6 shows I'm watching in December

Princess Diana, a musical dramedy, Tim Burton, and lots of divorce.

6. The Crown (Season 5, Netflix)
My score: 60/100

This was by far my least favourite season of The Crown. The performances have never been an issue on this show: Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Elizabeth Debicki all fall into their roles gracefully. My issue with the season as a whole is how insular it ends up feeling: so obsessed with Diana, Charles, and the conflict it caused the royal family.

I’m not sure what else I expected, but aside from a few select episodes, I felt the series lacked a more global perspective that had been essential to previous seasons. At the very least, a perspective into the working-class of the U.K.—the fall-out of the Thatcher era, for example. The season as a whole is self-contained and to a certain extent, self-obsessed, which was mostly exhausting by the end. But maybe that’s by design.

Is it gay? Cackling.

5. Mood (BBC/BBC America)
My score: 68/100

We project so much upon television and film that portrays sex work, in a way that feels specific to how the discourse will tear apart any representation of the working-class while letting shows about wealth pass by unexamined. On Mood, all Sasha wants to do is record her damn EP, and she falls into sex work while trying to navigate being unable make enough money to survive outside of the environment of her family home.

A recent study demonstrates there are half as many working-class actors, musicians and writers today than there were the 1970s. Creatives can barely pay their rent, let alone fund their art practice—this is more or less what Mood is (at times imperfectly) about. Nicôle Lecky, Mood’s star, creator, and writer interviewed and befriended sex workers in the process of creating the show to depict their stories, and infused the series with a musical element not unlike Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (the songs are legitimately good, too).

Is it gay? A sprinkle of gay here and there.

4. Wednesday (Netflix)