Searching for something new to watch? Jennifer Garner leads a stacked cast in The Five-Star Weekend. We have a new crime series from the creator who brought us Narcos. Plus: a Netflix sci-fir thriller that opens with a bloody bang.The Five-Star Weekend (Binge) ★★★From first glance, it’s easy to discount The Five-Star Weekend as the latest ensemble drama trying to riff off Big Little Lies. Both are adapted from hit beach reads, set against a beautiful coastal backdrop, and see an unlikely group of wealthy women band together after a death. This time, our leading ladies are Jennifer Garner, Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, Gemma Chan and D’Arcy Carden.The Five Star Weekend features (from left) D’Arcy Carden as Brooke, Regina Hall as Dru-Ann, Chloë Sevigny as Tatum, Jennifer Garner as Hollis and Gemma Chan as Gigi.But The Five-Star Weekend is intentionally a much lighter, slighter drama than HBO’s at-times harrowing hit. Avoiding the trope of a mysterious murder, it’s a relatively quaint story by TV’s standards, focused more on character dynamics than shocking twists.Led by Garner, the show centres on Hollis Shaw, a food influencer whose Instagram-perfect life is punctured by the sudden death of her husband (Josh Hamilton) in a car accident. Six months later, Hollis can’t get through a daytime TV appearance without breaking down into sobs. Needing a break, she reaches out to four friends – each one from a different period of her life – for a weekend getaway at her childhood home on Nantucket, the New England island once a hub for whaling and now a holiday hub for yuppies.The getaway is more meticulously planned than the most picturesque Pinterest board, and Hollis is determined to stick to her itinerary of artisanal charcuterie boards, luxury spa days, pyjama parties and home-made pizza. If this healing weekend doubles as a content opportunity, so be it.Hall, Garner and Carden in a scene from the show.Her friends, integrally, are not friends with each other at all – a plot point that justifies the somewhat random cast, with perennial it girl Sevigny telling press she took the role so her mum’s friends would finally like something she’s in.There’s the tough childhood friend (Sevigny), the college friend and heavy-hitting sports agent (Hall), an anxious mum friend (Carden) and a follower (Chan) whom Hollis bonded with over shared grief. The last two are surprised they’re even invited, the others ultra-protective and suspicious of everyone else. All bring their own baggage, from unstable marriages to internet cancellations, health scares and a quickly revealed secret.Showrunner Bekah Brunstetter has a difficult job setting up five disjointed storylines in the first episode, alongside secondary characters like Hollis’ daughter (Harlow Jane), old flame (Timothy Olyphant) and ex-friend (Judy Greer, criminally underused). It’s an absolute slog, and the show’s cutesy title cards and garish scene transitions – seemingly made using Hollis’ own Canva-pro account – don’t help.But once The Five-Star Weekend unites its characters, it’s infinitely more interesting, cycling through its subplots with ease as Hollis learns to drop the facade and feel her grief. It could have been much tighter at six episodes instead of eight, but who hasn’t been guilty of stretching out a holiday?J.K. Simmons stars in The Westies.StanThe Westies (Stan) ★★Chris Brancato is known for his acclaimed true-crime series including Colombian cartel drama Narcos and the 1960s-set Godfather of Harlem. Unfortunately, from the two episodes available for review, this latest show is closer in quality to his 2024 series Hotel Cocaine, which was as uninspired as its title.It’s a shame, as The Westies could offer something new given it’s (loosely) inspired by a lesser-known syndicate: a small, vicious Irish-American gang that operated in mid-20th century New York. Set in the 1980s, the series follows Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) as the gang’s ruthless and fictionalised leader. Trying to make millions without angering the Italian mafia, he has no issue knocking off his own to keep the peace. Other characters are stuck between allegiances, including a young Westie (Tom Brittney), his IRA-absconding girlfriend (Sarah Bolger), and an Irish cop (Titus Welliver).While a fascinating world, there’s so little life in The Westies. It’s a blend of dull, gritty lighting and lazy, cliche-filled writing. The tone is off too, with its dark self-seriousness completely undermined by scenes of bloody intra-Irish fights edited like a Guy Ritchie romp and set to rock and roll. The show could easily improve. Many great series have so-so beginnings. But there’s little in this double-episode premiere to inspire returning for its weekly drops.Japanese model Uta Uchida stars as the titular Human Vapor.