1. Hello, tomorrow!
If you just look at images from the new Apple TV+ series, “Hello, Tomorrow!”, chances are you won’t immediately guess that it’s a science fiction series. Everything about our hero (Billy Crudup) screams the 1950s – the heavy gray suit, the hairstyle, the forced smile of a shrewd salesman, and of course the chin. He has the chin of a 1950s movie star. But as the name might suggest, or the fact that we’ve written “science fiction” twice so far, or the fact that if you pay close attention, his beautiful American car actually hovers a few inches above the man – the past of “Hello, tomorrow!” He is not exactly the past we know. Not even the present.
“Hello, tomorrow!” It is a kind of bizarre retro-futuristic vision, and even if this comic drama does not always harm the level of the script, at least in terms of aesthetics it is an abnormal trip. It presents on the one hand the carefully combed America of the 1950s and on the other hand it has robots and vacation homes on the moon, living peacefully alongside typewriters and large, old-fashioned televisions. In short, it is very reminiscent of the remnants of the old world in the computer game series Fallout (which is going to become a series on Amazon Prime not too long from now, so you better get ready), or perhaps an even more retro version of another series on Amazon Prime, Tales from the Loop. And she wraps it all up in the form of a sort of third-rate Don Draper (in a good way, it’s intentional) – a sales agent for vacation homes on the moon, who is also not exactly the embodiment of the American dream as he would like you to think. In short, it’s worth checking out, if only for the psychedelic design.
2. Picard
To be honest, we’ve already given up on the idea that this is going to happen. The first season of “Star Trek: Picard”, which was supposed to be Patrick Stewart’s spectacular television comeback in the shoes of his immortal character, You started so well And it ended so badly. She did bring the clumsy nineties cinematography and tacky effects of “The Next Generation” the modern update they desperately needed, but in all other aspects she just couldn’t recreate her charm and interest. That season ended with a glorious crash of all the interesting plot twists that were opened up in its first few episodes, and all the aging Turks were left disappointed.
But now intriguing signals are being received from overseas – the third season of “Picard” (the second passed relatively quietly, it must be said) is receiving good reviews, even very good, and critics who have already seen the entire season are even talking about a big twist in its sequel. So it’s true, we’ve been disappointed with her in the past. But “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is not just another series for us but a real piece of our personality in quite formative years, and yes, we remember very well how we felt about the first season at the beginning and how we felt about it at the end. But we are ready to take another risk because you know, there is a situation that this time it is real.
The third season of “Star Trek: Picard” is broadcast on Amazon Prime (with Fremont+)
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3. Carnival Row
This could be a series in itself: two creators build a rich and complex mythological world of fantasy, recruit Hollywood stars, get a hefty contract from Amazon Prime Video, produce the first season of what should become a multi-season franchise with spinoffs, comics and merchandising – and then an epidemic breaks out an unprecedented world and destroys all their plans. This is the sad story of “Carnival Row”, which in 2019 was one of the flagship series that Amazon built on, and returned this weekend for a second and final season after almost four years, without anyone waiting for it.
It’s a bit of a shame, because the first season of “Carnival Row”, which received mixed reviews, builds a rich and complex fantasy world that takes place in an alternate reality reminiscent of 19th century Victorian London, and weaves a tangle of complex plots around the central frame story: mythological creatures who escaped from their world due to War and living in a London-like ghetto conduct suspicious, violent and tense interactions with the human race, there is a murder mystery and a dark conspiracy, there are stormy love stories, monstrous humans and human monsters, and a lot of implicit criticism of British society’s treatment of refugees and low-class people.
4. Eggertsuko
Wouldn’t you rather watch Girls if Lena Dunham was a red panda? Well, dear readers, you want to watch the fifth season of “Egretsuko” (and the previous four, if you haven’t seen them yet). It’s not that we enjoy telling you “we told you so” – just kidding, we like the most in the world to say “we told you so”. So already in 2018 we told you that Netflix has a completely bizarre Japanese animation gem that you cannot miss, for a variety of reasons.
“Retsoko is a kind of Trojan horse,” Naama wrote to us only when she saw her for the first time. “Under the guise of a cute and light cartoon series, this comedy talks about real problems that accompany young men and women at the beginning of their professional path. It attacks conservatism, sexism, the demanding capitalist job market and even the world of dating.” And it’s a lot to see, and worth seeing.
5.
One thing is certain in these days of uncertainty: until the end of humanity, and maybe even after it, there will continue to be murders, and as long as there will be murders – there will also be docu-murder. Even if there will be no more cinema or television, we will already draw on the walls new diagrams and evidence from the murder case that will stir up the caves we will return to. But that post-apocalyptic day is still a long way off, in the meantime Netflix is with us and this week’s murder doc is “Double Murder: A Southern Scandal,” or originally: Murdaugh Murders: a Southern Scandal. Yes, this series is called Murdaugh Murders and it’s about a family named Murdaugh where there have been, well, two cases of murder, and yes, we can run on this joke for a long time.
OK, we laughed, we had fun, what’s really going on here? A rather disturbed story about the Murdaugh family, who more or less rule a small town in the southern United States, yes, just like the plot of some old western, there is this family in the town that no one wants to mess with. Then a fatal boat accident tarnishes the family’s reputation, and… things start happening and bodies start piling up – even within the family. And there is also at least one fake murder attempt, for those who also want a good pile of lies and conspiracies in all their murder. We strongly recommend not to speculate on the current family situation (the relevant trial is currently underway in the United States) because it’s really a shame about the self-spoiler – it’s really not going in the directions you think it’s going. And all of this comes from the creator of Fyre Fraud, Hulu’s successful docu about the failed Fyre festival (as opposed to Fyre on Netflix, which is the unsuccessful docu), so you know there’s a pair of directors here who know exactly how to tell you this story.