As this very mellow winter slowly comes to an end, I want to give a shout out to all my specific temperature peoples that don’t do well in freezing weather or sweltering hot weather. Either; instead only ever truly comfortable right around 67 degrees in the sun with a mild breeze. Don’t let anyone mock you; our specificity is wonderful!
For those of you who keep close to your ACs during the dog days of summer that are right around the corner, you’re in luck, because I think we’re reaching pinnacle 2000s-era prestige TV once again. Dare I say we’re entering into the Golden Age of Streaming? I dare. I do dare. Check out what I’m watching, and you decide.
In Pod We Trust:
There’s so much quality in streaming right now that I’m only dedicating the podcast section of my column to one show this month: “Sweet Bobby.” One of the best things about this ‘cast is that all six episodes are out and tell the complete story, so you don’t need to look at this as another huge ongoing time commitment of a podcast.
The show follows Kirat Assi, a radio host in London who meets (on Facebook) and falls for Bobby, a successful cardiologist across the ocean in New York. You find this out in the opening of the first episode so it’s not a big spoiler: Bobby isn’t a real person, instead it’s one of the most meticulous catfishing personas that lasted for a decade and basically ruined Assi’s life. This will pin you to your listening device as it tells one of the most intense and fascinating cautionary tales about social media I’ve ever heard. Truly riveting and very much worth your time.
Now Streaming
There are so many amazing things streaming right now that there’s something to recommend to every single type of taste people have for their serialized shows. Most of the shows haven’t ended yet, so I guess some of them could fall apart catastrophically, but I’d be surprised if any of these fell off that hard from the quality they’re already putting out.
Disney+ has had some serious quality programming with its Marvel Cinematic Universe shows so far, from the madcap hijinks of “Loki” to the “Die Hard” with bows-and-arrows vibe of “Hawkeye.” Now, though, Disney has done something truly different with “Moon Knight,” a show that feels like the four-quadrant bastard child of “Indiana Jones” and “The Mummy,” but with an all-time great performance from Oscar Isaac as a man with multiple personalities enmeshed in a power struggle between angry Egyptian gods. The finale is coming this Sunday, so here’s hoping we see much more of Isaac and Ethan Hawke as the deliciously diabolical Arthur Harrow.
Amazon Prime has unleashed the second season of “Undone,” from the creator of “Bojack Horseman,” after three long years off “the air.” Filled with stunning rotoscoped animation and a captivating lead performance from Rosa Salazar, this show combines a really cool sci-fi story with a heart-rending family drama.
Also on Amazon is the newly started “Outer Range” that asks the age-old question: What if “Yellowstone” was set in “Twin Peaks?” It’s weird, fascinating, and Josh Brolin delivers a central performance that is mesmerizing as often as it’s hard to watch.
For those looking for something more procedural, Hulu’s “Under the Banner of Heaven” is telling a fascinating murder “whydunnit” set inside the Mormon church. Star Andrew Garfield is having the best year of his career and might be giving what is his best performance yet as a gentle detective caught in a harsh web. This is perfect for those missing “True Detective’s” heady darkness.
See, and that wasn’t even enough time to talk about the shocking final season of “Ozark” on Netflix, the unflinchingly honest return to Baltimore’s police department from “The Wire’s” David Simon in HBO’s “We Own This City,” the nerve-jangling last few episodes of the first half of the final season of “Better Call Saul” or the AppleTV+ classic-in-the-making spy thriller “Slow Horses.” There’s just too much. Champagne problems.
This article appears in Source Weekly May 5, 2022.
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If you relished reading any of Mick Herron’s Slough House series or loved watching Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in The Courier or Gary Oldman in Slow Horses it’s probable that you are a le Carré connoisseur, a Deighton devotee, a Fairclough fanatic, a Herron hireling or even a Macintyre marauder. So, as you like raw noir espionage thrillers, do read Beyond Enkription, the first fact based stand-alone spy novel in The Burlington Files series by Bill Fairclough. Odds on you’ll read it twice if you’ve already devoured Tinker Tailor, The Ipcress File, Slow Horses or The Spy and The Traitor. Just ask George Smiley, Harry Palmer, Jackson Lamb or even Oleg Gordievsky what they thought of Edward Burlington, the protagonist in The Burlington Files. Mind you, Oleg might refuse to comment. In real life he knew Colonel Mac from MI6, the hapless handler responsible for trying to control Bill Fairclough aka Edward Burlington who coincidentally had quite a lot in common with Greville Wynne and has even been called “a posh Harry Palmer”.