Category: 2020
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Rosy McEwen and especially Frederick Schmidt are a lot better this episode. They’re on the run and having couple’s arguments over their new “adoptee.” Schmidt wants to take a reward for the baby’s return—with Ted Levine acting as the go-between, of course, without the good guys (Dakota Fanning, Daniel Brühl, and Luke Evans) knowing about…
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Thank goodness this episode isn’t by the writer I like—though no blame on credited writer Alyson Feltes, whatever’s wrong with “Alienist” at this point isn’t going to be fixed by a better scene here or there. In addition to having to sit through Daniel Brühl and Lara Pulver on another date, where he kink-shames and…
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Did I say nice things last time about Lara Pulver, who plays the object of Daniel Brühl’s affection. I need to take them back. She and Brühl go on an Absinthe date and it’s a very underwhelming scene. We’ve just recovered from the cliffhanger postscript and the whole city is looking for Rosy McEwen. Everyone’s…
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It’s a Christmas episode and a two-parter, which is weird because when we get to the conclusion—which has a miscarriage of justice and most of the cast mad at each other—it doesn’t seem like there’s anywhere for it to go. If “All Rise” manages to roll back said miscarriage of justice, it’ll be impressive because…
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So the episode synopsis for Bad Beat said something about Lindsey Gort being missing and I got real hopeful she was leaving the show—the cast is way too big anyway and she’s obnoxious—but she gets back pretty quick. Wilson Bethel’s all worried about her but she just went to her place, which she’s been keeping…
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The Bee Gees deserve a more comprehensive documentary thanHow Can You Mend a Broken Heart. The film skips over a lot of specifics in the early years, then ends its main narrative in the late 1970s with the Disco Demolition, which could have been a major turning point in the film as they’re talking about…
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If last episode was a big Miller’s Crossing homage—though there’s a big Miller’s nod here too—when this episode opens with a prison break, I had to wonder if it was going to be all Raising Arizona nods or if it was a one-off. Seems to have been a one-off. I wonder if Noah Hawley’s going…
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“Fargo,” season four, is firmly planted in traditional American literature. Sure, it’s got a female, Black teenage narrator (E'myri Crutchfield), but… female, Black teenage narrators are traditional American literature too. The episode opens with Crutchfield giving a history lesson, though most of the history plays out onscreen and not specifically in her narration. Her narration…
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I did go into this episode somewhat hopeful. It’s not the same writer as last episode, but it’s the same director (Clare Kilner). Sadly, outside some good direction to Luke Evans, who still has zippo to do in the show—though he gets a subplot about supporting Black female reporter Brittany Marie Batchelder at the New…
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Despite writer Damani Johnson never having written an “All Rise” before, this episode feels very much like a regular episode. Simone Missick’s not worrying about bringing about Black child into the world, she’s having fun avoiding FaceTime calls with her mom, being a supportive friend to Wilson Bethel (who only needs the support because he’s…
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This episode feels more like the first episode post-pilot rather than first episode post-second season premiere. They’re leaning into the social distancing more, but also less masks and more spit shields so you can see the actors acting. And the show’s seemingly more committed to its 2020 direction, with J. Alex Brinson somehow all of…
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“All Rise” had some late first season (no pun) rises the Coronavirus shutdown seemingly stalled or hurt. For example, after witnessing cops lying about assaulting people, D.A. Wilson Bethel seemed ready to leave for the other side—possibly with Ryan Michelle Bathe, a newly introduced third Musketeer for Bethel and Simone Missick. With the Zoom-only season…
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Okay, whoever oversees “The Alienist” and thought to hire Gina Gionfriddo to write this episode but not the whole series… is it good this person hired a competent writer, or is it bad they knew to hire a competent writer but chose not to the rest of the time. Given the show is all about…
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Once I’m Thinking of Ending Things makes it painfully, obviously clear what’s actually going on with nondescript Oklahoma intellectual artsy girl Jessie Buckley, her pseudo-intellectual, experience matters more but wait is actually smart or is he boyfriend Jesse Plemons, his weird parents—Toni Collette (who somehow manages to be the only person in the not-untalented cast…
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This episode we meet Luke Evans’s editor at the newspaper—I think he’s at the New York Times; doesn’t really matter; Demetri Goritsas plays the editor. Goritsas is terrible. And somewhat indicative of the show’s casting choices. It really doesn’t care if anyone’s good. Not if it can get the… scares, I guess. Thrills? Chills? Grosses?…
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Enola Holmes is a solid vehicle for the proposition of lead Millie Bobby Brown as a movie star—she infrequently narrates to great effect, in a manner far more Ferris Bueller than John Watson (more on the infrequently in a bit). But as almost anything else the movie fizzles. Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes? He’s not…
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Peninsula is the sequel to Train to Busan but more like it just takes place in the same universe. It’s part of the Train to Busan Extended Universe, much like Land of the Dead would’ve been part of the Night of the Living Dead Extended Universe. And watching Peninsula, you realize just how much it…
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Dakota Fanning gets the “and” credit in “The Alienist: Season Two: Angel of Darkness: Ex Ore Infantium.” She doesn’t die (at least not in this episode, and since it’s based on a novel I could just spoil myself), but the “and” credit is quizzical because it’s very clear this time around she’s the star. The…
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After ignoring the initial A plot but actually the B plot because Robbie Amell and Andy Allo are cute for eight episodes, this episode’s almost entirely about the mystery behind Amell’s death. And his missing memories. The ones he didn’t find out about until halfway through the season but didn’t care about because… bad writing?…
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Enter the Fat Dragon is about Hong Kong super-cop Donnie Yen (already in a pound of makeup before he puts on the fat suit, presumably to look more age appropriate for love interest Niki Chow) who goes too far one too many times and finds himself busted down to the evidence room. After Chow dumps…
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Turns out “Upload” is able to surprise me. This episode reveals the Horizon app where all the dead people live is getting an upgrade. Including having more than two seasonings, which is a heck of a long time into the show to reveal none of the digital dead people eating are tasting anything the viewer…
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The Old Guard is better than any of the Highlander movies (to date, I suppose) but sadly not a success. It gets relatively close to passing at least, but then the epilogue is forced, predictable (screenwriter Greg Rucka’s really obvious, he’s really episodic and he’s really obvious–Old Guard is based on Rucka and Leandro Fernandez’s…
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The episode opens with Robbie Amell getting Andy Allo in trouble for their relationship. Except she can’t let him know she’s in trouble so when she gets sent home… he assumes she’s still at work. Only it’s her boss, Andrea Rosen, who shuts him down. See, he’s ready to commit to their romance. He gets…
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Mr. Boop is about being married to Betty Boop. The protagonist is Boop creator Alec Robbins, who is presumably not actually married to Betty Boop in real life because otherwise it’d be a series of photos not comics. Robbins, the comic protagonist, is very happy to be married to Betty Boop, who’s the hottest woman…
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As a streaming sitcom, filler doesn’t feel the same way in “Upload” as it does in a regular sitcom. “Upload” is not chasing that syndication deal, which in theory wouldn’t affect the A plot—dead guy Robbie Amell falling in love with his living virtual—actual—assistant Andy Allo—much but the B plot involving Amell being murdered and…
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Just as Allegra Edwards gets a redemption arc—two of them in fact—dead but living in a virtual reality simulation fiancé Robbie Amell starts getting close to his actual (vs. virtual) virtual assistant Andy Allo. Amell and Allo confide in one another about their suspicions regarding the A plot, which doesn’t usually get a lot of…
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Does “Upload” have a show bible the writers ignore—in this case Mike Lawrence, who at least writes a funny enough episode even if it completely breaks with the show’s established future logics-or does the show not have a show bible. Because it doesn’t lean heavy enough into the sitcom to not have its utterly broken…
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Watching “Upload” do sexy is… uncomfortable. And not just because Allegra Edwards is loathsome and the episode frequently promises she’ll not be around then keeps bringing her back around. She and lead Robbie Amell are in therapy now. They still haven’t had sex because Edwards thinks the suit is gross. So at some point between…
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This episode opens with a Rupert “Tilford” (cough, cough, Murdoch)—played by Creed from “The Office”—paying to get his Upload mind put into a clone body. And he dies. More than any episode so far, this episode of “Upload” felt a little like they were trying for Robocop humor. It’s better than Robocop 3 at least.…
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The best part about “Upload” this episode is Cigarette Smoking Man William B. Davis as one of the “Choak” brothers, who has died and is now living his reward after ruining American society for decades. Because Davis is good. No qualifications, no asterisks, he’s just good. Everything else in “Upload” comes with a caveat. Even,…
The Stop Button 