Amid aggressive review-bombing, Netflix has made its support for Castlevania: Nocturne loud and clear with an expeditious season 2 renewal. On the other end of the spectrum, everyone is elated that Lupin is back for a third season while Suits continues to top the charts with ease.
Meanwhile, against all odds, in the space of a few days, two hit Netflix shows, albeit from completely opposing genres, have been neatly packaged to offer viewers experiences that recreate what they have loved to follow on screen. Fans of Love is Blind and Squid Game, keep reading.
Nothing says “surefire hit” like a new season of Lupin
Good old reliable Omar Sy never disappoints. Netflix subscribers are drawn to the French actor like bees to honey, so they were quick to tune into his third outing as charismatic and impressively sly thief Assane Diop AKA Lupin. Assane is now hiding out in Marseille after becoming the most wanted man in France during season 2, but the harassment his wife Claire and son Raoul are facing at the hands of the media forces him to return to Paris.
What was once Netflix’s most-watched non-English show is still riding the wave with an audience approval rating of 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, paired nicely with a whopping 98 percent score from critics. Season 3 alone debuted on the review aggregator with a 100 percent critical score after eight reviews ⏤ a record almost as infallible as Assane’s. The season’s seven episodes have been streaming on the platform since Oct. 5.
Castlevania: Nocturne lands record-time renewal despite polarizing reviews
Shadow and Bone fans are probably losing their minds right now. While their show is still walking the renewal tightrope nearly seven months after its second season dropped on Netflix, a show with a 45 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes has just gotten a super-speed season 2 order from the streamer.
Castlevania: Nocturne came out a week ago, but Netflix confirmed Friday that a second season was already in the works. The dark fantasy animated series might boast a 100 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that’s only based on 15 reviews, and subscribers’ comments tell a completely different story. “Poorly executed,” “hard to watch,” and “bland teenager soap opera” are only some among thousands of devastating comments left on the review aggregator website.
However, it does look like this is another case of review-bombing, which has become all too common for media led by women, particularly women of color. Fans of the original series and the video games took issue with the creative liberties employed in this new iteration, namely making Annette, a freed slave, the main character. Instead of having a balanced discussion about the story’s new direction, these viewers completely turned their backs on the franchise, calling it another victim of the “Woke” movement. Too bad for them, I guess, because Netflix couldn’t care less.
On the topic of good TV, Suits continues to prove that the old way might still be the best way
Short binge-able shows are valuable to an extent, but there’s nothing like the long, slow-build TV of the aughts and ’10s where seasons had more than eight episodes and shows would run for more than three or four years. The immersive experience of watching a genuinely good, thoroughly built show like Suits should be making a comeback after the legal drama’s unprecedented success.
After three months, Suits is still at the top of the Nielsen streaming charts, breaking the record for most weeks at number one since the firm started compiling these stats in 2020. Subscribers of both Netflix and Peacock watched the Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht-led show for 2359 million minutes between the week of Sept. 4 and Sept. 10, contributing to its 12th consecutive week leading the table. Maybe it’s time we start rethinking the dried-out format of super short seasons with two-year-long hiatuses between releases and go back to basics.
If your thing is less fiction and more reality, we know just how you can make your Love is Blind fantasies come true
If you were sitting at home watching the loved-up couples of Love is Blind go on a romantic getaway to the Mexican resort of your dreams and hating your life just a little bit, don’t worry ⏤ there’s a solution. It’s not the cheapest, but if you want to recreate the luxurious, hyper-relaxing experience of the reality dating program’s contestants, you actually can.
Grand Velas Riviera Maya, the beachfront Mexican hotel visited by the Love is Blind couples during the final stretch of the show’s fifth season, has created a package named after the Netflix show that includes one of the hotel’s best suites, discounts for airport transportation and activities, champagne and chocolates on arrival, spa treatments, and more. Per TMZ, the “Love is Blind experience” costs fans of the show at least $1,200 a night and will be available until Dec. 15.
There’s an immersive Squid Game experience coming, too
A bit cheaper, and a lot less relaxing, is the experience Netflix is opening in Los Angeles’ Television City complex for Squid Game aficionados come Dec. 6 ⏤ and no, we don’t mean the dreadful reality competition game inspired by the South Korean hit series that’s coming out this November. In the case of this L.A. event, called Squid Game: The Trials, fans actually have to pay to participate (at least $38), and there’s no cash prize.
Still, this might still sound appealing for the lovers of challenges such as escape rooms and puzzles, as a fun, different kind of plan for a night out with friends or their partner. According to The Hollywood Reporter, participants will be let in by the terrifying villain of the show known as the “Front Man” and will then compete in “six escalating challenges, accumulating points as you advance,” which will surely be inspired by the games seen on the television phenomenon. Better yet, there will be plenty of Korean food and drinks, curated by YANGBAN chef Katianna Hong. Tickets go on sale Oct. 11.