What to watch, from Jessica Biel in The Better Sister, Girls-like comedy Adults and ABC documentary The Kimberley

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

Turns out it's a huge month for shows about estranged sisters living in vastly different worlds.
It was just last week that Netflix came out with Sirens, a dark comedy drama about one downtrodden woman's desperate attempt to free her younger sibling from the clutches of a culty socialite and a life of luxury.
Prime Video's considerably darker offering is The Better Sister, a tropey murder mystery starring Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks as long-lost sisters who are reunited after the husband they both shared is brutally murdered. It's just as ridiculous — and compelling — as it sounds.
The Better Sister isn't the only new show out now and worth watching, though.
Somehow, it's been eight years since Lena Dunham's Girls ended, so Gen Z was probably due their own version of the millennial classic. The new ensemble comedy-drama Adults almost gets there.
There's also the highly anticipated Benito Skinner comedy, Overcompensating; the moreish Scottish cold-case thriller Dept. Q; and, closer to home, a stunning exploration of The Kimberley in a new three-part docuseries led by Nyikina musician, actor and storyteller Mark Coles Smith.
"My husband has been murdered. My sister is here. And though I am feeling anxiety about this, I release it," a picture-perfect Chloe Taylor (Biel) declares near the beginning of this thriller series while tapping her face, locking eyes with her reflection in the mirror, deep-breathing… and absolutely not releasing any of that anxiety.
How could she? Chloe is a controlling girlboss editor-in-chief of a New York magazine who lives to work and sports a c***y little bob to rival that of The White Lotus's Leslie Bibb; letting things go is not her strong suit.
Let alone dispelling with the stress surrounding the brutal murder of her lawyer husband, Adam (Corey Stoll), days after she started receiving death threats over an interview about their privileged life.
Adam's death prompts Chloe's estranged sister, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), to visit, purportedly to help support their teenage son, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). But the significantly less-well-off Nicky is out of control and has grievances to air: before Adam was married to Chloe, he was Nicky's husband. And Nicky is Ethan's birth mother.
Unfortunately for Chloe, the key to discovering what happened to Adam lies in unpacking her messy family history.
So yes, you could say letting go of any of this is easier said than done for our type A queen.
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Alafair Burke, The Better Sister is the kind of show that The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window was made to parody.
But while it's not the most original, it executes those murder mystery tropes flawlessly. Not only that — Biel is entirely compelling as the furious, broken and ashamed high-powered media executive.
And who has the willpower to resist a twisty whodunnit that involves rich people's lives being torn apart, anyway?
For fans of: The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, Gone Girl, Big Little Lies, Sirens
In many ways, this coming-of-age ensemble comedy feels like an updated amalgamation of Girls, Friends and Broad City.
The six-part series, executive produced by Nick Kroll, follows a group of card-carrying zillennials trying to make it in New York while living rent-free in a dilapidated Queens share house and struggling to make sense of the big questions in life. Namely, how do you pay a tradesman who only takes cheques?
But Adults doesn't shy away from acknowledging the shows that inspired it — at one point, lead Billie (played by Australian Lucy Freyer) Googles, "how to become the v of your g" (voice of your generation), in a nod to the iconic quote from Girls' Hannah Horvath.
Aside from that, Adults offers a Julia Fox cameo, diverse representation the likes of Girls and Friends could only dream of, and some good acting. Friend slut Anton (Owen Thiele) is by far the stand-out, and the self-obsessed Issa (Amita Rao) may just grow on you.
But there's also a sense the theatre kids were left to their own devices a little too long in the making of this series, which feels like an extended improv show at some points.
And 20-something creators Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold don't appear to have anywhere near as many meaningful things to say about coming of age as Lena Dunham did, controversial though she may be.
This show will likely be overshadowed by Rachel Sennott's upcoming and highly anticipated, as-yet untitled comedy about a co-dependent friend group.
But, in the meantime, Adults will bring you somewhat close to the feelings you had when you first watched Girls or Broad City. "Somewhat" being the key word there.
For fans of: Girls, Heartbreak High, Broad City, Friends
Cantankerous British detective Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) has finally returned to the police force after his poor management style resulted in the death of a young officer who'd only been on the job for three months and saw Morck and his best friend get shot.
Despite the near-death experience, he still treats everyone in his adopted home of Edinburgh like crap. And they still hate working with him.
So when the higher-ups are in search of someone to lead a department (of one) tasked with solving cold cases from all over Scotland, Morck is the clear choice.
Dept. Q is wildly underfunded, understaffed and its basement office still doubles as a storage space for junk, so Morck is obviously overjoyed at the prospect.
At the same time, disgraced prosecutor Merritt (Chloe Pirrie) is dealing with the fallout from a case gone wrong. Not only is she getting regular death threats due to her work, she's also struggling with her role as her brother's carer at home.
It's not until the end of episode one that Morck and Merrit's storylines converge. To say why would be to spoil the twist, but rest assured: it's satisfying.
While the world-building is a bit of a slog to get through at the start, it's entirely worth it as Dept. Q transforms into an utterly transfixing procedural mystery that's simultaneously dark and comedic.
For fans of: Bodkin, Bodyguard, The Day of the Jackal
You may remember US comedian and actor Benito Skinner from his online alter-ego Benny Drama, whose claim to fame is celebrity impersonations.
But Overcompensating, Skinner's latest offering, is decidedly more earnest than his viral Kris Jenner impressions.
The comedian and actor created, wrote, executive produced and stars in the eight-part sitcom as a closeted version of his younger self — again named Benny — arriving for his freshman year of college.
At orientation, Benny quickly launches into pretending his favourite pastime is "f***ing some vagina" and that he loves his business major. But in reality, he's desperate to leave his high school jock persona behind, switch to film studies and find out more about Miles (Rish Shah), the mysterious heart-throb from England.
Meanwhile, his new straight best friend, Carmen (Wally Baram), is terrified of being labelled a sad lonely freak for the rest of college.
Together, the pair set off to find out who they really are. But before they can do that, they must overcompensate in a doomed attempt to fit in.
It's a messy journey filled with awkward hook-ups, fake IDs… and a slate of guest stars including Kyle MacLachlan, Kaia Gerber and Owen Thiele (one of the Adults leads mentioned earlier).
Plus, a delightfully condescending cameo by Charli xcx, whose music takes up a significant amount of space on the Overcompensating soundtrack.
This series won't necessarily tell you anything new about the US queer coming-of-age university experience, but it's still an honest, funny and relatable watch, as well as an incredibly easy universe to fall into — in part because the college-set ensemble comedy is such a familiar world.
For fans of: Adults, Heartbreak High, The Sex Lives of College Girls
Nyikina musician, actor and storyteller Mark Coles Smith guides us through the 400,000 square kilometres of the Kimberley's savanna, desert and coast, telling us some of the ancient land's breathtaking stories in this stunning documentary.
The three-part series is structured around the six distinct seasons the Nyikina people in the Kimberley have observed over thousands of years on Country, and the way each season affects the region's largest river system, the Martuwarra (also known as the Fitzroy River).
It all begins with the hot and dry Lalin season, which is followed by Jirrbal, the build-up to the wet.
Then there's Wilakarra, which brings joyous rain, the breezy Koolawa season, the cool dry of Barrkana and, finally, the slow return of the heat with Willbooroo.
Each comes with different challenges and opportunities for the diverse wildlife that call this remote region home, from frilled-neck lizards to humpback whales.
This is a hopeful and inclusive series that invites all viewers to consider the ongoing threats the Kimberley faces and how we might help preserve this precious Country.
If you haven't yet touched grass today, this show is also a great way to do so vicariously.
For fans of: Ningaloo Nyinggulu, Australia's Wild Odyssey, The Platypus Guardian