8 shows I'm watching in January

Netflix won't promote Hirokazu Kore-eda's new show so I guess I will!

On the 15th of each month, you can expect capsule reviews of pretty much everything I’ve been watching in your inbox, exclusive to paid subscribers of my newsletter. Happy watching!

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8. Dune: Prophecy (HBO)
Grade: C+

Dune: Prophecy is a bit of a slog. Episodes dragged on, the plot in the present timeline felt repetitive, and the world was way too small for such an expansive story. There is still a seed of something compelling here which might blossom into a successful second season (it has been renewed), but I couldn’t help but feel I was watching Denis Villeneuve’s universe watered down. I will say I was quite drawn in by the flashbacks, and wondered if they should have separated the season more in two halves like they did for the first season of House of the Dragon.

By letting us in on how the current iteration of the Bene Gesserit was formed off the bat, we would have felt more stakes for the characters in the present and the secrets they carry — and it would have made Kasha’s death in the pilot episode more impactful (one of my TV pet peeves is post-mortem character development. Like great, by the finale Kasha seems pretty interesting, but what’s the point). With full focus on the present timeline, maybe we could actually get to know the different factions and families — instead of watching Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel essentially reprising his role from Raised by Wolves — a better show!) burn someone, yet again. Parts of the story also slip toward sci-fi cliché.

The plot moved too slowly, until too much was dumped in an overdrawn finale. Some of the CGI looked pretty cheap. I had too many issues with it! On the scale of “sprawling” sci-fi shows it ranks below Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse, landing somewhere around how I feel about Foundation.

Is it gay? There have got to be gay affairs going on in this coven, come on.

7. A Man on the Inside (Netflix)
My grade: B-

Based on The Mole Agent, an Oscar-nominated documentary which I quite liked, Michael Schur and Ted Danson team up once again for another sentimental comedy. I came hoping for some Grace & Frankie energy but A Man on the Inside leans more Shrinking. I found the overly saccharine tone to be hit-or-miss for me, but by the back half of the season it finally sucked me in. I don’t think the other characters of the long-term care home Charles is investigating are really all that interesting, but I did end up quite liking Didi (Stephanie Beatriz) as the manager. I don’t really have much else to say about this except that it went down easy and the D'Arcy Carden cameo made me miss The Good Place.

Is it gay? Where are the gay oldies, WHERE ARE THEY?

6. Laid (Peacock)
Grade: B-

I will always tune in for single person chaos. What to do when everyone you’ve ever hooked up with starts dying mysteriously? Ruby (Stephanie Hsu) and AJ (Zosia Mamet) try to get to the bottom of it in this zippy dramedy peppered with clever pop culture jokes. In one episode, Ruby says “I swear to Elsbeth” — a TV reference niche enough that I know there’s at least one gay dork in this writer’s room.

Laid shines when it focuses on the existentialism of the single experience and the modern dating scene. Ruby unpacks things in therapy, she confronts her ex for assuming she didn’t need a plus one to his wedding, she reflects on her previous dating failures. But where Russian Doll was able to nail the otherworldly supernatural side to the time loop, Laid spends too much time accomplishing side quests before getting to the reveal — which only comes in a cliffhanger finale. The show’s jokes also don’t always land, likely due to the show’s indecision around settling on a tone. Is this a dark comedy or a goofy buddy comedy?

Is it gay? Yes, Ruby is queer and some of her exes are women, but her queerness is kind of tangential. John Early appears as himself though!