By Dave B.

As a slacker and his two friends hide from the police in a Tokyo train station bathroom stall, an odd event occurs. They emerge from their hiding place and discover that everyone in the station, and the city, has disappeared. As the friends navigate an abandoned Tokyo, they stumble across a series of games that test their teamwork, intelligence, physical abilities, and loyalty. They quickly discover that the cost of losing is death and non-participation is not an option. As they struggle to escape and discover the purpose behind this new reality, their bonds of friendship are tested and they learn the truth of themselves that they hide from the world.

By Dave B.

When her mother is killed, young Beth Harmon is sent to an orphanage in Kentucky where she encounters the two things that will most impact her life: chess and tranquilizers. As Beth gains fame for her brilliant and bold chess game, she spirals deeper and deeper into a drug and alcohol fueled darkness that threatens to destroy her career and her life. 

By Dave B.

In Amazon Prime’s Hunters, when his grandmother is murdered in 1970s New York, Jonah (Logan Lerman) discovers a vast conspiracy: there are Nazis living in the United States. Confronted with this reality, he’s recruited by Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) an old family friend, to join a group dedicated to hunting and killing these monsters. But the Nazis have their own ideas: they  haven’t given up their plans for world domination, and through their influence in the halls of American corporate and political power, they are determined to bring about a Fourth Reich.

By Dave B.

Rise of Empires: Ottoman (Netflix) is a historical docudrama that covers one of the most important (but least well-known, at least in the United States) events in the history of both the European and Islamic worlds: the fall of Constantinople and the supplanting of the failing Byzantine Empire with the rising Ottoman Empire, led by the dynamic young leader, Mehmed II. 

BY Dave B.

In Netflix’s Messiah, a mysterious man gains a following in Syria after seemingly miraculously saving Damascus from being overrun by ISIS. After the man accomplishes several more unexplained “miracles”, including saving a girl from a tornado that wrecks a Texas town, he gains an international following. But a hardened CIA agent is determined to prove that the mystery man, now regarded as the Son of God by many, is actually a dangerous fraud.

By Dave B.

In Shadow (2019, currently on Netflix), as three empires battle for control of a strategic city, the commander of one of the empire’s armies challenges a rival to a duel to settle once and for all who the city belongs to. This serves as the opening move in a series of complicated plans that pit the stratagems of a king and a general against the indomitable will of a lowly servant who just wants to return home. 

By Dave B.

​HBO’s Watchmen takes place in the same world as the “The Watchmen” comics and movie, from which it’s name is derived. The world of Watchmen is similar to our own and shares historical parallels, but is distinct in that differences in some critical events led to the widespread adoption of masked vigilantism as a way to fight crime. In Watchmen, vigilantes in masks have been outlawed, but the Tulsa, Oklahoma police themselves wear masks and adopt secret identities in the normal course of their duties, nominally for the protection of themselves and their families. When it is discovered that the all-powerful Dr. Manhattan is on Earth and living under the guise of a normal human, carnage ensues as various groups vie for his power. As a backdrop to all of this, the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre’s unresolved legacy looms large.

By Dave B.

The Irishman (Netflix) gives a fictionalized account of the life of Teamster official Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) as he balances his friendship with the head of the Bufalino crime family, Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), with his loyalty to his friend and Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). 

By Dave B.

​The second season of The End of The F***ing World (Netflix) takes place about two years after the dramatic conclusion of Season One. James and Alyssa have not seen each other since the culmination of their adventure. Alyssa (Jessica Barden) is engaged to be married and James (Alex Lawther) is recovering from partial paralysis and the loss of his father. But fate is not done with these two yet, as the first season’s most pivotal event comes back to haunt them in the form of Bonnie (Wunmi Mosaku), a deeply disturbed foe with an implacable grudge against the two teens.

By Dave B.

​Killing Eve (BBC America, AMC) is back for its second season. Yay! Picking up immediately after the end of Season One, we find Villanelle (Jody Comer) hiding from assassins after being unexpectedly stabbed by Eve (Sandra Oh) in last season’s finale. Now working for MI6, Eve must deal with the professional and personal ramifications of her obsession with Villanelle, while Villanelle learns to accept her new existence, untethered from the bonds that used to constrain her, as she tries to develop a relationship with Eve.