Thanks Netflix for keepin’ it edgy. It’s much appreciated.
Teenange Bounty Hunters
Dramedy | Creator: Kathleen Jordan
Season One has twists and turns, church, bounty hunting, twin telepathy powers, wild relationships, high school drama, strange rivalries, sex, drinking, parents that have secrets of their own, frozen yogurt, and a stripper club. Yes, it has everything—and it’s brilliant.
TIP: Strap in for one helluva wild ride. These two are novice actresses who could give the tried and rue a run for their money.
Cobra Kai
Action, Dramedy | Created by Josh Heald, Hayden Schlossberg, and Jon Hurwitz
Cobra Kai picks up with middle-aged Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) holding down life in very different ways. With a wife, kids and a successful array of car dealerships, Daniel Son’s life is on the upswing, including his daughter Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) who is following in her dad’s footsteps as a kickass martial artist. Johnny on the other hand appears to have lost his way including having a drinking problem until he meets Miguel (Xolo Maridueña).
Admittedly this might be one of the best spinoff shows made to date, at least for anyone with a love of 80s films and a fondness for nerdy-ness. The story juxtaposes LaRusso’s and Lawrence’s past struggles and their desire to live up to who their teenage selves always wanted to be: champions. The twist is they both have modern day teens that are anything but easy. Their kids are full of angst, privilege, and are shining examples of why having to work for what you get in life is critical to building character. The series has everything but Miyagi, an absence surely missed. From the first shot paralleling Lawrence’s fall from respect and LaRusso’s rise to success, you’re just as hooked as you were when you first saw the bonsai tree cutting scene in the original 1984 trailer.
TIP: Put on your team head band, wax on and off, and be ready…this is about to get Cobra Kai real.
Warrior Nun
Action/Drama | Created by Simon Barry
With Ava rediscovering walking, running, touching, and newfound superpowers, she meets up with a group of high class squatters, and eventually meets her sister nuns and Father Vincent (Tristán Ulloa). There is no shortage of familiar faces (Joaquim de Almeida, Olivia Delcán, Thekla Reuten) and as each episode plays, demons, red smoke monsters (not dissimilar to Lost’s black smoke), forbidden love, the Vatican, and the danger of worlds colliding keep your attention. Plus, Baptista is adorable. The adventures to follow and the clever scientific and religious relic discoveries along the way are truly fascinating. This is one that you’ll binge watch in a day or two.
TIP: Suspend disbelief, have a sense of humor, and appreciate that these are female warriors who are also nuns. And they drop “f” bombs.
[separator type=”thin”]Lucifer | Netflix
Drama/Fantasy | Created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg
The story sounds campy but I assure you its highly entertaining to watch, even if it does make it clear you have a soft spot for guilty pleasures (aka the man who makes all men jealous, Tom Ellis). The series has an array of characters including Lucifer’s goody goody yet strong AF brother, Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) a darling-yet-wise psychotherapist named Linda, (Rachael Harris), Detective Dan-the ex-husband-Espinosa (Kevin Alejandro), and the greatest kid actor in ages, Trixie (Scarlett Estevez). There is also God’s wife and demon mother Charlotte (Tricia Helfer) and while it does sound cheesy, Lucifer is one of primetime network’s more wonderful creations. And, now that it’s on Netflix the basic network version we used to watch gets to be a little cheekier. As in we actually see Lucifer Morningstar’s ass. You’re welcome.
TIP: Have a Scotch in hand. Trust me.
The Umbrella Academy | Season 2
Action/Adventure/Dramedy | Created by Steve Blackman, Jeremy Slater
Starring: Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher
[dropcap letter=”T”]he fantastical creation of The Umbrella Academy is one that makes the Marvel Universe look a little boring (don’t get sensitive, it’s true!). Imagine if you will a bunch of oddball kids with crazy superpowers that could end the world, all born on the same day to mothers that weren’t pregnant when the day began. Stay with me, it’s wild. Now, enter a wealthy benefactor who buys seven of these kids. The Seven (Vanya, Luther, Allison, Diego, Klaus, Ben, and Number Five) consider one another brother and sister, with all of the strange family entanglements of any ordinary superhero family. The benefactor, “Dad”, his robot wife, “Mom”, and their very sophisticated talking monkey-of-an-uncle, “Pogo” help them hone their skills and attempt to raise them normally, and as you can imagine every single one of them is a mess. The story in Season One is truly fascinating as the seven face the sudden death of their father, the threat of the end of the world, outrunning assassins Hazel (Cameron Britton), Cha-Cha (Mary J. Blige), and The Handler (Kate Walsh), and discovering the secret powers of two of the seven—but its Season Two that makes this my #1 pick for shows to binge watch.Season Two blows your mind with tales of the 1960’s and all of the civil rights violations that went right along with it. The writers go all-in with tackling segregation, inequality, and more, ripping your heart out at the sad fact that history is presently doing the same stupid sh*t. Before I continue, I must digress and say: may this season be your conscious and show you in no uncertain terms why segregation and racism is wrong and vile.
The season is visually stunning, gets pretty deep, will most definitely yank out some hidden tears, touch on the value of family (in that blood relatives don’t always equate to family), systemic racism, explore ideologies of how humanity has done so much wrong including setting off nuclear bombs, give you a killer soundtrack to listen to, and introduce you to three new Swedish assassins. In other words, this series is beyond binge-worthy. It’s epic.
TIP: Pay attention to every single episode.
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