11 shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime you can complete during this long weekend
The only list you'll need!
It’s the long weekend. Typically, you’d be out with your friends, at a bar or a house party. Come Monday, you’d probably go over to a friend’s place for an eid lunch or host one yourself. In another lifetime some of us would’ve headed out for a getaway to a beautiful resort or visited family.
But that’s all in the past now. Here we are, locked down and with nowhere to go. So it seems apt that with the long weekend ahead of us, we pick out ten of our favourite shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime that you can complete watching – from start to finish – over the course of this long weekend.
Afterlife
Ricky Gervais’ series about a man grieving for his dead wife is heart-breaking to watch but also, simultaneously (and somehow paradoxically), heart-warming and fuzzy. Gervais’ turn as a widower as he makes his way through life with a single-minded determination to say whatever the hell he pleases, is brilliant and also, in a strange way, funny.
Fleabag (Netflix)
The cultural phenomenon that made Phoebe Waller Bridge a global star and icon is also a show you can complete over the course of this weekend. The flawed, messy, and unfiltered protagonist presents a gritty and real picture of the modern-day metropolis that’s a far cry from the soft-focus, fairy-tale view of typical romantic comedy movies.
Crashing (Netflix)
Before she created Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge created, wrote and acted in what may be one of the most underrated shows of her career. Crashing is Waller-Bridge’s first show and where you can see her flashes of genius that come to a full blossom in Fleabag. The show follows the life of six 20-somethings who are living in an abandoned hospital as property guardians in exchange for cheap rent.
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
This mind-bending show is based on a series of comic books that trace the lives of six children with extraordinary powers who are adopted by an eccentric billionaire with the intention of turning them into superheroes. 17 years later, the estranged children reunite for a rather messed-up funeral and a potential apocalypse that is just a little over a week away. Sharp, trippy and absolutely brilliant, The Umbrella Academy is a great show to watch and complete over a weekend.
Man Like Mobeen (Netflix)
The British comic Guz Khan stars in this funny and heart-warming tale of a guy trying to be a good Muslim, lead a good life and help his younger sister meet her full potential while trying to outrun his criminal past that he tries hard to leave behind.
Never have I ever (Netflix)
Devi Vishwakumar decides that she’s going to put behind her horrible freshman year and have an amazing life by changing her social standing in school but realises that the price she must pay for this may be too high.
Sex education (Netflix)
To be fair, Never have I ever may not be up your alley if you’ve had your fill of teenage drama courtesy your own kid while being stuck in the lockdown. Sex Education, on the other hand, manages to stand out despite being in the same genre for its sheer ability to normalise conversations around sex as well as sensitively tackle issues around asexuality and sexual assault. But perhaps the most wonderful track is the coming-of-age story of a young, gay black man.
Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime)
If you’re looking for mindless action, head over to Amazon Prime for Jack Ryan. The two-season-long show stars John Krasinski as the eponymous former US Marine-turned-CIA Analyst as he gets thrust into a dangerous field assignment after discovering a pattern in terrorist communication. Krasinski fits in as the agent with a troubled past.
The Looming Tower (Amazon Prime)
We’ve lost track of the number of TV shows and movies that have been made on the 9/11 attacks. The Looming Tower, however, looks at the events leading up to the heinous 2001 terror attack. Specifically, the show follows the rivalry between the CIA and the FBI even as Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda rise in Asia.
Chernobyl (Amazon Prime)
Chernobyl, the HBO miniseries set against one of the worst human-made disasters in living history. Following the nuclear disaster and the clean-up efforts that followed, Chernobyl highlights the devastation of the accident and its impact. The TV acclaimed TV show is loosely based on Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich’s book Voices from Chernobyl, which throws light on the events of April 26, 1986 and what followed through accounts of Pripyat’s residents.
Wild Wild Country (Netflix)
Wild Wild Country is the incredible true story of Osho Rajneesh, the controversial guru who builds a utopian city in the heart of a desert in Oregon. The documentary follows the conflict between the hippie Rajneeshees and the local Oregonians that eventually leads to the first ever bioterror attack on the US soil. The real star of the show, however, is Rajneesh’s secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, a tough-as-nails woman with a questionable moral compass.
