5 – Umbrella Academy Season 2

This is a really good show. I have liked both seasons quite well, I think that the second season is the better season of the two as it is more consistent across the board. All of the stories work well for the characters and it goes deep on issues during the time period they were in and that still linger today. However, it isn’t higher on my list, because I feel like season 1 has higher highs, more memorable moments. In season 2, it is more consistent and good across the board, but the standout moments feel like they are are lacking to me. With that said, I’m ready for Season 3 to come out because it’s a really good show.

4 – Ragnarok

This one was kind of a surprise for me. I thought that the premise looked interesting, kind of a Norse mythology set in modern times and I’ve had solid luck with the European shows on Netflix like The Rain and Dark. This was a very good show. The plot line was interesting throughout all of it, and while not all of the twists were shocking, some of them were very well done. And the story just felt like it had a lot of heart to it that you don’t always get in shows. It’s a short series but it leaves you feeling like they’ve wrapped it up in a solid spot, but also that you could see more story ready to be told.

3 – The Order Season 2

The Order was one of my favorite shows from 2019, so I was glad that it was getting a second season. I will say, I’m not sure that the second season quite lives up to the first season. I think that the plot doesn’t have as focused a bad guy as the first one does. But you still get all sorts of good moments and funny moments in it. Jack Morton is still somehow likeable and unlikeable all that the same time, and the Knights of St Christopher are still a lot of fun in this season. I think that it gets bogged down in trying to play too much with a middle ground and too much with Jack and Alyssa when it would have been better served keeping some of it’s wonder. Overall, really fun still and really such a B movie style for the plot still.

2 – Lucifer

A show that’s been around for a while, but Netflix kept recommending that we check it out, and clearly, I’m glad that I did. Tom Ellis is amazing in this show as Lucifer, and while the theology is all over the place, no one is watching it for that. They are watching it for a snarky Lucifer and his long suffering partner as they solve crimes. There is so much going on throughout the seasons, and all of them are really good. And there’s more of it coming, which is nice. Netflix got this after Fox dropped it, so there is still fun story to tell with a lot of really good characters in it. This would be just another procedural show if it wasn’t for how good the characters are in the show.

1 – Locke & Key

Finally, we have Locke & Key, and I feel like I’m about ready for a rewatch of this. This is one of my favorite shows of all time. It is a young adult show, kind of, but it is more than that, as it delves into a really weird and unique world where there is a magical door and magical keys that can do all sorts of crazy things, however, not everyone wants to use them for good, nor is everything around them good. I feel like they did a very good job of adapting what isn’t a YA comic book into a YA show while still keeping a lot of the sense of whimsy, almost, that comes from the keys in the show and still even keeping some of the horror along with it, it is just tamed down a little bit. Again, a show that really gets it’s casting right and the character development right.

So yes, I was able to come up with five shows, and I realize there are even more. The second season of Disenchanted came out this year, and I watched The Dragon Prince, plus shows like Another Life, Nightflyers, The Witcher, Agents of SHIELD, and Into The Badlands were ones that I watched this year as well, so I had plenty to choose from, could have even done a top 10. But I really like those top 5 and would highly recommend all of them.

What are some of the best new to you shows from 2020 (doesn’t have to be released in 2020, just that you’ve watched for the first time this year)?

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10 – Ultraman

One of the two animated shows on the list, this one was just a lot of fun to watch with good voice acting as well. It’s fairly typical in how it works, someone becomes a hero who wasn’t always planning on it but they end up being Ultraman and they have to figure out how to deal with that power and how to save the world. A good fun romp with only one season thus far, but it has been renwed for another. I like the blend of 2d and 3d animation in it that works very well. The voice acting is really good in it. It’s not a heavy show, but it’s a lot of fun.

9 – Umbrella Academy

This one, had the first season started out more consistently would have been much higher. I really like the absurdity of the show, and I like how it’s a group of super heroes, but they are basically failures at what they do and completely dysfunctional. The question, always, is can they figure it out to stop the end of the world by working together in time. What makes this show so good though is the characters. Number 5 is amazing, and Hazel was a great character in season one and Klaus is just amazing all around. And in season two they really develop the rest of the characters in great ways and it really tackles a lot of big issues and interesting dynamics. If you can power few the first few episodes of the first season it is very much worth it.

8 – Lucifer

One of the interesting ones on the list because this is only half Netflix. They picked it up from Fox, I believe, and kept it running. The show is just a lot of fun, it’s a procedural show based off of a comic, but not super hero or as completely absurd. It is really absurd because the Devil has come to Los Angeles and he meets and intriguing Detective who doesn’t really fall for his charms, and he wants to know why. So he joins the police as a consultant after helping her with a case, and it’s about the adventures and misadventures of the two of them. It is procedural, which isn’t always my cup of tea but it works in this case because it is fairly absurd.

7 – Dragon Prince

Another animated show for the list and the highest one on the list, but this is a really good show. Technically it’s a kids show, but I think it does a great job of being what a family show should be. It doesn’t shy away from emotions and some big questions, but it doesn’t fill itself with needless violence, sex, etc. that permeates most shows that target adults at all. In this show it’s about what happens with two sides won’t work together and are butting heads and how people can fall from grace and rise to power and what all that means, and what emotions people have when the world around them is very tough or unexpected. Overall, this is an extremely well done show with a ton of interesting things in it, and I’m excited for more of it to come out.

6 – Ragnarok

One of the first of a few foreign language shows that will show up on the list. Not out of where you’d get most of those shows, Ragnarok takes place in Norway and is about a family that is returning to their home town and the things that are off about their home town. Something is happening to the water and there are some people who might not be who they seem to be. It is kind of a teen drama, but it does more than that tying itself interesting into Norse mythology and developing a really fun story. One season thus far, so it’s easy to binge, and it has been renwed for another. I’ll be curious to see where this show builds to into the second season.

5 – The Order

I really like this show because it’s just cheesy schlock, and it’s amazing. It’s about a college age kid, Jack Morton, who is trying to get into a secret society at the local college, because something happened to his mother, and he blames the head of this secret order for what happens. Along the way he stumbles into a world of magic and werewolves, falls in love, and generally everything completely absurd that you’d expect happens. Jack is one of those characters that has a punchable charisma to him and he just kind of makes the show, plus he’s surrounded generally be a really good cast of characters and the use and abuse of magic in this show is really enjoyable. The second season takes a little step down but still really binge worthy.

4 – The Rain

Now, I will say with this, I haven’t seen the latest seasons of the show, so I’m only going off of the first, but this show was amazing. I like survival shows that really pull at your emotions, and this one does that. Something has happened to the rain and turned it deadly. Simone and Rasmus are brought into a shelter that was created maybe for this happening and then left their by their father, and they grow up in there. But when the bunker starts to malfunction, they have to leave and join up with a group who are trying to survive. What has caused the rain and can they find their way back to their father who is somehow connected to the rain? It is a good adventure, but like a lot of these shows, it’s about the dynamics of those who are surviving and how they can work together.

3 – Dark

I love time travel, but rarely is time travel done all that well. In Dark, they nail it. This is a topsy turvy show that takes you through a few different times as you try and figure out everything that is going on and if the cycle can be broken. A German show, it is probably worth watching subtitled in German, though the English dub isn’t bad, it is just noticeable. The feel of the show is very much dark, but it works really well and it is highly atmospheric. Definitely one to checkout if you like shows with a bit of mystery and horror to them. I’m not fully caught up, so it’s one of those shows that I’m going to have to dive back into again soon.

2 – Stranger Things

This is what most people would have pegged for the top of my list, it has monsters, it has adventure, it has humor, it has kids on bikes. And I love it. But there is one show that beats it out for me. This is what really brought the original and variety of Netflix shows to the map, and I love all the characters, I love the campy nature and I like that they’ve been able to keep the show fresh and interesting. The first season had so much interest and intrigue to it, and the second season, while it had an episode that was a complete miss, was really good, but then they came back with a third season that was maybe even better than the first season. I like how you get different group dynamics of over and younger characters and how the adults never treat the kids just as dumb kids. I need to go back and watch through it all again because I just love this show.

1 – Locke & Key

So, the show that beat out Stranger Things only has a single season thus far, and that’s Locke & Key. If you want to say I should wait for season two, I can see that, but I love this show. I love how they manage to take what is a fairly rough comic and something that probably wouldn’t have been as successful if they hadn’t turned it into something more young adult, but still manage to make a great show out of it. I like the acting a lot in it, especially from Kinsey who has an amazing moment and change in her acting in the show. And I like the world that is being built with the keys. The idea of these keys that can do magical things is just really cool and feels like there is so much that can built out around that. I’m extremely excited for a second season and this is a show that I am going to go back and watch again soon.

So for you, what are some of your favorite shows on Netflix, there are so many out there that could be considered. I know with my tastes that The Witcher could have been one considered, but for me that was just okay. Plus there are shows like Ozark and many more that I haven’t even checked out yet because they just aren’t quite my type of show that I know other people love. Let me know in the comments below.

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The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose is a secret organization that operates at least partly out of Belgrave University. That’s where Jack Morton’s mother went, that’s where she fell in love with Edward Coventry and became pregnant with Jack, unknown to Coventry. She killed herself after Jack was born and Coventry and abandoned her. So now Jack and his Grandfather want him to get into the school and join the order so that he can take it down and take down Coventry. But in Belgrave University, there’s more going on than just a shady magical order that might threaten all of Jack and his Grandfather’s plans.

There are a lot of shows out there in this vein, as I mentioned, Locke and Key feels similar but beyond that you have shows like Grimm, Haven, Supernatural, The Magicians, Lost Girl and more. So is there room in the genre for even more? Personally, this magical, somewhat comedic, monsters of the week sort of show is one that I really love. I love when there’s a bit of camp, a bit of drama, a bit of horror, and an interesting plot and bad guy. And while I don’t know that The Order is particularly shocking in what it does or turns the genre on it’s head, it does a good job of being the type of show that you expect it to be, and in my case, that I want it to be.

What I think works well is how you end up with multiple factions happening, both in the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, but also in other parts of the college campus. I think that’s something that you see at times in other shows, but they do a good job of drawing the main character in multiple different directions because of that. There’s definitely a message to the show about growing up and taking responsibility for yourself and not just living based off of what others tell you to do. It’s played out most obviously with Jack and his grandfather, but the multiple factions piece helps solidify it as kind of the drive of the main story, beyond trying to get into the order and get to Edward Coventry.

I think that one other thing for these shows that you want to pay attention to is how well they do with the monsters. Obviously, the older you go the poorer they’re going to loo, Haven looks real bad in comparison, but I don’t think that The Order leans so much on having the best looking monsters. The story has comedy in it and leans into that bit campier nature, so it doesn’t need the best looking monsters and it doesn’t need to be hyper realistic. Instead, it can look a bit cheesy because the show is a bit cheesy. That helps keep the cost of the show down, but also gives it a feel that’s different from a few of the other shows in the genre that really take themselves seriously and consider themselves to be more important than they are.

Acting wise, I think that the acting is just okay. I love the actor who play Jack’s Grandpa, Matt Frewer, and I knew him previously from having played Taggert in Eureka. This show even has a bit of a Eureka vibe, just more adult. Jake Manley who plays Jack Morton does a good job as well. There’s an earnestness to his performance that comes across. There are plenty of other characters that I like as well. When I say the acting is just okay, I don’t mean that it takes away from the story or from the show, because again, it’s meant to be a little bit campy. And so we get some campy or sillier performances, Jack’s RA (resident assistant) in college is a funny character, though does have some moments of depth. They do a good job of sprinkling those moments in and generally I think that they work well and they act them out well.

Overall, The Order is a show that from the trailer looks like it takes itself more seriously than it does. It has a nice blend of comedy and monsters and offers some interesting thinking points. For me, that’s what I want in a show like this, it can’t just be heavy otherwise I have trouble wanting to stick with it, and if it’s just silly, I have to be in a particular mood for that. Would I recommend the show, I would say that it’s meant for adults, there’s swearing, murders, and plenty of things that aren’t appropriate for younger children, but yes, I do recommend the show. Just know that it’s going to be campy and it’s going to have some absurd moments to it, but overall, it’s a fun show that’s worth checking out, and a fast watch as there are only 10 episodes in season 1.

Let me know what you think of it below? Is it the type of show that you enjoy or was it too campy for you?

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