Netflix: February’s New Arrivals

Here comes February (already!?), and with it perhaps something to love for everyone on Netflix.

There are two particular highlights titled Love – one a Judd Apatow TV creation upturning that usual rock of relationship exploration; the other is the super-explicit film by Gaspar Noé. Also from 2015 you might want to check out Dope and The Girl in the Book – the latter might be good news for those missing Emily VanCamp from Revenge. Let’s stick with television then, here are some small screen highlights coming to Netflix in February.

Whether you have yet seen it or not (or too many episodes behind to embarrassingly declare like, er, this friend of mine) the final episodes of the mighty Mad Men arriving to Netflix subscriber’s is a big darn deal. Some of the most well-written characters of the recent TV world are heading towards their narrative closure, but obviously would rather you see it all wrapped up for yourself rather than giving any spoilers. Especially for the benefit of that friend of mine I mentioned.

The Returned, AKA Les Revenants, the acclaimed French zombie / supernatural drama, not to be confused with the American remake (that was cancelled after one season) or the Leonardo DiCaprio Oscar-bait movie The Revenant, has its second season available on Netflix this month. In the UK, Channel 4 began airing the show a couple of years ago, an extremely rare subtitled drama, with great success. Far less flesh-eating and much more the dead simply returning to the land of the living, and somehow having to re-adapt to their surroundings, the strange goings-on here take place in a small-town French community.

For the kids? Masha’s Tales allows children to see stories being told by, well, children, and their view of this big bright world is seldom unappealing. Join Pikachu and friends as they continue to explore amidst various adventures in Pokemon XY, a seemingly endless franchise. Care Bears & Cousins, the kids cartoon, takes me back to my own childhood – not me personally, I knew girls that loved these weird fur-balls okay? – were the cuddly cousin creatures are a whole range of animals. And you might also want to take a spin with Turbo: F.A.S.T., a Netflix / Dreamworks production collaboration about speedy snails based on the movie.

Stand-up Hannibal Buress’ Comedy Camisado peels layers from topics like steroid use, the hip-hop scene, and the whole Bill Cosby affair. Or how about Louisianna-born Theo Von with his New Orleans hosted one-hour comedy special, and potentially ironically titled, No Offense. An American sitcom sequel makes it as a Netflix original series, two decades following the end of Full House comes Fuller House. This time, though, there will be no Mary-Kate and Ashley, though it appears the bulk of the original cast have returned, including John Stamos in a guest appearance.

Looking from afar across the great pond I was a little surprised to see that Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul is only now arriving to Netflix USA. Here in England I feel rather privileged to have been able to binge this terrific series months ago on this platform. Not to say you Americans haven’t seen it of course. The arrival to Netflix now allows us to blast through the ten episode again before the eagerly awaited second season lands Stateside in just two weeks. You’ve seen it already? No harm in a refresher then. If you are one of the very few and unfortunate to have not seen Better Call Saul yet then you need to amend your schedule over the next fortnight. Centering on the gimmicky, shady lawyer shenanigans of Saul Goodman, the show takes us back well before his Breaking Bad days, as Bob Odenkirk returns as Jimmy McGill, giving us some compelling back-story.

What are you adding to your Netflix watchlist this February? Let us know below.

Published by Robin Write

BIO: Robin Write lives in the UK, and has been writing screenplays for over fifteen years. He also has a blog at www.writeoutofla.com and can be found on Twitter @WriteoutofLA. He'll be around.