The Penguin waddles to a conclusion on Crave, while Citadel: Honey Bunny hops to it on Prime Video: What to watch | Canada Voices

Do you feel like you’re drowning … but you haven’t even left your couch? Welcome to the Great Content Overload Era. To help you navigate the choppy digital waves, here are The Globe’s best bets for weekend streaming.

The Penguin, Crave

The season finale of this small-screen spin-off of The Batman lands Sunday – so finish it off or get your binge on. It seemed strange to hire Colin Farrell for the lead, then bury him in prosthetics and have him tuck away that mischievous Irish accent. But his unique waddle as Gotham gangster Oz Cobb, a.k.a. the Penguin, is worth whatever he was paid. His gangling gait is as hypnotic and rhythmically relaxing to watch as a Newton’s cradle pendulum – those balls clicking back and forth on your desk – no matter what violent chaos surrounds him. Sure, on one level, there’s no better illustration of our declining culture than the trajectory from the premiere of HBO’s masterpiece mob drama The Sopranos in 1999 to this near comic-book spoof of it on the same network a quarter-century later. But The Penguin does have its own pleasures, such as seeing off-Broadway legend Deirdre O’Connell sink her teeth into the mad mother Livia Soprano-esque role.

Cheaters, CBC Gem

This snappily paced British comedy about infidelity begins in Finland where Josh (Joshua McGuire) and Fola (Susan Wokoma) share a night of passion after being stranded because of a snow-cancelled flight. Josh, nervous and then immediately plagued with guilt, is cheating on a girlfriend who recently cheated on him; Fola, confident and seemingly not bothered, is cheating on her husband. The two arrive home in London – one taking the bus, the other a black cab – only to discover that they are new neighbours. It’s a farcical set-up but the humour is humanistic – and characters, cheaters and cheated upon both for all classes, empathetic thanks to excellent ensemble acting. If the pilot feels like three episodes in one, that’s because it is; Cheaters originally aired as a short-form comedy in 10-minute chunks. Lands on the CBC’s streamer Nov. 8.

Yellowstone, Paramount+

Taylor Sheridan’s wildly popular western series – Dallas meets The Godfather on a family ranch in Montana – saddles up for the second part of its final, fifth season on Nov. 10. This comes two years after the first part appeared (a strike-related delay) and following a much-publicized parting of ways with star Kevin Costner. But none of this has dampened the enthusiasm of Yellowstoners – with hopes that Costner’s John Dutton might actually return raised by his character’s appearance in the trailer. How will it all end? By not fully ending of course – a spinoff called The Madison starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Canadian Patrick J. Adams is on its way.

Citadel: Honey Bunny, Prime Video

The Amazon-owned streamer’s own universe of spy shows began with 2023′s overly glossy Citadel, a near record-setting US$300-million American series executive produced by the Russo Brothers. It introduced the titular good-spy league fighting against evil-spy counterparts at Manticore – and currently sits with a 51-per-cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The subtitled spinoffs being produced internationally and somewhat independently are faring better with critics, however. Citadel: Diana, an Italian series from earlier this fall featuring a protagonist with an absurdly asymmetrical haircut, had a smaller budget but more flavour: stylish, futuristic, eurotrashy. Citadel: Honey Bunny, an Indian series premiering Nov. 7, is even more immediately inviting, a retro romp set in 1992 and 2000 in which a Bollywood stunt man and struggling actress moonlight in espionage. The human stakes are clear right off the mark – young girl in peril; her name will be familiar to Citadel fans – and the CGI-light action nicely staged, starting with a memorable motorcycle chase in Mumbai. Most importantly, directors Raj & DK and co-writer Sita R. Menon have infused their chapter with a genuine sense of humour, not just spies saying snappy things before shooting other spies in the head.

Investigation Alien, Netflix

Back in the 1990s, the conspiracy theories that seeped into American mainstream TV were mostly benign ones about extraterrestrials. This new throwback docuseries is hosted by George Knapp, the veteran Las Vegas journalist who helped Area 51 become the most famous secret base in the world with his 1989 reporting, and it consciously courts nostalgia for that earlier era’s alien infotainment with retro cyberpunk-styled graphics and a soundtrack with echoes of Mark Snow’s X-Files theme song. The context has changed, however: We’re living in the aftermath of the New York Times 2017 expose of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program that made interest in unidentified anomalous phenomenon acceptable again. That’s what we call UFOs now, by the way: UAPS. Update your language and simultaneously relive memories of staying up late to listen to Coast to Coast AM with the first episode, streaming from Nov. 8, about good old-fashioned cattle mutilation.