Recent Binges: Serial + Poldark

Whether it’s books, a TV show or more recently, a podcast, I love to binge. It’s fun to just immerse yourself in something for a week or so and not have to wait in between to find out what happens next. Recently I binged the podcast Serial and the TV show Poldark and both made such an impression on me that I knew I wanted to talk about it.

Serial

credit

I listen to music almost all the time. During my commute, during work, around the house when I’m cooking, cleaning or getting ready for the day. It’s safe to say that I get my money’s worth out of Spotify Premium. But I wanted something new to listen to at work. My songs were starting were to get repetitive (which is probably my fault) so I decided to give podcasts a try. Specifically, I wanted to listen to Serial. I didn’t think I’d be into it since audiobooks don’t retain my attention but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Serial was addicting and I’m kind of glad I didn’t listen to it when it first came out. Because I loved being able to listen to it all within a span of a week. For those of you who don’t know, Season 1 of Serial follows the real life case of Adnan Syed who’s been in jail for the last 15 years for the murder of his then high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999. The voice of the podcast is Sarah Koenig, a journalist and former reporter, who starts to look into his case and all the evidence (or lack there of). She interviews people who knew both Adnan and Hae and goes into detail about everything that attributed to his incarceration. It’s pretty riveting to hear all the inconsistencies, how it all went down and how it’s affected everyone involved. Immediately after finishing, I started looking up articles about the case (there’s been new developments recently thanks to Serial). It’s just amazing to think how this podcast’s curiosity shed some new light on the case. As for what I personally think, I don’t want to say because that would be a spoiler! But I do agree with Serial’s assessment by the last episode.

Listen to season 1 here.

Poldark

credit

I needed something new to binge (as if I don’t watch enough TV) and I actually took a poll on Twitter to help me find my next show. I was between Poldark, Doctor Who and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. The former two ended up being tied but since Doctor Who was no longer on Netflix, Poldark was the winner! It was the right choice because again, it’s another show I was able to binge in less than a week. Everyone is perfectly cast but the two standouts are the main star, Ross Poldark played by Aidan Turner, and Demelza played by Eleanor Tomlinson (who is absolutely amazing!). It’s a show that takes place after the American Revolutionary War as Poldark, a solider, returns home to find everything in shambles and tries to rebuild his life. Polder, at his core, is a good man with a passionate heart but he’s also a bit of a rogue and there are times when I wanted to shake some sense into him. There’s also a love triangle but who to root for is so obvious that I don’t understand why they even bother with this trope. Aside from that, it’s a well-told, well-acted story that takes place over the course of 8 episodes. Keep in mind, time does move fast on this show! It skips ahead months and months, which could be a bit jarring, and the episodes can feel long (they’re about 52 minutes each). But it’s packed with so much emotion and guaranteed to bring on the feels. I would highly recommend having issues nearby when you get to the last two episodes. I can’t wait for the next season!

And if you need more convincing to watch, I'll leave you with this image. (You're welcome.)

*** 

What have you binged lately?

Have you watched/listened to either Serial or Poldark?

Would love to hear your thoughts!