The best TV series to watch in October 2022, in a nutshell

The story of the genre is the master in this serial October. A few thrillers, a hint of horror, a couple of dramas (with an attached exotic touch) to close with a laugh. At the end.

Munich Game

(Sky Atlantic, October 5)

German Sky Original Thriller set in Munich in 2022 and created by Michal Aviram (former showrunner of Fauda). Fifty years after the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes during the ’72 Olympics by the Palestinian commando Black September, the German city hosts a friendly match between the Israeli national team and Germany. An agent on the dark web intercepts a message that could lead to an attack on the Israeli team. History must not repeat itself and efforts will be made to prevent the accident from occurring and bringing with it lethal consequences. A dramatic and adrenaline-filled story, solidly constructed and which recovers a real event from the past (and already treated in a film by Spielberg) giving it new life and light.

The Bear

(Disney +, October 8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgWhWRCF1EA

Acclaimed TV series that aired on FX (Hulu) has become a small cult. Jeremy Allen White plays Carmy Berzatto, chef by profession, who is forced to return home to Chicago following his brother’s suicide to take care of his family’s restaurant, The Original Beef of Chicagoland sandwich shop. The young person will have to adapt to work in a much more provincial context, to collaborate with an acrimonious and oppositional kitchen staff and to deal with a family mourning that is difficult to metabolize. The series is interesting on paper because it combines different registers, passing from more comedy moments to dramatic nuances. The protagonist’s face does the rest.

The Watcher

(Netflix, October 13)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yoYJskoB-U

Thriller miniseries created by Ryan Murphy and starring – quite unpublished for the seriality – Naomi Watts. Inspired by a true story, the series tells the story of the Brannock family, who have just moved into a new home in New Jersey. The house immediately showed something of a sinister and, to aggravate the situation, letters began to arrive with gruesome content sent by a man called “the Observer” (the watcher, in fact). The mystery deepens and the tension rises, in an increasingly rhythmic story and, thanks to Murphy’s style, with attention to detail also from a visual point of view.

Shantaram

(Apple tv +, October 14)

It is an impressive undertaking, as perhaps only Apple TV + has the opportunity to tackle, that of adapt Gregory David Roberts’ full-bodied 2003 bestseller (published in Italy by Neri Pozza). A history full of events and situations, set in 1980s Bombay and here extended into twelve episodes that follow the events of Lin Ford (alter ego of the author), Escaped prisoner trying to build a new life in Mumbai slums. Here he earns the nickname of Shantaram – “man of peace” or “bearer of light” -, he begins to live by expedients and then find his own place and the love of the intriguing Karla. An epic story (years ago the book was optioned by Johnny Depp but then the film transposition project ran aground), very ambitious and which aims to tell a fascinating slice of the world with a western key (Charlie Hunnam in the role of hero).

Everything asks for salvation

(Netflix, October 16)

Much awaited, and on paper a difficult undertaking, it is the adaptation of the novel by Daniele Mencarelli “Everything asks for salvation” (Mondadori, Premio Strega Giovani 2022), brought to the screen by director Francesco Bruni and become a Netflix Originals series. At the center of the story is Daniele (Federico Cesari), twenty years old who is hospitalized for seven days in a psychiatric hospital following a psychotic crisis. Here he will face an intense coexistence with his five roommates – Mario, Gianluca, Giorgio, Madonnina and Alessandro – thanks to which he will come into contact with a different, profound and iridescent humanity. Daniele will make an unexpected inner journey and that week of hospitalization will be a turning point for him in the search for the meaning of living. An ambitious test is the transposition of this novel, rightly much loved, which makes the inner excavation his tone.

The room of wonders

(Netflix, October 25)

Guillermo Del Toro gives himself to the horror genre seriality. Eight self-contained episodes that deal with as many macabre, grotesque, gothic and disturbing stories – two of which were created directly by Del Toro. A genre experiment, interesting both in its merits and as an audiovisual trajectory. In fact, the forays of American seriality in the horror genre are multiplying, traditionally very niche but for some years explored by heavyweights of world cinema.

Free Body

(Paramount +, October 26)

Six episodes of a thriller set in the world of women’s artistic gymnastics. These are the premises of a new series produced by Paramout + and Rai, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ilaria Bernardini (published by Mondadori) which investigates the adolescent period, recounting rivalry, pressures, tormented loves, friendships and ruthlessness. A world, that of artistic gymnastics, which under the apparent formal perfection hides pitfalls and pretenses. The series is written by Bernardini herself together with Chiara Barzini, Ludovica Rampoldi and Giovanna Mari, directed by Cosima Spender (a well-assorted all-female group) and produced by Indigo.

Boris

(Disney +, October 26, season four)

At the end, Long awaited since time immemorial is the fourth season of Boris, cult series that tells the behind the scenes of the world of television series and film sets. Orphaned by the brilliant and very acute pen of Mattia Torre, Boris 4, however, finds almost all of the original cast. In this new chapter, at the center there will no longer be the traditional generalist fiction (the unforgettable “The eyes of the heart”) but platform seriality, made up of new rules and paradigms. A new world with which we must keep up but which, like the previous one, is not lacking in various follies and idiosyncrasies. Here we can’t wait.