ft. ‘Shrill’ & Finnish Pancakes

May 7, 2021 by Sydney Grant

Happy weekend and happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! If you just panicked while reading that because you’re in denial that it’s already May, let alone that Mother’s Day is on Sunday, don’t worry. I’ve included last-minute gifts and eats below for all my fellow procrastinators that don’t at all seem like they’re last-minute. You’re welcome! Speaking of moms, for those of you who tried to make the pineapple margarita pops I recommended last week, only to find that there was no link, so sorry. My editor (my mom) didn’t catch that one, but I’ve updated the post with the link now.

In other news, it’s time to spruce up your dating profiles, because Bill Gates is officially on the market! As one Redditor pointed out — Melinda got the house, but Bill got to keep the Windows. Ha, ha.

However you’re planning on spending your weekend, enjoy these quarantivities!

Quarant-streams

‘Shrill’

Watch this if you’ve only got 30 minutes and want to laugh:

One of my favorite shows is back for its third, and unfortunately, final season today, so please pour one out for Shrill. Starring SNL‘s hilarious Aidy Bryant, the show is about a journalist named Annie working at an alt-weekly paper in Portland, as she navigates day-to-day struggles like dealing with her difficult, yet hilarious, editor Gabe and battling insecurities with her weight. Although much of the plot does revolve around Annie being overweight, the show is about so much more than that. It tackles serious issues (Annie gets an abortion in the very first episode), but does so in a way that says, “Yes, this is a show about life and life can get messy sometimes.”

It’s also about Annie’s evolution as a character, transforming from an overly apologetic woman who can hardly mutter an “F U” under her breath to a particularly rude fitness instructor in season one, to someone who confidently writes a scathing piece about an OB/GYN who suggests she gets gastric bypass surgery in season three. The entire cast is also fabulous and the witty one-liners are quicker than each episode’s criminally short runtime (22 min is NOT enough), so it demands your attention while watching. If this is the first time you’re hearing of Shrill, now is the perfect time to enjoy it from start to finish. It may not be as exciting as a show about Russian spies (see my next suggestion below), but there is a scene involving a date-gone-wrong and some BBQ — pretty saucy stuff!

Stream Seasons 1-3 via Hulu.

‘The Americans’

Watch this if you wanted to be a spy when you grew up:

Every three weeks or so, I reach a point in my TV consumption in which I feel as though I’ve watched every new show that every streaming service has to offer. Rather than admit that I have a problem and force myself to do something crazy like, I don’t know, actually venture outside for a change, I usually use these times as an opportunity to get into an older show that I never had a chance to try out before. In this week’s case, that show is The Americans.

Widely considered one of the best dramas of all time, The Americans follows the lives of two KGB spies, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, posing as Americans living in Washington, D.C. during the Cold War. Raising their two kids by day and kidnapping Russian defectors by night, they struggle not to blow their covers as tensions rise both between the countries and within their household. Of course, their new neighbor also happens to be an FBI agent, so that doesn’t help things. If you too have reached the end of all streaming platforms and are in the mood for a period drama that’s about something other than women in puffy dresses’ dating lives (sorry Bridgerton, love you), then meet your new favorite show.

Stream it via Amazon.

Quarant-reads

‘Project Hail Mary: A Novel’ by Andy Weir

Read this if you’re still waiting for Dune:

From the bestselling author of The Martian comes a new thriller that’s sure to excite all lovers of science fiction. After waking up light-years from Earth, an astronaut named Ryland fights amnesia as he struggles to remember what brought him on his mission to space in the first place. Armed with nothing but a dead crew and fuzzy memories, Ryland is humanity’s last hope against an alien threat that’s on its way towards taking out Earth — unless he can stop it. Sci-fi lovers, this one’s for you!

Purchase via Amazon OR support an independent book store like this one.