I think I have found the max number of streaming shows I can keep up with/commit to at once and that number is three and a half. I just added Manifest back into the rotation because Netflix dropped season three and The White Lotus ended. Good timing, thanks, streaming channels! A few quick recaps of the past week’s shows:
The White Lotus finale. While the theme song will forever haunt me, this deeply unsettling show remained unsettling to the very end. I didn’t love it but I can’t stop thinking about it, so figure that out for me. Kathryn VanArendonk has an interesting interview in Vulture with WL creator Mike White who says he accepts the criticism of the show.
Ted Lasso episode 5 (official title: Rainbow): If it makes me a sap, fine, but I loved this rom-communism/Roy Kent-centric episode. Yes, the show has left some fairly significant plot threads (Jamie Tartt, the Dubai Air protest, the team’s financial state) simmering on the back burner for two episodes in favor of its Christmas episode and this latest one, but I don’t think it means they’ve forgotten about those plots (and I have not seen any screeners so I’m coming to each episode the same time as everyone else). And, the latest episode accomplished a very significant plot point with the aforementioned Roy Kent that should add some spiciness to the back half of the season. Just believe, you guys.
The Good Fight: While Wanda Sykes is a very welcome addition to the show and her character is fascinating, the Good Fight is starting to feel a tiny bit overstuffed with quirkiness. And Wackner’s court is heading in a sinister (and illegal!) direction, which hopefully the show is going to bring full circle soon. Still, Audra McDonald and Christine Baranski make the show worth watching (and Sarah Steele needs a Marissa spinoff, imo).
On to this week’s trailers:
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Eternals
Why didn’t the Eternals help the Avengers fight Thanos? Because they were “instructed not to interfere in any human conflicts unless Deviants were involved,” Gemma Chan’s Sersi explains in this trailer. Now the Eternals have to get the band back together to stop the Deviants and they only have seven days. Richard Madden, Brian Tyree Henry, Selma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh, Ma Dong-seok, and Lauren Ridloff star in Eternals, directed by Chloe Zhao. It comes to theaters November 5th.
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Foundation
As my colleague Jay Peters put it, this trailer for the upcoming science-fiction series based on the Asimov novels has some “Game of Thrones but in space” vibes. I actually got a “more serious, scarier Star Wars with no light-sabers” vibe personally but let’s not have that argument on the internet. Jared Harris stars as Dr. Hari Seldon, who has predicted the fall of the Empire (see?) , and brings a band of loyal followers to the edge of the galaxy to try to rebuild civilization via The Foundation. Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, Cassian Bilton, and Alfred Enoch also star. The first two episodes of Foundation premiere on Apple TV Plus on September 24th, with the remaining eight episodes arriving weekly after that.
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The Hand of God
Directed by Oscar-winning Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, The Hand of God is the story of a young boy in Naples in the 1980s, who is saved from a tragic accident by soccer superstar Diego Maradona. Several years ago Sorrentino told Variety the story of how Maradona inadvertently saved his life, and has called The Hand of God his most personal film. Naples looks just beautiful in this trailer, you’ll be unsurprised to hear. Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, and Marlon Joubert star in The Hand of God, which is coming soon to Netflix and theaters.
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Nightbooks
Krysten Ritter looks like she is having the time of her life in this trailer, as a witch who orders a young boy trapped in an enchanted (not in the good way) apartment to write scary stories for her every night, OR ELSE. Based on the young adult novel of the same name, Nightbooks stars Winslow Fegley and Lidya Jewett as two resourceful kids trying to figure out how to defeat the witch once and for all. It comes to Netflix on September 15th.
