âThe Other Bin Of Scrooge McDuck!â has maybe one of the worst intros the show has done so far. DuckTales has been struggling with intros for a while but a loud-whispering, exposition-filled exchange between Lena and Magica while Lena tries to cut the number one dime from Scroogeâs neck is one of the worse. I get theâŚ
From one series first to another, The Great British Baking Show is ramping up and delivering one hell of a mid-season run. First Ryan had his remarkable turnaround in âPies,â going from barely escaping elimination in âDessertsâ to Star Baker one week later. The very next episode, in another Baking Show first, no oneâŚ
Late last year, TV critic Alan Sepinwall wrote about the phenomenon of feeling the pressure to catch up on âshows that eventually get good.â We all know those shows; weâve praised them to friends, or heard about them through family. Theyâre the shows weâd given up on after watching two or three episodes, only to hearâŚ
When the first season of Trial & Error came to a conclusion on April 18, 2017, there was much rejoicing in regards to how neophyte Northeasterner attorney Josh Segal managed to put his nose to the grindstone andâdespite the many, many eccentricities of the denizens of East Peck, South Carolinaâsuccessfully save localâŚ
One prominent issue with the last few episodes of The 100 has been the showâs insistence on creating life or death stakes for each and every character. Itâs a flaw thatâs familiar to regular viewers, as nearly every season has included a stretch of episodes where the stakes just felt too big, the scope too large toâŚ
The Bold Type knows itself. It knows its audience, its tone, its format, its strength and weaknesses. It knows what it can pull off, and what it canât. It knows how messy it can get without overtaxing itself. In that way, âBetsyâ is essentially the baby-bear-porridge of Very Special Episodes. Itâs doesnât overreach.âŚ
Are the members of the Bureau Underground supposed to be a bunch of goddamn morons?
In the penultimate episode of its first season, Pose pulls out all the stops, harnessing all of the strengths it has developed over the course of its first six episodesâfully realized character development, compelling visual storytelling, and narratives that feel deeply personal while still having larger culturalâŚ
I see what youâre doing this season, The Affair. With our now slightly expanded cast, the show can offer parallel actions and themes across character arcs, with either same or differing motivations. For example, when Cole and Luisa had sex on the kitchen counter right before their business dinner, it was both aâŚ
Serialization can do wonders for TV shows. It can pay off emotional investment in characters, allow writers to tell more complex, nuanced stories, and, when done effectively, can create something incredibly powerful over time. But it can also create problems, and the one weâre stuck in now with Preacher is probablyâŚ
âDirt,â the second episode of Sharp Objects, is a study in contradictions. Those contradictions revolve around beauty and brutality, grief and cruelty, familial love and twisted obsession. These contradictions exist in a tight, sharp symbiosis; theyâre like the thin sides of the needle that Camille drivesâŚ
Who Is America?, the new Sacha Baron Cohen series that Showtimeâs touted as âthe most dangerous TV show ever,â opens with video clips that portray a starry-eyed, sepia-toned vision of America before accelerating into a barrage of recent news footage: President Donald Trump mocking a disabled person; adult filmâŚ
There is a lot of potential in âWho Is Gizmoduck?â Thereâs the story of a young intern who has access to power beyond his imagination (power, responsibility, etc.). Thereâs the story of an even younger duck who believes in the hero who saved him, only to be disappointed in what he sees, but to also inspire said heroâŚ
The Great British Baking Show doesnât do drama. Itâs not interested in last minute saves and surprise turnarounds, in emotional twists and turns and challenges that set the bakers up for failure. Thatâs one of the showâs chief pleasures, its low-stress, high-empathy emphasis on process, hard work, and the satisfactionâŚ
The first season of Harlots was an unexpected delight: a dialed-to-eleven revenge drama with a stellar cast, featuring historically accurate deshabille, andâperhaps most importantâeveryone referring to each other using full names whenever possible.
After two seasons of The Handmaidâs Tale, many hours of great acting and alternately frustrating and thrilling storytelling, some moments of horror so stark they seem to stop the heart and some so indulgent they seem like punishment for punishmentâs sake, the occasional perfect needle-drop and far more imperfect ones,âŚ
Every season of The 100, with the exception of the remarkable, near-perfect second season, goes through a slump. Every season reaches a point in the middle where the story starts to sag, the motivations of the characters become murky, and the episodes become a little less compelling. Itâs a pattern that this seasonâŚ
First, to eat some crow.
Well, if the goal of tonightâs Ghosted was to make me feel a little better about the fact that weâre rapidly running out of time with these characters: Mission accomplished, I guess.
If Preacherâs third season (what little there is of it so far) is struggling to convey the real menace of Angelville, you can consider âGonna Hurtâ as something of a corrective. Last week, Jesse made his big play to get out. It was, and Iâm being kind here, a stupid mess. (Jesseâs plan, I mean. The episode wasnâtâŚ
