What is the messiest show you are currently binging? Hit reply or drop a comment. I need recommendations. Enjoyed this? Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly deep dives into the pop culture zeitgeist.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix) Mike Flanagan has done it again. This isn't just a horror show; it’s a scathing critique of the pharmaceutical industry wrapped in Edgar Allan Poe references. If you liked Succession but wished the Roys got killed by ghosts, this is your new obsession.
Conversely, Five Nights at Freddy’s is breaking Peacock records. It’s a video game adaptation about a haunted pizzeria. Critics hate it; the internet loves it. That dissonance is the modern media landscape. We cannot talk about popular media without addressing the elephant in the room: Taylor Swift.
Love is Blind Season 5 (Netflix) It is a trainwreck. It is toxic. It is absolutely unmissable. The pods are gone, the marriages are failing, and the reunion special had more legal threats than a courtroom drama. This is the "messy" content I am talking about. The Return of the Anti-Hero (Film) On the movie side, we are seeing a correction. After a decade of superhero dominance, audiences are craving original, R-rated chaos.
Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple/Paramount) is three-and-a-half hours long. By all logic of the ADHD generation, it should fail. Instead, it is dominating the box office. Why? Because Martin Scorsese treats adults like adults.
But quantity doesn’t equal quality. So, why does it feel like everyone is actually watching more than they used to?