The
Nest (2020)/Playing
For Keeps: Season One
(2018/Sundance/both Acorn DVD)/Winning
Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty The Complete First Season
(2022/HBO/Warner Blu-ray)
Picture:
B-/B-/B Sound: C+/B-/B Extras: D/D/C Episodes: B+/B+/C+
Now
for some TV you may not have heard of, save a new hit on HBO....
Emily
(Sophie Rundie) and Dan (Martin Compston) are a wealthy Scottish
couple who has everything, the only they don't have is a baby. When
Emily one day accidentally runs into Kaya, Kaya (Mirren Mack) just
happens to overhear their 'problem' and volunteers to be a surrogate
mother, but that's when the trouble starts, being a surrogate mother
for couples with fertility problems falls into the 'grey' area of the
laws and keeping it a secret is even harder. There are secrets on
both sides, one secret threatens to destroy the other, Kaya doesn't
want her past to be revealed and Emily and Dan will do anything for
their child, but not at the expense of being used in the TV
mini-series The
Nest
(2020).
Kaya
is an 18-year-old gal and after nearly being hit by Emily's car, she
sees it at a golden opportunity 'help' them have one last chance to
have a baby and her next meal ticket. Emily and Dan are desperate to
have a baby, but using a surrogate mother has no legal
laws/rights/protection to say what they can or can't do. At first,
they come to an agreement, but then Kaya starts demanding more money
and she wants to go out and have fun and even shacks up with Emily
and Dan's nephew, then when one of Kaya's former junkie boyfriends
ends up dead Kaya's past comes back to haunt her, she has been
keeping something from Dan and Emily, a sealed juvie record and she
is actually Scotland youngest killer. The media learns of this and
it spins it into Dan and Emily were using Kaya, abusing their wealth
and power, then when the baby is born prematurely, Kaya's estranged
mother shows up and changes Kaya mind and they then end up in a
custody battle in court.
The
law is in the grey and by law, the birth mother has legal control.
Kaya goes to the media and gets public sympathy on her side and it
seems like she is going to win, but then she realizes she is becoming
just like her mother, a gold digger, and her real reason isn't for
the baby, but the money and how close she almost became her mother.
This
was a 5-part Scottish-produced TV mini-series and it is drama, drama
and more drama. After each episode there are sudden twists that
causes the audience to have sympathy to one side or the other. In
the end, the entire series plays off on how rich people can use their
money or power to get what they want or those who are poor will do
anything to get what the rich people have. The law in the end
doesn't protect the good or punish the bad, but to control the damage
afterwards. The only extra is a behind the scenes featurette.
Paige
(Cecelia Peters) is moving into the big city with her boyfriend
Daniel (George Puller), the new rookie star of the Southern Jet
football/rugby team. While Daniel is there to play, Paige must learn
to fit in with the wives and girlfriends (or better known as WAGs), a
group of high society females, but behind closed doors there are
secrets, sex, affairs and scandals, and Paige must quickly adapt if
she is to survive in
Playing
For Keeps: Season One
(2018).
Paige
is a country bumpkin girl with big dreams, moving into the city, with
her boyfriend. She becomes part of a group of alpha females known as
WAGs, Wives and Girlfriends of the city football team and they are
basically treated as celebrities and V.I.P.s and she is now part of
this elite 'club'. At first, she feels like the WAGs are all rich
and famous and supermodel and she is just a wall flower, but the WAGs
real power comes from all the secrets (and who they are sleeping
with) behind the team. When one of the players mysteriously dies
during the training, Paige must uncover the lies and discover the
truth of what really happened.
This
was a drama filled series about lies, secrets, sex and scandals. It
takes the view from the rookie couple that just entered a world
sports, celebrities and sin. Aside from the main character, all the
other characters are high society characters, beautiful and powerful
and they think they can get away with anything. Only the main
character, Paige is the only one with common sense and morals and she
is challenged to either fit into their social circles or be rejected
by it.
Overall,
a fine Australian TV production.
Each
show breaks down into the following, though be warned of spoilers:
Episode
1: Paige and Dan move into the city where Dan is to play for the
Southern Jets Football team. Paige meets the wives and girlfriends of
the team and is warmly welcome as their newest member. However,
tragedy soon hits the team when one of the team member Jack dies
during their training camp.
Episode
2: As the funeral is held for their teammate, media sharks surround
the team 24/7. An investigation is looked into his death, but the
evidence is pointing toward it may not have been an accident and the
team members are ordered to stay silent. Paige is accepted into
being a teacher, but only when she mentions she is part of WAGs. Dan
confesses to Paige he was one of the last ones to see Jack alive.
Episode
3: Paige begins to learn about all the affairs behind the team.
Rusty and Jessie (Jack's widow) were having an affair and someone
leaked it to the media and the WAGs blame Paige for it. Tahlia is
having her own problem with Connor's mother and Connor cheats on
Tahlia with Kath. It is revealed that Kath and her husband is both
already having open affairs but have managed to keep it a secret.
Rusty lies during the investigation.
Episode
4: Both Brian and Kath decide to end their secret affairs for the
sake of the team. Kath and Connor try to break it off, but have
comfort sex with each other again. The WAGs find out it was Karlie
who leaked to the press and they all apologize to Paige. Rusty
reveals to the media he is gay and to get the media to back off
Jessie.
Episode
5: Jack's death is ruled as an accident. Tahlia and Connor are not
getting along. After Rusty media bombshell there is huge sympathy in
him coming out gay from the public. Jessie is no longer hounded by
the media, but then she reveals her pregnancy is with a different
affair.
Episode
6: Paige is fired from her work when she video records one of her
underaged students entering a bar. Paige tries to find a new job,
but then decides to use social media to her advantage. Connor
reveals his affair with Kath to Tahlia and then Tahlia blackmails
Connor to marry him then and she vows to destroy Kath. Jessie tries
to get her lover Nate to step out to the media, but he refuses when
he is afraid of the scandal it will cause him.
Episode
7: Tahlia and Connor attend marriage counseling but then realizes
their marriage was based on lies and threats and they break up. The
owner tries to create a foundation in Jack's name, but Jessie instead
donates it to single mother's aid. Tahlia reveal to Brain Kath's
affair with Connor. Rusty reveals he was in a relationship with
Jack.
Episode
8: Paige breaks off with Dan and refuses to use her connections with
WAGs to get back her old job. It is revealed the owner Andrew has
been stealing millions from the team and keeping the truth from
everyone. The truth is finally revealed when coach Brian was the
last one to talk with Jack and he got into a fight with him and then
left him, but then Jack passed out afterwards and drown in the water.
Andrew is forced to resign as the owner. Paige and Dan say good bye
and she leaves the city.
The
Adam McKay-produced Winning
Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty - The Complete First Season
(2022) is the beginning of a series that not only tries to deliver
the story that the long title promises, but wants to be the
basketball experience and that means a post-modern approach of mixed
media, mixed times and mixed sense of place. John C. Reilly is
actually able top keep it together as moneyman Jerry Buss, who buys,
takes over the builds the team into a force that not only dominates
the sport, but redefines it and all the media sports will soon find
itself in.
For
fans of the team and sport, it will be a great experience, but for
the rest of us and those who feel the series is like a Buss biopic
that may favor him a little too much, it is likely not to work as
well. Add fans of rival ball teams and you can see this will
generate some controversy as its idea of a timeline unspools.
Helping
is a solid cast that includes Adrien Brody, Sally Field, Jason
Clarke, Jason Siegel, Tracy Letts, Gaby Hoffmann, Hadley Robinson and
Julianne Nicholson, but Solomon Hughes is a convincing Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar and Quincy Isaiah is really good as Magic Johnson. No
matter any criticisms, McKay knows what he wants and what he is
doing, the people here are serious talent and this is for real by
people who want to tell this story and love it. That's still not
enough to give it a giant recommendation, but its huge ambitions are
inarguable.
Extras
include Digital Code copy,
while the discs add Winning
Time: Invitation to Set
The
Forum: Episodes 1 - 10
Winning
Time: Set Tour
Winning
Time: Changing the Game
Winning
Time: Training Time
Winning
Time: The Craft
Rodney
Barnes - Writer and Executive
Richard
Toyon - Production Designer
and
Argya Sadan - Set Designer
As
for playback performance, the 1080p 1.78
X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Time
are easily the best-looking transfers here since it is the only
Blu-ray release here, but it does mix all kinds of analog, digital
and photochemical film footage throughout, so the
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the DVD releases are solid
and not bad, plus do not resort to that montage approach.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Time
is also well mixed and presented in a warmer way than
the lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Nest
DVD and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the Keeps
DVD, but they still sound fine for what they offer.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Winning) and Ricky Chiang
