So I’m going to purposely eschew writing a gigantic intro here because I think the blog itself is going to be long enough already. But a few notes:

• Any titles in Bold I’m giving a must watch label.
• Just listing movies with no description because this is more about shows and docs.
• I’m putting all documentaries at the bottom so if you are into non-fiction go there.
• The timeline might not always add up here. As in, it’s Q1 2020 and I might go all the way back to some times 2019 if I don’t think the show/movie has been addressed on the blog before. Or if a reminder might be warranted.
• On that note ” ** ” denotes that this is not the first season of a show or that I feel the need to address it possibly out of left field.
• You’re about to read about a lot of British shit. I know, I’m kind of an anglophile when it comes to T.V. But that doesn’t change the fact that Netflix, Hulu, and the Premiums have dumped a ton of money into UK #content that is often very good.
• Not all of these are “full” reviews. By this I mean not all of the shows, in particular, that I am going to discuss have been finished by myself or another member of the staff. We however, out of the goodness of our hearts, at least started them in order to offer our take. Your welcome.

Let’s do it.

Streaming
Netflix

“The Witcher” (Series, US)
Red and one of our other buddies have watched this and recommended it. I started and was a bit lost but I’ve been told that could totally be an issue if you haven’t played the game or read the book(s) to some extent. Either way, I think it a good option for anyone who is on the “willing to ‘s’ a ‘d'” end of the spectrum in terms of GOT/fantasy show withdrawals.

“Messiah” (Series, US)
Think “Homeland” meets well, the second coming of Christ. In this kind of bizarre show a CIA agent (Michelle Monaghan) tracks a man from the Middle East who might have some serious terrorism connections but also might be God. It gets almost campy at times but is a good overall watch

“The Society” (Series, US)
An interesting application of Lord of the Flies or possibly more accurate, the Stanford Prison Experiment, theory. A group of High Schoolers get brought home from a field trip before they ever get there to find their town abandoned. They basically have to form their own new “society” (nudge) complete with their own system of government that absolutely has no teenage dramage involved whatsoever. Guilty Pleasure score of 1000000.

“The End of the F***** World” (Series, UK) **Season 2
Season 2 catches us up with James (maybe?) and Alyssa. It is a just as enjoyable, albeit not as fresh, serving of this dry, bleak, British dark comedy about two depressed teenagers.

“The Stranger” (Limited Series, UK)
I think I’ve talked about Harlan Coben’s partnering with Netflix before but I’ll provide some context anyway. Or skip to paragraph two now. Basically, Harlan Coben is an award winning novelist of what is described as “domestic thrillers”. What this means is that unlike a lot of thriller novels, his characters are not, necessarily, cops or private eyes or political figures, etc., trying to catch a bad guy. They could be, for instance, doctors or businessman whose wives/daughters have disappeared, etc.

This is the third time out for Coben and Netflix and again they’ve nailed it. While I would say it is the third best behind the “The Five” and “Safe”, that also just isn’t fair considering how good the first two were. In this offering, A family man is approached by a mysterious “stranger” (nudge) with a cryptic message regarding his wife. Then everything kind of goes to hell.

“Sex Education” (Series, UK) **Season 2
To be perfectly honest I don’t totally remember what happened at the end of S1 except that the whole thing was a really good, very funny at times story about a teenager that takes a page out of his shrink mother’s book and starts making cash giving his classmates sex advice. S2 deals with a lot of the same things as S1 did.

“The OA” (Series, US)**Season 2
The second, and sadly now last, season of this head-fuck of a show takes you on another journey of questioning the meaning of life, death, consciousness, and memory. Absolutely sucks they cancelled it.

Movies

• “Shotcaller”
• “The Captive”
• “Blue Valentine”
• “In the Shadow of the Moon”

Hulu

“Killing Eve” (Series, UK)**Season 2
Another killer season of the drama based around a American working an admin job for British intelligence (Sandra Oh) who becomes obsessed with catching a psychotic but bemused assassin (Jodie Comer) who develops an affinity for her as well.

“Letterkenny” (Series, Canada)**Lots of seasons
The best way I’ve been able to describe “Letterkenny” is a cross between “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Trailer Park Boys” with a touch of “Rain Man”. Take that for what it’s worth but prepare to laugh your ass off while watching this one about a smarter-than-they-look group of farming friends and the small, cliquey, Canadian town they inhabit

“Top of the Lake”** (Series, Australia/UK)
This is a “late to the party” suggestion as this UK/Australian venture had two seasons released in 2013 and 2017 but is still catching on here in the States. The show follows a police detective (Elisabeth Moss, who won an Emmy for her performance) as she solves a twist-heavy mystery per-season all while keeping her past compartmentalized.

“High Fidelity” (Series, US)
The John Cusack-starring-movie-based-on-the-book-of-the-same-name is adapted now into a show. This time our lead is Zoe Kravitz as Robyn “Rob” Brooks, a record store owner decimated by her last break up and hoping to find out where things went wrong in a semi-“How I Met Your Mother”/”Lovesick” style. The quirky humor and character’s penchant for breaking the fourth wall make this as intoxicating as the whiskey (neat) they drink.

“Four Weddings and a Funeral” (Limited Series, UK)
I’ve never seen the movie this is adapted from but this one-season-only tale of a group of late-20 somethings has just enough of post-college “what the fuck am I doing?”-ness to make it another must watch. Sure it’s mostly a romcom but it’s a cheesy good watch.

“The Accident” (Limited Series, UK)
I’ll admit I’m only one “part” into this four part series from Britain’s Channel 4 (from what I understand they have the BBC and Channel 4 and that’s it?). With that said. It’s insanely gripping. On one hand you have a local tragedy. On another you have a corporate/industrial fuck up of epic proportions that has some degree of cover up forthcoming. And in the middle you have all the emotions pooling together.

Movies

• “The Party’s Just Beginning”
• “Drinking Buddies”

PS – PSSSSSSSSSSSSSTT “The O.C” is on Hulu

Amazon
Blogger’s Note: I collected a couple recs for Amazon but don’t have it so this is going to be brief.

“Jack Ryan” (Series, US)**Season 2
If you don’t know who Jack Ryan is he basically is the American answer to James Bond but from humbler beginnings. This show I’m told kicks ass.

“The Boys” (Series, US)
This show is getting a ton of pop right now. It’s a superhero show where the good guys fight back against the bad guys and both sides are superheroes? I’m not too sure from there but I have friends who aren’t even into that shit and love it.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Series, US)** Season 4?
This one was a hit from the jump. In the wake of her marriage crumbling a woman tries stand up and fucking crushes.

The Premiums

“His Dark Materials” (Series, HBO)
If there were two words in the English language I would grade as impossible to define without a 45 minute thesis defense, it would be 1.) irony and 2.) steam punk. But I’m pretty sure HDM is kind of steam punk, or sort of 19th/18th centurish with insertions of modern to futuristic technology? Right? Fuck man idk but there’s some magic in there too and James McAvoy is dreamy.

“The Dublin Murders” (Limited Series, Starz)
This UK offering was alllllllmost what I needed it to be which was a crime/mystery in the vain of the Coben series’ and “The Missing”. Instead it is sort of like “The Night Of” where instead of fully investing itself in being a whodunit, it examines exactly what the people involved in a whodunit truly go through. While TNO looked at this from the suspects’ POV, TBM looks at it from the victims’ and their families’.

“Chernobyl” (Limited Series, HBO)
A look at what really (possibly?) went on behind the scenes of the infamous nuclear disaster.

Documentaries

“McMillions” (Series, HBO)
The saga of how a group of people were able to basically/kind of defraud McDonald’s of millions based off of the fucking monopoly game. I mean, wow. Seriously interesting though.

“The Devil Next Door” (Series, Netflix)
It is discovered that retired,, blue collar Polish immigrant living in Michigan was a sadistic Nazi death camp guard…..or was he?

“Operation Odessa” (Movie, Showtime)
The story of how a crooked Miami business, honcho for the Cali Cartel, and a Ukranian gangster almost acquired A MOTHAFUCKIN SUBMARINE for the cartel to use to transport product. Insanity.