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Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
A fun smart high concept relationship drama set in spy thriller world
Ill just say this because a lot of negative reviews are focused on comparing this to the film: this is NOT the movie. It is NOT a fun quick spy action thriller (although it has its moments) that repeats and makes fun of those tropes. It is a smart interesting realistic take on the original movies premise. It is a high concept relationship drama set in that world. The show focuses on their dynamic. Donald and Maya do an excellent job of portraying 2 incompatible people pretending to be married and work together. They are not beautiful charismatic super spies like Brad and Angelina were. They are 2 normal people with spy skills doing a weird job. The humor and fun comes from watching all the normal couple quirks/fights that we all have experienced run into all of crazy spy stuff they have to do as well. The cinematography is beautiful and the writing feels grounded and realistic. If that sounds interesting to you, you will love this show. If it doesn't, you should probably skip this. I liked the movie and I had a great time binging this too. They are both excellent in different ways and that is ok.
Rick and Morty: Solaricks (2022)
Great Rick and Morty episode and perfect start to the season
This episode was cathartic in so many ways. It advances the cannon, gives us a little more context about Ricks past, it references former episodes, it actually has funny Marvel references (sorry vindicators), and most importantly its funny and has a cool sci fi premise. It also addresses my main problem with S5: Rick's family. To me all the funniest episodes of course start with Rick doing cool sci fi ish but then focuses on Morty trying save fart or Beth/Jerry divorce or Jerry trying to get better at golf or Jerry trying to have a family holiday etc. There's an ideal balance and it felt off last season. They were either barely in the episodes or doing boring versions of stuff weve already seen before (like Morty with the horse machine and Summer rebelling/trying to impress grandpa). Ricks family actually were a huge part of this episode and it was much better for it. While there probably wont be as much cannon, hope the rest of season is similar to this one.
Suspicion: Unmasked (2022)
Mediocre/ borderline terrible ending for a decent show
The "twist" was predictable but my biggest issue is with how they left the rest of the characters. The undercover cop knowing the truth and letting Leo and the rest get away with it makes no sense. Adesh choosing to join Daisy, a borderline sociopath who was completely fine with framing and ruining his life makes is moronic. Leo saying that Adesh and Natalie were somehow responsible for a giant corporations sins because they tried to exploit it to better their lives is beyond idiotic and hypocritical. If anything Copeland, the guy with power and an ACTUAL murderer who Leo defends, is way more culpable. No great resolution or reflection for Natalie. She just gets to go to prison for the rest of her life. No idea what the show is trying to say about any of our truly sympathetic characters. It all just felt rushed.
Dexter: New Blood: Sins of the Father (2022)
Better than original ending but thematically makes no sense
The writers set up a beautiful finale with stakes and consequences and took the easy way out. Batista should have been able to confront Dexter. Dexter should have had to seriously contend with facing real exposure and the criminal justice system he subverted for years. The show told us by the end that Dexter was just another serial killer with lame justifications but still decided to paint him as a tragic hero/loving father in the end. The worst part was his final decision to make Harrison kill him, which is insanely irresponsible as parent. How is turning your son into a killer, possibly feeding that urge/darkness and forcing Harrison to leave/isolate himself a heroic decision. If anything, Dexter pushed his son closer to being like his father. He should have talked Harrison down and either killed himself (maybe suicide by cop) or turned himself in. The show celebrating Harrison killing dexter and running away basically justifies all of Dexter's bs and low key implies theres a chance that Harrison will be like his father someday. What were they thinking?
The Problem with Jon Stewart: War (2021)
The old show but focused on real people and real problems
Thankfully this isn't just the Daily Show 2.0. Instead of a joke driven show on the politics of the day, this is closer to what Jon did with 9/11 first responders. He takes a step back and really lets his guests shine. It's heartfelt and sincere with just a touch of humor. If you downvote this without watching or watch this episode and are not moved because of 'insert idiotic partisan reason', shame on you.
Evil: I Is for IRS (2021)
Season 2 review so far: Too many questions, not enough answers
Im officially worried about season 2. In the first season, they did an excellent job of showing how classic supernatural evil can hide behind modern day skepticism while teasing the real mystery that David, Kristen and his priesthood are vitally important to actual battle of good vs evil. The tone was perfect because we were questioning the validity of supernatural events just like our main characters. However, that tone should have ended definitively with Kristen in the S1 finale. That event should have marked the moment when our 3 main characters officially became one of the cases they like to investigate. I was excited for S2 because I believed the show would finally provide us with ANSWERS, take the definitive stance that supernatural evil is real and our protagonists would have to deal with this change in reality. Instead, the show is frustratingly still trying to keep us in the dark. It has not addressed ANY of the questions from before, it has created EVEN MORE mysteries with no answers and had characters we like behave in illogical ways with NO HINT of a larger explanation coming. It's basically gone backwards in terms of plot and character development. This episode is no exception. I understand that there are still 2 episodes left but after Game of Thrones and Lost, Im starting to think the writers are just not interested in seriously addressing the fantasy/supernatural elements they keep introducing. I hope Im completely wrong in 2 weeks but a better show wouldn't have relied on the last 2 episodes to explain a seasons worth of questionable character choices and nonsensical scenes.
Ted Lasso: Beard After Hours (2021)
Good attempt but misses the mark
Different type of episode. By throwing Beard in a wacky adventure, they had a chance to finally unearth some of the mystery and make him more than Ted's witty sidekick. Ultimately they failed. The adventure had some fun points and explored the world a bit but I didn't learn anything new or interesting about Beard's character, which should have the been the entire point of this episode. Because of that this feels pretty unnecessary, like a filler/bonus episode and is easily the weakest episode of the season.
Supernatural: Galaxy Brain (2020)
Good episode, best season in a while
Great episode. Give the writers a lot of credit. Even though Im a fan, Ive always believed that from a story telling perspective, the show peaked in S5. Since then there have been great moments but I never felt the excitement and intrigue I had when I first heard the pagan gods talk about how they resented the Judeo-Christian gods or when Death himself talked about reaping God. So the choice to finally abandon the brother soap opera and just address all the real questions that made this show truly interesting makes the show feel necessary and planned out again just like the old days.
His Dark Materials: The Spies (2019)
Finally some good storytelling
My reaction the reveal about Lyra's parents was mixed. I was happy that they finally started to give us some motivation for the characters besides Lyra and the gyptians but wondered why they waited so long in the first place. Scenes with Asriel and Coulter would have been FAR more interesting if we (the audience, not Lyra) had known that backstory from the very beginning. Leaving it as "surprise" was a dumb move and a big reason why episodes 1 and 2 felt slow and hard to invest in for non-book readers. Regardless I finally felt like I understood and cared for the characters this episode. The scenes with Farder Coram and Lyra were the best parts of the episode. They had great on screen chemistry and interesting dialogue. Instead of having a character teach another/us about the world, they started to finally reveal clues of the mythology in casual conversation. GoT was amazing at this, and hopefully this show follows suit. Looking forward to the next episode.
His Dark Materials: Lyra's Jordan (2019)
Amazing world building/ bad TV
I gave the show a chance because its cast, visuals, and a desire to relive the same excitement I felt when watching GoT for the first time. The 1st episode was disappointing. While it did a great job of immersing us in its world, it made absolutely no effort to hook us (non book readers) with a barely interesting controversy and a bunch of bland characters with motivations we don't understand (outside of Lyra - who is pretty one dimensional). Not to raise the bar too high but we were introduced to white walkers, King Robert, the Lannister's, Jon snow, and Arya in that 1st episode that culminated with incest and Bran being pushed out the window. And in that 1st episode they all came across as real people with simple motivations we actually understood. I cant tell you a thing about Asriel or Carne except that I think they love Lyra (Asriel seemed like kind of a d***). Lyra is a one dimensional version of Arya but neither were interesting enough to carry a show on their own at the very beginning. You've got to hook people on the characters/story AND throw them in the world. Otherwise well just grow bored waiting for interesting things to happen
His Dark Materials: The Idea of North (2019)
Great visuals/world building but so far just bad TV
Episode 2 finally gives us something with the discovery that the other world is our own which I needed because I almost gave up halfway through. But the characters are still pretty bland/confusing, with Lyra being one note about her friend and Coulter/ Dr Carne being mysteriously evil. Also Asriel is her father...which means absolutely nothing since we barely know anything about Asriel, their relationship or how she struggled growing up without parents. Im hoping by the end of the season, the plot reveals will make up for these flaws but I wouldnt blame anyone for bailing. There is plenty of great TV in 2019