During the pandemic, I began craving a certain kind of show that I began calling a “soulful watch.” We’d done twenty years of increasingly complicated anti-heroes and sprawling mythologies, and the pandemic finally made me realize that my TV viewing spirit was exhausted. That’s not to say I never again wanted a flawed main character or thought-provoking plots, just that I wanted to, on balance, feel lifted, not depleted, by what I watched.
Holiday down time can be the perfect opportunity to catch up on shows you’ve missed, but perhaps you’d like to watch something that’s smart, that has something to say, but doesn’t, you know, bum you out about the future of humanity. Here are some of my favorite soulful watches; maybe you’ll find some inspiration here, too.
Dash & Lily, Netflix
This teen romance is smart, sweet, short (eight 30-minute episodes!), and Christmas-y. Holiday-averse Dash (Austin Abrams) finds a notebook at New York’s Strand bookstore; inside are clues that lead him on a scavenger hunt around the city and entice him to leave it for its owner (that would be Lily, played by the adorable Midori Francis) to find and reply. The two trade clues and dares, hitting spots around New York City like Two Boots pizza and the Morgan Library, and visiting an underground Hanukkah dance party and mochi-making grandmas, as they fall in old-fashioned epistolary love. They also deal with their real-life girlfriend and boyfriend and their family problems before the inevitable happy ending. The lesson: If you’re going to be a straight teenage girl who leaves notebook clues around town, it’s certainly best that a very cute, straight teenage boy is the one who finds it. Also, being literary in New York City is fun.
For All Mankind, Apple TV+
I don’t know why this hasn’t caught on like it deserves to, but Apple TV+ has been quietly making one of the best (and, by the looks of it, most expensive) shows of the last few years. It follows an alternate-history timeline in which the Russians beat America to the moon, which actually ends up pushing progress faster as the two countries race to put women on the moon for additional bragging rights and, overall, fight the Cold War in space. It’s fun to see what goes differently in this world—I won’t give it all away, but there’s a Ted Kennedy presidency, and John Lennon isn’t assassinated—but it wouldn’t hold up if it didn’t also make you care about every one of the large cast of characters. A complicated, but ultimately hopeful, look at how politics, progress, and personal lives are inextricably intertwined.
The Good Place, Netflix
Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur’s masterpiece presents itself as the story of a morally reckless young woman, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), who finds herself routed to heaven after her death due to a clerical error. But it soon morphs into a classic ragtag-group sitcom as she joins forces with the people she meets there—ethics professor Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), name-dropping socialite Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), and silent monk (or is he?) Jianyu Li (Manny Jacinto)—to navigate a complex afterlife and question the system that determines who is “good” and who is “bad.” Nearly every episode changes the game, with some truly wild twists along the way and an absolute killer of a finale. You get all that and a solid grounding in ethical thought along with some truly touching character arcs and a plausible meditation on the very meaning of life. Oh, and it’s funny, too.
Sex Education, Netflix
I loved this British show from the start for its bold take on sex positivity, the likes of which are hard to imagine happening in America. It accomplishes this by making sex its explicit focus, but not exploiting sex for titillation: Main character Otis (Asa Butterfield) starts a business helping fellow high schoolers with sex problems, using knowledge he gleaned from the work of his prominent sex therapist mother, Dr. Jean Milburn (a sexy-cool-wonderful Gillian Anderson). It’s remarkable to see the difference between this and, say, classic American teen sex comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or repressed American teen shows like Beverly Hills 90210—all of which tend to alternately glorify and shame sexual impulses while objectifying its teen characters (usually played by gorgeous 20-somethings). Sex Education also gets more revolutionary as it goes, widening out to include many queer and non-white characters while also normalizing an astonishing range of not just sexual problems but also sexual joy and connection. (There’s a scene in which the school choir and band do a jubilant rendition of Peaches’ “Fuck the Pain Away” that slays me every time and encapsulates this spirit.) The series-ending fourth season this year left me glowing for days with its radically life-affirming messages about friendship, family, love, religion, and the power of connection to heal.
High Fidelity, Hulu
Another one folks slept on, but I watched it twice during the pandemic, and it lifted my spirits every time. By all rights it shouldn’t work: High Fidelity is, indeed, a series-length reboot of the 2000 film starring John Cusack as Rob, a record-store owner re-evaluating his life after a brutal breakup. I loved the Nick Hornby book it was based on, and I adored the movie. So I was primed to check out the series, but also to be pretty hard on it. In the end, I lost myself in its Brooklyn coziness, not to mention the enchanting charisma of Zoe Kravitz as the new John Cusack. (Her name is Robyn, or “Rob.”) Her casting is meta, calling back to her mom Lisa Bonet’s memorable role in the movie, but it also feels totally right, in this case, to have a Black woman in the main role as a frustratingly dysfunctional commitmentphobe. Bonus perks include the beautiful Kingsley Ben-Adir as the ex she’s understandably obsessing over, the scorching Thomas Doherty as the young rocker who provides welcome distraction, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Rob’s riotous friend and record store employee.
Somebody Somewhere, Max
No flashy, gimmicky premise, just a middle-aged single woman (Bridgett Everett) trying to find herself by moving back to her small Kansas hometown as she grieves the death of her sister and the loss of her big musical dreams. She reconnects with music, struggles to connect with her other sister, and forms a beautiful, if delicate, friendship with a former classmate, Joel (Jeff Hiller). Somebody Somewhere is quiet, but full of tiny surprises, sudden emotional devastation, and, ultimately, redemption. (It was also shot in the town where I went to high school, Lockport, Illinois!)
Schitt’s Creek, Hulu
It’s time to do this one if you haven’t! I avoided it for a while, thinking it was just going to be a callous send-up of formerly rich people forced to live in a small, poorly named town. But about a season and a half in, it blossoms into an empathetic portrait of family and small-town life, not to mention the greatest rom com on TV in recent years and the culmination of Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy’s lifetime of work together.
Ted Lasso, Apple TV+
Certainly do the whole thing if you haven’t yet, but also remember that Ted has a lovely Christmas episode (season 2, episode 4, “Carol of the Bells”) to put you right into the holiday spirit, and teach you some important facts about bad breath.
Great recs!! I love Dash and Lily!
I am now going to try out Sex Education. Thanks for this. I will never stop loving Somebody, Somewhere.