by the OddBranflake
Winter weekends are made for binge-watching your favourite movies and TV series while being in your warm blankets and sipping on a big mug of coffee or hot beverage of your choice. We’ve probably watched everything that’s out there by now, and if you’re like me you might have been not-so-patiently waiting for new seasons and new series to drop and it seems that June is the gift that keeps on giving.
1. Pose FX
With the month of June is the month for the LGBTQ Pride Month (in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969)
With the many pride events being held during this month to recognize the impact LGBTQ people have had in the world.
The pose is set in the world of 1987 and “looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world. As the AIDS crisis surges, “Pose” swings back and forth between funerals and celebrations, protests and pleasures, abuses and absurdities. The series is actually an authentic portrayal of both the 1980s and 1990s social practice of forming “Houses” as alternative urban family structures and, more broadly, of LGBTQ resilience.
2. When They See Us
The story begins on April 19, 1989, when a white female jogger is raped and beaten nearly to death in Central Park. At that same time, a group of boys in Harlem were running around the park and in proximity to a couple of other assaults that were happening around the same time. This gross abuse of power, facilitated by the justice system and the media, leads to the boys being convicted and incarcerated despite no physical evidence linking them to the crime.
The focus of the story goes beyond just the obvious racism and systemic injustice it shows the emotional toll that injustice took on the lives of (Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise and their families.) The miniseries asks hard questions of its audience by never losing sight of the people of colour who were sacrificed at the altar of white fears.
As adults, Antron, Kevin, Yusef, and Raymond, try to readjust to life on the outside even though the crime follows them wherever they go.
A cynical young woman in New York City keeps dying and returning to the party that’s being thrown in her honour on that same evening.
3. Russian Doll
Russian Doll follows a cynical young woman in New York named Nadia on her journey as the guest of honour at a seemingly inescapable party one night. She dies repeatedly, always restarting at the same moment at the party, as she tries to figure out what is happening to her she tries to find a way out of this strange time loop. The story really highlights the importance of companionship, the finale seeming to state that cycles of self-destruction can only be broken with the help of a companion. Both Nadia and Alan are carrying psychological baggage which is blocking their emotional development – they are trapped, both literally and figuratively, by the weight of their guilt and perceived failures, and eventually escape their shared purgatory by helping one another.
(*All seasons available on Netflix)
