📺 Heartstopper, Joan, Teacup...
plus 3 new streaming movies & 6 new and returning TV shows this week
Welcome back to Thursday. October has been jam-packed so far, but this weekend is particularly busy in the way of movie premieres. There are eight notable streaming and theater releases on October 11th alone. I (Jenni) personally cannot wait to see the decidedly not spooky options of Saturday Night and We Live in Time, and I’m sure Jess has at least six horror flicks on her list that would terrify me. To each their own!!
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
Heartstopper (Netflix)
Joan (The CW)
Teacup (Peacock)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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Below is a selection of new shows and movies premiering this week. Our unabridged list of October releases, including theatrical releases and streaming debuts, is available here and published monthly for our premium subscribers.
Caddo Lake (Movie) — Dylan O’Brien stars in this thriller produced by M. Night Shyamalan about a series of mysterious disappearances.
Watch on Max: October 10Teacup (Season 1) — Yvonne Strahovski stars in this horror series inspired by the novel Stinger by Robert R. McCammon about people forced together to face a mysterious threat on an isolated ranch in rural Georgia.
Watch on Peacock: October 10 (2 of 8 episodes, then 2 weekly)Outer Banks (Season 4a) — The Pogues are back at it, this time on the hunt for Blackbeard’s treasure.
Watch on Netflix: October 10 (all 5 episodes in part 1, part 2 on 11/7)Sweetpea (Season 1) — Based on the hit CJ Skuse novel of the same name, Sweetpea is a deviously twisted “coming-of-rage” story starring Ella Purnell.
Watch on Starz: October 10 (1 of 6 episodes, weekly)Lonely Planet (Movie) — A woman (Laura Dern) meets a young man (Liam Hemsworth) at a retreat and their acquaintanceship evolves into an intoxicating, life-altering love affair.
Watch on Netflix: October 11Mr. Crocket (Movie) — In 1993, a mysterious children’s show host magically emerges from television sets to kidnap young children, brutally slaying their parents in the process.
Watch on Hulu: October 11Disclaimer (Limited Series) — Directed by Alfonso Cuarón and based on the book of the same name, this series follows a famed documentary journalist (Cate Blanchett) who discovers she is a prominent character in a novel that reveals a secret she’s tried to keep hidden.
Watch on Apple TV+: October 11 (2 of 7 episodes, weekly)Tracker (Season 2) — This procedural drama starring Justin Hartley as a man who makes a living tracking down people in exchange for money returns.
Watch on CBS/Paramount+: October 13 (1 episode, then weekly)Shrinking (Season 2) — Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso) appears as a guest star in the second season of this drama-comedy starring Harrison Ford and Jason Segal and created by Goldstein and Bill Lawrence.
Watch on Apple TV+: October 16 (2 of 12 episodes, then weekly)
Note: Premium subscribers get access to the 4 other TV shows and 6 other movies premiering this week that aren’t listed above.
These popular shows came back with new episodes. Here’s what we thought and where you can watch them.
Heartstopper - Season 3
Keywords: LGBTQ+, rom-com, teens
Watch if you like: Love Simon, Atypical, Sex Education
Jenni’s Rating: B+
This beloved, cozy coming-of-age romcom is back, this time a teensy bit more mature, as its characters teeter on the precipice of change. 16-year-old Charlie and Nick are now a proudly out couple at school, but they — along with their friends — have new hurdles to face: graduation, decisions about university, and the emotional turbulence that can accompany big life shifts.
Heartstopper continues to address teen love and other issues with the trademark gentleness and optimism that have always set it apart from edgier series like Skins, Degrassi, or Euphoria. Even in this (ever-so-slightly) darker season, the show handles topics like self-discovery, familial abuse, and mental health with a warmth and idealism that make the viewer feel looked after, even coddled. At times, the overwhelming empathy can feel a little cloying, but a near-utopian approach to life’s problems is part of the show’s appeal. Heartstopper invites its audience to feel safe, even while its characters confront the realities of adolescence.
This comfortable stasis, where all problems are solved quickly and with unending support from friends or family can’t be sustained forever, however. These new episodes hint at even bigger coming changes — likely a few heartbreaking ones — in Season 4.
— Jenni
Length: 30-min runtime, 3 seasons / 24 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Joan
Keywords: limited series, true crime, 1980s drama
Watch if you like: The Gentlemen, Killing Eve, Molly’s Game
Jenni’s Rating: A-
Inspired by Joan Hannington’s 2004 memoir I Am What I Am, this new true crime drama portrays the rise of a notorious criminal mastermind in 1980s London known as “The Godmother”.
Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) stars as Joan, a devoted mother who is desperate to escape an abusive relationship at the series’s start. When her husband gets mixed up with mobsters and goes on the run, she seizes the chance to reinvent herself and protect her daughter. With sharp intelligence and an uncanny ability to manipulate the system, Joan joins the high-stakes world of jewel theft, fueled by her fierce drive to provide a better, more secure life for her and her daughter.
Three episodes in, I’m finding this series to be a gripping character study, thanks in large part to an outstanding performance by Turner. Full of 1980s grit and glamour, Joan captures the mood of both the time and “The Godmother’s” story with a stylish, almost noir-like aesthetic. The show doesn’t shy away from any of the physical brutality that can come from engaging in London’s underworld, but it also takes care to highlight the more subtle emotional toll Joan’s new lifestyle takes on her and her relationships.
If you’re excited by well-executed portrayals of flawed, morally ambiguous women who take control of their own narratives, Joan is a must-watch. If you love period crime dramas or anything based on a true story, the same recommendation applies. With its keen sense of place and compelling performances, this limited series delivers a captivating a story of survival and reinvention.
— Jenni
Length: 60-min runtime, Limited Series / 1 of 6 episodes available, new on Fridays
Watch on: The CW
Teacup
Keywords: horror, sci-fi, gory
Watch if you like: From, Stranger Things, The Terror
Jess’s Rating: B-
Based on Robert McCammon’s novel “Stinger,” Peacock’s new sci-fi horror series Teacup follows a group of neighbors on a remote Georgia farm who face an inexplicable threat. Yvonne Strahovski leads the cast as a steely mother of two who is at odds with her husband (Scott Speedman) and has a rocky relationship with her live-in mother-in-law (Kathy Baker). The eerie proceedings begin when her son disappears into the forest near their home and encounters a woman muttering what sounds like “murder marker.”
Set up like a mystery box drama, the series introduces plenty of questions in the first few episodes, taking its time before revealing the true nature of the happenings and the origins of the suspicious characters who engage with the family. While this sort of puzzle-box structure can sometimes feel drawn out, Teacup mercifully runs at a quick clip, with most of the episodes clocking in around the 35 minute mark. About halfway, though, the series ditches suspense in favor of a more conventional sci-fi horror narrative.
One of this show’s strengths is its brisk pacing, but it comes at the expense of deeper character development. There is a framework for more family drama in place, but the familial connections feel like an afterthought to the mystery and gore. I didn’t find myself rooting for anyone, even though the cast is admirably doing a lot with very little.
For a spooky season watch, Teacup is less scary than I’d hoped, but the visual effects are creative and unsettling, and it hearkens to past genre classics in a way that scratches some of the itch. The show’s increasing paranoia, rural isolation, and extremely grotesque imagery add up to an alluring binge watch— if not anything more than the sum of its parts.
— Jess
Length: 35-50 min runtime, 1 Season / 8 episodes (2 episodes on October 10 and then 2 weekly)
Watch on: Peacock
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I’m so excited Shrinking is back 😊