TV

Station Eleven, Slow Horses, The Lake, Backyard Secrets: 10 Series for a Fast Binge

The VOD services of the Israeli companies are indeed closed on Yom Kippur, but there are ways to prepare for that as well, and in any case the foreign companies operate as usual.

If you are looking for a binge that will close the corner for you during the fast, here are recommendations for relatively new series that are worthy of your time and maybe you haven't gotten to them yet

Walla!

culture

03/10/2022

Monday, October 3, 2022, 3:00 p.m

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Trailer for the series "Station Eleven" (HBO Max)

My Brilliant Friend

24 episodes

Yes, Hot and Cellcom TV (note, the series must be ordered before the fast begins)

In 2023, "The Genius Company" is expected to return with its fourth and final season, when a pair of its heroines will be played by other, older actresses.

Until that happens, you can read the entire wonderful series of books by Elena Ferrante, or alternatively watch again/for the first time the three seasons of the series, even if their power is more dim compared to the original.

The third season, which aired this year and is based on the third book, "The story of those who fled and those who stayed", was its best - unlike the literary source, where the first two are the stronger.

Although the series still suffers from some of the same flaws it had at the beginning, chief among them the very-unconvincing casting of Lila, the ferocity of Ferrante's writings continues to bubble in the series as well.

And this time, the maturation of the characters also brought maturation to the "genius company" itself, on purpose.

The director Sabrio Costanzo relied on the cinema of that time, the 1970s, and in the series looked for a much more natural and casual look.

The main beneficiary of this is Elena's character.

She became a mother and her chemistry with the children always seemed believable and realistic, giving her a maturity that was finally able to hatch through her passive silences.

It's amazing how much it upgraded the series.

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The fierceness is bubbling.

"The genius company" (photo: Eduardo Castaldo)

Backyard Secrets (Landscapers)

4 episodes

British crime series are a genre in itself.

Always focused, superbly acted to the point of incredible, closing the story within four or six or eight episodes, even if there is another season.

But in the end, not many of them leave a real mark in the annals.

"Backyard Secrets" is the opposite example, surpassing other series of its kind for its brilliant - and oh so sad - approach to the story it tells.

Olivia Colman ("The Crown", "Fleebag") and David Thewlis ("Fargo 3", "Sandman") star as the real-life couple Susan and Christopher Edwards, apparently normal, loving and sensitive people, movie buffs, when both of Susan's parents' bodies are discovered in their yard a decade after they disappeared.

The series, created by Ed Sinclair, Coleman's partner, and directed by Will Sharp (also known as an actor, among other things in the great "Kenzo's Struggle" in itself), follows the couple as their secret is revealed and they themselves deny any involvement in the matter.

But it soon becomes clear that their denial stems from repression.

Layer by layer, "Secrets in the Backyard" reveals the lives and past of Susan and Christopher, turning their great love of movies into an artistic tool through which the series emphasizes the fantasies they - and especially Susan - live in, due to tragic circumstances that forced them to seek refuge in every sense.

We've seen stories like this before, but we haven't seen them told like this - and it's creative,

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transcends

"Secrets in the Backyard" (Photo: HBO)

Station Eleven

10 hot episodes

The post-apocalyptic drama based on the book by Emily St. John Mendel is one of the best (limited and general) series of the year.

It follows a number of characters whose lives were intertwined before a disease that killed most of the world's population, as well as during the outbreak of the plague and after the names it left behind.

Kirsten, who was a child actress when the epidemic broke out, is also an actress in her adulthood (Mackenzie Davis, "Code Burn", "Black Mirror") as part of the "Wandering Symphony", a group of actors and musicians who travel from community to community around Lake Michigan and put on Shakespeare plays.

The TV adaptation gives the story a beautiful, lyrical and attractive enigmatic, which without a doubt requires viewers to be patient in the face of moments that are not very coherent throughout.

But she is so worth it.

Even in the dullest episodes comes an intense scene that crushes the chest.

As she progresses and the picture begins to clear, it suddenly becomes apparent how beautiful and gracious she is.

Suddenly it is clear how complete she is.

How every detail in it, even a tiny one and the edge of an early joint, can casually become a plot line without even connecting the things.

In a broken world full of broken people, "Eleventh Station" neutralizes explosiveness like a saboteur, moving to tears in the pure and refined sense of the word.

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crushing the chest.

"Eleventh Station" (Photo: Screenshot, HBO Max)

Ghosts

18 episodes

Its concept this comedy is so simple and so brilliant: a young couple moves to a family estate that they inherited and unbeknownst to them is inhabited by the ghosts of those who died there in the past.

An accident causes a woman to see ghosts.

The idea was born in the British version (and the more successful one, which unfortunately has not yet been acquired for broadcasting in Israel) in 2019, and was copied to the United States with a gallery of ghosts whose history is relevant to the place: a singer from the drought period, a militia soldier from the 18th century, a hippie who loves hallucinogens from years The 60s, an overzealous scout guide from the 80s, a Viking seafarer from 1009, a slick broker from the 90s, a witty and sarcastic Indian from the 16th century, and a noblewoman from the 18th century.

It's a common practice in sitcoms, connecting characters who have nothing to do with each other to create comic sparks, but for the most part they at least share the same period of life.

The concept of "ghosts" takes this familiar trope into new territory, allowing it to create an absurd mix of characters, each with a vastly different perspective on the modern times in which the story takes place.

Accordingly, it can also occasionally take the plot to areas that ordinary situation comedies usually do not reach.

These are characters that seemingly should have no connection between them, neither technically nor conceptually, yet they are forced to live together forever.

Despite this, there is no enmity and conflicts between them, on the contrary.

It is a small community, even a family, which is fun to spend with its members.

Although she initially disapproves of the arrival of outsiders, she soon turns out to be hospitable, and finally integrates the new couple into this small community - as a good comedy series should.

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community.

"Ghosts" (Photo: Paramount)

The Afterparty

10 episodes

In view of the forces concentrated in this series before and behind the scenes one would expect this crime comedy to be perfect.

It was created and directed by Christopher Miller, the one from the regular partnership with Phil Lord (who also serves here as an executive producer), which produced works such as "Jump Street", "The Lego Movie" and "Spider-Man: The Spider Dimension".

It stars, among others, wonderful comedic actors such as Sam Richardson, Tiffany Haddish, Dave Franco, Ben Schwartz and Ilana Glaser.

Despite all these names, we saw funny works from "After Party", but even as it is, it is a series that is worth the time.

The series takes the Agatha-Christiai concept, in which there is a body in one location and everyone is suspected of her murder, and turns it into a creative, diverse celebration, full of brilliance and inspiration, as well as clues to the identity of the real killer for those who keep an eye open.

Each episode in it focuses on the investigation of one of the suspects, and each suspect provides his point of view through a different cinematic genre.

Thus, despite the feeling that the comedy does not exhaust the capabilities available to it, the actors are far from wasted.

On the contrary - in the end the series is worth it thanks to its dizzying cast.

They all exude a captivating and humorous humanity in essentially archetypal characters, and almost all of them are also really funny.

Everyone helps the mystery reach its logical and even exciting solution, making "After Party" one of the cutest and most enjoyable series out there.

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A creative celebration.

"After Party" (Photo: Apple TV Plus)

Slow Horses

6 episodes

On December 2, "Slow Horses" will return with new episodes, a good opportunity for those who missed it to complete the first season - which includes six episodes - of the spy drama that became one of the cutest series of the past year.

Gary Oldman stars as the infamous boss of Slough House, the place where failed British intelligence agency operatives go to move what's left of the ruins of their careers.

When a young man is kidnapped and his captors threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses get a chance to redeem themselves, thus also exposing themselves to danger from home.

Although the season is not the most uniform in its level - the scenes related to the kidnapping are less interesting than the ones that take place in the intelligence agency - but even so it is difficult not to sit under the spell and sit in front of her with a smile for a significant part of the time.

Oldman creates a complex and wonderful character: on the one hand he doesn't care about anything, including the agents who work under him, and on the other hand he knows very well what he is doing and is loyal to his people.

The rest of the cast - which also includes Olivia Cooke ("Dragon House"), Jonathan Pryce ("Game of Thrones") and Kristin Scott Thomas ("The English Wounded") - is also excellent, and the entire series is a witty, understated and edgy delight in the best British tradition .

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It's hard not to sit under the spell.

"Slow horses" (Photo: Apple TV Plus)

The Lake

8 episodes

While Tatiana Maslany stars in "She-Hulk: Lawyer in the Service of the Law", her colleague in the series in which she broke out, "Orphan Black", chose a much more grounded and human series.

Jordan Jabaris, who was Felix the Conqueror in that series, stars this time in the lead role in a witty Canadian comedy, alongside Julia Stiles ("10 Things I Hate About You," "Dexter").

Jabaris plays Justin, a man in his thirties who has returned from abroad following a separation from his partner of years, and now plans to bond with his teenage daughter, Billie, who he gave up for adoption during a summer where she will stay with him at the family cabin on the lake. His plans go awry when he discovers that his father The deceased bequeathed the place to his perfect and wicked stepsister, Maisie-May.

"The Lake" is a series of excellent balances: between the beautiful, relaxing location, and the razor-sharp intrigue and words (and loaded with language games that the translation deals with most of the time valiantly);

Between extreme characters, sometimes bordering on caricatures, and humane and compassionate comedy;

Between the unfolded and promising potential of adolescence and sober and bitter looks back.

Through this mix, throughout the nine episodes of the first season (the second is already on the way), "The Lake" manages to evoke an identification with each of the characters, however antagonistic, and create something original and captivating.

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Excellent balances.

"The Lake" (Photo: Amazon Prime Video)

Human Resources (Human Resources)

10 Netflix

episodes

for five seasons "Big Mouth" was played in adolescence, in the intense emotions, the lust, the shame, the love and the hate.

Since her protagonists are too young, she even went beyond them to their older brothers to present the meanings of first sex.

But in the end, the young ages that the animated comedy focuses on limit its ability to examine the full spectrum of life in its own unique, wild, disgusting, laugh-out-loud and clever way.

"Human Resources", the subsidiary series of "Big Mouth" that appeared earlier this year, was apparently born to focus on the multitude of creatures that direct humans through human feelings - the hormone monsters, the anxiety mosquitoes, the depression cats, the love butterflies and so on.

In practice, like the parent series, it's just an excuse.

It takes "Human Resources" some time to grow, and it's offensively very crude even though it doesn't need it as a series that goes beyond adolescence.

Nevertheless, it allows the "Big Mouth" universe to grow and explore new territories in the human experience, such as birth and death, and it does so in the same brilliant - and at times very moving - way of the series from which it was born.

And since "Big Mouth" itself returns at the end of the month with a new season, this might be the ideal appetizer.

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New territories in the human experience.

"Human Resources" (Photo: Netflix)

Derry Girls

13 Episodes

This Friday, the third and final season of the funniest coming-of-age series around, which ended last May in its native UK, will air on Netflix - a golden opportunity to complete or rewatch its first two seasons.

The name of the series is derived from the abbreviation of the name of the city of Londonderry in Ireland, where its four heroines live.

The days are the days before the "Good Friday" agreements that brought an end to a brutal blood feud, and it is precisely in this reality of tension and uncertainty that "Deri Girls" finds all the beauty, challenges and especially the laugh-out-loud parts of adolescence, which all sit on brilliant insights.

The murderous rhythm of the jokes combined with the perfect casting and the distinct character of each of the girls in the gang, make it one of the best comedies of the last decade.

And all of these are wrapped in a perfect and addictive nineties soundtrack.

And as befits British series, the episodes are short and light and will pass before you even feel it, which also dims the weaknesses of some episodes, especially in the second season.

What is particularly gratifying is that the third season returns to great and laugh-out-loud heights, allowing the series and us to say goodbye to Derry girls with a sweet taste in our mouths.

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Near the end.

"Derry Girls" (Photo: Channel 4)

Only Murders in the Building

20 episodes

After we've all become addicted to true crime podcasts at one point or another, "Only Murderers in a Building" takes the experience and turns it into a kind of parody at the same time, and also a true crime case in its own right, which takes place entirely in a luxurious apartment building.

Her protagonists - two aging men whose prime is far behind them (Martin Short and Steve Martin) and a reclusive young woman with a mysterious past (Selena Gomez) - are the secret of her charm.

As much as the mystery at the center of the series intrigues and develops, it is their stories and the bizarre relationship that builds between them that make it a real pleasure.

If there was a fear that the second season, which ended a few months ago, would exhaust the idea and the magic, this is far from the case.

After another murder case in the same building, the camaraderie forged between the three heroes gradually expanded to include their neighbors, even those that were difficult to tolerate at first glance, and especially to a smart and charming examination of relationships between parents and children.

Even when there are plot holes, they are filled with soul, generous self-awareness and comedy that really yields laugh-out-loud laughs.

Not something that is necessarily expected from a series with the word "murderers" in its name.

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• The genius company

• Human resources - series

• The lake - series