Comedy
Yo Gabba GabbaLand
Apple TV+ welcomes preschoolers to Yo Gabba GabbaLand—though parents may want to note the show’s references to magic.
Camille doesn’t drink alcohol. In fact, she can’t.
The moment the stuff touches her mouth, she panics. She spits it out. She may even bleed.
Blame her recently deceased father, Alexandre. He raised her to love wine, since he loved wine. He trained her palette so that she could note all the subtleties of flavor and appreciate it as much as he did. But Camille realized that she could never obtain her father’s love the way a good pinot noir could.
They fell apart. She didn’t speak to him for years. And then, he died in Tokyo. Now Camille has been summoned for the funeral and reading of the will.
When Camille sits with Alexandre’s executor, there’s a Japanese man there, too: Issei Tomine, Alexandre’s student in wine, who became like a son to him. Whereas Camille stopped drinking alcohol altogether, Issei’s wine-tasting abilities are unmatched.
The will contains an unusual request, the executor admits. Alexandre’s primary assets—his $7 million Tokyo home and his private wine collection worth $148 million—are to be prizes in a competition based around wine. He wants his fortune to go to someone who can appreciate wine like he did, and so he has challenged Camille and Issei to the task.
And whoever wins this three-round test will inherit his entire estate.
Well, we won’t spoil exactly what happens. But the competition forges a healthy friendship between Camille and Issei—and reveals that they’re actuallyhalf-siblings. So, they stay in touch even after the competition ends.
That, of course, is when Alexandre barges in from the grave with yet another challenge. His executor presents Camille and Issei with an unlabeled bottle of wine, which Alexandre’s scribblings label as the best wine he’s ever had. He bought it long ago at an auction, and his greatest regret was failing to discover from where the wine originally came. His last wish is that his children would track down that location.
Well, Camille hates the idea—with the competition over, she was hoping to finally be done with her distant and cold father. But Issei accepts the quest. However, after the man nearly drowns himself while trying to solve the mystery (somewhat intentionally, I might add), Camille begrudgingly decides to help out her half-brother.
Drops of God comes as a loose, live-action adaptation of a manga of the same name—and “loose” is doing some heavy lifting here, too. But the premise is the same: The estranged child of a wine-obsessed sommelier must earn her father’s inheritance through a wine-based competition.
The show’s biggest content consideration is, of course, its focus on alcohol. While Drops of God is usually quite refined in its presentation (think wine tasting rather than binge drinking), we understand the subject matter can be touchy for some.
Outside of that, viewers will face some heavy language, including uses of the f-word and s-word. The occasional sexual scene shows up onscreen, and we see quite a bit of skin (though no explicit nudity) in those encounters. Since much of the show takes place in Japan, some Buddhist and Shinto beliefs pop up every so often. And there are some other religious elements blended into the mix, too.
Because of that, I’d place Drops of God around the same age appropriateness as the wine itself. So viewers will want to keep that in mind lest they find the show leaving them with a bitter aftertaste.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Camille finds herself competing against her father’s protégé, Issei, for her father’s wine empire.
A woman in the background of a scene is obviously not wearing a bra. Another woman kisses her female friend in polite greeting. A man and woman lean in to kiss each other but are interrupted.
A man kisses a woman after taking a shot, and he spits some of the liquor into the her mouth, despite her insistence that she does not drink alcohol. After she backs away from the man, her nose and mouth bleed profusely. Camille accidentally shatters a wine glass, cutting her hand.
We see a man’s corpse during an open-casket funeral. After a body is cremated, a ceremony involves moving the remaining bones with chopsticks.
Alexandre describes Issei as a “spiritual son.” We’re told that Alexandre grew more spiritual in his later years. He became a Buddhist, and after he dies, he’s given a Buddhist cremation funeral service. Alexandre’s wine collection is described as his “temple.”
A lot of wine shows up throughout the episode. Some people drink shots of liquor. People smoke.
We hear the f-word five times and the s-word six times.
Following the conclusion of the wine competition, Camille and Issei come to respect each other. However, their lives are shaken once again when Alexandre’s executor provides them with an unlabeled bottle of wine and a request from their father to discern where it came from.
A man intentionally tries to drown himself in order to experience a vision. He does have a vision (under different circumstances), and he describes it as being in the “Sea of Tranquility.” Someone calls wine the “ambrosia of the gods.” We see a depiction of the three magi adoring the baby Jesus.
A woman accuses someone of wanting to sleep with her father. A woman mentions being in a lesbian relationship. Camille kisses her fiancé.
People drink wine. Two men discuss whiskey, and one of the men seems to be suffering from a hangover.
We hear the f-word twice and the s-word once. Someone says “b–ch.” God’s name is used in vain once.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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