Series · Prime Video · 2009

Drop Dead Diva

A mind and a vocation, put ahead of the mirror. The show still wants the mirror in the scene.

Jane's punishment, if it is one, is to do a hard job in a body her old self would have pitied. The series is often silly about clothes and soulmates. Under that, a woman becomes competent at something that helps strangers, and the competence is the point.

Fine for an adult who wants a light case-of-the-week. Do not use the body-swap as a joke in a house with a daughter who is already watching her own.

The eight

Industry
7/10
The cases are work. She has to learn a craft she did not earn the first time.
Household
4/10
An assistant, a boss, an old boyfriend. A household is not the plot.
Piety
3/10
A second chance is the theology, and it is mostly a premise.
Courage
5/10
She walks into court as a woman the room did not expect.
Republic
4/10
The law is a set. Sometimes the case is actually about a wrong.
Temperance
5/10
Romance and the body stay on the menu. The appetite is milder than the logline.
Truth
6/10
The useful truth: the person you dismissed may be the one doing the thinking.
Stewardship
4/10
A life handed back, spent half on the work and half on being seen.

Live historicallyCompliment one person's work this week. Leave their appearance out of the sentence.

Series · Prime Video · 2000

Gilmore Girls

A real loyalty between a mother and a daughter. The town is a set. The men are episodes.

The good of Gilmore Girls is that a teenage daughter is not the enemy and a single mother is not a cautionary slide. They are a household of two, and the household has a table. The limit is the speed. Nobody is allowed to be plain for long, and plainness is where a family tells the truth.

Enjoy the town. Do not let the banter become the way your own table avoids a hard sentence.

The eight

Industry
5/10
Lorelai works. Rory studies. The study is sometimes just the identity.
Household
7/10
The pair is the house. They choose each other every day, and they also hide in the joke.
Piety
3/10
The town has churches. The girls have references.
Courage
4/10
They are brave about speeches, less brave about a quiet apology.
Republic
5/10
Stars Hollow is a commons, even if nobody pays the tax.
Temperance
4/10
Coffee, food, and talk as a way to never sit with the feeling.
Truth
5/10
The talk is clever and often a way around the true sentence.
Stewardship
5/10
A daughter is the future. The show is unsure the future should leave town.

Live historicallyAt your own table tonight, one person finishes a thought without a joke on the end of it.