The Stop Button

Doctor Who (2024) s02e06 “The Interstellar Song Contest” [2025] D: Ben A. Williams. S: Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu, Anita Dobson, Freddie Fox, Miriam-Teak Lee, Kadiff Kirwan, Charlie Condou. Excellent, Eurovision almost tie-in (Gatwa was going to host for BBC but didn’t) has an unrecognizable Fox taking over the intergalactic version of the concert. Good thing Gatwa and Sethu have just landed. Gatwa may (or may not) be taking some big swings. Lots of great guest star performances, particularly Lee. Disney money effects are on display, too.

Doctor Who (2024) s02e07 “Wish World (1)” [2025] D: Alex Pillai. S: Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu, Millie Gibson, Bonnie Langford, Jemma Redgrave, Archie Panjabi, Anita Dobson. Part one of the finale tries to give Gibson her own subplot, introduce Panjabi (without giving away details), while setting up this bewildering WISH WORLD. Gatwa and Sethu are somehow brainwashed into thinking they’re suburban marrieds in a world where doubting is outlawed. There’s some great stuff but once the episode’s trying to set up part two, it slips.

Doctor Who (2024) s02e08 “The Reality War (2)” [2025] D: Alex Pillai. S: Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu, Millie Gibson, Bonnie Langford, Jemma Redgrave, Yasmin Finney, Ruth Madeley. Mostly outstanding finish–as usual, companions Gibson and Sethu don’t quite get enough (particularly Gibson; for a while it seems like Sethu, but she at least gets an acting showcase). Gatwa’s transcendent, supreme. Big Disney money on display for the space-time fireworks, some great callbacks and cameos, and a successful enough bow. And a heck of a cliffhanger.

The Last of Us (2023) s02e06 “The Price” [2025] D: Neil Druckmann. S: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Rutina Wesley, Catherine O’Hara, Robert John Burke, Joe Pantoliano. It’s the cop out of cops out for Pascal’s return. The episode is every year between the season’s on Ramsey’s birthday. Except when it isn’t. It’s a self-indulgent mishmash of trite family moments, punctured by the reveal on a new set of stakes. It might be different if Ramsey or Pascal or the episode brought anything unique.

The Last of Us (2023) s02e07 “Convergence” [2025] D: Nina Lopez-Corrado. S: Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Kaitlyn Dever, Jeffrey Wright. Until the third act misfire and the tropey cliffhanger (and the less tropey but still tropey set up for the next season), it’s the best episode in ages (if not ever). Real tense stuff as Ramsey, delivering a fantastic action antihero performance, hunts down Dever in storm-flooded post-apocalyptic Seattle. Superb direction from Lopez-Corrado. Dirt cheap writing.

Poker Face (2023) s02e04 “The Taste of Human Blood” [2025] D: Lucky McKee. S: Natasha Lyonne, Gaby Hoffmann, Kumail Nanjiani, Steve Buscemi, Shiloh Fernandez, John Sayles. “It’s just copaganda, actually,” episode hopefully has a story behind it. Grown up kid actor guest star Hoffman gets a strangely bad showcase. She’s fine but the part’s trash. Lyonne’s great, somehow finding the necessary vibe to make it work. Good direction from McKee helps, as well as particular subplots. Lyonne enthusiastically encourages her costars, which doesn’t always work.

Poker Face (2023) s02e05 “Hometown Hero” [2025] D: John Dahl. S: Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi, Simon Rex, B.J. Novak, Carol Kane, Brandon Perea, Gil Birmingham. Superbly done baseball episode probably isn’t the best deconstruction of the genre… but it ain’t bad at it. Director Dahl’s got the vibe–the transition between suspect Rex and detective Lyonne has never been smoother. Great cameo from Kane; Rex is phenomenal, Lyonne’s great, Perea’s great, and Buscemi’s going to be a serial killer, huh? Anyway. Stellar.

Poker Face (2023) s02e06 “Sloppy Joseph” [2025] D: Adam Arkin. S: Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi, Eve Jade Halford, Callum Vinson, David Krumholtz, Margo Martindale, Adrienne C. Moore. It’s a distressingly mid outing with Lyonne trying to outwit a psychopathic second-grader (Halford). Martindale’s somewhat amusing as the principal, but the material’s just not there. It doesn’t help the direction starts (and ends) on a Wes Anderson riff, but is otherwise as aimless as the script. Everyone gets through it relatively unscathed… except for losing time.