Screen Queen reviews: Careme, The Bondsman, Poker Face, Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night Of Your Life

West Australian

26-04-2025

Spare a thought for Antonin Careme: born to make elaborate pastries and sport artfully tousled hair, made to participate in French revolution-era political skullduggery.
This French-language drama tells the thrilling story of the world's first celebrity chef, Marie-Antoine Careme, who worked his way from poverty to the upper echelons of society after capturing the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte, including with an extravagant pyramid dessert.
In this version, Careme, played by the magnetic Benjamin Voisin, is offered a post in Bonaparte's kitchen but demurs — until his beloved adoptive father, who taught him to cook, is arrested. From there, in an attempt to free him, the ambitious young chef is pulled into the orbit of the country's most powerful politicians, who use his extraordinary talents to their advantage, and turn him into a spy.
Careme comes across as a bit of a rascal early on; he looks like an indie rock star (in an interview with Variety, Voisin says he spent hours looking at photos of Lenny Kravitz and Mick Jagger with the show's costume designer) and in the opening scenes, he and his mademoiselle are up to something in the larder that would surely violate modern health codes.
But he is decidedly uncompromising about his food, and you sense that despite his reluctance to be drawn into the political fray, the acclaim and adulation for his culinary creations thrills him. What's a bit of light espionage, after all, if you can bask in rapturous applause for your petit fours?
If you're a Francophile, this eight-part series oozes that certain French je ne sais quoi. The architecture! The lush interiors! The romance! The history! The food! Sometimes it borders on overdone, but I guess if ever there was a time to lean in, the story of a sexy haute cuisine chef in Paris in the early 19th century is probably it.
Before viewing, I'd recommend going down an internet rabbit hole to read up about the real Careme, considered the father of French gastronomy — it's a wild ride, to the point where I can't quite believe I'd never heard of him. Episode one was a promising start to what promises to be a twisty thriller.
Just how did Golden Globe-winner Kevin Bacon find himself in a series that is described thus: 'murdered bounty hunter Hub Halloran is resurrected by the Devil to trap and send back demons that have escaped the prison of Hell'? Did he make his own deal with Old Scratch to get his break on Footloose back in the day, and the debt has come due?
But truth be told this series, in which hardened bondsman Bacon gets bumped off in the first five minutes, comes back to life and proceeds to blow cigarette smoke from his severed windpipe, is . . . well, quite fun, actually.
The first episode has its tongue firmly in cheek, driven by dark humour and Bacon's always formidable charisma. The series summary promises that as Hub chases down those demons with the help (and hindrance) of his family, he learns how his soul ended up in hell in the first place, and seeks redemption.
If you're up for a trashy, supernatural good time, with country music and southern American accents — and who isn't? — it's worth a look.
I love Natasha Lyonne. I love her hair, her accent, her deeply sarcastic humour. I love everything I have ever watched her in. This mystery-of-the-week series follows her as Charlie Cale, a crime-solving human lie detector. None other than Cynthia Erivo joins the second season.
If you tune in to this expecting a testy Roy Kent vibe, you'll be surprised. Goldstein's debut comedy special sees the actor and producer (he co-created Ted Lasso and the hit series Shrinking) share insights on love, sex, masculinity, Sesame Street, and everything in between.
You read that right: season 28. I haven't watched this reality show, which apparently follows the 'lives and loves of the socially elite 20-somethings who live in some of London's most exclusive postcodes' but maybe I need to tune in. If it lasts 28 seasons, there's got to be something in it, surely?