Alexa: Midnight mathlete meeting?
Dylan: That's Tuesday.
What is it?: 24-minute multi-cam KidCom
Where did it air? It's a Netflix original, which means many if not most of you have probably already seen every episode released so far by now but oh well
Who stars in it? Skylar from Mighty Med (remember that show?) and someone named Isabel May, apparently there's some ambiguity as to whether this is actually her first credited acting role whatosever, or on Young Sheldon, but either way, impressive start! Also one of the guys who hung out with the goofy sidekick from Best Friends Whenever (remember that show?) when they had their own band and Tiffani Thiesen, I don't think I need to explain who she is especially if you have a modicum of interest in these kidcoms and/or are actually as old as I am.
Why are we reviewing this? Well it's a kidcom sooo.... And also it's on this newfangled Netflix thing which I hear is a big thing!
To the best of my knowledge this is one of the first multi-cam kidcoms to actually be produced specifically for Netflix - Netflix of course hosts a bunch of other people's shows (pretty much the entire Disney Channel library at one point at least, and Liv and Maddie is still up there, at least) and they've slapped their "Netflix Original" label on a bunch of foreign shows they've imported years after the fact (Mako Mermaids being one of the most significant early ones - althougth they did indeed put money into that one it aired in Australia first, along with a few others, Ride Free and Go! Live Your Dreams, or something). Netflix itself, and by itself, has also produced a number of truly exclusive animated shows such as...Boss Baby: The Series? Really? Excuse me? But I think this is one of the first multi-cam kidcoms that specifically went straight to Netflix as a North America network exclusive.
...no, no wait, I take that back: their first multi-cam original/exclusive was a few years back, and I even mentioned this in my last post: the AwesomenessTV-produced, Hodgson and Pollack (of Suite Life and A.N.T. Farm fame) helmed...Richie Rich. What's almost universally considered the worst show in the history of Netflix, bar-none, even giving it consideration that it's a multi-cam kidcom.
So let's call Alexa and Katie the first multi-cam KidCom since.
Anyway, Alexa and Katie is about Alexa, who has cancer, and Katie, who doesn't have cancer but is Alexa's best friend. And I suppose this is somewhat of a spoiler but...as of the semi-cliffhanger end of E3, everyone thinks it's Katie who has cancer, not Alexa (although the immediate next episode seems to make no effort to build off this but, um, whatever). But fore the most part the show seems to be fully about Alexa overcoming being in remission and undergoing treatment while having to live a normal life, although said treatment definitely seems to be front and center of everything.
Now, those of you who have been following this blog from the beginning (which from what I can tell is everyone reading - so like the three of you, Hello Spongey and Shipping Wars Are Stupid) will know I've survived cancer myself. It's literally a big reason why I'm ultimately even writing this review - and I don't mean just analyzing the cancer aspect of this show, but as in having this blog in the first place. And I can say from personal experience how Paris Berelc and her character portray the experience is, at least how I feel in my (I'd say, very informed) opinion, is very accurate. It's probably the one singular aspect I appreciate best about the show.
And that's a very big chunk of the show right there, being what the very premise revolves around. As for the other aspects, well...they tend to revolve around that. The vast majority of Alexa's interactions are framed around her cancer experience, whether with her family, Katie or with pretty much everyone and all plot developments concerning school. Katie is navigating trying to be the best friend of someone who's physically limited by cancer treatments. And that's it. That's the show right there. Not in a nutshell, (well yes) but practically every plot point can be summarized as occurring in relation to Alexa's cancer. So it's not exactly a casual, "normal" depiction of these slice-of-life school and family-focused KidComs (however high-concept they end up being, like Liv and Maddie) but I suppose that's the whole point.
As such, again, that whole cancer aspect is what I latch onto the strongest, but looking at it objectively as a KidCom I'd say it's...somewhere in between Season 1 of LaM and somewhere in S2 when that show suddenly got really, really good. Definitely leaning towards the former for the time being, though. It's got a lot of those S1 teething problems I've talked about before, both specifically and in general (no I'm too lazy to look up the specific posts, sorry). And I think the writers are going to take a while to figure out how much they want to balance the cancer vs. regular slice-of-life antics thing, and I suspect as the show goes on it'll lean more towards the latter. But so far, it's solid and promising enough, and I'm pretty impressed with how honestly it's showing what it's like to be a cancer patient - not necessarily the during, but especially the after when there's that huge sigh of relief but also that huge adjustment period and coming to terms that you're not really 100% yet.
Episode Grades: B- for E1, B for E2 and 3.
Episode MVPs: ...I guess I'll give it to Paris Berelc for all three, although I think Isabel May comes close or even exceeds at moments.
Extra Thoughts:
- so the three of you who bother to read this (high again, Spongey and Shipping Wars are Stupid) are probably wondering how I'm even watching the three episodes without Netflix, save for burning a free trial period. I just got done visiting my parents and so I watched it off their account. They've given me permission to use their account but I've heard horror stories of Netflix tracking this stuff so if someone can fill me in before I commit, I'd appreciate that.
- so apparently and given my last post I write on this blog during holidays now. Happy Independence Day, ya'll.
- the opening quote was chosen strictly on the basis of how quite literally out of place it is on the series' TVTropes page, being not only very randomly at the bottom of the main (and so far only for the series) page, but not even detached from what happens to be the last trope listed there.
- speaking of which it's from the fourth episode which I got about halfway through, with Dylan being played by Jack Griffo in a role we're, let's face it, very not used to seeing him in. So here you go folks, as close to a Mighty Med-Thundermans crossover as we're ever, ever going to get.
- the opening quote was chosen strictly on the basis of how quite literally out of place it is on the series' TVTropes page, being not only very randomly at the bottom of the main (and so far only for the series) page, but not even detached from what happens to be the last trope listed there.
- speaking of which it's from the fourth episode which I got about halfway through, with Dylan being played by Jack Griffo in a role we're, let's face it, very not used to seeing him in. So here you go folks, as close to a Mighty Med-Thundermans crossover as we're ever, ever going to get.
- ...yeah the "live audience-chosen prank" aspect of Just Roll With It, isn't working. They really want to have their cake and eat it too with this show: wrap around a typical kidcom with very impactful, meaningful moments but not expect the jarring interruptions and breaking pranks to not interfere with it. Like I said they should've made it basically Walk The Prank but with Disney Channel regulars exclusively instead. I'll write more on that later.
- yeah Bunk'd is...marginally improving. Enough to get out of C Territory? ....eeehhhhh. The latest episode, the rather so-straightforwardly-named-it's-kinda-bizarre Yes, Lies and Tower Escape is the first one in series history to get into B territory on this blog, right at a B-. So maybe Phil Baker is onto something again after all.
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