The Stop Button

Rivals (2024) s01e01 “Episode 1” D: Elliot Hegarty. S: David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Katherine Parkinson, Claire Rushbrook. Little bit too horny British period (1986) show (airing on Disney+!) about nouveau riche Tennant’s rivalry (get it) with old money Hassell. Tennant’s a commercial TV producer, Hassell’s an MP. Turner is the newest addition to the neighborhood, a ringer for Tennant’s network. It’s well-produced, well-acted, just… a British prestige trash soap. Great eighties soundtrack, though.

Silo (2023) s02e04 “The Harmonium” [2024] D: Aric Avelino. S: Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, Tim Robbins, Shane McRae, Tanya Moodie. Either SILO has something special in store, or it’s already peaked. The episode punts featured guest star Steve Zahn to get rid of the most dynamic actor on the show. Badly, too. They do a bad job of it. Some of the problem is Avelino’s direction, but everyone’s lost in a bad, protracted script. Except Uche; he’s doing fine.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) s05e05 “Star Base 80?!” [2024] D: Bob Suarez. S: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore. Newsome doesn’t want to return to the crappy starbase where she was wrongfully exiled a season or two ago, but the ship needs repairs. Upon arrival, she clashes with the station commander (Nicole Byer). It’s a good, weird, really full episode (lots of lore). Lewis and O’Connell have a great subplot together, which DECKS didn’t do often enough.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) s05e06 “Of Gods and Angles” [2024] D: Brandon Williams. S: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Gillian Vigman, Jerry O’Connell. Okay episode has Newsome mentoring a troublesome ensign (guest star Saba Homayoon) who’s descended from the TOS demigods. There’s a diplomatic thing to mess up and a whole mystery. Probably seemed better on paper. It’s funny but Homayoon’s not interesting. Quaid’s still on his alt-universe subplot, which has some highs but is also slight for final season arc.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) s05e07 “Fully Dilated” [2024] D: Megan Lloyd. S: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore. Brent Spiner guest stars (as Data, obviously) and spends the episode counseling Wells, who’s convinced she’s in a competition with Vulcan science pal Gabrielle Ruiz. They’re stranded on an away mission; Newsome spends her time trying to live undercover stranded away party life to the fullest, with mixed results. Lots of (good) tawdry jokes to cover the rush.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s06e07 “March Madness” [2024] D: Yana Gorskaya. S: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Anthony Atamanuik, Tim Heidecker. Proksch goes to work with Guillén to help him establish an identity while Berry and Novak try to save neighbor Atamanuik from a demon. Of course, that demon happens to be March Madness (when do SHADOWS creators think these episode air). Lots of great laughs in both plot lines, with Demetriou getting a particularly great recurring bit.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s06e08 “P.I. Undercover: New York” [2024] D: Kyle Newacheck. S: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Anthony Atamanuik, Andy Assaf. Novak and Berry try to foil a police procedural shooting in front of the house while Proksch and Demetriou go to his friend’s house for an uncomfortable dinner. Zach Woods guest stars as the friend, and Kim Quindlen plays his wife. Kevin Pollak plays the TV detective. It’s a weird, successful mashing of plots, often very funny.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s06e09 “Come Out and Play” [2024] D: DJ Stipsen. S: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, Kristen Schaal, Doug Jones. Anticlimactic to the point of self-parody as the gang finds themselves again on the run from all the other vampires in the world. This time it’s not even a mistake. The stakes (no pun) are all over the place, the script feels like it’s crossing (yes pun) off outstanding business… The show’s coasting with this one. Two more.