Netflix's new manic pixoe dream girl, HBO's gritty space cops, and Disney's lost FBI agents
It was about twenty minutes into My Brilliant Career where the frustration began to set in. I thought we had said goodbye to this sort of lead female character before. The marches to the beat of her own drum sort of character who lives a life of whimsy, powered by her owned spirit of adorkable cuteness.
In 2005 this type of character was already on the nose, with Arrested Development realising Rita Leeds on the screen. This was just ahead of Nathan Rabin coining the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl in 2007 during a review of Elizabethtown.
Rabin referenced the Manic Pixie Dream Girl as a female character who “exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” They’re done so with characteristics that speak to a magical, otherworldly realm.
But here we are in 2026, with Netflix adapting My Brilliant Career and dropping a manic pixie dream girl right at the centre of the show. Seemingly designed by algorithm, Philippa Northeast explodes on the screen with a high energy, hyper articulate performance that jettisons the much more nuanced Judy Davis performance from the 1979 film in favour of a character who is a gumbo of every Zooey Deschanel role, Rory Gilmore, and a dash of early career Greta Gerwig, among others.
It’s not that this new take on My Brilliant Career isn’t entertaining enough, it’s just that so much of the show feels like elements we have already seen over-used in movies and TV shows a lot in recent years. There’s the high-energy MPDG heroine driving the action. And then there’s the use of modern music soundtrack and diegetically. And supporting characters who seemingly took a wrong turn from a luncheon on HBO’s The Guilded Age.
There’s just a lot to be frustrated by in this show. And yet, I’ll watch it through to the end of its first six-episode season.
My feelings on the show were best summed up by wealthy suitor Frank:
Usually this newsletter will only focus on shows available to watch at time of publication (Friday afternoons through to Saturday morning), but this week I also wanted to put the spotlight on a cracking good superhero TV show debuting on HBO this coming Sunday evening (Monday afternoon for my Australian comrades).
While it has never been my favourite comic by any means, I have always loved what Green Lantern represents. He’s a space cop protecting his home planet of Earth (and the surrounding planets in his designated sector) whose power comes from a power ring that will conjure up and objects that he wills into existence. He’s a super hero who is bound only by his imagination.
HBO’s Lanterns series feels like a Tom King comic book, which makes sense as he is one of the three credited creators of the TV show. King is well-known as a comic book writer and specialises in deconstructing superheroes and their worlds, delivered with a heavily grounded and relatable tone.
Lanterns follows our hard travelling hero Hal Jordan and lantern-in-training John Stewart across three timelines. It follows the tropes of the grizzled senior cop partnered with the moralistic young rookie, but in a move that will piss off a lot of purist comic book fans, this Hal Jordan is not to be trusted. The True Detective analogy was invited by the trailer, but it plays out a lot more like the Denzel Washington/Ethan Hawke film Training Day – only with power rings.
And finally…
I have a strong memory of sitting in a very empty cinema in Brisbane on the opening night of The X-Files: I Want To Believe in 2008. The show faded from glory well before it aired its series finale after nine seasons in 2002 and this film felt like it was serving an audience who had already expressed disinterest in the faded franchise.
It didn’t help that the film was not very good. Creator of the show Chris Carter was back here directing from a script he had co-written and it once again showed his chops as a director. I have a lot of negative things to say about Chris Carter as a writer, but the man really is a very good director and its a shame we never saw him doing more of that once his TV show wound up.
The narrative surrounding the film was that Carter had to make a lot of concessions to the studio in order to deliver a PG-13 X-Files horror film. Recently he was given the opportunity to re-cut the film, so this weekend we have the release of The X-Files: Vrash Frankenshteyn. It’s Chris Carter’s directors cut.
The film is a big improvement on what I remember of the original version. It is faster-paced and delivers a more cohesive thematic link between Mulder’s monster of the week story and Scully’s belief vs medical science plot. But, the new edit doesn’t solve the three biggest flaws with the film:
It feels too much like a double episode of the series and not enough as a film that stands on its own.
While this may be an X-Files film, the plot feels far more in line with Chris Carter’s other TV show Millennium. As much as I liked that show, an X-Files movie should feel more like The X-Files where its monsters were a little less human.
Callum Keith Rennie is an actor I’ve always liked, but the film needed a stronger villain.
The movie is streaming now on Hulu/Disney+. If you know where to look. It is inexplicably hidden as an extra on The X-Files: I Want To Believe. You need the investigative powers of Mulder and Scully to find the darn thing.
Returning TV
Reacher (s04, Prime Video) Alan Ritchson, Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette, Sydelle Noel, Agnez Mo, Anggun, and Kevin Corrigan
Tires (s03) Shane Gillis, Stavros Halkias, Chris O’Connor, and Steve Gerben
Dr. Seuss’s Red Fish, Blue Fish (s03) Animated preschool series, ten new episodes.
Women in Blue (s02, Apple TV+) Bárbara Mori, Natalia Téllez, Amorita Rasgado, and Ximena Sariñana
New TV
My Brilliant Career — Netflix
Who’s in it: Philippa Northeast, Christopher Chung, Anna Chancellor, Genevieve O’Reilly, Kate Mulvany, Jake Dunn, Alexander England, and Odessa Young
What’s it about? Set against the sweeping landscapes of 1900 Australia, fiercely modern Sybylla Melvyn dreams of becoming a writer, even as her family pushes her toward marriage to wealthy neighbour Harry Beecham. A witty, romantic, slightly rebellious six-part adaptation of Miles Franklin’s classic novel, shot in South Australia.
Moria — Netflix
Who’s in it: Sofía Gala Castiglione, Griselda Siciliani, Cecilia Roth, and Moria Casán
What’s it about? As she turns 80, Argentine entertainment icon Moria Casán takes control of her own life story in this fictionalised biographical drama, portrayed at different ages by three acclaimed actresses alongside Casán herself. A tribute to Argentine pop culture and a portrait of a woman who turned transgression into survival.
Umthetho — Netflix
Who’s in it: Nqobile Nunu Khumalo, Tony Kgoroge, Sindi Dlathu, Given Stuurman, and Lorcia Cooper
What’s it about? To keep her youngest brother alive, an idealistic state prosecutor is forced to become a double agent inside her imprisoned older brother’s ruthless prison gang. A South African adaptation of Netflix’s Brazilian series Brotherhood, from Mandla N’s Black Brain Pictures.
New Movies
The Ribbon Hero — Netflix
Who’s in it: To confirm
What’s it about? A Japanese animated feature based on Osamu Tezuka’s pioneering manga Princess Knight, from the “Godfather of Manga” himself. Sapphire, princess of a fallen kingdom, rises as the Ribbon Hero to defend her new home from the calamity that destroyed everything she once knew.
Midwinter Break — Netflix
Who’s in it: Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds, and Niamh Cusack
What’s it about? Retired couple Stella and Gerry take an impromptu holiday to Amsterdam hoping to escape the staid routines of their lives in Glasgow, but the trip forces them to confront long-buried trauma and the uncertain future of their marriage.
Nando Between Two Worlds — A Sintonia Film — Netflix
Who’s in it: Christian Malheiros, Júlia Yamaguchi, Duda Pimenta, and Henrique Santana
What’s it about? A Portuguese-language spin-off from the beloved Brazilian teen crime drama Sintonia, centred on fan-favourite Nando as he navigates his dangerous double life. Five years after rising to power in the criminal underworld, Nando is living quietly in Serbia until his teenage daughter Bruninha vanishes, forcing him back to Brazil and back into a world he swore he’d left behind.
A Child of My Own — Netflix
Who’s in it: Ana Celeste Montalvo Peña, Luisa Guzmán, and Armando Espitia
What’s it about? After suffering multiple miscarriages, a recently married woman fabricates a pregnancy to escape societal shame, a charade that spirals into a national media scandal. An intimate docudrama from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi.
This, That and Everything in Between — Netflix
Who’s in it: Jodi Sta. Maria, Agot Isidro, Gardo Versoza, Ruby Ruiz, and RK Bagatsing
What’s it about? A successful TV writer’s carefully rebuilt life unravels when her estranged mother resurfaces after 27 years away, carrying a deeply buried secret. Together, the two women must navigate their painful past and untangle the dynamics of their highly dysfunctional family. A Filipino drama directed by Cholo Laurel.
Don’t Say Good Luck — Netflix
Who’s in it: Sunny Sandler, Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield, Jack Champion, Stephanie Beatriz, Scarlett Estevez, Jon Lovitz, Bebe Neuwirth, and Steve Buscemi
What’s it about? Sophie Birenbaum is a theatre kid ready for the spotlight as the lead in her high school musical, until sudden family drama threatens to upstage the drama on stage. A coming-of-age dramedy from director Julia Hart and producer Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison.
My Best Friend, His Girlfriend and Me — Netflix
Who’s in it: Kostja Ullmann, David Kross, Janina Uhse, Ferdinand Hofer, and Timon Ballenberger
What’s it about? Olli and Matze have been inseparable best friends since childhood, living, working and planning to travel the world together, until Matze falls hard for Rebecca. Convinced his best friend is being changed beyond recognition, Olli teams up with a pal to sabotage the romance, kicking off an escalating battle for Matze’s attention.
To the Max — Netflix
Who’s in it: Carlos Cuevas, Miguel Bernardeau, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, and Candela González
What’s it about? After dedicating his youth to climbing, Carlos discovers BASE jumping in a wingsuit, the closest thing to true flight, and finds a fierce new brotherhood with fellow jumpers Darío and Armando. A Spanish drama based on real events, following a real-life group of BASE-jumping pioneers marked by repeated tragedy.
New Documentaries
Mourinho — Netflix
Who’s in it: José Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Zlatan Ibrahimović
What’s it about? Filmed over two years, this three-part documentary charts José Mourinho’s rise from FC Porto’s shock Champions League triumph through Chelsea, Inter Milan, and back to Real Madrid, told through exclusive access to Mourinho himself alongside candid interviews with the game’s biggest names.
Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes — Netflix
What’s it about? The latest instalment in Netflix’s true-crime documentary franchise draws on previously unreleased prison phone calls, firsthand accounts and archival footage for a chilling look inside the mind of Charles Manson, tracing his rise as a cult leader, the 1969 murders, and his trial.
Bridey Drake: Pure Average — Stan [Aus]
Who’s in it: Bridey Drake, Jiny Maeng, Michael Drake, Yulina Collins, and Soraya Duggan
What’s it about? With a global following of over 11 million, Australian digital icon Bridey Drake pulls back the curtain on fame, flaws and finding yourself in this six-part comedy docuseries about success, self-worth and imperfection, from an average outback girl to the founder of a global pyjama empire.
That’s the newsletter for this week.
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