12 Euphoria (season 2)
This much-discussed series about students, sex, drugs and trauma is a hit of the caliber for provider HBO Game of Thrones† In the second season, even more boundaries are explored, also in terms of style and camera work. Not for everyone, but a special ride for anyone who can take a beating. And the series does more than shock: it is also an exciting portrait of a new generation of young people. Actress Zendaya deservedly won an Emmy Award for her role as the drug-addicted teenager Rue.
Also read: Young viewers about Euphoria series: ‘I am afraid that minors misinterpret the series’
11 yellow jackets
Exciting thriller with nineties nostalgia and a touch of horror. A school soccer team spent 19 months in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. What have they done to survive? Yellowjackets tells the story in two timelines: in 1996 we see the girls of the team during the period after the crash. In addition, we see the women who have been saved in the present time. We don’t know exactly how they were saved. When they receive postcards from a possible blackmailer, they are once again confronted with their deepest secrets.
Also read the review: ‘Yellowjackets’ series is full of wild twists
10 We Are Lady Parts
Five young Muslim women want to break through with their rough punk band. With great pleasure the makers make mincemeat out of prejudices. Despite familiar elements, this British comedy series is anything but trite. For example, we don’t often see the combination of punk and Muslim in films and series. The main character is 26-year-old student Amina. She joins the group as a guitarist. Before that happens, Amina must overcome her stage fright. Also nice: the songs of the fictional band are really good.
Also read the review: Muslim girls in a punk band make mincemeat of prejudice
Also read: As a Muslim, are you welcome in a punk mosh pit?
9 Drole
The creator of the delicious French series Dix pour cent †Call My Agent) returned with a series about messy multicultural Paris and its thriving stand-up comedy scene. We follow four young people who want to make it as stand up comedians. The only bad news: Netflix does not want a second season despite rave reviews. The series will therefore receive the status of an underrated cult series.
Also read: You quickly fall in love with the messy characters of the French series Drôle
8 The year of Fortuyn
Smooth and very entertaining drama series about Pim Fortuyn and Ad Melkert. The two political opponents are played by Ramsey Nasr (Melkert) and Jeroen Spitzenberger (Fortuyn). Despite the makeup and hairpieces, they become real characters. Although the underlying theme is heavy and urgent, the pace of the series is high and there is a remarkable amount of humor and air in the story.
Also read the interview: ‘We didn’t want to put Fortuyn on a pedestal’
7 The Dropout
Swindlers, charlatans and fraudsters are on our TV screens this year. The best series in this mini genre is The Dropout, a drama series about real-life con artist Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the biotech company Theranos. The series is a character study of a con artist who slowly loses control of a monster of his own making. The success of the series is in large part due to the unparalleled acting of Seyfried. The actress sometimes portrays Holmes as childlike and vulnerable, sometimes as ruthless and terrifying.
Also read the review: Lies, deceit, and overestimation in ‘The Dropout’
6 We Own This City
Difficult to get to We Own This City not the classic The Wire thinking. The same screenwriters wrote another journalistic-realistic story about police and corruption in Baltimore – but now translated to the time of #BlackLivesMatter. A special unit is given complete freedom and turns into a criminal organization. The series focuses on the failing police, but also explores the wider American problems: rising inequality and disintegrating communities. Although the criminal cops are caught, the image of a morally bankrupt country lingers.
Also read: ‘We Own This City’ is an analysis of a corrupt system
5 Deposits: Power & Glory
After almost ten years, the popular Danish series Secure back. Birgitte Nyborg, the amiable leader of a D66-like middle party, remains the common thread. In the fourth season, Nyborg as foreign minister becomes increasingly distant from the passionate idealist she once was. This new series has not become a rehearsal. The makers cleverly capture the zeitgeist and tackle almost all major issues of 2022: the geopolitical relationship, the climate crisis, the debate about fossil fuels and the after-effects of Western colonialism.
Also read the review: ‘Borgen’ is finally back – and still rock solid
4 barry (season 3)
Tragicomic series about a hit man who wants to become an actor. In the new season, the behavior of the title character, played by creator Bill Hader, becomes increasingly disturbing. Death and destruction continue to overshadow his life, despite promises to himself to stop his (secret) work as a murderer. The people in his immediate environment are more and more dragged into the misery. With a wonderful role for Henry Winkler (once known as ‘The Fonz’) as an older acting coach.
Also read the review: Sublime series ‘Barry’ is more tragic than ever in third season
3 Better Call Saul (season 6, part 1)
By the strolling step of Better Call Saul, it was only slowly that this prequel to Breaking Bad has become a crime classic in its own right; tighter and more refined than the parent series. In addition to the haggling lawyer Jimmy who gradually ends up in the drug trade, his apparently neat girlfriend Kim has increasingly become the main character. The sixth season has been split in two: the very last series starts on Netflix on July 12. The series reached new heights in the first half. We already know how Jimmy and the other Breaking Bad characters fare. And how the delightful villain Lalo will end up remains to be seen. So what keeps the series going is the question: what is Kim going to do?
Also read the column: ‘Better Call Saul’ went differently than expected
2 Severance
Unique and highly original series. Work and home is for the characters in Severance strictly separated. Employees of the company Lumon Industries have a chip in their head. During office hours they know nothing about private life, outside working hours nothing about work. We don’t really know what that work is. Employee Mark increasingly gets the idea that nothing is right at the company. The series excels in all areas: decoration, direction, atmosphere, music, acting and tension building.
Also read: In ‘Severance’ work never goes home
1 Eleven . Station
A wonderful series about life after a deadly pandemic that has wiped out almost the entire world population. A group of actors and musicians travel the Great Lakes region of America to perform Shakespeare plays in inhabited places. Station Eleven tells a warm and empathetic story about the healing power of art, about finding joy in the most difficult situations and about human deficiency.
Also read: The inventive ‘Station Eleven’ series is a journey you must undergo
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