Binge-r #237: 10 Shows From 2020 Worth Reconsidering
Coming Up for Air: Michaela Coel (Arabella) in I May Destroy You
BRIARPATCH
Rosario Dawson strides through a Texan noir (SBS on Demand)
“In some ways the plot is the most conventional element of Briarpatch, a snaking connection of crimes and untrustworthy alliances… Allegra is a daunting spin on the returning anti-hero, whether dominating a visiting lover or moving like a sentinel through ravishing nocturnal space lit by lusty pinks and rich reds.” [full review in BINGE-R #212]
GANGS OF LONDON
A must for action aficionados (Stan)
With its rival gangs, turbulent power structure, and fractured central family, this London crime drama has a familiar outline, but with Welsh director Gareth Evans (The Raid) at the helm it is punctuated by extended fight scenes that are bone-breaking symphonies. Come for the corruption, stay for the carnage.
GIRI/HAJI
A lyrical cross-cultural crime drama (Netflix)
“A simmering crime thriller and a meditation on family bonds, this British series about a Japanese police detective searching for his wayward brother in London is at its core an examination of how and why we decide to offer help… What comes through in Joe Barton’s limited series is how helping others can be a salve for your own incurable problems.” [full review in BINGE-R #181]
I HATE SUZIE
A celebrity’s very bad day begins a startling journey (Stan)
“Reunited from Secret Diary of a Call Girl, star Billie Piper and writer Lucy Prebble have fashioned a knotty, freaked-out blackly comic drama about carrying on when your world collapses.” [full review in BINGE-R #207]
I MAY DESTROY YOU
A modern masterpiece of trauma, creativity and recovery (Binge)
This is a case of necessity: Michaela Coel’s wrenching drama was released on Foxtel’s streaming service Binge (clever name), which I don’t normally cover here, but it’s just too good to ignore. If you can get access, it’s a must-see. [full review from The Monthly]
Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops: Rafe Spall (Nick) in The Salisbury Poisonings
MYTHIC QUEST: RAVEN’S BANQUET
An acerbic workplace comedy with a bittersweet edge (Apple TV+)
“Set at a development studio shepherding the world’s most successful mass player online game, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is about the friction between creativity and commerce, digital ego and the ownership of ideas, and the strange acceptance of spending ten hours a day with someone aggravating.” [full review in BINGE-R #177]
P-VALLEY
A southern strip club serves as the fulcrum of diverse black stories (Stan)
“Created by the Memphis-born playwright Katori Hall, and based on her 2015 play, the series has a heady mix of elements: fierce melodrama, film-noir machinations, and a soundtrack of trap music all percolate through the plotting.” [full review from The Monthly]
THE SALISBURY POISONINGS
Gripping portrait of public officials facing a vast crisis (SBS on Demand)
“The unprecedented risk that befell the English city of Salisbury in 2018 after Russian spies used a lethal nerve agent in an assassination bid… as an allegory for 2020’s pandemic it’s timely, but as much as it’s a detailed ticking clock thriller there’s also a deep and enduring empathy for the ordinary people torn asunder by extraordinary events.” [full review in BINGE-R #122]
TEENAGE BOUNTY HUNTERS
Subversive teenage comedy that’s locked and loaded (Netflix)
“Equally applicable to an audience young enough to be in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or old enough to have watched it on release, this blithe comic-drama rolls with the unlikely circumstances so that daffy logic and ratatat sibling exchanges win out.” [full review in BINGE-R #204]
ZEROZEROZERO
Bittersweet and beguiling animated sci-fi drama (SBS on Demand)
“An international co-production about the global narcotics trade, ZeroZeroZero is a beautifully made and bleakly pessimistic drama about the corrosiveness of organised crime.” [full review in BINGE-R #191]
>> Missed last week’s BINGE-R? Click here to catch up with Stan’s dysfunctional tech culture comedy Made for Love and Netflix’s Australian detention centre drama Stateless.
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>> Check the complete BINGE-R archive: 298 series reviewed here, 162 movies reviewed here, and 39 lists compiled here.
