The Stop Button

American Gothic (1995) s01e22 “Requiem” [1996] D: Lou Antonio. S: Gary Cole, Lucas Black, Paige Turco, Brenda Bakke, Sarah Paulson, Nick Searcy, John Mese. Busy but bland finale has Black breaking bad. Bakke’s trying to encourage it, Turco snd Searcy are trying to stop it. Black’s not very good as the problem child variant. Paulsen gets the biggest diss? The women all get bad endings but Paulsen’s is particularly thankless. GOTHIC creator Shaun Cassidy scripted this finish; feels like he wasn’t watching anymore.

FROM (2022) s03e03 “Mouse Trap” [2024] D: . S: Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, David Alpay, Elizabeth Saunders, Scott McCord, Ricky He. Things go from bad to worse (as usual), except this time it’s also because Pegah Ghafoori gets a subplot. She hasn’t improved any. Guest star Robert Joy is still a delight (as far as things go) but his arc with Moreno clunks out. It’s a bridging episode (or a treading water one), and reasonably compelling. Most of the time.

Grantchester (2014) s09e07 “Episode 7” [2024] D: . S: Robson Green, Al Weaver, Tessa Peake-Jones, Kacey Ainsworth. Best episode for Ainsworth in ages. She gets to puzzle through her season subplot with Peake-Jones (who isn’t getting one of her own). Meanwhile, Nair has his first murder case related to his personal life, and Weaver’s getting sick of whatever woo Dimsdale has going on. It’s a good episode, but hurried. And too full of plot.

Grantchester (2014) s09e08 “Episode 8” [2024] D: . S: Robson Green, Al Weaver, Tessa Peake-Jones, Kacey Ainsworth. Turns out everything in the season is connected and there’s a threat lurking. An obvious one, but still; there’s a full on action sequence (as far as GRANTCHESTER goes), with some real stakes. There’s a little too much whinging from some quarters, but it’s a nice enough season finale. Nair and Green have easily found their buddy vibe.

Only Murders in the Building (2021) s04e06 “Blow-Up” [2024] D: Jessica Yu. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Zach Galifianakis, Richard Kind. Major investigation developments–eventually–this episode but until then it’s a concept episode. The directors of the ONLY MURDERS movie in the show do a found footage thing, with some narrative tricks to contextualize it. There are some good moments, but only Short and Creighton really thrive in the format. As a concept, it makes sense. Just doesn’t play.

Slow Horses (2022) s04e05 “Grave Danger” [2024] D: Adam Randall. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce, Hugo Weaving, Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar. All the concerning plot developments hinted last episode return here in stereo. And Weaving (who seems like he’s going to get better but does not) is just a supervillain international terrorist. It’s SLOW HORSES VS. SPECTRE. Lots of it is excellent, including Lowden getting some animation from Ruth Bradley (too knowingly playing her character’s bad job decision?). Asterisked good.

Tulsa King (2022) s02e04 “Heroes and Villains” [2024] D: Joshua Marston. S: Sylvester Stallone, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Tatiana Zappardino, Annabella Sciorra, Garrett Hedlund. As usual, lots going on with little going on. Stallone’s got a great scene where he has too many pot edibles, someone thinks Starr hasn’t gotten to look unenthusiastic about being in the show enough lately, and guest star Frank Grillo plots his revenge. And other season villain Neal McDonough goes cartoonish, which doesn’t fit the vibe.