From Harry and Meghan’s Polo to Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano in No Good Deed, here’s what to watch in December

What else is the holiday for if not watching dystopian survival horror thrillers?

That was apparently Netflix’s thinking, because Squid game returns with its highly anticipated second season on December 26th.

Binge seems to be more in the spirit of the season, with the long-awaited Gavin & Stacey: The Finale comes out the same day.

Also this month, Virgin River is somehow back with season six, such as it is The ultimatum: get married or move onwith its third season.

As for the new stuff?

I’ll tell you something about…

Polo – Netflix, available now

First it was Formula 1, then golf, and now we have a dramatic Netflix documentary about polo, aka the newest rich-people sport that you’ve never thought about and will soon know an incredible amount about.

If you’re wondering who in the world would make a series about a decidedly high-profile endeavor that’s been losing popularity for years, the answer is: the royals.

Polo is the latest foray into documentary filmmaking by Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as part of their deal with Netflix in 2020 to “create content that informs but also gives hope.”

Unfortunately, polo inspires more of a feeling of hopelessness than anything else.

Meghan and Harry do make brief appearances on the show, but their five-part series is primarily about a handful of wealthy professional polo players in the United States.

They may not prioritize their horses’ three basic needs over the desire to compete, they may not be able to offer reassuring words about the importance of their welfare, or they may not even know all of their horses’ names. But they know how to play polo with it.

And they must take advantage if they want to have a chance of winning the 2024 US Open in Wellington, Florida.

If all of this makes you uncomfortable, it won’t surprise you to hear that “Polo” was panned by critics and viewers alike. Part of this will be due to the ongoing racism that taints everything Meghan touches, part of this will be due to polo being (rightly) perceived as a sport only the privileged can afford, and part this will be due to animal welfare considerations.

I recommend it primarily because of the latter two concerns.

Polo offers unprecedented insight into the use of horses for entertainment at a time when public acceptance of equestrian sports – known as the social license to operate – has hit a significant low following the Charlotte Dujardin scandal earlier this year.

That’s not necessarily what Harry and Meghan wanted us to know about Polo, which aimed to “break the stereotype (Polo is) exclusively for the rich and famous.” But it is the greatest insight.

And while no one catches fire in polo (the same cannot be said in Drive to Survive), this rich man’s sport is also a breeding ground for intense and sometimes comical hypermasculinity and interpersonal drama.

For fans of: Formula 1: Urge for survival, full throttle, last chance U

No Good Deed – Netflix, available now

In the black comedy No Good Deed, empty nesters Paul (Ray Romano) and Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) must sell the Spanish Hollywood-style dream home in which they raised their children because they desperately need the money.

Three couples are seriously interested.

There’s JD Campbell (Luke Wilson), the unemployed soap actor who is cheated on by his opportunistic wife Margo (Linda Cardellini) – with none other than Katherine Moennig from “The L Word”, who plays a similarly distant gay man here called Gwen .

Then there is the expectant Carla (Teyonah Parris) and her newlywed husband Dennis (OT Fagbenle), her mother’s son.

And finally, Leslie (Abbi Jacobsen) and Sarah (Poppy Liu), a young, anxious queer couple in the IVF trenches.

Every couple has ulterior motives and secrets – none more so than Paul and Lydia. Oh, and the house they’re selling looks more like a nightmare than a dream.

And that particular combination of stacked A-list names is everything – as is the way some have been cast as characters we’d expect (Moennig as a Shane McCutcheon-type), while others appear as characters we’d never thought that they would embody her (Cardellini). as a heartless housewife).

At the center of it all, Kudrow and Romano’s different styles of humor come together in such a pleasing way that it begs the question of why it took so long for these ’90s sitcom legends to act alongside each other.

For fans of: The Perfect Couple, The Watcher, Knives Out

The Secret Life of Animals – Apple TV+, December 18th

Move past David Attenborough, there’s a new classy English nature documentary narrator on the scene.

Actor Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) directs this 10-part documentary that follows 77 different animal species in 24 countries.

Filmed over three years in collaboration between the BBC Studios Natural History Unit and Apple TV+, The Secret Lives of Animals reveals the extraordinary things creatures do to survive – some of which have never been captured on film before became.

Each episode of this delightful series focuses on the key challenges animals face in the wild, from the dangers that come with leaving home for the first time to finding food, finding friends, and growing older.

Much of it (flying fish? lizards that can walk on water?) has to be seen to be believed.

In the moments when Mother Nature isn’t particularly kind, Bonneville’s gentle tones are a grounding presence. In other cases, his narrative style is more humorous (think: “When it comes to a basilisk showdown, the bigger the better”).

And of course, the cinematography is a visual feast, making this series the ultimate culinary delight and audience favorite.

For fans of: Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Born to be Wild

Douglas is canceled – ABC iview, available now

Three days ago, British news anchor and “bloody old dad” Douglas Bellows (Hugh Bonneville, a big month for him, as it turns out) made an extremely sexist joke at a wedding.

He can’t remember what it was, but he’s sure it was harmless.

Unfortunately, someone at the wedding tweeted about it. And even though they only have 300 followers, his co-host Madeleine Crow (Karen Gillan) retweeted it to her 2.3 million followers, presumably in his defense… Unless?

Douglas is Canceled is the work of Steven Moffat, the veteran television writer best known for his work on the hugely popular Dr. Who revival from 2005 is known.

Throughout his career, Moffat has been plagued by comments that he was in conflict with Dr. Who was only successful because of the foundations laid by his predecessor Russell T. Davies.

The addition of so many Drs. Who alumni – from Gillan to Alex Kingston to Douglas’ deliciously cynical wife Sheila – are a wonderful bonus.

At the end of the first episode, you’ll find yourself clicking “Next” as quickly as possible. Because what the hell is Madeleine up to? And what the hell was Douglas’ joke?

For fans of: Austin, Dr. Who, Scoop

Elton John: Never Too Late – Disney+, available now

Ahead of his final North American show at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 2022, legendary British singer-songwriter Elton John takes us on a journey back in time and through his rise to superstardom more than 50 years ago in this definitive documentary.

Using a mix of archival interviews, footage and images, as well as original animation, the film tells everything from how John found his long-time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, to his decision to come out, to the period between 1970 and 1975, as he released 13 albums.

Seven of these albums reached number one on the Billboard charts, cementing his status as a rock star. But at the same time, those chart positions (along with “Sex and Cocaine”) were everything he lived for.

Directed by John’s husband David Furnish (who also produced Rocketman) and RJ Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry), Elton John: Never Too Late doesn’t shy away from this dark time or any other in the history of the to explore singer’s life.

Of course there is plenty of light to counteract this darkness.

How could it be otherwise when telling the story of a man who has managed to reinvent himself again and again over the decades?

For fans of: Rocketman, Martha, Steve! (Martin) A documentary in 2 parts