what we’re watching in October

As we dive into October, here are some captivating new films and series to help fill your evenings on the couch.

This month’s streaming picks from our experts feature plenty of strong women characters – from Nicole Kidman’s role as a fearsome matriarch in The Perfect Couple, to empowered young women battling it out in a K-pop reality show contest. Meanwhile, Marvel’s latest offering Agatha All Along brings a fresh feminist-queer twist to the Marvel universe.

Whether you’re in the mood for romance, documentary or murder mysteries, we’ve got something for you.

Last Days of The Space Age

Disney+

Disney+‘s new drama Last Days of the Space Age is set in Perth in 1979 – and could be considered the streaming service’s first real foray into Australiana.

The series follows three families through a series of true events, including a power company strike, the arrival of a bunch of Miss Universe contestants from around the world and the crash of the US space station Skylab. Amid this chaos, it also touches on the denial of local Indigenous history, a Vietnamese refugee’s search for her lost son, a feminist surfing adventure – and more.

By trying to juggle so many plot points in eight episodes, the series overwhelms itself and at times can feel underdeveloped. Nonetheless, its focus on Australian audiences and stories gives it a refreshing authenticity.

The cast is stellar, featuring local talent such as Jesse Spencer, Deborah Mailman and Radha Mitchell, alongside international names including Iain Glen and Linh-Dan Pham. Newcomers Emily Grant and Mackenzie Mazur also shine in their roles.

As Disney’s first truly Australian-centric show, Last Days of the Space Age is a promising step for local storytelling. Let’s just hope it’s not the last of the streaming service’s major local commissions.

–Alexa Scarlata

Emily in Paris, season four

Netflix

Season four of Emily in Paris continues the frothy delightfulness of previous seasons, complete with absurd fashion moments, sharp dialogue and easily resolved PR catastrophes. This show is the televisual equivalent of fairy floss in the best way: nutritionally empty, yet sweetly satisfying.

The almost hermetically sealed, aspirational world of Emily’s Paris remains untouched by pandemics, Olympic scandals or economic realities. Instead, we bounce from the titular French capital to the snowy slopes of Megève, to Roma – all rendered in the dreamy romance of a technicolor fantasy. Although she is now fully ensconced in Parisian life, Emily (Lily Collins) carries the show with spunk and a wide-eyed American optimism.

“Hot chef” Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) still has zero personality, but that doesn’t matter as he is surrounded by charismatic and charming characters in the bonkers Luc (Bruno Gouery) and witty Mindy (Ashley Park), both of whom are standouts this season. Sylvie Grateau (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) continues to inspire us all, thanks to her derision of Emily’s American ways and iconic style.

Do not attempt to make sense of the timeline, geography or economics of Emily in Paris. Just open your mind and heart to its goofy, spectacular pleasures.

– Jessica Ford

Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE

Netflix

Netflix’s Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE is about 20 aspiring young women who are finalists in a global competition, launched by entertainment industry heavyweights HYBE and Geffen Records, to find the next big K-pop group.

While I’m not a huge fan of the K-pop music genre, this docuseries has all the hallmarks of a streaming success. It takes talented contestants from all over the world, pits them against one another, and packages the outcome in a glossy and highly bingeable format.

There’s a fine line between empowerment and exploitation explored in the series. The girls are trained relentlessly and judged on categories such as “star power” and their general attitude. Non-compliance is seen as unacceptable.

At times I worried about the show’s potential to negatively influence young viewers – and especially young trend-conscious girls. That said, director Nadia Hallgren (who is known for her sensitive work documenting women of colour) does well to show that the participants’ quest is far from glamorous.

I appreciated the intimate access into the lives of these girls, who often have no fallback if their efforts in the merciless industry don’t pay off. There are some fascinating moments where you see the stars in their eyes begin to dim as they’re taken to breaking point. This prompts some to take matters into their own hands – showing a true fighting spirit.

– Phoebe Hart

The Perfect Couple

Netflix

Based around a lavish wedding due to take place in a multimillion-dollar beach house on the Nantucket coastline, The Perfect Couple is a glossy “whodunnit” featuring the uber-wealthy getting up to no good.

Just hours before the ceremony, the body of maid of honour party-girl Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) washes up dead. With secrets lurking at every plot twist, everyone’s a suspect.

In a narrative device reminiscent of Big Little Lies, scandalous revelations are gleefully delivered during a series of police interviews. Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin) listens with equal parts revulsion and fascination, a fitting stand-in for us viewers.

While the whole cast appear to be enjoying themselves immensely, Nicole Kidman is the undeniable star of the show. Recent roles have seen Kidman become synonymous with the glamorous, albeit fragile, housewife. The icy matriarch Greer Garrison Winbury – equally revered and feared – is a welcome deviation that Kidman performs with relish.

The Perfect Couple arguably doesn’t offer the same depth of social critique as similar predecessor shows such as Big Little Lies or The White Lotus. Nonetheless, its fast pace and slick execution render it tremendously fun and binge-worthy viewing.

– Rachel Williamson

KillJoy

Stan

At 16, Kathryn Joy applied for a passport. To do this, they had to obtain the death certificate for their mother, Carolyn. After growing up in a house in which their father had killed their mother, Kathryn learned exactly how their mother had died: “gunshot wound to the head”.

The bare brutality of this information shocked them into looking anew at their father, escaping from small town to big city, spiralling into trauma-induced mental anguish, and embarking on a journey of self-discovery through tracing their family’s violent history.

Eight years of this journey are documented in the new Australian documentary Killjoy.

The narrative is held together by two investigative processes: finding out about how Carolyn had lived, as well as died; and understanding how to travel through, and with, pain and vulnerability to a place of fullness and purpose.

The film takes us with Kathryn as they trace their own history, irrevocably intertwined with that of their mother. The result is a unique journey into the inner turmoil, development, hopes and passions of a beautiful sensitive mind struggling to understand themselves against an ongoing backdrop of gender violence and political activism.

– Sharon Crozier-De Rosa

Read more: The documentary Killjoy captures the personal and the political of family violence and gender activism

Agatha All Along

Disney+

With episode three having just dropped, Kathryn Hanh is back as Agatha Harkness in the much-anticipated Agatha All Along – a follow up to the critically acclaimed Marvel series WandaVision.

Following her battle with Wanda (Elizabeth Olson), Agatha is stuck in Eastview without her powers. Episode one opens with Agatha trapped in a parody of Mare of Easttown, with Hahn hamming up the mannerisms of Kate Winslet’s performance alongside Aubrey Plaza. She’s soon woken up, however, by a mysterious teen played by Heartbreaker’s Joe Locke. To regain her strength, she must transport herself to the Witches’ Road and survive the journey. But she can’t do this without forming a coven with other witches.

With a coven played by the star-studded ensemble of Debra Jo Rupp, Ali Ahn, Sasheer Zamata and Patti LuPone, Agatha dares to walk the Witches’ Road. Along the journey, each witch will be faced with a trial in which they must succeed or face certain death. Adding to the tension is the mystery around the teen’s identity and the potential former romance between Hanh and Plaza’s characters.

Showrunner Jac Schaeffer, who also created WandaVision, has imbued Agatha All Along with the same humour and pop culture awareness. The show is reminiscent of the 1990s obsession with witchcraft and supernatural power, such as Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and Practical Magic. It’s refreshing to have a Marvel entry that is genuinely feminist and queer.

– Stuart Richards