Lincoln Lawyer (serial)

Season 4

Picking up where #3 left off, the Lincoln Lawyer (because he used to practice out of his Lincoln) is on trial for murder. Micky Haller and his crew have to prove his innocence, outsmart the criminal underworld, outsmart the DA, outsmart the FBI, outsmart... well, you get it. Somehow, even though this is predictable and largely stereotypical, it is fun to watch. Great ensemble working together to tell stories. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Munch (serial)

Season 1-4

A French law-drama where the central character is a defense attorney (Munch) who skirts rules to defend her (always innocent) clients. She is persistent, annoying, etc., but also heartfelt in her belief in her clients. She is mentoring the up and coming (a trust fund kid turned lawyer, her investigator, her receptionist) and working out her family relationships as well. Turns out to be the Paris equivalent of Lincoln Lawyer. Quite fun. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Good Cop/Bad Cop (serial)

Season 1

A buddy cop comedy-drama set in small town eastern Washington. The twist here is that the buddies are siblings -- she the intuitive "spirit of the law" cop, he the by-the-book oddball -- with police chief dad running the show. Entertaining, if not original. Gives Resident Alien or Monk vibes. 

3 stars (out of 5) 

Blanca (series)

This Italian series (one season - 10 episodes) features Blanca, a 20-something blind woman staring an internship at the Genoa police department. She has to deal with all the dismissiveness and stereotyping you would expect, but she makes herself useful on cases, to the point that her detective supervisor begins to trust her. In parallel, Blanca is drawn into an investigation of her own history and who killed her older sister (an event that caused Blanca's blindness). Is there such a thing as a Rom-Thrill? This is it. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Astrid (serial)

Season 5

In this season, the running theme is centered around a series of Astrid's epileptic seizures. They seem to be triggered by something and so she begins to investigate her own history / memory.  Tetsu loses his funding (and therefore visa), a childhood aquaintance comes back into her life, and Raphaelle is pregnant. All traumatic events that could contribute. This season thread is woven through the individual cases of each episode and we are even treated to young Astrid in flashback. Great storylines and I love the 8-10 episode seasons that is the new norm for seasons. Not so long that I lose interest -- good addictive encouragement, keep them wanting more :)

5 stars (out of 5)

Undercover Grandpa

A Spy Kids genre movie where James Caan plays senile grandpa who is always telling crazy stories about how he invented dark chocolate or single-handedly stopped the Russians from taking Berlin after WWII. When his grandkid's wannabe girlfriend (crush?) is kidnapped by an escaped South American warlord (see how silly this is already), Caan re-activiates his old unit of now geriatric special forces. The 4 of them, plus the two teenagers, take on and take out a cadre of mercenaries with more guns than the entire force of Mr. Smith in the Matrix. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Blacklist (serial)

Season 1-8

Blacklist centers on James Spader (Raymond Reddington), the FBI's most wanted criminal. He is basically an information broker who trades amongst the criminal underworld and always gets his cut. In this series, he becomes a confidential informant for the FBI under the condition that his handler be young agent / profiler Elizabeth Keen. It is this Reddington/Keen relationship that becomes the central tension of the series. Each episode consists of Reddington serving up an FBI wanted criminal and along the way getting something for himself. And each episode purports to reveal a bit more of the "truth" about Keen's past. However [spoiler] in the first 8 seasons, all revealed truths are themselves only partial or are outright lies. Overall, a good FBI/Crime series, but after 8 seasons, I need to take a break. I sense a shark-jump ahead...

3 stars (out of 5)