Happy 4th of July weekend! ☀️ You’ll probably be out this weekend soaking up the sun at BBQs and pool parties, and the streamers must know that too because there isn’t anything new premiering in the next week. But there are a few returning shows to check out in our watchlist, and there’s always Nat Geo’s SharkFest (a Shark Week knock-off?) if that’s more your speed.
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
The Bear - S2 (Hulu)
Drops of God (Apple TV+)
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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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.
The Witcher (Season 3) — Henry Cavill returns as Geralt for one more season before Liam Hemsworth takes the helm.
Watch on Netflix: June 29 (all 5 episodes in part 1; part 2 coming in late July)Warrior (Season 3) — This martial arts crime drama was Cinemax’s final series before axing their original programming. It’s been brought back for a delayed 3rd season, now on Max.
Watch on Max: June 29 (2 of 10 episodes, then weekly)Jack Ryan (Season 4) — The final season of the John Krasinski-led political action thriller premieres this week, but don’t fret— a spin-off series is in the works.
Watch on Prime Video: June 30 (2 of 6 episodes, then 2 per week)
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
The Bear - Season 2
Keywords: dark comedy, chaotic, Chicago, chefs
Watch if you like: Succession, Shameless, Sweetbitter
Jenni’s Rating: A
Jess’s Rating: A
Last year’s breakout show of the summer is back, and with not even a whisper of the dreaded sophomore slump.
Season 2 finds our motley Chicagoan crew finally on the same page, working together to build a fine-dining establishment on the bones of the old family sandwich shop. In these new episodes, we get to experience the giddiness that comes with watching a group of underdogs evolve and find purpose through their collective endeavor. Don’t get me wrong, the hurdles to opening a new restaurant are unending and tiresome — a breeding ground for tension and arguments. But one of the joys of The Bear’s new episodes is that all the characters have experienced (and are continuing to experience) real growth. Unlike last season, if there’s a problem in the kitchen, someone on the team steps up to figure it out. There’s still yelling and chaos, but there are also apologies.
If you loved the grit, realism, and high stakes of Season 1, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of that. It’s just tied together with as many heartwarming threads as tragic ones this time around. Season 2 manages to be feel-good and sincere without being saccharine or overly sentimental. The fact that everything about The Bear feels so real adds further balance. The acting, the writing, the cinematography and setting — it all comes together in a way that makes these people so lived-in, the experiences so relatable. Watching is like being dropped into someone else’s world that you somehow instantly understand.
My one critique is not with the season, but with its release schedule. Selfishly, I wish FX and Hulu had decided to put out the episodes weekly, so I could savor it more.
🚨SIDE NOTE & MINOR SPOILER: The guest stars in this season?! 100/10 could not have been better.
—Jenni
Length: ~30-min runtime, 2 seasons / 18 episodes
Watch on: Hulu
In which we choose a recent show we’ve been enjoying to review and feature.
Drops of God
Keywords: drama, competition, wine, foreign language
Watch if you like: Succession, Pachinko, Rush
Jess’s Rating: B+
If you think a contest about wine tasting sounds like a fairly bland affair, I can’t blame you; I thought the same thing when I first heard the premise of Drops of God. But to my surprise, the series is tense, engrossing, and has emotional payoff.
Loosely based on a manga of the same name, Drops of God begins with the death of a famous wine connoisseur and collector who leaves behind a massive inheritance: 87,000 bottles of top-quality wine valued at a total of over $100 million. Instead of bequeathing it to his estranged daughter, he crafts a multi-step contest and forces her and his star pupil to compete over the collection.
Everyone loves a competition story. Rocky, Ford v Ferrari, The Hunger Games — whether it be a battle of athleticism, skill, or survival, we’re innately drawn to the concept of winners and losers. The series takes the quiet field of enology and turns it into sport, with trials that test the pair’s knowledge, wits, and cunning. And if that’s not enough to keep you engaged, interwoven throughout are mysteries about both contestants’ pasts. It’s also a stunning show to watch, with a setting that jumps between the high-end business world in Tokyo and the sweeping vineyards of France. Subtitles are a necessity here — the original format includes dialogue in English, French, and Japanese, with lots of switching between the 3 — and I highly recommend that you don’t watch the dubbed version. Understanding the nuances of the language barriers between characters adds a key component to the multicultural drama. Drops of God isn’t necessarily a must-watch, but it’s a hidden gem on Apple TV+ that I would certainly recommend to anyone looking for something new.
— Jess
Length: 50-min runtime, 1 season / 8 episodes
Watch on: Apple TV+
Your shows, returned:
Warrior, Season 3: Premieres June 29 on Max
The Witcher, Season 3, Part 1: Premieres June 29 on Netflix
Jack Ryan, Season 4: Premieres June 30 on Prime Video