What to Watch: "In Search Of" and "Snowfall"

Welcome to What to Watch, in which we cover the best shows, movies and series out right now, both on networks and streaming services.

Snowfall Season 2 (Netflix)

After the success of Breaking Bad and Narcos, and the failure of Collateral and Ozark, you’d think we’d be ready for a break from the cartel, at least for a while. Thankfully that’s not the case, as Snowfall is an enthralling, digestible Californian drug epic on FX that’s maturing into a show with true staying power. What makes this show work is lead Damon Idris’s palpable charisma in the role of Saint, a corner boy turned burgeoning kingpin. You likely missed the first season, which is fine considering it’s essentially one long intro to season two, when Saint’s path finally starts intersecting with other major characters, including Israeli crime kingpin Avi Drexler (Alon Aboutboul) and CIA agent Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson).

The series itself is a behind-the-scenes look at the Iran-Contra scandal, beginning season two with an address from President Reagan insisting on the geopolitical need to arm anti-communists in Central America. While we know how that goes, we don’t know what will happen to Saint’s family as the stakes rise for all of these characters. The strength of a second season has been evident lately in shows like GLOW, Atlanta, and Trial & Error, and Snowfall is no different. Where the first season dragged its feet introducing the many, disparate leads, season two shows you why any of them matter in this pre-drug-war era of distributors, contractors, and CIA agents.

Outcast Season 2 (Cinemax)

Have you ever thought about what might happen in an exorcism if the priest/medium/paranormal investigator isn’t able to rid whatever unfortunate victim of their demon(s)? That’s essentially the premise for Outcast, where it seems like every other person in Rome, West Virginia has some major baggage. From The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Outcast explores how people cope with their own literal demons while also ensuring they don’t hurt the people around them. Starting its second season on Cinemax, Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit), a young man who has been possessed since his childhood, seeks help from a radical preacher (Philip Glenister) before the forces plaguing Kyle consume not only him but all of Rome and beyond.

Dark Tourist (Netflix)

The latest deep dive by documentarian David Farrier, who got on the map with the sickening, must-see exposé Tickled, features Farrier visiting alternative tourism hot spots where either macabre things have happened or threaten to. In the first of eight 40-minute episodes, Farrier visits the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, where radiation levels reach higher than Chernobyl, the now-abandoned Battleship Island, and the infamous suicide forest of Mt. Fuji. Thankfully Farrier is a bit more mature than Jake Paul when it comes to this sort of territory, and following episodes promise to be more dangerous than your everyday documentary.

In Search Of (The History Channel)

Another deep dive into the weird and wonderful, In Search Of first aired in the ’70s as a real-world Twilight Zone, looking into myth and monsters with host Leonard Nimoy. It’s only fitting the Zachary Quinto, who channeled Nimoy to play Spock in the recent Star Trek movies, steps into Nimoy’s shoes again to bring back the iconic investigative series. Quinto is also executive producing the series, which will spend its 10 hour-long episodes investigating time travel, The Lost City of Atlantis and UFO sighting. At least one of those things deserves to be looked into, considering the Pentagon’s own secret UFO program. Whether you’re a sceptic or #truther, In Search Of promises to provide a worthwhile endeavor into the quest for knowledge and discovery. Considering 80’s nostalgia is still big (GLOW, Stranger Things), the show will hopefully reference its predecessor instead of doing a hard reboot the way Bill Nye’s uneventful Netflix show went.

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (HBO)

One of the most hilarious and heartfelt comics of our time, Robin Williams was also one of the most private comics. After his death, Jamie Masade of the Laugh Factory told the LA Times, “He was always in character… I knew him 35 years, and I never knew him.” While the documentary relies heavily on never-before-seen footage of Williams both at home and at work, there are also poignant interviews with friends and family discussing his inner life. Whether you’re a fan of the comedy legend or not, it makes for an interesting case study in a star whose meteoric rise to fame gave audiences little time to consider the man behind innumerous impressions, accents, and characters.