A lot of us have a subscription to whichever of the streaming services that exist now and binge as many series as we like. It’s an ingrained part of our contemporary culture and I feel its legacy will last despite its recent shortcomings. While eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, I go to Netflix or Amazon Prime on my TV or laptop and search through their catalogue for an intriguing series to watch. Sometimes they can be a miss, but others really make my entire life.

Baby (2018-2020)

platform: Netflix
country: Italy
language: Italian

Based on a true case, Baby follows Chiara Altieri (Benedetta Porcaroli) and Ludovica ‘Ludo’ Storti (Alice Pagani), two teenage girls at the affluent school Collodi in Rome who begin to lead double lives in prostitution. The subject matter is serious and initially, I was questioning how the series truly dealt with the topic. It should be a series that was average at best and one I disliked, considering the short length, lack of development in characters and narrative. Side plots follow other characters:

• Damiano Younes (Riccardo Mandolini) – a newly transferred student, son of a diplomat and becomes involved with Chiara
• Niccolo Govender Rossi (Lorenzo Zurzolo) – his messy personal life involves Chiara and track coach Monica, Damiano’s step-mother
• Camilla Govender Rossi (Chabeli Sastre Gonzalez) – Niccolo’s sister and Chiara’s slowly estranging best friend
• Fabio Fedelli (Brando Pacitto) – Chiara and Camilla’s best friend who deals with his sexuality
• Brando De Sanctis (Mirko Trovato) – Niccolo’s best friend, school bully at Collodi and has an identity crisis
• Claudio Fiorenzi/’Fiore’ (Giuseppe Maggio) – A shady businessman and eventually Ludo and Chiara’s pimp

Due to early controversy, the first season was cut from eight to six episodes, a choice which remained for the next two seasons. Perhaps this decision let the series down in terms of there being little development that was convincingly moving the story forward. I want to point out that some aspects of representing the protagonists’ venture into a dangerous world should’ve been more carefully done. But over the course of 3 seasons, I found the series to be mature and morally sound with characters facing consequences for their actions, including legal repercussions. The whole prostitution arc also shows how Chiara and Ludo both become entangled with it and how it affects them individually, leading to realisations of manipulation and addiction. The tone is dark, the cinematography is sleek and the music is a genre I’ve not heard elsewhere.

‘Baby’ proved to be something different and still remains one of the most unique shows I’ve seen. It was a tough watch at times and evoked some stronger emotions by the series’ conclusion.

Control Z (2020-2022)

platform: Netflix
country: Mexico
language: Spanish

A Mexican teen drama series, ‘Control Z’ follows a group of students at the National College who become victims of a mysterious hacker:

• Isabela de la Fuente (Zión Moreno) – a popular girl at the school who is outed as transgender
• Pablo García (Andrés Baida) – Isabela’s boyfriend who is revealed to be having an affair with another (mysterious) female classmate
• Gerardo ‘Gerry’ Granda (Patricio Gallardo) – a tough and aggressive bully exposed for watching gay pr0n
• Alejandra ‘Alex’ Salomone (Samantha Acuña) – an openly lesbian student who’s relationship with her biology teacher is exposed
• Raúl León (Yankel Stevan) – the son of wealthy parents, his father is revealed to be a fraud
• Natalia Alexander (Macarena García Romero) – once the organiser of a school fundraiser, only to be exposed as keeping the money for herself to buy luxury items

Once their secrets are revealed, several troubles in their relationships ensue. The protagonist Sofía ‘Sofí’ Herrera (Ana Valeria Becerril) is a girl with exceptional observation skills and attempts to discover the hacker’s identity with the help of new student and friend Javier Williams (Michael Ronda). After ‘Baby’ had officially ended and I was searching for similar shows, some people had recommended this one on Reddit. The story and characters had some depth to them and figuring out the hacker’s identity and motivation was intriguing. As the series lasted three seasons, the story remained consistent with a new problem faced by the characters each time, courtesy of the hacker.

There were some loose ends like ‘Baby’ had and some moments which, admittedly, were more weird than anything. But it was still a fun series to follow with a creative premise.

Young Royals (2021-present)

platform: Netflix
country: Sweden
language: Swedish

Another teen/young adult series, ‘Young Royals’ is one I regret putting off watching for no particular reason. The series follows Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding), the youngest son of the Swedish Royal Family, who transfers to Hillerska Academy after a controversy. There, he meets Simon Eriksson (Omar Rudberg), a fellow student and chorister for the school and a rocky but romantic relationship develops. We also meet the supporting characters:

• August Horn (Malte Gårdinger) – Wille’s 2nd cousin tasked with helping him settle down at the academy
• Felice Ehrencrona (Nikita Uggla) – a popular girl at Hillerska and childhood friend of Wilhelm
• Sara Eriksson (Frida Argento) – Simon’s sister who struggles with Asperger’s and ADHD

On a surface level, the series can come across as simple and perhaps even fan-fictionesque. But there’s so much I appreciate about ‘Young Royals’ as it exceeds beyond just another teen/young adult romantic drama.

Firstly, the fact that they allow the actors/characters to keep acne and other blemishes adolescents can have. As someone who suffered from really bad acne as a teenager, it was nice to see the show keep it real. The approach to the idea of royalty, something that is often considered very traditional, dealing with LGBTQIA+ themes is careful and is an interesting commentary, having me on the brink of tears at times. It led to the realisation that this is a topic that is relevant and how much we need to reconsider what is ‘traditional’ and ‘right’. With a third and final season confirmed, I’m hopeful in seeing how Wilhelm and Simon‘s story ends ❤

Heartstopper (2022-present)

platform: Netflix
country: United Kingdom
language: English

I was familiar with the graphic novels by Alice Oseman, thanks to one of my best friends and some booktubers. Once the series hit Netflix, I made the decision to watch it out of curiosity because there were already such great reviews of the source material. ‘Heartstopper’ might be one of the most wholesome series I’ve ever seen. It follows Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), a recently outed boy who is gay, and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), a popular rugby player and fellow classmate at Truham Grammar School, and the start of a blossoming relationship between them. The series is heart-warming in examining what it means to be comfortable with your sexuality and the platonic love found in friendships as well. ‘Heartstopper’ had instances which had me tearing up too, from the sad to the tender and endearing. The supporting characters are all loveable in their own right:

• Tao Xu (William Gao) – One of Charlie’s best friends, a cinephile (like me!)
• Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney) – Charlie and Tao’s friend who transfers to the local girls school, Higgs, after coming out as transgender
• Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan) – Another best friend of Charlie, Tao and Elle who is often quiet and seen reading books
• Tara Jones (Corinna Brown) – One of Elle’s new friends at Higgs
• Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell) – Tara’s girlfriend who also befriends Elle at Higgs

When I saw the news that this series has also been renewed (not just for a second season but a third too!), I was so so happy :’)

Invincible (2021-present)

platform: Amazon Prime
country: United States
language: English

For anyone who knows me personally, or read one of my previous blog entries, you will know how much I LOVE ‘Invincible’. I’m very much into superhero media and have been since I was a little girl. But recently, it appears that there are too many misses than hits in the genre from my observations. I haven’t seen many adult animated series and have not seen any animated superhero shows in a long time. A true breath of fresh air, ‘Invincible’ really proved to be something phenomenal.

The series follows Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), a teenager who’s father is the greatest superhero on Earth, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), and begins to develop powers of his own. While under his father’s tutelage, he encounters various other heroes as enemies wreak havoc on the planet and Mark’s values and relationships are put to the test.

The credit must go to the original comics first and foremost, though. A subversive, grounded, gritty take on superheroes while paying homage to its classic origins, the show has been an adventure so far. The talented ensemble voice cast is fantastic and the score composed by John Paesano is epic. I’m eagerly awaiting the second season, since I have been dealing with some type of withdrawal since season one ended. If new reports are correct, however, it will arrive sometime in 2023!

The Boys (2019-present)

platform: Amazon Prime
country: United States
language: English

Another subversive, dark, gritty addition to the new wave of superhero shows, ‘The Boys’ also plays with superhero tropes and hypothetical scenarios with the real world to show how…well, (using a word echoed in the series) ‘diabolical’ it would be. Superheroes are public figures, known as ‘Supes’ and work for Vought International, a corporation which promotes them. Hughie Campbell Jr. (Jack Quaid) is recruited into The Boys, a vigilante group working against Supes, by William ‘Billy’ Butcher (Karl Urban) after his girlfriend is killed by the Supe A-Train (Jessie T. Usher). Other members of The Boys include the group’s organiser Marvin/’Mother’s Milk’ (Laz Alonso), arms trafficker Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), a mute woman who was subject to experimentation and possesses powers of her own. Butcher, in particular, has a personal vendetta against Homelander (Anthony Starr), the most famous and powerful superhero of them all. Homelander, A-Train, along with Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligot), The Deep (Chase Crawford), Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), Translucent (Alex Hassell) and newest member Starlight (Erin Moriarty) form The Seven, the primary superhero group from Vought and a reference to DC’s Justice League.

There is so much nuance to the characters and the world they inhibit, making us rethink if we really need superheroes. They could be part of a greedy corporation. There are repercussions of damage caused to towns/cities and even people’s psyche during heroic pursuits. The dangers of people with immense power shifting to the wrong side of the moral compass is terrifying. But as a sucker for vigilante characters, The Boys as the group to challenge the status quo of this world is exhilarating. Homelander has become one of my favourite villains and Anthony Starr deserves an Emmy. I do feel the third season was *slightly* underwhelming in a few areas. But nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed the humour, violence, themes and character arcs and I’m curious to see season four.

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To Be Continued..?

These are the few web series which are currently among my favourites. I can only hope that those still ongoing will continue to remain top-tier in quality and therefore, remain in my heart. I’m glad that these platforms have made the wise decisions to renew them as I’m certainly not done enjoying these shows just yet. Perhaps there will be more to add to the list in the future and I will be sure to write an updated list if feelings change or any new series catch my attention 🙂