Three Netflix Shows to Watch This Weekend Sept 18 20

It is September, and depending on where you live, the weather remains hot. Summer is almost over, but a heat wave in New York has residents cranking the air conditioning and watching Netflix indoors. Apple picking can wait until next week. Fall is coming soon.

This week features three recommendations: a cult favorite that deserved to become a recurring anthology series on Netflix, a near-perfect anime with more episodes ahead, and a science fiction classic that never goes out of style.

Maniac

Number of episodes: 10

Netflix critics often point out that the streaming giant lacks popular franchises. Sure, the company has Stranger Things and Squid Game, but both series concluded. Netflix recently scored a major hit with KPop Demon Hunters, which the company reportedly plans to milk for all its worth, but if Netflix needs original intellectual property to run into the ground, an obvious option hides in plain sight: Maniac.

The miniseries from Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) and Patrick Somerville (Station Eleven) debuted on Netflix in 2018. It tells the story of Annie, played by Emma Stone, and Owen, played by Jonah Hill, two mentally troubled people living in a retrofuturistic version of New York. Both agree to participate in the same mind-altering pharmaceutical test, and the drug sends them careening through situations ranging from suburban Long Island to a Lord of the Rings-esque fantasy realm. The overarching plot of Maniac is not the main point. The series shines by dropping two great actors into increasingly absurd situations, which is why, seven years later, I still hope for a sequel.

Assuming that never happens, rewatching the original season of Maniac on Netflix right now remains a great choice.

—Jake Kleinman

Jujutsu Kaisen

Number of episodes: 59

Action anime fans can rejoice because Jujutsu Kaisen season 3, titled The Culling Game Part 1, is headed to Netflix on July 22. The first two seasons and the prequel movie Jujutsu Kaisen 0 are already available on the streaming service.

The third season of the popular battle shonen series aired from January 9 to March 27 across 12 episodes. It proved to be quite good. Mappa adapted the Shibuya Incident arc to mixed reactions from fans. While that arc featured jaw-dropping stretches like Episode 37, titled “Red Scale,” it also suffered from major drops in animation quality that even the production staff complained about. The latest run maintained a much more consistent standard. [Read more]

—Elijah Gonzalez

Stargate SG-1

Number of episodes: 214

SG-1 derives its allure from filling a specific void in the science fiction television landscape of the 2000s. Massive genre franchises like Star Trek started displaying signs of fatigue after the millennium, and the reimagined Battlestar Galactica did not launch to boost interest in prestige sci-fi television until 2004. SG-1 arrived during a lull for science fiction television, capitalized on an impassioned online fandom culture, and benefited from the enduring blockbuster status of Roland Emmerich’s foundational film. [Read more]

—Debopriyaa Dutta

Source: Polygon