Sonal Pandya

After two and a half years, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters returns with an answer to the cliffhanger ending of Season 1. Will Colonel Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) be rescued from Axis Mundi? Affirmative. Kurt and son Wyatt Rusell, who plays the younger version of Lee in the past, are back as the Monsterverse spinoff series adds yet another Titan to the mix and deals with the complicated Randa family relationships now that Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto) has returned from the dead. Developed by Chris Black and Matt Fraction, the second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters tries its hand at family conflict again.

In the first half of Bridgerton Season 4, viewers were introduced to a magical Cinderella tale between second brother Bendect Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) as the mysterious Lady in Silver. And at the end of the fourth episode, Benedict proposed that Sophie become his mistress. The Netflix series returns to explore the fallout of the proposal, as Benedict must decide whether to defy society and his family for the sake of love. Furthermore, other younger Bridgertons have significant goings-on in their lives as the series sets up what’s next for seasons ahead.

Jennifer Garner is back as Hannah Hall in this family thriller, The Last Thing He Told Me. In the first season, Hannah watched as husband, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), disappeared after his tech company faced financial issues. She and her stepdaughter, Bailey (Angourie Rice), learn to move on with their lives. The Apple TV series returns after a three-year gap with Owen back in their lives, opening up a whole can of worms. The mystery drama series leans heavily on its past with several Hollywood stars from David Morse, Rita Wilson, and Judy Greer, as the show travels to France to close out a traumatic chapter.

Created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney, Crave’s Canadian series Heated Rivalry has taken the world by storm. On February 20, it lands in India on Lionsgate Play. The show adapts the books of author Rachel Reid, which focus on the unlikely love story between two top players, Canada’s Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russia’s Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Tierney’s show elevates the material, getting to the heart of the matter as the two men meet when they are teenagers as rivals and end up as each other’s partners, away from the public eye. The low-budget series connects strongly due to its heartwarming screenplay and the refreshing performances from the cast.

Last season, Peter Sutherland made a deal with the devil, and this time, it comes back to haunt him again. The likeable and dependable Gabriel Basso is back to lead Netflix’s The Night Agent for its third season. Created by Shawn Ryan, the espionage drama loses a few key players from previous seasons, but gains intrigue with another White House mystery that leaves viewers on the edge throughout. The first season of The Night Agent is ranked tenth in Netflix’s most-watched shows of all time, and the drama has enough juice to power a few more seasons, going by the quality of this latest instalment.

The melancholy crime drama Kohrra is back after nearly three years, minus one of its lead actors. While Suvinder Vicky’s Sub-inspector Balbir Singh is missed, he is replaced by the more than worthy Mona Singh as Dhanwant Kaur. And, of course, the excellent Barun Sobti returns as Assistant Sub-Inspector Amarpal Garundi. This time, the character is transferred to Dalerpura, where they investigate a new NRI murder, with dark secrets uncovering another family tragedy. Creators and writers Gunjit Chopra, Diggi Sisodia, and Sudip Sharma have crafted another complex character study that will linger long after the series is watched.

Mirai director Mamoru Hosada’s newest offering is a genderbeat version of Hamlet. In Scarlet, a pink-haired princess travels through the Otherworld to avenge the death of her father at the hands of her own uncle, the king who has usurped his throne. Battling trials and obstacles, Scarlet has help from an unlikely ally and travels to enter the Infinite Land. Mashing up a new mythology created for his film with the classic tragedy by William Shakespeare, Scarlet is action-filled and visually stunning. However, the Japanese anime feature falters in its message of self-discovery versus revenge.

Bridgerton Season 4 turns its attention to the fourth sibling and second son, Benedict (Luke Thompson), who has put off the marriage mart for too long. He finds a mysterious Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball, but she vanishes without leaving her name or address. Based on the romance novels by Julia Quinn, each sibling’s love story follows a different trope. Season 4 is about love at first sight and follows an emotional Cinderella story where the couple has to overcome a few obstacles towards their happily ever after. While the narrative does get a bit overstuffed at times, the central couple sells this season with their magical chemistry.