The Stop Button

FROM (2022) s03e06 “Scar Tissue” [2024] D: Alexandra La Roche. S: Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, David Alpay, Scott McCord, Ricky He, Corteon Moore. It’s one of the better (if not best) FROM bridging episodes. Considering it’s an extension of last episode’s bridging episode… though this episode does have a couple solid reveals. It also has Moreno and Bailey arguing too much, Perrineau almost entirely in support of other subplots, and guest star Robert Joy apparently not betraying McCord (I’m still worried).

FROM (2022) s03e07 “These Fragile Lives” [2024] D: Bruce McDonald. S: Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, Scott McCord, Ricky He, Pegah Ghafoori, Corteon Moore. New regular Samantha Brown gets her big episode as she’s freaking out realizing she’s trapped in a nightmare. And she’s godawful. FROM’s bad acting has been improving, but Brown’s back at the “fire your agent” levels of miscasting. Or just inability. Hurts the episode a lot. Otherwise, lots of subplot water treading, presumably for two episodes from now.

FROM (2022) s03e08 “Thresholds” [2024] D: Bruce McDonald. S: Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, David Alpay, Elizabeth Saunders, Scott McCord, Pegah Ghafoori. Guest star Robert Joy has maybe the best line of the show ever: he asks Bailey why he just had to sit through a useless scene and why doesn’t Bailey do the right thing for once. Preach, brother. McCord has a bad (mythology) episode. Not his fault, rather the reveal. Otherwise, third treading water in a row?

Only Murders in the Building (2021) s04e10 “My Best Friend’s Wedding” [2024] D: Jamie Babbit. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Meryl Streep, Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria. Good season finale sets up things for next time–with Short running around worried fiancée Streep will be the murder victim (he’s realized they always have a murder in the finale). There’s not much in the way of character development for anyone but Short and even then it ends up being slight. But he and Martin have some delightful moments.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) s05e01 “Dos Cerritos” [2024] D: Megan Lloyd. S: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Gabrielle Ruiz. As Wells tries keeping her (green, it’s important) Orion pirates in check–i.e. not killing but still plundering so Wells might get to go back to Starfleet–the gang recovers from her not being around. And then they run into an alternate reality version of themselves because of TREK science. Real good episode for Newsome in particular.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) s05e02 “Shades of Green” [2024] D: Bob Suarez. S: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Gabrielle Ruiz. The gang’s all keeping busy, paired off for their adventures (or intentional lack thereof). Except all the plots except Wells’s are slight. Well meaning and earnest but slight. Wells has a solar sail race to save her pirate empire. After promising big thrills… well, there aren’t many. And all the plots are just about people not communicating.

Tulsa King (2022) s02e07 “Life Support” [2024] D: Kevin Dowling. S: Sylvester Stallone, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Vincent Piazza, Garrett Hedlund, Dana Delany. After immediately swerving from last episode’s cliffhanger, the show finally literizes Will’s idolatry of Stallone. But doesn’t really do anything with it. Will gets his toughest acting assignment and comes up short. Meanwhile, Stallone’s better than he has been the rest of the season. Something’s happened. This show could probably get another two episodes off one explosion.

Tulsa King (2022) s02e08 “Under New Management” [2024] D: Kevin Dowling. S: Sylvester Stallone, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Garrett Hedlund, Dana Delany. Casella has hit his breaking point with things falling apart around him, which gives him his biggest episode ever. And he’s terrible at it. The episode keeps trying various genre standards and coming up short. Frank Grillo’s really good, though. He’s speaking nothing words and he’s still good. Ditto Lombardozzi. Stallone looks strangely put out half the time, too.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s06e03 “Sleep Hypnosis” [2024] D: Yana Gorskaya. S: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Kristen Schaal, Doug Jones. The season rights itself with a done-in-one about the housemates fighting over Guillén’s old living quarters. Proksch discovers you can sleep hypnotize people, leading to hijinks. None of the other season plots come into play, which would be more concerning if the episode weren’t so funny. Nice guest spot from Jones. Also a good Novak showcase.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s06e04 “The Railroad” [2024] D: Kyle Newacheck. S: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Anthony Atamanuik, Andy Assaf. The Monster (Assaf) returns, this time figuring into both Berry and Proksch’s storyline again. They’ve got to convince neighbor Atamanuik they work at a railroad. Meanwhile, it’s office politics for Guillén, Demetriou, and Novak. Guillén’s supposed to fire Novak, Demetriou’s sick of being unappreciated. The best “season plotlines” episode of the season so far.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s06e05 “Nandor’s Army” [2024] D: Yana Gorskaya. S: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Doug Jones. Hilarious homage to APOCALYPSE NOW (because why not) has Novak going full Brando. It only gets better once Proksch realizes what’s going on and gets in on it, too. Lots and lots of deep cuts (not just to war movies, either). Then Berry and Demetriou get to bond and bicker. Guillén’s arc still feels soft, but the episode’s killer.