No matter how old we get, the first week of September always feels like “back to school” — even if the homework is figuring out what new show to start watching. To that point: Sit up straight, grab a pencil, and jot these down notes because there’ll be a test at the end of your next binge session.
From Greek gods behaving badly to palace intrigue in a Tang dynasty fantasy and plain-and-simple grown-up relationship drama, this week’s TV picks span the whole spectrum. Connecting all three: human messiness — which, in our experience, also reminds us of the whole “back to school” thing.
1
Kaos
Episodes: 10
The news that Amazon MGM Studios just hired Kaos creator Charlie Covell as executive producer and showrunner on an adaptation of the hit Life Is Strange games came as a bittersweet surprise for those of us who actually saw and loved Kaos. The Netflix series stars Jeff Goldblum as Zeus in a modern-day fantasy where the Greek gods are real and openly rule the world. It debuted on Netflix just over a year ago and was promptly canceled while an enthused word-of-mouth campaign was still spreading. That’s a real shame, both because the first season is mesmerizing and an absolute hoot, and because it ends on such an open-ended setup for a second season.
Covell getting called over to Life Is Strange is still a great excuse to revisit the glorious nonsense we did get with Kaos — part retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, part modern dystopian fantasy, part Succession-style family intrigue drama, and part showcase for Goldblum to ham it up as a temperamental, selfish, predatory god who loves his sacrifices and his worship. The cast is great (particularly David Thewlis as Hades, Janet McTeer as Hera, and Suzy Eddie Izzard as one of the Fates), the setting is imaginative and endlessly surprising, and the series’ sunny, bright, crisp maximalism makes it endlessly fresh amid so many dark-and-dreary dystopia stories. Check it out to get a hint of the kind of creative verve Covell might bring to Life is Strange. —Tasha Robinson
2
The Apothecary Diaries
Episodes: 8
In The Apothecary Diaries, we follow Maomao, who, after being kidnapped, is sold to the Imperial Palace of a fictional country that is based on Tang dynasty China. She’s the adopted daughter of an apothecary and raised by the beautiful women from the red district, both aspects of her life that allowed her to be dangerously smart and madly curious. Once inside the rear palace, Maomao quickly learns that what seems to be only the playground of the emperor is actually the stage of political battles, and under which many of the secrets related to the past and future of the country are hidden.
This is a detective anime with a good mix of comedy and even a bit of romance. But just a bit. While the mysteries and stories the old corridors of the palace tell are intriguing, Maomao’s charisma and wittiness are what make this series impossible to stop. —Paulo Kawanishi
3
The Four Seasons
Episodes: 10
We would not call The Four Seasons a “Polygon show” — it’s about a bunch of Gen Xers going on vacation and coming to terms with their rocky relationships — but damn if Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, Tracey Wigfield’s modernized take on the 1981 Alan Alda film of the same name doesn’t fill a much-needed gap in Western programming. Truthfully, these days, if you’re looking for emotional adult drama laced with comedy, you’re better sifting through Netflix’s anime library.
But The Four Seasons is an honest-to-goodness grown-up show, following three couples over four different seasonal excursions. One couple (Steve Carell and Kerri Kenney-Silver) is breaking up after years of marriage, another (Fey and Will Forte) are almost too compatible, and the third (Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani) are pushed to the brink over health concerns. A deviation from The White Lotus’ operatic globe-trotting, The Four Seasons is really just people doing people stuff, with incredibly talented, funny actors as the people. The show will never sound major on paper, which, in the era of $200-million Game of Thrones-chasing blockbuster TV, is a welcome alternative. —Matt Patches
