The eight essential series to catch up on

It’s impossible to devour all the good Quebec or American shows during the season. Even I, whose job it is and whose retina wears out prematurely with heavy blows of OD, I get there with comb and misery, to quote Fred Pellerin. Here are eight TV series to catch up on during the holiday break, before the whirlwind of January blows its icy breath in our faces.

The best will (not that of Denys Arcand)

After his death, a rich and sadistic patriarch, Paul-Émile de Léry (Bruno Marcil), plays one last ultracruel trick on his descendants. To obtain their share of the colossal inheritance of 84 million, the four children, including two gay brothers (Éric Bruneau and Jean-Simon Leduc), converge at the family mansion (that of Celine Dion!) to compete in psychological and physical tests , who will reveal the worst of themselves, as well as several well-buried secrets. If you love twisted stories of mental manipulation and devastating drug addiction, In Memory will bury you in a deliciously captivating nightmare.

In Memoryon Crave and on Noovo from January 8

The little reindeer with the red flag

It’s Netflix’s most original and disturbing series of 2024, based on a terrifying true story. To pay his rent, a beginner comedian, but who has to beat (Richard Gadd), serves beers in a pub, where he meets an admirer (Jessica Gunning) who turns out to be a complete psychopath, coupled with a seasoned mythomaniac. The seven episodes of Baby Reindeer (My little reindeerin French version) explore the unhealthy obsession and thirst for recognition of the two protagonists, who pull each other towards the depths. From the fourth episode, the story shifts and digs into the main character’s traumas, which explain why he thrives so much on the unhealthy attention of a woman with fragile mental health. We really fell in love with this dark psychological thriller, which redefines the contours of harassment.

Baby Reindeersur Netflix

Never without my son

Sober and finally separated from her toxic partner (Guillaume Laurin), drug addict Corinne (Pascale Renaud-Hébert) reconnects with her mother Maggie (Guylaine Tremblay), a restaurant waitress who also fought violent demons. The intense Corinne believes she can regain custody of her boy Zack (Jérôme Hébert), 4 years old, whom her mother Maggie has been raising since his birth. But Maggie no longer believes in the beautiful promises of her daughter Corinne and refuses to separate from her grandson. This social drama, available in six episodes, talks about poverty and social classes without sinking into misery. Truly, this is a poignant, well-written and well-acted story.

Watch over meon Tou.tv Extra and on - from January 7

Serious rabbi seeks devout companion

A non-cheesy romantic comedy for cultured and well-mannered adults? Here is Nobody Wants This (Couple problemin French), which tells the improbable, but 100% cute, love story between a rabbi (Adam Brody) and the agnostic co-host of a sex podcast (Kristen Bell). The rapid dialogues are full of lively, comical and sharp lines. The characters live in boho-chic homes in East Los Angeles. And the ten episodes will convince the most grumpy that love still exists, even when religion slips under the covers.

Nobody Wants Thissur Netflix

Paranormal Encounters (without Chantal Lacroix)

In the summer of 2009, an 8-year-old boy disappeared near a campsite and a crop circle appeared a few meters from where the kid vanished. Fifteen years later, his family in Repentigny still has difficulty digesting his unexplained departure. Convinced that aliens have kidnapped his little brother, Marc (Antoine Pilon) devotes his boring life to ufology, while his brooding mother Micheline (Maude Guérin) keeps her missing younger brother’s room intact, in case the gray men take him would bring back to Earth. Beyond UFOs, Separate company focuses its magnifying glass on the fragility of a clan adrift, which clings to the past rather than projecting itself into the future. Both tough and beautiful to look at.

Separate companyon illico+

Hypnotizing polar thriller

This is the perfect winter thriller. A polar thriller that teleports us to northern Alaska, near the Arctic Circle, where a team of eight scientists disappears in the middle of the night, leaving a few traces. The local police chief (Jodie Foster) will open the investigation with an indigenous colleague (Kali Reis) while the polar night envelops the mining village of Ennis, and the sun will not return for another month. No need to have seen the previous three chapters of True Detective to embark on this detective series speckled with supernatural phenomena and nods to John Carpenter’s horror films. Shivering, in every sense of the word.

True Detective : Night Countryon Crave

Where are the (good) men?

Where are men as good and caring as those portrayed in the comedy-drama hiding? Bellefleurthe Life, life millennials? If we rely on the ten half-hours of the series, it is in Sherbrooke that this group of friends in their late thirties or early forties flourishes. Bellefleurit’s Nicolas Bellefleur (Guillaume Laurin), a comedian who struggles to see the son of his ex-girlfriend (Charlotte Aubin), whom he considers his own. Heartbroken, Nicolas Bellefleur goes to his brother (Maxime de Cotret), where he reconnects with his high school gang, whose members are going through bereavement, paternity issues and adultery. A sweet, comforting and warm comedy, perfect for cold evenings.

Bellefleuron Crave

Sayonaralords and geishas

Shōgun seemed cheesy, old-fashioned and not interesting to me. Why rework this classic of James Clavell’s literature? I was completely wrong. This sumptuous retelling of the 1975 novel is not only magnificent, but devilishly spellbinding. The year is 1600, in feudal Japan ruled by five powerful lords. En route to China, the boat of an English explorer (Cosmo Jarvis) runs aground on the east coast of the Land of the Rising Sun, near Osaka. Through the eyes of this foreign traveler, the viewer untangles a spaghetti of complex political intrigues and discovers a hyper-codified society, marked by fascinating rituals. Yes, the pace is slow and the story, told in Japanese with subtitles, demands maximum attention. But once Shōgun yearns for you, it’s impossible to say sayonara to this saga before the end.

Shōgunsouth Disney+