MADE FOR LOVE
Stan
TO open Made For Love we're presented with the startling image of Hazel Green (Cristin Milioti) soaked and gasping for air emerging from a trap door in the desert. Then she comically slips and falls back into the tunnel, and in that moment, the enormity of the scene is lost.
That's ultimately the issue with the US series - it struggles to mix the show's dark dramatic elements with its silliness.
Milioti (Palm Springs) is a woman on the run from her controlling tech billionaire husband Byron Gogol, whose name is a not-so-thinly-disguised swipe at Google.
Byron has kept Hazel trapped in their desert mansion for 10 years, where she lives in opulence but is isolated from the world and made to review all aspects of her life, even her orgasms.
Byron's desire for control reaches new levels when he announces his intention to launch his Made For Love program on himself and Hazel. This involves inserting microchips into their brains so that their minds are linked.
In desperation Hazel escapes, however, Byron's hapless cronies continually track her down as she learns the microchip has already been inserted in her brain.
Ray Romano plays Hazel's widower father Herbert, who's in a relationship with a sex doll Diane. Romano's character is seemingly added to provide comic relief, but it only detracts from the seriousness of the plot.
Made For Love does explore the sinister nature of technological advances and their ability to control, but much of the show's tone and humour feels misplaced.
THE SERPENT
Netflix
THERE'S an abundance of true-crime dramas available to stream, but you won't find many as engrossing and chilling as The Serpent.
Much like a coiled snake, the eight-episode series slowly unwinds itself, but when it does, its fangs deliver a nasty bite.
The Serpent tells the true story of French serial killer and fraudster Charles Sobhraj who preyed on Westerners in the mid-1970s along the famed "hippie trails" of Thailand, India and Nepal.
Wealthy, attractive and charming, Sobhraj would befriend and lure in tourists with the help of his glamourous wife Chantal Compagnon, which resulted in the murder of at least 12 people.
French actor Tahar Rahim is superb in the leading role, imbuing Sobharj with both charisma and terrifying coldness.
Directors Tom Shankland (The Missing) and Hans Herbots use a combination of multiple time sequences to tell the story, without stalling the narrative, and the frenetic scenes of '70s Bangkok and pompous colonial diplomat culture help colour the historical tale.
WRESTLEMANIA 37
WWE Network
FOR the second straight year the annual super bowl of "sports entertainment", Wrestlemania, will be screened over two days (Sunday and Monday morning AEDT) due to COVID-19. However for the first time since the pandemic, a limited number of fans will be allowed inside the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
The main storyline heading into Mania will be whether the 47-year-old veteran Edge can win the Universal title for the first time in a triple threat match against the champion Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan.