With White Lotus and Severance behind us (there’s no need to be ashamed, I was obsessively watching too), the shows below will hopefully provide a smooth transition into our next pop culture fixations. Also, mild spoiler alerts ahead if you’re super behind on these shows, but I’d be lying if the Larry David in me didn’t feel like you’re prettyyy prettyyy prettyyy far past the generally allotted “spoiler alert window.” Alas, I haven’t reached the social assassin notoriety of my beloved LD, so consider that your warning, and now, let’s dive in!

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 – April 8th

If you’ve never seen The Handmaid’s Tale I honestly don’t know if I can recommend it. Don’t get me wrong, the show is unbelievable, but it’s also brutal. It follows the horrifying journey of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) who is forced into sexual servitude after the United States becomes a religious dictatorship. It’s gut-wrenching and difficult to watch, yet brilliantly acted and written like a Black Mirror episode that feels a little too realistic for comfort.

The only silver lining is June after many, many devastating losses finally breaks free from slavery and becomes a rebel. However, season 5 ends with her getting hit by a car (purposefully), her husband beating the driver to death and her desperate escape from Canada with a toddler. To make matters worse, she finds herself reunited with her former enemy-turned-sort-of-friend (but not really), Serena Waterford, played by Yvonne Strahovski. I don’t know how June did it, but I haven’t found the strength to forgive Serena. She’s evil, man.

Anyway, I have no clue how they’re going to wrap this wild show up, but I’ll have my seatbelt strapped on the moment it’s live on Hulu. Blessed be the fruit, y’all.

Black Mirror Season 7 – April 10th

Speaking of Black Mirror, season motherfuckin’ 7 is about to drop, and I couldn’t be more excited. If you never saw season 4’s “USS Callister,” starring Jesse Plemons and Cristin Milioti, go watch it immediately, as season 7 is going to feature a sequel—and let me tell y’all, that episode was bananas.

Thank you for asking, I’d be happy to recommend a few of my favorite episodes: The Entire History of You, White Christmas, Nosedive, Playtest, Black Museum and Striking Vipers. Fair warning, all of these recommendations are the polar opposite experience of watching a delightful movie like Ratatouille. In other words, there will be no adorable mice masquerading as chefs.

Black Mirror is more like if the mouse from Ratatouille figured out how to clone itself and then surgically attached one of its clones to Chef Linguini’s ginger head. Suddenly, the two of them are trapped in a perpetual nightmare, forced to cook nonstop for a terrifying food critic who only says things like “disgusting.” So we watch Linguini and clone mouse as they suffer, stuck under the control of an evil, Michelin-starred mouse running a twisted, real-life version of The Sims. I know, really sick shit.

The Last of Us Season 2 – April 13th

Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are back! The Last of Us is actually based on a video game, and if season two follows the source material, we’re in for a brutal shift, my friends. Brutal can mean so many things, from a brutal sunburn on my ginger skin to a brutal zombie death, and while this “brutal” isn’t sunburn related, don’t discount a bad sunburn—it really hurts! Regardless, Season 1 ended on a wild note as Joel went on a rampage, murdering the Fireflies to save Ellie from being sacrificed and then totally lied to her about it. No big deal.

Season 1 also gave us “Long, Long Time,” perhaps the most unexpectedly beautiful episode of television I’ve ever seen. It follows Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett’s love story which is a surprising, heartwarming (and later profoundly sad) respite from the apocalyptic chaos.

Andor Season 2 – April 22nd

I’m not going to waste any time here, season 1 episode 10 of Andor was easily one of the greatest episodes of television I’ve ever seen. Andor was a methodical journey akin to a Better Call Saul-type experience and my god did episode 10 make the slow burn worth it. The episode follows a prison break and Andy Serkis (he totally played Gollum) steals the goddamn show. He also delivers this monologue on the cusp of the breakout and it damn near freezes time itself.

Honorable Mentions – Hacks Season 4 (April 10th) and You Season 5 (April 24th). I’ve never actually seen these shows (insert obligatory tarring and feathering), but I’ve heard great things and their returns are highly anticipated. 

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Seth Borkowski is a NYC-based writer, podcaster, and paranormal enthusiast. He’s the host of The Spiritual Skeptic, a comedy podcast exploring aliens, spirituality, and other weird shit too.