Recommendations: Week of 8/22/22
Brothers & Sisters
This week I am recommending two shows with a common theme and a common tone: the particular intimacy of sibling relationships (and no, I don’t mean the ones in House of the Dragon) and the darkest of dark humor.
The Bear (Hulu): Set in a Chicago sandwich shop that’s seen better days, The Bear wastes no time on introductions. The viewer is dropped into the chaos of an ill-functioning kitchen staffed by a group of people who yearn to make it a better one. Leading that mission is Carmy, whose older brother has left him the restaurant after committing suicide. Carmy has been working as a chef de cuisine at the best restaurant in the country but leaves that life to devote himself to bringing The Original Beef of Chicagoland back to life. The series is the definition of darkly funny (a scene where Carmy’s cousin accidentally doses a group of children with Xanax will stay with me forever), but pairs that humor with so much heart. Watch if you like family dramas, shows about food, and humor as sharp as Carmy’s Japanese knives.
Read a full review here.
Bad Sisters (Apple TV+): If we’re talking about dark humor, we can’t afford to leave the Irish out of the conversation. Irish humor is black, frequently focusing on death, drinking, and family. Bad Sisters is basically that in a nutshell. Our main characters are the five Garvey sisters: Eva, Ursula, Bibi, Grace, and Becka. The series begins at the wake for Grace’s husband, a man so vile he’s known to the sisters as “the prick.” The series takes place in two timelines, one beginning at the prick’s death and the other beginning six months earlier when his mistreatment of Grace becomes obvious to her sisters. The series is at once an examination of sisterhood and a painful commentary on how difficult it is to stop domestic abuse. It’s also spit-out-your-tea hilarious. Watch if you like Irish comedies, murder mysteries, or shows about people with mysterious eyepatches.
Read a full review here.
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