Where do I begin with this bizarre show? This daring, ambitious and extremely weird reality-documentary series gives individuals the chance to act out daunting social situations before they actually happen. Riddled with his own debilitating social anxiety, comedian Nathan Fielder started the experiment to see if rehearsing and anticipating variables when facing a tough social situation or conversation might alleviate self-doubt and stress.

I was hooked after the first episode, in which a 50-year-old man, Kor, is consumed with dread at the thought of telling a judgemental friend that he lied about having a master’s degree in order to join their competitive trivia team. Fielder builds a full replica of the bar where the confession is due to take place, as well as hiring an actress to research and play Kor’s friend. This elaborate set-up seems totally ludicrous, but this conversation is high stakes for Kor, whose self-esteem and identity are wrapped up in what he considers his educational shortcomings.

After they run through multiple rehearsals – complete with flow charts to predict which way the conversation might go and the hilarious moment when they realise Kor’s approach is coming across as romantic interest – watching how the real confession unfolds and experiencing Kor’s struggle to relieve himself of this years-long burden is truly heart-warming, emotional and cathartic. And that’s just episode one!

There’s a lot going on with this series (and Fielder himself), and, although it’s funny in an absurd way and can be uncomfortable to watch, the show doesn’t mine cheap laughs from people’s discomfort. It’s an innovative, revealing and oddly compelling look at human behaviour. I’m obsessed.

Burnt. Boiling Point. The Chef Show. There have been plenty of kitchen dramas over the years, but I’m calling it now: Christopher Storer’s The Bear is the best yet. It’s one of the most talked-about TV shows of 2022, and, yes, it lives up to the hype. As someone who grew up in restaurants – in a literal sense, I was in the back room of my parents’ restaurant just a few weeks after I was born – I echo many of the tireless people working in hospitality that have watched The Bear. It perfectly captures the chaos and frenetic energy that come with operating a busy restaurant.

Though the internet has gone wild for Jeremy Allen White’s character Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, it’s the stories of the characters that surround him that I loved the most. In particular, I looked forward to any appearance from comedian Ayo Edebiri’s young sous-chef character Sydney Adamu, and the doughnut-obsessed baker Marcus played by Lionel Boyce.

The highlight: a chaotic 20-minute episode that was shot in one take, which I rewatched as soon as the end credits rolled. 

You’ve heard of Stockholm syndrome – the condition in which hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors – but did you know Sweden’s first “celebrity gangster” inspired the term? Netflix’s new Swedish six-episode series Clark follows the story of charismatic criminal Clark Olofsson, played by Bill Skarsgård, who fools all of Sweden to fall in love with him – despite being involved in kidnapping, drug trafficking, bank heists and multiple escapes out of prison.

Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, the show is “based on truth and lies” and follows Olofsson from his birth until it crescendos to the true story of the bank heist of the Sveriges Kreditbanken, from which the condition Stockholm syndrome originated. The outrageous life of Olofsson and the show’s frenzied editing make it a captivating watch, without the commitment to a long season.