Three major web series are available to stream today: the Kajol-led courtroom drama The Trial (Disney+ Hotstar), and the sophomore seasons of Foundation (Apple TV+) and The Summer I Turned Pretty (Amazon Prime Video). By and large, the month of July is dry on the TV side, that is unless you enjoy the niche side of it, most of which are adaptations or remakes of existing pieces of media. Out of the three, The Trial – Pyaar, Kanoon, Dhoka is an Indian reimagining of Robert Michelle King’s CBS TV show The Good Wife, whereas the remaining two are adapted from acclaimed books.
The Trial
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
All eight episodes of The Trial are now up for streaming, charting the tragic tale of a former litigator Noyonika Sen (Kajol), who is distraught to learn that her husband (Jisshu Sengupta), a corrupt judge, had been accepting sexual favours as bribes to change verdicts in court. His arrest and immediate freezing of all accounts urge her to return to work at a law firm — after 10 years of sabbatical — becoming the sole breadwinner of the family and quickly emerging as one of the top lawyers anyone could hire. She’s forced to start as a junior lawyer due to the gap in her resume, though that doesn’t stop her from becoming an office favourite — especially that of her boss (Alyy Khan), with whom she’s had some history.
Soon enough, Noyonika is joined by another junior lawyer Shiraj Paswan (Gaurav Pandey) and a consultant Sana (Kubbra Sait), who help her with cases. Unbeknownst to her, things are about to get personal, with her own husband — who constantly lied and cheated on her — reaching out to see if she would defend him in court, creating a dilemma in her mind as she grapples with judging the case based on evidence or her feelings for the man she lived with for years. The Trial marks Kajol’s debut in a web series and is directed by Suparn S. Varma — best known for directing the Manoj Bajpayee-led The Family Man.
In addition to Hindi, The Trial is available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, and Malayalam.
Foundation season 2
Where: Apple TV+
Much like Dune, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series of books was long considered unfilmable due to much of its events feeling like history lessons. Undeniably so, David S. Goyer’s (The Dark Knight) and Josh Friedman’s (Snowpiercer) collaboration has resulted in it being something of a television spectacle in this season, documenting the decay of the Galactic Empire. The chapter is set more than a century after the events of the first season, with Dr. Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) planning to reset the Empire, in light of a predicted collapse of his church-like movement. Elsewhere Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) has a disturbing vision, making her obsessed with wanting to stop The Mule, a threat coming 150 years into the future — all the while darting back and forth to help Dr. Seldon build a second Foundation.
As the Foundation enters a religious phase spreading its faith throughout the Outer Reach, Seldon, Gaal, and Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey) run into a colony of Mentalics with psionic abilities that threaten to alter psychohistory itself. Meanwhile, Brother Day (Lee Pace) nearly survives an assassination attempt, leaving him quite shaken. Many of the characters we met in season 1 are dead, and so this season helps dive deeper into the larger figures in the story as the plot thickens on a galactic scale. Foundation season 2 also stars Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk, Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn, and Dimitri Leonidas as the master trader Hober Mallow.
Only the first two episodes of Foundation season 2 are out now on Apple TV+, with the rest dropping every Friday until September 15.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Based on Jenny Han’s young adult book trilogy, The Summer I Turned Pretty is largely a coming-of-age story following Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin’s (Lola Tung) summertime misadventures of romance at Cousins Beach. While the first season was a largely playful affair, season 2 won’t be the same, with Susannah Fisher’s (Rachel Blanchard) breast cancer resurfacing and putting extra weight on her sons Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah’s (Gavin Casalegno) shoulders. The effects of the impending grief strains Conrad’s relationship with Belly, causing him to run away from home and turning season 2 into more of a tragedy.
His brother Jeremiah and Belly soon embark on a road trip to bring him back, deepening the love triangle between the Fisher brothers and the latter, as they get closer than ever before. It is worth mentioning that at the end of season 1, Susannah revealed her decision to participate in an experimental trial to treat her cancer, albeit the chances were super slim — spoilers ahead — which could possibly set up her death, as revealed in the book. Then again, the first season heavily veered away from the source material at certain parts, so maybe she’ll live. The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 also stars Sean Kaufman as Belly’s elder brother Steven and Jackie Chung as her mother Laurel.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 has debuted with the first three episodes. New episodes will be released every Friday on Amazon Prime Video until August 18.