Series seen in 2026
(Work in progress, as the year progresses, so remember to check every now and then if anything new popped up in the meantime.)
Beware: There are a couple of spoilers ahead, as those are predominantly notes for myself. Nothing all too serious, but one or two twists are revealed.
Bored to Death (Season 3)
"Bored to Death's" season 3 turned out to be the last one, though because it was cancelled, not because it was planned like that. Season 2 was more of the same, but season 3 brings more of an arc structure to the show. Luckily, given circumstances, it manages to close it, albeit with a cliffhanger that will never be resolved (and unresolved, it might feel a bit cringy). I preferred this overlapping plots more than the Case of the Week. Really likeable characters, like an opposite of "Veep."
Stranger Things (Season 5, part 2)
"Stranger Things" have finally come to an end. Volume 2 lays the foundation for the grande finale, where everyone teams up to face Vecna and his old pal, the Mind Flayer. It's all "the 80s as an aesthetic," but there are genuinely touching moments, especially after almost a decade of following the characters' journey. I know they went into shooting the last episode without a complete screenplay, but to me, they managed to come out just fine.
I wonder what the Duffer brothers are gonna do next.
Severance (Season 2)
Season 2 of "Severance" picks up after the cliffhanger of season 1, but paints the follow-up a bit differently: whereas the first season was about being trapped in the liminal space of the Lumon's office, the second one zooms out and places innies outside, as well as has a whole episode with Cobel. And we finally learn what the hell they are refining. I can't wait to see what they will come up with in season 3, which has been already confirmed.
And speaking about Ms. Cobel's episode, it was nice to see James LeGros after a while (as well as seeing him getting old pretty well), but the most impressive element is the Salt's Neck town, which was shot somewhere in Newfoundland. It's old and deserted and dilapidated, and somehow it fits the liminal character of the show because a lot of those are also old and abandoned houses. I would like to go there once and see it for myself.
The Beast In Me
"The Beast In Me" (2025) is a limited series about a writer who, experiencing a writer's block, gets an idea for a new book when an alleged, rich killer moves in as her neighbour. Literally, the killer offers the new book to be about him. The show was balancing on being low-quality pulp, but good characters and good casting definitely helped. There were a couple of red herrings here and there, but in the end, it landed on the good side.
NieR: Automata
When I got Crunchyroll, I was surprised to find out that there is anime based on "NieR: Automata." I decided then that it's unlikely that I will play the game any time soon, so I went with the show. And wasn't it fun!
It's generally split into two distinguishable parts: the first 12 episodes tell a rather linear and straightforward story of a battle between androids and robots, while the second 12 episodes really go off the bat and into almost surreal narrative at times.
My main point of interest was how, knowing the game has to be finished a couple of times to discover the full story, are they going to achieve that in a show with rather linear progression. And I think they did a stellar job. Apart from following the Adam and Eve plot in the first part, it had many alternative endings presented at the end, with different animation technique: they used dolls-on-a-stick; crazy.
Two parts reminded me of Julio Cortázar's "Hopscotch," which second part acted a similar role to the first one. You could see the first 12 episodes and call it a day, or you can step into the madness of YoRHa machinations.
However, it would seem the plot got so convoluted at one point that a special episode was done, to explain in a terse form what's what. A bit like "Charlie Jade" had to have. I found it amusing.
The virtual city of Adam, as well as the tower at the end, reminded me of "NeissanceE," which itself was based off "Blame!" which might or might not have been intentional, but I still count it as something I liked.
Ruined remnants of the cities, taken over by the flora, looked very similar to how it was presented in "The Last of Us."
Fallout (Season 2)
Season 2 of "Fallout" continues story where season 1 ended. I'm not gonna get into the plot, instead I'm gonna say this: the creators are very good at creating stories with multiple plots and arcs happening in parallel, then meeting at the end. This heavily reminds me of William Gibson's books. There is enough pacing to easily have 5-6 seasons, effortlessly; in no small thanks to a large world and its lore. Also, I had a lot of fun watching it.
Too Old To Die Young
"Too Old To Die Young" is Nicholas Winding Refn's mini series from 2019. It has 10 episodes, first 9 of which run by 70 to 90 minutes, with the last one taking merely 30 minutes (something to consider when planning the watch, as the last one acts more as an epilogue). Refn himself said that he considered it to be rather a long movie than something of episodic nature. I saw it when it was released 7 years ago, so this was my rewatch.
In many places, Martin Jones (played by Miles Teller) is presented as the main character, but while it's true that he's the most prominent to begin with, as the story progresses, others come into play, and it becomes closer to ensemble cast. From the point of view of the big picture, his presence is more incidental; which is not a bad thing. Similarly to "Fallout," it felt a bit like William Gibson's story, with multiple actors in slowly converging arcs.
As this was a rewatch, I was curious if the thing would hold; after all, I am a different person than I was 7 years ago; according to sages from the Far East, it takes these many years to change all the cells in the body and become a different person. In short, and to my surprise, the show was better than it had been back then. Audiovisually stunning and with plot far from typical action flick, despite revolving around cops, gangsters, the cartel, and self-anointed paedophile hunters.
The soundtrack might be the finest work that Cliff Martinez did for Nicholas Winding Refn. Unlike "Drive" and "Neon Demon," it's not purely synthetic; for example, theme that accompanies Martin has these nervous strings. And while the soundtrack for "Only God Forgives" was less electronic, "Too Old To Die Young" takes it to its next, fuller step. I am considering CD, which would be my first CD from Amazon itself, as this is Prime Video's production; but still, Refn did what and how he wanted it.
Visually, it's full of slow takes and almost static imagery: many times, the camera just pans lazily over characters who are motionless. This reminded me of "The Mill and the Cross" and "The Color of Pomegranates," which both aimed at reproducing an impression of paintings on screen. I don't know if this was the intention, but it definitely fits with those two movies. There is a lot of things happening between scenes, so the story is slow but also fast, at the same time.
Refn's trademark, neon light that soaks whole rooms with it, is here, as well. As I learned from the making of "Copenhagen Cowboy," the director is colour blind, and he's sharing with viewers how he sees the world: as shades of the same colour.
The slow pacing applies also to the dialogues, which take long, and each sentence is slowly delivered by the characters. I don't think it would work in the real world (which I might try in coming weeks), but it definitely contributes to the sense of hyper reality.
So, to summarise, I think "Too Old To Die Young" might be my favourite thing that came from Nicholas Winding Refn, so far. Just like "Twin Peaks," especially season 3, allowed David Lynch to show him in its full extent, this show allowed Refn do the same.
As a bit of a side note, and this is something that I mentioned a couple of times on other occasions, this show is the closest to what I had in my head, when I was reading all the Dexter books and imagining the adaptation done differently to what we got, with a silent, non-narrating Dexter, and showing everything instead of telling it constantly. I was so astonished that someone did it, and so faithfully to what I was hoping for.
Halt And Catch Fire (Season 4)
"Halt And Catch Fire" is probably a series I watch the longest time, due to breaks in between; I must have started somewhere in 2021, if not 2020. It was advertised to me as "Mad Man of IT," so I was expecting wild 1960s, but, to my surprise, the action was set in 1980s. Yesterday, I finally saw the last season, which is set in mid-1990 (I don't know if it's mentioned explicitly, but they mention death of Kurt Cobain at some point). And it was a treat, and also, it hit differently than the other seasons.
This season was about building the early Internet, when there was no search engines; Joe and Gordon's company actually built handcrafted and curated catalogue of the web. Crazy from today's perspective. But that's not why it hit differently. I realised that the show created a very likeable characters. The last season doesn't have any villain or even a slightly nasty character.
And so, when one of those likeable characters died, I felt it. They took four seasons to build someone who felt real, and then they took him away; very similar to what "Ozark" did at the end. And so, while the technical side was cool and spot on and showing the energy of those endeavours, that's not where the show's strength was. Not, it was the people.
In other words, I recommend it. And of course, if you know the history, it brings a lot of things in a well-researched way. But that's extra.
The Great (Season 1)
I've been eyeing "The Great" ever since I saw the trailer of the first season, but for some reason, none of my streamings would offer it. Sure, I could have rent it off Prime Video or torrent it, but somehow, I didn't. But now Netflix added it, so I jumped at it almost immediately. Despite broadly being based on the actual history, it's not even realistic; though, it doesn't aim at it. It's a story of people, of power, and of navigating a court. If you forego historical pretences, it can be fun.
The story is based on Catherine the Great, Russian empress, but it merely borrows some names and events. Young Catherine gets married to Peter, the Russian emperor, because she's aristocracy but poor, hence uninfluential and not posing a risk. Or is she? Well, she's ambitious from the first moment, and doesn't get discouraged easily; at least, after she abandons the idea of killing herself in the first episode.
Nice characters, with nicely cast actors, to name a few: Ellie Fanning as Catherine who goes from naive to more seasoned court plotter; Nicholas Hoult as the emperor, a rather dumb and full of himself, but also isolated from the reality, due to his position and being surrounded by sycophants; and let me name only one more actor, Douglas Hodge (of "Penny Dreadful") who plays a drunk Russian general Velementov, but how!
Watching how everyone pleases Emperor Peter, which makes him unaware of many things and actively makes him less of a leader, made me realise that this must be a thing for many rich people, and especially millionaires and higher. This has been discussed many times, actually: they either push away people criticising them, or otherwise lose them to yes-men; at which point, they're done and divorced from reality.
Another thing that I realised while watching "The Great" was that this over-the-board, absurdist characterisation can help to tell the truth, on some level, better than a straight and faithful adaptation. Living in the Peter's court must have been that crazy, and the focus is on making it feel rather than be historically accurate. I believe something similar is done in "Veep," which is not true but also more true. And I like it.
And now, I'll see something else and I'm back to season 2.