The Literate Kitty

You know those ancient TV “family” shows that pop up in syndication on random channels (the ones with numbers so high on the cable or satellite list that you never, ever scroll that far)? I’d rather count the tiles in my bathroom floor than have to sit through something like Leave it to Beaver , My Three Sons , or The Waltons . Why? Because honestly, I’ve never known anyone who had anything like that kind of family; real families are always messy—and usually, a whole lot more crazypants—than those sanitized, unfailingly-polite depictions… and I bet that’s always been the case. (If I wanna watch a fantasy , I’ll find something with dragons or vampires or… basically anything that doesn’t involve Stepford Families. And, if I want to watch a family drama, well… it won’t be saccharine-sweet.) So, when a nice, juicy thriller—about Really Bad Stuff Happening to a Very Messy Family—pops up in the PBS Masterpiece (on Amazon) new releases list, I’m down for it. _______________ Under S...

After holding off for the longest time, I finally decided to plunge into (the ridiculously-named) Money Heist , last month. It’s not for wimps, time-wise—it took me the better part of July to stream, finishing late on the first night of August (although, with stay-at-home orders during the ongoing worldwide pandemic, time is something most of us have a hella lot more of, anyway)—but What. A. Ride. La Casa de Papel (the Spanish show’s actual name, which is far more elegant than the Americanized title) tells the story of a grand heist--conceived and orchestrated by a quiet genius called the "Profesor", and carried out by his hand-chosen band of merry men and women (each given the name of a city rather than using their own names to maintain some anonymity and separation... in theory ). In reality, though, that’s only part of the story; at its heart, this is a grand romance… or a series of them, actually. (And those romances? They run the gamut: intellectual, nerdy love; wild...