The Nevers,The Serpent and Them

   My Top Three This Week

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. Things are slowly opening up. Spring will soon be moving into Summer and there are some great new movies and series just around the corner as well. I am trying to weed out the bad ones so you don't have to and below are some of the ones I feel compelled to share with all of you.

1) The Nevers on HBO Max is the perfect series for now. From creator Joss Whedon, this story follows a group of women in Victorian London who have been "touched" which is the term for an event that happened that gave a population of women special powers that differ from one to the other. Many have been cast aside by society as pariahs while some have become sideshow freaks in houses of ill repute. They are also being hunted by a mysterious scientist who is using them for experiments. But two young women are trying to save them and keep them protected . Amalie True (Laura Donnelly) and Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) have been operating under the guise of an orphanage that allows all the touched women a safe haven but there is also a serial killer Maladie on the loose which does not endear the women to society. From the creator of Buffy , I expect a great story.

2) The Serpent streaming on Netflix is a harrowing true story of a  1970s killer  known as the Serpent because of his ability to slither out of the authorities' clutches. Charles Sobhraj , known by many names, posed as a gem dealer with his French-Canadian girlfriend Marie-Andrée Leclerc and his henchman Ajay are believed to have murdered over 12 people throughout Bangkok, Nepal and India. When two Dutch backpackers go missing a Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg becomes obsessed with finding their killer.  We are introduced to the missing/murdered through a series of time jumps as they meet Charles and he drugs them and steals their passports and murders them. The actors here are so great it feels like a d0cumentary with Tahar Rahim as Charles and Jenna Coleman as Marie as well as Billy Howle as the tenacious Knippenberg.

3) Them a Prime Original is not for the feint-hearted. This anthology series first season is a mixed genre of horror, drama and history. It is 1950s East Compton and a young black couple with two young girls move into an all white neighborhood fleeing from Jim Crow country.Lucky  Emory (Deborah Ayorinde) and her husband Henry ( Ashley Thomas) want a better life when they move to East Compton but all they find is evil both literal and supernatural. From their arrival, neighbors start a pact to make them move by any means. But there is something evil rooted in the house that is endangering the whole family. There are some great actors in this series and the cinematography and wardrobe are spectacular. Thomas and Avorinde are heartbreaking  and Alison Pill is at her dead-eyed  best and gives a spot on performance as Betty Wendell.