trademarcdesigns

This is a 10-part series that can now only be found on YouTube, but it's worth the watch - especially if you go with the full 10-episode video because then you'll get all the old ads, too. (Warning - I think some of the ads, which allegedly date back to the 70's and 80's, have been doctored. In particular, the one for Johnson Outboard Motors entitled, 'You and Your Johnson,' which was a genuine LOL moment.)

The mockumentary focuses on the lives of a remarkably slow-witted family isolated on a remote Canadian island for several generations. They speak their own peculiar dialect, subsist on potatoes, engage in forbidden practices such as 'fish-diddling' and believe their great-grandfather and founder of the island colony was a saint.

It's weird, funny and strangely Canadian in its own way. But a little goes a long way. Fortunately, the 10-episode video on YouTube has a running time of just under two hours, and that includes the ads, which should not be missed.

I watched all three seasons of Defiance when it first aired, and then recently went back and binged it. I'm sorry to say it's not as good as I remembered. And the main problem I have with it is it's repetitive - something you might not notice when spread out over three years but is all too apparent when you watch the whole series over a long weekend.

Let's start with the good stuff - the show had a great premise, and they did a commendable job exploring it in the first season. The special effects makeup was better than average for the small screen, the cast was competent and the sets were quirky but plausible.

Where it fell short was the writing. They rehashed the same plot devices over and over again. I counted four separate and distinct subplots revolving around alien mind control tech. One or two maybe, but by the fourth go-round you'd think the characters would say, "Gee, Mary isn't acting like herself - must be more of that alien mind-control tech..." There were also three separate instances of characters having lengthy involvement with imaginary friends.

There were less obvious repetitions, too. The bad guys (and even some of the "good" guys) behaved despicably again and again - murder, betrayal, treason - yet two or three episodes later all is forgiven, and the bad guys are trusted members of society once more.

So in retrospect I have to say the first season was quite good, but by the second season it was falling apart and by the third it was a case of "been there, done that" to the point of mind-numbing predictability. A sad fate for a show that had so much promise...

Well written, well acted, well paced. Two episodes in and I'm hooked. So far there are three plots to follow - the murders of two reservation residents, a high-profile armored car robbery using a helicopter, and a possible conspiracy to blow up a mining operation. And then there's spooky stuff... It sounds like a lot going on, but because the writing is so good, it's very easy to follow the various intersecting plot lines.

The characters are quite appealing - I credit the fine acting for that - consequently you get invested in the show very quickly. The show doesn't pull any punches when it comes to showing the overt and systematic racism faced by Native Americans in the 1970's (not to suggest it's strictly a thing of the past), but so far it's not falling into the trap of portraying the native people as 'noble savages,' either.

This is simply good drama, and the fact that it's set on a Navajo reservation just enhances the drama rather than over-relying on it or using it as a shtick. I like this show and I think if you give it a try, you'll be hooked, too.