Always Be Streaming... eh!

Fargo is back, that magnificent snow-covered workhorse of a show.

Alright, here’s what you need to know about TV this week:

• The week of US Thanksgiving is always a pretty quiet week for new releases.

• Unquestionably the big release of the week is the season 5 return of anthology series Fargo. It’s a big improvement on season 4 and has me interrogating myself on how “Minnesota Nice” I am… I suspect the answer is: too much. The show is a much better use of Jon Hamm than The Morning Show.

• I don’t have Netflix reality show Squid Game: The Challenge in the listings below. The less attention I give it, the happier I am.
  
  There’s two ways to approach a game show based on a TV show about a fictional reality show. You either try to create a real-world approximation of the show, or you go silly with it and let contestants revel in the silliness of being in it. The show goes with the first approach and is a chore to watch as a result. It’s joyless and spits in the face of the original show with its messaging about power, control, and an underclass who will do anything for a chance at financial security. Also, the dramatic beats often don’t make a lot of sense with competitors regularly seen as horrified by the losses experienced by others.
  
  The show is really dumb. I hated it almost as much as the equally ill-conceived 007: Road to a Million. These shows should be fun.

• If I was to recommend one thing to watch that isn’t Fargo, it would be that you check out an anime show that launched on Netflix a few weeks back. I’m not a big anime guy, but I do love samurai movies. The show is called Blue Eye Samurai and is about a talented, mysterious samurai who has a secret (I won’t give the secret away, but it isn’t too much of a surprise with the male-coded warrior voiced by Pen15 star Maya Erskine). Other voices include Kenneth Branagh, Randall Park, and George Takei.
  
  Blue Eye Samurai moves briskly, is action-packed, violent, funny, a bit sexy at times, and delivers hugely on the entertainment stakes. Worth a look even if anime isn’t quite your thing.