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The Evil Touch (1973)
Creepy, atmospheric, Australian but also not
I grew up as a kid watching this show (and Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Outer Limits... Deadly Earnest). There was always something very creepy, even understated, about the episodes that haunted me much more than those other more professional shows. Yes, there was the foreign actor main star along with the sinister Anthony Quayle, but it was Australian without it being overt and had a hardness from the filming in our light that gave it a different vibe.
The stories varied from weird to downright shocking - my favourite was The Trial with Ray Walston's final comeuppance the highlight, but many other episodes remain in my memory even after all these years. The repeats were on television late at night even into the eighties and early nineties, and the time slot even added to the vibe.
I would love to see this again, dvd or Foxtel or internet - whatever. It would be not just a retro blast from the past but also worth watching for that old atmosphere and the stories, as well as the cameos from long-gone actors.
Watch it if you get a chance.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Take Me out to the Holosuite (1998)
Blah, it's baseball...
You can tell a series is going through a rough patch when they do dross like this. Unless you are either an American or a baseball fan, this episode does nothing for the series and progresses nothing with it's jingoistic slosh. It's so cringey that unlike the rest of the episodes I've seen many times, this I could barely watch once. I know it's an American show, but this just alienates viewers from the rest of the world.
A Normal Life. Chronicle of a Sumo Wrestler (2009)
A tough sport for a young kid
This is an interesting and entertaining - not always in a good way - view of the reality of a young guy, Takuya Ogushi, graduating high school and being pressured by his family and community into a career as a sumo wrestler. Not sure he really wants this life, away from the 'normal' lives of his old friends, he embarks upon his new life in the cloistered, in many ways archaic, world of a sumo stable.
The training, the restrictions and the isolation from what he knew are offset by the new camaraderie, friendships, and the goals of perfecting his training and winning in competition.
Although he progresses well enough, he doubts he is cut out for the sumo world and eventually decides to run away to resume a 'normal' life.
Well worth watching on many levels; as a coming of age story, as a cultural tale of the sumo world, and as a story about driving ambition - and not having it - and following the ambition of those around you instead.
(although anyone who follows sumo will tell you that Kyokutaisei Takuya has been fighting in the top divisions since 2014, so I would love to have seen a sequel to show why and how he returned to the stable and sumo that he had rejected).
Evil (2019)
Revamp of Miracles?
It's not bad, after watch 2 episodes, but sure does remind me of the excellent but short-lived show Miracles with Skeet Ulrich... I guess nothing's new anymore
Instinct: Secrets and Lies (2018)
Another version of this episode
I saw the American version first and read the script but when it came on tv in Australia the episode had been reworked - there was more Andy and Dylan relationship, Lizzie and Katie relationship, more of the amnesiac girl and almost nothing of the Amish-like background of the victim. A fascinating piece of re-editing - and it worked. But I don't know which version will end up on the dvd - perhaps both?
Instinct (2018)
Clunky start, now much better
The first couple of episodes seemed clunky and full of exposition, as first episodes often are. But now it's finding its feet and going in a good direction as the plots are becoming more intriguing and the characters are fleshing out. Sure there have been a number of super-smart and pompous lead characters (Sherlock, House, Lucifer), but Dylan is a nice guy who cares about other people, who quit the CIA for love. In fact, there is a lack of vindictive snark but there is snappy dialogue. Kind of refreshing. Also refreshing to see a marriage that is a happy one as well as a cop partnership that ISN'T a will-they-won't they kiss thing (which is getting a bit tiring). Dylan gives psychological assessments along the way - giving the show a different lean - and I find the relationships between the main characters are believable (in the context of an obviously contrived show, let's face it). The plots are getting stronger, the dynamics are smoother. It reminds me of a more pleasant Hannibal, with the psychologist helping the police - and both shows have some pretty good clothes! It was worth sticking with the show, and I'm looking forward to another season to see it really grow.