Must Watch reviews: Sean Combs: The Reckoning, The Abandons, and The New Yorker at 100

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Ali Plumb join Naga Munchetty to review ‘Sean Combs: The Reckoning’, ‘The Abandons’ and ‘The New Yorker at 100’.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

Produced by rapper 50 Cent, this four-part documentary on Netflix is billed as a "staggering examination" of Sean “Diddy” Combs' career as one of the most powerful men in hip-hop. It explores the sexual misconduct allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs, as well a mountain of other allegations, spanning decades, that he denies. It's produced by 50 Cent, who has longstanding beef with Combs. Combs himself, who is currently in prison, has called the documentary a "shameful hit piece".

Ali and Hayley both think that Sean Combs: The Reckoning is a Must Watch.

But Ali says this is “within the parameters of [being] interested in this kind of documentary and [able to] stomach its difficult truth.”

He says, “I was surprised at how nuanced and delicately done this documentary is, considering it could have been an out-and-out hit piece.”

“The footage of him really vulnerable in his New York hotel room, shouting and talking tersely with his lawyers, that’s incredible.”

Ali adds that you “learn about his ruthlessness and his childhood” and says that the documentary’s contributors “shine a light that feels genuinely insightful.”

Hayley explains that she “didn’t watch this as a fan” as she has “always found [Combs] kind of embarrassing” so she “watched as someone interested in how people abuse power.”

“It shows how he created an ecosystem of people who relied on him for money or jobs and how he dangled what they wanted and usually never gave it.”

She says the documentary explains “the push-pull of controlling abusive relationships, which the wider public still struggles to understand.”

Hayley also thinks it “provides the nuance that was missing from the trial and shows him as a jealous master manipulator.”

All four episodes of Sean Combs: The Reckoning are available to watch on Netflix now.

The Abandons is a Western set in 1850s Oregon from Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Stutter. Lena Headey is Fiona, the owner of a farm whose land Constance Van Ness (Gillian Anderson) desperately wants to acquire to develop her ongoing mining empire. Fiona's four adopted children face off with her against the Van Nesses and their financial might in this David vs Goliath drama.

Haley says it is not a Must Watch as she can “rarely be bothered with Westerns… it has to be something extra good, like Deadwood.”

“I do like the idea of two warring families and the leads being women but the show seems to be coasting on that alone.”

She says the drama was “all a bit one-dimensional" and that everything was “like a Western cliché”.

Hayley thinks it is a “shame” because the show has an “incredible cast” but they “haven’t really done anything with them.”

Ali said that he did enjoy the show but thinks it fits into the category of “I’m watching it, this is enjoyable”.

“It just begins. Things happen. Go, go, go, go, go. This happens, this happens, this happens, this happens. And we complain that opening episodes don’t get going quickly enough.”

He thinks you will like the show if you’re looking for “a good old fashioned Western”.

“Cattle rustlers are trying to take these cattle because if you make working these farms hell, then you’ll just give up the mining rights.”

Ali does wonder whether there was “enough time for each individual character to get a sense of who they were”.

All episodes of The Abandons are available on Netflix now.

This documentary is about the legendary magazine, famed for its influential journalism, witty cartoons, and old-fashioned stylistic choices. The New Yorker celebrated its centenary in 2025, and this 90-minute documentary hops, skips and jumps through the August publication's history as it tries to maintain its legacy and adapt to the times.

Haley thinks The New Yorker at 100 is a Must Watch but Ali disagrees.

Ali argues that “if you’re already in love with The New Yorker, you’ll probably know most of this already.”

“Everyone there is quite well dressed, has their little exercise routines and has gorgeous little offices and I just wanted to be part of them. I’m jealous, sure. But at the same time, I wondered who the documentary was for.”

He thinks it was “very fluffy, like a puff piece you might read in a lesser magazine but made into a documentary.”

“I enjoyed this, but I cannot give it the Must Watch thumbs up.”

Hayley enjoyed the show but says she has a “caveat” because she loves “hearing about how magazines are made because magazines are my real job.”

“It gives you a sense of the people who make it and how they do it, and goes into the history of the really long-form stuff that I love.”

She adds that she “loved seeing the respect for cartoonists and the fact-checking department, and hearing David Remnick talk personally about what he wants the magazine to be.”

All episodes of The New Yorker at 100 are available on Netflix now.

Listen to the full reviews of all three programmes on BBC Sounds.

But before all that, why not contact Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or both on mustwatch@bbc.co.uk.

We used AI to transcribe and summarise our Must Watch feature. This article was then written and reviewed by a BBC journalist. More on how the BBC uses AI.