For this weekend full of new shows, we decided to highlight the second season of Barbarians and the new sci-fi series from the creators of Westworld, The Peripheral!

Check out our mini-reviews and have a great weekend!

You can still have a longer list of the releases under the “This Friday” section on the homepage.

Barbarians – Season 2

WHY

What a pleasure to go back to Germania with this new season of the German Netflix series, Barbarians and especially with the fearless warrior Thusnelda. She is always so charismatic, efficient and ruthless in combat and it starts very strong since the 1st episode. This new season has kept its brutal aspect in its fights. The story places us some time after the events of the first season with a Roman Empire that strengthens and sends one of its main commanders, Tiberius. We find the shenanigans, alliances between tribes and betrayals that were already present in the first season. The plot moves quickly and we are really taken by the new stakes and characters. It’s a really cool show to watch!

WHAT

One year after the Varus Battle the Roman troops have returned to Germania, stronger than ever, and Ari is confronted with his Roman past once more. His brother has joined the Roman side in order to punish Ari for his betrayal of Rome. While Thusnelda and Ari join forces to unite the tribes against Rome, Folkwin ominously challenges the gods.

WHERE

Netflix

The Peripheral

WHY

For their first collaboration with Amazon Studios (while waiting impatiently for their upcoming adaptation of the video game Fallout), the creators of Westworld, Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan continue to explore the themes of science fiction and anticipation by adapting this time a book by the mythical writer William Gibson. The Peripheral is an interesting story about virtual worlds and time travel. We follow a sister (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her older brother (Jack Reynor) in a near future where video games are so realistic that it is almost impossible to tell the difference with reality. Chloe is particularly good at playing games and during a test of a new simulation she witnesses something that will put her and her brother in danger. The series plays on two time lines that are reinforced by a difference of places, rural America and a futuristic London. This one is also one of the strong points of the series, the production has really created a superb version of this mythical city. And icing on the cake, the first episodes are directed by the too rare Vincenzo Natali. The action sequences are really good and intense. As usual with Joy and Nolan, the plot quickly becomes complex, sometimes a bit too much, but is very interesting to follow and discover the many layers of the story. If you are a fan of science fiction, do not hesitate and go for this new series!

WHAT

Flynne Fisher (Chloe Grace Moretz) lives in the rural American South, working at the local 3D printing shop, while earning much needed extra money playing VR games for rich people. One night she dons a headset and finds herself in futuristic London—a sleek and mysterious world, alluringly different from her own hardscrabble existence. But this isn’t like any game she’s ever played before: Flynne begins to realize it isn’t virtual reality… it’s real. Someone in London, seventy years in the future, has found a way to open a door to Flynne’s world. And as utterly beguiling as London is… it’s also dangerous. As Flynne searches to discover who has connected their worlds, and for what purpose, her presence here sets dangerous forces into motion…forces intent on destroying Flynne and her family in her own world. The Peripheral is master storyteller William Gibson’s dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.

WHERE

Amazon Prime

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