Streaming Romcoms, Early Look at ‘Last of Us,’ Bloody ‘Blue Bloods,’ Family Ties on ‘Shrinking’

With Valentine’s Day looming, streamers deliver romcoms including Netflix’s Your Place or Mine, starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. HBO gives The Last of Us fans an early look at this weekend’s episode to avoid Super Bowl overlap. Blue Bloods tracks a serial killer. Lily Rabe guests on the Apple TV+ comedy Shrinking as Harrison Ford’s estranged daughter.

Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher in 'Your Place or Mine'
Netflix

Your Place or Mine

Movie Premiere

Get your Valentine’s groove on with Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher in a romcom from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Aline Brosh McKenna. Reese is L.A.-based single-mom control freak Debbie, whose longtime best friend Peter (Ashton Kutcher) is a freewheeling New Yorker. When they swap homes and coasts for a week, Peter begins to realize his feelings for her just as she finds someone new (Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams). Triangle alert! The ace supporting cast includes Crazy Ex exes Rachel Bloom and Vella Lovell, with Zoë Chao, Shiri Appleby, Tig Notaro and Steve Zahn.

Jay Ellis and Alison Brie in 'Somebody I Used to Know'
Prime Video

Somebody I Used to Know

The romcom parade continues with a movie starring and co-written by Community’s Alison Brie with husband Dave Franco (who also directs). She’s Ally, a TV producer retreating to her hometown where she reconnects with her first true love (Insecure’s Jay Ellis), but the sparks that fly are complicated by the fact that he’s engaged to a woman (Kiersey Clemons) who Ally also hits it off with. Triangle alert!

Diego Boneta and Monica Barbaro in 'At Midnight'
Camila Jurado/Paramount + © 2022 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved

At Midnight

Movie Premiere

Yet another romcom, this one set south of the border at a posh Mexican hotel where actress Sophie (Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro) catches her boyfriend co-star (Anders Holm) cheating and rebounds with the hotel’s charming manager (Diego Boneta). Will their after-hours encounters lead to a happily ever after?

Pedro Pascal in 'The Last of Us'
HBO

The Last of Us

Figuring that much of the hit apocalyptic thriller’s fan base will be otherwise engaged Sunday night with the Super Bowl, HBO is making the fifth episode available early. And it’s a nail-biter, with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) hiding from ruthless Kansas City resistance leader Kathleen (Yellowjackets’ Melanie Lynskey) while they bond with “most wanted” Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his little brother Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), who becomes Ellie’s new friend. This is the episode that poses the haunting question: “If you turn into a monster, is it still you inside?”

Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan and Marisa Ramirez as Maria Baez on ‘Blue Bloods’
CBS

Blue Bloods

The long-running police drama veers into Criminal Minds’ lane when Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) go on the hunt for a serial killer of young women. Elsewhere in the Reagan family, commissioner Frank (Tom Selleck) has a discipline problem with grandson Joe Hill (Will Hochman), who broke the protocol rules while working with a joint FBI task force.

Harrison Ford in 'Shrinking' on Apple TV+
Apple TV+

Shrinking

The terrific seriocomedy about therapists in pain introduces American Horror Story regular Lily Rabe as Meg, long estranged from her curmudgeonly father Paul (the wonderful Harrison Ford), who hopes to mend emotional fences while struggling with his Parkinson’s diagnosis. While he agonzies about opening up to her, widowed co-worker Jimmy (Jason Segel) tries—oh how he tries—to be a “cool dad” again with his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), who isn’t buying it. Though she is warming up to new housemate Sean (Luke Tennie).

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

ON THE STREAM:

  • Marvel Studios Legends (streaming on Disney+): In advance of this month’s release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, get a quick primer on the backstories of Ant-Man Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne aka the Wasp, as well as Hank and Janet, their predecessors. Also new to Disney+: the Pixar short Dug Days: Carl’s Date and, on loan from Hulu through Feb. 15, Rosaline, a comedic twist on Romeo & Juliet starring Kaitlyn Dever.
  • Meet Me in Paris (streaming on The Roku Channel): In a hybrid of reality and rom-com, three young women (Danielle, Mimi and Jasmine) head to Paris to recreate made-for-TV romantic scenes you’d expect to find only in the movies. It’s up to them, however, to write their own presumably happy endings.
  • Love Is Blind: After the Altar (streaming on Netflix): Cupid gets a reality check as we check in on Season 3 couples a year after their hasty weddings.
  • Dear Edward (streaming on Apple TV+): The dramatic study of grief continues with “Miracle boy” Edward (Colin O’Brien) beginning a rocky transition at public school, while Adriana (Anna Uzele) calls in a favor to help Kojo (Idris DeBrand) stage a traditional Ghanaian funeral.