Halle Nottage – ‘You’
Recently Netflix posted a new, binge-worthy series called “You”. This one season series (with hopefully more to come) walks the fine border between down-right-to-creepy to watch, and edge-of-your-seat cannot tear your eyes away, and is filled with ups, downs, and crazy plot twists. The series follows a bookstore owner, Joe Goldberg, who’s handsome face and seemingly charming personality sweeps you off your feet. He falls in “love”, well, becomes obsessed with a customer at his store, Guinevere Beck, and it soon becomes apparent that the man is a down right sociopath, going to any, and I mean ANY length necessary to keep her in his possession. Overall this show is an emotional rollercoaster, as it does a good job of making the antagonist likeable enough that you question yourself while watching it. I highly recommend it if you are someone who enjoys psychological thrillers, plot twists, and getting inside the head of a creep.
Saki Kambe – ‘13 Reasons Why’
13 Reasons Why is a story of a high school girl, Hannah, who takes her life, leaving tapes that explain 13 reasons that she committed suicide. Although I was a little frustrated and dulled how long Clay, the main character and Hannah’s classmate, got scared and hesitated to listen to the tapes multiple times throughout the story, overall, I found this series interesting. I think this did an excellent job illustrating how fragile high school students can be, and yet how they fail to reach out for help, and how adults fail to actually pull the words out from the teens that they need help. I was recently talking to my mom, and I was surprised at myself at how objective I was toward the series, but vividly remember all the struggles I experienced in high school. I thought this series clearly illustrates the teen years, which I believe adults can learn lots from because their teen years have changed drastically from now because of technology.
Zach Wakefield – ‘Black Mirror’
Black Mirror has always been my go-to as a series on Netflix. Once again pushing boundaries as a bleak but smart take on the future of society and technology, Black Mirror acts as a modern “Twilight Zone”, exploring different tech, time periods, and visual styles each episode. Its newest “season” is a single episode, but interactive and seamless, with multiple endings and choices for the viewer to make as they progress through the episode. By “controlling” the story, viewers can sense that they are responsible for where the story goes and what happens to the protagonist, making its concept seem all the more chilling as the connection between choices the character makes and choices the viewer makes become similar in a strange way. It’s another brilliant piece of storytelling, and another reason for the shows consistancy on Netflix and its impressively strong cult following.