Game Changers - TV

Bojack Horseman

My summary:

In a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side-by-side, Bojack Horseman is the washed-up star of a 1990s sitcom. Hoping to revitalise his career, he eventually hires a ghostwriter, Diane Nguyen, to write the story of his life. Bojack has a lot of skeletons in his closet through... Can he write a tell-all when he doesn't want to tell all?

Reasons why it's a Game Changer:

This show was very nearly a complete miss. My sister had tried it when it started showing up on Netflix and told me it wasn't funny. Never willing to take other people's opinions completely for granted, I started watching. Unfortunately, she was right. However, I didn't have much else to put on in the background whilst I was working on other things, so I left it playing. I gradually became a little more interested as the show seemed to find its feet a few episodes in (and honestly, one of the things that kept me going was that the opening theme is a bop), but it wasn't anything special as far as I was concerned.

Then episode eleven hit.

This show was no longer an attempt at comedy — this was a harrowing look about trauma and lost opportunities and how to be a good person when you had already fucked things so, so badly.

Bojack Horseman can be a hard watch. It's watching people fuck up when you know they can do better. It's watching people who deserve good things make bad decisions. It's wishing things could have been different. This is not to say it's completely bleak — there are moments of hope and joy to be found, particularly for characters who are clear with what they want and are willing and able to set their boundaries. All in all, I recommend it to anyone who hasn't heard of it, or who tried it but was turned away by the first half of the first season. Also, if you are a fan of wordplay and/or blink and you miss it jokes, this one might be for you.

Infinity Train

My summary:

Tulip is struggling in the wake of her parents' divorce and the only thing keeping her going is the thought of attending Oshkosh, a video game convention where she's planning on showing off her very first video game! Unfortunately, this plan is suddenly blown to smithereens when her parents' scheduling conflicts mean there's no-one left to take her. Furious, she decides she'll just have to venture out into the snow and make her own way there. Luckily, in the woods, she stumbles across a train heading directly there! She hops on board... And suddenly finds herself on a seemingly never-ending train where each train car is filled with delights — or something more sinister.

Reasons why it's a Game Changer:

I have loved a lot of shows with only 11 minutes to tell their stories, and often I've felt a little frustrated at the format. I've felt that some stories would have benefitted immensely from being granted 22-minute episodes (and on the flipside, there are a few 22-minute episodes that really only needed 11). This was the first show where I genuinely felt like the show was so tightly executed that they smashed it out of the park with only ten 11-minute episodes. Honestly, the show is so short that it's hard for me to say more without verging too far into spoiler territory, but it's actually really funny, has some dark themes and is really focussed on character development (one of my favourite things in shows. I love assholes learning to be decent).

Each season builds on themes or even just small ideas from the previous one, so there is a thread running through all the seasons. Season 4 is for sure the weakest in my opinion, but each of seasons 1-3 are SO good that the slightly weaker season 4 is really a 10/10 dropping down to an 7-8/10.

As I said before, each episode is only 11 minutes and if you're not hooked by the first episode, I can't help you. Please, please I am begging you, just watch episode 1. You will not regret it.

The Good Place

My summary:

After she dies, Eleanor Shellstrop arrives at "the Good Place", an afterlife for the best and most virtuous people of the world. In the Good Place, your every wish is catered for, you have all the time in the world to pursue your dreams and you are paired with your perfect soulmate. In short, everything is supposed to be perfect. The only problem? Elanor was sent there by mistake and the Good Place is falling apart because of it. If she wants to stay there, she'll have to hide her moral failings and try to become a better person with the help of her alleged-soulmate.

Reasons why it's a Game Changer:

I decided early on in the series that this was a typical US show that didn't require much attention and that didn't make any attempts to remain self-consistent. I kept thinking 'well, this doesn't make sense' when certain events occured, but it was a perfectly good show to have on in the background, so I continued watching.

Then episode thirteen hit.

Folks, this episode itself was what first made this show a Game Changer. Everything suddenly made sense. In fact, the show was remarkably self-consistent after all??

After this episode, everything the show did was win after win. I couldn't believe that a show that had seemed so low-key could look at the question of what makes a good person and how we can achieve change in our lives so seriously. And what seriously cemented this show as a Game Changer for me was the ending. I can count on one hand the number of shows that I could say have a 'perfect' ending. This is one of them.

P.S. I strongly recommend you avoid anything about the show at least until you finish season one. Some things really are best experienced first-hand.