tumor, not with medical intervention, but with whole foods and alternative remedies. She becomes a really big deal and a pathological liar (or maybe was one all along, right?) and is eventually exposed. Meanwhile, another young woman follows a similar path, but since her illness is real, the consequences are even more dire. Bananas!

Archive 81 – A film buff is hired to restore and edit damaged video from a mysterious fire at an equally mysterious building in the 90s. He begins to see parallels with his own life, and makes connections with the woman who made the original film, uncovering a strange cult in the process.

An aside, and maybe one I’ve already mentioned, Greg and I are slightly obsessed with cults and frequently worry that we two non-joiners could somehow be lured into one, because, as the kindly gentleman from Nexium said, “No one thinks they’re joining a cult!!”

Now for the Asian section of our programs, which really has me itching for a visit to Japan or South Korea! Behind Your Touch – this one is pretty unconventional, but very fun. After a young veterinarian witnesses a meteor while examining a cow, she gains the ability to access memories (in reverse chronological order) of any being by touching their butts! Her ability comes in handy (pun intended) with pets and their mysterious illnesses, as well as in aid of the newest local cop. The one caveat? The more butts she touches, the more hair she loses.

Inspector Koo is a in insurance investigator and former police officer. Propelled by a lack of money and her video game, beer, and salty snack addiction, she begrudgingly joins the force to help find a serial killer.

Hot Spot: After a front desk hotel employee is saved from death by her strong and speedy half-alien coworker, she and her circle of friends enlist his help to solve problems, big and small. This is a great slice of small town Japan, with, super bonus, a setting near Mount Fuji. What a wonderful backdrop!

The Makanai: two young friends embark on their life long dream of becoming Geiko (the Kyoto term for Geisha). For one, her skills and abilities come naturally, while the other is rather ill suited. Fear not! She’s arrived at the perfect moment to become the Makanai, or cook, for the establishment. What a fascinating glimpse at this side of Japanese culture, gloriously centered on women. I learned so much.

This and Hot Spot are what I am calling “big hug” series. In a world of wicked backstabbers, murderers, and thieves, these represent the best of humanity, via tenderness, love, caring, and good food!

Bodies is the investigation of a single murder at four different points in time. Very sci-fi cool!

Bodkin is a bit of a fun mad-cap thriller type, circling around the disappearance of three young men in a small Irish town twenty-five years prior. One of the leads is an American, producing a podcast about the mystery, so there is also a bit of a silly fish out of water aspect I rather enjoyed.

Categorized as supernatural horror detective comedy-drama, which is quite the mouthful, Dead Boy Detectives centers around two young men who decline a place in the afterlife to solve supernatural mysteries in the here and now. It’s a little bit of everything with a fair number of surprises!

Katla – after an Icelandic volcano erupts for more than a year and begins to exhibit unusual changes in chemistry, people dead for years suddenly appear from the ash. How did they come to be? Are they changelings of desire? Something sinister? Very thought provoking and atmospheric.

Eager to improve himself and his life, a man enters a sketchy strip mall store front and exits renewed. The problem? He is a clone, and his original self, who was supposed to die, lives on! What to do? This is Living With Yourself!

Lockwood & Company – More young people battling the supernatural in order to keep the world safe from dark forces! Such fun…

Mrs. Davis has got to be one of the most original and inventive shows I’ve ever seen, and definitely an all-time favorite! A young nun, desirous of a peaceful life with Jesus, is called upon by an AI entity (Mrs. Davis), who is literally in the ear of most of humanity. So very determined to find and destroy the Holy Grail, she’s staked her life upon it. History! More mad-cap humor! Magic! Women of power! And a wilder than wild ending to a bananas AI beginning.

Nobody Wants This is a super fun and very thoughtful exploration of star-crossed love, as a non-religious sex pod caster falls for a rabbi. The highlight, however, is the platonic relationship between their two siblings.

Sprung is another of my all-time great series, with a little bit of everything I like. I mentioned it once before, way back in 2022, noting I’d already watched it twice. Well, I’m probably at the five or six mark now, another show that’s like a big hug. Thank you, Greg Garcia!

When Jack, his former cellmate Rooster, and his girl on the inside, Gloria, are released early because of COVID, they have zero options and move in with Rooster’s Mom, who wants them to form a crew. Unwilling to return to prison after nearly 30 years inside on a single weed conviction, Jack will only commit crimes against “bad” people, using the myriad skills learned after befriending true criminals on the inside. Utterly hilarious and heart-warming, with so many fabulous twists. Watch it again and again – you won’t be alone!

Wellmania – After a major health crisis prevents her from getting her U.S. visa, an Australian woman jumps on the get healthy quick bandwagon, doing everything in her power, save doing the actual hard work (for a time) to make her body well. A wickedly clever train wreck show of the highest caliber, my friends!