About:
- Genres:
- Comedy
- Historical Fiction
Fix: More Laughs, Modern Life Satire
Platforms: Amazon Prime
Prime Summary:
Miracle Workers goes back in time for its next installment, Miracle Workers: Dark Ages. Daniel Radcliffe, Steve Buscemi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Karan Soni, Jon Bass and Lolly Adefope return in new roles and face new challenges as a group of medieval villagers who are trying to stay positive in an age of extreme income inequality, poor healthcare and widespread ignorance.
FYA Summary:
The cast of Miracle Workers is back, this time as the citizens of Lower Mirkford, a wretched village at the height of the Dark Ages. The people face plague, poverty, war, squalor, and the power of friendship and new loves.
Familiar Faces:
Peter Serafinowicz as King Cragnoor the Heartless
The voice of Darth Maul appears as King Cragnoor, a tyrant so ruthless that he once slaughtered his siblings over a game of charades. He has a flunky follow him around with a bag of skulls, just so he can crush one to emphasize a point. He’s disgusted with his weakling son, Chauncley. He holds the serfs in utter contempt.
Geraldine Viswanathan as Alexandra Shitshoveler
Possibly the most intelligent person in the kingdom of Lower Mirkford, Alexandra dreams of a better life, far, far away. Educated and literate, she lives at a time when people unquestionably follow in their parents’ footsteps, which, if you check out her last name, doesn’t bode well. Like Cragnoor, she feels superior to her neighbors, but can’t bear to leave her friends and family behind.
Daniel Radcliffe as Prince Chauncley the Pretty Cool
Cragnoor’s milquetoast son, he’s unable to follow in his father’s bloody footsteps, and looks at the peasants as actual humans. Uninterested in waging war, he’d rather play with his pet ducks. Chauncley carries a hopeless torch for Alexandra, but is too shy to express his feelings. He tries to rule with kindness, but is completely out of touch with non-royal life. When Mikey complains that he’s cold because he has no coat, Chauncley responds that he’s hot because he’s wearing two coats. He then realizes he can simply carry the second coat instead of wearing it.
Steve Buscemi as Edward Shitshoveler
The amiable driver of the local honeywagon (a step down for someone who was God in the last season), Edward is content to spend his days cleaning up excrement from people’s houses. The father of Alexandra and Mikey, he has trouble relating to his intelligent daughter, who for some reason doesn’t want to go into the family business. He is open to new ideas, however. When the invention of the pit toilet threatens to run him out of business, Alexandra shows him how to adapt.
Karan Soni as Lord Vexler
Cragnoor’s right hand man, he worked his way up from a vegetable vendor through pure intelligence and guile. Fanatically devoted to the king, he often finds himself babysitting the prince, a man so pampered that he cannot even use a fork by himself. Still, Vexler has a soft sport for Chauncley, often shielding him from his father’s rages.
Jon Bass as Mikey Shitshoveler
Alexandra’s dimwitted brother.
Lolly Adefope as Sister Maggie
Alexandra’s best friend, she joins a convent of nuns whose order requires them to cut out their own tongues. Maggie doesn’t comply, because ‘Who’s going to tell on me?’
Couch Sharing Capability: Awww….
Like the previous season, lots of toilet humor subverted by very likeable characters. You’ll laugh when Vexler’s minions keep assassinating the wrong guy and he eventually just orders every guy named Peter to be executed. But you’ll also wince when a handsome astronomer sweeps Alexandra off her feet, just before Chauncley is about to reveal his true feelings. And I didn’t choke up when Edward realized his little girl had outgrown him and would ultimately leave town forever…
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Break Out the Mead
This show is juvenile enough that a few drinks won’t hurt, but deep enough that you don’t want to get too wasted or you’ll miss the subtle digs on modern society: Alexandra chastises Maggie for doing her Rosary while she’s trying to talk to her; Edward’s conservative brother accuses Alexandra of buying into the fake news from the town crier; Edward starts dating a Druid woman and has to confront his friends about their prejudices.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Quarantine Laugh
With only ten 22-minute episodes, this makes for a nice little weekend binge. I warn you, jokes about plague that were funny in January didn’t age well.
