📺 Coffee please, with a shot of cynicism
7 new shows premiering in the next week, plus reviews of 'Bargain' and 'BECKHAM'
Happy Thursday. It may have been a short week for many of you but it’s feeling loooong to us. Luckily the weekend is almost here! If you hadn’t clocked it yet, tomorrow is Friday the 13th, which means a lot of autumnal and spooky stuff to look forward to on your streaming services.
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
Bargain (Paramount+)
BECKHAM (Netflix)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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This newsletter was written during the SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the work of the actors, the shows we review wouldn’t exist.
We keep an eye on all of the new streaming content that is set to premiere. Here’s a list of new shows and movies to watch this week.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Miniseries) — Loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story, this gothic horror drama from Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass) centers around the CEO of a pharmaceutical company who faces a shady past when his children start dying in mysterious and brutal ways.
Watch on Netflix: October 12 (all 8 episodes)Frasier (Season 1) — Nearly 2 decades after going off the air, Kelsey Grammer returns as the titular character in this reboot.
Watch on Paramount+: October 12 (2 of 10 episodes, then weekly)Goosebumps (Season 1) — The beloved horror books are returning to the small screen in a new original series.
Watch on Disney+/Hulu: October 13 (5 of 10 episodes, then weekly)Shining Vale (Season 2) — This horror-comedy series starring Courteney Cox returns for a second season.
Watch on Starz: October 13 (1 of 8, then weekly)Lessons in Chemistry (Miniseries) — Based on a popular novel by Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry is set in the 1950s and follows a woman who dreams of being a scientist but winds up hosting a cooking show. Ah, the patriarchy. Brie Larson stars.
Watch on Apple TV+: October 13 (2 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Rick and Morty (Season 7) — This animated comedy returns sans former lead creator Justin Roiland.
Watch on Adult Swim: October 15 (1 of 10 episodes, then weekly)Wolf Like Me (Season 2) — The Isla Fisher and Josh Gad-led horror series (that Jess recently reviewed the first season of!) returns.
Watch on Peacock: October 19 (all 7 episodes)
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Bargain
Keywords: Korean drama, thriller, survival
Watch if you like: Squid Game, Alice in Borderland, Parasite
Jess’s Rating: B-
All that I want to tell you about Bargain is what I knew going in: a man is lured to a seedy motel in the mountains ostensibly to meet up with an escort, but he soon finds himself surrounded by strangers bargaining over the price of his internal organs.
As a mega fan of the horror/thriller genre, I knew that I wanted to check this out after hearing that premise, but I didn’t expect to be as immediately sucked in as I was. The first episode seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye; it’s fast-paced, riveting, and unpredictable. The rest of the season follows suit, with a series of twists and turns imbued with a frenetic energy. From a technical standpoint, Bargain is a feat; impressively detailed and expansive sets, precisely choreographed action sequences, and expert camerawork all draw you in and keep things from feeling stagnant.
While the series is compulsively watchable, it’s far from perfect. The main characters are drawn in broad strokes in the first episode and then barely fleshed out further. That might work for a 90-minute survival flick, but for a 3.5 hour series, I expect more. And while the long, continuous tracking action shots are impressive technically and stylistically, their overuse leaves little time to explore other emotional notes. The story relies heavily on its twists, but there are eventually so many that the plot becomes needlessly confusing. By the time the 6 episodes are over, you’ll have enjoyed a high-octane survival thriller, but you likely won’t feel the need for more.
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 6 episodes
Watch on: Paramount+
Where we give our takes on reality TV and give unscripted shows a time to shine.
Beckham
Reality genre: documentary, sports, pop culture
Watch if you like: Arnold, Neymar: The Perfect Chaos, The Princess
BECKHAM is a four-part docuseries that rehashes David Beckham’s life in the public eye — from his meteoric rise as a soccer, sorry, football, icon to his tabloid-friendly romance and marriage to Victoria (aka Posh Spice). Sprinkled amongst old footage of interviews, games, and photoshoots are insightful present-day talking head interviews with David and Victoria. But the limited series doesn’t limit itself to Posh and Becks’ side of the story, it also captures thoughts and commentary from David’s parents, paparazzi, and many of his teammates and coaches from Manchester United, Real Madrid, and the England national team.
If you love a sports doc, you’ll like this series. If you find pop culture fascinating or indulge in celebrity gossip, oh boy will you like this series. The portrait of David’s relationship with one-time coach and father figure Sir Alex Ferguson is riveting; the chronicle of his rise to model-stardom (with obvious fashion influence from Victoria) is surprisingly endearing; and the discussions of various scandals throughout his career — 1998 red card, alleged extramarital affair, etc. — are extremely compelling.
I will say, I found some of the musical choices in the first episode strange. There was a tense string instrumental background that made it seem like something ominous was around every corner, and more often than not, there wasn’t. Usually documentaries — especially sports docs! — rely on strong soundtrack and score decisions to set the right mood, and a few scenes early on in this series really threw me off.
All in all, it’s a fun and relatively quick watch, but some elements of BECKHAM made me take in the episodes with an extra critical eye. It’s clear that David and his family had a certain level of creative control for this project, and it makes me wonder: what could be on the Beckham Brand horizon that made them want to incur such positive public opinion right now? Is it just that Netflix finally paid the right amount to get the exclusive? Or do they want to bury some of the lingering Qatar-related backlash to make room for promoting something new? It may be a skeptical lens, but the hypothesizing sure makes things interesting.
— Jenni
Length: 60-min runtime, 1 season (limited series) / 4 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
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Was hoping y’all would give me the tea on bargain!!