Netflix has been offering enough good series to hopefully keep me from going complete looney tunes while shipwrecked in Wildwood. But you don’t have to be trapped like me to enjoy both The Brothers Sun and Paranoid. There is enough action in both series to keep you ship-shape.
The Brothers Sun
If you like martial arts and a smart script, this comedy thriller has it all. Co-created by Byron Wu and Brad Falchuk, The Brothers Sun, which stars Michelle Yeoh, Sam Song Li, Justin Chien, Highdee Kuan, Madison Hu, Johnny Kou, and Rodney To, begins when the head of a powerful Taiwanese triad (Johnny Kou) is almost assassinated at his oldest son’s home. Charles (Justin Chien), who has worked in his father’s crime family while secretly yearning to be a chef, is given the command to travel to California to protect his mother (Michelle Yeoh) and younger brother Bruce (Sam Song Li).
Mama Sun (Michelle Yeoh), who has been separated from her husband for many years, works as a nurse, while her younger son, Bruce (Sam Song Li) is going to school to be a doctor, or so his mother thinks. Bruce, unaware of his family’s business, wants to be a comedian and learn improv. Both mother and son are unaware that danger is heading their way.
Conclusion
Michelle Yeoh is a badass actress, and I will watch any film or series with her in it. Yeoh steals the scene in all eight episodes as a loving mother who is also a secret weapon of a powerful triad. This series, if they okay a second season…might actually rise to the level of class as The Sopranos.
Paranoid
Although this British crime drama premiered in 2016, it is on Netflix now and worth watching all eight episodes. Paranoid stars Indira Varma, Robert Glenister, Dino Fetscher. Lesley Sharp, Christiane Paul, Michael Maloney, and Danny Huston.
The show begins with a stabbing of a doctor while she is pushing her toddler on a swing. The crime has many witnesses, but the killer is only known as “hooded man.” When a prime suspect is found dead, DS Nina Suresh (Indira Varma), DS Bobby Day (Robert Glenister) and DS Alex Wayfield (Dino Fetscher) not only have to solve the crime, but also must learn who the mysterious Ghost Detective (Kevin Doyle) is and why is he sending them coded messages. As the deaths pile up, and the detectives try to track down the killer, they are forced to enlist the help of German homicide detectives, Linda Felber (Christiane Paul) and her partner Walti Merian (Dominik Tiefenthaler).
Conclusion
Paranoid was so good, that I binged watched the entire eight episodes in one day. I have found that British and European films pay more attention to details than their American counterpart. They don’t concentrate on the shock value as much as the storyline. Watch both shows. You will thank me for the heads up.
