Netflix Wednesday, Disney+’s Fleishman is in trouble among the big shows to stream this week

DEAD TO ME (NETFLIX)

This beloved series about a powerful friendship that blossoms between a badly wounded widow and a free spirit with a shocking secret enters its third and final season.

We rejoin the action in the painful aftermath of a hit-and-run that brings back bad memories for Jen (Christina Applegate). Meanwhile, Judy (Linda Cardellini) receives shocking news about her ex-boyfriend Steve (James Marsden).

“Dead to Me returns, as always, to grief, but it’s the cathartic and beautiful kind, the kind that stays with you, reminding you of what you lost and what it meant to your life,” wrote The Washington Post’s Bethonie Butler.

FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE (DISNEY+)

Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, and Lizzie Caplan star in this eight-part drama based on Taffy Brodesser-Akn’s acclaimed 2019 debut novel of the same name. Eisenberg plays a recently divorced forty-something whose life is turned upside down when his ex-wife disappears without a trace, leaving him in charge of his children.

“Danes is the show’s true performance payoff, breaking the ice to reveal a tangle of vulnerability, insecurity, confusion and love,” wrote The Guardian’s Adrian Horton, while Consequence’s Jonah Kruger thought it was “a truly of the most difficult moments of life”. moments, inviting viewers to remain empathetic even with those who have caused them the most pain.”

READ MORE:
* Five fabulous and underrated performances by Melanie Lynskey (and where you can see them)
* No, Disney+’s Bullet Train and Prey among August’s must-see movies
* Disney’s She-Hulk, Neon’s House of the Dragon, Netflix’s Sandman among August’s must-see TV shows

THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES OF GUILLERMO DEL TORO (NETFLIX)

Debuting just in time for Halloween, Mexico’s horror titan has curated a collection of eight distinct and beautifully crafted hour-long horror stories that will scare and delight in equal measure.

The greatest strength of this anthology series is in the cadre of terror-hardened but underutilized visionaries that the director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Nightmare Alley has assembled.

There’s Panos Cosmatos, the Italian-Canadian director who gave the world Nicolas Cage at his most Cage-y in 2018’s Mandy, Cube and Splice creator Vincenzo Natali, the man behind the cult hit The Empty Man ( David Prior) and del Toro. to the director of photography Guillermo Navarro.

Yet it is a trio of women whose efforts are perhaps the most striking, chilling, and memorable.

Keep in mind that this trio had shape: Britain’s Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Australia’s Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, two of the most atmospheric and arresting horrors of the last decade, while Catherine Hardwicke took the lead. decisions in two very different. tales of troubled teens, 2008’s Twilight and 2003’s Thirteen.

You can see echoes of those formerly acclaimed tales in their respective shorter stories, whether it’s a visual flourish here, a thematic similarity there, or an evocation of the same sense of foreboding or dread.

MANIFESTO (NETFLIX)

Nearly 18 months after it was drift cut by NBC, the resurrection of this supernatural drama (which began when it became a surprise ratings hit on Netflix after its demise) comes complete with a 20-episode fourth and final season ( which will be divided into two parts).

Still following the passengers of Montego Air Flight 828, whose three-hour flight landed five years after takeoff (to the outside world, but not to them), the action continues two years after the brutal murder of Grace Stone, as her still devastated husband Ben (Josh Dallas) continues his search for his kidnapped daughter.

“There’s a level of ridiculousness we’re all in for here, and it’s finally out in the open,” Paste magazine’s Kathryn Porter wrote, while TheWrap’s Lauren Piester thought it “won’t disappoint fans of the show, though it likely will.” break their hearts and/or speed up those hearts.”

SPECTATOR (TVNZ+)

A four-part documentary series that aims to examine the “tumultuous life and complex legacy” of legendary music producer Phil Spector, from his successful years to the turbulent events of his personal life, particularly that fateful day on February 3, 2003. when a 9-1-1 call was made reporting a murder at his residence.

It features interviews with the lead detectives, the prosecution and defense legal teams involved in the resulting case mounted against him in the death of actress Lana Clarkson.

“Not every true crime documentary series requires a four-episode arc to tell the story, but in the case of Showtime’s extremely well-crafted, meticulously researched and consistently compelling Spector, the overall runtime is justified,” Chicago wrote. sun-times. ‘Richard Roper.

KING OF TULSA (tvNZ+)

Unimaginatively described in many places as The Sopranos-meets-Yellowstone, the latter’s showrunner’s latest project is actually a terrific showcase for Sylvester Enzio Stallone.

Making his television drama debut at the age of 76, the former Rocky and Rambo star displays a heady mix of vulnerability, machismo and superb comedic timing as aging mobster Dwight “The General” Manfredi in Tulsa King, written by Taylor Sheridan.

The 10-part series opens with a scene and a dose that sets the tone for those distinctively harsh tones and begins with Manfredi’s release from a 25-year prison term and immediate exile to Oklahoma. Realizing that his mob family might not have his best interests in mind, he decides to assemble a team of misfits and unlikely characters to help establish a whole new criminal empire.

WEDNESDAY (NETFLIX)

Has there ever been a more perfect match between director and material than this?

I suppose a Guillermo Del Toro take on Charles Addams’ strange and wild collection of eccentric relatives would be fascinating, but Tim Burton’s gothic sensibilities fit right in with the macabre aesthetic of the cartoonist’s satire of the ideal 20th-century American family. It first appeared in The New Yorker in 1938.

In his first foray into television since his short miniseries The Word of Stainboy more than 20 years ago, the man who gave us his own unique and twisted visions of Batman, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is at the helm of an Addams Family-esque update of Riverdale/Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the result is exactly as weird, creepy, and wacky as anyone could have hoped for.

Anchored by a fabulously scathing turn of Jane the Virgin, X and most recently Scream’s Jenna Ortega as the monochrome-loving, Machiavellian eldest daughter of the Addams, Wednesday is an eight-part teen black comedy that should delight fans. fans of the franchise, and Burton – of all ages.

THE WHITE LOTUS (NEON)

Sporting a virtually new cast (save for the ever-visible Jennifer Coolidge) of self-obsessed, struggling, and discordant characters in crisis, as well as making use of all the history and beautiful settings Sicily has to offer, it’s ridiculously easy to be seduced. for the second season of The White Lotus and all its accessories, desperate to know how the week will unfold (more than seven episodes) and whose ankle we have glimpsed floating in the Ionian Sea.

There’s something about seeing this collection of hideous wealthy people (and the baggage they’ve brought, or not) that’s truly addictive. Perhaps it’s the possibility of at least one of them getting kicked out and trying to figure out how any accident, intentional or not, could happen and who might have “caused” or “contributed” to it that keeps you engrossed.

Assembling an arguably stronger and more grounded ensemble (perhaps as a result of everyone in Hollywood wanting to appear on the show after watching the first season), creator Mike White’s writing feels sharper, the satire sharper, the commentary even sharper. contemporary.