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- CreatorDamon LindelofTom PerrottaStarsJustin TherouxAmy BrennemanChristopher EcclestonThree years after the disappearance of 2% of the global human population, a group of people in a small New York community try to continue their lives while coping with the tragedy of the unexplained nature of the event.Dealing with grief and loss as a dominant theme of the series. Remembering the ones we lost or moving on with our lives creating new memories and bonds? Extremely powerful Ann Dowd's (her finding sense in the world after being abused at home), Lyv Tyler (dealing with a grief of losing a mother and noone caring about it) Carry Coon's (losing her whole family and trying to move on, unsuccessfully), Ch. Eccleston (his religious, marital and ethical struggles) and Amy Brenneman (loss os child, marital and family problems) heros with unbelievably gripping stories; Justin Theroux and his visions (as well as obvious religious parallels); if we believe Justin visions, why are we more inclined to doubt Coon's story? (Simply because it happened off-screen?) faith and fanaticism? dealing with extraordinary? departed in a better world or in a worse one? all departed are chosen heroes or just ordinary people? Theroux and lots of symbolism (dogs, deers, assassin and policemen clothes and so on). Evie and her family (playing pretense, hiding pain - You understand). Brokenness, sinfulness, trying to find something to believe in, characters afraid to stop controlling their lives - perhaps fearing another departure? how can people ever connect or go into relationships again, knowing that their beloved can disappear any time? Can they avoid building those walls that aim to control those relationships? Can they destroy those walls? bagel scene? characters disorientation, unable to be certain of their perception of reality? Eccleston choices in season 2 and his marital issues aftewards? Theroux trying to kill himself?Wishes to cross to the other world? Coon wishing to get shot at? Keeping the gun at her home? Not being able to die as the "story wasnt done with him? Jabs at destiny? Nuking the other world leads to him becoming mortal however. Brilliant show.
- CreatorDavid SimonStarsDominic WestLance ReddickSonja SohnThe Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement.Everything you want it to be and more
- CreatorDavid ChaseStarsJames GandolfiniLorraine BraccoEdie FalcoNew Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life that affect his mental state, leading him to seek professional psychiatric counseling.The Sopranos is pure quality. Unfortunately, the oversaturation of media dedicated to crime on TV stops me from finding it very special
- CreatorPhoebe Waller-BridgeStarsPhoebe Waller-BridgeSian CliffordOlivia ColmanSeries adapted from the award-winning play about a young woman trying to cope with life in London whilst coming to terms with a recent tragedy.I wish i coudl write beautifully in order to give this sublime series its due, but its not my profession, nor my calling, nor am i any good at it - i write these stupid reviews in order not to forget the beautiful things and feelings that these works of art put me through.
But what kind of person allows the random viewer to watch her every day, even in the most intimate of times? A person who doesn't care; a quirky person who is extremely quick-witted; a person who has a lot of shit happening to her; a person who wants to cry all the time; a strong and courageous person not taking other people's shit; a person who has a lot of meaningless sex, no friends and a void inside; a person who is scared of times when nobody would wanna fuck her; a person who is frightened that she will forget things and people; a person who has a weak-willed person for her father who still loves her deerly even if unable to express it; a person who was born fun and happy and became what she was; a person who is distraught with her mother and best friend death and her father moving on so fast; a person with a guilty consciousness; a person who is afraid that bigger tits would stop her from being a feminist; a person who loves so hard that it becomes too painful for her; a person who wants to be told what to do and how to feel and yet in the end finds the courage and strength to do it herself?
Fleabag is all of those and it would seem that the answer is that quite obvious - she cant move on after the death of her mother and best friend (which was due to her betrayal), cant deal with her dysfunctional family very well and cant start any meaningful relationships because it hurts her too much. And even if she managed to partially move on from the losses at the end of the first season, she did not fully recover until the end of the second one, when she finally accepted a new true love for herself and pushed the viewer away from her life.
This is probably why she was scared and yet very much drawn to her relationship with a catholic priest, who, in turn, was the first person (aside from her family) to truly love and notice fleabag (in the course of the series). Which is probably why he was the only one to notice her breaking the fourth wall all the time. Which is probably why her relationship with him was the only one she did not want to show to the viewer.
And yet love is a very painful and hurtful scene (Andrew Scott monologue was brilliant!) and it requires very strong people to pursue romantic relationships. Of course, Fleabag will be able to move on as her love for the priest will pass, and she will definitevely find a way to fill a void in her heart without feeling sad and in pain all the time. Which is another reason why she does not need a viewer anymore. She is strong enough again to be completely free and alive again.
Fleabag is a lot of things and other characters on the show are also very peculiar examples of extraordinary ordinary people. The thought provoking and unbelievable hilarious dialogues and scenes are delivered by truly sublime performances of brilliant actors. especially andrew scott, olivia colman and, of course, phoebe.
Fleabag relationship with her sister (a truly special, competitive, but very loving one) and her relationship with her dad (also very loving one although having hard time to express mutual feelings) are also truly unique and very loveable.
Of course, the theme of feminism in the series is also worth discussing, but i was much more moved by the characters rather than the concepts in this particular series, which is a surprise, but a welcome one. - StarsScott GrimesDamian LewisRon LivingstonThe story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.
- CreatorNic PizzolattoIssa LópezStarsVince VaughnColin FarrellRachel McAdamsAnthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.Three very different series, good in their own rights.
- CreatorVince GilliganPeter GouldStarsBob OdenkirkRhea SeehornJonathan BanksThe trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill in the years leading up to his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.Much prefer this to Breaking Bad
- CreatorPaolo SorrentinoStarsJude LawDiane KeatonSilvio OrlandoThe beginning of the pontificate of Lenny Belardo, alias Pius XIII, the first American Pope in history.What this series does really well is being ridiculous and completely over the top in regards of pope's and some other cardinal's lives. It is also incredibly appealing visually, brimming with symbolisms and pop-culcture references.
Pope Pius also manages to appear as mysterious a character as he wants his papacy to remain. He is medievally conservative at times and at others - forgiving and accepting; cruelty and coldness switches with kindness and heartwarming confessions; his apparent disbelief in God - with miracles he performs. It becomes increasingly clear that his hardline positions on church dogmas is based not only his interpretation on the scripture, but also on him being abandonded by his parents in a very young age.
Perhaps he craves but can not contact his parents - it is so important to him that he does not care about his papacy even - has certain allusions with his crisis of faith. Despite being called a saint, Pius did not have a natural calling to becoming a priest - he just did not have a better alternative and was predispositioned to become one. In this way perhaps he is trying punish everyone else and make them feel abandoned by god the way he feels abandoned by his parents. Or perhaps he finds that regular faithful have it too easy and tries to restore the churches long-lost power and influence - after all Church and God is everything he has - especially after his spiritual father and only friend have perished.
Either way just as he stopped suffering so from his parents abandoning him towards the end of the series, he found it easier to open up to people and set out to be a much more popular and lax pope - a big change considering he had to give up on many of his initial ideas.
Unfortunately, the remarkable development of Pius character is about the only interesting plotline of the series as other characters and plot as a whole failed to grasp my interest despite having so much potential. Perhaps the 2nd season will introduce less convoluted plotline, developed characters that are interesting on their own and more of the ridicule that made this series rather special. - CreatorJesse ArmstrongStarsNicholas BraunBrian CoxKieran CulkinThe Roy family is known for controlling the biggest media and entertainment company in the world. However, their world changes when their father steps down from the company.Amusing and at times hilarious dynamic within the main family and the supporting cast; the exploration of wealth, privilege as well as ruthless, opportunistic and cutthroat world of success and limitless ambition unhindered by morals or kindness; a careful character study; a combination of visual adoration of power and contempt for it; a critique of modern media practices; a balanced depiction of characters flaws and their failures to overcome them; an impressive ability to prevent the view from rooting for any particular character while keeping their interest in the events - all those and many more other reasons why the succession is the best tv on air.
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When Jesse Armstrong, the creator of HBO’s “Succession,” revealed that he’d chosen to make the show’s fourth season its last, viewers reacted with variations on “Are you kidding???” Why voluntarily end a series so successful and Zeitgeist-defining, the rare program that could still monopolize our collective attention each week? I had a somewhat different reaction: I hoped that the show’s impending end might finally make it more watchable. For a long time, I’d been keeping up with “Succession” mostly so that I could understand the endless references made online and in my various group chats. I’d found very little pleasure in it, but people would often tell me that the lack of pleasure was the point—that “Succession” was a satire of the vapidity and moral corruption of the very rich, and that I probably just didn’t get the dry humor and cutting wit on display.
Yet my disinclination had nothing to do with whatever ambiently satirical impulses were at work in the series. It stemmed, instead, from the fact that “Succession” always seemed ill-suited to the format of an ongoing series. It could have been a great miniseries, I thought, but had been dragged out and diluted by the demands of serialized storytelling. In an ongoing series, the status quo is never quite disrupted, and at the end of each season the board is reset. There is vast variation within this format, of course, from the purely episodic nature of “C.S.I.” to the season-long arcs that defined the middle period of “Grey’s Anatomy.” (There are exceptions to the rule, too, such as “Game of Thrones,” which at least wasn’t afraid to lop the heads off its main characters.) Yet the ongoing series, to some extent, arrives at a new season ready to begin again, and “Succession” especially seemed to be riding a loop. Its compulsion to repeat itself led Naomi Fry to wonder, in a review of Season 3, whether it might be the “best sitcom” on TV.
Jesse Armstrong on the End of “Succession”
The show’s creator explains why he has chosen to conclude the drama of the Roy family.
Over the first three seasons, this iterative quality left me and other viewers frustrated. After all, the show is premised on the suspense of a single dilemma: an old patriarch, the Murdochian media mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox), must decide which of his children is most suitable to inherit his empire. Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the eldest son from Logan’s second marriage, has been groomed to take over but has been perpetually sidelined by his father’s oppressive parenting and by his own struggles with substance abuse. Roman (Kieran Culkin), the younger one, is a neurotic edgelord desperately trying to prove himself equal to the big kids. Siobhan, a.k.a. Shiv (Sarah Snook), the only daughter and the family’s lone “liberal,” is ambitious and savvy but ultimately lacks the business experience to make a real run for the top job. (Logan’s oldest child, from his first marriage, Connor—as played by Alan Ruck, the best embodiment of large-adult-son energy on television—is not a candidate for the stewardship of Waystar Royco, so he’s turned himself into a sham political candidate instead.) Amid the bumbling and scheming of courtiers and advisers, Logan plays the younger kids off one another for profit and for amusement, and lashes out when they disappoint him. The kids, in turn, fight among themselves for control of the company and of the “narrative” of events unfolding around them, and also for that most elusive of rewards: their father’s respect and love. We watch to see which sibling, if any, will prevail.
But, for three seasons, “Succession” avoided settling this question. Big things happened—hostile takeovers, failed bids to buy rival news stations, coverups, etc.—but, in the end, there was no movement on the core problem. Each season ended with Logan repelling some challenge from his kids, and the next opened with some combination of kids scheming to oust the old man and disrupt the nervy truce established at the end of the previous one. Though “Succession” is most obviously modelled on “King Lear,” I’ve found that in execution it’s closer to “Richard II,” a play about a man who refuses to give up power and must therefore be deposed.
I may have felt less impatient with “Succession” if the very first episode hadn’t dangled the promise of an imminent changing of the guard. In the première, Logan suffered a near-fatal medical crisis that became the inciting incident for intrafamilial power struggles. By rights, the pilot should have ended with Logan’s death or permanent incapacity. Instead, the series seemed to show some crucial lack of nerve. Rather than expiring, Logan, like Lazarus, shook off the ailment, and then spent several more seasons stymieing the plot. “Succession” began to feel like a series of stranded, rote exercises in which brilliant character actors flashed their talents amid lush backdrops and first-class business attire.
The show has admittedly had a series of good streaks. It has occasionally been brilliant for two or three episodes at a time, as when Kendall conducted his manic backroom dealings in Season 1, culminating in a fantastic sequence of him literally sprinting while trying to manage a coup. Equally great were the Roy family conferences in Season 2, when Kendall was brought back into the family fold by way of a public flogging and then was later set up to take the fall for the coverup of sexual abuse in the company’s cruises division. Certain isolated scenes, such as Logan’s sadistic country-house parlor game Boar on the Floor or the bumbling congressional testimony from Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), had a superb, almost Beckettian humor. But, on balance, the series has been filled with too much of what an old writing teacher of mine would call throat-clearing or scaffolding. The third season raised the dramatic stakes in several tantalizing ways at once: there was an F.B.I. raid on Waystar, a complicated bid to acquire a rival network, and, most important, an attempt to sell the company itself. Yet in the end the season landed back where it began, with Logan holding the reins and his children scrambling and scheming. The show excelled at depicting a certain kind of life style of the hyper-affluent, those who live sequestered in private jets and glassy penthouses while pulling the levers of public discourse. But it never achieved the crucial alchemy where subject meets narrative—the space in which a work offers some insight into the way we live.
With the announcement that the series was wrapping, “Succession” regained the opportunity that it squandered in the first season. In Season 4, there would be no need for a grand reset at the end. At last, I might get the propulsive series that I always wanted.
The four episodes made available to critics have already delivered on this promise. Like the first season, the latest one opens at a party on Logan’s birthday, with corporate cronies arriving to kiss the ring—among them Cousin Greg and Kerry (Zoë Winters), Logan’s assistant slash mistress, who have a surreal argument about whether Greg’s date might be a “a hostile corporate asset,” there for oppo. But, this time, the Roy children are pointedly absent from the festivities. They haven’t forgotten the cruelty of their father’s ploy in the Season 3 finale, when he outflanked Kendall, Roman, and Shiv in their plan to block the sale of the family firm by weaponizing their mother against them. That defeat had left Roman literally on the ground while a stunned Kendall and Shiv stared on. Now, finally, they seem to be refusing to play Logan’s little game and forgive him all his faults.
Instead, we find them camped out in another blandly gorgeous compound plotting a venture of their own, a “disruptor” news platform called the Hundred. (“Substack meets MasterClass meets The Economist meets The New Yorker,” Kendall explains.) The siblings’ exchanges are, as always, delightfully barbed and a bit puerile. “Your face is giving me a headache,” Roman tells Shiv by way of a greeting. But as a threesome they seem the closest, the most at ease, they’ve been around one another in a long time. All is seemingly on track for launch of the Hundred until Shiv receives a call from her estranged husband, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), and we’re reminded of all that ugly business from the Season 3 finale—including how Tom’s betrayal of Shiv’s confidence allowed Logan to thwart the siblings’ plans. This time, it’s Tom’s call that tips Shiv off to Logan’s latest move, to revive his efforts to acquire a rival network. The kids decide that they’ll vie against daddy one more time and make a competing offer.
Meanwhile, at the party, Logan gets fed up with the parade of sycophants. He goes out for a walk with his bodyguard, whom he calls his “best pal,” and ends up in a Manhattan diner. What comes next might have been Logan’s raging-on-the-heath moment, the embittered cry of an alienated patriarch, but instead of wrathful he is uncharacteristically resigned. His monologue that follows starts with a lofty non sequitur: “What are . . . people? They’re economic units. I’m a hundred feet tall. These people are pygmies. But together they form a market.” From there, Logan unspools a meditation that reveals the extent to which market-mindedness has become a world view that he cannot escape, and Brian Cox delivers one of the finest bits of television acting I’ve seen in a while. Becoming wistful, Logan continues, “Everything I try to do, people turn against me. Nothing tastes like it used to, does it? Nothing’s the same as it was.” He asks his security pal whether he thinks there’s something after “all this.” The security pal says that he doesn’t know, and then Logan lands one of my favorite lines of the show: “That’s it. We can’t know. But I’ve got my suspicions. I’ve got my fucking suspicions.” Even when contemplating life’s greatest mystery, what another of Shakespeare’s doomed royals, Hamlet, called the “undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveler returns,” Logan is ever the leery operator, convinced of his own superior instincts. - CreatorCraig MazinStarsJessie BuckleyJared HarrisStellan SkarsgårdIn April 1986, the city of Chernobyl in the Soviet Union suffers one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of mankind. Consequently, many heroes put their lives on the line in the following days, weeks and months.The standard is set very high, but the project is lacking overall. It does not have any wit to it, it does not truly understand slavic people, it does not have cultural links to what it is to be Ukrainian/Russian.
The show is extremely good, but it fails to be about Ukrainians and Russians as much as I would have liked it to be. - CreatorVince GilliganStarsBryan CranstonAaron PaulAnna GunnA chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.Breaking Bad is special; its characters development and analysis is far more important than plotline and event sequences. I guess this is my main issue with the series: I wish it was more like theater and less like a blockbuster TV.
- CreatorRichard PriceSteven ZaillianStarsRiz AhmedJohn TurturroBill CampAfter a night of partying with a woman he picked up, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder.
- CreatorDan EricksonStarsAdam ScottZach CherryBritt LowerMark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
- CreatorAaron SorkinStarsMartin SheenRob LoweAllison JanneyInside the lives of staffers in the West Wing of the White House.
- CreatorHagai LeviStarsJessica ChastainOscar IsaacSophia KoperaTelevision drama miniseries which re-examines the original's iconic depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple, played by Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.
- CreatorDavid MilchStarsTimothy OlyphantIan McShaneMolly ParkerA show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.
- CreatorDonald GloverStarsDonald GloverBrian Tyree HenryLaKeith StanfieldEarn and his cousin, Alfred, try to make their way in the world through Atlanta's rap scene. Along the way they come face-to-face with social and economic issues touching on race, relationships, poverty, status and parenthood.Glover is the thirty-four-year-old creator, head writer, occasional director, and star of “Atlanta,” the black comedy about black life—three men and a woman going nowhere much, and beginning to realize it
A mix of stunning and uninspiring episodes - CreatorCarlo BernardChris BrancatoDoug MiroStarsPedro PascalWagner MouraBoyd HolbrookA chronicled look at the criminal exploits of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, as well as the many other drug kingpins who plagued the country through the years.
- CreatorRaphael Bob-WaksbergStarsWill ArnettAmy SedarisAlison BrieBoJack Horseman was the star of the hit television show "Horsin' Around" in the '80s and '90s, but now he's washed up, living in Hollywood, complaining about everything, and wearing colorful sweaters.While not as deep and innovate and provocative as some make it out to be (there are plenty of stories with anti-heroes with self-destructive tendencies and unresolved psycholigical issues), it still remains a very impressive and engaging experience, even if it stops short of being a masterpiece.
The series does a good enough job to explore every individual character's personalities and backstories, but the show shines the most when the characters are allowed some raw and honest interaction among each other. The way these quirky characters interect between each other, changing (or remaining exactly the same), including witty, but not too snobbish or complex dialogue, is what makes this show so great.
Needless to say, mezmerizing animation, perfectly attuned score, impressive voice acting and original screenplay, rich with sardonic humour, irony, sarcasm and satire, as well as some genuine wholesome moments, are what makes this show truly outstanding. - CreatorBruno HellerWilliam J. MacDonaldJohn MiliusStarsKevin McKiddRay StevensonPolly WalkerA down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.
- CreatorPaolo SorrentinoStarsJude LawJohn MalkovichSilvio OrlandoTwo Popes. Only one Vatican. A holy war to come.
- CreatorDamon LindelofStarsRegina KingYahya Abdul-Mateen IITom MisonSet in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, Watchmen embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name, while attempting to break new ground of its own.
- CreatorMatthew WeinerStarsJon HammElisabeth MossVincent KartheiserA drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper.I always saw it as the culmination of an episode that explores how being "The Rejected" isn't about alienation -- it's about association. We reject one group to connect with another; we give up on one opportunity to embrace another. Everyone in the episode seems to be doing just that, culminating in the scene where Peggy moves toward the youth crowd and Pete towards the old boys' club, and they look back at each other across this now impassible distance. Each one has rejected the other's world, but neither of them ends up alone.
But Don does. While everyone else is grouping up, we see him sitting in his office in the dark until the janitor shows up with the floor waxer. He's the one person who associates rejection with alienation -- he's spent the first part of the season giving up on everything that used to define him, but he thinks that means he doesn't have anything left. "Right now my life is very --" he types to Allison, but can't think of anything to say. And in his rant to Dr. Faye, he rejects her way of relating to people ("You stick your finger in people's brains and they just start talking . . . Just to be heard"), but he thinks the alternative is not associating with people at all. Note that he doesn't end his rant with "It's not your business"; he says, "It's nobody's business." It's not about picking the right person to be open with; it's about not being open at all.
It's in that final scene with the old couple that Don is confronted with the possibility that this isn't true. Don watches as the wife refuses to answer her husband's simple question -- "Did you get pears? Did you get pears?" It's a final rejection of sorts. But her response is telling: "We'll discuss it inside." It's not that the answer is nobody's business; it's that it's an answer meant for just the two of them, and just because she's not going to talk about it in front of some neighbor in the hallway doesn't mean they won't talk about it at all.
This is one of those beautiful Mad Men moments where everything and nothing is going on here. Like, on the very surface, this is just a funny aside capturing a kind of quintessentially "New York" moment (I'm guessing, I've never lived there) where there are these weird, "low-class" people who are just out there making a scene over nothing.
But, I think u/DeejusIsHere is on to something, because Don doesn't really like the ugly parts of this kind of partnership. He's used to being a dominant figure. If it were him, he'd have just flown off to the West Coast to pick some fresh pears from the tree without telling anyone. Or, maybe it represents the exact thing Don thinks he's running from. This poor old man is yammering in the hall like a child, because (in Don's view) his wife won't answer a very reasonable question. SHE is in TOTAL control, because when she finally answers she puts him off. And he just trundles on in the apartment after her. I think he sees Faye as the type of woman who could eventually become the dominant figure. So, his desire to both escape that awful apartment where these weird people live and find a wife he believes he can control like Betty is subtle foreshadowing of his sudden marriage to Megan. If you wanted to reach even further, you could say that this couple's economic situation is where he might be if he never escaped Dick Whitman's future. Status and appearance are very important to Don. - CreatorPeter MorganStarsClaire FoyOlivia ColmanImelda StauntonFollows the political rivalries and romances of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped Britain for the second half of the 20th century.A witty and smart series, enrichened by brilliant actors and performances (especially Claire Foy) that at times is still somehow capable to appear dull, boring and uneventfull. The series is driven primariy by its powerful, strong characters, of both royal and common origin.
The series explores the lives and development not only of the royal family and its loved ones, but also its servants, its politicians and prime ministers, its ordinary people. And thus, the screen is filled with colourful, sometimes polar opposite characters. Cold-hearted pragmatists and restless overlooked partners; self-centered, sensitive individualistic thinkers and direct, old-fashioned men of action, people of faith and people of doubt, people of opposing political views and moral values and so on.
In their struggles, this people push the series forward, exploring such themes as the evolution of the royal court, its protocol, the injustices of court, the hiding behing the mystery of ritual and tradition (the allure and power of it); the trifles and fruits of relationships; the struggles of marriage; the power balance between husband and wife; the frustration of unjustly staying in someone else's shadow or being neglected or unheard; the fruitless search for meaning; the changing of the guard and the role of elderly; the power of forgiveness and the cost of mistake; the pain, that was inflicted on us, that we choose to inflict on future generations; the art of saying a lot and not saying anything at all; the power of a unifying symbol and the struggle of keeping people together; the role of the monarch in the democratic society and inabality to have any meaninful influence; and, perhaps most importantly, the ability of strong-willed people to change and adapt to the circumstances.
As for the Queen herself, the first two seasons at large were showcasing the development of her royal character and stance. In the third season her character is far more rigid and unmoved. Nevertheless, the show has huge reserves of interesting characters to shine. Hopefully it will not disappoint. - CreatorAlan BallStarsPeter KrauseMichael C. HallFrances ConroyA chronicle of the lives of a dysfunctional family who run an independent funeral home in Los Angeles.
- CreatorNoah HawleyStarsBilly Bob ThorntonMartin FreemanAllison TolmanVarious chronicles of deception, intrigue, and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. All of these tales mysteriously lead back one way or another to Fargo, North Dakota.Фарго невероятно прежде всего своей великолепной атмосферой. Та комедийность и трагичность, нелепость и бессмысленность, с которой шоу отображает насилие, та фундаментальная глупость, простоватость и непредсказуемость поведения главных героев, то как преступление и его моральные последствия меняют главных героев каждого сезона, то, как жизни и судьбы людей зависят от своевольного случая, который неподвластен их контролю, то как главные герои все глубже и глубже погружаются в аморальное поведение после того, как они впервые вступили на преступную дорогу - все это является невероятно уникальным и харизматичным подспорьем для того, чтобы полюбить данное шоу и не переставать удивляться событиям каждого нового сезона, хотя, казалось бы, удивлять уже должно быть нечем.
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Четвертый сезон был, пожалуй, хуже всех предыдущих. И хотя сериал по-прежнему может похвастать чудаковатыми и эксцентричными персонажами, а также непредсказуемыми событиями, формула начинает сильно приедаться. Более того, ни один из персонажей не может похвастать харизматичностью и не вызывал моих симпатий/сопереживаний. Борьба преступных группировок, страдания и боль опрессированных слоев населения, выживание отдельных членов мафии, посттравмитический синдром, романтические разбойницы, владельцы похоронного дома и даже сумасшедшая медсестра - все это выглядело достаточно блекло, особенно на фоне первых двух сезонов.
Из интересных сцен - тирада шерифа о моральности преступника, а также диалог между Ирландцем и разнорабочим о постере. - StarsAlexander SkarsgårdJames RansoneLee TergesenA Rolling Stone reporter, embedded with The 1st Recon Marines chronicles his experiences during the first wave of the American-led assault on Baghdad in 2003.Jarhead + Band of brothers
- StarsAnton LesserSimon Russell BealeTom GeorgesonA mini-series of adaptations of Shakespeare's history plays: Richard II, Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V.quality varies on each episode
- CreatorMolly Smith MetzlerStarsMargaret QualleyNick RobinsonRylea Nevaeh WhittetAfter fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to provide for her child and build them a better future.
- CreatorJ.J. AbramsJeffrey LieberDamon LindelofStarsJorge GarciaJosh HollowayYunjin KimThe survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island.
- CreatorSam EsmailStarsRami MalekChristian SlaterCarly ChaikinElliot, a brilliant but unstable cyber-security engineer and vigilante hacker, becomes a key figure in a complex game of global chaos when he and his shadowy allies try to take down the corrupt corporation his company is paid to protect.
- StarsPaul MescalDaisy Edgar-JonesDesmond EastwoodFollows Marianne and Connell, from different backgrounds but the same small town in Ireland, as they weave in and out of each other's romantic lives.This show is filmed masterfully, and yet there is something that stops me from truly believing it.
Maybe its the casting choices (actors are doing their parts spendidly, but its hard to engage in a cinderella story when she looks absolutely stunning - although thats the flaw of mine lack of imagination).
Needless to say, the relationship between the leads, and the problems that they are destined to go through (personal flaws and fears, lack of proper communication to name a few) feels very genuine.
But the characters themselves and their backgrounds dont exactly feel alive, their suffering rings untrue, their flaws and problems - artificial. The show tries to be smart just as its characters are supposed to be very intelligent and self-aware and sensitive and so on, but they stop short of making their characters breathe. The forced conflict between the different social status of the leads also felt just a part of a secondary background, as it remained out of focus for the majority of the sries.
Nonetheless, the series is still very good and is carried simply on the back of the immense power of the relationship between the leads. - CreatorCarlo BernardChris BrancatoDoug MiroStarsScoot McNairyJosé María YazpikAlejandro EddaThe rise of the Guadalajara Cartel as an American DEA agent learns the danger of targeting narcos in Mexico.The formula is becoming stale, wish i could say the same about the drugs.
- CreatorDavid BenioffD.B. WeissStarsEmilia ClarkePeter DinklageKit HaringtonNine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/10/16114482/game-of-thrones-soap-opera#:~:text=That's%20not%20a%20bad%20thing.
It’s easy to miss this fundamental narrative lane change and blame the series’ downturn on plain old bad writing by Benioff and Weiss—partly because they are genuinely bad at it. They didn’t just switch the explanatory dynamics of the story, they did a terrible job in the new lane as well.
One could, for example, easily focus on the abundance of plot holes. The dragons, for example seem to switch between comic-book indestructible to vulnerable from one episode to another. And it was hard to keep a straight face when Jaime Lannister ended up on a tiny cove along a vast, vast shoreline at the exact moment the villain Euron Greyjoy swam to that very point from his sinking ship to confront him. How convenient!
Similarly, character arcs meticulously drawn over many seasons seem to have been abandoned on a whim, turning the players into caricatures instead of personalities. Brienne of Tarth seems to exist for no reason, for example; Tyrion Lannister is all of a sudden turned into a murderous snitch while also losing all his intellectual gifts (he hasn’t made a single correct decision the entire season). And who knows what on earth is up with Bran Stark, except that he seems to be kept on as some sort of extra Stark?
But all that is surface stuff. Even if the new season had managed to minimize plot holes and avoid clunky coincidences and a clumsy Arya ex machina as a storytelling device, they couldn’t persist in the narrative lane of the past seasons. For Benioff and Weiss, trying to continue what Game of Thrones had set out to do, tell a compelling sociological story, would be like trying to eat melting ice cream with a fork. Hollywood mostly knows how to tell psychological, individualized stories. They do not have the right tools for sociological stories, nor do they even seem to understand the job.
To understand the narrative lane shift, let’s go back to a key question: Why did so many love Game of Thrones in the first place? What makes it stand out from so many other shows during an era critics call the Second Golden Age of Television because there are so many high-quality productions out there?
The initial fan interest and ensuing loyalty wasn’t just about the brilliant acting and superb cinematography, sound, editing and directing. None of those are that unique to GOT, and all of them remain excellent through this otherwise terrible last season.
One clue is clearly the show’s willingness to kill off major characters, early and often, without losing the thread of the story. TV shows that travel in the psychological lane rarely do that because they depend on viewers identifying with the characters and becoming invested in them to carry the story, rather than looking at the bigger picture of the society, institutions and norms that we interact with and which shape us. They can’t just kill major characters because those are the key tools with which they’re building the story and using as hooks to hold viewers.
In contrast, Game of Thrones killed Ned Stark abruptly at the end of the first season, after building the whole season and, by implication, the entire series around him. The second season developed a replacement Stark heir, which appeared like a more traditional continuation of the narrative. The third season, however, had him and his pregnant wife murdered in a particularly bloody way. And so it went. The story moved on; many characters did not.
The appeal of a show that routinely kills major characters signals a different kind of storytelling, where a single charismatic and/or powerful individual, along with his or her internal dynamics, doesn’t carry the whole narrative and explanatory burden. Given the dearth of such narratives in fiction and in TV, this approach clearly resonated with a large fan base that latched on to the show.
In sociological storytelling, the characters have personal stories and agency, of course, but those are also greatly shaped by institutions and events around them. The incentives for characters’ behavior come noticeably from these external forces, too, and even strongly influence their inner life.
People then fit their internal narrative to align with their incentives, justifying and rationalizing their behavior along the way. (Thus the famous Upton Sinclair quip: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”)
The overly personal mode of storytelling or analysis leaves us bereft of deeper comprehension of events and history. Understanding Hitler’s personality alone will not tell us much about rise of fascism, for example. Not that it didn’t matter, but a different demagogue would probably have appeared to take his place in Germany in between the two bloody world wars in the 20th century. Hence, the answer to “would you kill baby Hitler?,” sometimes presented as an ethical time-travel challenge, should be “no,” because it would very likely not matter much. It is not a true dilemma.
We also have a bias for the individual as the locus of agency in interpreting our own everyday life and the behavior of others. We tend to seek internal, psychological explanations for the behavior of those around us while making situational excuses for our own. This is such a common way of looking at the world that social psychologists have a word for it: the fundamental attribution error.
When someone wrongs us, we tend to think they are evil, misguided or selfish: a personalized explanation. But when we misbehave, we are better at recognizing the external pressures on us that shape our actions: a situational understanding. If you snap at a coworker, for example, you may rationalize your behavior by remembering that you had difficulty sleeping last night and had financial struggles this month. You’re not evil, just stressed! The coworker who snaps at you, however, is more likely to be interpreted as a jerk, without going through the same kind of rationalization. This is convenient for our peace of mind, and fits with our domain of knowledge, too. We know what pressures us, but not necessarily others.
That tension between internal stories and desires, psychology and external pressures, institutions, norms and events was exactly what Game of Thrones showed us for many of its characters, creating rich tapestries of psychology but also behavior that was neither saintly nor fully evil at any one point. It was something more than that: you could understand why even the characters undertaking evil acts were doing what they did, how their good intentions got subverted, and how incentives structured behavior. The complexity made it much richer than a simplistic morality tale, where unadulterated good fights with evil.
The hallmark of sociological storytelling is if it can encourage us to put ourselves in the place of any character, not just the main hero/heroine, and imagine ourselves making similar choices. “Yeah, I can see myself doing that under such circumstances” is a way into a broader, deeper understanding. It’s not just empathy: we of course empathize with victims and good people, not with evildoers.
But if we can better understand how and why characters make their choices, we can also think about how to structure our world that encourages better choices for everyone. The alternative is an often futile appeal to the better angels of our nature. It’s not that they don’t exist, but they exist along with baser and lesser motives. The question isn’t to identify the few angels but to make it easier for everyone to make the choices that, collectively, would lead us all to a better place.
Another example of sociological TV drama with a similarly enthusiastic fan following is David Simon’s The Wire, which followed the trajectory of a variety of actors in Baltimore, ranging from African-Americans in the impoverished and neglected inner city trying to survive, to police officers to journalists to unionized dock workers to city officials and teachers. That show, too, killed off its main characters regularly, without losing its audience. Interestingly, the star of each season was an institution more than a person. The second season, for example, focused on the demise of the unionized working class in the U.S.; the fourth highlighted schools; and the final season focused on the role of journalism and mass media.
Luckily for The Wire, creative control never shifted to the standard Hollywood narrative writers who would have given us individuals to root for or hate without being able to fully understand the circumstances that shape them. One thing that’s striking about The Wire is how one could understand all the characters, not just the good ones (and in fact, none of them were just good or bad). When that’s the case, you know you’re watching a sociological story.
Tellingly, season eight shocked many viewers by … not initially killing off the main characters. It was the first big indicator of their shift—that they were putting the weight of the story on the individual and abandoning the sociological. In that vein, they had fan-favorite characters pull off stunts we could root and cheer for, like Arya Stark killing the Night King in a somewhat improbable fashion.
For seven seasons, the show had focused on the sociology of what an external, otherized threat—such as the Night King, the Army of the Undead and the Winter to Come—would do to competing rivalries within the opposing camp. Having killed one of the main sociological tensions that had animated the whole series with one well-placed knife-stab, Benioff and Weiss then turned to ruining the other sociological tension: the story of the corruption of power.
This corruption of power was crucially illustrated in Cersei Lannister’s rise and evolution from victim (if a selfish one) to evil actor, and this was clearly meant also to be the story of her main challenger, Daenerys Targaryen. Dany had started out wanting to be the breaker of chains, with moral choices weighing heavily on her, and season by season, we have witnessed her, however reluctantly, being shaped by the tools that were available to her and that she embraced: war, dragons, fire.
Done right, it would have been a fascinating and dynamic story: rivals transforming into each other as they seek absolute power with murderous tools, one starting from a selfish perspective (her desire to have her children rule) and the other from an altruistic one (her desire to free slaves and captive people, of which she was once one).
The corruption of power is one of the most important psychosocial dynamics behind many important turning points in history, and in how the ills of society arise. In response, we have created elections, checks and balances, and laws and mechanisms that constrain the executive.
Destructive historical figures often believe that they must stay in power because it is they, and only they, who can lead the people—and that any alternative would be calamitous. Leaders tend to get isolated, become surrounded by sycophants and succumb easily to the human tendency to self-rationalize. There are several examples in history of a leader who starts in opposition with the best of intentions, like Dany, and ends up acting brutally and turning into a tyrant if they take power.
Told sociologically, Dany’s descent into a cruel mass-murderer would have been a strong and riveting story. Yet in the hands of two writers who do not understand how to advance the narrative in that lane, it became ridiculous. She attacks King’s Landing with Drogon, her dragon, and wins, with the bells of the city ringing in surrender. Then, suddenly, she goes on a rampage because, somehow, her tyrannical genes turn on.
Varys, the advisor who will die for trying to stop Dany, says to Tyrion that “every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.” That is straight-up and simplistic genetic determinism, rather than what we had been witnessing for the past seven seasons. Again, sociological stories don’t discount the personal, psychological and even the genetic, but the key point is that they are more than “coin tosses”—they are complex interactions with emergent consequences: the way the world actually works.
In interviews after that episode, Benioff and Weiss confess that they turned it into a spontaneous moment. Weiss says, “ I don’t think she decided ahead of time that she was going to do what she did. And then she sees the Red Keep, which is, to her, the home that her family built when they first came over to this country 300 years ago. It’s in that moment, on the walls of King’s Landing, when she’s looking at that symbol of everything that was taken from her, when she makes the decision to make this personal.”
Benioff and Weiss were almost certainly given the “Mad Queen” ending to Game of Thrones by the original writer, George R. R. Martin. For them, however, this was the eating-ice-cream-with-a-fork problem I mentioned above. They could keep the story, but not the storytelling method. They could only make it into a momentary turn that is part spontaneous psychology and part deterministic genetics.
Whether done well or badly, the psychological/internal genre leaves us unable to understand and react to social change. Arguably, the dominance of the psychological and hero/antihero narrative is also the reason we are having such a difficult time dealing with the current historic technology transition. So this essay is more than about one TV show with dragons.
In my own area of research and writing, the impact of digital technology and machine intelligence on society, I encounter this obstacle all the time. There are a significant number of stories, books, narratives and journalistic accounts that focus on the personalities of key players such as Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Jack Dorsey and Jeff Bezos. Of course, their personalities matter, but only in the context of business models, technological advances, the political environment, (lack of) meaningful regulation, the existing economic and political forces that fuel wealth inequality and lack of accountability for powerful actors, geopolitical dynamics, societal characteristics and more.
It’s reasonable, for example, for a corporation to ponder who would be the best CEO or COO, but it’s not reasonable for us to expect that we could take any one of those actors and replace them with another person and get dramatically different results without changing the structures, incentives and forces that shape how they and their companies act in this world.
The preference for the individual and psychological narrative is understandable: the story is easier to tell as we gravitate toward identifying with the hero or hating the antihero, at the personal level. We are, after all, also persons!
In German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s classic play, Life of Galileo, Andrea, a former pupil of Galileo, visits him after he recants his seminal findings under pressure from the Catholic Church. Galileo gives Andrea his notebooks, asking him to spread the knowledge they contain. Andrea celebrates this, saying “unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.” Galileo corrects him: “Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.”
Well-run societies don’t need heroes, and the way to keep terrible impulses in check isn’t to dethrone antiheros and replace them with good people. Unfortunately, most of our storytelling—in fiction and also in mass media nonfiction—remains stuck in the hero/antihero narrative. It’s a pity Game of Thrones did not manage to conclude its last season in its original vein. In a historic moment that requires a lot of institution building and incentive changing (technological challenges, climate change, inequality and accountability) we need all the sociological imagination we can get, and fantasy dragons or not, it was nice to have a show that encouraged just that while it lasted. - StarsOscar IsaacNatalie PaulCarla QuevedoNick Wasicsko takes office as mayor of Yonkers in 1987 and has to face the issue of building public housing in the white, middle-class side of town.
- CreatorDavid E. KelleyStarsReese WitherspoonNicole KidmanShailene WoodleyThe apparently-perfect lives of upper-class mothers of students at a prestigious elementary school unravel to the point of murder when a single mother moves to their quaint California beach town.
- CreatorJ.T. RogersStarsAnsel ElgortKen WatanabeRachel KellerA Western journalist working for a publication in Tokyo takes on one of the city's most powerful crime bosses.
- CreatorMichaela CoelStarsMichaela CoelWeruche OpiaPaapa EssieduThe question of sexual consent in contemporary life and how, in the new landscape of dating and relationships, we make the distinction between liberation and exploitation.Funny flick, might downvote later
- CreatorChristopher StorerStarsJeremy Allen WhiteEbon Moss-BachrachAyo EdebiriA young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop.
- CreatorMike WhiteStarsJennifer CoolidgeJon GriesF. Murray AbrahamThe exploits of various guests and employees of a luxury resort over the span of a week.Impressive and clever depiction of superficial relationship in the married couple, the hypocricy of service industry and the transactional nature of the relationships forged there, the pretentiousness of narcissist teenagers who demand adoration and ownership.
Early in the second season of “The White Lotus” — Mike White’s HBO satire of the leisure class, currently set in a five-star Sicilian resort — there’s a sequence that offers an overt, shot-for-shot homage to a scene in “L’Avventura,” from 1960, the first film in Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Trilogy of Decadence.” Coolly removed and virtually plotless, Antonioni’s three films were intended as an indictment of the entropic passivity of wealth. All starred Monica Vitti, the glamorous Italian actress with whom Antonioni was romantically involved. In “L’Avventura,” she plays Claudia, a young woman whose best friend, Anna, disappears during a yacht trip off the coast of Sicily. As Claudia and Anna’s boyfriend, Sandro, search for the missing girl, they drift into an unconvincing relationship. When they arrive at the lone hotel in the town of Noto, Claudia, suddenly worried about facing her friend, tells Sandro to search inside without her.
The scene “The White Lotus” recreates takes place outside, in the piazza, where Claudia is accosted by a horde of leering men. The aesthetics are disconcerting: Antonioni uses the town’s baroque architecture to pile men around and atop Claudia. She looks afraid, for a moment, but then has a sort of detachment from reality. Walking slowly through the crowd, she seems to give herself over to the experience, allowing herself to become a spectacle, subject to the men’s (and the audience’s) scrutinizing, consuming gaze.
In Antonioni’s film, Vitti’s wealth and beauty grant her character access to a world of glamour, but they also trap her in a lie, concealing a real world of rot and corruption. “L’Avventura” means “the adventure” — ironic, since nothing much happens in the movie, and its central mystery is never solved — but an “avventura” is also a term for an illicit affair, often one entered out of boredom, for kicks. This is precisely how everyone in this season of “The White Lotus” gets into trouble. For both show and film, “love” is a dance of deception and self-delusion, in which it’s hard to tell who’s the mark.
As we watch Harper drift through the crowd, what we are looking at is the experience of being looked at. Along with Tanya — who aims to imitate Vitti but is instead brutally compared, by a tactless hotel manager, to Peppa Pig — she offers a metaphor for how thoroughly we can give ourselves over to imposture.
Antonioni started working during the Italian neorealism movement, when films were shot on location, making use of nonactors, telling stories about working-class people and poverty and despair. But it was “L’Avventura,” with its focus on the alienation of the moneyed, that made him internationally famous. I know this because I took an Italian-neorealism class during a junior year abroad in Paris, and — not surprisingly, I suppose, for the kind of person who takes an Italian-neorealism class during a junior year in Paris — I, too, preferred Antonioni’s trilogy about disaffected rich people to the stuff that had come before: children stealing bicycles, Anna Magnani worrying about unpaid bills, that sort of thing. Struggle is hard to watch; it is much more pleasant to have our moral judgments projected into a world of aestheticized, escapist pleasure.
We carry a desire to inhabit images we’ve seen, reified symbols of love, glamour, happiness, success. The “White Lotus” scene in Noto is a perfect representation of this recursive fakery and its nightmarish endpoint. Like so many travelers in the Instagram age, the show’s characters drift through their adventures without any real purpose other than to reproduce the pretty scenes and special moments they’ve seen elsewhere, trying to locate themselves in endless reflections. Among them, it is only Harper who remains unaffected by visual culture. Her scene in Noto feels like an inflection point. It is easier than ever to mistake beauty for truth — or pretend to. Which, the show asks, will Harper choose? - CreatorMåns MårlindHans RosenfeldtBjörn SteinStarsSofia HelinRafael PetterssonSarah BobergWhen a body is found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, right on the border, Danish inspector Martin Rohde and Swedish Saga Norén have to share jurisdiction and work together to find the killer.
- StarsJonathan Rhys MeyersMalachi KirbyForest WhitakerAn adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots." Chronicles the history of an African man and his descendants sold into slavery in America.
- CreatorLisa JoyJonathan NolanStarsEvan Rachel WoodJeffrey WrightEd HarrisAt the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.1st season is 9.5/10; 2nd season is 8/10; 3rd season is 7/10.
4th season is about 2/10. - CreatorRyan J. CondalGeorge R.R. MartinStarsMatt SmithEmma D'ArcyOlivia CookeAn internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power, 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.
- CreatorNeil DruckmannCraig MazinStarsPedro PascalBella RamseyAnna TorvAfter a global pandemic destroys civilization, a hardened survivor takes charge of a 14-year-old girl who may be humanity's last hope.
- CreatorLeslie GreifMichael TolkinStarsMiles TellerMatthew GoodeDan FoglerOscar-winning producer Albert S. Ruddy's never-before-revealed experiences of making The Godfather (1972).Luminous, vivacious and full of colour. If only there was substance in this love ode to hollywood.
- CreatorBrad IngelsbyStarsKate WinsletJulianne NicholsonJean SmartA detective in a small Pennsylvania town investigates a local murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.Kate Winslet is marvellous here, but the story is yet another generic true crime that never happened.
- CreatorSteven CanalsBrad FalchukRyan MurphyStarsMichaela Jaé (MJ) RodriguezDominique JacksonIndya MooreIn the New York of the late '80s and early '90s, this is a story of ball culture and the gay and trans community, the raging AIDS crisis, and capitalism.something new but gets stale
- CreatorBruce MillerStarsElisabeth MossYvonne StrahovskiAnn DowdSet in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.the premise was good, everything else wasnt
- CreatorDanny StrongStarsMichael KeatonPeter SarsgaardMichael StuhlbargThe series takes viewers to the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma, to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA.Somewhat preachy and underwhelming, but Mike Stuhlberg character is one of the best villains i would ever hope to see.
- CreatorGeorge PelecanosDavid SimonStarsJames FrancoMaggie GyllenhaalLawrence Gilliard Jr.A look at life in New York City during the 1970s and '80s, when porn and prostitution were rampant in Manhattan.The show runs out of the things to say and the characters alone dont have the ability to push it forward.
- CreatorMark FrostDavid LynchStarsKyle MacLachlanMichael OntkeanMädchen AmickAn idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.
- CreatorEric KripkeStarsKarl UrbanJack QuaidAntony StarrA group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers.
- CreatorBill DubuqueMark WilliamsStarsJason BatemanLaura LinneySofia HublitzA financial advisor drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder money to appease a drug boss.
- CreatorSam ShawDustin ThomasonStarsBill SkarsgårdAndré HollandLizzy CaplanA psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland.
- CreatorRichard PriceStarsBen MendelsohnBill CampJeremy BobbWhen an insidious supernatural force edges its way into a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a young boy, it leads a seasoned cop and an unorthodox investigator to question everything they believe in.
- CreatorDrew GoddardStarsCharlie CoxVincent D'OnofrioDeborah Ann WollA blind lawyer by day, vigilante by night. Matt Murdock fights the crime of New York as Daredevil.
- CreatorMark GatissSteven MoffatStarsBenedict CumberbatchMartin FreemanUna StubbsThe quirky spin on Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth pitches him as a "high-functioning sociopath" in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who's introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance.
- CreatorBaran bo OdarJantje FrieseStarsLouis HofmannKaroline EichhornLisa VicariA family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families.
- CreatorCharlie BrookerStarsWunmi MosakuMonica DolanDaniel LapaineFeaturing stand-alone dramas -- sharp, suspenseful, satirical tales that explore techno-paranoia -- "Black Mirror" is a contemporary reworking of "The Twilight Zone" with stories that tap into the collective unease about the modern world.
- CreatorNeil CrossStarsIdris ElbaDermot CrowleyMichael SmileyJohn Luther is a brilliant homicide detective with a knack for getting inside the minds of murderers. Unfortunately, his unconventional methods and personal demons put him at odds with his team.
- CreatorChips HardyTom HardySteven KnightStarsTom HardyDavid HaymanJonathan PryceAdventurer James Keziah Delaney returns to London during the War of 1812 to rebuild his late father's shipping empire. However, both the government and his biggest competitor want his inheritance at any cost--even murder.
- CreatorDan FogelmanStarsMilo VentimigliaMandy MooreSterling K. BrownA heartwarming and emotional story about a unique set of triplets, their struggles, and their wonderful parents.Santa Barbara of our time
- CreatorSam LevinsonStarsZendayaHunter SchaferJacob ElordiA look at life for a group of high school students as they grapple with issues of drugs, sex, and violence.
- CreatorBeau WillimonStarsKevin SpaceyMichel GillRobin WrightA Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.the first two seasons are engaging, everything else is trash
- CreatorAaron SorkinStarsJeff DanielsEmily MortimerJohn Gallagher Jr.A newsroom undergoes some changes in its workings and morals as a new team is brought in, bringing unexpected results for its existing news anchor.condescending and preachy
- CreatorFrank DarabontStarsAndrew LincolnNorman ReedusMelissa McBrideSheriff Deputy Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to learn the world is in ruins and must lead a group of survivors to stay alive.
- CreatorScott FrankAllan ScottStarsAnya Taylor-JoyChloe PirrieBill CampOrphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.
- CreatorPhoebe Waller-BridgeStarsJodie ComerSandra OhFiona ShawAfter a series of events, the lives of a security operative and an assassin become inextricably linked.
- CreatorPatrick McKayJohn D. PayneStarsMorfydd ClarkIsmael Cruz CordovaCharlie VickersEpic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.
- CreatorMichael WaldronStarsTom HiddlestonOwen WilsonSophia Di MartinoThe mercurial villain Loki resumes his role as the God of Mischief in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.”
- CreatorJack ThorneStarsDafne KeenKit ConnorRuth WilsonA young girl is destined to liberate her world from the grip of the Magisterium which represses people's ties to magic and their animal spirits known as daemons.
- CreatorMarti NoxonStarsAmy AdamsPatricia ClarksonChris MessinaAfter treating her mental illness, crime reporter Camille Preaker returns to her hometown to solve the murder of two young girls. However, she is forced to face and deal with her own demons too.
- CreatorLauren Schmidt HissrichStarsFreya AllanHenry CavillAnya ChalotraGeralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
- CreatorJohn LoganStarsJosh HartnettTimothy DaltonEva GreenExplorer Sir Malcolm Murray, American gunslinger Ethan Chandler, scientist Victor Frankenstein and medium Vanessa Ives unite to combat supernatural threats in Victorian London.
- CreatorBrian KoppelmanDavid LevienAndrew Ross SorkinStarsPaul GiamattiDamian LewisMaggie SiffNew money means no mercy as Mike Prince takes the Axe Capital throne. Chuck Rhoades is convinced no one should have that much wealth - or power. As all the players seek out new alliances, only one thing's for certain - wealth means war.Holy shit this thing is baaad.
- CreatorJoe PenhallStarsJonathan GroffHolt McCallanyAnna TorvIn the late 1970s, two FBI agents broaden the realm of criminal science by investigating the psychology behind murder and end up getting too close to real-life monsters.Another boring true crime that feeds into mainstream psychopath obssession.
- CreatorSteve LightfootStarsJon BernthalAmber Rose RevahBen BarnesAfter his revenge on those who murdered his family, aimless Marine veteran Frank Castle finds a new meaning in life as a vigilante known as "The Punisher".
- CreatorÁlex PinaStarsÚrsula CorberóÁlvaro MorteItziar ItuñoAn unusual group of robbers attempt to carry out the most perfect robbery in Spanish history - stealing 2.4 billion euros from the Royal Mint of Spain.
- CreatorDaniel AbrahamMark FergusTy FranckStarsSteven StraitDominique TipperWes ChathamThe disappearance of rich-girl-turned-political-activist links the lives of Ceres detective, accidental ship captain and U.N. politician. Amidst political tension between Earth, Mars and the Belt, they unravel the greatest conspiracy.
- CreatorJon FavreauStarsPedro PascalChris BartlettKatee SackhoffThe travels of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic.
- CreatorSteven S. DeKnightStarsAndy WhitfieldLucy LawlessManu BennettThe life of Spartacus, the gladiator who lead a rebellion against the Romans. From his time as an ally of the Romans, to his betrayal and becoming a gladiator, to the rebellion he leads and its ultimate outcome.
- CreatorMike FlanaganStarsMichiel HuismanCarla GuginoHenry ThomasFlashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.
- CreatorSteven KnightStarsCillian MurphyPaul AndersonSophie RundleA gangster family epic set in 1900s England, centering on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby.
- CreatorDavid FarrStarsTom HiddlestonHugh LaurieElizabeth DebickiThe night manager of a Cairo hotel is recruited to infiltrate an arms dealer's inner circle.
- CreatorAva DuVernayStarsAsante BlackkCaleel HarrisEthan HerisseFive teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.
- CreatorJulian FellowesStarsHugh BonnevillePhyllis LoganElizabeth McGovernA chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.
- CreatorAlec BergBill HaderStarsBill HaderStephen RootSarah GoldbergA hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.
- CreatorMatt DufferRoss DufferStarsMillie Bobby BrownFinn WolfhardWinona RyderWhen a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl.
- StarsLee Jung-jaePark Hae-sooDylan BesseauHundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits with deadly high stakes: a survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake.
- CreatorClyde PhillipsStarsMichael C. HallJack AlcottJulia JonesTen years after faking his death in Miami and moving to Upstate New York under an assumed name, Dexter gets an unexpected visit from the son he abandoned.
- CreatorJames Manos Jr.StarsMichael C. HallJennifer CarpenterDavid ZayasHe's smart. He's lovable. He's Dexter Morgan, America's favorite serial killer, who spends his days solving crimes and nights committing them.
- CreatorMatthew MillerStarsIoan GruffuddAlana De La GarzaJoel David MooreDr Henry Morgan, a medical examiner, works with his partner Detective Jo Martinez, to solve criminal cases. Along the way, he tries to uncover the mystery to his 200-year-old immortality.
- CreatorAaron KorshStarsGabriel MachtPatrick J. AdamsMeghan MarkleOn the run from a drug deal gone bad, brilliant college dropout Mike Ross finds himself working with Harvey Specter, one of New York City's best lawyers.cant believe i have watched that garbage
- CreatorTaylor SheridanStarsTim McGrawSam ElliottFaith HillThe post-Civil war generation of the Dutton family travels to Texas, and joins a wagon train undertaking the arduous journey west to Oregon, before settling in Montana to establish what would eventually become the Yellowstone Ranch.
- CreatorAaron GuzikowskiStarsTravis FimmelAmanda CollinAbubakar SalimAndroids are tasked with raising human children on a mysterious planet.
- CreatorLaeta KalogridisStarsChris ConnerRenée Elise GoldsberryDichen LachmanSet in a future where consciousness is digitized and stored, a prisoner returns to life in a new body and must solve a mind-bending murder to win his freedom.
- CreatorMichael HirstStarsKatheryn WinnickGustaf SkarsgårdAlexander LudwigVikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore--and raid--the distant shores across the ocean.
- CreatorNoah HawleyStarsDan StevensRachel KellerAubrey PlazaDavid Haller is a troubled young man diagnosed as schizophrenic, but after a strange encounter he discovers special powers that will change his life forever.
- CreatorTom KapinosStarsTom EllisLauren GermanKevin AlejandroLucifer Morningstar has decided he's had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and decides to spend some time on Earth to better understand humanity. He settles in Los Angeles - the City of Angels.