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There are roughly 47,000—oh, wait, a new Netflix Original just dropped; make that 47,001—TV shows and movies coming out each week. At Obsessed, we consider it our social duty to help you see the best and skip the rest.
We’ve already got a variety of in-depth, exclusive coverage on all of your streaming favorites and new releases, but sometimes what you’re looking for is a simple Do or Don’t. That’s why we created See/Skip, to tell you exactly what our writers think you should See and what you can Skip from the past week’s crowded entertainment landscape.
Skip: The Continental
The Continental’s expansion of the John Wick franchise’s seedy world of assassins is admirable, just not well-executed (pun intended). Even in the show’s alternate reality, perennial and problematic flop Mel Gibson can’t touch Keanu Reeves’ star power.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“The original John Wick was a self-contained action classic, its plot as lean as its gun-fu combat was ferocious. Its tale demanded no sequel and yet three followed, each one providing even more thrillingly choreographed mayhem that helped offset the fact that its serialized narrative—and the assassin-underworld mythology upon which it was based—was convoluted and rather silly. It’s a series predicated on stylish brutality and the magnetism of its peerlessly cool headliner, Keanu Reeves. Subtract those fundamental elements from its equation, and what you have is merely fanciful nonsense—which is a fitting description of The Continental: From the World of John Wick.
An origin story for Winston Scott (played in the movies by Ian McShane), John Wick’s buddy and the manager of The Continental hotel that caters to hired killers, The Continental: From the World of John Wick is a three-part prequel (premiering Sept. 22 Peacock) that gives franchise fans everything they want save for a charismatic marquee lead, interesting and exciting bloodshed, or characters and lore worth paying attention to for an extended period of time. As an attempt to inflate the John Wick universe minus the very components that make it captivating in the first place, it’s both proof that Hollywood stardom still matters, as well as confirmation that strip-mining popular properties until their every secret, backstory, and detail has been explained and dramatized is a surefire way to kill the proverbial golden goose.”
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See: AHS: Delicate
AHS: Delicate is off to a middling start, taking its time to gestate—much like Emma Roberts’ baby-desperate character. But though it may be dull, co-lead Kim Kardashian is genuinely surprising, nailing the delicious, vulgar moxie of a high-powered publicist.
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“It turns out to be incredibly fitting that Kim Kardashian plays a publicist in the new season of American Horror Story. Depending on whether or not you subscribe to the philosophy that any press is good press, American Horror Story has had a very bad (or maybe a very good) week. As if it weren’t enough that FX’s hit anthology series—which premiered its 12th installment, AHS: Delicate, Sept. 20—was accused of crossing the WGA’s picket line in a race to finish production over the summer, the show became embroiled in another scandal this week. Though fans were excited for series regular Emma Roberts to return in a lead role, that anticipation soured when Angelica Ross, who starred in Season 9, accused Roberts of transphobic behavior on set and criticized series creator Ryan Murphy for making false promises to her about involving her in the casting of an all-Black AHS, before ghosting and allegedly costing her other career opportunities.
Though Roberts and Ross have now seemingly taken steps to squash their beef—Ross says that Roberts called her to apologize—the controversy leaves AHS: Delicate in a, well… delicate position. But then again, it hasn’t just been a bad week for American Horror Story, it’s been a bad few years. The anthology hasn’t turned out a single consistently watchable season since its eighth offering, American Horror Story: Apocalypse. All of that was poised to be set aside for AHS: Delicate, with Murphy stepping down to let Halley Feiffer take over as showrunner, giving Season 12—which revolves around a troubled road to pregnancy for Roberts’ character, an actress named Anne Victoria Alcott—a much-needed woman’s touch.”
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See: Sex Education Season 4
Sex Education Season 4 finds the series making that dreaded, awkward jump from high school to collegiate studies in its final batch of episodes. Though it stumbles a bit on that leap, the show maintains its charming, horny appeal for a fittingly randy ending.
Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:
“In the United Kingdom, where Netflix’s beloved Sex Education takes place, ‘college’ is not the same as it is in the States. College is a stage of adolescent life in between high school and university. These colleges still have separate focuses and specialties, but feel somewhat like high school, considering the overall vibe of the studies and campus. With that in mind, Sex Education’s fourth and final season—which takes place at one of these U.K. colleges—feels a wee bit trapped in that limbo in between teenagerhood and adulthood.
This isn’t to say Sex Education’s final season is bad. Most of the storylines are as buoyant and exciting as the past seasons. But in losing popular folks like Lily (Tanya Reynolds) and Ola (Patricia Allison), as well as taking the kids out of the classic Moordale High, the show teeters for a few episodes before finding its footing. Still, any fan of Sex Education will enjoy the final season, as sad as it is to bid farewell to lovable personalities like Maeve (Emma Mackey), Otis (Asa Butterfield), Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), and Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood).”
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See: Real Housewives of Orange County
Real Housewives of Orange County has taken a turn for the cosmically dark at the end of its season. With cast member Shannon Beador’s recent DUI charge looming, the boozy cast trip to Tulum is hard to watch, and yet we can’t look away.
Here’s Kyndall Cunningham’s take:
“Watching Shannon Beador spiral on Real Housewives of Orange County, like many self-destructive but immensely entertaining reality stars, has always presented a moral quandary for viewers. How sympathetic should we be towards a privileged white lady who’s had numerous emotional breakdowns on camera but is also ridiculous and extremely out-of-touch? Should we have taken her past marriage to David Beador (and the accusations that came out of it) more seriously instead of treating it like a soap opera? Should we believe her castmates’ accusations that she has issues with alcohol or write them off as hypocritical shade? Is it even primarily our jobs as viewers—and not, ahem, producers—to be concerned with all of these things?
These questions rushed to my mind this week after the not-so-shocking yet explosive news that Beador received a DUI after striking the side of a house in Newport Beach over the weekend. The TMZ footage of Beador whipping around a street corner like Lightning McQueen and crashing into the property is truly wild. And the news that the most iconic golden retriever after Buddy—our beloved Archie—was apparently in the car is even wilder.”
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