My Netflix recommendation for this morning, The Stranger: "When a stranger makes a shocking claim about his wife, family man Adam Price becomes entangled in a mystery as he desperately searches for answers."First, I hate the phrase "family man." Why is it that reproducing makes a man noble, laudable, beyond reproach? All he did was have sex.
Second, what difference does it make that it's a stranger? Why is someone automatically sinister, just because you haven't met them?
Third, the title is The Stranger. That's been done to death: it's the title of 4 novels, about 20 films, a dozen tv series, four this year alone, and some songs and video games. Granted, the original novel is also entitled The Stranger, but what does author Harlan Coben know?
I'm ready to resume my Netflix search, but then I see that one of the stars is the dreamy Jacob Dudman of The A-List. Besides, we're running out of shows to watch. So, ok.
Scene 1: Some teenagers conniving around a bonfire, savage like the Lost Boys in Peter Pan.
A naked guy (Kai Alexander) runs in terror through an alpaca farm. Chest and butt shots. Wow!
Ok, you've got my attention.
Scene 2: Earlier that day, we see Adam the Perfect (Richard Armitage, left) living a Perfect with a capital P heterosexual fantasy life, throwing his job, house, wife, and kids in my face.
Wife: Corinne the Good Wife (Dervla Kirwan), who works at a feminine-coded job as a teacher.
Kids: Horndog Son #1 (Jacob Dudman) and Horndog Son #2 (Mischa Handley), both wild about girls, cars, and football (soccer), everything sons are supposed to be, everything I wasn't as a kid, which caused my parents lots of grief. I'm gritting my teeth.
Left: Misha Handley has only three photos on his Instagram. This one is actually innocent: he's trying to put on a leg brace.