July is almost out the door, folks, but Netflix isn’t taking its foot off the gas just yet, adding a handful of new TV shows to binge, if you’ve already ripped through I Will Find You, The Hawk, and maybe even Little House on the Prairie. There’s still plenty worth watching for U.S. subscribers, including a series so new it just landed yesterday.
This weekend‘s lineup has range. The newest contender is the second season of a ranch romance starring Josh Duhamel, then there’s a Top 10 Mexican coming-of-age series, and lastly, my top pick, a freaky-cool 100% rated South Korean horror thriller that I can’t get enough of.
Ransom Canyon
The steamy Texas ranch saga saddles up for season 2
It might not have the bite of Taylor Sheridan’s mega Yellowstone franchise, but on Thursday, Netflix’s swoony ranch drama, Ransom Canyon, made its return for a second season of dusty romance, land feuds, and deep smoldering glares into the distance.
All eight episodes of season 2 are now streaming for your weekend binge of this series based on Jodi Thomas’s bestselling book series of the same name, set against the rolling expanses of Texas Hill Country. After the breakout success of season one, six months have passed in the timeline, picking up with rancher Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel, Transformers), who’s still recovering from the death of his wife and son and who’s also under pressure to take back his family’s Double K Ranch after being pushed out. Meanwhile, Staten’s on-again-off-again love interest, Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly, Friday Night Lights), returns from New York with a new man in tow.
Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects) joins the cast as Quinn’s mother, in what promises to be a spicy season 2 that might scratch your post-Dutton Ranch itch.
I’m Not Afraid
A kidnapping mystery seen through a 10-year-old’s eyes
This brooding Mexican limited series has been lingering in the Top 10 of the Netflix TV charts since it debuted on the service on July 8, and for good reason—I’m Not Afraid‘s premise is as sinister as it is haunting. An adaptation of Italian novelist and screenwriter Niccolò Ammaniti’s acclaimed novel Io non ho paura (which was also made into an award-winning 2003 Italian film of the same name), this six-episode drama tells the story of 10-year-old Miguel (Aldo Emiliano Navarro), who, after chasing a stray soccer ball onto the property of an ruined coffee estate, discovers a young boy chained up in a hidden pit.
The boy, named Felipe (Yago Andreu), is malnourished and insists that he’s a ghost, and Miguel begins a secret friendship with him, bringing him food and water. But when Miguel overhears the adults talking one evening, he learns that Felipe has been kidnapped and that the plot runs deeper than Miguel could have imagined.
The East Palace
A ghost slayer takes on a cursed Korean palace
I’m only a few episodes into this excellently creepy supernatural K-drama, but The East Palace has quickly become my favorite new show on Netflix, which, since its July 17 debut, has launched onto the streamer’s global Top 10 and has so far earned a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Mixing the period feel of Kingdom and the horror ingredients of films like The Grudge, this eight-episode series is set in a demoned-up version of Korea’s Joseon dynasty where a malevolent spirit has been taking the lives of the members of the royal bloodline for the past 30 years. The desperate king (Cho Seung-woo) secretly recruits Gu-cheon (Nam Joo-hyuk, Twenty Five Twenty One), a defiant young drifter with the power to cross into the spirit realm. Gu-cheon is paired with Saeng-gang (Roh Yoon-seo, Crash Course in Romance), a young palace servant with more than a few secrets of her own, to help hunt the spirits.
The East Palace is gorgeous to look at, has all the chilling ingredients of a classic K-horror, some exciting demon slaying, and a touch of family drama baked in. I’m hooked.
One last binge before August shows up
That’s three new (and new-ish) Netflix shows that should take you comfortably into August. But in case you want more, How-To Geek’s team of obsessed streaming experts do nothing but scour the services for the new, the old, and the best movies and TV shows for you to watch, and put it all up in the streaming section for you to peruse.
