8 new shows I'm watching in April

Apparently I'm enjoying Minx more than Emily Nussbaum.

8. Halo (Paramount+)
My score: 68/100

I blame my excitement for this series on 2001 nostalgia, the feeling of entering a peculiar, expansive alien shooter game as a kid who was used to the 1990s pixelated graphics of the original Doom games. Why my parents chose to let me play violent shooter games from such an early age, I will never understand. But since announced, I’ve been curious about what this (big budget) series would look like, and if it could compete with The Expanse and other space operas that have always been a staple of my television watching.

To the chagrin of the Halo community cultivated over eight games, the live-action adaptation a decade in the making is taking a more grounded, character-approach with significant shifts from the game’s original narrative. For better or worse, it’s been a slower entry, but with significant promise. The space-related CGI looks top tier and expensive, while other aspects of the series read as cheaply done (the aliens, for example)—a bewildering combination. Luckily, Pablo Schreiber is an extremely capable actor as protagonist Master Chief, and unlike the games he spends the majority of his time without a helmet, which at the very least, avoids The Mandalorian comparisons.

7. Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart (HBO Max)
My score: 72/100

If you’re like me and you’ve read any of Dr. Brené Brown’s books, you’ve had that specific, groundbreaking a-ha moment when you realized the difference between guilt and shame and the significance of bringing awareness to your internal state. Take that a-ha moment and multiply it by 87, the number of emotions that Brown covers in her new book and five-episode series. Throughout, she emphasizes the (scientifically-grounded) power that comes with being able to identify and name what you feel, and she’s right.

The only problem is that I don’t know if it needed a five-episode stretch, especially since most of the stories, quotes, examples and definitions discussed are lifted directly from the book. But nonetheless, it feels like the good kind of homework your therapist might assign after a heavy session, and you likely won’t come away from watching this without having a few earth-shattering realizations about yourself.

6. Minx (HBO Max)