Steamy Streaming This Week

BY: Zak Wojnar

The American Dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For many working families, a fancy house in the suburbs is the endgame on the horizon, but what if domestic bliss is just another lie, a shiny facade covering up the seedy underbelly which festers wherever humans make their home? These shows, all available to stream right now, have something to say about the suburbs.

Riverdale

The ultimate story of jolly Americana can be found in Archie Comics. The timeless tales of Archie, Betty, Veronica (#TeamVeronica, btw), Jughead, and the rest of the gang have entertained children and teens for nearly 80 years, and will likely continue on until the end of time.

The CW‘s Riverdale takes the timeless characters of Archie Comics and reimagines them in a setting which could be best described as a David Lynch-flavored skewering of timeless suburbia. Sexy versions (sexier, in the case of Veronica) of the gang find themselves embroiled in a spine-chilling murder mystery which wouldn’t seem out of place in Twin Peaks. Despite the seemingly exploitative and staggering shift in tone, Riverdale‘s characters are true to their comic book origins, just with a CW twist. Riverdale is packed to the brim with sex, violence, grisly death, and a strangely irrepressible spirit of Americana.

Santa Clarita Diet

As mentioned before, domestic bliss is seen by many goal-oriented folks as the final prize at the end of their long journey. However, many people accomplish this task long before the end of their life’s journey, leading to feelings of dissatisfaction, and an insatiable longing for greater meaning from life. In Santa Clarita Diet, this hunger manifests itself literally, as Drew Barrymore suddenly develops a taste for human flesh. Comedy, drama, and marital bonding ensue, and buckets of blood are spilled.

Insatiable

At this point, we’re 99% certain that 90% of the haters of Netflix‘s Insatiable didn’t watch past the first 15% of the series. Far from the fat-shaming exploitation they claim, Insatiable is actually a vibrant and nuanced portrayal of a victim of fat-shaming who is then thrust into a position of desirability by the very society that had rejected her and to which she had sworn revenge. It’s also the gayest show on television, with tons of erotic homosexual kisses to go along with its frank and open discussion and dissection of a peculiar and underrepresented coming out story. And we haven’t even mentioned the exorcism yet! Yeah, there’s strange things afoot in Insatiable‘s campy-fantasy version of suburban Georgia, and it’s not over yet; haters be damned, Insatiable is coming back for Season 2, and we can’t wait.

Stranger Things

Those crazy kids and their Eggos! Stranger Things came out of nowhere, premiering with little fanfare on Netflix, and fueling claims that the streaming network doesn’t care enough to properly market their wares. However, cream always rises to the top, and Stranger Things slowly simmered and became one of the app’s most popular series. Season two was even more acclaimed than the first, and the young child cast have become leading actors, with Finn Wolfhard playing a key role in the big-screen reboot of Stephen King’s It, and Millie Bobby Brown popping up in the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Stranger Things combines the nostalgia of a 1980s childhood, the terror of Stephen King, the empowering will to survive of John Carpenter, and the grandiose craftsmanship of Stephen Spielberg. It’s a delicate tonal balance, but the show hits ll the right notes, #JusticeForBarb notwithstanding.

The OA

It’s better to be sharply divisive than universally beloved. The OA is too esoteric and auteristic to reach the commercial heights of Stranger Things, but it still has its loyal audience of true believers who are willing to dive down the rabbit hole and allow themselves to be taken to uncomfortable places. This science-fiction mystery straddles the lines between genres and refuses to identify as anything other than itself, and it doesn’t give a damn if you don’t approve. It wouldn’t be right to spoil the series here, but it involves a young woman (Brit Marling), who returns after being presumed dead for seven years. Now calling herself The OA, she is on a mission to save others like her and relay her story to a group of very specific strangers. Season two is on the way, and there’s no time like the present to give this bold series a shot.

Big Little Lies

One would be forgiven for believing HBO blew their whole budget on securing the most beautiful and talented actors to star in Big Little Lies, the adaptation of the acclaimed Liane Moriarty novel. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, and Zoe Kravitz all headline the series, and none other than Meryl Streep is set to join the cast for the upcoming second season. The series explores a fancy little town in California beset by a scandalous murder and the subsequent investigation which threatens to rock its residents to their core. The show stormed the Emmys, taking home eight awards, though it was not without controversy; the show was created as a miniseries and entered the competition as such, but was suddenly renewed for a second season, but only after it had already been entered into awards season as a mini series, and not a regular drama. We love the show, and we love HBO, but that was a shady move.