PopaHALLics #122 "Pop for the People"
Aliens headed for Earth! An amnesiac pursued by killers! Julia Roberts suffers the apocalypse! And did we mention Shakespeare's young son and John Wilkes Booth? We discuss pop culture offerings that are all over the place. In a good way.

Streaming:

• "3 Body Problem," Netflix. In a sci-fi series based on Chinese author Cixin Liu's novels, a group of friends try to prevent an invasion by aliens after a bitter astronomer invites them to Earth. From the makers of "Game of Thrones."
• "The Tourist," Netflix. The Man (Jamie Dornan) wakes up in a hospital with no memory of who he is. Unfortunately, the bad guys remember all too well in this British series set in the Australian Outback.
• "Renegade Nell," Disney +. A young woman (Louisa Harland) falsely accused of murder discovers she has unpredictable powers and becomes the most notorious outlaw in 18th-century England. Just don't call her "Nellie."
• "Manhunt," Apple +. This miniseries, a conspiracy thriller, follows the first American presidential assassination and the fight to preserve and protect Lincoln's ideas for Reconstruction. With Anthony Boyle as Booth, Hamish Linklater as Lincoln, and Patton Oswalt as, well, kinda himself, playing a detective.
• "Leave the World Behind," Netflix. When the apocalypse begins happening in this foreboding drama, characters played by Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, and Kevin Bacon try to make sense of it.

Books:

• "Hamnet," by Maggie O'Farrell. This gorgeous bestseller uses William Shakespeare's son (a real person, who died young) to explore Shakespeare's family dynamics and the beginning of his writing career.

Click the links to watch and read what we're talking about.