It has been a tumultuous year for Binge. Since losing HBO content in March, the streaming service has had perpetual discounts spruiking the product for as little as $1 per month. It has started making originals in partnership with other studios, shacked up with Sony, pivoted to more sports features, and brought across select British television offerings. After what has felt like the platform throwing pasta at the wall until it sticks, the drama category has reclaimed its staying power.
After a recommendation early in the week, I found myself snuggled on the couch ready to watch All Her Fault. After going to pick up her young son Milo from a playdate with a new friend, Marissa, played by Sarah Snook arrives at the door to learn that the woman living there doesn’t know who she is, or where her son might be. What ensues is a frantic and desperate search for Milo Irvine, but it is the character enmeshment that left me gripping the edge of my seat.
The well-to-do Irvines and their cohorts have some relationship problems. I won’t go into it because you absolutely should watch the eight-episode run, but it is rare to find a show that wraps its characters so tightly within each other. By the end, no thread is left unpulled. Underneath the main plot is the unsettling and enraging theme of women always being the ones to blame. Whether it is the mother, the nanny, the sister, or the daughter, the characters disproportionately throw shade at the women. They don’t take it lying down, though. The female characters are strong, quick-witted, determined, and harbour just the right amount of rage to get stuff done.
I devoured the eight hours of content in two nights.
On the third night, I turned the TV back on to find the Binge app still active on my screen. Without even scrolling, the latest short run series from Aimee Lou Wood, Film Club, was staring me right in the face. This one once again looks at interpersonal relationships, but through a lighter film lens.
Our two protagonists are Evie (Aimee Lou Wood) and Noa (Nabhaan Rizwan) who have shared a weekly film club, and unspoken love, for almost four years. In that time, the two have graduated uni, started working, and Evie had a breakdown, became an agoraphobe, and moved back home with her mum and little sister. But Film Club endures.
When Noa announces he is moving away, a clock starts ticking. Will they? Won’t they? Is Film Club over? Can Evie make it out of the front gate?
In a harsh turn from All Her Fault, Film Club feels like a throwback to the idea of the manic pixie dream girl of the early 2000s. But this time it centres around her, and not her as a projection of the desires for her male cohort. It deals with some of the issues of young adulthood: the awkwardness of growing up, of starting again, of becoming friends with your siblings, and wanting your parents to live their lives while you lose touch with your own. And of course, there is love. Awkward, silly love. Although it might not be with who you think.
It has been quite a while since I found myself taken with two new television shows back-to-back. And even longer since I found them both on the same streaming platform. After indulging in both of these shows last week, I’m finding myself more open to browsing Binge than I was before. More than that, I’m recommending it. While it may have been a tough year for the Aussie streamer, if you’ve been eyeing off one of their cheap deals, you might find yourself willing to pay full price by the end.
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Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
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