Drama
Alien: Earth
FX’s ‘Alien: Earth’ is just the latest graphically violent entry in the already graphically violent ‘Alien’ franchise.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to read minds? To know exactly what those around you are thinking and feeling? Sounds like an incredible superpower. But awkward San Francisco coder, Zoey, doesn’t always think so.
You see, Zoey can hear what people are feeling and thinking. She just doesn’t hear like your “normal” mind reader; instead of gleaning information through words or pictures or whatever, she does so through song. You heard me. Song. Like songs from the Beatles, John Legend, Prince. And the music she hears tells a story.
She wasn’t born with this ability. One day, Zoey goes in for a routine medical procedure, and the next thing you know she’s strolling down the streets of San Francisco trying to make sense of the never-ending musical blaring all around her.
There’s only so much space in a person’s mind. And Zoey feels like her brain is already at max capacity. She’s trying to get a promotion in the male-driven world of coding. Her beloved dad is slowly dying from a rare neurological disorder. She can’t seem to choose the right guy. Her roommate is always singing at the crack of dawn. And her best guy friend might be in love with her.
That’s a lot. For anybody.
But this newfound ability, although overwhelming, might just be the key that Zoey needs to clear out her own cognitive jams and connect with those around her. One tune at a time.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, NBC’s latest creation, is like a combination between the musical world of Glee and the awkward, endearing lines from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
It’s a musical at its core with a solid cast, superb vocals and an acceptable storyline. Plus, we find some real gold moral nuggets here. Through Zoey’s own ups and downs, she learns to reach for hope, to give others grace, to never judge someone at first glance and to believe in herself.
But before you find gold, you have to sift through the dirt. While there’s not a ton of problematic issues (at least not yet), we do hear some profane language and plenty of jokes about drug use.
It is, even with its issues, one of the cleaner shows at a TV-14 rating. And it’s one that aims to teach viewers about the power and necessity of human connection through the revelatory nature of music.
Zoey leaves a routine medical procedure to find that she can hear the thoughts of those around her in the form of song. Zoey and her family struggle to connect with her dad who can no longer verbally communicate due to a neurological disorder.
Zoey shares with a friend that her father is slowly dying. This same friend tells Zoey that his father killed himself months prior.
Zoey jokes about vomiting. A man makes a dark joke about his mother leaving him when he was a child, which led to multiple rejections from women.
A guy is referred to as “very sexy.” A man and woman flirt with one another. Zoey goes to a club informally called “the make out place.” Zoey talks to one of her close friends about her former, destructive relationships.
Zoey’s boss takes a few jabs at millennials and asks a group of young men and women to contact their “Adderall dealers.” A neighbor asks Zoey if she’d like “Xanax” or “vodka” and later admits to smoking marijuana and being “baked.” Zoey helps her mother sort through medication for her father.
God’s name is misused once, and other profanities include one utterance each of “d–n” and “b–ch.” The f-word is bleeped out once.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
FX’s ‘Alien: Earth’ is just the latest graphically violent entry in the already graphically violent ‘Alien’ franchise.
Based on novel by Jenny Han, this series follows the complex love life of Belly, a young girl caught between two boys who are childhood friends as she joins the world of debutantes.
In Nickelodeon’s preschool cartoon Tim Rex in Space, Tim and his T-Rex family solve problems together.
Good as its name, Prime Video’s ‘Butterfly’ is a flyaway thing. But its content can sting like a bee.
