Recent and Upcoming TV Shows

Disclaimer: The following content is curated with a bias (of the shows that I’ve watched and am excited to see), so if you wish there was a show you recently watched here, tough luck.

As school has been in session for about a month now (at the time of writing), the feelings of summer still linger a bit. Personally, I spent my summer watching and rewatching new and old TV shows while anticipating upcoming ones. Entertainment is meant to be shared, so here’s a list of pretty cool shows that have either just concluded or are on the horizon!

The Boys Season 4

As any sane person does, I decided to binge-watch all of The Boys and its spinoff, Gen V, in the span of around 3 days. This readied me for season 4, which was released throughout the course of June and July of this year.

The Boys focuses on a more realistic view of superheroes, breaking the traditional stereotype set by Marvel and DC that those with superpowers generally wish to benefit the public and serve the greater good. The show uses extreme gore and vulgarity to heavily emphasize the idea that the superpowers that superheroes acquire lead to greater consequences overall. We follow Billy Butcher and “The Boys” as they work towards exposing the evildoings and misdemeanors of the superhero group The Seven, with lots of action and comedic moments. In season 4 specifically, the gang seeks an anti-supe (short for superhero ) virus, in hopes of assassinating the superhero known as Homelander, played by Anthony Starr. Hilariously, the show draws striking parallels with the current election cycle and pokes fun at the current political state (keep in mind this season was filmed a year or two ago). 

Pictured: Homelander
Source: Google, Creative Commons

The Umbrella Academy Season 4

The highly anticipated finale of The Umbrella Academy was released about a month ago, on August 8th. The premise follows a highly dysfunctional adopted family of superpowered siblings, who seem to stumble across world-ending events constantly and begrudgingly must work together to save the world. After stopping the moon from crashing into the Earth in season 1, preventing World War 3 in season 2, and intercepting the annihilation of everything due to a kugelblitz in season 3, the Hargreeves family (the siblings) are now powerless in a new timeline, but end up getting involved in superpowered hijinks anyways. If you do check it out, my two favorite characters are Klaus and Five, the former of which is a whimsical, goofy drug addict who can commune with the dead, while the latter is a fifty-year-old man (give or take) trapped in the body of a thirteen-year-old, with the power to blink across spaces and time travel.

Arcane Season 2

Now getting into the realm of upcoming shows, a highly anticipated show coming in early November is the second season of Arcane. Although the show is based on the video game League of Legends by Riot Games (ew league I know right), it has gone on to be acclaimed as one of the best-animated series, even winning several awards. Knowledge of the game is not needed, as one can just watch the show and get immersed in its world-building and storytelling.

The show delves into the complicated relationship between two sisters Jinx and Vi, with overarching conflicts between the rich and advanced city of Piltover and the more oppressed slums of Zaun. Systemic class oppression, a combination of magic and technology, undercity crime, and more are all put on full display within the show. Arcane focuses on lots of emotional aspects between relationships, while also providing lots of action and drama to create a well-balanced show that caters to all.

Season 2 will conclude the story of Arcane, with the trailer just being released. Hints of a war between Zaun and Piltover are shown, with a possible third party seeking the new “hextech” technology appearing. Multiple storylines will be closed, completing the conflict between Jinx and Vi, Zaun and Piltover, and magic and technology.

Squid Game Season 2

As one of the most hyped shows of 2021, season 2 of SquidGame has been anticipated for a long long time. Squid Game itself probably doesn’t need an introduction, but in short, the show is about those in crippling debt around South Korea, and how they are gathered on an island to participate in the “Squid Games.” Squid Games consists of children’s games with life-or-death stakes, resulting in an enormous cash prize for the winner.

In season 1, we follow the journey of  Seong Gi-hun, plagued by loan sharks and gambling addiction, as he makes it through the Squid Games and comes out victorious, earning himself 45.6 billion won. In season 2, we’ll get to watch Gi-hun seek out how to end the games, by possibly competing again. Season 1 created a very in-depth and almost fantasy-like world, in which the viewer was drawn into the character relationships, the games played, the high stakes, and the emotional values of everything. Given the long wait, one can hope that Season 2 offers the same, if not even more hype.

I certainly hope these four shows tickle your fancy, and that you watch/wait to watch the shows covered in this article.