Three is a magic number this month, with some of TV’s most talked-about series returning after their first couple of killer seasons. Could be a good time to join team Yellowjacket, or to see what Reacher is all about? On the other hand, February is also playing host to a few period-pieces, shocking true stories and genre mashups, like a Seoul-set zom-rom-com.
Add whichever new series float your boat to your Flicks watchlist, and get notified when episodes drop.
Apple Cider Vinegar: Limited Series
Sick and tired of stories about con artists? This latest, splashy Netflix production might have the cure — no, it’s not turmeric and spinach and apple cider vinegar. American Kaitlyn Dever pulls off a truly impeccable Aussie accent as wellness scammer Belle Gibson, who conned Insta followers into believing that her (entirely fictional!) brain cancer got cured by merely eating well. It’s a greedily-paced and fun expose, bolstered by performances from actual Australians as the followers, peers and cynics who were blown away—and in some cases, seriously sickened—by Gibson’s glamorous web of lies.
Emojis and heavily-filtered Insta posts ping across every frame, and each episode opens with a playful acknowledgement that what we’re seeing is a heavily fictionalised account. Dever’s protagonist is even made to tell the camera that Gibson will receive no profit from the retelling, whispering “f**kers” under her breath at this info.
Clean Slate: Season 1
From sitcom auteur Norman Lear, this invigorating and warm new show has a big challenge ahead of itself. Laverne Cox stars as transwoman Desiree, who surprises her family by coming home to her small town post-transition, and must navigate the expectations and well-meaning bigotry of dad Henry (the effortlessly funny George Wallace).
The trailer pitches the show as a perfect meeting of heartfelt, forward-thinking values and robust good humour, with none of Henry’s misgendering or confusion played for empty boomer “how many genders are there these days anyways?” laughs. Arriving in the wake of Trump rolling back protections for queer and trans people across the US, Clean Slate is brave and likeable programming for right now.
Good Cop/Bad Cop: Season 1
Leighton Meester and Luke Cook play duelling small-town cops in this new crime-comedy. Twist no. 1: they’re brother and sister. So who’s the good cop and who’s the bad cop? Surveying the cheery thumbnail above, Cook’s straitlaced outfit tells me that he might be the by-the-book stickler, while Meester is the renegade maverick wild card one. Twist no. 2: their dad is the police chief they each have to answer to, taking “just wait until your father gets home” to a whole new level.
The great character actor Clancy Brown plays the Dad Cop here, and he’s always a pleasure to see on screen—especially when he gets a bigger role. If you think you’re unfamiliar with him, just listen closely to his deep growly voice: that’s Spongebob’s boss Mr Krabs!
Newtopia: Season 1
Hollywood is never going to tire of the zombie horror subgenre, having already spliced it with every other possible flavour of entertainment. So yes, we’ve had a zom-rom-com before — but perhaps not one as interesting as this new Korean show, which sees a boyfriend and girlfriend trying to reunite in zombie-infested Seoul, after he’s been away dutifully doing his mandatory military service. My idea of a perfect arc would wind up with one part of the couple getting bitten, and the other deciding to get zombified, too, so that they can bum around as undead cuties for a few final episodes. Let’s see how it turns out!
Reacher: Season 3
One of Prime Video’s most popular original titles, this show’s veins are exploding with all-American machismo: following one big guy tackling big crimes. Alan Ritchson will dominate again in the third instalment of Lee Childs’ novel adaptations, this time facing off against an, um, Oriental rug importer? Most exciting, though, is the news that rug guy’s henchman will be played by actor Oliver Richters, notable for his astounding 7’2 height. How will big man Alan Reacher defeat another, somehow bigger man? I don’t need to remind fans to tune in and find out.
Running Point: Season 1
Girl do sport thing? That’s unpossible! After a decade or so of stretching her skills to star in quirkier indie fare, Kate Hudson is back to her rom-com roots, playing a redeemed party girl in this frothy and fun new series. She plays the only daughter in an extremely macho, competitive family, who has been overlooked and devalued for too long. When the family basketball team—the fictional but cutely named Los Angeles Waves—suddenly lacks a leader, she’ll have to set aside her grudges and bubbly manner to take charge of the franchise. It’s sort of a gender-flipped Ted Lasso, then, with Hudson’s vibrant good-time-girl comedic chops breathing new life into the stinky masculinity of the court and boardroom.
A Thousand Blows
Oi guv! Seekin’ a gnarly new British show from the creator of Peaky Blinders, full of bare-knuckle action and big mouthy accents? Drawing from true accounts of the 1880s East End of London, this period drama is bolstered by a supporting role from the great Steven Graham, as “boxing emperor” Sugar Goodson. Our heroes—whatever that means, in such a cynical underbelly—are a pair of Jamaican migrants who find themselves working with the legendary “Forty Elephants”, an all-female criminal gang who are seeking their own slice of the lucrative underground boxing world’s pie.
The White Lotus: Season 3
The Italy-set second season of this acerbic black comedy was even better than the first, so season three and its Thailand setting bear huge expectations. We’re already keen from the cast along, plucking your fave character actors into enthralling lead roles once again: Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, etc.
And the big-brained creator behind it all, writer and director Mike White, has said that this season will revolve primarily around themes of death, noting that season two’s pivotal theme was sex. Of course, viewers will already know that each season kicks off with a mysterious body washing up at a White Lotus hotel or resort, so maybe this time around we can expect some additions to the body count…
Yellowjackets: Season 3
Okay, team huddle: we can acknowledge that the sophomore season of this thrilling female-driven series didn’t quite live up to the mystery, friendship and cliffhangers of season one. Perhaps third time’s the charm, and that disturbing character death in last season’s finale won’t totally derail things?
Even if Melanie Lynskey’s present-day storyline feels as if it’s on the wane just a tad, the show’s flashback storyline—of teen soccer players stranded in the wilderness—has always been utterly gripping. As our fave gals slide deeper into cannibalism and tribal infighting, their fascinating past is only getting more fleshed out (flesh being a very apt term here).
Zero Day
Set amidst the turmoil of the Bush administration as a high-level cyber attack cripples government systems, this prestigious production features the great Robert De Niro as head of the Zero Day commission and retired president George Mullen, with flawless support from Jesse Plemons, Angela Bassett and Lizzy Caplan. It’s weighty stuff, with the kind of cast and subject matter typically reserved for feature films, or at least projects with an HBO label up the front. Presenting a gripping account of a fictional crisis, we can expect the limited series to skew close to true events—especially as it arrives in the weak of a tense and portentous inauguration.
