Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily. Today on The Spinoff: Memories of Twin Peaks, the best things we watched and listened to over summer and some good news about the Friday poem. But first: Toby Manhire on why he’s fizzing at the bung for season two of Severance.
“After an agonising wait – nearly three years between waffles, thanks to US actor and writer strikes and, some say, creative squabbles – Severance returns today, Friday January 17. For my money the first season was just about the most compelling television of the century to date. Part workplace satire, part dystopian thriller; enchanting, funny, contemplative, absurdist, beautifully acted, exquisitely scripted, mesmerising to look at – I almost feel sorry for the second season having to follow that. It’s hard to recount the plot without sounding silly, so I’ll say simply this is a majestic meditation on memory, grief, loneliness, friendship, personality, the role of work and HR piffle. Insofar as it’s sci-fi, this is the offspring of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind rather than Star Trek. In atmosphere and mischief there is a discernible debt to the late, great David Lynch. If you haven’t watched it, do give it a chance. If you have watched already, it warrants a second viewing – in my household we planned to space out rewatches in the lead-up the new season but ended up devouring it in three nights.”
An announcement about the Friday poem David Seymour’s subtle power play A complete history of New Zealand’s one-term governments
In order to reduce debt, the coalition government wants to cut spending from 34% of GDP down to 30%. In practice, that means cutting spending on people with disabilities, even though those cuts often increase hospital and care costs in the long term. This week on When the Facts Change, Bernard is joined this week by disability rights lawyer (and distant cousin) Huhana Hickey, for an in-depth look at what austerity actually means. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
What Twin Peaks meant to 10-year-old me The best things we watched (and listened to) over summer The cost of being: A ‘conscious and curious’ mum who works in insurance
The Friday Poem: ‘Field-notes: Midsummer, 9pm, walking barefoot in the reserve after a storm, the sky still light, the city strung out across backs of the hills’ by Niamh Hollis-Locke
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Move fast: The best TV show of the century so far returns today
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