Change Your Image
pamelaandpaolo
Reviews
Ronny Chieng: Speakeasy (2022)
Keyboard warrior!
I don't normally review content on IMDb, but I had to for this one. Ronny brings a worldly perspective not unlike that of Trevor Noah that I only started to cultivate after leaving the US, living abroad, and seeing things from the outside looking in. Might be harder for Americans who never leave to appreciate those aspects of the special. I came to checkout whether folks indeed took to their keyboards to review this special and I was not disappointed. And this special did not disappoint me either. 8/10 stars.
Black Summer: The Plane (2021)
Adrenaline is a hell of a drug
Big fan of this entire show. The vignette chapter storytelling style took a while to get used to, but now with familiarity of all the characters it's nice to see them come together at the air strip. But what I really want to give a shout-out to is my man, Mance!! What a scene, I was holding my breath the entire time. It feels like folks haven't quite caught on that it has to be headshots, but you see Mance picking it up along the way. I was impressed by how much sprinting and athleticism he displayed considering they've all been starving in the winter, but adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
Star Trek: Voyager: Juggernaut (1999)
Sympathy for the Cleanup Crew
Even though the Federation is a multi-species organization, I enjoy episodes that touch on social issues with real life equivalents. In this case, we learn more about the Malon freighters, whom we've seen mostly as mostly opportunistic sellswords who will pollute the wilderness in exchange for a quick buck. But it seems there is more to them than meets the eye.
Throughout the dialogue, we see glimpses into who these Malon are and why they do the work that they do. Monetary incentives are a big part of it, but the new information introduced is the deadly environment the Malon knowingly subject themselves to. Being a core laborer has high odds of being a death sentence, but the payoff gets routed to the laborer's family. How difficult life must be for the Malon to make a barter for their lives. Occupational hazards tend to be higher in certain communities where access to resources are limited.
This isn't to say that what they are doing is justifiable. The environmental cost is... astronomical.... 😎