As the rise of AI propels us towards our uncertain future, it is fascinating to see the way films and television meditate on what it might look like, says steaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

Disquieting tale, After Yang, a sci-fi drama is now streaming on SBS On Demand.

It’s the story of a young family forced to reckon with grief after the loss of their adopted son, one that just so happens to be robotic and powered by artificial intelligence.

After the teenage techno-sapien malfunctions during a dance event, well past his (or should I say it’s?) warranty date, his father tries to find a cheap way to repair him to console his devastated daughter.

Turns out it’s no easy feat repairing an android child when you run a struggling tea shop.

Colin Farell plays this exhausted father. He’s joined by great talent including Halyey Lu Richardson and Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, but Justin H Min is the standout here with a performance able to bring life to a robotic youngster.

Like if Blade Runner were scaled down to an intimate family drama, After Yang makes for an intriguing sci-fi premise that in our rapidly changing world hits close to the bone… and perhaps one day maybe even a bionic version of one.

WHETHER she’s on sinking ships or solving murder mysteries, Kate Winslet is a master of playing morose women.

But far more rarely seen is her knack for comedic timing. Films like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” or “The Holiday” give audiences a glimpse into her funny side.

A new series on Binge though puts it on display like never before.

The Regime is a six-part show which stars Winslet as Elena Vernham, the diabolical dictator of a fictional European city that sends dissenting citizens to prison faster than you can say “freedom for all”.

We meet this amusing despot as the walls of her opulent, authoritarian empire begin to crumble around her. 

In a bid to tighten her grip, she befriends a Colonel Zubak, a soldier whose dealy approach to subdue protesters has earned him the nickname “the butcher”.

Winslet is fantastic in her sheer commitment to the role. It’s a performance worthy of writing more nuanced than the brutally dry satire on display here.

The show has its funny highlights but in our current world the comedic punches perhaps land a little harder than they should. 

The Regime might be the TV embodiment of “all you can do is laugh about it.”

It’s a tightrope indeed that any good satire must walk. Audiences will have to be the judge of whether this one keeps its balance.

TRENDING on Netflix this month is crime thriller Fool Me Once, a series with a killer premise that’s kept it in the platform’s top 10 for several weeks now.

British actress Michelle Keegan stars as Maya, a woman trying to come to terms with the recent murder of her husband. It’s not long after she spots someone on a nanny cam she uses to keep an eye on her young daughter. Quite the fright indeed when she realises it’s her recently deceased spouse somehow back inside her house.

It sounds like the setup for a horror show, but this eight-episode series comes from a 2016 Harlan Coben novel of the same name and is firmly in the crime mystery genre.

And although this mystery starts well, things unfortunately start to feel stale pretty quickly. “Fool Me Once” insists on so many plot twists that it eventually starts to tie knots in its own story. 

For crime drama junkies this will be serviceable, but ultimately the show would have been more suited to a film or a much shorter, more concise run of episodes.

“Fool Me Once” has one of the best hooks in recent TV memory. It’s a shame it’ll lose many of its viewers while trying to reel them in.