Reviews

Little known fact: spies don’t exist only in America and England. You wouldn’t really know that from watching English-language movies and TV for the past fifty years, but it’s true. The fantastic series The Americans (stay tuned for a future Binge Watch entry) was one show that reminded us of this fact, and I just stumbled across another: The Eastern Gate, a new series on MAX.

The Eastern Gate (Przesmyk) is 6-episode Polish mini-series about the precarious geopolitical relationship between Poland, Russia and Belarus, mainly focused on a little-known swath of land called the Suwalki Gap (known as the Eastern Gate). The Suwalki Gap is a small piece of land situated on the border between Lithuania and Poland which is the only land route connecting the Baltic states to the rest of NATO and the European Union. Don’t worry, you can dive as deeply into the eastern European politics of geography as you’d like, or you can just sit back and watch the action. Personally, I was fascinated by the fact that I was learning about this vital strategic region that I knew nothing about, but then even I got carried away by all the cool spy stuff.

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For all of Steven Soderbergh’s status as an elite director in Hollywood, it’s interesting to look back at his filmography and note that, ever since he broke out with Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989 and established himself as an A-lister in 2000 with Traffic and Erin Brockovich, the only Soderbergh films that people have talked about since have been the pair of Magic Mike films and the Ocean’s trilogy.

But what makes Steven Soderbergh one of the most interesting directors in Hollywood is that he doesn’t seem to mind if nobody is talking about him. He is a filmmaker who is seemingly driven by his own creativity and not by commercial incentive. Soderbergh, for example, was the first elite director to shoot an entire film on an iPhone, which was the horror film Unsane in 2018. [Interesting note: the first major director to shoot a film on an iPhone was Sean Baker, who made the low-budget indie Tangerine in 2015. Yes, this is the same Sean Baker who just won four Oscars, including Best Picture, for Anora.]

Soderbergh has also experimented with every genre and platform, even co-producing the COVID Oscars in 2021, proving that he’s up for any challenge, and not afraid of possible negative consequences. His status in Hollywood remains undiminished however, and he can still choose his own projects, which is a luxury not afforded many in this town.

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I had forgotten that ER was on for fifteen years. From 1994 to 2009, the NBC drama aired 331 episodes, winning 23 Emmys and a legion of fans along the way to becoming one of the most popular and revered television dramas of all time. I myself was a huge fan of the show and still find it incredibly re-watchable as it lives on in syndication. It continues to find new fans as it is easily available not only on streaming (Max or Hulu), but on regular cable every day.

Don’t worry, this week’s Binge Alert isn’t ER–although it certainly isn’t a bad choice, especially if you’ve never seen it. No, this week’s binge recommendation is a show called The Pitt, which is available to stream on MAX. If you’re wondering, however, why I’m talking about ER in a review of The Pitt, well, it’s impossible not to.

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I am so over superheroes. I’m done with universes and origin stories and mythologies and I’m most definitely done with movies that require a viewing of all previous fourteen movies to even comprehend the first ten minutes of the fifteenth. Done.

Superhero movies, with all of their complicated and intertwining stories and timelines, multi-dimensional, galaxy-jumping characters and eye-popping special effects, are partly to blame for the near-total disappearance of the small, intimate movies that don’t rely on CGI or portal-jumping pandemonium to hold your attention. Remember stories about real people, real problems and real relationships in THIS world?

Well, there may not be a way to put the superhero genie back into the bottle, and there may never be a way to make small, personal stories box office gold again, but showrunner and writer Emma Moran did find a way to mine the best of both worlds for her series Extraordinary (2023-2024), available on Disney+ and Hulu, and it’s a perfect formula.

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I love a good crime drama series. Shows like Breaking Bad, Narcos, Ozark, The Wire, Sopranos, Fargo, and, of course, Law & Order all have a special place in my heart and will always be among my favorites. I’m always looking for shows that offer a new dimension or a different perspective from anything I’ve seen before but still give me that same adrenaline rush, that same edge-of-my-seat, pit in my stomach feeling, that same dramatic pull and gripping storylines, and boy, did I stumble across an unheralded gem that gave me all of that and more.

ZeroZeroZero, a series from 2020 and available on Prime Video, is a sprawling epic of a mini-series, told over eight episodes, that focuses on the three legs of the cocaine trade: the buyers, the sellers and the brokers. The story is played out as we watch one massive shipment of cocaine originate in Mexico and travel by sea to its destination in Italy, and we see all the players involved in the shipment, as their individual storylines eventually come together.

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The true beauty of streaming, besides the seemingly endless abyss of content that it offers, is the depth and breadth of its content. First it was cable TV that extended the limitations of what we could watch on TV. Then came pay TV. Now, with streaming, content creators have been allowed to explore any genre, travel any realm, break from any traditional storytelling format. Gone are the days when shows were limited to the half-hour sitcom or the one-hour drama all in the same familiar format. Now, any show can be anything to anyone, each show with the same chance of being a hit with a huge following or finding a cult following with a niche audience.

When I watched Baby Reindeer on Netflix last year, I felt like I was watching something I would or could have never seen on mainstream television ten years ago. It was something so bold, so different, so fascinating and disturbing, which is probably why it became so culturally engaging. I literally couldn’t stop watching.

I felt the same with another show I just stumbled upon, called Such Brave Girls, which can be found on Hulu. This show will not find an audience the way Baby Reindeer did, that’s for sure, but it most definitely is a show I would never have found on mainstream television twenty years ago, probably not even ten or five years ago.

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There’s something about discovering these Australian shows. First it was Mr. Inbetween, which was my inaugural “YOUR WEEKLY BINGE” recommendation, a dark but deeply engaging show that I just couldn’t believe the whole world wasn’t talking about, and then came Colin from Accounts, another under-the-radar Aussie import, a comedy that I fell in love with head over heels, as did everyone I suggested it to. These shows are the kinds of shows I created this feature for: hidden gems that nobody is talking about, nobody is awarding, no publicist is pushing, but are so much better than most of what we are watching. I feel it is my honor—nay, my duty—to find as many of these as possible for you, my loyal reader, so you too can discover these rare gifts that lay beneath the surface of your television landscape. They are there…you just need to know where to look.

And I’m so happy to say I’ve found another Australian miracle. It’s called Fisk, and it’s on Netflix. There are only two seasons currently available on Netflix, even though the third season just dropped in Australia and the UK, but those two seasons are tasty enough. And knowing that a third season is indubitably coming is beyond exciting.

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I was just saying how much I resent shows that are too much into their own earnestness, so it may seem strange that I am now recommending a show as sweet as this, but hear me out.

A Man on the Inside stars Ted Danson as Charles, a widower whose daughter worries is lonely and doesn’t know what to do with himself, so she encourages him to take up a hobby. Following her advice, Charles answers an ad in a newspaper from a private investigator who is looking for someone willing to infiltrate a senior living community to help find out who has been stealing things from residents. The investigation becomes much more than Charles expected as he not only realizes he’s having a lot of fun and is really good at being an undercover investigator, but he ends up really caring about the people who work and live there. What’s going to happen if they find out he’s been lying to them? What’s going to happen when it’s time for him to leave? Will he ever actually find out who’s been committing the crimes? Does any of that even matter when a show is this well written and Ted Danson has truly never been better?

You can’t let this one slip you by. You owe it to yourself, A Man on the Inside is that warm cup of cocoa you crave before bed. It’s one of those rare good things in the world that we should all be grateful exists. Credit to creator extraordinaire Michael Schur, who also created The Good Place and co-created Parks & Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine for giving us another warm blanket of a television show that is funny, warm, clever, sweet and smart—and knows when just the right amount of earnestness is enough.

You will fly through these eight half-hour episodes, so savor them. A second season is coming though, thank goodness. Until then, revel in the goodness that is A Man on the Inside. And yes, make sure your Mom and Dad are watching, too.

The first season of A Man on the Inside is streaming on Netflix. It has been renewed for a second season.

For those of you who follow my binge recommendations closely, you’ll have figured out that I love black comedies. While I have no problem with some sentimentality, when a show is drowning in its own earnestness, it ends up turning me off (which is why you won’t see me recommending Shrinking). But, when a show manages to balance its earnestness with self-awareness, bite and edge, like, say, Ted Lasso or Schitt’s Creek, then I’m all in.

But dark humor is where I’m most at home. Which is why I was so happy to have stumbled onto Deadloch, an Australian crime drama that is as funny and offbeat as it is dark and murder-ridden. Streaming on Prime Video, Deadoch premiered in June of 2023 and its first season is just so much fun. It’s eight episodes, set and shot in Tasmania and loaded with offbeat Australian character actors who are as much of a delight to watch as the mystery is to figure out.

Deadloch stars Kate Box as Dulcie Collins, the senior detective in the small fictional town of Deadloch in Tasmania, Australia. Calling her a senior detective is a bit misleading though, considering there are only three police officers in the entire town. But of the three, she is the boss. Dulcie is only in Deadloch as a favor to her wife, Cath, played by Alicia Gardiner, who wanted to move the couple out to the countryside after living in the city had caused them too much stress. Little did she know that a dead body was about to wash up on the shore of Deadloch, bringing more than a little stress not only to their lives, but to the lives of the whole town. Dulcie is of course thrilled for the opportunity to do some real police work, but she’s challenged by another detective who’s been sent to partner with her, Detective Eddie Redcliffe, played by Madeleine Sami, whose style of policework is, let’s say, slightly different than Dulcie’s. And when I say different, I mean on another planet.

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While the latest incarnation of Sex and the City may have tarnished the brand a little bit, there’s no denying that the original series which aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004 deserves to be in the pantheon of television, an all-timer combination of writing and performances that will no doubt stand the test of time. Given its level of success and popularity, it has naturally spawned many imitators over the years and inspired an entire genre of sexy comedies for adults, but no other series has been able to come as close to its tone and vibe until now.

For anyone that has missed Sex and the City as much as I have, I give you Nobody Wants This, a series with all the wit, relationship drama, female bonding and journeying through the dating hellscape that Sex and the City offered, but with—gasp—more romance. But, thankfully, the same amount of alcohol.

The series is called Nobody Wants This and it’s on Netflix, and it stars Kristen Bell as a somewhat shallow podcaster who falls in love with a sweet but unconventional rabbi, played by Adam Brody. It’s a classic star-crossed romance, done with panache and humor, anchored by the charm and chemistry of Bell and Brody. It’s very L.A.-centric, as it’s shot and set in Los Angeles (those who know Eagle Rock will be very much at home) and is incredibly laid-back and depicts one of those only-in-Hollywood fantasy lands where nobody is ugly and nothing is bad, but giving yourself into it is part of its magic. The New York of Sex and the City ignored all the bad things, too, it’s LA’s turn to be perfect, darn it.

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