Supergirl

This show wrapped up in November 2021 with its sixth, and final, season. The show kicked off on CBS, which was a bit weird given that the rest of the DC superhero show universe was on the CW, but after one season of mediocre ratings on CBS (from what I remember anyway), it moved to the CW. I think the show really found both its cadence and its audience on the CW and it was a lot of fun to watch.  Near the end, it seemed to wobble a bit, and I honestly got a bit tired of the Lex Luthor bad guy trying to rule the world thing.  The personal stories made this show much more enjoyable than the baddie of the week.

The finale wasn't bad.  It had everything one would expect of a feel-good finale: characters from past seasons returning, an epic battle, the vanquishing of a foe, and heck even a wedding (not Kara's). I absolutely loved the return of Cat Grant, who bought her company back and made Kara the Editor-in-Chief.  The scene that I loved the most was that she knew that Kara was Supergirl all along, and she said something along the lines of "who did you think those glasses were fooling?".  I also liked the realization that Kara had that she didn't have to be the world's savior - just empower everyone else and step in where needed. In the end, Kara/Supergirl ends up finding herself (and isn't this what classic comics are all about?)

Perry Mason

This one was in my queue to watch for a while. I knew that Perry Mason was a show, but I didn't know what the show was about, or who Perry Mason was until after I watched this.  The original show was a courtroom drama, while this version of the show (or at least the first season) is a prequel to how Perry got to be a courtroom lawyer.

I enjoyed the 1930s noir feel of the show and getting to know the main characters.   I suspect that most people that we see on screen are people who exist in the other Perry Mason shows, and this season was all about introducing us to them.  Perry is a vet, who suffers from PTSD (at least from what we see). He lives on a farm that he's inherited (which is falling apart) and he eeks out a living being a private detective. We see him, at the beginning of the show,  getting dirt on various Hollywood celebrities, presumably to be used for extortion purposes.  He ends up getting into practicing the law to defend someone who won't be defended otherwise.  Gritty show. I hope there is a second season.

Stath Lets Flats

This is a British comedy that you can catch on the UK's All4 network, and I think on the CBC in Canada. The story follows a really socially awkward person from Cyprus (Stathis, or Stath) who is living with his family in the UK trying to eek out a living in the competitive world of apartment rentals. His father is a single parent, and I think that's left everyone in the family in a bit of arrested development mode.

Stath does act like a magnet that brings other socially awkward folks into the "Michael and eagle" sphere (the apartment rentals agency), but you can't help but feel for Stath. As a first-generation migrant, he tries to fit in, but he is neither firmly in the British world nor is he in the Greek Cypriot world.  I think my favorite segment is in the last season with the web series "Greek Speak Greek" 😂

Walking Dead: World Beyond

This was a short, two-season story that picks up the story of a colony of survivors at a university campus and their alliance with the Civic Republic and their military (CRM).  The CRM are the folks who picked up Rick Grimes on the original series.  Anyway, everything seems honkey dorey, the CRM is working toward an antidote toward the Z-virus so they bring the best and brightest from the various communities they've struck alliances to their facilities. But then...they lead hordes of zombies to destroy those communities. This series follows four kids that leave the Unviersity community in search of their one of their fathers, who is a scientist.  The reveal is that the CRM was meant to hand over power to a civilian authority within a certain amount of time, but they engineered the emergencies to remain in power, and to prevent a drain on the CRM resources from partner communities.  Bastards!  The other surprising reveal in the post-credits is that the virus has several strands, the French made it accidentally, and now there are zombies that run fast (like 30 days later) and can't be killed by a bullet to the head... Oh boy!

Overall, I liked this series of characters and wished it had more seasons. Since that ain't happening, I hope we see the characters in the future :-)

Falcon and the Winter Soldier

This is a short series - just six episodes - that revolves around the odd couple of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier right after the events of the movie Avengers: End Game.  Falcon tries to come to grip with his new role as Captain America.  He initially declines the shield and gives it to the government who anoint another soldier as the Captain, and that doesn't go so well - in the sense of losing your control and killing people - something that Steve Rogers would never do.  Eventually, the shield gets back to Sam Wilson who accepts his role as Captain America, John Walker (the NuCaptain) sorts things out and, in the end, becomes "U.S. Agent", and Bucky atones for his sins as Winter Soldier.

This was a beautifully shot short series, great visuals and had a great story. It dealt with finding yourself, coming to grips with the past, and dealing with issues of migrants and refugees.