I finished re-watching the fifth season of Lost Girl on the 8th day of quarantine, and since then here I am all out of series – Killing Eve only came back with a single episode on the 12th of April, One Day At A Time also comes one episode at a time, so there’s nothing to binge. I looked around a bit (read: I opened the Twitter of Autostraddle) and found something to watch at once. Here are four series, two of which you can binge, and two that comes in weekly episodes.
Station 19
Shonda Rhimes can’t stop, I think she realised that crossovers (when shows that take place in the same universe feature each other’s characters for an episode) do well on TV so she quickly threw together a firefighter story and a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy, and lo and behold, two series where you can cross storylines and characters at will. Station 19 operates with the same character types and plots as Grey’s Anatomy, but if you liked one you’ll like the other too. The seasons are around 10 episodes long, the main character is a well-written, strong Latina, Andy Herrera, who works at Station 19 as a firefighter. A member of the team is Ben Warren, who left Grey-Sloan to become a fireman. Because this is Shonda, the LGBTQ+ plotline can’t be absent either, and we won’t be disappointed: we get Travis, a gay guy and Maya Bishop, a bi/pansexual character. You’ll need to pay attention to the latter in season 3, she gets a pretty good arc. If you’re craving drama with a well-constructed story and big romantic complications, this show is for you.
Batwoman
When CW announced they’ll launch Batwoman, and intend to stay true to the comics (meaning the character will be a lesbian) I was hyped. Then the casting came out, and Hollywood found the only lesbian actress. At least the only lesbian actress Hollywood knows. Yes, Ruby Rose got the role of Batwoman and my enthusiasm was instantly dampened. Sure she was okay in Orange Is The New Black, but she wasn’t anything special either, and anyway, she’s not my type. I’ll probably get yelled at for saying this. But in the end I gave the show a chance, because the main villain is played by Rachel Skarsten (here’s a little summary of who she is). I was wrong, the series isn’t any worse than the rest of its family (Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow) so alas it also landed on my extremely long to-be-watched list. The story is about Kate Kane, the niece of Bruce Wayne, who lives in Gotham. Gotham hasn’t seen Batman for three years, crime is rampant and the rich citizens are protected by the Crows organisation. The streets are terrorised by the Wonderland Gang, led by Alice, and the city’s only hope is Batwoman taking up the mantle of her predecessor. Kate dons the costume and, with her helpers, takes up the fight against evil. In Hungary you can watch the show on HBO GO.
Motherland: Fort Salem
Right, this one has a really exciting premise: in this world, the Salem witch trials didn’t end in a death sentence, but in the witches pledging themselves to the American Constitution, and so they fight for the USA as a special unit even today. We follow the story of three novices in this world, Raelle, Tally and Abigail, their academic training, which is honestly just a teen high-school drama with a different hat. What makes this show interesting is that despite only 5 episodes having aired so far, you can already compile minutes-long videos about the relationship of Raelle and Scylla. Scylla is part of the necro unit, and is practically head-over-heels for Raelle from day one, what a pity that she’s a double agent for the enemy of the witches, The Spree. This is not a spoiler, we find it out at the end of the first episode. This is where the story goes on from, and I’m awaiting the season finale with great interest.
Mrs. America
Cate Blanchett, Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Paulson. With a cast like that, who cares about the plot? Hulu made a series about the women’s rights movement of the 70s, the goal of which was the ratification of an amendment of the constitution that would grant equal legal rights to women. In the end the amendment didn’t pass, because it lacked the required number of signatures. And that’s all thanks to Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett), because she was the one who coordinated the opposition and thus the sabotaging of the ratification. In Hungary the show can be viewed on HBO GO, at the time of the writing of this article only 3 episodes are out, but the rest are also coming soon. The writing is clever, Cate Blanchett is wonderful and beautiful, and I personally didn’t know much about this chapter of US history, that’s why I find this series so interesting. This is not something you binge, this drama should be watched and digested episode by episode.
