I am, just like most of you probably, waiting for the final season of “Game of Thrones”. But I actually also enjoy many other series and thought I’d present the ones I have recently watched and would totally recommend to you. For today I limit myself to Netflix – the U.S. version. When I was in Germany last fall, I realized how different Netflix is in each country. But hopefully you can find most series also in the European version.
1. Sense8
This is one of my favorite series ever and I am very sad that only two seasons were ever filmed: Eight people who live totally different lives in totally different parts of the world notice one day that they are all linked via telepathy. They can talk to each other, visit each other and even learn to help and support one another. This on the other hand attracts the attention of Whispers, a man who’s fighting all so-called “Sensates”. He intends to kill them in the name of science – one after another.
2. Babylon Berlin
If I could choose to live in another era, it would definitely be Berlin in the 1920s (I would obviously be a rather rich person, just to make that clear). To me Berlin at that time seems thrilling and full of surprises and adventures. And this is where this series is set: Police inspector Gereon Rath moves from Cologne to Berlin and starts investigating a crime that seems to revolve around a porn ring – but it is about much more. Gereon Rath receives help from his partner Bruno Wolter and secretary Charlotte Ritter. Besides Gereon’s, esp. Charlotte’s life is shown in much detail, how she lives with her sisters and their families in one small apartment, everybody begs for jobs and needs money. But Charlotte also goes out a lot so that we also get a view of the last remains of the Golden Twenties. Oh, and then there is also a fight between Russian Bolsheviks and tsarists culminating in a fight about a train in Berlin. Since this is a German series, I obviously watched it in German by the way.
3. The Protector
First of all, this series is set in Istanbul. Second of all, it is set in Istanbul. And third … you get the idea. The scenes showing the city themselves are utterly beautiful. The story is an extra plus: Hakan has a thousand ideas what to do with his life, until he learns that he has inherited from his father the important task to protect Istanbul and its people from the evil Immortal. It takes a while for the story to develop, but there are many important details – like that the Aya Sofya is rennovated and restorers discover an extra room that had apparently been used to sacrifice humans and drink their blood. (The trailer is only available in Turkish with English subtitles, but the series itself is really well dubbed.)
4. Always a Witch
This series was only published this month on Netflix and I really enjoyed binge watching it when I was sick. The great Caribbean weather alone makes me happy and the soundtrack is really good, too. Well, and the story of course: Carmen is a slave and because she has started a love affair with a free man, she is accused to be a witch and shall be burned. This happens in 1646. As she is indeed a witch, she manages to escape the stake and ends up in nowadays Cartagena, a city in Columbia on the Caribbean coast. In order to also rescue her lover, she promises a mighty magician to give a powerful stone to another witch before she’d travel back in time to her century. But once she is in the 21st century, she first has to adapt to all the modern ways of living and then the other witch suddenly disappears, preventing Carmen from fulfilling her task. (The trailer is only available in Spanish with English subtitles, but the series itself is really well dubbed.)
5. The Magicians
As might have become obvious once more, I do love series about witches/magicians. This is how I stumbled upon “The Magicians”: Quentin Coldwater lives in New York City and he has always known that he is a little different, although he assumed he was mentally ill. Instead he one day finds himself sitting in the entrance exam to Brakebills, a university for magicians. His best friend Julia is also there, but she fails the exam. So while Quentin is accepted at Brakebills and starts studying magic, Julia is supposed to return to her old life. Only she can’t forget about Brakebills and is caught in some weird magicians group’s clutches. At Brakebills things are also not great as the college is being attacked by some unknown spirit.
What are your favorite series right now? Do you have any recommendations for me?
© janavar
