Rivals (Disney+)
We started this series by holding our noses a little, anxious about its origins – a series of English erotic novels, published in the 1980s. We came away enchanted by its scathing humor, its sharp portrait of Britain from Thatcher, and her surprising tenderness for her characters. The plot of the series is simple: in the gentle English countryside, members of the nobility and upstarts argue over a local television channel. Beyond the cathodic intrigue, these rivals (it’s all in the title), share their lives between garden parties and… sex parties. From Bret Easton Ellis to the land of Jane Eyre. As unexpected as it is exhilarating. A.S.
Industry (Max)
To those nostalgic for Successionwe cannot highly recommend this series co-produced by HBO and the BBC, the best on both sides of the Atlantic. Industry follows the daily lives of young London financiers. If the beginnings indulged a little too much in the aesthetics of sex, drugs and takeover bids, the course of this fiction quickly jumped. Season 3 hits new heights, with anthology punchlines, political-capitalist machinations and highly complex antiheroes. Industry even has the luxury of devoting the best episode of the year to a secondary character, Rishi, a trader addicted to games and toxic masculinity. TM
We Are Lady Parts (BrutX)
Punk is not dead – And the excellent season 2 of the British series, which tells the adventures of a group of Muslim rockers in London, proves it. Three years after the acclaimed release of season 1, these six new episodes continue to explore the underbelly of the music industry with humor. The series also depicts the pitfalls of fame, which the rockers must learn to manage, while dealing with their personal lives. Between a perfect cover of Britney Spears and a cameo from Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, We Are Lady Parts continues to be irreverent, and above all, to delight our ears with their punk anthems. AG
Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
Enchanting the biggest fan of The West Wing that our editorial staff houses, ulcerating a group of feminists and arousing the contempt of certain authors of this list who did not even take the trouble to watch an episode, such is the prowess of Nobody Wants This. Halfway between a Sex and the City which would have aged well and a romantic comedy as only Americans know how to make them – really funny, really romantic –, Erin Foster’s series claims nothing: neither to offer an ultra-sophisticated plot, nor to resolve social debates. Horror. The viewer just has to content themselves with watching the couple of Noah (the delicious Adam Brody), a rather unconventional rabbi, and Joanne (the sparkling Kristen Bell), a podcaster who is as atheist as she is sassy, form and torment each other. That some consider the “stereotypical and erroneous” representation of Jewish women scandalous seems to be the least of the creators’ worries, as long as the public is laughing. Bold. L.D.
Fellow Travelers (MyCanal)
It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful romances ever brought to the screen. That experienced by Hawkins and Tim, two lovers in Washington in the 1950s, while McCarthyism relentlessly hunted down homosexuals. The first (Matt Bomer), father of a family and brilliant civil servant, leads a double life. The second (Jonathan Bailey, last seen in Bridgerton), young aide to Senator McCarthy, is torn between his faith and his desires. An intense and tumultuous relationship which finds its outcome in the San Francisco of the 1980s. Written by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Philadelphiathis series will stay with us for a long time. Just like the bewitching MacArthur Park by Donna Summer. L.B.
Shogun (Disney+)
Multi-award winning blockbuster based on a successful novel, a war for power in medieval times with a few beheadings to boot: there is in Shogun (FX) an obvious parallel with Game of Thrones (HBO). A real compliment, even if the series finds its uniqueness in the rich Japanese culture, rarely filmed so well on Western screens. From the almost entirely Japanese casting to the stripped-down interiors of its habitats, and to this language with such a serious tone which each time seems to say so much with so little. MR
Worship (Prime Video)
Remember the pool scene? With WorshipMatthieu Rumani and Nicolas Slomka create a French novel, that of the launch of Loft Story. Retracing the rivalry between TF1 and “the little channel that is rising”, M6, Worship recalls the kind of revolution that was the arrival of reality TV in the early 2000s. Carried by a frantic pace, the series nostalgically takes us back almost thirty years ago. If we can regret some approximations, or even the creation of characters solely for the needs of the narration, it is difficult not to be charmed by the interpretation of Marie Collomb, sublime as Loana. A.S.
Mr & Mrs Smith (Prime Video)
We had to dare, twenty years after Doug Liman’s comedy featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a couple of hitmen, to revive the somewhat outdated characters of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. In this 2024 version, Donald Glover – to whom we already owe the genius Atlanta – plays the role of a slightly touchy John Smith, forced to cohabit with an unknown spy (Maya Erskine), often more competent than him when it comes to honoring the perilous missions entrusted to them. Behind action scenes that are as funny as they are surprising, the eight episodes of the series deal with the complexity of the couple, in a tone that is sometimes less light than it seems. CD
Hippocrates (MyCanal)
Former general practitioner turned scenario surgeon, Thomas Lilti is a master in fiction about a professional environment. Darker, showing a hospital increasingly under pressure after the Covid-19 pandemic, season 3, which has been a long time coming, reaches an intensity that is sometimes unbearable. We may regret a sometimes too Manichean discourse between caregivers and managers, but all the strength ofHippocrates is to concentrate on the work, nothing but the work, relying on actors at the top of their art (Louise Bourgoin, Karim Leklou, Bouli Lanners, etc.). The best French series of the moment. TM
The Bear (Disney+)
We were curious to know what The Bear was going to tell. Carmy, the main character (Jeremy Allen White), had in the first two seasons resolved the estrangement with his deceased brother and then opened his own restaurant. The third thus loses somewhat in dramatic intensity, but gains in depth, giving birth to wonders like the very first episode, a treasure of voiceless poetry only punctuated by the sharp blade blows of the leader and the muffled cries of an endless quest towards the ‘Excellency. MR
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