Happy new year! Welcome to our first list of streaming recommendations for 2018. Here’s what you should be curling up on the couch to watch this coming freezing January weekend.
Congratulations and well done! You’ve survived the first week back to work after the Christmas holidays. You might still be in full #NewYearNewYou mode when it comes to your diet but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a good old fashioned TV series binge on Netflix - the best kind of binge in our opinion!
Below you’ll find a list of five great series arranged by mood to get stuck into this weekend - just be sure to come up for air - or at least some loo breaks between now and Monday morning!
Scare me with reality:
Rotten
If the trailer for this one doesn’t draw you in, we don’t know what will! Hitting the streaming service today, this new 6 part documentary series explores the food industry on a global level. Local farming is fading as profit margins decide what food makes it to our plates. Rotten exposes the fraud, corruption, and the consequences on our health of today’s global food industry. Nobody’s hands are clean.
Give it a go: If you’re looking for a sobering look at where your food comes from.
Give it a miss: You ever want to eat again.
Actually, scare me with unreality:
Black Mirror Season 4
The smash hit anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world returns for a fourth season, delivering a fresh batch of stand-alone episodes; each with a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia.
Our favourite episode has got to be U.S.S. Callister, which imagines what would happen if geeky trekkies collided with sophisticated VR software. Hint, hint - it ain’t good!
Promising review: “Black Mirror's fourth season has taken on a different tone, and while some episodes may feel unfamiliar in comparison to earlier seasons, the show continues to thrive in its depiction of Orwellian nightmares.”
Give it a go: If you’re looking for a thoroughly modern Twilight Zone.
Give it a miss: If you find it hard to suspend your sense of disbelief.
Ok, enough scariness - give me something warm and fuzzy:
Lovesick Season 3
If you’re looking for something that’s undemanding and comforting to watch (that isn’t Friends, which was also recently added to the streaming service), look no further than Lovesick (formerly the terribly titled “Scrotal Recall”).
Season 1 began with the simple premise of Dylan, a young man discovering that he’s contracted an STI and must call all of his previous girlfriends to tell them the news. Season 3 continues the adventure as Dylan and his two best friends Luke and Evie navigate the ups and downs of relationships as they search for their soul mates.
Promising review: “Among the current rom-coms on TV, Lovesick is probably one of the lightest, most winsome ones.”
Give it a go: If you like rom-com series.
Give it a miss: If you’re tired of the same old sitcom clichés.
I like my rom-coms to be a little edgier:
The End of the F***ing World
Based on the graphic novel by Charles Forsman, The End of F***ing World is not your average teenage boy meets teenage girl story. James, a self-confessed “psychopath” and Alyssa, your angrier than average misunderstood outcast, pair up for the road trip of a lifetime to find Alyssa’s absent father.
Easily bingeable at just eight episodes in length, the show originally aired on Channel 4 but all episodes arrive on Netflix to stream today, the 5th of January.
Promising review: “With nihilism ever present in the air, Netflix's comedy couldn't have a more fitting title. But its mining of warmth and romance out of bleakness and pessimism is just as resonant.”
Give it a go: If you love outsider stories and dark comedy.
Give it a miss: If you’re not a fan of profanity.
Ok, enough new shows - give me a comfort binge:
Weeds
If you’re ready for the long haul binge, the good news is Netflix have just dropped Weeds in its entirety onto the site. That’s 8 whole seasons folks!
To the uninitiated, Weeds is a Showtime dramedy, created by Orange is the New Black’s Jenji Kohan that ran from 2005-2012 for 8 seasons. It follows the story of suburban widow Nancy Botwin, who starts dealing cannabis on the side, in an effort to make ends meet for her and her two sons in the wake of her husband’s sudden and untimely death.
Promising review: “I happily watched five hours of Weeds in a row last night - and will continue to follow the series- if only because of its two offbeat female leads and writing that's just sharp enough to stay one step ahead of the audience's expectations.”
Give it a go: If you’re looking for a freshly irreverent comedy-drama.
Give it a miss: If you can’t stand unlikeable characters.
That’s all folks!
That’s it for this week’s recommendations. Do you have any shows or movies that you’d like to recommend? Let’s hear ‘em! Tweet us @bonkers_ie.
