A Lynchian Soap Opera

The Weekly Binge: 3 Shows to Watch this Week

Join our creator community, sign up for our newsletter, and remember to recommend 👏 this post on Medium!

Trouble Creek is a soap opera about a small town full of troubled characters. The grizzled sheriff, the family that just moved to town to occupy a house with a backstory, a missing child and their grieving parents, the brooding bad boy heartthrob, a palpable sense of lust in the air — all the trademarks of the genre are here, densely woven together. Layered on top is excellent production value, rivaling anything that General Hospital or All My Children is putting on air, and a Lynchian sense of humor, with a tongue-in-cheek embrace of the sordid parts of small town life.

City Girl is a romantic comedy written by twelve-year-old Sarah Ramos and produced when it was unearthed a decade later. The picture it paints of adulthood as seen through a child’s eyes and, more specifically, the things they fixate on as signifiers of being grown up, is a joy. Hallmarks include strong opinions about dating doctors, migraines as a persistent threat, best friends who constantly acknowledge best-friendship, prescription bottles and glasses of wine always within reach, boyfriends who wear matching sweaters and shorts, and lots of time spent in bubble baths talking on the phone. There are six episodes right now but there’s plenty more they could do as they build a window into childhood.

This 2009 web series from Lena Dunham sparks anthropological interest, if nothing else. All Dunham’s signature moves are here — Jemima Kirke, eclectic clothing, a love of being schlubby, concerns about how to “make it,” and competitive friendships with other women. But the overarching feel is of a student film, full of schticky humor and art world references intended to create a sense of being “in the know.” It’s staggering to think this was only eight years ago.