A Surreal Manifesto, A Bitter Couple Reaffirming Their Love, and Awkafina’s Talk Show

The Weekly Binge: 3 Web Series to Watch this Week

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A surreal manifesto from creator Alex Spieth as she muses about what it’s like to be in love, offers her take on antidepressants and sleeplessness, shares one way a party can go bad, and explains why you might want to keep dating the mopey depressive guy. In a past era, this could have been a one-woman show as she re-enacts what is very clearly her internal monologue with children she babysits, friends, and a stuffed animal that comes to life at night. There are lots of things about this show that are easily relatable. But for us, episode four, about an ex-boyfriend with a start-up who loves to hear himself talk and seems to think things are destined for greatness, has the capacity to shake you to your core.

Like a Curb Your Enthusiasm where both the husband and wife are Larry David, this show stars a real-life couple who don’t hold back in their criticisms and frustrations with each other. They belittle each other’s professional aspirations, bring up past slights without hesitation, and argue over who is more attractive and going to rebound better after the other dies. Each episode takes them down a rabbit hole of pettiness and snark before bringing them back together over their dislike of others and shared lack of success. In a way, it’s almost a reassuring testament to the power of love, watching it get stress tested only to re-emerge again.

There is a lot of innovation in talk shows these days. The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim is a punk deconstruction, taking all the classic elements and infusing them with an absurdist erratic anger. The Gorburger Show, T.J. Miller’s web series that’s been picked up by Comedy Central, co-opts zany foreign interview formats and a retro host, sidekick and guest-on-a-couch setup. Here, Awkwafina is taking her own approach, merging a late night structure with a daytime conversational sensibility. There are man-on-the-street sketches and brief music video interludes (which makes sense, considering she’s a rapper) but the core of the show is her dishing and bantering with guests, who skew younger and less mainstream and are often famous for their online work.