“Terrace House”: The Kinder, Gentler Japanese Alternative to Reality TV
"Terrace House" improves on the standard reality TV format by affording its cast privacy, freedom, and respect.

Inside of an impoverished community in Chicago, Illinois, an ex-convicted felon, “Marcus Julian” returns from prison after eight years incarcerated. A product of a failed family structure, Marcus, like so many others in his community, functioned under a “street-code” of savagery. The “Gangster Disciples” governed the territories, and as a former outstanding member he lived in ongoing regret of the mob-related acts that led him to prison.
"Terrace House" improves on the standard reality TV format by affording its cast privacy, freedom, and respect.
Outer Banks (2020-) knows its audience: young adults in a country that can’t stop romanticizing good ole’ treasure hunts. Add a little of Riverdale’s (2017-) sex appeal, and no one can look away. Forty years after The Goonies (1985) America’s consciousness hasn’t strayed from the same tropes: treasure hunts, a vulnerable white male lead, and the whitewashing of a racially segregated setting.
Even after a history changing event, the 93rd Oscars proved it always had the space for more inclusivity in its award ceremony. But it this enough to change the boycott?
What are we willing to walk through to see our dreams come to pass? Our minds might be so wholly alive with the passions we carry and the plans we make to see these things become all we wish them to be, yet life doesn’t always want to come alongside. Instead, obstacles arise, both physical and mental, which attempt to dissuade us or even prevent us from moving forward, stalling or stagnating the momentum to achieve what we desire. The age-old question remains….can we overcome? Or will we BE overcome?
Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) are a delight to watch evolve, sometimes devolve, then evolve again.
When it comes down to it, The English explores what happens when power is unchecked and how those who seem powerless, have more strength than most through their convictions for justice.