Marvel’s Daredevil Season 1
At some point, Marvel is going to stretch itself too thin. It’s producing blockbuster movies at a breakneck pace, turning out new and improbable franchises that produce absurd return on investments, lining up network TV shows that are better than they often get credit for (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. became a must-watch in season two and Agent Carter was an impressive mini-series). And Marvel is only in phase two of a three-stage plan for, presumably, worldwide screen domination.
The latest entry into its ongoing attempts to absorb all of our free time is Daredevil, a Netflix original series that follows a character who was once so wronged on the big screen. Intent on making things right, the streaming show gives the lawyer by day, crimefighter by night an opportunity to grow and develop. The street-level hero, played by Charlie Cox, is legally blind but uses his senses to make up for his lack of sight. The first season and its 13 episodes drop all at once, so binge to your heart’s content.
Halt and Catch Fire Season 1
Halt and Catch Fire did not exactly catch fire critically the way many AMC shows do. While modern day Silicon Valley has been captured on TV (Silicon Valley) and the big screen (The Social Network), Halt and Catch Fire takes things back to the days when personal computers were a oddity. Set in the Silicon Prairie of Texas in 1983, the series presents a fictionalized take on the personal computer revolution as the technology that sent us on the path to today was just being developed.
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day doesn’t need an introduction, but if you haven’t seen it yet, there’s no need to wait any longer. The classic Bill Murray vehicle is now available on Amazon Prime and you should probably just watch it already. In case you need a refresher, the film follows self-absorbed TV weatherman Phil Connors as he finds himself caught in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over again. It’s a surprisingly dark comedy with arguably one of Murray’s best performances.
Wilfred Season 4
If you aren’t familiar with Wilfred, the quirky comedy based off an Australian show, here’s the basic premise: It follows Ryan (played by Elijah Wood) and his relationship with his neighbor’s dog Wilfred, who Ryan sees as a grown man in a dog suit. If you’re wondering how that concept has lasted four seasons, then you definitely haven’t seen the show, because it’s a wonderfully dark buddy comedy. Its fourth and final season is now streaming, which means you can power through the entire series. You’ll definitely want to binge once you start it.
Pioneer
There’s little scarier than the unknown, and there are few things less known than the ocean. We’ve barely scratched the surface of the deep blue seas, and the abyss that waits toward the bottom is a fear-inducing idea. In this Norwegian thriller (Netflix currently has a huge influx of foreign films, most of which are worth a watch), an offshore diver named Petter is tasked with helping lay underwater oil pipelines. After an accident in a test drive, Petter tries to learn what went wrong. But the more he searches for answers, the more he’s blocked and smoke screened by those who know the truth.
