The Best of Streaming This May
It’s a time of old favourites this month, with our experts recommending two new seasons - the second season of Alone Australia and the third season of Bluey - a Patricia Highsmith adaptation, and, following the hot new trend, an adaptation of a video game.
For a sadder hit of nostalgia, Edith Jennifer Hill has watched Quiet on Set, which casts a new light on old Nickelodeon favourites.
Rounding out the bunch is a new drama After the Party.
After the Party
After the Party is a morally complex psychological drama about accusations, abuse, and accountability that’s quickly become appointment viewing.
Robyn Malcolm is incendiary as Penny, a prickly high school biology teacher who opens the series by giving the boys in her class a frank lecture about the porn she’s finding on their phones. Shots fired.
Five years ago, at a boozy party, she publicly accused her husband Phil (Peter Mullan) - rightly? wrongly? - of a sex crime against a friend of their teenage daughter. This torpedoed their lives and lost Phil his teaching job, but also exposed the extent to which charismatic men will be given the benefit of the doubt, while women who persistently transgress behavioural norms will instead be punished.
Now Phil is back in town, as charming as ever, sliding back into his roles as teacher and father. Penny’s not letting it go as she pedals furiously around windy, moody Wellington, trying to get anyone to listen to her, no matter the cost. Tense flashbacks and unsettling shifting perspectives slowly flesh out the show’s queasy core, offering a nuanced account of trauma, denial, and memory.
This exceptional show, now streaming in Australia, has been developed in conjunction with the NZ Film Commission with a strong local voice but international distribution in mind. Global viewers with a love of difficult women have something to seriously look forward to.
Alone Australia Season Two
When SBS introduced Alone Australia last year, I was sceptical. How would it compare to international versions? However, season one surpassed my expectations. Set in the temperate rainforests of Tasmania (lutruwita), bushcraft educator Gina Chick emerged as the winner, making history as one of the few women to succeed.
Season two of Alone Australia is streaming and has started strong in the challenging climate of Te Waipounamu, South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Contestants now battle the abundance of sandflies and hunt feral red deer with bows and arrows.
Ripley
When we meet Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), he is a luckless grifter living off low-level cons. He has a stroke of luck when wealthy shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf (Kenneth Lonergan) sends him to Italy to bring his son Dickie (Johnny Flynn) home to America. However, once Tom arrives, he becomes obsessed with Dickie and his lifestyle. Tom kills Dickie and steals his identity.
Bluey Season Three
New and existing fans have lots to love with the three recent Bluey episodes. A collection of little specials/mini stories, Ghostbasket, The Sign, and Surprise! are a delight.
Fallout
Following the nuclear holocaust, many wealthy Americans have sought refuge in self-sustaining vaults, hiding themselves away from the wasteland above; 200 years later, and Lucy (Ella Purnell) from Vault 33, is forced to venture to the wasteland to track down her kidnapped father, Hank (Kyle Mclachlan).
The Most Memorable TV Shows Adapted from Video Games
The television has long been the conduit to video games. With the invention of the home console, suddenly a TV was not just for viewing shows. It was where you engaged with your Nintendo 64, your PlayStation 2, and so on. Of course, video games are often adapted by other mediums. We usually think of movies adapted from games, such as the successful “Super Mario Bros.” movie that came out recently or… the terrible “Super Mario Bros.” movie that came out in the ‘90s. Television, though, also turns those games into shows. Here are the most memorable shows adapted from video games.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
The Last of Us
Fallout
Scotland’s Video Game Pioneers to Feature in Major Exhibition
Scotland’s influential role in the world of video games will be celebrated in a major exhibition. The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh will host Game On, the largest showcase of its kind in the world, featuring 120 games, including world-famous Space Invaders and Super Mario.
One focus of the exhibition will be on the pioneering role of developers in Scotland, from manufacturing the ZX Spectrum computer in Dundee in the 1980s to becoming home to some of the world’s most innovative and influential game makers, including Rockstar North, creators of Grand Theft Auto.
Emerging Scottish talent such as Sad Owl Studios, whose game Viewfinder was awarded Best British Game at the Bafta Game Awards 2024, will also feature, and visitors can discover the important role Edinburgh studio 4J played in making Minecraft a global phenomenon.
Game On Exhibition
