First off, apologies that this letter in coming a day late—or, for a recommendations post, a day early. We at the Party have had to move a few tables around while we get ready for an exciting, Scottish (hint hint) special guest arriving tomorrow. See below for more on that. Anyway! 

Television comes roaring back right at the beginning of any new year, while movies trickle in a bit more slowly. So we’ll kick off this week’s column with the small screen, though the screens have gotten pretty big recently, haven’t they?? Anyway, don’t try the veal, try these television programs and movies! 

The Traitors US (Peacock, January 8) 

I won’t say much about this because, starting on Friday of this week, I will be recapping the season right here in this very newsletter. It’s my first time doing regular recapping since I think the penultimate season of Girls, so it’s been over a decade. Let’s find out if those particular muscles are still in working order, shall we? And let’s see if I can keep the US season separate from the UK season, which I am also currently watching. It’ll be fun! 

The Pitt (HBO Max, January 8) 

I liked the first season of this minute-by-minute emergency room drama, but it did give me some aches and pains. The show’s assertion that nearly the whole of human catastrophe could be contained within one 15-hour period of time badly strained credibility, as did the fact that a number of the cases handled by the seasoned pros and fledgling interns of Pittsburgh Hope (that’s the name of the hospital, right?) also happened to teach some sort of important social lesson. That contrivance clanged frustratingly against all the hyper-accurate medicalese that the series prides itself on. 

Still, this now-awards-bedecked show is a tense and compelling marvel of process. And the second season, which I have not yet finished but am pretty far into, tempers some of the first season’s melodrama. There is still a wide variety of traumas to grimly, perhaps pruriently explore, from the amusingly non-threatening (like an unending hard-on) to the truly harrowing (like a hideous parkour accident, based on something from my own life). But it’s all more modest and thus more convincing this time around, which helps the actors—the returning cast is joined by a few welcome-enough newbies—find further nuance in their performances. Of course, the golden-boy center of the show is Noah Wyle, who continues to radiate rumpled professionalism, whether he is trying to contain his anger at a wayward colleague or kindly keeping calm a patient whose prognosis is particularly dire. The rest of the cast greatly benefits from his easy naturalism, as does the whole of The Pitt, a show that’s not quite as docudrama-realistic as it positions itself, but is worthy of at least a good deal of the praise it has received.

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For Your Consideration: Belén

Belén tells the true story of Julieta (Camila Pláate), a young woman accused of infanticide, and Soledad Deza (Dolores Fonzi), the bold lawyer who risks everything to take on the highly controversial, precedent-setting case. As the trial unfolds, Julieta’s plight becomes a flashpoint in the battle against a conservative legal system—sparking a groundswell of outrage and a growing wave of solidarity that transcends borders. Based on Ana Correa’s book “Somos Belén” and produced by K&S Films, the film powerfully captures a real story that ignited a movement and helped redefine the conversation around justice and women’s rights in Argentina.

Industry (HBO, January 11)

I am far more conflicted about this gaudy series, about a bunch of young, reckless, hedonistic finance people tearing around London being horrible to one another—and, quite often, themselves. The first season had a sexy, propulsive charge, but then the show seemed to sense the end of Succession looming and decided to dig in real deep on the corporate machinations to fill in the vacuum left by its cooler older brother. That granular detail loses me a little, especially in season four, because I have no idea what any of these terms mean and, really, don’t want to know. I try to just let the flood of terms wash over me and hope that I can parse some sort of general understanding from it. It’s really hard to do that this season, though, which made me feel dumb and then made me mad at the show. 

From what I’ve seen, the series is also going hard on the shock factor, tossing in plenty of dirty words and deeds to get everyone’s loins astir. Maybe it’s just the post-Heated Rivalry comedown (or it’s the lack of Harry Lawtey), but I don’t really have the energy to get all excited about these mean straight people pegging each other.

So why is it in a recommendations column? Because it’s still glossy, intriguing entertainment, lushly filmed and, for the most part, craftily performed. It’s much more in line with what HBO shows used to be before they wandered off the path into franchise territory. (I really hate that It show, guys. Though, the network does have another spinoff coming up, from different IP, that I do really enjoy. More on that next week . . . . ) I think Industry is still worth a watch if you find yourself missing all the sleek conniving of Succession, or the fast-talk workplace jargon of The Diplomat. It’s a juicy way to end the weekend and chase the Sunday scaries away—maybe you don’t make the piles of blood money these kids are raking in, but at least you’re not being screamed at by coked-out men in vests all the time. (At least, I hope you’re not.)