OK, so I am Four Years Later is a miniseries as everyone it's listed as an eight-part Australian-Indian romance drama, plus SBS don't really do long running series.
It premiered on SBS before the October long weekend. My mum smashed it in an afternoon, as all episodes were available to binge on SBS on Demand. I was more restrained and took a week.
Four Years Later follows the love story of two residents from Jaipur, one of them being an aspiring doctor, whose families plan an arranged marriage. The doctor is almost immediately offered a medical traineeship in Australia, while the other resident (Sridevi) stays in India, resulting in the couple being separated for four years.
Filming of the eight-part romance drama series began in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Jaipur in January 2024.
Filming then moved to Sydney in February. Originally titled Four Years, the series was created by Mithila Gupta, who also wrote the series alongside Nicole Reddy and S. Shakthidharan.
The series uses both Hindi and English.
With strong leads in Shahana Goswami as Sridevi & Akshay Ajit Singh as Yash. They are joined by
Kate Box as Gabs, Taj Aldeeb as Jamal, Roy Joseph as Arun, Luke Arnold as Matt and Yohan Philip as Rohit.
You can read a more comprehensive review here of the lovely romance. However this is realistic, it's not all happy endings and happy-happy joy-joy.
The team behind this and SBS have done well.
Hoping SBS will have some more quality dramas in 2025!
Bad Monkey, is another Apple TV+ series featuring another Hollywood player. This time it's Vince Vaughn.
The black comedy/crime/drama series is developed & executive produced by Bill Lawrence. Based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen.
Alongside Vaughn, L. Scott Caldwell, Rob Delaney, Meredith Hagner, Natalie Martinez, Alex Moffat, Michelle Monaghan, Ronald Peet, and Jodie Turner-Smith all star.
Bad Monkey commenced mid-August, a little before yesterday's Slow Horses. So I have been busy on Apple TV+ series. So what's it all about?
Andrew Yancy (Vaughn) is a former police detective who has been reduced to conducting restaurant inspections in South Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist pulls Yancy into a world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and The Bahamas.
It's a little bat shit crazy, but by the finale We're in the Memory-Making Business, it all comes full circle, with a little look into a possible second season.
Currently Bad Monkey has not been renewed.
It all begins with a severed arm is discovered by a fishing boat off the coast of the Florida Keys. Ex-detective Andrew Yancy, suspended for having assaulted the husband of his lover, is tasked to deliver the arm to the Miami morgue.
The arm is identified by Dr. Rosa Campesino as having belonged to Nick Stripling and is returned to his wife Eve. Eve's step-daughter Caitlin believes she killed her father for his money. At a bar, Yancy witnesses Charles Phinney, the first mate of the boat where the arm was found, being shot dead.
On Andros Island, resident Neville Stafford consults with the local Obeah, Gracie, known as the "Dragon Queen", to put a curse on the developers seeking to replace his home with a resort. Christopher, the man developing the resort and Eve's new boyfriend, is revealed to have been the one who shot Phinney.
It is part crime, part comedy set in sun of Florida, USA.
The ten episodes breezed by so if you are looking for something new to watch, this might be up your alley. It's a mega series finale week with Fight Night concluding tonight on Binge and tomorrow morning The Last King of the Cross concluding on Paramount+.
Next Week the English Teacher, Reasonable Doubt and Tell Me Lies all conclude and all on Disney+.
Slow Horses is back for a fourth series, Spook Street, which commenced its six episode run last month.
Back in January, the series scored an early renewal, for a fifth series, which will be based on the fifth book in the series, London Rules.
Episode one one, kicked off with a bang! Literally, a suicide bomb goes off at the Westacres shopping mall in London, carried out by Robert Winters.
After Winters publishes a video confessing to the attack, a police force breaks into his flat, but three of them are killed by a booby trap. River confesses to Louisa that he thinks his grandfather, David, is suffering from Alzheimer's and becoming paranoid.
She encourages him to care for David, as David cared for River when he was growing up. Meanwhile, Marcus is struggling to kick his gambling addiction, Roddy claims to have a girlfriend, Standish has been replaced by the seemingly competent Moira Tregorian, and the PTSD-suffering JK Coe has joined Slough House.
At David's house, a man arrives at night, claiming to be River. David shoots and kills him, and then flees. Lamb is called to identify River's body by Emma Flyte, the new commander of the Dogs, and he does.
Lamb confronts Standish at her flat and learns that David is sheltering at her house and that River is still alive. River is seen to be alive and in the backseat of a taxi in France.
We get to the finale almost as quickly as the season commenced. Hugo Weaving as Frank Harkness, a former CIA operative turned mercenary, has been a great addition to this series.
We also find out in the finale, something rather major. River is taken to meet Harkness, who confirms River's suspicions that he is his biological father. Harkness offers to train River to be part of his organization, which River swiftly rejects.
The Dogs converge upon River's location at the same time as Louisa and Flyte. Harkness puts a live grenade in River's sweatshirt; Louisa throws it in the water, but Harkness escapes in the chaos.
River leads the pursuit of Harkness to the train station, where Harkness allows himself to be arrested.
Meanwhile, Lamb finds Chapman's body where he went to pick up his flight fund; Patrice, who has Chapman's phone, listens to a message left by Tregorian for Chapman saying that David is safe at Slough House.
Patrice ambushes Slough House, killing Marcus in a shootout before being subdued by Shirley and a returning Lamb. Coe talks Shirley out of killing a restrained Patrice before shooting him dead himself.
In the aftermath, Harkness negotiates his release by threatening to reveal to the public that MI5 and other security agencies hired his mercenary group to kill their targets over the years, having left letters at Molly's house addressed to Whelan and other heads of service that were set to be uploaded online within 24 hours of his arrest. River has David committed to a care home against his wishes, and joins Lamb for a drink.
We also get a sneak peak at season five. Making me think, if it's filmed already, when will it land on Apple TV+?
Apple TV+ has had a stellar run of late and next week, Shrinking returns for its second season. Remember how good season one was! And Friday Disclaimer with Cate Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a respected journalist and documentarian, long renowned for uncovering difficult truths lands!
So much TV, so little time. Why do I need work 35 hours a week? DAMN!
Joker: Folie à Deux was one of those films I was really excited for. The expensive marketing campaign worked. Every poster, thing I saw online made me want to see the film more and more.
The sequel to Joker (2019) also the final dark film of Joker series. Like the current Penguin series, DC is going all dark (and musical, well for the Joker) on their villains of late. What will the villains be like in the upcoming Ed Pat Batman sequel?
Starring Joaquin Phoenix (again) as Arthur Fleck/The Joker, with Lady Gaga joining as his love interest Lee Quinzel. Industry hottie, Harry Lawtey plays Harvey Dent, while co-star, Ken Leung as Dr. Victor Liu, a psychologist who gives his testimony diagnosing Arthur at the trial.
Zazie Beetz also reprises her role from the previous film, while Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener join the cast. Joker: Folie à Deux premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 4, upon its general release, it has received negative reviews from critics.
Some of these critics, criticised the musical numbers and screenplay, though the performances of Phoenix and Gaga received praise.
The musical numbers do become tiresome as the film clocks in, at well over two hours. I used one of these numbers to take a piss.
Overall the film is lacking purpose. As a large chunk of the film is filmed whilst Arthur/The Joker is locked up.
I remember loving the OG Joker film. It was dark, disturbing, scary in part, unique. However Batman and the whole comic book thing is really dead now. Following a few more Marvel films, the latest Marvel series, fatigue is real on these characters.
However DC is going dark, real dark. Reflective of a frightening, ever changing world we live in now.
I didn't hate this film, I liked Gaga, but it had major flaws.
If you want to read more from a younger viewer, there is a good review here. For me though after seeing multiple Gotham creations on the big and small screen, this wasn't the best but wasn't the worst. What will Gaga do next? The woman is unstoppable of late.
I can't pass this, if I am always bitching about aimless films with long ass run times. 2 Stars. Sorry crew.
So another Power Book closes. This time, Book II: Ghost. Commencing in the depths of the first year of CVOID back in September, 2020, this served as a direct sequel and spin-off to Power. Where, spoiler alert, lead Michael Rainey Jr. as Tariq St. Patrick killed his father, Ghost, from the OG series.
We also saw Mary J Blige, SLAY as Monet, however that came to a halt last week. Yep spoiler alert.
This week the body count grew in the series finale. Back in March, it was announced that the fourth season will be the series' final season and is split into two parts; part one premiered on June 7, and part two premiered on September 6.
The spilt season was slightly annoying, however the break wasn't too much of a punish. The main new cast member for season four, came with fourth season renewal announcement, Michael Ealy joined the cast. Recently seen in the Afterparty and the excellent first season of Reasonable Doubt.
So Stan are saying Power Book III: Raising Kanan returns this summer. While Power Book IV: Force will also conclude (likely in 2025) with its next season.
Apparently Power: Origins, another prequel is in the works.
Will we see Tariq St. Patrick with Tommy again in Chicago in the final Force season? There has already been on crossover.
So how long will the Power Universe live on for? This season of Ghost was fun, fast-paced and action packed. However this crime family is really winding down, the body count is rising up, so time will tell.
Stan do well out of these Power series, they also are struggling for content and Starz is an excellent producer of their current content catalogue.
Oh and welcome to the new series, Summer Streamin' 24. I know it currently doesn't feel like summer yet, however we did have the one hot week recently. Right? Anyway enjoy the long weekend. There is loads of new Aussie content to get around, Four Years Later, Last King of the Cross is wrapping next week and Last Days of the Space Age on Disney+.
It's almost time to say hello Summer 2024/2025! In the meantime here are the TV series I caught up with over a brief Winter, early Spring. Spring has truly sprung now. Also this is the first year in a while the US networks have had no strikes or COVID to contend with. So incoming it's a full US TV season.
However expect those series to feature next quarter. For now see where the two CW series, All American and it's Homecoming spin-off land below.
That said streaming platforms like Binge, Disney+, Apple TV+ and ABC iView are firing off loads of new and returning series.
Speaking of Aussie content, Colin from Accounts took out the RATED series last quarter, so let's check where ABC, Paramount+, Stan and Netflix's local series RATED this time around.
So much Australian content streaming right now too. For this new quarter we have Four Years Later on SBS, Return to Paradise on ABC & iView, Last Days of the Space Age on Disney+ and Last King of the Cross concluding on Paramount+ next Friday morning.
If you need more series to catch up on, below are my previous RATED's:
1. Fake - Season One (AU) 2. Poker Face - Season One 3. The Boys - Season Four 4. 9-1-1 - Season Seven 5. The Twelve - Season Two (AU) 6. Presumed Innocent - Season One 7. Critical Incident - Season One (AU) 8. Industry - Season Three 9. Land of Women (Spanish: Tierra de mujeres) - Season One 10. Bel-Air - Seasons One to Three 11. Interview with the Vampire - Season Two 12. Troppo - Seasons One to Two (AU) 13. Boy Swallows Universe - Miniseries (AU) 14. Under the Bridge - Miniseries 15. Return to Paradise - Season One (AU) 16. Elite (Spanish: Élite) - Season Eight/Series Finale 17. The Way Home - Seasons One to Two 18. Severance - Season One 19. All American - Season Six 20. Clipped - Miniseries 21. Silo - Season One 22. Evil - Season Four/Series Finale 23. Outer Range - Seasons One to Two/Series Finale 24. Red Eye - miniseries 25. The Bear - Season Three 26. Clickbait - Miniseries 27. The Perfect Couple - Miniseries 28. House of the Dragon - Season Two 29. Gangs of London - Season Two 30. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder - Season One 31. Fantasmas - Season One 32. All American: Homecoming - Season Three/Series Final 33. Star Wars: The Acolyte - Season One/Series Finale 34. Unstable - Season Two 35. Lady in the Lake - Miniseries
This is officially the last New Financial Year 2024/2025 Streaming post in the last quarters series. Concluding with the final ever episode of, All American: Homecoming.
Created by Nkechi Okoro Carroll, the spin-off of All American, which in June this year, the series was canceled after three seasons.
Where did it all begin on The CW? Well, Simone Hicks leaves behind her boyfriend Jordan (HUNK ALERT) in Los Angeles and attends Bringston University, a historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia where she decides to pursue her dreams of being a pro tennis player.
Also attending the school is Damon Sims, a fellow freshman who is navigating the college scene to pursue his dream of playing baseball for the university after rejecting an MLB draft to continue to play baseball for Bringston under the guidance of his coach, Marcus Turner. Also included is Amara Patterson, Simone's aunt, who teaches journalism at Bringston.
So how did, Homecoming close out? Simone Hicks’ story ended much like how it began: with a little drama on the tennis court, and even more drama off it.
When season 3 began, Simone found herself romantically caught between Damon Sims and Lando Johnson; this time around, the same quandary presented itself to our protagonist, as Damon made a return visit to Bringston just as Simone and Lando were poised to admit they loved each other.
Actually, Simone did tell Lando she loved him, but Lando, newly insecure after spotting Simone and Damon catching up with each other, told her he couldn’t trust her confession and walked away, leaving her heartbroken.
Later, though, after giving Cam a love life-related pep talk, Lando realised he was simply letting his own fears stand in the way of a real relationship with Simone. That evening, he met up with Simone and showed her a sweet slideshow of his own life, telling her that she’s filled it with beauty and joy.
Then at long last, Lando reciprocated Simone’s feelings of love.
Meanwhile, on the tennis court (not the footy field like the parent series, All American), rumours began to spread that Simone may have taken performance-enhancing drugs. However these were actually her cancer meds.
At first, Simone planned to keep her cancer battle a secret, even in a sports documentary chronicling the team’s recent success. But when Simone realised that even her own teammates were questioning what kind of substance she’d been taking, she decided to come clean about her breast cancer to her fellow players and to the journalist interviewing her, citing her hope that other young women may be inspired to listen to their bodies and advocate for themselves when seeing a doctor.
On the day of the conference finals, Simone seemed to dread the response she might get from the crowd and the other competitors, telling Lando and Amara that she wasn’t ready to face. When she stepped on to the court, Simone was instead greeted by thunderous applause and a standing ovation from her teammates, her tennis challengers and all of the Bringston spectators.
So while All American returns (to Stan, not Binge where this streams) for a 13 episode seventh season. There was an unresolved storyline, which unlike me, I knew this show in the current climate was lucky to even get a second season, a third was a miracle. But maybe the Homecoming writers knew this would be a series finale, Keisha’s love triangle with Cam and JR never fully sorted itself out.
On one hand, Keisha appeared to choose herself at the end of the episode, after noting earlier in the hour that she was constantly in a relationship and wanted to fly solo now.
On the other, she and Cam seemed to have some unfinished business together, especially after he served as her partner in her final dance exam. That scene was full on. It was an emotionally intense routine they performed together clearly mirrored their own romantic relationship.
Lando encouraged Cam not to let his fears keep him from being with Keisha, but last we saw, Cam and JR were in a bit of a standoff over her.
So The CW has two OG series left. Superman & Lois commencing with a double episode next week on Binge, for its final, fourth season. And as above All American returning TBA in 2025.
Looking at a calendar I feel Superman & Lois could come to a close this side of Christmas. Speaking of a new blog series for TV and the next quarter commences with Power soon. The RATED for New Financial Year 2024/2025 Streaming will also land soon. Can you believe it's October 1st 2024 already!
