Staycation Binge List: Short Runs

If you’ve found yourself stuck at home with some time on your hands (especially now, with COVID cases on the rise), we’ve got the binge list for you! Last week, we released our Long Haul Staycation Binge List, which was a list of our favourite multi season shows to binge on. So this week we’ve compiled a different TV binge list for you.

2020 saw a whole host of new TV shows that were released across all the streaming services, from spy thrillers, to comedies, to chess dramas. And this is a selection of some of our favourites.

Here it is, The Goggler Staycation Binge List: Short Runs.

“The Queen’s Gambit is a story of genius. Of an ability born, and then shaped by practice; by intellect. It is also ultimately a story of genius that is fuelled by the accidental introduction of drugs, of alcohol, and of madness.”

If you didn’t know who she was before this, you will definitely remember Anya Taylor-Joy after it. The Queen’s Gambit is one of 2020’s must watch TV shows.

Click here for our full review of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit.

“Tehran puts you right in the middle of the Iranian-Israeli conflict. It asks you to watch and understand that while neither side is right, neither side is wholly wrong either.”

There are no big heart stopping moments of action, no last-minute-bomb-diffusing sequences, or car chases. This isn’t Jason Bourne action, or James Bond spy craft. Think The Americans, but with less personal family drama, and with an entirely Middle Eastern cast.

Click here for our review of Tehran.

“The show is genuinely good natured. The laughs are not at his expense. Lasso, the character, knows what he’s doing is hard, he may not quite grasp the situation he’s in, but goshdarnit he will give a real good go of it.”

Ted Lasso is throwback to the TV comedies of the past. Where people aren’t gritty, where the protagonist is truly “lovable,” and where the laughs are not mean spirited but based on genuine happiness. Ted Lasso is sweet, but never cloying. Heartfelt moments are never met with a cynical eye roll or groans. Ted Lasso is exactly what we need after the year we’ve all had. 

Click here for our review of Ted Lasso.

“You know that sinking feeling you get when the plane you’re on experiences turbulence? The way fear and anxiety, when mixed with adrenaline, results in a rather peculiar high? That is the joyous nausea I’m talking about.”

Lovecraft Country is a joyous watch of an anthology of episodes that span genres and moods. If you’ve managed to go through the whole year without hearing anything about it, congratulations, because you are in for one hell of a ride.

Click here for our review of Lovecraft Country.

“Rather than just reusing the distinctive death rattle that announced the spirits arrival, Origins updates it and adds a number of new twists.”

Ju-On: Origins takes the story of the curse that we’ve all seen so many times and reinvents it, puts a spin on it, and in doing all that, gives the horror a deeper meaning. If you’re a fan of the 13 movie series, this needs to be on your list.

Click here for our review of Ju-On: Origins.

“There is something positively sumptuous about this show. The lighting, the colour palette, the impeccable production value, all of it, so beautiful, so real, so convincing, that you are immediately transported back in time.”

At first blush, Perry Mason may seem like the prequel no one asked for, that is if you even know who Perry Mason was. But like all great prequels, Perry Mason doesn’t need you to know who he was before (or after) it. Perry Mason doesn’t use the fact that it’s a prequel as a crutch. It introduces all the characters, and all the themes, and all the storylines for you. If you recognise it, great. And if you don’t, you’re still in for a great show.

Click here for our review of Perry Mason.

“Look, this is not a historically accurate biopic. The full title of this series is actually The Great* (An Occasionally True Story) and that is exactly what it is. … The Great is the irreverent, satirical retelling, with a huge helping of creative license.”

Based on a play, The Great tells the story of the early years of the Empress’ arrival in Russia and her coming to terms with the Russian court of the time. Elle Fanning is great. Nicholas Hoult is great. 

Click here for our review of The Great.

“What begins as a show about everyday archetypes is actually very much a fake out on the part of the writers. They are cleverly employed as red herrings.”

Control-Z is a great example of what different writers, from different backgrounds, can bring to a recognisable, almost cliched, storyline. Set in a Mexican high school, what starts off as feeling very much like any number of Hollywood high school teenage dramas, quickly turns into something more. It is different but not by a lot. It is refreshing but without trying too hard. It is both recognisable, and yet new.

Click here for our review of Control Z.

“Normal People is, at its heart, a love story. Albeit a broken one. It’s the story of two people, soulmates, who fall in and out one another’s lives, loving and hurting each other in equal measure, before finally coming to the realisation that they would always be connected.”

Normal People is a small screen adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel that has streamlined it’s central conceit and made it a more manageable five and a half hours of TV without ever losing it’s core. The series is equal parts heartbreaking, melancholic, stoic, and vulnerable.

Click here for our review of Normal People.

“This series broke me. And it will you. By drilling down so hard into despair. By constantly beating down its characters. This is the antithesis to the Netflix binge. This is a long distance race. This is a test of your endurance.” 

I Know This Much Is True is a series like no other, and it’s inclusion in this list is very much because of the outstanding performance of Mark Ruffalo, playing twin brothers with two different personalities. This was a hard watch. The series is completely unforgiving. But I Know This Much Is True is also a satisfying watch. Cathartic.

Click here for our review of I Know This Much Is True.

“Upload doesn’t do God. It doesn’t really do the afterlife and the morality of death stuff either. Because *technically*, no one has actually died.”

Upload’s premise seems simple at first, but like Shrek, is layered in the most interesting way. Is this the future? Is this what humanity’s quest for immortality will ultimately look like? A holiday resort with a data plan? Who knows, but Upload asks all the right questions in a comedy that leaves the audience looking inwards for the right answers.

Click here for our review of Upload.

“The never-ending march of the dawn terminator brings its own violence as the slightest delay can mean missing your flight, and hence death, a fate that the show deals out quite early. Anyone can be left behind.”

Into The Night’s tense plot device is an ingenious one, but everything about this series is designed to ramp up the tension, from its music, to the almost claustrophobic passenger airplane. If you’ve never heard of Into The Night, be ready for it.

Click here for our review of Into The Night.

“The most fascinating thing about The King: Eternal Monarch is how unafraid it is of genre. This one show seamlessly blends science fiction and fantasy, police procedurals and romantic dramas, with a little political and palace intrigue thrown in for good measure.”

The King: Eternal Monarch is one of those shows that feels like it’s doing too much for its own good. The mix of genres, contrivances, storytelling and plot points looks, on paper, like it’ll fall flat on its face. But it doesn’t. Things develop, plots are introduced and dispensed with, magic and science are intermingled with nary a breath wasted on exposition. If you’ve never gone down the K-Drama rabbit hole, then this should be the one to try.

Click here for our review of The King: Eternal Monarch.

“Locke & Key was ripe for adaptation. Just not a slavish one. This is a version that can best be described as a remix. It captures the tone and tenor of the comics while avoiding the usual pitfalls that come with literary translations.”

Locke & Key is another literary adaptation, this time from a 2008 comic book by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, which tells the story of a family, a mysterious house, and a bunch of keys. Part horror, and part Goonies adventure, the series skews a lot younger than its comic book counterpart, eschewing gory, body horror for magical fantasy, while keeping a lot of the dark undertones of the more adult comic series. Looking for something to watch with that YA in the house? This might be the one.

Click here for our review of Locke & Key.

“In most horror stories, the action tends to center around a character that’s slightly askew or a place that’s slightly out of step with reality. What makes Servant particularly interesting is that everything is suspect. The house. The couple. The servant. The baby.”

Everything in this M. Night Shyamalan produced series screams M. Night Shyamalan. There is a mood to everything. Dark. Cold. Distant. Off-putting. But like all his previous work, Servant is also an intriguing story with a premise that starts simple, but gets increasingly complicated and complex as it progresses. You never really know who’s side to be on. And you never really know who’s going crazy.

Click here to read our review of Servant.