The Media I Consumed In 2024

By now I'd imagine most of you know the drill, but for any newcomers:

Here you will find a list of everything I watched/read to completion in 2024, colour-coded by whether or not I would consider it 'queer media', with a rating out of ten and either a tiny (generally spoiler-free) review or silly comment to round it all out nicely.

As you will see, this year I went through a lengthy 'horrific things happening in cold places' spell. I was teetering on the edge of some kind of breakdown for a while and the idea of being somewhere empty and freezing where bad things happen to you through little fault of your own and whether you live through it or not you're completely changed afterwards was very appealing. God knows what that says about me. 

If you haven't the time or the will to sift through all this, and I certainly wouldn't blame you, here's the highlight reel:

Best Book: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Best Film: Society of the Snow

Best TV: Wolf Hall (Season 2)

Best Theatre: Hadestown (Live | West End Cast)

And now for the Meat...

 BOOKS

Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice — 8/10 — I have no illusions about myself and I know for a fact that if I were in a vampire story I would be Daniel Molloy. 

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (translated) by Anne Carson — N/A — Not really substantial enough to be rated, but beautifully presented and valuable to massive nerds such as myself. 

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling — 5/10 — Love the characters but the prose is meh and the structure is like...oddly weighted is the only way I can describe it. We spent so long on Alec being My Fair Lady-ed that by the time someone started talking about the disc again I'd completely forgotten that I wasn't reading a low-stakes society drama. 

The Girls by Emma Cline — 8/10 — Cline's style is her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. I wish there'd been a touch more deviation from history; as it is the book is practically a 1:1 replication with the names slightly changed. It should be noted that I read this in one sitting immediately after watching Society of the Snow which, in combination with real-life happenings, was a disastrous move for my mental health. So don't do that. 

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov — 8/10 — I think I may actually like it more than I remember, but I was still a bit iffy at the time and not paying it the attention I should have. Full of little things that have stuck in my brain. 

Lady Caroline Lamb: A Free Spirit by Antonia Fraser — 8/10 — Fraser is one of those very voice-y aristocrats in the vein of Simon Sebag Montefiore, but she's a lot less conceited and you'd be surprised at the wonders that can do for a biography. 

The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev and Gary Weston DeWalt — 10/10 — You live through this and decide to keep climbing mountains. My god man, take a hint. 

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver — 8/10 — I would've liked it a lot more if a certain death hadn't occurred 5 minutes from the finish line. Cheap and unnecessary and I'm not just saying that because I'm bitter (though I am)!

Alive by Piers Paul Read — 9/10 — I really don't know why I did this to myself. 

Thin Air by Michelle Paver — 4/10 — I almost wish I hadn't read this because it made me think less of Paver as an author. If you want to read one of her 'cold horror' books then pick one and ignore the second, lest you have the "Oh, I see what we're doing" revelation I had twenty pages into Thin Air. And don't pick this one. 

Society of the Snow by Pablo Vierci — 10/10 — There's nothing I can say about this that can possibly do it justice, except that something in my brain has been permanently knocked a little askew. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte — 10/10 — Not to be one of those people who says 'Nobody understands classic lit like I do' but nobody understands Wuthering Heights like I do. Emily I saw the messages you were sending me through the book.

FILMS

Napoleon — 3/10 — Can't remember why I coloured this green and that's really thrown me, but I can't bear to watch it again and find out. Possibly I was distracted by Vanessa Kirby? Anyway don't bother.

Society of the Snow — 10/10 — Film of the year, film of the decade, mayhaps film of the century. For the love of god pick your moment wisely.

Killers of the Flower Moon — 8/10 — Hurt by its length but at the same time I don't know what could've been cut. Weird one. 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — 5/10 — Would've loved to be a fly on the wall at this pitch meeting.

Kind Hearts and Coronets — 10/10 — Could not have appealed more to me if I'd written it myself. 

Rebel Without a Cause — 7/10 — God I was so into it and then it just ended. No closure. What are we doing.

Taxi Driver — 5/10 — I am going to bravely admit that I don't get it.

The Social Network — 7/10 — Not bad, but I don't see why everyone raves so much about it. At the very least it's leagues above its copycats. 

Catch Me If You Can — 8/10 — Fun!

Dune Part II — 8/10 — So good that it almost tricked me into thinking I liked the first one. I don't know why so many filmmakers these days are allergic to opulence and beauty, though. Surely not every house employs the same brutally minimalist interior designer. 

Shaun of the Dead — 7/10 —A little twee, but I still had a great time. 

The Personal History of David Copperfield — 4/10 —Such a shame. The actors are great, the set design and costumes are wonderful, but the way it was adapted just kind of guts the story. 

Everest (2015) — 6/10 — Jon Krakauer is upset that this film depicts him being asleep in his tent during an event he famously missed due to being asleep in his tent. If I were him I wouldn't be whining, lest someone bring up my poor reputation in the mountaineering community. Then again, if I were him I wouldn't have lobbed unprovoked criticism at the guy who did the rescuing while I slept in my tent. 

Challengers — 10/10 — This is what's happening in my head when I read a Realm of the Elderlings book.

The Virgin Suicides — 5/10 — Did Kirsten Dunst somehow become...worse at acting as she aged?

How To Steal a Million — 10/10 — Oh my god this is good. Like you don't need me to tell you that, but everything in this film works so well it's unbelievable. If I could buy a physical copy of the soundtrack for less than £467 it would never leave my CD player. 

My Own Private Idaho — 6/10 — Bizarrely charming or charmingly bizarre? It's hard not to feel pity for Keanu Reeves as River Phoenix acts circles around him for hours on end. 

Cursed (2005) — 2/10 — I read about what this film could have been, what it was until Weinstein scrapped the footage, and wept a little.

The Witch (2015) — 10/10 — I'm not a 'girlhood' 'coquette' sort of feminist and I always have that one Ursula K. LeGuin quote running through my mind, but for a very brief moment towards the end of this film I did absolutely get it. 

The Bounty (1984) — 8/10 — ONE COCONUT MR. CHRISTIAN!!!

Bend it Like Beckham — 7/10 — These are lesbians. 

The Village (2004) — 10/10 — Well I don't know what everyone else's problem is because I think it's great.

Lost in Translation — 7/10 — Spent most of the runtime having an existential crisis about the fact that Scarlett Johansson was nineteen during this film. 

Trap — 6/10 — It started out (I think intentionally) cheesy but pretty good...and then it kept going...and going...and it just wouldn't stop. 

Little Women (1994) — 10/10 — I'm sure you don't need to me to describe it to you.

View from the Top — 3/10 — Don't enjoy that I have to colour this purple. 

Emily (2022) — 7/10 — People aren't going to like this but I think that if we're making up boyfriends whole cloth then we should at least have the courage to make Branwell gay. 

Fanny & Alexander — 10/10 — One of the filmiest films I've ever seen and I adored every single minute of it. Just gorgeous. 

The Mummy (1999) — 7/10 — A little overhyped but a good time nonetheless.

TV SERIES

The Terror — 9/10 — Would've been a 10/10 if not for the fact that we not only see tuunbaq, but we see tuunbaq repeatedly and at length. So much of this is about fear of the unknown and I think it really undercuts that theme to be like well here is the thing actually. 

Domina (Season 1) — 7/10 — Is sometimes written as though the audience won't understand it's set during a different time period with different values and different attitudes to life. 

Gilmore Girls — 6/10 — Both of these women and the men they date annoy me no end, the only saving grace is Paris. Also Kirk. Apparently there was going to be a Jess spin-off and I'd give my firstborn child to see what a mess that would've been. 

Young Royals (Season 3) — 10/10 — Stuck the landing impeccably. My heart says there were at least another six series in this, my brain says thank god Netflix let their best property die with some dignity.

The Dropout — 9/10 — Stuff like this and Anna Delvey inspire an existential dread in me about how the fate of nations depend on like ten people with far more money than sense.

The Americans (Season 1) — 8/10 — The Platonic ideal of a TV series. 

Chernobyl — 10/10 — 2018-19 there was something in the water, what a run of prestige miniseries.

Dead Boy Detectives — 3/10 — Absolutely dreadful, I hope it runs for five seasons minimum (note from the future: ☹️)

Bridgerton (Season 3) — 2/10 — The first two were hardly prestige television but I did largely enjoy them. We've taken a very steep nosedive and I'm not convinced we're going to recover. 

Interview with the Vampire (Season 2) — 9/10 — I put off watching episode seven because I knew what was coming and would you believe it I wept from minute one to the bitter end. My mother adores Lestat. 

Twenty Twelve — 6/10 — So that's all good then. 

House of the Dragon (Season 2) — 7/10 — I went through the opposite experience to most viewers in that I started out deeply unhappy and the show regained my trust with each subsequent episode. 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder — 8/10 — I never read the book but several of my friends did and frankly they should have pitched it to me better. 

House M.D. — 8/10 — My original comment here was another Challengers joke but I no longer remember what I meant and if I can't figure it out then you definitely won't. 

North & South (2004) — 8/10 — Watching this as someone whose hometown is mentioned in "It's Grim Up North" I can promise it's not quite that drab, but the story's certainly popular for a reason. 

Heartstopper (Season 3) — 1/10 — I think the presence of Foldo from The Letter for the King distracted me so much last season that I forgot I was basically watching terrible actors read aloud from a textbook about queer identity and mental health. It didn't work this time. 

Sweetpea — 10/10 — Love to see Ella Purnell starring as a repressed bisexual in a horror/comedy series.

The Diplomat — 7/10 — Usually I hate these sorts of things but every so often they make a good one! 

The Empress (Season 2) — 4/10 — This could be really good but they just refuse to stop making bizarre choices. Why is so much time dedicated to that one woman and her fiance? Why did we need the 'illegal homosexuality' episode which is totally unconnected to anything else? Why do the costumes look like that?

Wolf Hall (Season 2) — 10/10 — Once again I wept through the entire last episode. Literally what can I say? Costumes impeccable, acting incomparable, music just spectacular. Will surely be revered for generations to come. 

THEATRE

Jesus Christ Superstar (Live | Touring Cast) — 9/10 — Exactly the same cast as last time (minus Julian Clary thank god) but the months of doing it over and over again have clearly paid off. Excepting the microphone thing which does put me off a bit, I can't think of anything that would've made it better. Hannah Richardson please call me. 

Hadestown (Live | West End Cast) — 10/10 — Everything I thought it would be and more. 

Wicked (Live | Touring Cast) — 1/10 — A friend offered me this ticket, dinner, and a trip to Liverpool for free and even that didn't make up for the two hours and forty five minutes of life I lost enduring this show. Stephen Schwartz wrote 'All I Ever Wanted' from The Prince of Egypt. He wrote 'Hellfire', 'The Bells of Notre Dame'. I genuinely cannot believe this. 

Absalom & Eteri (Live | Tbilisi State Opera) — 5/10 — It only premiered internationally this year and frankly I get it. It's just sort of okay. Costumes, set design and so on were astounding. As we were leaving I saw two obviously English girls in the lobby and commented on it to my friends who ignored me, and then several weeks later it turned out that they were also on their year abroad studying Russian at our tiny language school. Moral of the story is that I'm right about everything all the time. 

The Media I Consumed in 2023

They say everyone's a critic, and I think we can all agree that no critic is harsher than a teenage girl. 

Much like last year, I have compiled a list of every piece of media I consumed to completion between 1/1/23 and 31/12/23, along with my surely fascinating thoughts about them—all colour-coded for your (and future me's) convenience! Excepting live stage productions, I haven't included rereads or rewatches. Mostly spoiler-free, but I couldn't stop myself from going into detail about...certain things. You have been warned. 

The queer media bar was much lower (and much less abstract) than last year's. This time, the criterion was as simple as Is there queer representation? It didn't have to be 'good' representation, in fact I much prefer the opposite, it just had to be there with some meaningful impact. Behold the code:

Explicit

To some extent /word of god/that one bit in The Winter Prince

Nowhere to be found

If you haven't the patience to sift through all this (and I really can't blame you), here are the ones you should go out of your way to watch and read:

Favourite book: The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein

Favourite film: Bottoms

Favourite TV series: Interview With The Vampire

Favourite theatre(?): A Little Life

And now for the details...

BOOKS

The Praise Singer by Mary Renault — 8/10 — Haven't the energy to unpack it further but I think there's a real significance to this being the last of her Greek novels (excepting Funeral Games which I don't really count) and The Last of the Wine being the first. Something something reflections of each other. 

Tiepolo Blue by James Cahill — 1/10 — I've rewritten this paragraph about five times because I can't articulate what it is about this book that I dislike so strongly. It's vulgar in a way that isn't clever or making any kind of commentary; just unpleasant for the sake of shock value. The protagonist doesn't learn or change at all; if he'd become worse, even, that might've at least been interesting. The big twist is neither big nor a twist. An incomparably hollow thing.

An Oresteia (translated) by Anne Carson — 10/10 — Carson's sense of humour is exquisite. 

Alexander the Great by Robin Lane Fox — 8/10 — Irrefutably a book about Alexander the Great. Fox uses the phrase "the sequel" far too often for my liking, but then again people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone— 5/10 — A little much, I think. The language is so flowery by the end that I genuinely don't have a clue of what happened in the last few pages. 

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake — 1/10 — If you can't juggle six viewpoint characters the solution is not to condense them all down into cardboard cutouts. 

Anna by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles — 5/10 — Let down badly by the second half, though I'm willing to admit that most of that is due to my own sensibilities. Justice for Boris and Jean Luc!

Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel by Val Emmich, Benj Pasek, Steven Levenson, and Justin Paul— 3/10 — The horse is dead, guys. No number of secret gay boyfriends is going to revive it.  

The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein — 10/10 —Intense. Very intense. I'd love to write a real piece about this someday. I know that the whole "Your beauty makes me sick" speech and subsequent incident are what people tend to focus on (and for good reason, my god) but personally, I'm obsessed with that bit where Medraut says something actually very reasonable about how Artos can't expect him to be constantly watching out for Lleu and then immediately starts comparing himself to Cain. So funny and so painful. 

S by Doug Dorst and J. J. Abrams —3/10— You could chop the last three quarters of this book off and come away with the same amount of information.

Petrograd: The City of Trouble by Meriel Buchanan — 10/10 — It sounds very wishy-washy but Buchanan's descriptions are fascinating and her writing style was exceptional, it makes me wonder why her novels never took off. Exceedingly interesting, as Nicholas II would say. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins — 10/10 — I went in expecting a simplistic cash-grab and was very wrong. There's a much darker, bleaker tone to this when compared with the original trilogy which I personally prefer. Obsessed with Sejanus Plinth. 

You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca — 4/10 — Most of the horror I experienced while reading this novel came from the fact that I was reading it on my commute to uni via the battered corpse of what was once Northern Rail. It's not the twisted tale of depravity most reviews make it out to be—basically it's just a bit of gore—but there's a reveal towards the end which will 100% make you think "Well why did I have to read all of that?" and grudgingly I admit that that's worth something. 

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov — 8/10 — Tiepolo Blue but if it was good. 

In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power — 6/10 — Wasn't jazzed about the first half, but the tiny glimpse we get of the Domina family and their country (which I can't name because infuriatingly there's no map) intrigued me just enough to make me finish the book. I will be reading the sequel but I'm not happy about it. It should also be noted that many people on goodreads have categorised this as a queer story but I genuinely can't fathom why. Is it an in-joke? Shipping gone rogue? Maybe you can read it and tell me. 

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev — 9/10 — Pavel is a better man than me, I'd have duelled Bazarov on night two maximum. 

Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb — 6/10 — I asked for more Verity and the monkey curled its paw. Very funny that the Fool says "I love you" to Fitz like twice per chapter, on day one of knowing these people Starling tells him "Yeah the Fool is in love with you", and then Fitz has the audacity to be shocked. I treasure each and every one of these idiot characters. 

Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb — 8/10 — Each generation of Farseers has one bisexual prince entwined in a nightmarish love triangle with consequences that will echo down the ages and one utter lunatic. Sadly we've had to outsource generation three's lunatic, but I'm thrilled to report that quality has not taken a hit. 

Golden Fool by Robin Hobb — 10/10 — I doubt that anyone has ever thought these words but poor Civil. Born to be the bisexual prince entwined in a nightmarish love triangle, cursed to be the lunatic. On a more genuine note this is a brilliant book and no two ways about it. Every character was on top form, every aspect of the plot had my complete attention. I wanted to strangle Fitz at several points but that just means we're back, baby. There is a section in the middle that made very little sense to me because I thought all those people who say you need to read Liveship Traders first were exaggerating, but I imagined myself as someone who knows and cares about these characters and had a great time anyway. 

FILMS

Pride (2014) — 7/10 — 1:15:53 you know what I'm talking about, what a wonderful moment. My biggest complaint is all the 'ah, these silly lesbians with their silly female concerns' towards the girls who end up splitting off. Obviously I wasn't there, I don't know how it went down, but the film frames it in a way that encourages the audience to laugh along with misogyny and that's not very fun. 

Knives Out — 10/10 — A breath of fresh air amidst the smog of comic adaptations and remakes worse than the original.

Knives Out: Glass Onion — 10/10 —I mean, you've all seen it. It's a great film. A+. 

The Age of Innocence (1993) — 3/10 — Didn't really care for the story, some of the characters were interesting, Winona Ryder was magnificent. Given that the authors were friends and read each other's work, I feel almost certain that Wharton's Countess Olenska was modelled on James' Princess Casamassima.

The Assassin of the Tsar — 5/10 — This concept is, in my opinion, so absurd as to be comical but the film takes itself dead seriously. It's...certainly not for everyone.

Seven Years in Tibet — 6/10 — First this, then Troy. You'd think they'd learn their lesson and stop making Brad Pitt do any accent besides his own.

Dune (2021) — 3/10 — I watched this once and dismissed it as style over substance. Then I started thinking about it more and more and thought "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it's actually good and just takes a while to sink in." So I watched it again. Oops.

This is Spinal Tap — 10/10 — I feel like watching anything else ever again would simply taint Spinal Tap. How does one move forward from the best film humanity will ever create?

Kill Your Darlings — 7/10 — Everything I know about American literature comes to me from Dead Poets Society so you could tell me that this is all completely true and I'd believe you. 

Carol (2015) — 8/10 — Cate Blanchett is never better than in a Patricia Highsmith adaptation. 

Nimona — 7/10 — Normally I don't get along very well with stuff meant for a younger audience but you know what? This is a good one. Only a handful of lines made me want to lop an ear off from cringe. 

Dear Ex (2018) — 9/10 — A wonderful, sincere little gem deserving of a title far better than the one it has.

Barbie — 7/10 — Good fun. 

Baby Driver — 5/10 — Recommended to me by a friend who raved about the diegetic music and how everything lined up which, like, yeah! That was really cool! It would've been nice to get a story with a bit more depth or even a multi-dimensional love interest but I suppose you can't have everything.

Oppenheimer — 10/10 —Left the cinema and felt everything all at once.

Rosaline — 6/10 — Was expecting something in the 'girlbossified retelling' genre so my hopes weren't high. Pleasantly surprised. 

Bottoms — 10/10 — I am the target audience for this film. Never before has a piece of media been made to appeal so completely to me. 

The Green Knight — 9/10 — Some scenes lingered a bit too long, I think, but a really brilliant film nonetheless. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — 8/10 — Obsessed. The District 12 stuff was way too condensed, a lot of Sejanus content was cut, and I disliked that the ending was made rather less ambiguous, but very loyal to the source material overall. My first thought as I walked out was that it wasn't long enough, but everyone I've spoken to since said that it needed to be shorter, so take that as you will. 

The Wonder — 4/10 — On paper I should love this, sadly didn't quite click.

May December — 8/10 — The opposite of Dune in that I didn't like it at first, kept thinking about it, watched it again and loved it. 

Another Country — 9/10 — Maurice's more depressing cousin. I do feel that if they wanted to make a biopic that badly then they should have just...made the biopic. 

Saltburn — 2/10 — Emerald Fennell and James Cahill have an awful lot in common, I think. Someone ought to set them up for lunch.  

TV SERIES

Interview with the Vampire — 9/10 — Sam Reid is Lestat and Jacob Anderson is Louis. I cannot believe that we have been blessed with such a spectacular adaptation. I was also really thrilled about Damon Daunno's cameo because he has the most beautiful voice and I am reduced to tears whenever I hear him sing. Admittedly he didn't sing and I cried for another reason, but you can't deny the man can act.

The Letter for the King — 7/10 — Can't remember the last time I was so upset about squandered character potential. Prince Viridian is just fascinating, but they waste him completely. The show makes a point of depicting him as someone who isn't evil so much as he is deeply ill, and then proceeds to treat him like he's a fundamentally terrible person anyway which feels...not great? On another note, I'm so in love with the "and hated me for every second of it" scene in episode 6 that I've gone back to watch just that several times. Why they decided to shoehorn the Jussipo/Foldo thing into the last half-hour but let Viridian and Jabroot spend six episodes angstily dancing around each other with scene after scene like that will forever elude me. 

Half Bad — 9/10 — I read all three of the books years ago and apparently don't remember a single thing about the story. I know I didn't really care for them which seems insane because this is the sort of thing I've always gone feral for.

1899 — 4/10 — Started off very strong; the last few episodes took it so far off the rails that I completely lost interest. I am Aneurin Barnard's biggest fan, however, so getting to watch him frolic about a Victorian ocean liner looking dark and broody meant that it wasn't a total loss.

Euphoria — 5/10 —Unbelievably melodramatic but it's so fun and well put together that you can't help but enjoy it.

The Last Kingdom (Season 1) — 1/10 — After watching this I read that it's based on a book series by Bernard Cornwell which is exactly what it felt like. 

The Last of Us — 9/10 — Sorry! Can't talk about this in an interesting way because the game is one of the biggest reasons that I am generally the way that I am. I will forever have a huge Ellie-shaped dent in my brain which, unfortunately, makes it impossible for me to be normal about this story.

Shadow and Bone (Season 2) — 4/10 — Oh, what have they done to you...

Stranger Things — 8/10 —I love Robin I would kill for Robin; the scene where she comes out to Steve? I was in floods of tears.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story — 5/10 — By all means passable. The only thing I really hated was the way they treated Princess Charlotte and Leopold as a punchline. She died an awful death and her husband was devastated, it's such a weird thing to make into a recurring joke. 

Yellowjackets — 7/10 — Don't at all care for the 2021 timeline but I have a thing for disaster-horror so the 1996 timeline is made for me.

Heartstopper (Season 2) — 6/10 —An undeniable improvement! The dialogue's more polished, the acting's better, there's a little bit of tooth to the story. I also love to see Letter For The King alumni kicking about in other things so that was a pleasant surprise—playing exactly the opposite character and all. 

The Borgias — 7/10 — Season one was fine, season two was one of the best series of television I have ever watched, season three made me want to pluck an eye out. A rollercoaster much like the Borgia rule. Holliday Grainger please call me.

Castlevania: Nocturne — 5/10 —Picked up steam towards the second half but, as with 'original' Castlevania, I think I'll much prefer the latter seasons...if we get there.

Skins (Seasons 1 & 2) — 7/10 — Characterisation in this show is unfathomably good. Many other brilliant things happened between the first few minutes of S1E1 and the end of the show but there will forever be a special place in my heart for "God, I'm good". Unfortunately I do not care for Effie so can't bring myself to go on. 

Sex Education (Season 4) — 3/10 — Something went badly wrong in the writer's room I think.

The Fall of the House of Usher — 5/10 — The only Flannigan work I've really loved was Midnight Mass, which I'm beginning to think was a fluke. I'm glad that Kitsey from The Goldfinch is getting good roles, though, because I do enjoy her. 

Broadchurch (Season 1) — 7/10 — A few moments here and there were a bit hammy and some things could have been handled better, but I spent the entirety of the last episode writhing about in horror so that has to count for something. 

The Gilded Age (Season 2) — 3/10 — This is the worst show on television and I will kill someone if I don't get ten seasons of it. 

THEATRE

Carmen (Live | Dnipro Opera) — 6/10 — The singing and music were fine on the whole. Set design, costumes, and choreography (except for Escamillo's entrance, which was very cool) were underwhelming, but then I suppose allowances have to be made because it's a touring production. Carmen could not act to save her life. 

A Little Life (Live | Original Cast) — 8/10 — The ultimate trauma bonding experience. Wanted to go and harrass James Norton about War and Peace at the stage door but I was too much of a coward so my questions go unanswered. Luke Thompson is wasted on Bridgerton.

Julius Caesar (Live | Royal Shakespeare Company) — 8/10 — Exceptionally well-performed with brilliant staging. For the love of god, though, I wish we could be done with this era of sticking all the actors in monochrome casual-wear and setting them loose on a similarly monochrome, minimalist set. It's not artsy. It's tired and dull. I was also going to complain about the werewolf dance routine but I'd have to explain it and to be honest no words could paint a picture of what all of us in that theatre experienced.

Jesus Christ Superstar (Live | Touring Cast) — 7/10 — Julian Clary as Herod is a torture technique designed to specifically target me.

Nerdy Prudes Must Die (Proshot | Original Cast) — 5/10 — Wish it were better.

Hamilton (Live | Touring Cast) — 7/10 — Is it me or are touring productions steadily decreasing in quality? It was fine, it was Hamilton, Eliza was wonderful, nobody tripped over their words, but it was noticeably rough around the edges.