Welcome to Issue #26

This week we have a couple of film/TV reviews, a restaurant review and a pancake recipe!

Film

Alice, Darling is a psychological thriller starring Anna Kendrick as Alice, who is in an emotionally abusive relationship with her boyfriend Simon. He is the very definition of controlling; encouraging her to stop seeing friends, blaming his bad luck on her (perfectly normal) behaviour, snooping at her phone and emails to check up on her. He keeps up a slick facade for the most part as the gaslighting is revealed through PTSD-flashbacks where we see Alice literally pulling her hair out with worry and stress.

The plot of the films stems around Alice going on a weekend away with friends and the inevitable unraveling of what's going on in her private life as she tries to balance masking her whereabouts to Simon and enjoying the time away.

It's really watchable, in a painful way. The acting is believable from the entire cast and the fragmented relationship portrayed between the three friends feels real and therefore more rewarding when they eventually band together to help their pal in need. I read in another review that the film lacks a proper third act and I tend to agree. The intensity of the situation peaks and then resolves within the final 10 minutes and for all that build up there might have been something a little more satisfying.

I'm writing this review about a week after watching it and the film didn't stay with me. It's a great advert for identifying red flags in relationships and also a sad reminder that so many people find themselves in similar situations, convinced they are at fault but without the agency to remove themselves from that toxic dependency. As a standalone entertaining film however, it missed a few beats for me.

Rating: 6/10

I'm not sure if I reviewed the first season of The Wilds in this blog, but my partner and I just finished watching the second. In season one a group of teenage girls survive a plane crash and wind up stranded on a deserted island. They must work together to survive the harsh conditions and over the course of each episode we learn that all is not quite as it seems. It definitely has 'Lost' vibes, although leans towards the more sinister as opposed to fantasy.

In the second season we discover that a group of teenage boys are experiencing a near-identical reality, their every move secretly recorded in some kind of social experiment to compare progress with the girls.

Season two starts a little slow and overall doesn't feel quite as strong as the first. It builds to an event around half way through which has a profound impact on the group and ultimately determines their fate. It kicks on well from here and we raced through the final few episodes to find out what happens and unlike many shows, even with a series of flash-forwards to some of the survivors being interviewed, a palpable sense of danger remains throughout where you aren't quite sure who is going to make it off the island.

The male group hits every diverse note you can imagine: sexuality, ethnicity, gender, weight, geek, jock, etc. It ties in with the narrative of the experiment that they want to see how this tribe of misfits may or may not come together and to be fair I think they're tackled well. None of the characters are reduced to a single stereotype and there are some both pleasant and less pleasant surprises as they are pushed to their mental and physical limits, clinging to life.

Unfortunately I've read that the show has been cancelled and there won't be a third season. It's a shame as this ends on a tantilising cliffhanger and was clearly gearing up to continue the story. For that reason I might not recommend watching. If that won't annoy you, I'd give it a go: it's an interesting plot that continues to provide shocking moments and will keep you guessing until the end.

Rating: 7.5/10

Food

We went for a midweek lunch at The Red Lion in Culworth. It's a quaint pub in a pretty local village that does excellent food. I've eaten here a couple of times in the past and always been impressed.

I forgot to take a photo of the Korean chicken starter we shared, but you can see below the fish and chips I had for my main course and ice cream for dessert. It was all up to its usual high standards and service was friendly. The meal came to roughly £50 including a drink each.

If reading this inspires you to make the trip to Culworth, note they close at 6pm and food service stops from 5pm. It tends to be busy at the weekends and their small car park fills up quickly so be ready to look for on-street parking.

It was Pancake Day this week and so we had a pancake feast for dinner on Tuesday. I used BBC good food's simple recipe for my batter ratio and they came out well... even the first one!

For toppings I like to have a couple of savoury pancakes to start and so fill them with cheese and sweetcorn. If I'd had any ham in the fridge that would have made it in too.

For the sweet fillings it was several combinations of banana, nutella, syrup, lemon and sugar. We ate about 14 pancakes in total and probably could have had a few more. It's so tasty and easy to cook, but you are standing there for about 30 minutes carefully keeping an eye to avoid any sticking disasters.

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Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Adam