Still Watching...

"I'm A Virgo," "The Changeling," "Who Is Erin Carter?," "Snabba Cash," even more "Cabin Chronicles" and wondering how big this ocean of options can be.

I’m beginning to enjoy starting something, stopping, watching seven other things, forgetting where I was or how much I liked something, then starting again. It’s good for me. Usually I’m a completist and that’s very task management-centric, which is kind of boring.

So I assume there will be an uptick in the “Still Watching” feature which, as you probably know by now, also includes shows I’ve finished.

Let’s get to it:

I wrote about “I’m A Virgo” the other day in a completely different context, seen here:

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But let’s focus more on the content, now: I love that “I’m A Virgo” got made and, sometimes while watching it, I wondered (and marveled) at how it did. It’s a little like series creator Boots Riley’s head exploded while thinking about a series to make and the fragments all got caught on film.

Yes, I started this, too. More below.

Riley is a fervent anti-capitalist and that’s one of the (many) themes in the series — on Amazon of all places — but that was my least favorite part of the series (not because it wasn’t well done but because it pales next to the other stuff).

Oh, that stuff.

Well, for starters it’s about a 13-foot-tall black teenager in Oakland (my hometown) and conceptually that’s just a magnificent chef’s kiss idea on how to talk about race. It’s also a visually tricky idea to put the main character, Cootie (Jharrel Jerome) out into the world and it was delightful in different ways to see how Riley managed this and where he went with it (some absurdism and even some freaky sex).

There were a lot of Oakland-specific jokes and references (side shows, the Lower Bottoms, etc.) that, in retrospect, probably didn’t land with some folks but neither were they set up to be consequentially so; just a nice perk for the locals.

And yes, some fun (and random) cameos. (One so random I’m not even going to mention it so as not to ruin it).

There’s a crime and punishment story that circles back and slices through the previous ideas — capitalism and race — while simultaneously skewering billionaires and giving the great Walter Goggins another fine role to play.

The casting throughout is strong and I’d guess a couple of actors are going to get a nice boost (Jerome already seems to be in a lot of stuff).

“I’m A Virgo” has all kinds of visual treats, mishmashes that are baked into it, but nothing beats the brilliantly conceived animated show-within-a-show “Parking Tickets,” a relentlessly depressing existential drone that viewers in the show laugh at for no reason (except Cootie, who is mystified like the rest of us but laughs along to be in with everyone).

“Parking Tickets” builds through the season to become even darker and “I’m A Virgo” uses that as a plot line — apparently one of the episodes of “Parking Tickets,” yanked off the air and now just a mysterious cult concept that everyone has mythologized, was so bleak that anyone who sees it becomes essentially catatonic with depression (which, of course, catches them off guard because they’ve been laughing at all the episodes). That fits, maybe not seamlessly but still, into some of the over-arching themes Riley has here. Read into it what you will, but I absolutely want a full blown animated series of “Parking Tickets.”

The cult episode. Put it in the DVD player at your own peril!

(And by the way, even though there’s no real “joke” in the fictional “Parking Tickets” show, each episode ends with the main character just saying one word over and over again: “Boyoyoyoyoyoyoing.” Somehow the animated show is able to send up mindless television/online screen time wasting AND having to use a repetitive tagline to get the show made (like Ricky Gervais’ character in “Extras” — a pretty great series if you haven’t seen it). Also, Juliet Lewis is the uncredited “Boyoyoyoyoyoyoing” voice.

Ultimately, as I mentioned in the linked story about the future of TV, “I’m A Virgo” ends without much resolution to anything and feels like it stopped mid-sentence. Who knows if we’ll get a second season but if you’re searching for something that is taking a lot of risks and trying a lot of randomly great ideas, then give “I’m A Virgo” a look. As a bonus, you’ll get to see “Parking Tickets.” Or just watch this:

I also got around to starting two newer series, finishing off one older series, and continued my “slow binge” (hi, Jason) of a beloved Deep Dive find: