WHAT TO WATCH AFTER THE COMMON EXAMS
DON’T WORRY, WE GOT YOU COVERED
by Derin Savaşan
If you’re like me, you always pick the most inappropriate times to start a TV show. During the finals, during the weekends, during your trips on the school bus, during an emotional breakdown and yada yada yada… I, personally, have made this mistake countless times and yet I’m happy to announce that it’s worth all the sorrow and pain if the show is great. There are many good TV shows out there at the moment but not all are great. Since I don’t want you to suffer, I hand-picked some of the TV shows I’ve watched in the past or enjoyed watching in September and prepared the ultimate watch list for November. Like I said, I don’t want you to suffer deciding on what to watch during the exam week. No one has to deal with that level of emotional stress, especially if you’re indecisive as f*ck like me. So let’s dive in, shall we?
BIG MOUTH (2017–)
To all the folks out there who like Rick and Morty, Family Guy and BoJack Horseman, this is a must watch for you. This Netflix original is about a group of 7th graders who are being destroyed by puberty. Nick and Andrew, voiced by real-life bestfriends Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, take the lead as teenagers who are dealing with shame, insecurities and hormones with the help from their dearest friends The Hormone Monster, Depression Kitty and The Shame Wizard. Each episode is about 20 minutes long, which is the perfect length to squeeze in a couple of episodes during the lunch break.
MAD MEN (2007–15)
I’ve got 3 words for you: 1960s, New York and advertising. This show, which has won a Primetime Emmy Award for Oustanding Drama Series, is all about the glitz and glamour of a Madison Avenue advertising firm in the 60s. Starring Jon Hamm, January Jones and Elizabeth Moss, the embarks us through the career of Don Draper, one of the top ad men in the business struggling to stay on top of the heap in the high-pressure world of advertising, who also happens to be a family man. Each episode is about 45 minutes long, imparted with nostalgia and great cinematography.
BREAKING BAD (2008–13)
OK if you’ve come this far in life without watching this show, you either 1. live on mars 2. don’t have internet. Breaking Bad is about a highschool chemistry teacher, Walter White, who builds his drug empire in the name of Heisenberg after getting diagnosed with lung cancer. Starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn, the show has 16 Emmys. Yes, 1-6..16. It still holds the the record for the TV show with the most Emmys to this day. Pretty darn solid, right?
WESTWORLD (2016–)
This is a show like no other. I mean it. Westworld takes place in an amusement park, no, not ASTROWORLD, intented for rich vacationers. This futuristic not-your-typical park is looked after by robotic "hosts" which allow its visitors to live out their fantasies through artificial consciousness. The cast is full of A-list actors like Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood and Ed Harris. It’s an exercise in mental acrobatics, and a gorgeous feast of visual fantasy. When you have a great cast and a great plot, you get an impressive level of quality. Simple facts.
BLACKMIRROR (2011–)
Some episodes are better than others but when they are good, they are visionary. Like its famous predecessor, The Twilight Zone, not all Black Mirror episodes are equally excellent, but then that’s true of any series. Overall, the uniqueness of this tour de force’s episodes rocks the mind. Unlike the last century’s uncanny monsters and gothic supernaturals, the genius of Black Mirror seeps unseen horrors out of the kitchen sink realities of our techno-world, which then slowly infiltrate our everyday life, until the world spins like a tornado. With each episode, it unleashes a chilling, too-real fear of what hides inside the gismos we hold in our hand. Suspense merges curiosity with emotion. The question “What’s going to happen next?” fills with the dread of “Please don’t let it happen to me.” The show is nerve racking because, although we hope for a happy ending, we know it’s not gonna happen. Each episode is about 45-60 minutes long. As an anthology series, it works from scratch to invent a new cast, a new world, and, most importantly, a new story, episode after episode.
WAITING IN THE WINGS
1-THE HANDMAID’S TALE (2017–)
2-ATLANTA (2016–)
3-MANIAC (2018)