My Summer TV Binge 2023 Part 2

 

Talk about the summer of catching up. Here's part two of my Summer TV Binge of 2023! 

The Diplomat

Netflix's The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell, has to be the one everyone needs to watch. It's a true political thriller that works, but only with Russell. The series is about Kate Wyler, a newly appointed United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who is adjusting to the spotlight while dealing with an international crisis, making alliances all with a marriage that's about to collapse. 

I loved watching this series, as I couldn't stop until the end. While the writing has its primary storylines and one-dimensional characters like the President of the United States, it is played well by Michael McKean. It still works. Kerri Russell is a gem in this series, and I hope to see more in season two. I highly recommend this series. 

Overall, I give it a 9/10.

Primo

If there was ever a little gem of a TV show, I watched this summer, it would be Amazon Freevee's Primo. Created by Shea Serrano and Executive Produced by Mike Schur, this coming-of-age comedy is about Rafa, a 16-year-old high school junior who's navigating school, societal expectations, and a hectic home life that's anchored by his single mom, Drea, and his five uncles. 

If you are a fan of any of Mike Schur's comedies, you'll like this series. It's got plenty of humor, heart, and cultural representation of an American-Mexican family. Christina Vidal, as Drea, is one of the highlights of the series, along with Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, who plays the lead character, Rafa. With the first season containing only eight episodes, it goes quickly and leaves me wanting more. 

Overall, I give the first season a 9.5/10.

You can catch Primo on Amazon Prime/Amazon Freevee.

Not Dead Yet

Not Dead Yet was last season's new ABC comedy that stars Gina Rodriguez as Penelope "Nell" Serrano, a journalist who fell apart after a wedding failed and moved back to LA. She soon gets assigned to write obituaries by her new boss and soon begins to encounter ghosts of those whom she's writing their obituaries. 

As she can only see and hear them, she has conversations, and they offer her advice on rebuilding her life while helping her write their obits by telling her their stories. And soon after they get published, ed the ghosts disappear. 

If the premise seems a bit familiar, it's not. I thought the same thing when I heard about this series and quickly thought of Ghosts, but that's not true. This series has a good concept for what it is, even though the supernatural of talking to dead people is never explained, and it has a strong ensemble cast from Hannah Simone, Rick Glassman, and Lauren Ash, plus some stunning star guest stars. It has its moments with its life lessons. 

Overall, I give the first season a 7.5/10. 

Beef

This Netflix series has had some buzz when it premiered in April. It was my brother that had told me to watch it because I might enjoy it. Well, I finally watched it, and I immensely enjoyed it. The Netflix mini-series stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun play two people involved in a road rage incident. It takes you on a roller coaster ride from comedy-drama/psychological and tragicomedy to a thriller, and it works. 

Wong and Yeun are amazing and deservedly deserve Emmy nominations for this series. But I think this ten-episode series felt too long that it could be somewhere between a six and eight-episode series. There are some supporting characters that I didn't care for too much that made me lose interest. But after the ending, I'm up for a season two. 

 

Overall, I give this series an 8/10.

Those are some of my Summer binge-watching 2023. Here's to the fall!