Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
[Manage newsletters]( [View in browser]( [The logo for Daily Beast's Obsessed] Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture. with Kevin Fallon Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture. with Kevin Fallon This Week - You should be [catching up on ShÅgun](. - Beyoncéâs album [has arrived](! - A fascinating new psychodrama. - Kelly Clarkson did it again. - The best joke on TV right now? ShÅgun Is So Good Itâs been a busy spring TV season, with some of the funniest shows of the year ([Girls5eva](), best reality shows ([Top Chef](), best documentary series ([Queens](), and most excitingly cast new series ([Palm Royale]() all airing at the same time. But thereâs one series thatâs been the standard bearer of the season, with everything from its production design to its casting operating at a level that warrants mention alongside the all-time great TV series of the past. If youâre not watching [ShÅgun](, what are you doing? The best compliment I can give [ShÅgun]( is that it appeals to people who never in a million years imagine they would like a series like ShÅgun. I say that from my experience. Listen, I donât think it should come as a surprise that âlong and complicated action epicsâ are not my genre. It was torture for me to watch [Game of Thrones]( each week, which I did just to keep up with the zeitgeist. Every minute I spent watching [Westworld]( felt like I was receiving a drawn-out lobotomy. Iâm a [Real Housewives]( and [Abbott Elementary]( kind of guy. When I sign on to Hulu to watch the new episode of ShÅgun each week, it appears in the âContinue Watchingâ rail alongside Will & Grace, Designing Women, and Happy Endings, all of which Iâm rewatching at the moment, and all of which have nothing in common with ShÅgun. And yet, the show is so good that I canât wait for each weekâs new episode. ShÅgun has a prestigious lore in pop culture history. The original 1975 novel is one of the bestselling books of all time, and was adapted into a 1980 miniseriesâwhich is still, to date, the only American production to be filmed entirely in Japan. In order to measure up to that history, a new limited series adaptation of ShÅgun was going to have to be big. It was going to have to look big. It was going to have to feel big. In other words, it would have to be the most ambitious television production since Game of Thrones, which the series certainly is. Thereâs an incredible scale and attention to detail that makes each frame of the series just feel sumptuous, even when scenes are meant to convey the filth and dirt of wayward British shipmen. The story itself is a literal game of thrones: a handful of Japanese regents jockey for power while awaiting the rightful heir come of age; meanwhile, a clever English outsider arrives to upset the order in a modern world. But what has really captured my attention and kept me coming back each week is the acting. ShÅgun features some of the best performances on TV right now. Anna Sawai is a revelation. She plays Toda Mariko, a well-connected Catholic convert who serves as the translator between Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). Sheâs a gorgeous actress, obviously commanding any scene sheâs in. Thereâs such an emotional depth to her line readings as she journeys through a character who is courageous and loyal, but also incredibly vulnerable and open. The Best Actress in a Limited Series race is so often crowded with A-list American movie stars at award shows, but her breakout turn should not be overlooked. I similarly marvel at Sanadaâs performance as Toranaga, who is skeptical, a little bit cheeky, and yet always regal. I wasnât prepared for how much humor there was going to be in ShÅgun, and much of that is owed to Jarvisâ turn as Blackthorne. I also am grateful for how gratuitously the series took his transformation from dirty pirate to cleaned up renegade; every epic series needs a hottie and an unnecessary, but appreciated, butt shot. And when it comes to comedy, Nestor Carbonell is perfectly cast as a feral, swashbuckling sailor-turned-frenemy of Blackthorneâs. The series just passed its half-way point, and is the rare project these days that doesnât feel bloated or overlong. âPacingâ isnât exactly the sexiest thing to talk about as a critic, but in the age of streaming series that could have been a two-hour movie that instead become eight-episode TV shows, itâs important and, often, ignored. This is all very gushy, but, hey, the show deserves to be gushed about! Itâs also, apparently, [a bonafide hit]( for FX and Hulu. Iâm so used to clearing my throat as the pop-culture Lorax, speaking on behalf of small series that everyone shamefully ignores. Itâs nice for there to be a major project that deserves the attention itâs getting. Everyone having taste? A strange, new phenomenon. Advertisement
I Canât Stop Listening to âYa Yaâ Itâs a little wild how all pop culture writing about [Beyoncé]( inevitably escalates into laughable hyperbole. I have no interest in contributing to that when it comes to the release of [Cowboy Carter](, quite simply the greatest album thatâs ever been made and which is poised to change the music, the human race, and the world as we know it. It is, of course, impressive how cleverly Beyoncé called on her country roots and made an album that feels familiar and of the genre, yet entirely, singularly her. Itâs bold to incorporate so many samples and classic songsâeverything from [Dolly Partonâs âJoleneâ]( and Nancy Sinatraâs âThese Boots Were Made for Walkingâ to Fleetwood Macâs âLandslideââand unabashedly transform them in her voice and style, all while never disrespecting the legacy of the music and the artists. The tracks with those samples are the highlights of Cowboy Carter: Beyoncéâs âJoleneâ cover and her duet âII Most Wantedâ with Miley Cyrus, who has never sounded better. But letâs be real: If you didnât press play on âYa Ya,â hear the opening to âThese Bootsâ¦â and let out an involuntarily, completely necessary, âOh hell yessssss,â then Iâm not sure whatâs happened to your soul, or if itâs even worth saving. The song didnât blow my hair back so much as it removed it all in one fell swoop of a sonic blast. Beyoncéâs voice is like a flame torch on the track, which moves from bouncy and flirty to explosive and ebullient. The chorus, which loosely translates to âget the hello off your ass and dance,â is irresistible, with cheeky directives like âfuck it, we shakinâ,â âwe swimminâ,â âwe jerkinâ,â and âwe twerkinâââall of which we will be doing the second weâre able to get to a bar where the song is rightfully blasting. The thought of Beyoncé performing it live is so thrilling, Iâm not sure Iâd be able to handle it. Yes, this is all very fawning. But so what? Itâs just fun for there to be something that was so anticipated to come out and be this good. Fuck it, we shakinâ. Femme Is Fascinating Thereâs a movie that I screened this past week that I canât stop thinking about. My opinion of it has changed roughly a dozen times, which has led me to the conclusion that any movie that provokes in that way must be really damn good. Femme, which is now playing in New York and Los Angeles before expanding Apr. 5, is a tense, erotic, and oftentimes unnerving queer psychodrama. [George MacKay]( plays Preston, a hustler in London who violently attacks a drag queen, Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett). after he jokingly insinuates that Preston is gay. Jules, then, is shocked when, months later, he spots Preston at a gay sauna known for cruising. The film then becomes a sexually charged revenge thriller, with Jules first hooking up with Preston, who doesnât recognize them from the attack, before the two begin having sweet dates, sex all over London, and, seemingly, begin to fall for each other. Or are they? The ambiguity being the sweetness, romance, and vengeance keeps the film constantly surprising and stressful. Itâs unlike any queer film Iâve seen. Another Week, Another Kelly Clarkson Triumph Kelly Clarksonâs talent for covering other artistsâ songs on her talk show and then pulling out vocal acrobatics that leave the original is dust is well-known at this point. (Katy Perry recently [posted]( âOK dang I can never sing that againâ on a video of Clarksonâs cover of âWide Awake.â) All of the covers are good. Some are really good. And this one is transcendent. Clarksonâs rendition of Billie Eilishâs âWhat Was I Made For?â from Barbie is out of this world, having me hearing and thinking about the song in a wholly different way. [Watch it here](. The Best Joke on TV I just finished rewatching the new season of Girls5eva, and are we ready to proclaim the button at the end of the theme songââSo what are you waiting five?ââto be the best sitcom joke of the last three years? Itâs so good. More From The Daily Beastâs Obsessed Now that Greyâs Anatomy is back, hereâs a ranking of its wildest scenes from the last 20 seasonsâa bonkers walk down memory lane. [Read more](. Ten years later, we look back at the Godzilla movie that launched a divisive new franchise. [Read more](. How a fake Golden Girls reboot resulted in death threats (really). [Read more](. [See This] - Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show: As [surprising and fascinating]( as youâd expect from the comedian. (Fri. on HBO) - A Gentleman in Moscow: [Ewan McGregor in a mustache]( goes a long way to make a series worth watching. (Sun. on Showtime) - Vanderpump Villa: Weâre not proud to be on board with this, but thereâs [no resisting Lisa Vanderpump](. (Mon. on Hulu) [Skip This] - Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2: No one in the Hundred Acre Wood [deserved this](. (Now in theaters) Like our take on what to watch?
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