Movie: Calling for Love (2020) **

A music-themed podcast host’s show is on the line due to low followers. Cut to a mechanic helping a young woman with her car, getting her number, then losing his phone. Cut to the podcast host having to guest host the love connections podcast when the mechanic calls in looking for his lost customer. Then the podcaster starts a relationship with her co-worker. Then the production company pressures the podcaster to take missed-connection-mechanic story to the next level. Then the mechanic and podcaster start to fall for each other. Then they find the missed-connections customer. You might be able to guess the end, but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t like this one bit. Story was all over the place. Dialogue stunk.

Boss: How do you expect people to continue to listen to Music Thread if you keep talking about obscure instruments and the details in the liner notes. People don’t need to think about music. They need to feel it.
Podcaster: I like to think about music. I know everything there is to know about music.
Boss: And I know everything there is to know about Microsoft Excel, but that doesn’t mean it makes a good podcast. You can’t be afraid to let your guard down. Maybe that’s why you won’t consider my suggestion. You’ve been here three years. That’s three years of Nacho Ordinary Thursday and not once have you brought a date. 

Podcaster: How am I going to find the love of my life on a blind date?
Boss: It could spark something!
Podcaster: Sparks burn houses down, Greta.

Two stars. I watched, but, nah. **

• Production: low-budget cheesy movie with an almost homemade banner as the lobby sign for the podcast company.
• Suspension of belief: High
• Tropes/sub-genres: Belated Love Epiphany, Woman experiencing career pressure
• Diversity: Colorful. 
• Production Co: Film Rise
• How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from my local library

TV: Married At First Sight Seasons 1-12 (2014-2021)

I’m going to write about this as a bunch instead of each season.  

Let me start with the fact that I’m fascinated with arranged marriages. I’m open to the idea. Please send me biodata of eligible bachelors or the info of a professional-auntie who’d love to pair me. I haven’t blogged about it yet, but during the pandemic, I binged Indian Matchmaker, The Big Day, Indian and Orthodox Jewish wedding highlights video on YouTube and watched the films Arranged, Unorthodox, and of course, Monsoon Wedding (one of my favorite movies). I’m into it, y’all.  

Anyway, I don’t remember where in my arranged marriage craze I began to watch Married at First Sight, but I think I found it on Hoopla first. I started with season 9. Hooked. Loved the concept, the couples (the good ones) and was somewhat into the trash and trainwrecks. I think I found season 10 on Pluto (Ugh, commercials!). Then after Hulu was introduced into my world, I binged seasons 1-8 and 11. Finally, last month, March 2022, season 12 was released on Hulu and I ate it up.   

From what I hear, seasons 13 and beyond are just too trashy-trainwrecky and that’s not what I like about MAFS. I like to see the couples work and work issues out. I also really enjoy the reunion and Couples Cam episodes.  

Over 12 seasons, I got good at knowing when to fast forward and what to fast forward through. After season 2, I realized I could fast forward until I saw the stick figures hold hands, which is usually about three minutes of recap and a preview.  After watching five seasons, I started skipping the matchmaking episodes: I only want to get to know who actually got matched. I skipped a couple of the wedding prep episodes because they were uninteresting, but I started watching those again in seasons 11 and 12. Season 12 had the best wedding dress: Hayley’s gown was gorgeous.  I usually did housework during the honeymoon episodes because its so drawn out, especially season 12. I was disturbed by the production decision to continue following the couples who had clearly broken up way before the season ended. Leave them alone! I fast forwarded through any of their segments, or the segments of couples I don’t like.  

Three Stars ***

TV: Dexter New Blood Mini Series (2021)

 This started out wrong but ended well. Everything that made Dexter (the regular series) difficult for me to watch happened in the first few episodes. He was still getting away with it. Will no one be able to catch this man, already?! Thank goodness that changed.  

Dexter is living under an assumed identity in a small town in upstate New York. At the point of entry for us viewers, things seem to be going well for him, until his past comes back. Harrison (his son with Rita) shows up out of nowhere and his dark passenger decides to briefly take the wheel. His girlfriend, who is also the town’s sheriff starts putting the pieces together. Why would you date the sheriff, you supposedly retired serial killer you? Teenagers will almost always be annoying, and teenage Harrison does that job well. Then we discover there’s another serial killer in this town. What?!  

I’m happy I watched it through to the end, and although I wanted the storyline with Harrison to go differently, I was pleased by the final ending.  

Highlight: The creepy song from the Dexter series end credits, was the regular theme song for Dexter New Blood.

Three Stars***