Appointment Viewing: The shows you’ll always want to pencil in on your calendar and unpack in your group chat.
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Justin Downing/Sky/HBO
Scrolling through 12 streaming platforms but still can’t find something to watch? You’re not alone. Our television columnist Michel Ghanem, a.k.a. @tvscholar, watches over 160 seasons of television each year, and he is here for you. Perhaps you’re in the mood for a hidden gem that’s sitting undiscovered on a streamer or a series with mysteries so tantalizing you can’t stop thinking about them long after the credits roll. It’s all about carving out time for the shows that are actually worth it — your appointment viewing. Fire up that group chat because we’ve got some unpacking to do.
So far this year, we’ve covered everything from Emmy-winning comedies like Widow’s Bay to hard-hitters like Half Man. This month, as fall television returns, we’ve been absorbed in War, a sleek legal drama starring Sienna Miller and Dominic West that follows the law firms representing each half of a couple in a high-profile divorce.
Despite its ominous title, War is not a military drama — but divorce might as well be the trenches, especially when there’s this much subterfuge. Carla Duval (Miller) and Morgan Henderson (West) haven’t been getting along. Ten years into their marriage, they lead busy lives and co-parent an angsty teen in London. Carla is a well-known actress, although she’s struggling to book notable roles as of late. Ironically, the series kicks off with her promoting a middling war movie, and she’s even considering starring in a play despite the pay cut. Morgan, on the other hand, is peaking. His social-media platform Zephyr has grown exponentially in valuation and he’s winning awards for reshaping online connection. Having grown suspicious of Morgan’s evening whereabouts, Carla makes the first move that breaks the stalemate of their relationship by sending a woman to seduce him. It works, kicking off a nasty separation that will take two entire law firms to settle.
War is the first season of a new anthology series by George Kay (Hijack, Lupin) in a co-production between HBO Max and Sky UK airing stateside October 1. Unlike seemingly everything else on television, there are no dead bodies or murders here. It’s an old-school adult drama that excavates the high-profile divorce experience when millions of pounds are at stake. The series is sleek and well-acted all around with a large ensemble of actors who each get their moment to shine. West has played his fair share of unlikable cheating men (see: five seasons of The Affair), and Miller is right at home playing an actress trying to make the best of press junkets.
At the center of the conflict are the leads’ respective law firms, who become, in some ways, even more invested in the divorce than the couple themselves. The wife’s law firm, Taylor & Byrne, is all glass walls and blue tones — very cold and modern. The team is led by Nicholas Taylor (James McArdle) and Serena Byrne (Phoebe Fox), a couple expecting their first child while running their first big case, which could make or break the firm. A junior lawyer who works for them, Johnny Warren (Archie Renaux), plays a pivotal role. He is back in London after hitting a career speed bump in New York and — without spoiling too much — is prepared to do just about anything to secure his financial future. On the husband’s side, the Cathcarts firm is led by the conniving duo Beatrice Ubosi (Nina Sosanya) and St. John Smallwood (Pip Torrens). In contrast with the other team, its offices are decorated with deep-brown hues and wooden furniture, signaling an older, more established firm with confidence and a willingness to play dirty. Some of the best scenes of the season occur when these firms are sparring, especially when you find out how each of the lawyers know one another and what secrets might be hiding within those relationships.
War is less about the interpersonal complexities of divorce between a couple (for that, I’d recommend watching Scenes From a Marriage or Fleishman Is in Trouble), nor is it really about how the press picks apart couples in the public eye. It’s more about the legal ammunition lobbed back and forth from mediation to court — and all the billable hours wasted in the process. Whether that’s the most interesting version of this story is up for debate.
In the second half of the season, as their characters’ court date approaches and tensions escalate, Miller and West spend fewer scenes together and we pivot more to the lawyers, especially with Johnny’s suspicious activities at the law firm. With all eyes on the case and through this perspective — many conversations about assets and custody — the lives of both leads get smaller as the season progresses. On one hand, this speaks to how all-consuming a divorce can be when the stakes are this high. On the other hand, it can make these characters feel flatter than they should be. Either way, it’s enticing to get lost in the fog of War. It might feel easier to side with Carla, who’s facing the emotional fallout of being cheated on (even if she set it up), but Morgan is also written to be remorseful and caring rather than only cold and calculating. By the end of a divorce as protracted and messy as this one, are there really any winners?
• The second season of War is already in development and is set to star Marisa Tomei.
• There’s a certain high-budget lavishness to the series in the production design and costuming that feels very HBO. There is a particularly fabulous moment in which Miller appears in court wearing a fur coat.
• If you’re anything like me, you’ll actually gasp when Archie Panjabi appears in the sixth episode. She plays the litigation lawyer representing Carla; Celia Imrie plays the lawyer representing Morgan.
• You might also recognize Nick Mohammed from Ted Lasso. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get much to do here.
• For a postdivorce comedy, try Sharon Horgan’s Youth, which you can also find on HBO.
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