The Literate Kitty

Out of the myriad things that COVID has brought to our lives (masking, rabid hand washing [and/or hand sanitizing], drive-thru testing and inoculation sites, daily infection and death counts, etc.) since early 2020, “delays and truncations of shows” surely ranks way, way down the list of “Things That Actually Matter”, and yet… given the concomitant rise of streaming, it’s nonetheless another happening worth noting. Some shows were affected by mere months—no doubt pushed hard by that aforementioned boost in streaming, as many of us sheltered or isolated at home, with suddenly endless time on our hands—while others suffered much longer delays.  The Welsh show Hidden (or Craith , as known in its native Welsh) was one of the latter; a three-season show, it experienced a gap of three full years between its sophomore and final seasons. But, while that kind of lull could well be too much for many shows to bear, it’s possible that Hidden may have gotten even stronger for it.  _...

If all you had to go by was what you know of my reading and watching habits, you might assume I'm a grim, humorless thing. (In reality, that couldn't be farther from the truth, but like I said... going by the stuff that pulls me in, you'd be forgiven for assuming so.) But sometimes, even I'm surprised by how dark something is.  If  " Hinterland "-- which I've finally gotten around to watching--were a color, it might be a super-dark and utterly-depressing shade of green, like sodden, rotting vegetation. Or maybe it would be a blue so murky and opaque that it was nearly black, like the bottom of the ocean. That's how the characters in " Hinterland " strike me. There is, you see, no smiling in " Hinterland ". Seriously. I've watched all but the last couple of episodes, and I can't remember anyone smiling. Now, maybe-- surely(!) --someone showed a smidgeon of humor, for a split second, at some point... but if that...