Welcome to Streaming Rewind, a weekly breakdown of the new and noteworthy as we work to help readers wade through the absolute deluge of television series and movies in the streaming space. Check out our last entry.
This week in streaming saw an epic finale in Rings of Power and the long-awaited return of The Legend of Vox Machina. Agatha All Along and The Penguin are still cooking on Disney+ and Max respectively, and spooky season is starting to show its face in streaming debuts. Here’s everything you may have missed this week, and what you should check out this weekend.
“It’s October 3rd”
Given that Mean Girls Day happened this week (it’s October 3), I am obligated to tell you that it is streaming on Paramount+. We’re talking about the original 2004 film here. Not the movie version of the stage play that struggled with vocal range for reasons completely beyond musical theater nerds everywhere. Save watching that one for your Broadway visits and kick up Paramount+ for your original Mean Girls needs.
Rings of Power Closes Season 2 with an Epic Finale
A two-episode battle? Several critical character deaths? Elves basically telling people to go to therapy and then throwing themselves off cliffs? Bromance? Great betrayals? Wizard duets? I’m sorry, if you’re not watching The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power you are sorely missing out. Season 2 inarguably had too many character threads, but we see major consolidation happen in the finale alongside plenty of action and intrigue to set up Season 3. If you find yourself with downtime this weekend, here’s your binge.
Agatha All Along Said Gay Rights
Ok, it didn’t say gay rights yet, but if after Episode 4’s major tease Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and Rio (Aubrey Plaza) don’t make out before this series is over, the witches may riot. If you’re going to promise us a gay explosion, the very brief moment of Teen declining a call from his boyfriend and the subtext of Agatha and Rio having a will-they-won’t-they/tell us their history thing going on simply won’t do. No more subtext! Only text! Agatha All Along is streaming on Disney+ and has been a wonderful surprise so far — catch up if you haven’t been following along. I’m betting that there are plenty of witchy twists in our future.
The Legend of Vox Machina Is Back, Baby!
Prime Video’s adult animation spinoff of Critical Role’s wildly popular Legend of Vox Machina campaign has finally returned for Season 3 after a longer-than-usual gap between seasons, and it was very much worth the wait. In the Season 3 premiere, we find our heroes where we left them at the end of the last season, right down to the moment. Vox Machina is weighing their options and considering joining forces with the wicked dragon, Raishan, but no one’s listening to Keyleth when she tells her team it’s a terrible idea. Will they side with the poison dragon? Can they take down the Chroma Conclave? We’ll have to wait and see, but no matter where they go or who they take on, you can be sure that plenty of trademark Vox Machina shenanigans are sure to follow.
Salem’s Lot
This latest version of the Stephen King vampire tale was originally supposed to be a theatrical release. In fact, filming started three years ago on this one, so it’s been a bit of a delay getting it, but it made its debut on streaming this week. How do you condense King’s novel into 113 minutes? Can you do so successfully? It’s on Max now, so here’s your chance to find out. Or find out why the Salem’s Lot sequel has never gotten a Hollywood adaptation…
New and Notable on Streaming This Week
The animated series Gremlins: The Wild Batch (Max, October 3) Heartstopper Season 3 (Netflix, October 3) House of Spoils (Prime Video, October 3) The Legend of Vox Machina Season 3, Eps 1-3 (Prime Video, October 3) The Platform 2 (Netflix, October 3) V/H/S Beyond (Shudder, October 4) The Franchise (Max, October 5)
