The Eternal Tedium of the Suburban Life

Fleishman Is in Trouble
Cast: Claire Danes, Jesse Eisenberg | Writers: Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Michael Goldbach | English | Disney+Hotstar

“He had so much love and no­where to put it.” Through most of Fleishman Is in Trouble, adapted from journalist Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s novel, we hear Tony Fleishman complaining about his perfect life being upturned. We catch him when he seems most vulnerable—his super agent ex-wife has suddenly dropped their children off at his home, meddling with his planned sex-night-out, and he cannot rage about it enough. But soon as we see more of him, the hospital where he works as a hepatologist, his friends, his new life as an eligible bachelor, we sense the presence of the absence of his ex-wife. Played with nervy vigour by Claire Danes, Rachel soon becomes more than the caricature Toby (played by Jesse Eisenberg) would like to present her as, a 1950s father who comes home only to pat his children on the head and ask what’s for dinner. We see her backstory, the pressures of building a career for herself and a life for her children so they would never be shut out of privilege like she, an unwanted child, was. This is more than a mere chronicle of a 15-year marriage that once seemed happy. It’s what we lose along the way as we accumulate assets. It’s exhausting and it’s no wonder that Rachel can’t keep up. Class, family, love, hate, the chronic condition that di­vorce creates for the children caught in between, the show has it all. At the end of it, there is only Vantablack, a dark void of loneliness which no amount of Tinder-dating and wife-hating can resolve. Is marriage forever or just another rite of passage that has to be ticked off? The series answers these questions with wit and sarcasm.

Why watch it: For its rich dialogue and its excoriation of the entitled New York rich

Goth and Gore

The Pale Blue Eye | Cast: Christian Bale, Harry Melling | Director: Scott Cooper | English | Netflix

 It is 1830s America and a cadet has been murdered at the West Point Military Academy. Augustus Landor is called to investigate, which he does with the poet Edgar Allen Poe, who was briefly a cadet as well. It’s all fiction, based on a 2003 novel by Louis Bayard, but it has some delicious cameos by Toby Jones, Gillian Anderson and Robert Duvall, and even more delicious Easter Eggs, including the title of the film, which comes from Poe’s short story, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. The vic­tim’s heart has been removed through an incision. Is it a warning, an act of violence or a grotesque metaphor? It is up to Christian Bale’s often drunk and depressed detective to solve the mys­tery with an always agitated Poe (Harry Melling) providing assistance.

Why watch it: For the pleasure of watching Bale’s mopey genius

In Case You Missed It

Shark Tank 2 | Cast: Anupam Mittal, Amit Jain, Peyush Bansal, Namita Thapar, Aman Gupta, Vineeta Singh | Hindi | SonyLIV

It’s early days yet on season two but India’s new-found appetite for money and the confidence to ask for it continues to be extraordinary. Watch it to see the amaz­ing confidence with which Indians sell ideas, from a device to get a round bellybut­ton to cologne for poo.

 Why watch it: To see India’s chutzpah

About The Author

Kaveree Bamzai

Kaveree Bamzai is an author and a contributing writer with Open

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