Black Friday weekend is here! And with it, some of the best Black Friday streaming deals. There’s savings to be had across the TV streaming landscape, but one of my favourites is the Black Friday Max deal of a whopping 70% off for six months, meaning you’ll be paying just $2.99 each month. It’s not the cheapest deal out there perhaps, but the ace it has up its sleeve is that Max is the streaming home of HBO.
HBO practically invented prestige TV. In fact, this article could probably consist of 100+ entries before we dropped below an 80% Rotten Tomatoes score, but everyone needs a place to start. So, with binge watching season upon us, here’s my pick of some of the very best HBO shows that Max has to offer, and you won't have to travel to Westeros for any of them. For even more scoops on the best discounts around right now, check out our Black Friday entertainment deals live blog.
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The Leftovers
As much a meditation on grief, isolation and trauma as it is a classic Damon Lindleof puzzle box, the former Lost writer’s adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s novel is at times somber viewing but at others, powerfully uplifting. Set in a world where 2% of the population vanished in an instant, the show follows a small group of characters centred around the Garvey family as they struggle to come to terms with ‘The Departure’ years after the event. Mysteries are posited and questions are raised, but answers are ambiguous. Is there a scientific explanation? Was it the Rapture? Anchored by powerhouse performances from Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Christopher Ecclestone, Ann Dowd and more, it’s a show that will leave you thinking long after the credits roll.
The Last of Us
The Last of Us takes what was already a phenomenal feat of video-game storytelling and gives it the big-budget HBO treatment. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where a fungal infection has decimated humanity and turned the infected into zombie-like creatures, the story centres on the begrudging father/daughter dynamic of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they journey across the United States and their initially frosty relationship grows into one of love and acceptance. Along the way, there’s plenty of action but it’s the show’s quieter moments that bring the feels, particularly the Nick Offerman-led episode three, which is a quietly devastating story of love in the apocalypse. Season 2 is on the way, but in the meantime, the first season is a perfectly satisfying single serving.
Band of Brothers
Created by Tom Hanks and Steven Speilberg, World War Two drama Band of Brothers follows "Easy" Company of the 101st Airborne Division as they begin their campaign across Europe. Starting the story in basic training is a genius move, giving us time to grow to love our characters before they are dropped behind enemy lines in France the night before D-Day. From there the action is relentless, with the seemingly unending combat the company faced portrayed in the type of visceral detail Speilberg pioneered in Saving Private Ryan. The outstanding ensemble cast includes Damien Lewis, Dexter Fletcher, Ron Livingston, Michael Culditz, Neal McDonough and more with ‘before they were famous’ appearances from the likes of Michael Fassbender, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Graham, James McAvoy and Tom Hardy. For an unflinching portrayal of war, the show is surprisingly comforting in its portrayal of brotherhood and friendship and as characters become ‘the unlucky ones’ throughout the series, you’ll feel the loss right alongside the men of “Easy.”
Big Little Lies
The big draw for Big Little Lies is its outstanding main ensemble. Pulling together the Avengers-like group of Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley, the drama starts with a mysterious death at a school fundraiser and then tells the story of how we ended up there. Peeling back the veneer of the seemingly perfect lives of the upper-class mothers in a small California beach town, the show deals with themes of identity in motherhood, the politics of friendship and the twisted nature of violent relationships. Season 1 is adapted from Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name, and while the less engaging season 2 takes things off-piste, it does introduce a phenomenal performance from Meryl Streep. Shocking, addictive and darkly hilarious, Big Little Lies is a twisted tale you won’t want to miss.
The Rehearsal
Ostensibly a comedic documentary, the opening episodes will be familiar to anyone who’s seen Nathan Fielder’s previous show, Nathan For You. Instead of helping small businesses, this time Fielder has set out to allow people to rehearse important moments in their life before they do them for real. However, when participant Anglea is given the chance to rehearse raising a child from newborn to 18 on an accelerated schedule, Nathan is drawn further and further into the scenario. To say more, would spoil the surprises, but what starts as another crazy social experiment from the filmmaker, by its end becomes a moving meditation on the things we wish we’d done, with an emotional rawness from Fielder that’s only been glimpsed at previously. Debate rages as to the authenticity of what transpires, but if you allow yourself to become lost in the narrative, it’s at times, jaw droppingly beautiful.
Chernobyl
Proving you should never be judged on your previous work, Chernobyl comes from Superhero Movie and Scary Movie 3 writer Craig Mazin. Historically accurate and breathtakingly tense, the show documents the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the subsequent efforts to clean up (and cover up). Praised for its historical accuracy, the show received no less than 19 Emmy nominations, winning for writing and directing. And rightly so – it’s a haunting portrayal of a disaster that could only happen, and could only have been resolved the way it was, in such a specific time and place. The whole show moves at a breakneck pace as various parties scramble to resolve the disaster, but some of the specific set pieces are terrifying, all the more so knowing they’re based on real events. The breathless descent into the plant post-disaster, the frantic removal of irradiated substance and the shocking decline of a first responder firefighter are all images that will stay with you long after the five episodes have concluded.
How To with John Wilson
A socially awkward filmmaker documenting his attempts at some of life’s most mundane tasks doesn’t sound like a recipe for some of the best TV in recent years, but How To with John Wilson takes viewers on a journey through some of the most interesting pockets of society to create a heartwarming show about life, relationships and just about everything else that makes us human. The show is all shot and edited by Wilson, though he rarely appears on camera. What we do get is an almost omnipresent voiceover from him, endearingly rambling and stuttering over the top of montage footage of New York City. While each episode posits a ‘How To…’ question at the start, it’s the tangents the search for an answer takes Wilson on that make the show so watchable. A quest to find out how to remember your dreams takes us to an Avatar fan club, while attempting to discover how to watch the game leads to a vacuum cleaner enthusiast convention that builds to a surprisingly emotional conclusion. It’s life-affirming stuff, and worth watching just to see what sort of crazy journeys (physically and emotionally) each episode will take you on.
Find More Black Friday Deals:
- There are a ton of deals on streaming services this year, including Black Friday Peacock deals, down to as little as $1.66 a month
- Keep access of all your subscriptions wherever you go all year round with Black Friday VPN Deals helping to bypass geo-restrictions
