Dream Stream: Scrubs, Queen of the South, The Queen's Gambit
Looking for a streaming fix? Check out our picks of the week.
Scrubs
Seasons 1-9 – Disney+
Here’s to those of us who can’t do this all on our own, and have no trouble admitting... we’re no supermen.
Created by Bill Lawrence, Scrubs is a medical comedy-drama series that, since its 2001 debut, has lost none of its poignant sparkle or laugh-out-loud charm. Following the lives of employees at the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital, Scrubs introduces us to the world of JD (Zach Braff) a young doctor about to begin his medical internship alongside his best friend Turk (Donald Faison). The thoughtful JD and the macho Turk are two opposite sides of a coin, yet complement each other perfectly as a buddy duo about to embark on a murky voyage together through the waters of the medical world.
Along for the ride are privileged daddy’s girl and fellow intern, Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and tough-as-nails nurse, Carla (Judy Reyes). Both of the girls quickly become major figures in the boys’ lives as they deal with Sacred Heart’s mean-spirited chief of medicine, Dr Kelso (Ken Jenkins), and the endless sarcasm and extremely tough love of attending physician, Dr Cox (John C McGinley).
As JD and Turk quickly discover, being doctors may be a lot more complicated than they first thought, but what they can learn and gain on the way might just be more than they could ever have imagined.
With outstanding performances from its entire cast – but notably the incredible John C McGinley – Scrubs is one of the stand-out highlights of the noughties, and even after countless re-runs never fails to make you laugh, think and cry. With multiple guest appearances by Hollywood actors including Brendan Fraser, Heather Graham, and Colin Farrell, Scrubs is also a ‘cameo-fest extraordinaire’, as well as one of the greatest comedy-dramas ever created.
Queen of the South
Seasons 1-5 – Netflix
A queen of a different kind...
Developed by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller, Queen of the South is an American crime drama series that premiered back in 2016.
An adaptation of the telenovela La Reina del Sur – which is itself an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte – the series centres around Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), a poor Mexican woman who becomes wealthy by building a vast drug empire.
Mendoza lives in the barrio of Culiacán in Sinaloa, Mexico. She falls in love with a member of a drug cartel, and tries to rise above her life’s impoverished condition.
After she is told her boyfriend has been murdered, she is forced to flee. She crosses the border to the United States where she teams up with a person from her past in order to take down the leader of the drug ring that is after her.
Mendoza ends up starting her own drug distributing organization and becomes very wealthy, which presents her with more problems, of a different kind.
A superb story told with a fantastic performance from Braga, Queen of the South is compelling from the first instalment.
Perfect for lovers of crime drama, this one is a sure fire hit for fans of Breaking Bad, Narcos and Better Call Saul.
The Queen's Gambit
Limited series – Netflix
If life is a game, this girl is playing with no mercy...
Based on the 1983 novel of the same name, The Queen’s Gambit is a coming-of-age period drama created for Netflix by Scott Frank and Allan Scott.
Beginning in the mid-1950s and proceeding into the 1960s, its story follows orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) on her rise to becoming the world’s greatest chess player while struggling with emotional problems and drug and alcohol dependency.
In Lexington, Kentucky, nine-year-old Beth is sent to an orphanage following her mother’s death in a car accident. While there she acquaints herself with the building’s custodian, Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp), who happens to be a chess enthusiast. Studying his techniques with the board, she quickly picks up the game and discovers an astounding natural talent for it.
However, while making progress with her ability as a chess player, Beth begins to become addicted to the tranquiliser pills that are regularly distributed to her and the orphanage’s other girls and is set on the path of drug dependency. By the time she is adopted, Beth’s chess skills have become prodigious, and at the first possible opportunity she enters a tournament, winning it despite having no competitive experience.
Beth begins to take the chess world by storm, gaining the attention of a store of rivals and mentors.
The Queen’s Gambit is a fantastic limited series that is unquestionably worthy of a binge.
