Pick of the week
3 Body Problem
“Has the universe ever winked at you?” This question, posed to troubled theoretical physicist Auggie Salazar (Eiza González), is at the heart of a gripping, dizzying drama that feels like both a crime thriller and an inquiry into the true nature of the great cosmic beyond. As befits a story adapted from Liu Cixin’s novel by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, with True Blood’s Alexander Woo, 3 Body Problem is sprawling and ambitious, linking the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a suicide in a particle accelerator and a possible alien invasion. With its subtext concerning the suppression of truth and its implacable, inevitable endurance, it’s subtly polemical, too.
Netflix, from Thursday 21 March
***
Physical 100
Imagine an athletic take on Squid Game: The Challenge. Or a savagely dystopian version of The World’s Strongest Man. This Korean gameshow takes 100 absolutely stacked and relentlessly competitive men and women to a giant underground bunker and subjects them to ferocious physical challenges (lifting, pulling, running, fighting) with ruthless eliminations eventually leaving one player standing. If the format is formulaic, the challenges themselves are inventively brutal and the whole thing has a guiltily compelling quality.
Netflix, from Tuesday 19 March
***
Palm Royale
Kristen Wiig stars in this adaptation of Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 novel Mr & Mrs American Pie, which follows Maxine Simmons as she infiltrates 1969 Palm Beach high society. Maxine’s social climbing is initially very literal – as we meet her, she’s just clambered over the walls of a beach club – but in the world she seeks to enter, nothing is solid or sturdy. Surface is everything, insincerity is the language of first resort and ostentatious wealth barely hides unhappiness. Palm Royale aims for Marvelous Mrs Maisel levels of spicy, breezy cheek and charm but the writing isn’t quite sharp or deep enough to match the ambition.
Apple TV+, from Wednesday 20 March
***
X-Men ’97
This Marvel animation series about a gang of mutant superheroes picks up pretty much exactly where the 90s X-Men TV series left off. There’s even a nod to the good old days of checking your TV listings as this reboot celebrates the 20th-century aesthetic of the original show. However, with founder and leader Professor X now dead, there’s no time to reminisce. A new anti-mutant mood is afoot but also, some jostling for position given the leadership vacuum. Many of the original voice actors remain on board and the tone will be familiar to old-school fans.
Disney+, from Wednesday 20 March
***
Twisted Metal
A post-apocalyptic America? A confused lead character with an impossible mission? The premise of this video game-derived thriller isn’t exactly devoid of cliche. John Doe (Anthony Mackie) is our bewildered hero; a milkman by trade but adapting his experience of timely deliveries in this wasteland of walled cities and roaming gangs. The enigmatic Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz) needs to send a mysterious package. She can offer Doe protection – but first he has to run a dangerous gauntlet. A willingness to lean into its own daftness is the show’s saving grace.
Paramount+, from Thursday 21 march
***
My Undead Yokai Girlfriend
Teen coming-of-age drama meets ancient folklore in this twisted, Kyoto-set fantasy love story. Yokai is a Japanese narrative tradition of ghosts, shapeshifters and other supernatural entities. They can take many forms – in this case, one manifests in the persona of Izzy, a teenage girl with whom lonely student Tadashi falls in love. Needless to say, their relationship status remains complicated; not least because Izzy’s true purpose on Earth is to exact revenge on a family for an incident that took place half a century earlier.
Prime Video, from Friday 22 March
***
Buying Beverly Hills
More tears, tantrums and exaggerated vocal fries as the constructed reality universe of Mauricio Umansky continues to expand. As we rejoin the family estate agency, there’s the prospect of a more inwardly focused season after a family showdown. Subsequently, Farrah, Alexia and Sophia struggle to come to terms with Mauricio and Kyle’s disintegrating relationship while Mauricio attempts to deal with his stress-induced mental health issues. But expect a few absurdly expensive properties in LA to be bought and sold in between.
Netflix, from Friday 22 March
