Clockwise from top: The Last of Us, Warfare, Hacks, and Drop.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Everett Collection (Bernard Walsh /Universal Pictures, Murray Close/A24), Liane Hentscher/HBO, Kenny Laubbacher/Max
The theme of this week is a Jamie Lee Curtis special: trauma. Almost every title here has its characters wheeling and dealing in some nightmarish struggle. There’s the return of The Last of Us (needs no further explanation), a single mother on a ghoulish first date in Drop, the internet’s boyfriends fighting for their lives in Warfare, and Black Mirror putting a fresh batch of actors through the tech-inspired wringer. And you can’t forget all the chaos of The Pitt and the reveal of the pit (girl) in Yellowjackets. What a fun week.
In season two, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey continue to deal with the fallout from a zombie-fungus pandemic. They’re joined by new cast members including Kaitlyn Dever, Catherine O’Hara, and Jeffrey Wright, who reprises his role as Isaac Dixon from the video game that inspired this series. —Jen Chaney
After leaving the Scream franchise behind, director Christopher Landon is taking on an original horror-thriller. The premise is simple in theory, a nightmarish first date between a handsome man (Brandon Sklenar) and a young single mother (Meghann Fahy). The nightmare begins when Fahy’s Violet starts receiving air-dropped threats toward her kid and sister if she doesn’t do the mystery sender’s task, including to kill her date.
The excruciating terror of combat during the Iraq War is brought to the big screen with this movie from Alex Garland (Civil War) and veteran Ray Mendoza. Based on Mendoza’s experiences during 2006’s Battle of Ramadi, the story follows a platoon of U.S. Navy Seals as they move through insurgent territory. Here, the main focus is the devastation of modern warfare, but the ensemble cast includes many notable actors including Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter, Kit Connor, Charles Melton, and Reservation Dogs star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Mendoza. —Tolly Wright
Centered around John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “One to One” concerts, which took place at Madison Square Garden in 1972, this new documentary, directed by Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards, spotlights the married artists’ lives in New York during a tumultuous political time. While the movie works as an effective concert film, especially seen on a big screen, it is intercut with other archival footage and interviews to bring a fresh focus on Lennon and Ono’s personal struggles and fierce activism during this moment in time. —T.W.
How will Jean Smart’s prideful Deborah Vance react to last season’s surprising ultimatum? If Hacks has taught us anything, the answer is: Not well at all. Ava, played by Hannah Einbinder, is now the head writer on Deborah’s late-night talk show. The pressure is on, as the duo have to answer to execs, audiences, and rating demands while also being on extremely shaky ground with each other. Surely, that will produce some ample drama and comedy.
Charlie Brooker’s paranoiac anthology series returns with six new episodes. Among them: one where Rashida Jones recovers from a health scare with help from a high-tech company that controls part of her mind, a nightmare workplace drama involving a flavor developer at a chocolate company, and a sequel to season four’s Jesse Plemons–starring “USS Callister.” —J.C.
“The most therapeutic thing The Handmaid’s Tale could do right now is deliver a swan song in which handmaid turned revolutionary June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and her fellow women finally, after many attempts over six seasons, overturn the government that stole their bodily autonomy without even a hushed whisper of remorse. But The Handmaid’s Tale has never been therapeutic …”
Streaming on Hulu; read Chaney’s full review here.
Rami Malek is the titular amateur, a CIA analyst who forcefully pivots to become a field operative to find those responsible for his wife’s (Rachel Brosnahan) death. Laurence Fishburne co-stars as Malek’s mentor.
A hit in Canada that feels like a cross between Schitt’s Creek and Rutherford Falls, North of North stars Anna Lambe as Siaja, a young mother reinventing herself in her small Arctic town. The comedy, from a creative team that includes Reservation Dogs alumni, centers Siaja’s relationships with her mother, daughter, and ex-husband. —Roxana Hadadi
You may not be in the desert, but when Lady Gaga gets on that stage and says, “Dance or die,” you’ll still want to get up from your couch and dance. There’ll be streams on the festival’s YouTube channel from various stages all weekend, so along with Gaga, you’ll be able to watch sets from Missy Elliott, Green Day, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, and more. Check out the full schedule here.
After 15 stressful hours, it’s finally time for Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) to clock out from his ER shift. Honestly, the break is probably necessary for all of us — how much blood, frustrating patients, teary moments, and bugs in the ear (!) can a viewer handle? Actually a lot. Season two better be admitted soon. —T.W.
➽ Get in your pit girl theories quickly, because the Yellowjackets season-three finale is here.
It’s double the Robert Pattinson! What more could you want?
➽ Also available to rent is Rungano Nyoni’s compelling drama On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the week of April 4.
