It’s finally here, the week HBO Max becomes just Max … yay? It’s promising in theory, but we’ll see how it shakes out when Warner Bros. Discovery flips the switch on Tuesday, May 23. Besides just changing name and color, Max will also premiere new series and movies at launch—read all about ‘em in our New Max, New Max Shows preview.
This week’s What to Watch recs include the new Seth Rogen/Rose Byrne comedy Platonic, the finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Arnold Schwarzenegger Netflix series FUBAR, Hulu thriller The Clearing, and Indy 500 racing action. Spend Memorial Day Weekend in front of the tube!
Jump to your preferred streaming service
What’s premiering this week
Platonic | Apple TV+ | Comedy, drama
Series premiere, Wednesday, May 24: Neighbors (and let’s not forget Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) stars Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are together again in Platonic, a 10-episode Apple TV+ comedy. Former childhood BFFs Sylvia (Byrne) and Will (Rogen) rekindle a relationship they see as platonic and fun, but their friends and family recognize as “weird and destructive.” Platonic veers wildly from physical comedy to introspective drama, but Byrne and Rogan are so effortless together that it hardly matters. Three of 10 episodes stream on May 24.
Coverage begins Sunday, May 28, 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT: Live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s the 2023 Indianapolis 500, the “greatest spectacle in racing” (the Fast & Furious franchise aside). Serious race fans will want to splurge on a Peacock subscription because the streamer will carry all of the practice runs and qualifying events leading up to the main race, whereas NBC (and Spanish-language channel UNIVERSO) will only broadcast the Indy 500 itself on Sunday. Shake and bake!
What to watch on Netflix this week
FUBAR | Netflix | Comedy, drama
Series premiere, Thursday, May 25: The long-in-the-works Arnold Schwarzenegger Netflix project is finally here, and it’s FUBAR (in title, not execution). Here, he plays a CIA operative who’s about to retire after “one last job,” only to learn that his daughter (Monica Barbaro, Top Gun: Maverick) has also been in the agency for years, and neither knew about the other’s spy game. Can they put aside their familial issues and work together? For the sake of comedy (and plentiful action), probably not. All eight episodes of FUBAR drop on May 25.
Blood & Gold | Netflix | Action, comedy
Movie premiere, Friday, May 26: In 1945, German army deserter Heinrich (Robert Massar) and farmer Elsa (Marie Hacke) become embroiled in a battle between Nazis and villagers over a hidden treasure of Jewish gold. He needs to find his daughter, she wants to get her brother back from the Nazis, hence an unlikely alliance is formed. Blood & Gold, from acclaimed German director Peter Thorwarth (Blood Red Sky), is an action-packed thriller with darkly comic undertones and full-tilt Tarantino Grindhouse attitude—in other words, there’s way more blood than gold.
What to watch on Hulu this week
Season 5 premiere, Wednesday, May 24: It’s the final ride for EZ (J.D. Pardo), Angel (Clayton Cardenas), and the rest of the Mayans motorcycle club; the 10-episode fifth season will be the last for the Sons of Anarchy sequel series. Not only does new Mayans leader EZ have to deal with an impending war with the Sons of Anarchy and the wavering loyalty of his brother Angel, but there’s also a “rat” in the club who’s been informing on them to the Feds—so much drams in Santo Padre. Maybe Marcus (Emilio Rivera), who was also in SOA, will move on to another biker-gang cable series.
The Clearing | Hulu | Drama, thriller
Series premiere, Wednesday, May 24: A woman with a dark past (Teresa Palmer) works to take down a cult made up of creepily blonded children led by a malevolent matriarch (Miranda Otto). The Clearing, adapted from J.P. Pomare’s 2019 novel In the Clearing, is based on the real-life ’80s Australian cult “The Family” and tells the story in split timelines to haunting effect. Between the children’s Village of the Damned haircuts and the series’ serene-to-savage tonal shifts, The Clearing is as unsettling as it is riveting. Two of eight episodes stream on May 24.
What to watch on Prime Video this week
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | Prime Video | Comedy, drama
Series finale, Friday, May 26: The final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been a fun ride, thanks to new settings like The Gordon Ford Show and unexpected jumps forward in time, but it’s all over now for Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and Susie (Alex Borstein). The pair have spent most of that time in the future (spoiler) estranged, but showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, and the gods of comedy, wouldn’t dare end the series without a reconciliation … would they? So long, Mrs. Maisel.
Citadel | Prime Video | Drama, sci-fi
Season 1 finale, Friday, May 26: As one Prime Video original ends, another is just getting started, as Citadel is rumored to have been picked up for a second season. The company has already spent $300 million on it, so why not? The sci-fi spy thriller series is No. 1 on the Prime Video charts, there are a pair of international offshoots in production, and star Priyanka Chopra-Jonas is finally becoming known for something besides that Baywatch movie—Citadel can’t end now. At least give us one more season to figure out what the hell’s going on, Prime Video.
W2W wildcards of the week
Season 3 premiere, Monday, May 22: British crime drama Happy Valley moves from Netflix to Acorn TV for its third and final season (it’ll also be available on AMC+ and BBC America—relax, US viewers). Police Sgt. Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is on the verge of retirement, so of course there’s one last murder case to solve. The twist: All signs point to Tommy Lee Boyce (James Norton), a murderer and rapist who also happens to be her grandson’s father(!). Happy Valley episodes will be released weekly on Acorn TV, AMC+, and BBC America.
Influencer | Shudder | Drama, horror
Movie premiere, Friday, May 26: Popular social media personality Madison (Emily Tennant, Riverdale) tells her Instagram followers she’s having a blast in Thailand, but she’s really bored and lonely. Enter CW (Cassandra Naud, See), a free spirit who shows Emily all the best IG locales and parties. Things take a dark turn when CW brings Emily to an off-the-grid island and starts exhibiting Single White Female vibes. Influencer was written and directed by Kurtis David Harder, whose horror resumé includes V/H/S/94, Superhost, and Harpoon; proceed with caution.
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