Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Today, our writers share what they’ve been watching over the past month. Coincidentally, Skye has watched a handful of Rob Reiner films this month, and I’m certain she’ll write a memorial for him. We lost a legend. RIP, Rob Reiner. Feel free to share what you’ve been watching this past month, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started.

Kyra’s Shows

Delicious in Dungeon marks the first anime I’ve watched in about a decade. Seriously. I haven’t found a single anime to spark my interest in almost ten years. Delicious in Dungeon’s premise is simple. What would various mythological creatures taste like, and how would one prepare them? There’s more to Delicious in Dungeon than that, but most viewers will watch for the interesting mystical meals. They look scrumptious.

I can’t wait to try a real-life–modified, of course–version of any one of these meals. Yum! The idea of eating mythical creatures has sparked another board game concept. I’m still in the early phases of game development, but I’ll share this game soon. Getting back to Delicious in Dungeon, the storyline is easy enough to follow. One adventurer’s sibling gets eaten by a red dragon, and the adventurer quests for their missing sister before the red dragon can digest her. The party has little to no supplies, so they must eat the flora and fauna they meet in the dungeon. Hence, Delicious in Dungeon.

The show ventures into corny territory more than once. I get a kick out of adventurers performing their best because “they got enough sleep, ate three balanced meals, and exercised.” Delicious in Dungeon often feels like a Saturday morning cartoon with a message for kids. But I’m here for it. One can’t help but eat a healthy snack while watching. I don’t always eat the best. Thank you for the reminder to eat balanced meals, Delicious in Dungeon.

Delicious in Dungeon only has one season (on Netflix), and after finishing that season twice, I switched to a show I once covered on this website when it first aired, Grimm. Grimm’s first season oddly goes with Delicious in Dungeon. A set of characters harvests bodies for medicinal purposes. This CW made for a perfect follow-up to Delicious in Dungeon, especially since I was finishing my mythic monster cooking game prototype.

I always graded Grimm on a curve. It’s a stellar show for a CW show. Yes. Grimm suffers from plenty of CW melodrama. But Grimm is less CW of a show than most CW shows. I like the premise. Grimms are mythical police officers; Grimms do their best to keep the peace between wesen (mythical creatures who look human to us normies, but Grimms can see through their built-in illusion magic). As you can surmise, Grimm borrows more than a little bit from the comic book series, Fables. One of the titular Grimm’s besties is a “Big Bad Wolf.”

But Grimm does enough to hold my interest almost a decade and a half after its initial release. It may have had the best CGI of a CW show, and that’s saying a lot. The Arrowverse put a ton of money into CGI. Strike that. No. Flash had the best CGI, but Grimm’s sparse use of CGI made it look better. Most of Grimm’s CGI was used to make human faces look animalistic. I’ve only watched most of the first season, but so far, I’m enjoying the ride.

Finally, I watched Sean Combs: The Reckoning on Netflix. It was eye-opening, disturbing, and well-done as most Netflix limited series are, but I’m unsure how many revelations I found in Sean Combs: The Reckoning. Since he’s a hip hop insider, producer 50 Cent has connections. I also appreciate it when a documentary openly shares its bias. Sean Combs: The Reckoning reminds me of the old essay adage: tell the truth, but tell it slant. Don’t be afraid to lean completely into your beliefs. It’s clear the director wants people to believe Sean Combs had something to do with Tupac’s murder. Sean Combs: The Reckoning does a great job of presenting the theory as fact.

And I’ll be honest. There’s more than a zero percent chance that Sean Combs had something to do with Tupac’s murder. I’m just not as certain as Sean Combs: The Reckoning appears to be. To be fair, Sean Combs: The Reckoning does state the Tupac murder theory as a theory. The one thing I know Sean Combs: The Reckoning adds to hip hop history is its inclusion of security camera footage during Biggie’s murder. I had to look away. I can’t stand that kind of senseless violence.

And Sean Combs: The Reckoning does a great job of illustrating the moments leading up to Biggie’s death. One can’t walk away and not feel like Combs had plenty to do with Biggie’s death. The fact that Combs made Biggie’s mom pay for his funeral was shameful. I didn’t care for Puff Daddy before this docuseries. I’m more of a Tupac and Biggie fan. Sean Combs: The Reckoning does enough that I don’t ever want to hear another Sean Combs track. I may act like Combs whenever a Tupac song plays on the radio. Yo! Change that!

That’s all I have for what I’ve been watching this past month. Let’s check in with Skye.

Skye’s Movies

I had been meaning to watch Misery for a while, and I finally got the opportunity a couple of weeks ago. And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Misery ever since. Putting aside Kathy Bates’ iconic and Oscar-winning performance as Annie Wilkes, I know that’s a big ask, Misery is a great tale about the danger of getting too involved in our fandoms. Even with that powerful and necessary lesson for adults, Misery also delivers plenty of suspense. There were several moments I was grinding my teeth after Paul escaped his room while Annie was away, and the small, intimate setting of the Wilkes estate makes the sense of urgency feel even more real.

Misery also serves as a testament to one of our greatest modern filmmakers: Rob Reiner. With his recent passing, along with his producer and spouse, Michele Singer Reiner, I wish their family the best in the healing process. I now watch their old works, remembering what a gift they were to cinema, and I’ll remember their creations fondly. Rest in peace.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind happened to appear on my list of films to watch. It turned out to be much different from what I was expecting. What was I expecting? I don’t remember, but from what I saw, Eternal Sunshine seemed to be a charming flick. Upon first viewing, I had a hard time figuring out what Eternal Sunshine was trying to be, but I was able to get into it after the big reveal. Eternal Sunshine can be schmaltzy at times, but I was moved. The only thing I still don’t follow is how technology to remove specific memories from someone’s brain casually exists. I might give Eternal Sunshine another watch to fill in those memory gaps.

I love Pixar. It was only a matter of time before I watched Elio. Y’all might remember my “Top 5 Pixar Movies” this year. I’m surprised it took me this long to watch Elio, and it ended up slightly above average. Unlike certain other Disney Disappointments™, Elio had a well thought-out script. It only became frustrating when the film didn’t follow through on some ideas and opted for a standard family-friendly space adventure. No harm would be done if you played Elio for your kids, but it would still be depriving them of the best Pixar has to offer. Please, Pixar, be better than Disney. I miss you.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. That’s all our writers watched this past month. Feel free to share your opinions on these movies and shows in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.