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TV Reviews, page 2

  1. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie ★★★★★

    2019 TV show

    Watched 11 October 2019

    I didn’t know how much I wanted this, just as much as I wasn’t expecting to cry in the end. Yet here we are.

    It doesn’t escape the TV-to-film curse of feeling incomplete and slightly outside its comfort zone and somehow wrong. But taken as the missing Breaking Bad episode that time forgot, it’s absolutely flawless.

    Yet I don’t think it would have worked had the show just included this back then as its final final episode. We needed the wait, and it was worth it.

  2. Barry, Season 1 ★★★★☆

    2018 TV show

    Watched 29 June 2019

    I started off a bit disappointed, because this seemed like little more than a duller version of Patriot; the writing felt meandering, the humor more surface-level, never as witty or pithy. Turned out I was looking at it wrong: it’s more of a drama than I’d figured from the premise, with the comedy falling a bit further into the background than it does in Patriot. It’s its own thing, delicately balanced, and a few episodes in it really clicked.

  3. Game of Thrones, Season 8 ★★☆☆☆

    2019 TV show

    Watched 21 May 2019

    It is still mindblowing that this show could get made, but it’s a shame that it couldn’t quite fill its own shoes towards the end. Guess I’ll read the books, then.

  4. Love, Death & Robots, Season 1 ★★☆☆☆

    2019 TV show

    Watched 27 March 2019

    There is only one episode that actually delivers on what I was hoping for, combining great animation with stylish art direction and exploring cool, mature themes: Zima Blue.

    There are four of five others that aren’t plain edgelord teenager bullshit, but they’re nothing to write home about.

  5. Nathan for You, Season 2 ★★★★☆

    2014 TV show

    Watched 25 February 2019

    I constantly fight myself on whether I truly love or actually hate Nathan for You. I think that’s probably the point, so I can’t help but respect it.

  6. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch ★★★☆☆

    2018 TV show

    Watched 3 January 2019

    Building it around the concept of “choose your own adventure” itself did not make any of the choices and outcomes anymore engrossing or thought-provoking — the experience of rewinding to take different paths made everything feel muddled and disconnected. I think the stakes should have been higher, giving the viewer fewer opportunities to fix mistakes.

    There is a glimpse of interestingness near the beginning when the medium-unique twist is revealed, but it gets lost as the narrative branches off and grows in possibility space, with some storylines dropping the idea altogether.

    It’s a fun ride, and then it’s over. Though I might have to give it another go. Also: the poster is really neat.

  7. The Haunting of Hill House ★★☆☆☆

    2018 TV show

    Watched 15 December 2018

    What if haunted house movie but
    - ten hours long, lots of repetition
    - cheesy, artless direction
    - all spoken lines are monologues

  8. Black Mirror: Metalhead ★★★★☆

    2017 TV show

    Watched 7 January 2018

    I understand that it might not be to everyone’s tastes, but I loved the simplicity of this one. Tense, cinematic, more grounded than the average Black Mirror episode. Includes what’s probably the best-designed piece of tech in the entire series, and not a single shot of clumsy CGI. Could have done without the boring tree scene, but otherwise one of my favorites.

  9. Black Mirror: Black Museum ★★★☆☆

    2017 TV show

    Watched 7 January 2018

    Black Mirror seems to be getting more samey, with ever-less varied stories that rely way too much on lampshading (i.e. the plot acknowledging its own silliness to avoid looking absurdly implausible).

    This episode had some great ideas, but it felt like the biggest manifestation of those problems. Plus, it breaks what I took to be an unwritten rule of Black Mirror: no cross-episode continuity. The idea that all of this weird shit might be taking place in the same universe only detracted from my experience.