Tara Ward: Paradise, Rogue Heroes, The Recruit

Paradise  

A security service team is tasked with safeguarding a former president (Disney+).  

 

Rogue Heroes  

During World War II, eccentric young officer David Stirling is hospitalised in Cairo after a training exercise accident. Bored, he starts thinking that the accepted war methods are wrong and hits on a radical plan. He fights for permission to recruit the toughest, boldest and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit that will create mayhem behind enemy lines. More rebels than soldiers, Stirling's team are every bit as complicated, flawed and reckless as they are astonishingly brave and heroic (TVNZ+). 

  

The Recruit 

A fledgling CIA lawyer gets caught up in a dangerous game of international politics when a former asset threatens to expose the nature of her relationship with the agency unless they clear her name (Netflix). 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from Newstalk ZEDB twenty.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Three past ten on your Saturday morning, which means it's
screen time time on news Talk ZEDB. Screen time expert
Tara Ward is here with her picks for us this weekend.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey Tara, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Three new shows watching or streaming at home. So tell
us first of all about Paradise on Disney Plus.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah. This is a fantastic new American drama that's just
dropped this week, and it feels like a mix between
The West Wing and The Truman Show. It's created by
Dan Fogelman, who made the very popular show This Is Us,
and it stars Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden and
Sterling K. Brown plays the head of the security service

(00:52):
for the American President and he arrives at work one
day to find the president did and has to work
out what has happened and who's responsible. And there's a
lot of flashbacks that flesh out the relationship with the
President and how they've worked together over the life last
few years. But the thing about the show is that
there's something happening in the background, very quietly that isn't

(01:12):
quite right. There's something strange about the world that this
story is set in, and there's a twist at the
end of episode one that I won't give away, but
it changes things completely and gives the show quite a
different tone and direction in a good way. It's a
really interesting idea and makes the show stand out from
other political thrillersh I like this a lot. It's taking

(01:35):
that well known format of the American political thriller and
playing with it and having a bit of fun with it,
but still giving us believable characters and tense drama. The
story does unfold quite slowly, but it's smart and slick.
There's a bit of mystery in there as well, and
it's just really entertaining storytelling too.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Superb Okay, that's Paradise. It's on Disney Plus on TV
and Z Plus a new series of Rogue Heroes.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah. This is a great BBC drama. It's a World
War two series set in the North African desert and
it's inspired by true events. It's the story of how
the ESAs was formed during World War II, and so
it follows three British soldiers who in nineteen forty one
are feeling pretty disillusioned with the progress of the war,

(02:19):
they come up with this idea that they could do
more damage on the ground than in the air. And
they formed this group of soldiers who parachute in behind
enemy lines and fight the enemy when they least expect it.
And they kind of made this up as they went along.
They lived by this ethos of no rules. They would
recruit other soldiers who were troublemakers and had no problems

(02:41):
doing things a little bit differently, and the show follows
these guys as they keep risking their lives to pull
off these unlikely feats in the war. So it's full
of adventure and danger and fights and explosions. There's some
really big energy here. It's got a modern soundtrack which
adds to that as well. But funny too. There's lots

(03:02):
of humor in this which keeps it light. The cast
is great at stuff, Dominic West and Alfie Allen. The
characters are all you know, likable rogues. They don't always
do the right thing, but you can't help like them. Again,
another really entertaining, well made show. And it's not trying
to stick completely to the facts. It's not trying to

(03:22):
give a history lesson, but it's just a lot of
fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, okay, great, that sounds awesome. The new series of
Brogue Hero So that's on TVNZ Plus and on Netflix.
Tell us about The Recruit.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, another new spy thriller. I feel like there's been
so many spy Fellers coming out lately, but this is
The Recruit on Netflix. It's the second season drop this week.
And this series is directed by Doug Lyman, who made
films like The Born Identity Mister and Missus Smith Edge
of Tomorrow, so you know he knows how to make
an action packed blockbuster and that's effectively what The Recruit

(03:54):
is in TV series form. This is about a young
CIA lawyer who, on the first week of the job,
gets caught up in an international case involving a former
spy who is threatening to leak important classified details unless
he can help her get out of jail. And look,
I'm not going to pretend this is the best TV

(04:14):
show ever made. This is another show that is just entertainment.
If you want an action thriller that is bingible and
has a bit of charm to it, this will do
the trick. You probably won't remember it for a long
time afterwards, but You'll have a great time watching it.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Nice, Okay, it sounds good. So that's the Recruit that's
on Netflix, Rogue Heroes is on TVNZ Plus, and Paradise
is on Disney Plus. Thank you so much, Tara. We
will talk again this time next week.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talk zed B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.