Recommendations: The TV show I can't stop talking about + more

Stories for inspiration and escape

This is a newsletter about creative work, but it’s just as much a newsletter about the stories that inspire us to take up that creative work in the first place. After some time away from the recommendations side of this newsletter, I find myself filled with thoughts about the stories I’ve been enthralled by. I hope they inspire you, too.

(A reminder: On the 1st of each month, I’ve been sharing my personal reading list for the upcoming month with subscribers. It’s a preview of the stories that I hope will inspire me. I’m planning to mix in some TV show- and movie-watching goals as well. If you’re not yet a subscriber and you’re interested in receiving that inspiration list on the 1st of each month, you can learn more about People Who Like Things here or use the button below for a free 30-day trial.)

Yellowjackets (Showtime, also streaming on Amazon Prime through a Showtime add-on)

My favorite thing about Yellowjackets is that it seems to come from TV creators who have watched and loved — and hated! — a LOT of TV. You get the sense that Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the married couple who came up with the idea for a talented girls’ soccer team who try to survive the wilderness and each other after a plane crash, have watched all of “your” shows. I’m guessing they’ve seen Heroes and How I Met Your Mother and Dexter and Gossip Girl and Lost and Pretty Little Liars and every other show that made you fall in love with it and then hate it because the writers kept throwing out plot points that went nowhere or started repeating the same storylines over and over and/or the finale was the absolute worst.

This show is dark and weird, alternately hilarious and disturbing, and its layered clues and “is it supernatural or not?” questions require a huge level of trust after all the times we’ve been betrayed by TV before. The creators have promised a multi-season plan that tells them when they’ve hit that home stretch to get to the ending, which they say was pitched in the very beginning when they were trying to sell the show. It’s refreshing to watch a show that banks on having a smart audience who wants answers — and to be given some of those answers up front in the first season’s haunting finale.

“We don't want to disappoint people who've given us the gift of their time and attention, their passion, and their enthusiasm,” Lyle told Thrillist in a recent interview (WARNING: That interview link has ALL the spoilers for the season 1 finale). “So, all we can hope for is that they continue to go on this ride with us and continue to enjoy it.”

BONUS: If you’ve already seen Yellowjackets and need more, Yellowjackets Buzz is a smart and funny fan podcast with blow-by-blow episode recaps, interviews with cast members, and ALL the theories.

Look at You (Netflix Original)

Does everyone have that “I watched that one thing over and over when time stopped during lockdown” piece of art? Mine is Taylor Tomlinson’s debut comedy special, Quarter-Life Crisis (if you remember the tinyletter days, it was one of my recommendations back in March 2020). I’ve literally been waiting years for her next comedy special. Look at You is her edgier, darker follow-up, and its polished jokes and relentless pacing confirm that she’s one of the strongest writers in today’s comedy scene.

I’ve also been loving Tomlinson’s new, solo podcast, Sad in the City. I was sad in several different cities during my 20s, and it’s both hilarious and healing to hear her joke about trying to make friends as an adult, struggling to make yourself go to things, and always, always either being either freezing or sweating in New York City. This is the podcast version of the (arguably) only good line in Tick Tick … Boom! — "Everyone's unhappy in New York. That's what New York is!"

Werewolves Within (streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime)

If you want to watch a movie but *gestures at everything* has broken your attention span, this snappy dark comedy-horror flick based on a video game might be your ticket. It’s tightly written, with a 97-minute runtime and pacing that never lets up, and every bit of seemingly throwaway dialogue is important to the story. You won’t want to watch it with your phone in your hand.

If — like me — you have the misfortunate of loving horror movies while simultaneously being an enormous baby who won’t sleep well after watching one, know that Werewolves Within mingles comedy and enough horror-suspense to hold your attention with just enough of a cozy mystery vibe that keeps it from actually being scary.