Countdown, Season 1-B, on Prime Video

Everyone loves to get the old gang together, except maybe a Federal multi-agency counter-terrorism task force, because it means they must have detected signs an unknown party or parties is planning something horrific. At least Special Agent Nathan Blythe’s team already developed a strong working rapport, except maybe the ones who had a romantic relationship. Regardless, the task force must play catch-up to prevent the assassination of California’s governor (and possibly also the President) in season one’s second-half storyline of creator-showrunner Eric Haas’s Countdown, which starts/continues tomorrow on Prime Video.

Viewers who followed Countdown’s initial dirty-bomb plot master-minded by Volchek, the evil Belarusian know the episode that wrapped up all the loose ends concluded with the start of a new case. Secret Service Agent Ryan Fitzgerald was stuck processing low level threat reports from the “muzzle pile,” basically the Secret Service’s equivalent of the slush pile, because he is relentlessly annoying. However, one call to the tip-line was suspicious enough to follow-up. Agent Fitzgerald found a dead body and a cryptic manifesto that apparently mentions the governor a lot and the President a little.

That is obviously more than enough to put Blythe’s task force back in business. The combination of manifestos and threats against elected officials can move even the most incalcitrant bureaucracies. When rugged Det. Mark Meachum and the team search the crime scene and find a subterranean firing range below the rented summer cabin, with the governor’s photo as the target, it gets everyone’s attention, especially the governor’s.

Weirdly, Gov. George Shelby looks and acts like a prickly cross between Gavin Newsom and Greg Abbott. Ther is something about Shelby to rub every viewer the wrong way. Yet, in a way, it is refreshing to see a major streaming series present a recurring character using a wheelchair, who is tough and ambitious, rather than simply serving as a cheap source of inspiration.

Nevertheless, the pacing of season 1-B lags behind that of 1-A. It also lacks similarly apocalyptic stakes—no disrespect to Shelby. Plus, the task force does not seem to really be up to speed yet. Throughout 1A, the always managed to keep just one step behind Volchek. However, their unknown manifesto writer completely runs circles around the team throughout the final three episodes, without reaching anything close to a conclusion.

Still, the chemistry continues to click amongst the cast. Jensen Ackles shows even greater star-power as hard-charging Meachum. The good news is Meachum fully recovered in episode ten and his death wish was cured along with his tumor. He is even starting to make career plans—gasp—despite getting dumped by DEA agent Amber Oliveras after his recovery. To add an insulting irony, she subsequently took up with his surgeon, her friend from the “old neighborhood,” Dr. Julio Beltran.

Frankly, it doesn’t really make much sense to have a DEA agent on this task force, whereas the previous case involved drug cartels smuggling radioactive material across the border, on behalf of the terrorist. Yet, her will-they-or-won’t-they chemistry with Meacham will not be denied.

Ballard, on Prime

Investigating cold cases should help prevent future crimes, in a “broken windows” kind of way, because if someone got away with murder once, they will presumably be more likely to kill again. Nevertheless, Det. Renee Ballard’s assignment to the Cold Case division was unambiguously intended as a punishment. Yet, several of her cold cases turn out to be very hot in creators Michael Connelly & Michael Alaimo’s 10-episode first season of Ballard, which premiers tomorrow on Prime Video.

Ballard had a conflict with her ex-partner Det. Robert Olivas that he won. Banished to the Cold Case squad, she and fellow squad member, formerly retired Reserve Officer Thomas Laffont, close their first case during the prologue, but the messiness leaves them even more in the doghouse. Frankly, Captain Bercham only wants them investigating one case, the unsolved murder of the younger sister of the city councilman Jake Pearlman, who allocated the funds for their department. He clearly thinks Ballard works for him and wants results yesterday. However, Pearlman learns to respect her dedication and instincts when Ballard discovers his sister was murdered by an unknown serial killer.

Naturally, Bercham wants to transfer the case back to Homicide, but Ballard’s team has Pearlman’s confidence and has been running conspicuous circles around her old colleagues. As a further complication, Ballard has another season-long case that she must keep close to her vest: a cold case murder that leads to a cabal of crooked gun-running cops in league with a nasty drug cartel. Besides her team, Ballard only trusts retired Det. Harry Bosch, a sporadic guest-star, who anchors the series to the Bosch-verse.

Titus Welliver’s infrequent but significant appearances are a fun bonus, but Maggie Q more than carries the series as the title character. Frankly, her intensity level might even eclipse Welliver’s and she is almost aa cool. She also comes into the series with massive action cred, which serves her well. Connelly, Alaimo, and the rest of their writers’ room really put Ballard through wringer, but she handles all the angst quite convincingly.

Maggie Q also develops nice chemistry with her team, notably including the recognizable John Carroll Lynch playing it largely straight as Laffont, and Michael Mosley, as reserve officer Ted Rawls, whose stock rises considerably as he earns Ballard’s confidence. Similarly, Noah Bean delivers another memorable supporting turn, navigating the councilman’s surprisingly dramatic arc. Amy Hill probably comes the closest to comic relief as “Tutu,” but the grandmother-granddaughter relationship is appealingly affectionate.

The Better Sister, on Prime Video

Statistically, most murders are committed within families. The Mackintosh family is especially suspect, since the late husband was a lawyer and the widow is a journalist. Inevitably, they become prime tabloid fodder, because she married her unstable drug-addicted sister’s late ex-husband. Nevertheless, the estranged siblings must work together to save the young man they both consider their son in co-creators Olivia Milch & Regina Corrado’s eight-episode The Better Sister, adapted from Alafair Burke’s novel, which premieres today on Prime Video.

The murder of Adam Mackintosh is real. The break-in was faked. Unfortunately, the circumstances lead Detectives Nancy Guidry and Matt Bowen to Chloe Taylor’s step-son, Ethan. She is desperate to protect him, but, inconveniently, his biological mother Nicky Mackintosh now has custody. Their reunion is especially tense, because Taylor once agreed to sign her sister into straight-jacket-style rehab, to secure her future husband’s sole custody rights. It seemed like the thing to do at the time, but she starts to regret her decision as she learns more about the circumstances of her husband’s first marriage.

Guidry’s resentment of Taylor’s “privilege” makes her happy to focus the entire investigation on Ethan. Awkwardly, his lawyer, Michelle Sanders, shares her low opinion of the sister-mothers, but she has sympathy for their son and she is very good at her job, so they put up with her. She was referred to Taylor by Jake Rodriguez, her husband’s associate, with whom she was on the verge of having an affair. At the same time, he was closely assisting her late husband’s representation of a dodgy multi-national company, whose specialty seems to be constructing soccer stadiums in the Middle East, with suspicious rapidity.

So, clearly there are a lot of motives and conflicts of interest to untangle. Indeed, The Better Sister has several twists worthy of a Gillian Flynn adaptation, but the tone is way, way trashier. At least in this case, the soapy luridness is also entertaining. If you are looking for a hothouse fully stocked with family secrets and sneaky scheming, you will find plenty here.

Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks fully embrace the spirit of the material, diving head-first into the angst and melodrama. Similarly, Kim Dickens is one-person snark-factory as unabashedly abrasive and defiantly biased as Det. Guidry. Yet, nobody is more flamboyant than Matthew Modine as Adam’s sleazy, ambiguously villainous, and proudly out boss, Bill Braddock.

The Bondsman, on Prime Video

You cannot get much more Country than a singing bail bondsman. Like Charlie Daniels, Hub Halloran will have some seriously demonic encounters down in Georgia. Unfortunately, instead of beating the Devil, Halloran is stuck working for him in creator Grainger David’s eight-episode Blumhouse-produced The Bondsman, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

Halloran took over his mother Kitty’s bail bond business, but at one time, he harbored musical ambitions, like his ex-wife Maryanne Dice. Her career is poised for a resurgence, but something went very wrong for him. Actually, a lot went wrong for him. Long story short, her “reformed” Boston mobster boyfriend Lucky Callahan had his thugs murder Halloran. He was Hell-bound, but the infernal organization sent him back to Earth to recapture demons that escaped from downstairs.

The bondsman’s equally damned Earthly supervisor Midge Kusatsu makes it clear this is only a temporary reprieve. Eternal torment awaits, but at least he can secure some closure with his son Cade, whose own musical talent Halloran never properly encouraged. Of course, he would also like a little payback from Callahan. Plus, there is the matter of the mysterious unforgivable sin that condemned him in the first place. Halloran is cagey whenever his mother asks, having discovered the demonic nature of his new business. Unfortunately, Callahan strongly suspects the truth.

Of course, Halloran keeps hoping he can find a loop-hole to wriggle out of his infernal dilemma, Instead, he uncovers evidence the jailbreaks from Hell are part of something even bigger that could potentially trigger the End of Days.

Kevin Bacon is perfectly cast as flinty old Halloran and Beth Grant is frequently hilarious as Grandma Kitty. They develop totally believable chemistry as mother and son. Australian thesp Damon Herrimon is also spectacularly sleazy and slimy as Callahan. Frankly, he is so entertainingly villainous, he inadvertently makes Jennifer Nettles and Maxwell Jenkins look like idiots playing Maryanne and Cade. They must be denser than diamonds not to see what a creep Herrimon’s Callahan so obviously is.

Regardless, it is jolly good fun to watch Bacon scowl, grimace wearily, and then blast demons back to the inferno they came from. However, instead of building to a big crescendo, the concluding episode sort of deflates. It also lacks any sense of closure whatsoever, which is frustrating (especially if there is no season two). Arguably, this is another series that should have been one or two episodes tighter.

Still, the mordant black humor is quite amusing, particularly the management structure for Hell’s operations, which is indeed quite Hellish. The tone of the writing produced by David, showrunner Erik Oleson, and Satinder Kaur perfectly suits Bacon and Grant.

Reacher Season Three, on Prime

[Jack] Reacher looks a lot like Paul Bunyan, or his ox, Babe, but he is more of a lone wolf by temperament. He is also skeptical of bureaucrats and government officials, despite having run the Army’s special 110^th Investigative Unit. Nevertheless, he agrees to go undercover for the DEA. The circumstances involved are unusual, dicey, and embargoed. Regardless, Reacher takes on the dangerous assignment, but the bad guys will be the ones in trouble throughout the third season of creator Nick Santora’s Reacher, adapted from Lee Child’s novel Persuader, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

As viewers of season one and season two know, Reacher often generates quite a high body-count, but he lives by a code. Fortunately, one of his initial duties for Zachary Beck presents no moral qualms for Reacher. He regularly serves as the bodyguard for Beck’s son Richard, who has no involvement in his father’s smuggling business. Just what Beck smuggles is not exactly clear. That is one of the reasons why DEA Agent Susan Duffy convinces Reacher to infiltrate Beck’s operation. She also hopes to rescue her informant who worked as a domestic in Beck’s fortress like mansion.

Recher also has personal reasons for agreeing. He suspects an old enemy from his past might be in business with Beck. Reportedly, his target has amnesia, so maybe he won’t remember Reacher if they even come face-to-face—or maybe he will. Obviously, this is a tough gig, especially since Beck has Paulie, a neanderthal henchman who is even bigger and stronger than Reacher.

For backup, Reacher only has Duffy, who is one of the good guys even though she is a Red Sox fan (try doing the math on that one), her soon-to-retire mentor Guillermo Villanueva (whose back, knees, and arches are on the verge of collapse), and Steven Elliott, the rookie who botched the paperwork for a warrant, landing them in the bureaucratic wilderness. Of course, Reacher’s old comrade Frances Neagley will always back-up her former commanding officer, but he wants to protect her from his suspected nemesis.

All three seasons of Reacher are rock-solid and reasonably faithful to Child’s books. In this case, Reacher’s complicated relationships with the Becks, father and son, elevate what might otherwise seem like a relatively simple infiltrate-and-bust thriller. Aside from the imposing Ritchson (who still convincingly looks the part of Reacher), Anthony Michael Hall most stands out this season for his surprisingly complex portrayal of Zachary Beck. He is not exactly what we assume, which adds considerably to the drama.

Red One, on Prime

According to scientists, polar bears really belong at the top of the planetary food chain, because so many of them have a taste for eating people. Therefore, a big talking polar bear like Agent Garcia ought to provide all the protection Santa Claus needs. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is also considered fairly formidable for a mere mortal. Yet, somehow the bad guys still kidnap Santa while both ELF (Enforcement, Logistics, and Fortification) Agents were on the job. Even though he is only human, Johnson’s Callum Drift won’t take this threat to Christmas laying down, so he decides to flip the clueless hacker who helped facilitate the crisis in Jake Kasdan’s Red One, which starts streaming today on Prime Video.

Agent Drift intends to retire after this Christmas, so you know what that always means: trouble. Masked mercs abduct Santa spiriting him away through a hole in the North Pole security system. Of course, a blame-America-first leftist like Tulsi Gabbard would say Santa was asking for it, because of his security arrangement with NATO. Regardless, it took some serious computing power to detect the secret location of Santa’s workshop, but Bah-humbugging black-hat and self-described bounty-hunter Jack O’Malley inadvertently supplied the necessary data by hacking national science networks.

To avoid further beatings from Drift, O’Malley agrees to work with ELF to follow the trail of his anonymous client, who turns out to Gryla, the Icelandic winter witch. As a former associate of Santa’s adopted brother Krampus, she always believed Santa was too lenient on the “naughty-listers,” like O’Malley. By stealing Santa’s powers, she intends to finally deal out the punishment she believes they richly deserve.

Chris Morgan’s screenplay cleverly incorporates a lot of slightly macabre Christmas lore, including Gryla and Krampus. However, Kiernan Shipka’s portrayal of the Christmas witch and the special effects surrounding her are consistently overshadowed by the more colorful characters. That definitely includes Kristofer Hivju’s imposing Krampus, who is more grouch than demon.

In truth, nobody is more colorful than J.K. Simmons, who looks quite fit—and even downright cut—as old kris. Frankly, he makes cookies and milk look a better muscle building supplement than any GNC powder. As usual, Simmons can land a sharp one-liner, but his sarcasm is gentler this time around—because he is Santa. He also develops great chemistry with Bonnie Hunt, who really should have had more screentime as Mrs. Claus.

Of course, the Rock does his thing, which includes milking Drift’s humorlessness for humor. Basically, Johnson acts like the film is titled The Fast and the Jolly, which should be totally fine with his fans. It is also nice to see Lucy Liu get to kick some butt to as Zoe Harlow, the chief of the clandestine MORA (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority) agency. However, Chris Evans’ portrayal of O’Malley, the hacker and jerkweed absentee father, needed more charm and less smugness.

Secret Level, on Prime

"Live, die, repeat” was the tagline and Macguffin of Edge of Tomorrow, but it is just how things work in video games. Some of these animated short films cleverly incorporate that aspect of gameplay. Each original constituent film is set within the world of a popular game (including massively multiplayer online RPGs), but maybe not too popular, since their rights were still available. As is usually the case for anthologies, the results vary considerably in creator Tim Miller’s 15-part Secret Level, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

There is a lot of CGI, featuring human depictions that try and most often fail to traverse the uncanny valley. As a result, some of the less “realistic” looking films stand out more. The opener, “Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen’s Cradle” is a perfect example of the CGI look that will quickly grow repetitive. However, the story written by Brooke Bolander certainly delivers on its promise of dragons. It is also one of the more successful at character establishment. However, the cliffhanger-style ending feels like a bit of a cheat (which too, will be a recurring response throughout Secret Level).

The next two constituent films are also two of the best. “Sifu: It Takes a Life,” directed by Laszlo Ruska with a story credited to Rich Larson is a mystical martial arts beatdown, in which our hero takes on a brutal gang to avenge his grandfather, even if it kills him, repeatedly, just so long as he still has one of his lives signified by a string of gold coins left after the carnage.

“New World: The Once and Future King,” written by JT Petty & Philip (The Spine of Night) Gelatt, is by far the funniest, thanks to voiceover work of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gamely satirizes his own action image while providing the voice of the hapless King Aelstrom. The entitled idiot intended to conquer the kingdom of Aeternum, but since the land there bestows eternal life, it creates a meritocracy among residents, leaving him ill-equipped maintain the status he expects by birthright.

“Unreal Tournament: Xan” looks very much like many other Secret Level mini-sodes. The hook here is that it openly invites viewers to root for the “rise of the machines” and against humanity when the evil Gamemaster (voiced by Elodie Yung) condemns a group of rebellious androids to a series of gladiatorial games against humans. Doesn’t that just sound like a really bad idea?

The lowest point probably comes in “Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear,” in which a group of space-faring marines are dispatched on a mission that is almost impossible to follow, because the animation is so confusing.

If you are expecting anything like the old Saturday morning cartoon from Victor (Nocturna) Maldonado & Alfredo Torres’ “PAC-MAN: Circle,” you will be shocked. In this case, it an extremely dark allegorical take on the classic arcade game. The ambition here is impressive, but your nostalgia will be dashed to smithereens, so temper your expectations.

Damian (Another Day of Life) Nenow’s “Crossfire: Good Conflict” is a refreshing change of pace, partly because it is the only short that does not incorporate any science fiction or fantastical elements. It also tells a fully self-contained and satisfying story, while maintaining a high degree of ambiguity regarding the why’s of everything. There is also a whole heck of a lot of shooting.

“Armored Core: Asset Management,” based on a Peter Watts story, also feels very similar to the “Unreal Tournament” and “Warhammer 40,000” episodes, but it is easier to follow and features stronger characters. It has the benefit of Keanu Reeves as a broken down mecha pilot who still thinks he has the right stuff. The mecha-action is very video game-like, but that hardly counts as a criticism for a series like this. Wisely, the animators also deliberately modeled the pilots features on Reeve’s, which should please his fans.

Cross, on Prime Video

If the police get defunded, Alex Cross will be out of a job. He is keenly aware of that fact. Yet, he is also hyper-conscious of expectations placed on him, for reasons of identity politics. In fact, resentment of the police often makes his job much harder during this case. The implications could be tragic as the DC detective hunts a serial killer holding a woman captive in creator Ben Watkins’ eight-episode Cross, obviously based on James Patterson’s novels, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

When a defund-the-police activist like Emir Goodspeed turns up dead, it becomes a media nightmare for politically conscious Chief Anderson. She wants Cross to sell the press on her premature verdict of drug overdose. Of course, Cross knows better. He just cannot believe the reformed Muslim addict relapsed with hard drugs, shaved his head, and then feasted on pork chops for a final meal.

Naturally, Goodspeed’s family is more than skeptical, but Cross becomes the focus of their anger and distrust. As a result, they will withhold a key piece of evidence that Cross needs. For him, it is not just about solving Goodspeed’s murder. He also quickly concludes the culprit is a serial killer they dub the “Fanboy,” who just abducted his latest victim. That would be Shannon Witmer, who unfortunately bears a very vague resemblance to one of history’s most notorious serial killers.

Frankly, Cross will key-in on his prime suspect relatively early, but he is no drifter. This time Cross must play a cat-and-mouse game with one of Washington’s most influential power-brokers. The Fanboy probably has sources within the DC police department, so Cross can only trust his closest associates, including his partner and best friend John Sampson (one of the few characters retained from the books, besides Cross’s family) and his FBI contact Kayla Craig. For extra added pressure, someone from Cross’s past has also been terrorizing the Crosses. Given the clues left behind, he reasonably concludes the stalker was involved in the unsolved murder of his wife Maria several years ago.

Unlike the Reacher series, Cross does not correlate to a specific Patterson novel, which must greatly annoy his publisher. There might be a few similarities with the like-titled Cross, but the crimes and perps are entirely different.

Still, Ryan Eggold portrays the Fanboy with such creepy viciousness, he should satisfy fans of early vintage Patterson, especially Kiss the Girls (the book more than the movie). Johnny Ray Gil also adds impressively villainous sleaze, as Bobby Trey, a flamboyant gangster, who is mixed up with the Fanboy. Watkins and the battery of co-writers also take the stalker subplot in an unexpected direction, chillingly played by the relevant cast-members (they telegraph the revelation early in the final episode, but before that, it is rather unexpected).

Citadel: Honey Bunny, on Prime

India had 24: India, so it makes sense they would also get their own spinoff from Prime’s Citadel franchise. In this case, it is a prequel that tells the way-backstory of a major character of the anchor series. Going forward, spinoffs will probably be divided into two categories: pre-fall of Citadel and post. So far, post offers greater dramatic stakes, because survivors are so greatly outnumbered. Regardless, in this case, viewers do not even hear the name “Citadel” until about the fourth installment of creator Sita R. Menon’s six-episode Citadel: Honey Bunny, which starts streaming today on Prime Video.

In 1992, “Honey” was a struggling Bollywood starlet developing a romantic relationship Rahi “Bunny” Gambhir. Like Colt Seavers, he did not get paid much to help his stars look good on-screen, but he always has money, because he moonlights as a secret agent. For one fateful assignment, Bunny recruits Honey to act in a sting operation, but complications reveal Honey’s identity. Instead of accepting some kind of witness relocation, she joins Bunny’s super-secret agency, despite the misogynistic skepticism of his boss, “Guru.”

Of course, they work well together, but something goes awry during a mission in Serbia. Flashforward to the year 2000, at which point Honey vigilantly raises her daughter Nadia, hoping Guru still assumes she is dead. Apparently, he does not, judging from the hit squad he sends after her and Nadia. Now estranged from Guru, Bunny sets out to save her, despite his injured feelings. For backup, he recruits his former comrade Chacko and their old pal Ludo, who still works in Guru’s evil IT department.

Much like Citadel: Diana, Honey Bunny follows the pursuit of a vaguely defined “black box” item that would jeopardize the world order if it fell into the wrong hands. Throughout the early episodes, Menon and co-writers Raj & DK (the filmmaking team that also helmed all six episodes) try to be cagey about which hands would be the wrong ones. Of course, we can also expect a mole in Citadel, right?

Diana was the ultra-chic Citadel spinoff. Honey Bunny is its gritty counterpart. In fact, the Macguffins might be too similar, even though they take place during different time frames. However, Honey Bunny has some of the best action sequences, especially the climactic shootout. Instead of big set-piece spectacles, its fight scenes are down and dirty, executed on the mean streets.

Samantha [Ruth Prabhu] somehow finds the right balance between Honey’s vulnerability and butt-kicking action cred. She also has decent, but not extraordinary chemistry with Varun Dhawan’s Bunny. Kay Kay Menon is entertainingly ruthless as Guru, while Simran Bagga is intriguingly mysterious as his mastermind rival, Zooni.

Citadel: Diana, on Prime

Imagine if Thrush won and U.N.C.L.E. lost—or if you are a Get Smart fan, CONTROL lost and KAOS won (but in retrospect, doesn’t “CONTROL” sound more sinister than “KAOS?”). Regardless, Citadel has fallen as viewers of the mothership series fully understand. As far as their deep-cover Italian mole knows, she is the final Citadel survivor in showrunner Gina Gardini’s six-episode Italian spinoff, Citadel: Diana, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

Diana Cavalieri never quits. That is why Gabriele, her Citadel handler, approached her, just as she uncovered evidence of high-level government involvement in the explosion that killed her parents. Of course, that was only part of the story. It was really the Italian branch of Manticore, Citadel’s nemesis, who was pulling the strings. With his guidance, she attracts the attention of Manticore recruiters, pretending to be the good guys to entice her.

Gabriele kept Cavalieri’s cover so deep, only he knew of her existence. Obviously, that was a blessing since Citadel fell. That day was a triumph for Manticore across the world, except in Italy, because the heir apparent was killed during the raid. Now, Edo Zani stands to succeed his father, ruthlessly elegant arms dealer Ettore Zani, if anything is left. Manticore France and Manticore Germany have sanctioned Manticore Italy, punishing Ettore for his unsuccessful power play for control of the European market.

The last Zani heir has ideas about reclaiming their “rightful” position. He also starts noticing Cavalieri, both professionally and personally, which will be useful in her quest for vengeance. However, given the nature of the missions they undertake together, his attention might not be so great for her general day-to-day survival.

The action set pieces of Citadel: Diana lack the bombastic spectacle of the original Citadel anchor series, but the spinoff is considerably more stylish, which probably stands to reason. It is Italian, after all. These spies are catwalk ready, but Cavalieri’s asymmetrical coif is weirdly distracting. It seems like it would require too much maintenance for a field operative.

Regardless, Gardini and series director Arnaldo Catinari make the most of the visually intriguing locations. Through the use of some judicious but eye-popping CGI, the series also creates stunning images of the Duomo di Milano in ruins, which in this world, Manticore Italy cynically destroyed as distraction.

A Very Royal Scandal, on Prime

Prince Andrew’s Epstein scandal interview will be taught in PR seminars for decades to come as a text book case illustrating why it is often best to keep your client silent and out of the media. The Prince thought it would be a great opportunity to air his “alibis,” but the world widely considered it an absolute train-wreck. As the Queen’s private secretary puts it, Andrew’s sit-down with BBC2’s Emily Maitlis turned into a real “dog’s dinner.” Yet, the once popular Royal should only blame himself, at least judging from director Julian Jarrold’s three-part A Very Royal Scandal, which premieres today on Prime Video.

At the start of the mini-series, it sure looks like it is good to be a Prince, who always enjoys the finest of everything. Unfortunately, money is tight, because of debts run up by the Duke of York and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, with whom he still cohabitates. However, what his mummy and the UK government will not pay for, his pal Jeffrey Epstein usually covers. Yes, that Epstein—the sex-trafficking sex-offender, whom the Prince met him through his childhood friend Ghislaine Maxwell.

Frankly, rumors swirled regarding the Prince’s relationship with Epstein for years. However, they exploded in the British tabloid press when one of Epstein’s victims released a rather candid photo of her and Andy, looking randy. Andrew and his private secretary Amanda Thirsk want to tell his side of the story, but Sir Andrew Young, the Queen’s private secretary and de facto head of the Royal’s private secretarial service cautions otherwise. However, as criticism mounts, Prince Andrew defiantly agrees to an on-camera sit-down with Maitlis, with the understanding the BBC will analyze the photo he argues has been deep-faked.

As everyone knows, the Prince’s interview made Frost-Nixon look like a triumph, comparing to the cringe of Whitney Houston’s “crack is whack.” However, Jarrold and screenwriter Jeremy Brock make it clear what really undermined Andrew was his arrogance, tone-deafness, and lack of compassion for Epstein’s victims. Perhaps for legal reasons, there is a good deal of ambiguity regarding what exactly the Prince did and did not do, as well as how much he knew and when he knew it. Regardless, it is clearly awkward to explain how you met your sex offender friend. Obviously, it was beyond the Prince’s rather limited abilities.

Still, Michael Sheen’s portrayal is surprisingly interesting because he so fully exposes the Royal’s insecurities and resentments. Sheen also leans into his protectiveness of his daughters and the complex emotional entanglements binding him to Ferguson, even after their bitter, Palace-mandated divorce. Instead of evil or scary, he comes across like a weak and pathetic cry-baby, who was poorly served by his lifelong insulation from responsibility.

On the other hand, Maitlis emerges as a one-note caricature: a hard-charging crusader for the truth, who simply cannot help rolling her eyes at dissembling answers, especially when they come from Conservative politicians (but no such outrage for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Semitism). Frankly, Ruth Wilson largely relies on two huge Princess Leia-like hair-curlers to humanize Maitlis, who arguably nearly matches the Prince’s arrogance, in her own way.

Batman: Caped Crusader, on Prime

There have been a lot of different Batmans, ranging from the Adam Westverse Batman to the Dark Knights of Christopher Nolan and Frank Miller. This Batman of this 1930s looking cartoon-universe probably “knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.” He is still very much the Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne fans know and love, but several regular supporting characters have been altered for dramatic and/or other purposes in creator Bruce Timm’s 10-part animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, which premieres tomorrow on Prime.

For a lot of fans, the absence of a Robin is maybe goods news. Regardless, the gist of Batman’s backstory remains the same, but he is not yet working cooperatively with Commissioner Gordon. He is still considered a vigilante, whom the conspicuously corrupt mayor wants behind bars. However, crooked cops like Dets. Flass and Bullock clearly are not up to the challenge.

Since those two are on the take, new crime lord (or rather lady) Oswalda Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, only has Batman to worry about. Rather colorfully, Timm and co-writer Jase Ricci reconceive the supervillain as ribald torch-singer in the Sophie Tucker tradition. Minnie Driver’s voice perfectly positions her as the psychotic Auntie Mame of super-villainy. It is the rare case of gender-swapping that comes across as clever rather than unnecessarily forced.

In fact, Timm and Ricci nicely balance the usual suspects with some fresher choices, like Oenomania and Clayface. The latter’s civilian alter-ego, horror movie actor Basil Karlo, is appropriately given features reminiscent of Boris Karloff and Peter Cushing.

However, Greg Rucka’s script for “And Be a Villain,” directed by Matt Peters, does not embrace the 1930’s Universal monster aesthetic to the extent Timm did in his 2014 short film, Batman: Strange Days, the unofficial, retroactive pilot for Caped Crusader. In a mere three minutes, Timm stylishly created a “Batman vs. Frankenstein,” using Hugo Strange and his “Monster Man” as surrogates for the infamous mad scientist and his creation.

Arguably, Strange Days, is more visually arresting than anything in the series, but the Film Noir, vintage Warner Brother gangster movie world-building hospitably suits this alternate Batman. Timm and company also deviate from standard lore in unexpected but not disrespectful ways when they introduce Selina Kyle in “Kiss of the Catwoman” and Harley Quinn in “The Stress of Her Regard.” Again, Christina Ricci and Jamie Chung are shrewdly cast as the respective super-femme fatales.

In between, the fourth episode, “Night of the Hunters,” boldly ends on an ironically pessimistic note. Even though Batman averts tragedy, some of the bad guys are empowered. “Night Ride” also takes a risk breaking format to allow for a supernatural storyline, without a Scooby-Doo explanation. Linton Midnite is a cool and intriguingly morally ambiguous addition to the “Caped Crusader” universe. Voice performer Cedric Yarbrough brings a lot to later episodes, both as Midnite and Rupert Thorne, the mob boss trying to corrupt DA Arthur Dent, who appropriately looks and sounds a lot like Norman Mailer.

The 1% Club, on Prime and Later Fox

After Who Wants to Be a Millionaire the set design for gameshows has gotten fancier and flashier, but the questions have gotten steadily dumber. Take for instance The Wheel, if it still streams on Peacock after NBC canceled it. This one has all the sweeping spotlights, but the questions are a little different. An ability to recognize patterns will help you quite a bit if you are a contestant on the new American adaptation of creators Andy Auerbach & Dean Nabarro’s The 1% Club, which premieres Thursday on Prime Video, before later airing on Fox, starting June 3^rd.

Charles Van Doren had his issues, but he was a learned man, so it would be interesting to see him compete on a show like this. The set-up ought to outrage all those critics of The Bell Curve, because it presupposes a distribution of intelligence, but, of course, it makes no demographic assumptions therein. 100 contestants are given $1,000 to risk on a series of questions. According to statistical surveys, 90% of Americans answer the first question correctly. The next question should have an 80% success rate, steadily diminishing down to the titular 1%, for a share of a pot that could potentially be as large as $100,000.

These are not trivia questions or applied mathematics. There might be a bit of reading comprehension involved in early questions, but most depend on logic and the analysis of sequences. You could well be smarter than the participants, but you really have to watch. If you merely half-listen while multi-tasking, you will not see the sequences or spatial relationships the problems refer to.

This is somewhat different concept for a gameshow that clearly worked quite well in the UK, where the franchise originated, before spawning international editions in Australia, Israel, Germany, France, and now the USA (with future editions coming soon to Ukraine and several other nations). Evidently, there is an app that will allow viewers to play along. Yet, it doesn’t seem like it would be as fun to watch with others as Fox’s The Floor, which probably had most of its viewers blurting out answers as soon the images flashed across the screen.

Red Queen, on Prime

Antonia Scott is literally too smart for her own good. She is not merely a socially awkward detective, like Sherlock or Monk. When she starts thinking too rapidly, her brain essentially overheats, causing weird hallucinations. It is all the fault of a shadowy crime-fighting organization, whose initial training turned out to be somewhat overzealous. Not surprisingly, she is always reluctant to accept a new case from “Mentor,” the mastermind who recruited her, but she can be begged and cajoled into investigating particularly urgent and awful crimes. A recent string of high-profile abductions (and likely murders) will qualify in creator Amaya Muruzabal’s Spanish series Red Queen (a.k.a. Reina Roja), which premieres today on Prime Video.

As the series opens, the unstable Scott is considering multiple suicide options. She has had a rough go of it. In addition to her visions of angry monkeys, her husband lies comatose in the hospital, with zero prognosis for recovery. It will be the hulking, wheezing Det. Jon Guttierez’s job to convince her to venture out into the field again. As a devout, gay Catholic Basque who snitched on corrupt fellow cops back in Bilbao, Guttierez was never really accepted by the Madrid force. However, his outsider status will give some credit with Scott. That still doesn’t mean she will be friendly. She is the organization’s designated “Red Queen” for Spain, after all.

One business titan’s grown offspring was brutally murdered and another mogul’s privileged daughter has been kidnapped. Madrid’s conventional cops are investigating like it is a conventional case, but Mentor knows it requires Scott’s “out-of-the-box” thinking. It will be Guttierez’s job to drive her, run interference, and generally keep her alive, all of which get trickier when the sinister “Ezequiel” realizes they are on his trail.

The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, on Prime Video

For years, the setting of James White’s Sector General novels was science fiction’s classic space hospital. It probably still should be. His long-standing series was known for its pacifism and tolerant depictions of alien species, yet compared to sex and identity politics that dominate recent “trendy” sf writing, White’s books probably seem rather old-fashioned to many editors (but not necessarily to readers). This space hospital clearly reflects current trends. Nevertheless, viewers can easily see how White’s concept might have been cannibalized in creator Cirocco Dunlap’s animated series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, which premieres today on Prime Video.

Friends since med school, Dr. Klak and Dr. Sleech (try not to call her “Screech,” that’s another show) are hot-shot surgeons at a space hospital that takes all varieties of aliens, no matter how weird. Dr. Klak suffers from debilitating anxiety that her own mother fuels to generate fodder for her pop psychology books. Sleech is recklessly confident, both professionally and in her promiscuous hook-ups, but they are platonically devoted to each other, when they are not arguing like grumpy old men.

In episode one, Klak and Sleech discover a parasitic brain worm that eats anxiety. Unfortunately for Klak, if the worm grows too large, it can burst the host’s skull. Nevertheless, it seems like such a promising avenue of research, they keep it in containment, violating all kinds of laws and protocols. Their experiments will continue throughout the first eight-episode season, while they also navigate dysfunctional romantic relationships.

Klak still carries a torch for the spider-like Dr. Azel, who is chief of surgeon at the number one hospital in the galaxy, thanks its highly compromising corporate sponsorship. Meanwhile, despite her aversion to commitment, Sleech can never quite disentangle herself from Dr. Plowp, a bird-like empath, who is feeling especially needy, because of his species’ late-adult puberty.

There is a lot of sexual content and slapstick fluid splattering, but it is not as exhaustingly and self-indulgently edgy as the aggressively abrasive Hazbin Hotel. Frankly, most of the sex scenes in Second Best are visual gags built around bizarre alien anatomy. Like most successful sitcoms, just about all of the characters are unlikable and annoying, but that is what Dunlap and the writers derive humor from. We can laugh at all of Sleech’s humiliations, because she has them coming and we groan at Klak’s Charlie Brown self-sabotaging, because she just cannot help herself.

However, relentlessly sarcastic Nurse Tup gets the most laughs, by far, thanks equally to her mordantly observant dialogue and Natasha Lyonne’s sly voice-over performance. Kieran Culkin also outdoes the Crane Brothers expressing Plowp’s neuroses. However, the voices of Keke Palmer and Stephanie Hsu are not particularly memorable as Klak and Sleech.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith, on Prime

The most dangerous weapons these two agents wield are not guns or explosives. No, their whiny, neurotic personalities are far more lethal. Weaker people will yearn for the sweet release of death after a mere five minutes listening to them bicker and kvetch. Supposedly, this series is based on the 2005 Doug Liman film about super-spy assassins, who did not realize they were in the same business, but it is hard to tell from all the changes that were made. This time, the couple knowingly agrees to work undercover together and they might also leave the clandestine service together, feet first, in creators Donald Glover & Francesca Sloane’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which premieres today on Prime Video.

Perhaps you would hope two rookie agents would talk to a live person before killing people for their new agency, but not “John and Jane Smith.” Admittedly, Jane has sociopathic tendencies, so there’s that. Judging from the computer-automated interviews that dominate the first half of the initial episode, “First Date,” the Smiths were matched up because they both like pasta.

Obviously, those are not their real names. It is also clear there are other Smiths out there, like the ones in the prologue, whose fate suggests Smiths have a rather short shelf-life. Regardless, the new couple meshes reasonably okay. Initially, she thinks they should keep it strictly professional, but that caution will not last long.

The Smiths get three mission failures before its curtains for them. Unfortunately, they pick up a quick fail in episode two, “Second Date,” when they are ordered to abduct Eric Shane, a shady Epstein-like real estate tycoon, played by Johnn Turturro. In fact, several of the notable guest stars are the best thing about the Glover & Sloane take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Turturo is both creepy and dryly mordant as Shane. Similarly, Ron Perlman terrific in both funny and sad ways, subverting his larger-than-life image. as Toby Hellinger, a broken-down former wheeler-dealer, whom the Smiths are supposed to “save.”

Probably, Wagner Moura and Parker Posey should have been the stars of the series, because they really liven things up in their two appearances as the “Other Smiths,” who offer the new Smiths some career advice after a chance encounter. The Other Smiths do not waste our time with navel-gazing or pseudo-hip jargon-laden banter, because life is too short, particularly for their targets.

If you thought the Pitt-Jolie movie needed more talky examination of gender-based relationship expectations and less action, than maybe this Mr. & Mrs. Smith is for you. Everyone else will probably put their hands over their ears and start yelling “Shut up! Shut up!” They say the sign of good relationship is an ability to be silent together. Regrettably, the new Smiths never get there.

Fittingly, Perlman’s episode, “Do You Want Kids,” features the best action sequences of the series, wherein the Smiths drag the degenerate Hellinger huffing and wheezing his way through the picturesque towns surrounding Lake Como. Over the course of the series, there are a further three or four well-executed fight scenes interspersed amid the overwritten dialogue, but the talking never stops for long.

Hazbin Hotel, on Prime

Apparently, even in Hell, nobody really believes in criminal rehabilitation. Charlie Morningstar is the exception. She can believe whatever she wants, because being Satan’s daughter technically makes her Princess of Hell. Unfortunately, nobody takes her earnest progressive reformist agenda seriously in Vivienne Medrano’s animated series Hazbin Hotel, which premieres tomorrow on Prime.

Every year, warring angels from Heaven sweep down on Hell to annihilate the (already dead) overflowing ranks of damned sinners and the demons who hold their souls in thrall. It is a horror show Morningside would like to avoid. Her vision is the “Happy Hotel,” where she will help rehab sinners, so they can climb that stairway back up to Heaven. Few believe it is possible and even fewer are willing to mend their wayward ways.

In addition to her girlfriend, Morningside has the “help” of Alastor, the “Radio Demon,” a powerful and mysterious overlord. The former 1920s radio star sounds somewhat like Rudy Vallee’s voice broadcast through his megaphone, which is a clever device. When he was mortal, Alastor was a New Orleans native, so he has good taste in music. Supposedly, he offered his services out of boredom, but it is pretty clear the demon has his own nefarious agenda.

One episode of Hazbin Hotel can be funny in a naughty, snarky kind of way, but the dark attitude quickly becomes exhausting. The barrage of crude sexual comments and explicit cursing simply does not wear well over time. One of the hotel’s first reluctant residents is “Angel Dust,” a gay adult film star—and boy, do they go there, a lot.

Hazbin also happens to be a musical, featuring a Broadway-style number in every episode. However, they cannot compete with Satan’s showstopper in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The animation is colorful and lively, but the personalities viewers must spend time with are abrasive and/or annoying, especially including Morningstar. It really is the characters, not the setting, considering the superior charm of the animated feature Hell and Back. By far, the best voice performance is that of the great Keith David (who can make anything sound interesting) as Husk, the hotel bartender.