This weekend I have… half an hour, and I need closure.
‘How about John Wilson’
When to watch: Fridays at 11 p.m., on HBO.
“How to Track a Package” is the series finale to this beautiful, distinctive collage, and while I’m heartbroken to lose one of TV’s most evocative and humane shows, we can at least rest assured that it will be as winner emerges. John Wilson captures and nurtures beautiful weirdos, subtle and patient, until you realize: Oh! Quirks are not strange accessories of life; they form the basis and its totality. If you approach everything as if it has meaning – misspelled characters, toilet figurines, the differences between 7-Up and ginger ale – then it does.
… half an hour, and I like teamwork.
‘God. Family. Football.’
When to watch: Now on Freevee.
Just about any football show could be called “God.” Family. Football.”, but this six-part documentary series mainly follows a high school team at a Christian academy in Shreveport, La. The kids all seem sweet, thoughtful, and well-adjusted, even as they discuss the sting of absent fathers and the toll of various injuries. While this clearly falls in the shadows of ‘Friday Night Lights’ and ‘Last Chance U’, it goes for – and achieves – a sunnier, more YA vibe. (If you want a football show that has more to say, try “Algiers, America” on Hulu.)
… an hour, and I want something gripping.
‘Dark Winds’
When to watch: Sunday at 9 p.m., on AMC, or now on AMC+.
Season 2 of this mesmerizing crime drama ends this weekend and it feels like a return, but not just because it’s set in the 1970s. “Wind” is daring in ways that have largely been brushed off in other cop shows: it’s bolder in its cinematography, more tense and surprising in its action sequences, and most importantly, all of its secondary, tertiary, and even one-off characters feel detailed and richly imagined. Zahn McClarnon is extraordinary as Joe Leaphorn, a police lieutenant with some sad baggage, but all the performances here are top notch. If you miss the stylistic zest of ‘Breaking Bad’, watch this. Season 1 comes to Max on Friday, and it’s a perfect, bleak, and impressive six-episode binge.
