Just in time for the Memorial weekend, Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his streaming debut with Fubar.
The 8 episodes series follows father and daughter duo Luke (Schwarzenegger) and Emma (Monica Barbaro) Brunner, who have been keeping their own secrets from each other: They’re both CIA agents. Luke has been in the game much longer than his daughter, before he can enjoy his golden years, Luke is tasked with saving another fellow operative who just so happens to be his own daughter.
Emma is determined to carve out her own career path, but when she’s in danger, she reluctantly teams up with her dad and learns to work through tough family dynamics.
If you are turning into Fubar because you loved The Night Agent and The Recruit you might be quite disappointed. The 3 series are technically all spy, action-drama series but absolutely not the same. In The Night Agent and The Recruit action and drama are at the center of the series, the same can’t be said for Schwarzenegger’s latest project.
The secret to enjoying Fubar is that you don’t need to take too seriously this action-comedy series. The plot, twists, and cliffhangers are as generic and common as they can get. The writing and dialogues aren’t unique or remarkable. Throughout all 8 episodes, there’s a sense of comedy, unfortunately, some punchlines have been already heard and only a slight number are genuinely funny.
Schwarzenegger is the main reason the viewers will stream the series and, despite everything, we just described, he is great. Not only he’s always charismatic but he gives his best in the action scenes, as well, in the more emotional and sentimental ones.
Schwarzenegger and Barbaro have believable and great chemistry as father-daughter, their bickering is hilarious and is lovely watching how much their characters grow throughout the whole series. The two leads weren’t the only good casting choices as the entire ensemble works very well together.
The pace is quite fast and the whole season only follows one arc, every episode ends on a cliffhanger that is immediately resolved in the first few minutes of the following episode. The series’ plot wraps up at the end of the 8th episode but a cliffhanger is introduced creating a possible new storyline.
What does “Fubar” actually mean? The acronym stands for “f**ked up beyond all recognition”, originally a military term, meaning there’s no turning back now.
Santora planted Easter eggs throughout FUBAR for devoted Arnold fans. We can find quotes from Predator, Twins, one is the badge number from Kindergarten Cop, another is the serial number of his Terminator character and another is the license plate from Last Action Hero.
Fubar is not the best action series we have seen on Netflix but ends up being quite engaging and fun to watch, just keep in mind to not take the series too seriously.
If you enjoy Schwarzenegger and like action scenes mixed with some funny comedy bits Fubar, might just be the series for you.
Fubar is an American action-comedy television series created by Nick Santora.
Number of episodes: 8
CAST
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Luke Brunner
- Monica Barbaro as Emma Brunner
- Milan Carter as Barry
- Jay Baruchel as Carter
- Aparna Brielle as Tina
- Andy Buckley as Donnie
- Fortune Feimster as Ruth (aka Roo)
- Barbara Eve Harris as Dot
- Gabriel Luna as Boro
- Fabiana Udenio as Tally Brunner
- Travis Van Winkle as Aldon