2023 isn’t done yet, we’ve got at least 14 months of Christmas advertising left. But if you want to stay home, avoid that, and your bookshelf is more decorative in nature, we’ve got shows. So many shows.
What’s my metric for Most Anticipated? How much I anticipate it. Let’s not pretend something like this is objective. Smack Kurt Russell and some kaiju into a show together? That’s top 5. Let’s get into it:
The Apothecary Diaries
Maomao is a young pharmacist who’s kidnapped and sold into servitude. She’s determined to keep her head down until she’s freed, but when the emperor’s children grow ill, she can’t help but investigate the cause. This gets her noticed, for better and worse. Her quick wit, curiosity, and medicinal knowledge aid her in investigating a series of mysteries at the imperial court.
The big draw here is the emotive, colorful visuals. Its kingdom is based on Chinese dynasties and…it looks a visual splendor. If the characters and mysteries can hold par, we might be looking at something genuinely captivating.
“The Apothecary Diaries” premieres on Crunchyroll on Oct. 22.
The Worst of Evil
Anything Ji Chang Wook is in is watch-on-arrival. His role as an undercover narcotics officer is a far cry from last year’s singing magician in “The Sound of Magic”, but it’s hardly the first hard-nosed crime role he’s played. Here, his Detective Park Jun Mu is assigned to infiltrate a cartel, only to discover his wife Eui Jung – also a detective – is part of the same operation and seems to have a history with the drug kingpin.
It’s a little weird to see Disney+ getting into violent Korean crime series, but with Netflix’s success and head start bringing Korean productions over to the U.S., every major streaming service is chasing high-profile K-dramas.
“The Worst of Evil” premieres on Disney+ on Sep. 27.
Doctor Who (specials)
Jodie Whittaker’s stint as Doctor Who is the best modern example of a great actor who’s perfect for the role being wasted by an utterly disastrous showrunner. Chris Chibnall gives way to the series original rebooter, Russell T. Davies, who in turn brings back fan favorite David Tennant.
I have opinions on all that, but we’d be here all day. Suffice to say, the series November specials start by correcting Chibnall’s worst mistake and bringing back the best director the show’s ever had in Rachel Talalay. She helmed two of the greatest two hour chunks of series sci-fi in “Heaven Sent/Hell Bent” and “World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls”. If she’s on board, I’m on board.
Regardless of how fans feel about all those names involved, I think we’re all rooting for the show to succeed and nobody minds a few more hours of David Tennant. At its best, “Doctor Who” is a series that helps us recognize strength in kindness, and kindness as complex and multi-faceted. Hopefully, that rises to the fore again.
“Doctor Who” is cagey with its details. We know the specials premiere in November, assumedly on BBC America here in the states and…possibly on Disney+ at some point. I hope they clear it up soon given, you know, it’s only a month away.
Castaway Diva
An aspiring singer named Mok Ha becomes stranded on an island for 15 years. Even after she’s found, she hasn’t given up on her dream of singing, but the transition from isolation into a modern and rapidly changing society is challenging.
This is Park Eun Bin’s follow-up to her lead role in “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”. She’s on a streak of leading some of South Korea’s best reviewed series – “Hot Stove League”, “Do You Like Brahms?”, and “The King’s Affection”, not to mention “Woo”.
“Castaway Diva” is supposed to premiere on Netflix on Oct. 21…but not in South Korea until Oct. 28? That’d be a surprise, so let’s say it premieres in late October. World of information, everybody.
A Murder at the End of the World
It’s been popular to dismiss this sight unseen as “Glass Onion” with Daniel Craig replaced by Gen Z, to which I’m like: Word. It’s supposed to be an insult but…what, Gen Z isn’t supposed to act in anything now? Good luck with that. “Oh no, a new generation is making Agatha Christie-style mysteries! Fetch me yon fainting couch!” Go tell it to Richard Attenborough and Oliver Reed.
This new take finds a murder in an isolated, frozen tundra, with all the suspects trapped for about the length of time it takes to solve the mystery. You’ve got Clive Owen and Alice Braga co-starring, but the real draw for many is showrunners Brit Marling (who also co-stars) and Zal Batmanglij. That’s right, it wasn’t Gen Z. It was Millennials and uh, that generation before them, I always forget – they were behind this the whole time!
Marling and Batmanglij are the minds behind “The OA” and “The East” – the latter still an overlooked (and unfortunately still ahead-of-its-time) masterpiece about the inherent conflicts between organized resistance and egoist movementism.
Marling and Batmanglij make challenging, unexpected work that relies more on picking apart norms and narratives than it does on any particular twist. This tends to make their work unique. Those moments when you realize something as a viewer always feel earned with them. The marketing for “A Murder at the End of the World” makes it look pretty straightforward. Perhaps it is, but the track record of the showrunners says expect something unsettling and subversive.
“A Murder at the End of the World” premieres on Hulu on Nov. 14.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
I’m an enormous fan of the MonsterVerse. It helps that there are only three films instead of 30, but they’ve each gone large in embracing a love of kaiju wrecking the place. But after Godzilla and King Kong have had their bout, what’s left to do?
A family tries to figure out the role they’ve had in Monarch, the secret organization that’s studied and attempted to understand these monsters. Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell play versions of the same character during different eras. The stacked cast also features standouts like Christopher Heyerdahl and Mari Yamamoto.
“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” premieres on Apple TV+ on Nov. 17.
Spy x Family (season 2)
(The trailer only just released, so no English option yet.)
Loid is a spy who’s trying to keep the peace during a cold war. He needs a family to help maintain his cover. He’s lucky enough to meet Yor, who needs a husband to keep her coworkers from gossiping to the secret police. He’s already adopted a daughter named Anya, with the hope she’ll enroll at an elite private academy a minister’s son attends.
Loid keeps his spycraft a secret. Yor is secretly an assassin. And Anya, secretly being a psychic, is the only one who knows who everyone is. Oh, and they also adopt a dog who can see the future. It all works because we see so much through Anya’s lens, of a child who is alternately in awe of her parents and frightened of their capabilities. She gets embroiled in international espionage but can barely control her careening social life at school. She uses her knowledge like a kid would: to get what she wants, often hilariously ineffectively. And she also feels the pressure of knowing her academic performance is the key to keeping world peace. At the end of the day, every one of these people who must use each other for their own ends to survive – they also deeply yearn for family, for the false act they play out with each other day after day to be real.
I named “Spy x Family” the Most Joyous series of last year. Even if it’s got some competition this year, it’s going to be tough to beat. Many shows are satisfying; this one is fulfilling. Oh, and in addition to its second season, it’s also getting a movie this December (though it’s hard to tell when the film will make it stateside).
“Spy x Family” season 2 premieres on Crunchyroll on Oct. 7. If it follows the first season’s example, Hulu will get it the day after.
Our Flag Means Death (season 2)
One of last year’s surprise hits returns. The pirate comedy adventure tells the star-crossed love story of captains Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard. The first season took a few episodes to find its center, but immediately improved with a director switch and the increasing focus on its romantic core.
The second season has a lot of lines already in the water. We know most of its cast of characters already, so it should hit the ground running much faster. With a three episode premiere and two episodes a week, we’ll also end up getting the entire 8-episode season in a three-week period – perfect for a Halloween binge.
“Our Flag Means Death” season 2 premieres on Max (formerly HBO Max) on Oct. 5.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
The elven mage Frieren spends 10 years defeating a Demon King and restoring peace in the world. For her, it’s the blink of an eye. For her human and dwarven compatriots, the adventure defines their lives. She returns 50 years later to see her friends, only to witness the end of their days. Regretting missed time she can’t get back, she takes the adopted daughter of one of her friends on an adventure to the resting place of souls, where she might see a close friend one last time.
The trailer already hits pretty hard and I don’t even know these characters yet. With recent series like “Sonny Boy” and “My Love Story with Yamada-kun”, Madhouse is a studio that’s proven itself willing to create patient, cinematic stories that take real time understanding and empathizing with their characters.
“Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” premieres on Crunchyroll on Sep. 29.
Gyeongseong Creature
Han So Hee’s been on my radar since her jaw dropping work on “My Name”. She gave one of the best dramatic performances of 2021, and ably performed some of the most creative fight choreography of the past several years. In “Gyeongseong Creature”, she plays a todugun, someone who searches for missing people. Set in 1945, she’s had ample work doing this during the Japanese occupation of Korea. When a string of stranger disappearances start taking place, she teams up with a wealthy benefactor to investigate.
A period mystery with some fight choreo is already intriguing enough, but “Gyeongseong Creature” promises something even darker. Its English description drops the most beautiful three-word phrase we’ve got: historical sci-fi horror.
“Gyeongseong Creature” premieres on Netflix on Dec. 22.
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Gabriel Diego Valdez 