From Never Have I Ever Season 4 to Based On A True Story, Should You Add These To Your Watchlist?
The teens of Sherman Oaks graduate, while a young autistic girl finds her voice… are these shows and movies worth your time? Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado and Jordan Bohan give you the scoop.
A Kind Of Spark
If you’re looking for a wholesome TV show with great representation that’s a super quick binge, I’ve got the perfect recommendation with the new CBBC show A Kind Of Spark.
Based on the book by Elle McNicoll, it follows an autistic teen (Lola Blue) who wants to celebrate people’s differences by creating a memorial to the women who were wrongfully accused of being witches in her home town. Meanwhile she has a mystery to uncover about the past that connects to her town’s present.
Not only does the story follow several autistic teens, but the real actors are neurodivergent as well to bring a real authenticity to the story. It’s not about struggling to deal with that reality either, but accepting who you are, making your own voice heard, friendships, sisterhood, and an exciting adventure of mystery and magic. If you’re looking for a groundbreaking, empowering, and wholesome story rooted in showing off real representation that’s fun for the whole family, this is the show for you.
A Kind Of Spark is streaming on Roku.
- Kristen Maldonado
About My Father
About My Father is Sebastian Maniscalco’s newest comedic endeavor. Starring alongside Robert De Niro, Maniscalco attempts to get his late mother’s wedding ring in order to propose to his girlfriend. This leads to an extravagant vacation weekend and culture clash between the couple’s families.
As a general fan of Maniscalco’s comedy, especially his specials on Netflix, I had high hopes for this film. It was a pseudo-autobiography blending Maniscalso’s real life with comedic fiction. It made me question what was fact and what was fiction the entire movie, which was a bit distracting and took away from the comedic elements. He wrote, starred in, and produced the movie so I was expecting to laugh a lot, but it wasn’t as funny as I had hoped. There were a lot of hit or miss moments. I’d recommend saving your money and watching one of his comedy specials on Netflix.
About My Father is in theaters now.
- Jordan Bohan
Based On A True Story
Based On A True Story finds Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and Nathan (Chris Messina) as a struggling couple who find a complicated new chance to fix their lives when they learn their plumber Matt (Tom Bateman) is a serial killer behind a string of unsolved murders. Ava is obsessed with true crime podcasts and together the duo blackmail the plumber into creating a podcast with them about his work.
While the premise sounds promising, it falls flat as a true crime satire. There are a some over the top moments that turn lackluster when it’s revealed they are dream sequences, the characters go nowhere, and the show has nothing new or original to say. Even the Westside Ripper doesn’t show his true potential. The season ends so abruptly that you feel nothing has been accomplished or set up to warrant the story being told.
Based On A True Story is streaming on Peacock.
- Kristen Maldonado
Never Have I Ever Season 4
Never Have I Ever is officially over… but was it worth the watch?
I’ll be honest, I’ve had mixed feelings on Never Have I Ever since the beginning. Some seasons were great, while others were lacking progression for the characters. While the final fourth season isn’t perfect, they fix a lot of the issues I’ve had with it in the past. Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is able to realize more quickly when she is being a bad friend and fix it and her friends finally have more purposeful stories. They introduce people and drop them quickly like Ethan (Michael Cimino) or Aneesa (Megan Suri) and there was entirely not enough Trent (Benjamin Norris), who is the best character.
I love that they show how much Devi has grown, the realities that college can be scary and you may have to figure yourself out again, and that it’s okay to make mistakes or to fail as long as you keep trying. It tackles topics that are important and relatable to young people and show that it’s okay to be messy. You’ll grow out of it. Just try to be a good person. All in all, I thought it was a nice, satisfying ending for everyone involved that hits all the right emotional and humorous moments.
All four seasons of Never Have I Ever are streaming on Netflix.
- Kristen Maldonado
