Best TV Shows on Amazon Prime Pt.2

Upload

Imagine a sci-fi version of The Good Place, and you have Upload. But what makes this Amazon original series special is its creator Greg Daniels, who you might also know as the guy who created and ran the American version of The Office and co-created Parks and Recreation. Daniels’ penchant for blending comedy with romance is alive and well in Upload, which takes place in a near-future in which humans have the ability to have their consciousness uploaded into a digital afterlife—provided they can afford it. When a programmer (Robbie Amell) dies and uploads, he has trouble adjusting to his swanky new afterlife while also dealing with his shallow (and still living) girlfriend and romantic feelings for his customer service representative. Oh, and he may or may not be trying to figure out if he was murdered. Comedy, romance, and a mystery, Upload has it all, and since the show has been renewed for a second season, you can rest assured the finale cliffhanger will be resolved.

Dead Like Me

Bryan Fuller‘s production company is called Living Dead Guy, and the inspiration for that might be, in part, the first show he ever created. Originally running on Showtime, Dead Like Me stars Ellen Muth as George, who has a really bad day that ends with her getting killed by a falling toilet seat. However, death is not the end for her — instead, she joins Rube (Mandy Patinkin) and his team of reapers, who help souls transition to the afterlife. For fans of Fuller’s other shows, including Hannibal and American Gods, the first season is a must-see, especially thanks to the tender father-daughter bond that develops between George and Rube. Dead Like Me, like so many shows about mortality, is really about the beauty of life.

Carnival Row

Be it the cast, the plot, or the world it has rendered, Carnival Row is taking some big leaps — and they pay off beautifully. Carnival Row is a wholly original fantasy series where magical folk you’ve only read about cohabitate (albeit rather uneasily) with humans in the rich and gloomily rendered steampunk world of The Burgue. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne lead the series as star-crossed lovers Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate and Vignette Stonemess. He’s a soldier-turned-inspector in The Burgue and she’s a fae (read: fairy) seeking refuge after being driven out of her homeland, Tirnanoc. As Philo and Vignette’s paths cross after seven years apart, they find themselves drawn into uncovering the truth about a series of murders targeting the magical creatures who have immigrated to The Burgue.

Carnival Row has plenty on its mind when it comes to its allegorical approach to contemporary issues around race and immigration which make this series all the more interesting to watch — even when it gets a little shaky on that front. It’s a bold series that is confident in its vision, which deserves a big tip of the cap as far as I’m concerned. It also doesn’t hurt that Bloom and Delevingne have decent chemistry while performances turned in from supporting cast members Jared Harris, Indira Varma, Tamzin Merchant, Karla Crome, and David Gyasi really bring the story Carnival Row is telling in this inviting series to life.

Jack Ryan

While Jack Ryan may not be on the level of prestige TV like Breaking Bad or Mad Men or even The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it’s a very solid throwback series for fans of mid-budget thrillers. Indeed, each episode of Jack Ryan is almost like a mini Jack Ryan movie of sorts, with the location and setting varying wildly throughout the series. The ever-affable John Krasinski proves to be a formidable fit for the title character, and Wendell Pierce brings some welcome complexity to the role of James Greer, Ryan’s boss at the CIA. The Season 1 storyline is a mix between Homeland and 24 as Ryan tracks an Islamic terrorist, and while your mileage may vary, it’s a pretty compelling season-long arc with tremendous production value. And did I mention John Krasinski?

Catastrophe

Wickedly smart and bitterly funny, Catastrophe’s two short seasons reveal uncomfortable but honest truths about marriage and children, especially in the case of its two leads who were never looking for either (at least, not with each other). An unexpected pregnancy after a one-night stand turns into a patchwork relationship that is more realistic than anything else on television, one where its protagonists struggle, mess up, make terrible decisions, yet ultimately choose to be together through all of it while being genuinely warm and funny. Delaney and Horgan are fantastic, as are Ashley Jensen and particularly Mark Bonnar and Jonathan Forbes in supporting roles. Catastrophe is a show to binge quickly, and then go back and watch again immediately. It’s cringe-comedy at its finest and most revealing, whose only sin is brevity.