sense8, photo: Netflix
It’s been such a long time since we wrote about TV shows, but now that the nights are getting longer and the temperatures lower we are starting to get into hibernation mode, cozying up in our blankets and watching movies and tv shows in the evenings ignoring the wet and cold outside.
For our newest edition of Serie/ous Addiction, we have a wonderful set of shows for you that deal with our most favorite topics in some capacity: Sex, sexuality, gender identity and Berlin! Yes, you heard right: There is a good portion of Berlin in the mix this time, you must have noticed that in terms of movie and tv productions the hype of Berlin has finally reached the world of international television. Of course, you must all have heard by now that the current season of US spy show Homeland was shot here, mostly thanks to star Claire Danes talking awkwardly about her visit at Berghain on Ellen. But this is not the only show that took place here, there is one more taking advantage of the awesomeness of this city, but it’s more of an underdog. Nonetheless, it’s one of my three favorite new TV shows, more about it after the jump.
Sense8
Due to its slightly nerdy premise of 8 random people spread all over the world who are somehow connected with each other’s minds, the show falls a bit into the SciFi niche. But it deserves so much more attention than it got. Netflix released the show in 2015 in one big heap and I binge-watched the crap out of it. It was so compelling and exciting like few shows in recent years and took my heart by storm. One of the 8 main characters is based in Berlin and you get to see some amazing scenes with him, probably the most scandalous one being him completely naked and having a mental orgy with 3 other people in the pool of Stadtbad Neukölln. He’s portrayed by German actor Max Riemelt who is giving us the complete eye candy treatment. Another favorite character from the show is transgendered woman Nomi played by trans* actress Jamie Clayton who is simply mesmerizing on screen. Generally, the ensemble is really fascinating and it’s fun to follow each of their respective stories. It gets even better once they start to intertwine.
The second season took a while to materialize and also was sadly the last one, but luckily it good a supersized series finale which was released in June 2018 and nicely brought the show to a conclusion.
London Spy
From Berlin we’re jumping to London. The new show London Spy starring Ben Whishaw and Charlotte Rampling totally took me by surprise. It only aired 3 of its 5 episodes so far on BBC2 and I can’t wait for this suspenseful story to continue. The show starts with a relatively harmless encounter of two guys who shyly start a romance with each other. It’s sweet how the charismatic, quirky party boy and the shy but beautiful investment banker get to know each other. But their blooming relationship is pretty much only the surface and what happens in the final moments of the first episode will blow your mind. A really suspenseful thriller unfolds with so many twists and turns it feels a bit like a rollercoaster ride in the spy world, but instead of a macho James Bond main character you have this quirky but sweet gay guy in the center of things. Wow, this show really is a dare for and tackles cliché gay topics in a quite unconventional and shocking way.
Transparent
If you ask me the award-winning Amazon show Transparent is pretty much the fictitious version of the story of Caitlin Jenner. It’s about this 60+ dad who comes out to his grown-up children as transgendered and starts to dress up as his true gender identity in public. The show beautifully manages to avoid any clichés and it surprises you all the time by doing the thing you didn’t expect it to do. The story is heartwarming, encouraging and brings the complicated struggle of transgendered people into the limelight into the most sensitive way (unlike I Am Cait).
After amazing four seasons, the show took a bit of a hit. In the course of the #metoo movement and due to allegations of harassment the show had to write out its main character, so the upcoming fifth and final season will air with a significant part of the show missing sometime in 2019.
