Masterpiece Theater

[Drunk Monk]

Dammit.

S2E10 of Profilage ends in a major cliffhanger. And the two-part final eps of Season 2 are really rough. A lot happens, including some major deaths of main characters. 

This is really confusing because Amazon Prime PBS has us set up with 2 seasons of 10 eps each, but the show started in France where there are 10 seasons. They seem to have cherry picked eps. Surfing the ep guide on IMDb, APs2 seems to be select eps from French s4-5, with the 2-part finale of APs2 being the 2-part finale of Fs5. WTH?

Chloe is going to leave the show sometime in Fs6.  She's losing her mind like Carrie in Homeland. 

No word on when APs3 might happen.

[Drunk Monk]

Mystery in Paris: 7 eps each an hour and a half, so like 7 movies. We're 2 deep. The first was set in Moulin Rouge, the second at the Eiffel Tower. Set in the late 1800s, both had a female protag that got caught in a murder by circumstance. Both had toplessness (in that tasteful euro way - not digitally blurred), the protag coming out a lesbian, and ended with the protag making a major decision that changed the course of her life. We solved the murders before the reveals, and predicted the direction of several scenes. We'd make a pretty good detective team. We'll probably watch more. They seem to be shooting on location and we love the sound of French.

Maltese: Not sure how many eps, 8 or 10. We just watched the first one. A Rome police commissioner returns to an island in Sicily for his friend's wedding. His father was a cop who was likely framed, which is why he left. His friend and his pregnant fiancé are gunned down in front of him, so he returns to solve the crime. Set in the 70s, it's a mafia show. And filmed on location, everyone looks like stereotypical mafia. We may watch more. The locations are really cool.

[Drunk Monk]

Mystery in Paris e3 at the Opera. These are shot on location and the set dressings and costumes are opulent. I probably would've enjoyed this more if I remembered more about Carmen (the opera). I guessed the culprit early, and the means just prior to the reveal. No lesbians tho - I called that part incorrectly. No toplessness either. But the ending did change the female protag's life course.

[Drunk Monk]

We skipped ahead to e5 of Mystery in Paris because it was the Louvre ep, but what was listed as e5 on PBS AP was actually e4 the Vendrome (the thumbnail pix are all messed up and don't reference the eps properly at all). The Vendrome was mostly in the Ritz, but the staff areas which weren't that interesting. There were lots of shots of the obelisk to place the location and we recognized seeing that, but they were just stock pix, without the actors, shot upwards so the background was building tops and sky. Not impressive. Stacy guessed the main betrayer. I was somewhat off on the perp, but my suspicions were somewhat right because she was up to some sketchiness. A disappointing ep because it didn't make much sense. No lesbians, toplessness, but another female protag who winds up with a positive life change.

We went back for e4 which is a heist of a necklace, kinda like Lupin. We watched a bit and bailed. We'll finish it later maybe.

[Drunk Monk]

All Creatures Great and Small. 2 eps in. It's very sweet and charming. Beautiful pastoral English countryside. Nice costumes. Very green, very soothing, like a comforting cup of Earl Grey on a wintery morning in a cozy chair with your dog nearby.

Miss Scarlet and the Duke. 1 ep of 6. A lady detective in Victorian London. It's very female empowered. Nice costumes. A decent mcguffin that I didn't see at all. Decent pacing. Stylish for Masterpiece. 

These are fresh on PBS. Both new shows are satisfactory, pleasant escapes from the daily harshness.

[Drunk Monk]

e6 Mystery in Paris...I think. The count is all mixed up now. Stacy wasn't into another necklace heist from the Louvre so we skipped to the Sorbonne university one. She guessed the perp. I was way off. This one has an even heavier female empowerment theme with the first female to attend Sorbonne law. Stacy thought this was her fav ep so far.

[Drunk Monk]

Mystery in Paris - the Louvre ep. It was okay. Cool to see it shot in galleries we recognized. Predictable ending. A pretty standard heist flick actually.

Just one more ep of this.

[Greg]

I attended an online travel photography conference for the last two days. The only thing I really learned from the conference was that I really need to go back to Paris.

[Drunk Monk]

Oui, oui!

I regret not going to the Paris Dali museum. We opted for the Moulin Rouge that day, which was a seedy, nasty pornhood now. We just walked through the main drag and left. I feel like I drag my family to too much Dali and armouries, and the Moulin Rouge seemed more 'historic'. In retrospect, I should've insisted on that Dali museum, and that my family attend the L'Armee with me. They bailed because they had seen enough swords, but there was so much more in that museum. Napoleon's tomb was worth the price of admission.

[Greg]

It was the Rodin museum for me. But I need to get to the Orsay and the Pompidou.

[King Bob]

The Orsay is great, but I think I prefer the Pompidou. Not the building, but the art; the Orsay building is way better. I never got to the Orangerie or the Musee Picasso and would like to see both. DM - I think you would enjoy the Musee Gustave Moreau

I thought climbing to the top of Notre Dame was one of the Paris highlights - up close with the Viollet-le-Duc gargoyles - and then off to La Sainte Chapelle across the street.

[Drunk Monk]

I loved the Orsay too. The architecture was so steampunk. The Orangerie was impressive too but it paled in comparison to our day trip to Giverny. We wish we had stayed the night. It was such a deep dive into the heart of Monet, like Cadaque was for Dali. Walking those gardens was like walking into one of his paintings... with a ton of other tourists, but still... the qi of that space left such an...impression. 

And y'all know I'm a museum slut. I suspect we all are. I'll go to any museum. Maybe we should add that into the DOOM charter. It could replace the 'no poofters' rule since that was really just a Monty Python homage and we've long ignored that after letting in 'you know who.' 

Paris is the museum mecca - like museum porn - so many museums. I'd hit any of those museums that I missed. Museums are my happy place, even more so than reggae dancehalls. 

That Moreau museum looks awesome. Totally missed that one. 

We thought about making that Notre Dame climb, but there were budgetary limitations so we had to pick and choose. Now, I totally regret not doing that. 

Truth be told, the main reason we watch these French Masterpiece theater shows is to see places we've been. That Parisian architecture is so rich.

[King Bob]

I think London rivals Paris for museums, plus most of them are free. I have only scratched the surface of the British Museum, and I keep finding out about new ones.

[Drunk Monk]

Really? Bloody colonialists. 

I have yet to get to London. It's high on the the bucket list, which is starting to feel desperate now. England and Japan are at the top. I've only been through Heathrow and Narita and that doesn't count.

I was dreaming of taking Tara to Japan as a graduation present this year. But giving what the pandemic did/is doing to my finances, I doubt that will happen now. I wanted to take her to Shaolin last year for my master's 20th school anniversary.

[Greg]

We hit up quite a few museums in London, too, including the British. There was room that must have had all the Grecian urns, case after case of them. The Natural History museum was also very good.

At this point, I will go anywhere. I'm ready to go to Lone Pine to their movie Museum.