Solos

This is a fascinating and superb piece of experimental drama. I recall the first time I ever saw something similar as a child. Whoopi Goldberg did The Telephone in 1988. I was mesmerised, as a love of both screen and theatre, it was the perfect presentation and merging of both mediums.

Then in 2002 Johanna Lumley did Up in Town. It is seldom we see performers of this calibre doing theatrical work on screen like this and living in South Africa makes is difficult and expensive to travel. So now we get to see these performers at their best as well. This might be a product of Covid, but I sure hope that we get to see more of this in the times to come.

This series is not for the average audience, but for an audience who are more discerning and enjoys higher end drama. If during these times, if we can't have anything else, we can at least have some culture.

I decide to watch this show because of Anthony Mackie , I am never truly impressed with his acting and i wanted to be unbiased and try one of his new shows. That being said i really enjoyed this show as an avid reader and someone slowly but surely getting into musical theatre.

The reason i suggest not to binge it is due to the fact that all the episodes are practically monologues with a minimalistic set and one or two actors at most per episode. However each actor did justice to the story they were telling and i found myself crying, laughing and at times feeling completely terrified (episode 6 ) along with the actors (yes every single one of them).

This show is not for you if you only enjoy action or romance in your TV series. This show is however seven simple stories beautifully acted and slightly linked together , meant to replicate experiences that many of us go through (ie. Inability to handle loss, paranoia etc.).

This series is hard to rate because there are separate dramas and some are absolutely wonderful and others are deadly dull. Episode 1 is wonderful; and one of the best things you'll ever see on TV or anywhere else, for that matter. It's a time travel drama with a big switch, and the acting is great to see. I won't go into the deadly dull episodes but they are there. FWIW - this series is better watched one at a time without binge watching. Try to appreciate each for its own value. Watching several in a row diminishes each of them.

Those of you who don't want to watch past episode 1, I say keep going. Anne Hathaway's ridiculous overacting along with I consider to be a poorly written story was a bad lead in. The second episode with Anthony Mackie was a nice, well written episode, but the third with Helen Mirren fell a little flat with me, but was not awful and was helped by Mirren's acting ability. Then we hot another speed bump with episode four. A nice concept, but poorly executed especially when we hit the main monologue by Uzo Aduba that is just so cringeworthy it ruined anything it may have been building to. Episode five with Constance Wu was well acted, but poorly written to me. And you could see the payoff coming from a mile away. It was not smart, it was not clever, it was just predictable. Episode six with Nicole Beharie was by far the worst segment. She gave a nice performance that was ruined by a bad story, with bad writing.... Then we have episode seven with Morgan Freeman which to me was absolutely brilliant. It made it worth sticking it out, because you have to watch it last. Why? Because regardless of what others have said in reviews, the stories are connected. Freeman does narrate the beginning of every episode after all, if you did not notice. So all in all, I say watch all the segments. The end if worth the journey, the good and the bad parts.

Not sure why people make reference to Black Mirror. The only similarity is that each episode presents a stand alone story.

Anyway. I thought these were mostly interesting tales that make you think. 7/10 is an honest review but marking it 10/10 just because I think the reviews achieved so far are undeserved. I also think where you are in life will change how you feel about each story. I would be curious to see the demographics of the poor reviews. Watch them. They really are entertaining and thoughtful.