At Least Three Shows to Watch on Netflix
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At Least Three Shows to Watch on Netflix

We’ve reached the end of Summer, Labor day has come and gone, and we approach the second week of September it can be frightening. Staring down seven months of increasingly cold gusts of winds that hit like a block of cement. Frozen toes and fingers will be a pain, but there are two silver linings to the end of summer and arrival of cold. One being the end of hurricanes (one would hope) and more time for streaming! All wrapped up in the snuggie none of your friends know you have, wasting the day away to some delightfully unhinged violence really can put the mind at ease. Or if you’re looking for something high brow Netflix shall provide…

Here are three shows on Netflix worth your time even if you’ve already seen them.

Master of None

 

Following Dev (Aziz Ansari), a sometimes struggling actor living in an unrealistic apartment in New York. The shows not only deals with everyday struggles of living but heavy topics within religion, relationships,   and aspects of racism. Season one sets it sights more over on the difficulties of maintaining relationships. With Dev watching how his friend’s marriage may not be as dreamy as it seems on the surface. Dev will also go on to struggle with his own relationships and career even as career appears to move in a better direction.

One of the most creative and acclaimed shows from Netflix, Master of None is one of the best shows on TV. The Creation of comedian Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, the show also possess one of the most diverse cast there is. Its exploration into the lives of people from all walks of life are mesmerizing and highlight the shows best feature. At any given moment MoN can take you down a rabbit hole of someone’s life, and by the end, a feeling of emotional enrichment consumes your body.

MoN possesses a unique soundtrack that plays as well individually as it does on the show. Grabbing tracks from artist all across the globe from Thundercat to Ennio Morricone.

Narcos

 

Heading into its third season, Narcos remains one the most polarizing shows offered by the company investing close to a billion dollars into new content. After initially being made for HBO, the drug trafficking Pablo Escobar drama found a home as the head piece of the new Netflix. Even with House of Cards and critical notoriety, it is Narcos that ushered in the new wave of premier content.

Said to be one of the higher rated shows on the streaming platform, Narcos navigates the mess waters that are prestige television. Coming into the world full force as the Pablo Escobar story. An authentic but bold choice by creators to use subtitles and have actors speak Spanish and not play to an English speaking audience enhances the quality of what we see on screen. The delves not only into the world of 80’s Colombian drug scene but the outside forces, trying to get a piece of it. Whether or not that is to bring it down or to make a profit of their own, you’ll find out along the way.

When the haters say you can’t make 50 Million in a day….(Netflix)


However what makes the show becomes prestige is in its style, its violence, the lifestyle. It possesses all of the qualities of a show that would usually air or premium programming, but Netflix swooped in and grabbed it. One of a few shows they’ve grabbed from channels that previously would have been considered their superior. Now, with Narcos and company, Netflix is going 180 into the new era of media and wants to beat everyone else there.

Lost

 

Over a decade since its initial debut, Lost remains one of the most interesting and complex shows ever to air on network television. From creator J.J Abrams came this strange show about people who somehow survived a plane crash on an island somewhere from Australia to Los Angeles. One of the few shows not made by Netflix. Lost was Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones.

Meaning it captured the nation, there wasn’t the media blizzard that surrounds every episode of Thrones, but that was because it was a different time. The “word of mouth” was real with Lost; discussed on the street, in dark alleys, at Thanksgiving. Your mom would call you at 6 in the morning to talk about as soon as she woke up. Dentist’s, while awkwardly trying to have a conversation with 3/4’s of their hand in your mouth, would give you their thoughts.

Before water-cooler conversations became more of an idea, they actually happened at a water-cooler and Lost was the topic of choice right after talking about the cat meme(before it was called a meme) that had been making its way around the office email.

Unusual as it is, it thrives off of the essential elements of a good story, humanity. What does it mean to be a good person and work as part of society on an island, what would you do to get your family off? What would you do to get yourself off? These questions run rampant throughout the six season run of the series. The Supernatural elements that riddle through the plot can at worst be distracting, but at best make the show like a drug.

The answers you so desperately want but for every answer uncovered there are two more questions revealed.

It can be frustrating…

Other Notable favorites:

 

Breaking Bad (Of Course)

Walking Dead (Sure)

Last Chance U (Yes)

Peaky Blinders (English people)

The Get Down (if you haven’t watched this go now. If you have, go back and watch it again. While it wasn’t perfect, the show left too soon and for there to be more shows like it giving this one a second life is a good place to start.)

One last thing……

Chefs Table

 

Has there ever been a show that made its subjects to seem almost like a fabergé egg? Yes, Chefs Table, a show so slow and obsessed with it’self you almost feel like you shouldn’t be watching it. Food snobbery in its truest and finest form, Chefs Table takes you into the world of Chefs. Holding their work not just as food but as pieces of defined art. Not meant for eating but for embracing and contemplating (i.e., is this Kale Burger a representation of my mistakes in life and a are these tofu fries a metaphor for the emptiness of my soul?)

Chef Alexandre Couillon {Photo: Lucie Cipolla/Netflix}


Needless to say, viewing Chefs Table is an experience. Unlike other food and Michelin level chef inspired shows, this one goes to the Chefs business. Then exploring what it means to be them and where they live and the inspiration they take from their everyday life. Regardless of everything that goes into the story telling of the show, at its core, Chefs Table is beautiful. The camera work and style of filming give make each episode its own work of visual art.

Ultimately it’s about food. Really expensive, pretty food.

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