Binge-r #94: The Best New Shows of 2018 (so far)
Eyes on the Prize: the unforgettable Jodie Comer (Villanelle) in Killing Eve
THE BEST NEW SHOWS OF 2018
1) KILLING EVE (Stan)
“Killing Eve is a delicious, deceptive pleasure that double-crosses the audience’s expectations… Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s series is a thriller, a romance, a black comedy, and always something more.” – BINGE-R #90 [full review here]
2) BABYLON BERLIN (Netflix)
“Set in 1929 Berlin, a canvas that allows for nightclubs, revolutionaries, a crumbling society and carnivorous decadence, this period drama matches a detailed police mystery to immersion in the still torn social fabric – accentuated by exquisite production design, this is a period piece that feels the opposite of dated.” – BINGE-R #76 [full review here]
3) COUNTERPART (SBS on Demand)
“Everyone has experienced a moment of doubt about the choices they’ve made in their life, pondering what could have turned out differently, but in the tremendous science-fiction thriller Counterpart that unease has a physical form and gripping ramifications.” – BINGE-R #92 [full review here]
4) THE ALIENIST (Netflix)
“The New York of 1896 comes to malignant life in [this] addictive crime drama … which uses the hunt for a monstrous serial killer preying on impoverished boys pressed into service as sex workers to dig into the realities of how our cities came to be and where their legacies of inequality took root.” – BINGE-R #85 [full review here]
5) WILD WILD COUNTRY (Netflix)
“The story of an Indian guru’s vast following descending on a tiny American town in the early 1980s… You watch it with jaw-dropping disbelief but also genuine fascination, because no-one here is ever as two-dimensional as their adversaries believe them to be.” – BINGE-R #80 [full review here]
Watching the Detectives: Carey Mulligan (Kip) and Nathaniel Martello-White (Nathan) in Collateral
6) COLLATERAL (Netflix)
“In Collateral every interrogation is a dialogue about belief and every dialogue about belief is an interrogation. You should savour every minute of this richly involving drama.” – BINGE-R #79 [full review here]
7) WORMWOOD (Netflix)
“Wormwood is not a cold case investigation of a little known crime. Frank Olson’s death is steeped in history, especially after 1975 when the CIA confirmed he had been dosed with the psychedelic drug LSD as part of an experiment, and that it led to his suicide – BINGE-R #71 [full review here]
8) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (Amazon Prime)
“Empowerment goes hand in hand with highwire energy and dialogue volleyed back and forth in this pleasurable period comedy-drama about a New York housewife whose quick wit makes her one of the first female stand-up comics.” – BINGE-R #79 [full review here]
9) EVIL GENIUS (Netflix)
“Barbara Schroeder’s series gets back to the fundamentals of the true crime genre: shocking malfeasance and the morality that underpins it… with a reduced scope of a terrible crime and a handful of subjects the humanity of those involved, and their failings, are fully revealed.” – BINGE-R #88 [full review here]
10) DARK (Netflix)
“Netflix’s first original German production begins with shots inside a scary bunker, an Einstein quote about time’s flexibility, and a man calmly hanging himself. It is serious about its grimness, but at the same time it is consumed with bizarre events and conspiratorial science-fiction.” – BINGE-R #72 [full review here]
Honourable Mentions: Berlin Station (SBS on Demand); Condor (Stan); The End of the F***ing World (Netflix); Homecoming Queens (SBS on Demand); Seven Seconds (Netflix); The Sinner (Netflix); The Staircase (Netflix).
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