Just another few months for this weeknote, the second one of 2026

Prologue

As always, this is an intentionally browseable set of weeknotes regarding things I “beheld” over the previous “week”¹.

These “weeknotes” support two purposes - recommendations to the handful of people who read it, and also giving me somewhere to look if I’m trying to remember if I watched something or not.

My exploration of Hugo Themes² is still something I need to properly work through, so there should be a Table of Contents around here somewhere but there probably isn’t. If I fixed that you can use that to navigate to whatever catches your eye.

So, what have I read or watched in the last four months, in no particular order…

One Piece

When did I blog about the first series? I’m sure I did, but I can’t find it.

For those of you unfamiliar with the setting, the summary on Wikipedia is excellent: “The series follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates as they pursue their individual goals together and seek the “One Piece”; a legendary treasure found and hidden by the former “King of the Pirates”. In order to achieve their goal, the Straw Hat Pirates must travel the seas to strange islands, avoid capture from the marines, meet new allies, and fight various foes who possess unique abilities from eating Devil Fruits.”

Anyway - I love the fantastical plot, and the deep world building; but especially the characters. Partly the extreme differences between them, such as bravery and caution, work very well, and partly I’m always impressed when a “found family” of heroes works. It’s such a common trope, but works especially well here - and I think is what helps ground the fantasy, because the unrealistic aspects are surrounded by such realistic motivations and relationships. That’s something I find myself saying repeatedly, but I think it’s a repeated theme of what appeals to me - especially having seen online discourse about story and plot, the “plot” being what events happen and what the characters do, the “story” being everything around that such as their motivations and emotions. Media can feel like the plot drove the story, that characters feel or act a certain way because the writers needed something to happen, or wanted to include a specific set piece; whereas here, even as you watch Buggy The Clown split his body into several individually controlled pieces, the story feels natural not forced.

There is apparently more to come in 2027, so it’s worth watching this now - especially as it seems to be surviving beyond Netflix’s mandatory two season limit for anything they make.

Legends and Lattes

This is a novel following Viv, a battle-weary orc, who decides to retire from her life as a mercenary and adventurer, seeking a more peaceful and meaningful existence.

This book is a joy. Lovely story, very character driven in the best way - a cozy read but not without peril. I can see why, apparently, it spawned a “cozy fantasy” genre - there’s a lot to like here, but also I think this was especially well written, which gave subsequent works a lot to live up to.

The characters are particularly well drawn without the author meticulously describing everything about them to us, using common fantasy races and settings means that a lot of the world is filled in for us. But also that gives the author an opportunity to go “against type”, just often enough to make the story interesting, without it feeling like characters are being surprising only to drive the plot, or to demonstrate the author’s iconoclasm.

I liked that there were friendships and alliances - it feels too often that fantasy, from my meagre experience of it, is all about racial conflict and historical feuds and world-ending threats where you need to kill them before they kill you. Whereas in any complex inter-dependent society co-operation and trust are key, so it was nice to see that reflected in a way that made the world feel more real, but also illuminated the main character’s transition from their previous life.

As per my review of Joe Tidy’s last book, and I hope this sounds like as much of a compliment as I mean it to be, I think a key part of my enjoyment of the book was that it was an easy bedtime read. Maybe I’ve tried a couple of books recently that are too non-fiction, or too academic - designed to be references or studied rather than just enjoyed. Whereas this was definitely a “just one more chapter” kind of book.

Predator Badlands

Yet another film in the Predator series, worth your time if you want an enjoyable but fairly uncomplicated watch.

As I find I tend to say with films, it’s the characters that make it work for me. The plot is fairly predictable, but not in a bad way, it’s not the kind of film which will surprise and delight you with its twists and turns - as opposed to say the Knives Out films I’ve mentioned. It was the characters, even those made of or boosted by CGI, that were well made to elicit sympathy or interest from the audience. As I said above about One Piece, the realistic and genuine actions and decisions, made within fantastical situations, makes those fantastical situations work. Especially here Elle Fanning is great as the two main characters, and injects synthetic beings with a realistic personality.

Do note that the CGI ( is it still called that? ) works well, for all the contexts it’s used in, but we did watch this on a relatively small and old TV when I was overdue a visit to the opticians… do interpret that disclaimer as you see fit.

The trailer doesn’t do it justice, but lets you know what you’re in for.

Dragons of the Dark Woods

This is a lovely object. It’s a 100 page art book, documenting an imagined search for dragons in a small Welsh forest using “found” archive materials, including many illustrations and photographs, written descriptions and journal entries.

It kind of works as a book but the binding is too tight and it’s “just” a collection of pictures and notes. I don’t have the table space, and probably not the heart to do so, but really you want to pull it apart and spread it out. I would love to see this as a collection of postcards, or even a Jackdaw folder.³

When the Clock Runs Out : 20 NFL Greats Share Their Stories of Hardship and Triumph

The title pretty much determines whether this is for you or not. The stories are… the stories are alright. It’s interesting to read about such a wide variety of thoughts and attitudes from players after they’ve left professional football. And this book comes from a time before the organisations involved would be overly litigious, published at the very end of the last century, so avoiding that issue, and also the risk of anyone in it being too conscious of their public image.

In one sense the format works well, covering so many players in relatively small snippets is just enough to get an idea of them without dwelling too much on any aspect of their work, but also the book does feature relatively small text printed over black and white pictures, making it distinctly hard to read.

Star Trek Academy

I really liked this, very Star Trek in a way that those over-burdened with nostalgia seem to miss… going by second hand reports anyway. A decidedly weird universe, arguably a science fantasy show rather than a science fiction show.

That’s it - I don’t have time, both literally and philosophically, for the online debates about whether any series of Star Trek is objectively good or bad; I enjoyed this, the characters were interesting, and I particularly appreciated that it explored ( as did other series ) dilemmas that are very human but also only possible in science fiction, regarding time travel, or extremely long lifespans, or what happens if you have multiple identities, but that also echo very day to day concerns around identity and justice and loyalty and forgiveness. I particularly enjoyed Paul Giamatti’s character for setting this tone, but the acting throughout was always good, and sometimes exemplary, which is what always makes these fantastical scenarios work for me.

National Theatre Live - The Importance of Being Earnest

A joy to watch, laugh out loud funny - I can see why this play has lasted so long. On the one hand it is very, very British, on the other it has a kind of “timeless absurdity” that comes from this kind of farce - I’ve vague memories of Shakespeare plays with similar cases of mistaken or adopted identity. The cast worked well, Sharon D Clarke especially as Lady Bracknell, but with Ncuti Gatwa in the “lead” role of a sort, I was impressed at how balanced it all was between the characters and their point of view.

Zootopia 2

This was good. I mean, it was good but only “good”, like a three stars out of five kind of feeling. This is very much the most favoured aspects of the first film turned up a little higher, with more references to grownup movies for the adults to keep them entertained I feel.

An enjoyable watch, with relatively small amounts of peril, and “plot armour” all around, which makes it a comfortable viewing. But… from what little I remember of them, it feels like Despicable Me, where what made the films fun - and what viewers highlighted - gets emphasised as the aspects that viewers definitely liked, rather than being seen as part of the mix of everything else - marzipan is the favourite part of a Christmas cake for me, but I wouldn’t want all marzipan. They’re likeable films, and with a profit of at least one and a half billion dollars, there will be a third, I just hope they do something different with what is a really interesting and amusing world.

Now You See Me Now You Don’t

A theme I keep coming back to - films that are pitched in the right way, that know what they are, work better for me than grand efforts that feel contrived, or action dramas that want to be sweeping explorations of humanity and conflict but are actually just a string of set pieces with some talking between them. Similarly this latest film in the Now You See Me series. I thought it was another “good not great, but in a good way”, it was undemanding and fun. I don’t think, er, the Now You See Me Cinematic Universe is the franchise it thinks it is, but enjoyable all the same. I don’t actually mean to damn it with faint praise, I really enjoyed watching it - but I don’t think I’d rewatch it, or even parts of it - but I’m glad I watched it.

Does that make sense? And contrary to reviews I found, for me the large number of characters works because they’re so shallow, in a good way. You’re not looking for complex character development here. You want “this is X, they do Y, they react to that other character in this way”, and that’s interesting because of how one character intersects with other characters and all the situations they find themselves in.

To scale up my thinking on this a little, I’m disappointed in the modern trend of “second screening”, it feels like it makes all media something to tick off your “to watch” pile, or to have some knowledge of so you can discuss it online, rather than immersing yourself in a different world for a couple of hours. But sometimes that immersion works because the film is uncomplicated, because it’s so easy to know what’s going on, so you can dive into that immersed state so quickly.

Also, of course, as this is a magic themed film, everything isn’t quite what it seems. You should probably watch it, but if you do, do watch the previous films in order first - that’s part of what makes this a simple watch, without it being like the “homework” required by a Marvel movie.

Perfect Crown

This is a South Korean drama set in a fictitious but contemporary version of the country. As always, great to see another culture, and how that catches you unawares - for example this is a serious and realistic drama, but also features blatant product placement, and some surprising comedy sound effects that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1970s comedy sketch in the UK.

Really well acted, by all characters, at all times. That comes across best in the original Korean, so watching it with subtitles doesn’t detract from what’s happening at all.

If you want something well made, slowly paced, and with just enough cultural difference ( assuming you’re Western ) do check this out on Disney+ if you’re in the UK. Wikipedia lists it as a romantic comedy, but there’s definitely drama and high stakes in this too. The trailer gives you an idea of what you’re in for.

Taskmaster

As I’m sure I’ve said before, it’s the combination of guests that makes or breaks this show for me - the chemistry between them is the key, and how they individually get on with the Taskmaster or are “against” him in a way, although always in jest. All of this season’s contestants are endearing, fun, but also unashamedly smart at tasks. I do like that willingness to be authentic, and it’s such a cliche, but to think outside the box. Of course you don’t need to have watched previous series to enjoy this, you can just dive in. It’s available all over the place, on the Channel Four app if you’re in the UK.

The Vampire Lestat

This is wonderful and harrowing. As with the previous two series, I think this pushes what TV can be. The unreliable narrator… of the current series, of past series, of both? We’re not watching objective reality, I think, but each character’s impression of what’s happened, and we the viewer have to account for that on the fly?

Not the most impactful part of the series at all, but I really like the world-building, just thinking through and extrapolating the consequences of this kind of myth being true. Which I say so often, partly assuming that you’re a sporadic reader dipping into a single review of something you’re interested in, but partly as I come to terms with how much that subject interests me. Taking something like vampires, with such deep folklore, and exploring and imagining what the most probable and most intriguing aspects of what could happen is fascinating.

Also - not giving too much away - the start of this third series begins at the end. I tend to dislike that kind of method, as wondering what will happen next, both from the characters’ and author’s point of view is something I enjoy, but this is particularly well done and manages to raise more questions than answers.

Typing and publishing this just after having watched the last episode… overall the entire series, and especially the final episode, are a lot. Like, don’t watch just before you go to bed, or to come down after a difficult day, a lot. The very first episode of the first series will let you know if this is for you or not.

Heated Rivalry

Finally getting around to see what all the fuss is about, I mean, how much can a story about a couple of gay ice hockey players actually mean? Especially for something that turned out to be a low budget production - but they do so much with so little, and like some of the best shows the low budget has forced innovation - yet there’s hockey scenes in front of full stadiums, I assume real rather than the invented spectators of Ted Lasso? There were clearly some choices partly made due to lack of budget, the shots chosen, the locations used, but they’re always used so well… the characters being somewhere isolated, the closeups of their faces, the lack of reaction shots of crowds - it leads to a focus on individuals that works especially well.

I liked the characters… I mean, both the main characters have issues, but they all seem like fully formed people with justifiable reasons to be how they are.

Beyond that… er, for a set of reviews partly written to make it easy for me to highlight things to watch or read to other people, I don’t want to tell you any more. Do watch this, if you like… well… emotions. The plot is so well constructed, and given the subject matter the over-arching sense of peril, but that isn’t used or over-used for drama. And if you easily develop empathy for characters, brace yourself, and maybe forewarn those who live with you about potential shouting at the TV.