As America enters the 2020 holiday season, rising COVID-19 cases and falling temperatures are forcing more and more to coop up in their homes. With the new free time gained from this second lockdown, what could be better than passing time with a great show to binge?

Netflix’s “Grand Army,” “The Midnight Gospel” and “The Queen’s Gambit” are three unique shows that are worth the watch. 

“Grand Army” is a fictitious teen drama that features the lives of five individual students attending the biggest high school in Brooklyn, N.Y. Each of these students has a unique problem, and as the show progresses, their problem becomes bigger and the students succumb. 

Dominique (Dom) Pierre is one of the five students whose life is shown. She is a student-athlete who plans to attend Johns Hopkins University or Washington University in St. Louis. With a new boyfriend, good grades and amazing friends, Dom’s life seems great. 

But behind her smile, her family is struggling immensely with money. Dom is forced to focus on finding money to support her family, and it becomes clear that she is not able to balance her new work with her old life. 

With the other problems, including sexual assault, sexuality, racial injustice and mental health, “Grand Army” does a tremendous job at depicting the struggles that many teenagers in America face today. 

If you are looking for something less serious, “The Midnight Gospel” is a comedic cartoon that is bound to grab your attention. Created by the creator of “Adventure Time,” Pendleton Ward, as well as the comedian Duncan Trussel, “The Midnight Gospel” features a space caster named Clancy who uses his universe simulator to traverse “trippy” worlds and explore existential questions about everything from life to death, according to Thrillist. 

Each episode of “The Midnight Gospel” has the same format: Clancy picks a new world to travel to, he arrives via his universe simulator, he meets a creature dwelling on the planet and then he engages in a deep, spiritual conversation about a unique topic. 

The interesting part is that the conversations that Clancy engages in are derived from actual interviews from a podcast that Trussell puts on, so the conversations seen in the show are completely authentic. 

Because of its simple plot, “The Midnight Gospel” is the perfect show to watch while doing homework. 

“The Queen’s Gambit” is a limited drama series that features Beth Harmon, an orphaned child prodigy who discovers the game of chess in the basement of her orphanage. From the moment she starts, Beth is better than every player she comes across, with the exception of the Russian, Vasily Gorbov. 

The show is set during the Cold War era, so Beth’s rivalry with Gorbov parallels the United State’s rivalry with the Soviet Union. Along her journey to defeat Gorbov and be crowned as World Champion, Beth competes in chess tournaments in many cities across the world. 

Beth’s chess journey is not the only subject matter in “The Queen’s Gambit”; Beth’s entire life from ages nine to early 20s is showcased as she falls in love, struggles with addiction and gains a vast amount of fame. 

“The Queen’s Gambit” is the best show on this list. Given the show’s ability to put a vivacious spin on chess, it truly is a must-watch.