Heart Eyes, Vol. 236: Deadloch and Olive Oil Brownies
Friends! Hello. Happy Friday and happy February and happy Groundhog Day. If you’re wondering whether you should watch Groundhog Day to celebrate, the answer is always yes; it’s a perfect film and you won’t regret it.
I cannot say that February is high on my list of favorite months—can I still claim I’m easing into the new year, or is that starting to sound silly?—but I also can’t complain. This weekend I’m celebrating a friend’s birthday, I’m polishing up my Instant Pot and entering a soup cook-off(!), I’m taking care of some important life admin, I’m trying to stay dry and safe in the midst of our second atmospheric river this week. Not so bad, for February! Whatever you’re doing, I think you’re also dry and safe and it’s not so bad. I think you’re doing great.
What to Watch: Deadloch
I recently finished a TV show, Deadloch, that I enjoyed very much and keep trying to tell people about, but also cannot accurately describe to save my life—and then I heard someone else totally nail it. Deadloch, they said, is what you would get it if Happy Valley (a notoriously bleak British crime show) and The Office had a baby.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
The confusion here is, I think, due to an almost too-deft blending of disparate genres. It’s like somebody 1) started with a prestige crime show (a series of grisly murders, a squad of harried cops, enviable cinematography, moody choral score), and then 2) gender-swapped it (most of the cops and suspects are women; all the victims are men), and then 3) added…jokes? Oh, and it’s set in rural Tasmania and centers around a lesbian social circle and the local football club. So what you end up with is a horrifying/hilarious Australian feminist mystery/small-town comedy that should be a total mishmash but is, instead, basically an excellent time.
The amazing thing is that it does all of those things really well: it’s a twisty and compelling and decidedly dark mystery, it’s a charming office comedy, it’s a buddy-cop picture, it’s an advertisement the physical beauty of Tasmania. It’s got great performances from Kate Box and Madeleine Sami (who is, whew, so committed to driving you crazy, but she will grow on you) and a whole ensemble cast. It is, again, beautifully shot and has a perfectly executed choral score. I kept thinking, as a person who tends to avoid Dread TV, that I might watch more murder shows if more murder shows were like Deadloch. Perhaps you would, too?
You can stream Deadloch (one season, eight 60-minute episodes) on Prime.
What to Bake: Olive Oil Brownies
I TOLD you I never hit the cookie wall over the holidays—which is why it’s February and I’m still yammering at you about baked goods. In case you were worried, I think these finally did it; I’m finally cookied out.
For now.
Anyway, I made Deb’s new Olive Oil Brownies because a) BROWNIES and b) my obsession with her perfect, accidentally vegan Chocolate Olive Oil Cake is well-documented, and what if the brownies were as good as that cake? I currently have no need for dairy-free brownies, but when has that ever stopped me before?
These are, in fact, very good brownies, and I would absolutely make them again. However, they are also just a nondairy version of Deb’s regular favorite brownies, and the olive oil flavor was not very strong in mine, which is both maybe OK and a little disappointing if, you know, you’re making olive-oil brownies. A few people in the comments said theirs were very strongly flavored, but there are so many variables at play here—it depends on your olive oil, and also on your taste for olive oil.
All this to say, I think you should make some brownies. These are good; so are the dairy-ful ones. I’m also fond of Deb’s Best Cocoa Brownies, which are perhaps even easier and rely on cocoa powder. Make whichever ones you like! And then invite me over. Thank you in advance.
Blockbuster Review: Little Women (1994)
Ugh, it’s imprinted into my DNA, and that is because it is perfect. I miss Winona Ryder.