High-fructose drama

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/11/2024 (392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The streamers are front-loading the first two weeks of December before the usual holiday lull, so set a reminder for these five after you’ve finished shopping and baking.

Black Doves (series premières six episodes Thursday, Dec. 5, on Netflix)

Don’t you just hate when geopolitics gets in the way of an otherwise solid plan to avenge your secret lover’s death?

And as if that weren’t bad enough, your spymaster keeps doing that annoying eye-rolling thing.

But if that were the bad couple of days you were saddled with, at least you’d have the company of Keira Knightley (Boston Strangler, Pride and Prejudice) under deep cover as a “dedicated wife and mother,” Ben Whishaw (This Is Going to Hurt) as her old and now reluctant friend and Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley, Julia) as their very dry-humoured white-haired Judi Dench-like handler.

Weapons ready and safeties off!

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The Sticky (series premières six episodes Friday, Dec. 6, on Prime Video)

While the name Jamie Lee Curtis (The Bear, Everything Everywhere All at Once) on the list of cast members and executive producers here would be enough for many, there look to be other good reasons to catch this show.

This new series takes a satisfyingly Fargo-esque comic twist on a true Quebec crime story.

Between 2011 and 2012, nearly $19 million worth of maple syrup was nicked from a warehouse north of Montreal. News of what was dubbed the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist circled the globe a few times.

In this fictionalized account, magnificent Margo Martindale (Your Honor, The Leftovers) plays Ruth, the syrup producer driven to crime by the ridiculousness of Quebec bureaucracy. She is assisted by mobster Mike (the manic Chris Diamantopoulos of Mrs. Davis, The Boys in the Boat) and a security guard who aspires to great criminal heights (Quebec stalwart Guillaume Cyr).

Curtis plays a small but key role wielding a gun, a bad wig and some commanding aviator frames.

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No Good Deed (series premières eight episodes Thursday, Dec. 12, on Netflix)

Selling a house is never a simple thing, but Los Angeles empty-nesters Lydia (Time Bandits’ Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (The Big Sick’s Ray Romano) are unloading more than their gorgeous 1920s Spanish-style villa in this comic real-estate thriller.

When the top three buyers whip up a frenzy of offers, secrets as well as threats (oh, hello, Denis Leary!) start popping out of the woodwork.

Dead to Me creator Liz Feldman brought Linda Cardellini back for a nicely nasty role.

Other welcome supporting actors include Abbi Jacobson (A League of Their Own) and Luke Wilson (Fingernails).

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Dexter: Original Sin (premières a weekly rollout of 10 episodes on Friday, Dec.13, on Paramount+)

Television’s favourite avenging-angel serial killer is back.

Again.

Following the original Dexter series (2006-2013) about a gifted blood-spatter analyst and the 2021 sequel Dexter: New Blood, Michael C. Hall returns as narrator in this origin-story prequel.

The year is 1991 and young Dexter (Patrick Gibson) has begun his forensics internship with the Miami Metro Police Department.

His dad, Harry (Blink Twice’s Christian Slater taking up the role originally played by James Remar), is helping him on the job and at home to hone Dex’s dark urges into the Code.

Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) is Capt. Spencer and James Martinez plays Det. Angel Batista, who was played by David Zayas in the original series.

And if that’s not enough righteous blood for viewers, save a yet-to-be specified date in 2025 for Dexter: Resurrection, which picks up where New Blood left off.

 

Carry-On (movie premières Friday, Dec. 13, on Netflix)

Air travellers’ worst checked-luggage fears are usually arriving at a faraway destination without medication and fresh underwear.

Homeland Security agent Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton, Rocketman) is just trying to smile through to the end of a busy Christmas Eve shift at the baggage scanner.

Jason Bateman (Ozark) is wearing a literal and metaphoric black hat in a scheme to blackmail our young hero to get a dangerous bag aboard a flight.

Cue airport chase scenes!

 

Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments, suggestions to denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.