Thereβs been such a flood of amazing shows this seasonβitβs been hard to keep up with everything, but I thought Iβd share what Iβve been watching in case youβre looking for some new entertainment as we approach the holidays.
β’ ANDOR β’
The show Iβve been enjoying most this fall has definitely been Andor (Disney+) which feels weird to say, because Iβm generally not a huge Star Wars fan and although I thought The Mandalorian S1 was fun and entertaining, nothing within the franchise has really gripped me (and if Iβm being honest, that includes the original trilogy). But I very much enjoyed Rogue One back when it came out, and Andor has been a huge breath of fresh air within the modern media landscape; it doesnβt feature space wizards, or laser swords, or magical aliensβitβs instead the story of the non-chosen people, without special powers, who have always existed in the background of the movies, shows, and games, but have never been the sole focus of any other Star Wars story.
It asks questions about how real rebellions are formed and funded, what level of sacrifice is required to resist a tyrannical empire, and what kinds of people are capable of leading a genuine partisan effort. The costume designs are on a whole other levelβnot only do they feel βrealβ and lived-in, theyβre aesthetically beautiful (not to mention interesting), and they also do a ton of heavy lifting in supporting narrative story elements and character development. The writing is incredible, the acting is 100% on point, and on top of all of that, itβs got the best droid in the entire Star Wars galaxy, B2EMO:
B2EMO, better known as βBeeβ, is a droid well past his primeβwith a battery that runs down quickly and a stutter that has developed no doubt as a result of an outdated operating system. I love that this show raises the question of droid mortality. Anyway, even with 2 episodes still left in the first season, I canβt say enough good things about Andor and highly recommend checking it out!
β’ HOUSE OF THE DRAGON β’
I, like millions of people in the mid-2010βs, was an avid Game of Thrones watcher and, like millions of people, was heavily disappointed in the direction of the later seasonsβespecially S7 and S8. House of the Dragon (HBO) is not GoT, and I think itβd be a mistake to tune in expecting it to fill that same exact void, but it does feel in many ways like GoT walked so HoTD could run.
The show takes place roughly 200 years before the events of Thrones, and is based on the book Fire and Blood, which is a fictional history book about the Targaryen dynastyβtold through accounts from several unreliable narrators. What I find most interesting about it is that because of the nature of the book itβs based on, one could interpret the show as the actual, canonical, βtrueβ history of the Targaryen civil war. Because of this, even if youβre a book reader, thereβs no way youβll know every single thing that will happen in the show, which adds a really fun and interesting dynamic.
The first season has ended and we wonβt be getting more HoTD until 2024, but it was heartening to see folks make a return to live-tweeting episodes and fervently creating episode reaction memes every Sunday while it was airing. Just like with GoT, the fanbase is hilariousβand some of the memes have been absolutely stellar. The one thing I need to stress though, is that just like Thrones, HoTD is a show featuring a high number of grey characters; it doesnβt really make sense to pick a side, because every character is probably gonna end up being a war criminal to some degree. And that includes the dragons. So if youβre gonna watch it, just enjoy the ride and donβt worry so much about picking a favorite character (at least, not based off of their moral values, lolβ¦ because spoiler alert: theyβre all pretty bad in one way or another.)
β’ INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE β’
I am such trash for the original 1994 movie, and when the trailer for this show dropped I immediately got myself an AMC+ subscription just for it. It was a short first season (only 7 episodes), but they established a ton and made some really interesting changes to the source material that make the show feel like a fresh take on an old story. Also itβs unbelievably gay. If youβre trashy like me and not squeamish about blood/vampire violence, itβs well worth a watch.
β’ THE SANDMAN β’
The Sandman (Netflix) came out back in August, so it isnβt technically something from my βfallβ watch list, but I had to mention it regardless because it was just so good, especially since it was recently announced that the show will be getting a second season. The casting was brilliant, and I always appreciate a comic book adaptation that actually allows the creator of the source material to have some say-so in how the final show turns out. Canβt wait to see what they do with the next season!
β’ THE RINGS OF POWER β’
It feels a little weird recommending The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime) because Iβm not sure I actuallyβ¦ liked it, lol.. but I will say this: itβs hard not to at least be curious what the most expensive TV show of all time looks like. I believe the budget for this first season was just over $700 million, and with marketing expenses, overall spending for it came close to $1 billion, which is absolutely insane. There are certainly scenes that look stunning, especially some of the wide shots of new environments, and obviously the CG is all very impressive, but despite this itβs still a little hard to wrap my head around why each episode cost $60 million a pop. I donβt think throwing more money at it necessarily made it better.
Iβve seen all of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, but I wouldnβt call myself a fan of the franchise. Itβs.. fine. Itβs fine! Itβs entertaining enough. But Iβve always found the heavy reliance on βfantasy tropesβ to be kind of boring and The Rings of Power certainly doesnβt stray from that model whatsoever. Itβs overly predictable, and the story payoff is pretty lackluster, if Iβm being honest.
All that being said, I still think itβs worth a watch if youβre into high fantasy spectacles, and itβs super family-friendly (unlike a lot of the other shows Iβve recommended in this post) so if you have kids who have the attention span to stick with long episode run times, Iβd wager they might enjoy it.
β’ THE PATIENT β’
Iβve basically seen no one talking about The Patient (FX) but itβs been an absolutely wild ride and I havenβt been able to peel myself away from every single episode. Itβs probably the most opposite to TRoP in that it clearly has a very low budget, short episode run times, and a limited cast, but good grief itβs gripping. I donβt want to spoil anything because I think the less you know going in the better, but I highly recommend this one if youβre into suspense and/or psychological thrillers.
What have you guys been watching this season? Any recommendations for me?
I was very involved in the rogue one fandom back when the movie came out (*waves at all my Jyn x Cassian fanfics on ao3*) so maybe I was biased going into Andor, but when I tell you that itβs the greatest thing Lucasfilm has ever created, I would not be exaggerating. I love that youβre loving it too. And agreed β if anything were to happen to B2EMOβ¦ *insert Brooklyn 99 gif*
Pantheon on AMC+ is one of the best near-future shows I've seen in a long time. The show deals with uploaded intelligence (rather than artificial intelligence) and really dives well into problems with UI/AI and other computational issues. It's got an anime feel to it but it's a western studio. It's an absolute shame that no one watched it (which I think partially has to do with the fact it's gated behind AMC+) but it's honestly an incredible show I can't talk up enough.
On a similar near-future Sci-Fi note, The Peripheral (Amazon Prime) is also good but I deals more with the action-y stuff rather than the philosophical. It's produced by Jon Nolan and Lisa Joy of Westworld fame and based on the book by William Gibson.