You worked hard enough this week. Let us plan your weekend…
1.
Dan Levy is back to doing what he does best: playing a totally incompetent, unhinged-yet-lovable adult sibling. But Nicky, his character in Netflix’s crime comedy series Big Mistakes (which he cocreated with Rachel Sennott), is very different from David Rose. For starters, he’s a small-town pastor who, along with his sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega), gets unwittingly roped into an organized crime ring that puts them and their mom (Laurie Metcalf) in danger. Schitt’s Creek, but with yachts and guns? Consider us sat.
Welcome back to Gilead. Whether you stuck with The Handmaid’s Tale until the very bitter end or dropped off after one too many soul-destroying seasons, The Testaments offers a fresh start…kind of. Hulu’s new series follows Agnes MacKenzie (Chase Infiniti), the older daughter of June Osborne, who was taken from her and raised by a top commander and his late wife. As Agnes navigates a prep school for elite future wives run by Aunt Lydia (yes, Ann Dowd is back), she begins to question — and push back on — the world around her. So it’s more of a coming-of-age story than pure dystopian hellscape. Praise be.
5.
What do you get when you combine a ’90s boy band, an endless supply of frozen drinks, and a cruise full of middle-aged superfans? Emma Straub’s new novel. Basically, if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you got to meet (well, more than meet) a Backstreet Boy IRL, Straub — who went on an actual New Kids on the Block cruise “for research” — has the delightful answer.
Happy (almost) weekend. I turned 30 yesterday, and as a gift to my future self, I got a one-line-a-day diary to keep track of what my first year in a new decade looks like (I’ve decidedly become very sentimental). Here are a few things I’ll be getting up to this weekend, which I suspect will make their way into future journal entries:
I’m celebrating with a 1920s-themed murder-mystery dinner party — a fitting send-off to my 20s. One thing about my friend group is we always commit to the bit, so I can’t wait to see how everyone interprets their characters in absurdly dramatic ways.
I’m on the hunt for the perfect dress for my sister’s wedding in Indonesia, which has completely broken my brain. But at least I have my accessories figured out. I’m obsessed with the entire jewelry collection at Susmie’s — particularly this gorgeous necklace. And I’ve already mentally packed this wood-beaded take on a cult-favorite shoulder bag. Oh, and I can’t forget the shoes, which I’ll likely wear all summer.
Now that it’s finally warm outside, I’ll spend some time on my roof with Keith McNally’s memoir.His reflections on his travels and the people he’s met — all of which shaped the unique vibes of his restaurants — make for a thoughtful read.
As a (mostly) dairy-free girlie, I’m constantly looking for dairy alternatives — and this hemp milk brand delivers the creamiest substitute I’ve tried. I love the ritual of making a matcha every Sunday, and the nuttiness adds a whole new layer.
— Jacinda Taylor / Art Director / Brooklyn, New York
Skimm’d by: Jamie Feldman and Melissa Goldberg. Fact-checked by Jordan Mamone.
Photos by Jenny Anderson/Getty Images for Netflix, Disney/Russ Martin, American Girl, Brand Partners