A problem arises when watching a show that turns out to be as good as I Am Nobody. This show uses the vehicle of superpowers to bring the kind of period martial arts action seen in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, (sometimes called wire fu) into the modern day, with some pretty cool special effects to boot. Sure, there are still some old monks, who wear robes, and live out in the mountains, in cool temples, but even they have cell phones. A lot of the action takes place in the modern cities of China, and it is really cool. So, after watching something that good, how do you find a show to follow it up? Even with their vast library, I worry that I may not be able to find another show this unique, or cool, on Netflix.

Well, the best way to follow up a show like this is to not even try. Don’t look for another action packed, martial arts drama with great special effects. Instead, go for something completely different, like a detective drama, a supernatural thriller, or even a romantic comedy (preferably with some supernatural elements). By watching something completely unrelated, you can get into the new show and never be tempted to compare it to what you just finished. You can enjoy it for what it is.

I checked, and I saw that Parasyte The Grey was only 6 episodes. I ended up binge watching the whole thing. I will return to my regularly scheduled I Am Nobody now.

Netflix hasn’t been working for me the past couple of days. I never figured out why, but it seems to have come back just in time for this: Parasyte The Grey. I have really been waiting for this. Granted, I am still in the middle of watching I Am Nobody, the Chinese, super powered, martial arts drama I wrote about earlier, and I will try my best not to take a detour and binge this new show, which I suspect will be short anyway.

The great thing about Parasyte, starting with the comic/manga, the anime and even the live action films, is that even though it follows a Japanese character, who gets partially infected and gets powers from this, and grows to involve police forces and even the government, it is clear from TV news reports, and other bits of information that this is happening everywhere. It is a worldwide phenomenon. This means any country can do their own Parasyte story, showing how things played out in that country, without needing to just remake the Japanese version.

You could do one in France or Indonesia. You could even do one in America. (Not sure I’d want to see that these days, but…) Basically, the sky is the limit for creating new Parasyte stories anywhere in the world. It’s a brilliant way to build a franchise, if that’s what they’re up to.

I was reading a recent article about the Netflix series 3 Body Problem, (I’ve probably read every single article in existence about this show) and I discovered that the author of the books from which it is adapted, Cixin Liu, once said, “…people shouldn’t read too much into fiction. (“The whole point is to escape the real world!” This seems to be the exact opposite of what modern Hollywood is doing. They are putting forth every effort to bring our modern issues, and our modern politics, into every show they produce, even if it’s supposed to be a story from a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

Now, there’s nothing particularly wrong with addressing modern issues through the medium of story. The old Star Trek show was genius at doing this. That, however, is not what we are seeing from modern writers. These modern writers, who are really more like activists, have no ability to deftly weave their ideas into a credible narrative, so they just make it blatant. They just slap their ideas right on top of whatever they are working on, and it, thus, feels like we are watching Earth, 2023, even though we’re supposed to be on another planet in the 27th century. There is no more escapism.

Finally, somebody said it! In an article, from Giant Freaking Robot, about the upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte, the writer says, “…it looks terrible, but that’s not a reflection of the show’s content, as much as it is Lucasfilm continuing to produce content that looks dark, muddy, and cheap. From The Mandalorian to Ahsoka and everything in between, Star Wars on Disney+ lacks the visual fidelity the franchise deserves.”

I’m glad it’s not just me that is seeing this. I would go further and say that everything Disney has put out, in recent years, suffers from this problem, and they are not alone, Netflix originals and newer content from Warner Bros. Discovery seems to follow the same look. The only company that doesn’t seem to have gone all in on this is Apple. They are about half and half. Some shows, like Silo and Constellation, are definitely way too dark and muddy, but others, like Hijack and The Changeling look great. Still makes me long for the beautiful, colorful picture I can see in K-dramas like Mr. Sunshine.

One day, I’m going to write my detailed explanation of why I believe this is happening.

I thought I got over my aversion to these modern, super wide, and super dark, television series, and I made it through 3 Body Problem, which I loved. I decided to follow that up with another widescreen, and pretty dark, show on Apple TV+ called Constellation. I made a mistake on that one. I thought all the episodes were available, only to get to “the end” and discover that the finale doesn’t come out until Wednesday. (I won’t make that mistake with the remake of Shogun. I am certain there two episodes to go.)

Having to wait for that final episode, I decided to return to Netflix and watch Mr. Sunshine, a Korean drama which Netflix recently recommended to me. While this show is also pretty wide, it is presented in the most beautiful color and contrast. It is bright and pristine, similar to The King: Eternal Monarch. I was quickly reminded why I got tired of these modern Hollywood shows being so dark and nearly colorless. I think I will stick around on Netflix for a while and watch shows that are actually amazing to look at.

I was all set to watch this yakuza crime series, on Netflix, called Giri/Haji, but knowing that 3 Body Problem was out, I thought I should give it one final consideration. I decided that I would watch the trailers for each, back to back, and then choose which one grabbed me the most. For some reason, 3 Body Problem didn’t look as wide, nor as dark, as I seemed to remember it. Don’t get me wrong, some scenes are very dark, but a lot of it looked really good. Right after this, Netflix recommended to me a Korean Drama called Mr. Sunshine. It was also wide aspect, but it just looked amazing. It featured amazing period set pieces, with cable cars in the old city, and old style warships battling at sea. I added it to my list. Maybe I got over my aversion to 2.35:1 content already?

Anyway, I started watching 3 Body Problem, which is a really cool show. Since it comes from a Chinese novel, written by the famous Cixin Liu, who also wrote The Wandering Earth, quite a bit of it is set in China, with Chinese language dialogue, and there are a number of Chinese characters in the parts set elsewhere. Maybe that makes it somewhat comfortable to me. It brought some questions to mind though.

As an American, who grew up on Hollywood movies and TV shows, I always envisioned that if a major alien event happened, it would happen to America, or America would be at the center of it. If, however, such an extraterrestrial event happened to China, even if it were decades ago, would they even tell us? Would we ever even know about it? This is one thing I like about watching Chinese, Korean and Japanese dramas. It isn’t just Americans who get to go into space, become superheroes, or get attacked by alien robots. We get different perspectives on things.

3 Body Problem is, without question, a big budget, Hollywood production, but the source material is from China, and so far, it doesn’t seem like they are trying to erase that from the story. I thought I might be in for a binge. It was hard to stop watching, and take a break, even to write this post, and do some other work that needed doing. I will actually try not to finish it all today, but I really can’t wait to get back into it.

I was watching some movie trailers, the other day, for things like Hellboy I and II, Nightmare Alley, Crimson Peak, Poor Things, and even a BTS music video, and I finally realized what it is that I desire from my entertainment. I want to enjoy, and be thrilled by, watching beautiful pictures. A show has to look good first. If it’s too damn dark, with massive black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, I just can’t enjoy that.

This is probably why I will not be watching 3 Body Problem, which, I think, comes out tomorrow on Netflix. I’ve watched the trailer 3 times now. I’m somewhat interested in the content, but the show is so damn dark you can barely see anything in some scenes. And, yes, the black bars are huge. There are so many other things that I want to watch out there right now. My watchlist, on Netflix alone, is huge, to say nothing of all the shows I bought on Black Friday. Why spend time watching something that I find hard to look at, and that I can’t enjoy?