5 Netflix Shows to Watch on Valentine’s Day If You’re Not into Rom-Coms

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA

Synopsis: As her 16th birthday nears, Sabrina must choose between the witch world of her family and the human world of her friends. Based on the Archie comic.

What happens when a half-breed witch falls in love with a human? Ask Sabrina Spellman (best witch name ever), a teenager who is figuring out her own place between the magical world of the witches and the human world, where she goes to a regular school and nobody knows she has powers. This show shares the same universe of Riverdale, but is so much more fun in my opinion. It has a creepy-goth feel to it mixed with cheeky humor, which makes it a super-bingeable show to watch with your loved one(s) or by yourself (if you dare).


YOU

Synopsis: A dangerously charming, intensely obsessive young man goes to extreme measures to insert himself into the lives of those he is transfixed by.

If you think that watching a show about a male stoker is the last thing you’d do on valentine’s day think twice. Pen Badgley (Gossip Girl) plays a guy who is obsessed about a girl he has only seen one, (yes, I know) but in his head he is doing nothing but romantic things: he follows her around “just to make sure she’s ok”, he sabotages her friendships “because they are not good enough for her”, and so forth. We hear his thoughts as if he was narrating a rom-com, when in reality (much) more is going on. Let’s just say he’ll do “anything” for her in a literal way, which makes this show so addicting. Believe me, you’ll get obsessed over it too.


THE CIRCLE

Synopsis: Players start off isolated in an apartment, and with their online interactions as their only means of any communication. The players use a social media platform called “The Circle”.

I recently wrote a piece about how I watched 12 Straight Hours of The Circle, and here’s why. It does have the tropes of other reality shows like Big Brother, but it has one major difference: people are actually nice to each other. Since the purpose of the game is becoming the most popular person in the group, the contestants do everything to try to “connect” with each other. The catch? They are isolated in individual apartments, and cannot see or talk to each other. They only communicate via a text messages though a platform called The Circle. Bonus: some contestants are not truly who they say they are, so expect very unique (and sometimes hysterical) interactions between individuals that might never happen in real life.


AJ AND THE QUEEN

Synopsis: Ruby Red, a down-on-her-luck drag queen traveling across America, develops an unlikely sidekick named AJ.

This is one of the sweetest and most charming shows I have seen in a while. It’s about love in all its forms: from family, to friends, to art, and even self. The show was created by Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City) and Ru Paul, who not only stars in it, but also performs a dance number on every episode. Expect beyond-fabulous dresses, excellent performances, tons of humor, and an adorable, foul-mouthed 10 years old girl who steals (almost) every scene. She has tough competition: Ru is absolutely dashing on screen, even in the most minimal and intimate scenes. AJ and the Queen is, by all means, a royal showstopper.


SEX EDUCATION

Synopsis: A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school.

Asa Butterfields eyes deserve an award of their own on almost every role the actor is in, and this show is no exception. In Sex Education he plays Otis, who is basically a walking-and-talking representation of the worst aspects of teenage angst. To make matters worse, have I mentioned his mom is an open-minded sex therapist? In this case it’s played by a stunningly blonde Gillian Anderson, who is just screen-glue to your own eyes on every scene she is in.

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