Hilda (Netflix)
Short and family-friendly, British/Canadian animated show Hilda picks up just as Hilda and her mother are forced to move from her beloved home in the wilds to the nearby city of Trolberg, where she’ll live among other people for the first time ever. Its charming aesthetic lends warmth to the Nordic setting and folklore, and the soundtrack by Grimes is a perfect match. Plus, there’s this thing called a deerfox, and, yeah, it’s as cute as it sounds.
Erased (Hulu)
This 12-episode anime series follows a struggling artist who, after becoming the prime suspect in his mother’s murder, finds himself reliving his childhood – specifically, the year several of his classmates were killed. The series unfolds into an intricately plotted genre blend: part crime thriller, part sci-fi drama, part journey-of-personal-discovery, and at every turn tender and surprising without diminishing the weight of its (often dark) mature themes. Bonus: multiple mentions of Christmas, so it’s kind of a holiday show?
King of the Hill (Hulu)
Mike Judge’s version of small-town Texas might be the series we need right now. It’s definitely the one I need, which is why I was stoked to see that Hulu recently picked up every episode. Watch it from the beginning, and pretend we live in a simpler time when conservatives seemed more like Hank Hill and less like Dale Gribble.
Bodyguard (Netflix)
I planned for all of these entries to be animated. I really did. But my partner popped on Bodyguard last week and that plan went right out the window. Expertly crafted and tense as hell, the BBC political thriller never misses an opportunity to pull the rug out from under you, leaving you just as unsure of whom to trust as the show’s many pawns and players. Seriously, just watch the first 15 minutes; if you aren’t absolutely hooked, you’re lying to yourself.
– Proofreader Jasmine Lane
This article appears in December 14 • 2018.