📺 New TV: Percy Jackson, Such Brave Girls, and more
The Crown S6, Percy Jackson, Such Brave Girls, and School Spirits, plus 5 new shows and 1 movie this week
Happy Winter Solstice! Reaching the shortest day of the year means we get to look forward to sunsets later than 4:30pm. Love that. It also means we’re only a few days away from Christmas, and we’re nearing our Double Take holiday break. You won’t be hearing from us next Thursday (as we’ll be off celebrating with family and eating too many cookies), but don’t worry, you can always find new Jess and Jenni approved shows in our Double Take Database. We have an update in the works for 2024, but there you’ll find a complete archive of everything we’ve reviewed in the last two years. Go nuts!
Happy Holidays all, and see you in the new year <3
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
The Crown - S6 Part 2 (Netflix)
Such Brave Girls (Hulu)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney+)
School Spirits (Netflix and Paramount+)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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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.
Dr. Death (Season 2) — In the second season of this anthology series we follow the true story of Paolo Macchiarini, a con-man surgeon who went from hailed superstar to convict after using patients as guinea pigs. Mandy Moore and Edgar Ramirez star.
Watch on Peacock: December 21 (all 8 episodes)Rebel Moon: Part One (Movie) — This epic space opera directed by Zack Snyder comes to Netflix after a brief theatrical run. Described as Star Wars meets Dune, its second part will premiere in April 2024.
Watch on Netflix: December 21What If…? (Season 2) — Only the second Marvel series to get a follow-up season, this animated series explores alternate multiverse realities within the MCU.
Watch on Disney+: December 22 (1 episode per night through December 30)Extended Family (Season 1) — An amicably divorced couple decide that their children should grow up in the family home, so the parents take turns living with the kids. Jon Cryer, Abigail Spencer and Donald Faison star in this multi-camera sitcom.
Watch on NBC/Peacock: December 23 on NBC (1 of 13 episodes, then weekly, with episodes available on Peacock the next day)Doctor Who Holiday Special — Titled “The Church on Ruby Road”, the last of the 2023 Doctor Who Holiday Specials sees Ncuti Gatwa in his first full Doctor Who outing as the 15th Doctor.
Watch on Disney+: December 25Letterkenny (Season 12) — This Canadian comedy returns for its 12th and final season.
Watch on Hulu: December 26 (all 6 episodes)
A popular and beloved show has come to an end. Here’s what we thought about its final bow.
The Crown - Season 6: Part 2
Keywords: historical drama, Queen Elizabeth II, British royalty
Watch if you like: The Empress, Downton Abbey, William & Kate
Jenni’s Rating: C-
The second half of The Crown Season 6 was released on Netflix last week, meaning this iconic historical drama has officially come to an end. The series attempted a mammoth feat: chronicling the first sixty years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign over just sixty episodes. While impressive, it wasn’t always effective. Across all its seasons, The Crown rooted its storytelling in the stoicism, consistency, and obligation that the royal family cling to. Although this worked marvelously in early seasons, much like life, straining to hold to the old ways didn’t age well.
The final installment feels rushed and scattered. After so much time luxuriating in Diana’s story — her presence dominated the screen for the past season and a half — there is a slapdash attempt to return Queen Elizabeth to the spotlight and to create a sense of finality without actually depicting the last years of her life and reign. Meanwhile, these six episodes also force space for William, Harry and Kate to grow into fleeting protagonists, for Prince Charles and Prince Philip to address their cycles of toxic masculinity in fatherhood, and to cover the rise and fall of Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Crown has always tried to cover a lot in its hour-long episodes, but where earlier seasons excelled in creating a singular focus or thematic tie-in, this season was much blurrier.
In some ways, it’s a fitting tribute to the way events unfolded and felt in real-time, with the electricity of Princess Diana and her untimely death overshadowing and muting the surviving monarchy that followed. One could even argue that the messy final season mirrors the way in which the onslaught of modernity in the late 90s and early 2000s began to rattle the royal family — with faster news cycles and omnipresent paparazzi laying bare the cracks in their stoic, traditional armor. However, in practice, these choices were not interesting enough or fitting for the finale of an epic series of television. I was bored, and as Elizabeth II walked down a long hall for 2 minutes in the final shot, I was unimpressed.
— Jenni
Length: 50-min runtime; 6 seasons / 60 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Such Brave Girls
Keywords: cringe humor, British, dark comedy
Watch if you like: Fleabag, Derry Girls, You’re The Worst
Jess’s Rating: A
Such Brave Girls was not on my radar at all prior to its release. It’s the kind of show that’s rare these days: a smaller budget production with a mostly unknown cast that doesn’t rely on any existing IP. I’m here to tell you that it absolutely should be on your radar.
Created by Kat Sadler, a comedian out of the UK, this off-beat comedy tells the story of a highly dysfunctional family unit. Josie, played by Sadler, is a twentysomething woman who is clinically depressed and obsessed with her trauma. Sadler’s real-life sister, Lizzie Davidson, co-stars as Billie, the delusional younger sister of Josie who is hyper fixated on a man who treats her like garbage. And Louise Brealey (Sherlock) rounds out the trio as their narcissistic single mother, Deb.
This show is what you might get if you took the camaraderie of the Derry Girls bunch, mixed in the trauma-as-comedy of Fleabag, and added in the raunchy antics of Broad City. It’s still fairly unusual to come across female-led comedy that really “goes there” with crude and bawdy humor, and you’ll see within the first few minutes that Such Brave Girls goes there and even further. Sadler and Davidson have the kind of exceptional scene chemistry and comedic timing that can only be possible between two people who have spent their lives riffing off one another. It’s the kind of show that will give you secondhand embarrassment but will also make you laugh out loud constantly. By the end of the first episode, I wanted to tell everyone I know about this show. By the end of the first season, I was already thinking about when I’ll rewatch it. My only regret is that it’s so short at only 6 episodes; give me season 2 now, please!
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 6 episodes
Watch on: Hulu
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Keywords: YA, fantasy, Greek mythology, comedy-drama
Watch if you like: Spy Kids, Lockwood and Co, American Born Chinese
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