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Every Monday and Friday, Margaret offers hyper-specific viewing recommendations in our Watching newsletter. Read her latest picks below, and sign up for the Watching newsletter here.
This weekend I have … an hour, and I like lawyer shows
‘The Good Fight’
When to watch: Now, on Paramount+.
Season 4 of “The Good Fight” was derailed by the pandemic, so Season 5 begins with a combination catch-up and reset, cramming in all the events of the last many months and sending off Luca (Cush Jumbo) and Adrian (Delroy Lindo). Sometimes watching “The Good Fight” feels like getting away with something because it makes a lot of moves other shows theoretically could but generally don’t: It confronts real-world current events, experiments with structure and tone and always saves room for a little wink-wink moment. New episodes debut Thursdays.
… two hours, and I care about production values
‘The Mysterious Benedict Society’
When to watch: Arrives Friday, on Disney+.
The first episode of this kids’ show is called “A Bunch of Smart Orphans,” and if you’ve ever seen or read anything else that fits that mold, you get the idea: Plucky adventurers with lonely back stories find themselves at a magical school where their talents are finally appreciated and are also essential to some kind of world-saving endeavor. The teachers are weird! But virtue prevails! The plot is perfectly functional, but the bigger draw for adult viewers is the set and costume design, which kind of feel like a Wes Anderson version of “Matilda.”
… three hours, and Tokyo is mere weeks away
‘Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts’
When to watch: Starts Sunday, on Peacock.
This new documentary series is in a tricky spot timing-wise: Some of the gymnasts it profiles, including Laurie Hernandez, are already out of the running for the 2021 Tokyo games. That casts the tale as more bittersweet than strictly anticipatory, which in some ways creates a richer depiction of the life of an elite athlete but in others makes you understand why oracles are sometimes depicted as sad. NBC’s gymnastics announcing is abysmal, so if you plan to watch Simone Biles but want more context for other members of her team and for gymnastics in general, watch this. (Biles has her own, unrelated doc series on Facebook Watch, which is also pretty good.)
The first three episodes of “Golden” drop this weekend, and the next three arrive weekly, each Wednesday from July 7.
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