Weekly Streaming Recap: Week of June 3rd, 2022

Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 3 (Disney+): Despite some poor communication regarding the release date of the show, the third episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers on some of the promised action. This episode adds another horrific example of Darth Vader’s ruthlessness to his legend and the brief interaction between him and Obi-Wan is exactly what it needs to be. The problem with the show, and the Expanded Universe at large, is the continued illustration of Jedi surviving Order 66 while Obi-Wan and Yoda just ignore all the other survivors and place all their hopes that 19 years later Luke and/or Leia are going to be ready, willing, and able to defeat both Vader and the Emperor. It seems like an oversight, especially now that Obi-Wan knows that Quinlan Vos survived and is still alive.

The Time Traveler’s Wife Episode 4 (HBOMax): If someone thought last week’s episode was problematic, this week’s episode manages to push the envelope just a little farther. Again, the show posits that time is immutable without showing it or explaining it further and uses this to explain to a suicidal woman that her suicide is inevitable. It is certainly a bizarre choice on a number of levels but not the least of which is the fact that Henry does not lie to the woman about it. Rather than lying to her, as he does to his wife the entire last episode, he tells her that it will inevitably happen and that she should enjoy life before that point. It is yet another example of the show not explaining things properly and then using the improper explanations as focus of a storyline.

Hollywood Stargirl (Disney+): Hollywood Stargirl is a sequel to 2020’s Stargirl on Disney+, not to be confused with CW’s DC series of the same name. It follows Stargirl as she and her mother move to California for a job and Stargirl makes friends with a boy who is trying to make a movie. It is a surprisingly solid movie with some fun small roles from Judd Hirsch and Uma Thurman. It may be paint-by-numbers, but it is a fun use of an hour and a half regardless.

Call Jane (HBOMax): This coming Wednesday on HBO is the premiere of Call Jane, a documentary about the Jane Collective that operated in Chicago in the late 60s to assist women in gaining access to safe abortions. It is a very well-made documentary, told almost entirely through first person accounts and archival footage of the era so the women involved get to tell their own story.

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Parallels (Disney+): This show premiered earlier this year and is best described as Lost with teenagers and better story planning. It follows a group of teenagers who are having a birthday party on the day a particle accelerator starts up causing them to be scattered across a split timeline. It is a surprisingly solid family drama show told through an interesting science fiction lens. The only problem is that the show is dubbed as it was originally in French and the dubbing is a little substandard. A good amount of the line readings could do with a second take and they’re not exactly in tune with the tone of the scene a good amount of the time. That said, the story is very interesting.