Animation
Good Times
Netflix takes a classic sitcom, Good Times, and turns it into a vulgar, violent, sexually-charged TV-MA show.
Dr. Dylan Reinhart—author, professor and former CIA operative—used to be a man of intrigue. But since retiring from the CIA, newlywed Reinhart is trying to put that behind him. He has built a “normal” life with his husband, Andy. They’re even trying to adopt a baby.
Lizzie Needham is a homicide detective who lost her partner (and fiancé) in the line of duty. Since then, she’s gained a reputation at the New York Police Department of being difficult to work with, having gone through three new partners over the course of the year.
Lizzie and Dylan are complete opposites. He’s dapper, she’s slovenly. He’s perky, she’s vapid. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be any chance of these two working together, let alone becoming friends. But when a serial killer uses Dylan’s book as the motif for his murders, Lizzie enlists Reinhart’s help to profile the culprit. Using their instincts, this unlikely pair will have to work together to track down the killer before he can strike again.
Having an openly gay character on a network television show is nothing new.Such shows as Modern Family and Will & Grace both went down that path well before. That being said, Dylan Reinhart is the first openly gay lead in a U.S. network drama—and he’s played by an openly gay actor, Alan Cumming. But for Cumming, it’s not so much about playing a queer character but rather telling a story about a person who just so happens to be gay. “It’s about how you desensationalise someone’s sexuality,” he said in an interview with PEOPLE Now.
Despite Cumming’s justifications, the show still spends a good deal of time exploring some of the issues that are unique to same-sex couples, i.e. adoption. In one episode, a social worker questions Dylan and his spouse about how they will explain “traditional” families to their child, and Dylan is outraged, calling her biased. The show tries desperately to show that Dylan’s orientation doesn’t encompass his entire being; it’s just a small facet of who he is. But with such an obvious plotline determined by this facet, it isn’t something that can be ignored either.
Even if we take the main character’s sexual orientation off the table, the show is still riddled with problems. Sex and excessive drinking are not uncommon, especially since Andy owns a bar. And then there’s the fact that Dylan and Lizzie solve homicide cases. The grisly murder scenes they investigate spare no details. And since Dylan specializes in serial killers, viewers are also treated to some disturbing insights into the twisted minds of these perpetrators.
While Lizzie and Dylan are ultimately trying to protect the people of New York from murderers, they also use unsanctioned methods and deceit to accomplish this goal. Perhaps this is a bit paradoxical since it causes problems for them both professionally and personally. But viewers would be best served by going with their gut on Instinct.
Dylan and Andy try to convince Sam, Andy’s pregnant coworker, to pick them as her baby’s adopted parents. Lizzie contemplates whether or not she can handle the secretive lifestyle of boyfriend Julian (Dylan’s former CIA colleague). Meanwhile, Lizzie and Dylan seem to catch a break after a divorce lawyer’s corpse turns up in the river and his killer confesses to the crime shortly after. But their (ahem) instincts tell them more is afoot, prompting them to dig deeper.
Dylan talks about scaphism, a form of torture and (in ancient days) execution that involves a person being trapped between two boats to be slowly devoured by insects and the like. We see the gruesome, rotting results of the torture. A coroner peels skin off the finger of a victim to obtain a fingerprint. A man dies after ingesting cyanide. Domestic and verbal abuse are mentioned, as well as a serial killer’s method of clubbing victims to death. Lizzie and Dylan discover a young girl was killed in a boating accident after her alcoholic dad crashed it while drunk.
Det. Ryan Stock, a detective looking into a serial killer case, returns home to find a bloody pillow on his bed, which might be a clue to the next victim. Lizzie spars with another detective while she’s wearing a sports bra and boxing shorts. Lizzie and Dylan discuss who would die first in a horror movie. Andy and Dylan kiss. Language is light, with “h—” only being used a handful of times, but God’s name is taken in vain three times as well.
Dylan and Lizzie partner for the first time in an effort to stop a serial killer who—inspired by Dylan’s bestselling book—is leaving playing cards at the scene of each of his murders. Dylan must deduce from the cards which New York citizen is going to be offed next.
The first victim is killed in a nightclub toilet stall by someone who appears to be a transgendered drug dealer: Both killer and victim inject themselves with drugs, though the victim’s drug apparently paralyzes him. “I’m not much for religion,” the killer says. “But I do like what the Bible says about right and wrong. And you are a sinner.”
The next victim is stabbed to death—52 times. Dylan finds that number significant, given that the standard card deck has 52 cards. (Oddly, the killer leaves a joker at another crime scene, and jokers up the deck to 54 cards, but I digress.) We see the man’s body, his white shirt stained with blood; we also see the cleaned-up corpse later on, too, still sporting lots of wounds on his exposed chest on a morgue gurney.
Two other people are killed at a hotel specializing in “luxury rendezvous.” We catch just glimpses of the crime scene, where the lovers were killed in the throes of passion: a little skin, some blood spatter and gore. We also see another playing card, the edge of which is apparently wedged in the female victim’s backside. Yet another victim is found at home: She’s still alive, but her shirt’s been torn open, revealing both a bra and a scorch mark from a defibrillator that the killer apparently used on her.
Someone gets shot in the shoulder, and blood seeps through white material. Another person is tackled and knocked out. Lizzie knees a would-be sexual harasser (her former partner) in the groin. (She also tells Dylan the same guy nearly “lost a tooth after he tried to stick his tongue down my throat.”) We’re told when heroin addicts’ veins are no longer suitable to inject, they sometimes inject the drug into their eyes. Guns are pointed and fired. Dylan appears to punch a student in the gut.
Dylan kisses Andy on the cheek at the bar he tends. Lizzie sips liquor at home. We hear talk about drug deals, prostitutes and drag queens. A nightclub is filled with sometimes scantily clad revelers who are imbibing. Characters say “b–ch” and “h—” (once each), along with a crass reference to the male anatomy. God’s name is misused once.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Netflix takes a classic sitcom, Good Times, and turns it into a vulgar, violent, sexually-charged TV-MA show.
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