The Bear (Season 1)

Call it superficial, but I watched The Bear entirely because people told me it had a great episode-long one take. What can I say, I like my long takes, but was the rest of the show good too?

The Bear is a show about a fine dining chef named Carmen (usually shortened to Carmy) returning to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop after his brother who had ran it previously died. It's a great concept and Carmy trying to run what is essentially a diner like a high class restaurant is that perfect blend of drama and black comedy. But what I think really made The Bear work is the fact that it didn't go the easy way out of having Carmy be this whirlwind who storms in and destroys the sandwich shop, rather the show puts in the work to develop every character and articulate why they just weren't compatible. Carmy has his issues, for sure, but there's also Sydney's impatience, Marcus focusing on mastering his deserts over actually serving people, and Richie's devotion to the status quo. The Bear is a bit of a slow burn, building up to a phenomenal penultimate episode where all of the characters collide, though that does mean the first three-fourths of the show doesn't nearly reach those heights (and neither does the finale, but I'll get that).

The Bear is at its best when it is stressing you the hell out. When tensions are high in the kitchen and everyone is screaming at each other and the camera is shaking like mad is when I am most engrossed, mostly because of how on-point every single aspect of the production is during these scenes. The cast is already fantastic, especially Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, but their best moments are during these sequences of chaos. Similarly, the cinematography and editing is particular great in these scenes, further heightening that feeling of urgency. Unfortunately, it kind of leads to the issue where when things aren't tense in The Bear, things get a bit less interesting for me. Another thing I didn't love about The Bear was how unsubtle it got at times. Some of the needle drops felt way too on the nose (that one where Sydney and Tina bond, for example), and the growling bear sounds in the first episode made me laugh at how absurd it got. I also wasn't a huge fan of the finale, but once again, I'll get there.

Highlights:

Review: Ah, the infamous long take episode. I was always going to like Review for the novelty alone, but even outside of the technical stuff, Review was the absolute culmination of everything The Bear was trying to be, twenty minutes straight of pure kitchen mayhem made even better by the unbroken shot. It's the most stressful episode I've seen since the Severance finale, and had me laughing in nervousness by the end. Plot-wise, it's the climax of the series, all of the tensions that have been building up for the last six episodes finally come to a head as Richie gets stabbed, Sydney and Marcus leave, and Carmy completely snaps. Despite being the shortest episode by far, Review was also the most jam-packed with plot.

Braciole: Okay, time to talk about the finale. Braciole was an underwhelming ending to the season because it felt unrealistically neat and tidy. It was as if nothing that happened in Review actually stuck. Richie's stab wound? Barely mentioned. Marcus and Sydney quitting? They're back by the finale's end. The lunch rush having any sort of negative consequences on The Bear? Nope, and while it does end up closing, it's because Carmy closes it on his own terms. Braciole took the easy way out in pretty much every way. The only reason why it's still in the highlights section is because the first ten-or-so minutes were absolutely phenomenal, with the one-two punch of the dream sequence and Carmy's monologue being easily the most emotionally impactful moment of the show.

Overall, The Bear was a solid series, with a great premise, a fleshed-out cast of characters, a strong sense of chaos, fantastic performances and cinematography, and an all-time episode of TV in Review. However, none of the other episodes could really reach the heights of Review, and weak points like a lack of subtlety and very lackluster finale did bring down the show a bit.

3/5 Stars

Kino's Journey

I miss episodic television. Stuff like The X-Files, Psych and Star Trek may have had their bits of continuity, but instead of trying to tell one large story like most shows do nowadays, they tried to utilize the medium to tell a bunch of different stories and make every single episode stand on its own merits as a piece of art, even if the quality varied a bit. Now everything has to be serialized extended movies or else face the dreaded "filler" moniker. Kino's Journey only solidified my feelings on the matter, it's an anime where every single episode is standalone, with only the main protagonists and general theming connecting them all. And unlike most shows I've seen, it feels like every single episode had weight.

Kino's Journey is an anime about the titular Kino and their talking motorcycle Hermes traveling the world and visiting its different villages. There's no real overarching story or end goal here, as the title suggests, this anime is solely about the journey rather than the destination. Each episode is its own story, usually about one of Kino's encounters with a town or group of people on their journey. The show feels like a series of fables, with each town lending its own unique commentary that can apply to our world, and each episode having some sort of message. There's a great variety in locations, storylines, and messages, But what really makes these stories so fascinating is just how ambiguous they are. Kino is a fairly impartial character, rarely getting involved in the conflicts of the towns they visit unless their life depends on it. The show usually just shows you the town, lets you take it in, and leaves you to make your own verdict. Most episodes even end with Hermes asking Kino some question about what they just saw, and they never have a concrete answer. Every single episode of Kino's Journey is thought-provoking and leaves you to come up with your own conclusion, and which made it so that every single episode left an impact on me in their own ways.

Though that's not to say Kino isn't an interesting or fleshed-out character because that's absolutely not the case. Kino may be impartial, but they're also introspective, curious, and complex. They're inherently fun and compelling to watch, partially because of their charmingly dry banter with Hermes, and partially because the moments they do break character and get involved are all the more striking, leaving you wondering what had changed. And of course, if you know me, you know I can't go without mentioning Kino's gender, or lack thereof. While I'm aware some translations (usually the English ones because of course they do) use "she/her" pronouns, I think it's pretty obvious that Kino's some degree of gender-nonconforming considering the fact that they explicitly dislike being gendered to begin with. Either way, I think Kino's one of the best GNC characters in a TV show period. They're an interesting character on their own merits, though several storylines also deal with the topic of their identity and ultimately make them even more fleshed out. Their backstory episode was a great example of that, entirely being about Kino running away from their conformist home and changing their name (which I ended up finding even more impactful when you notice the parallels to a trans person coming out).

Kino's Journey is also fantastic on a presentation level. The animation is soft and visually-pleasing, and the few fight scenes the anime has are impressively fluid. The cinematography is also striking, there's a lot of memorable shots and a great usage of shadows. There are even plenty of moments that completely shift animation style like a flashback in Episode 3 that's pretty much all shadows, and it looks fantastic. Probably my favorite thing about Kino's Journey is the muted sepia filter that's put over it, along with jagged lines that give off the impression of watching it on a CRT TV. It really gives the anime a vintage timeless feel that I absolutely adored. The voice acting is also pretty good, especially for Kino and Hermes. I don't think the anime would work as well if those two weren't as blunt as they are. As far as music goes, there isn't much of it, though that once again means the moments where there is music are all the more impactful. On the other hand, though, I adored the OP and ED themes. They're calming, beautiful, and perfectly for reflecting on what you had just watched.

Highlights:

A Tale Of Feeding Off Others: This entire episode is essentially a complex moral dilemma, and like much of the series, it leaves you to come to your own conclusions. Kino tries to help some stranded people by hunting and killing rabbits for them, only to learn that they happen to be human traffickers in a pretty dark twist (though Kino's first fight scene was cool). The episode deals with the moral weight between humans and animals, as Kino wonders if she should have spared the rabbits and left the traffickers to die, especially since by the end of the episode, pretty much everyone is dead. 

Land Of Adults: As mentioned above, I thought Kino's backstory was fantastic and one of the best episodes of the series. It fleshed out Kino a lot as a character by really illustrating their struggle with identity, and despite it being a flashback, Kino's hometown fits in with all of the other weird locations in the anime, and its enforced adult surgery allows for a fascinating message about childhood and growing up. The "real" Kino is also a great character and his death hit really hard, and that scene where Kino drives away from their town on Hermes was incredibly well-executed.

Coliseum: Even Kino's Journey has a tournament arc. These two episodes were just a really fun time mostly because the anime has really great fight scenes, and a lot of the one-off characters like Shizu and the King were very memorable. But biggest of all was Kino actually interfering in a town by killing its king and creating a law so that the first-class citizens have to battle rather than the second-class ones. Once again, the anime leaves it ambiguous as to why Kino broke their code this one time, which makes it all the more interesting. Was it because they were forced to fight and were protecting themselves? Did they do it for every other traveler that would come to visit the town? Or did they do it because they genuinely cared for the town and its citizens?

A Peaceful Land: Damn, this episode was fascinating. A Peaceful Land is about Kino visiting two "peaceful countries" that achieved their peace by attacking a third country, justifying it with the claim that war is an inevitable fact of life and that humans have an insatiable craving for it. It's like The Purge but on a city-wide scale... and also actually good (I will never stop trashing that movie). A Peaceful Land was a chilling and very effective anti-war story, easily one of the bleakest episodes of Kino's Journey.

A Kind Land: Having Kino's Journey end on a story about Kino breaking their rule and getting attached to a town they visit seems pretty much perfect since their brief moments of bias throughout the anime was one of the most fascinating parts. I'm sure plenty of people have already talked about that gut-punching volcano twist, so I'm gonna talk about the small subtle elements that really made A Kind Land one of the best episodes of the anime. Stuff like the implication that Kino's birth (or dead) name was Sakura, the little bits of foreshadowing throughout the episode, it not being clear if Sakura knew about the volcano or not, and probably biggest of all, that micro twist about Kino's second gun. Where you may initially think A Kind Land took place after all of Kino's Journey, the reveal that Sakura gave them their second gun (as seen in Coliseum) implies that A Kind Land is actually a backstory, transforming the episode from a seeming inevitable to the event that was likely responsible for Kino's more morally gray impartiality in episodes such as Land Of Prophecies and A Peaceful Land.

Overall, Kino's Journey is one of those shows that just clicked with me. I immediately understood what it was going for and was perfectly content to go along with it. The episodic fable-like structure made for a show where every episode felt like a memorable story with its own ambiguous message, but the consistent tone and aesthetic as well as the fantastic main duo helped things remain cohesive.

5/5 Stars

Here's my ranking of its episodes:

1. Land Of Adults (S1.04)
2. A Kind Land (S1.11)
3. Coliseum: Part 2 (S1.07)
4. A Peaceful Land (S1.12)
5. A Tale Of Feeding Off Others (S1.02)
6. Coliseum: Part 1 (S1.06)
7. Land Of Wizards (S1.08)
8. Land Of Mechanical Dolls (S1.10)
9. Land Of Books (S1.09)
10. Land Of Prophecies (S1.03)
11. Land Of Visible Pain (S1.01)
12. Three Men Along The Rails (S1.05)
13. Her Journey (S1.11)

Episode Rankings: The Owl House

The Owl House may have been canceled way before it should've (and suffers from some pretty jerky pacing as a result), but it's still definitely worth watching. The characters are lovable and fleshed-out, the main storyline is well thought-out and well-told, the humor is charming and caught me off guard a surprising amount of times, and the show has one of the best romantic subplots in any TV show ever. Here's my ranking of its episodes:

1. Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door (S2.08)
2. King's Tide (S2.21)
3. Enchanting Grom Fight (S1.16)
4. Hollow Mind (S2.16)
5. Agony Of A Witch (S1.18)
6. Yesterday's Lie (S2.10)
7. Understanding Willow (S1.15)
8. Reaching Out (S2.14)
9. Young Blood, Old Souls (S1.19)
10. Clouds On The Horizon (S2.20)
11. Eclipse Lake (S2.09)
12. Lost In Language (S1.07)
13. Labyrinth Runners (S2.18)
14. Covention (S1.05)
15. Hunting Palismen (S2.06)
16. Adventure In The Elements (S1.12)
17. The Intruder (S1.04)
18. Edge Of The World (S2.17)
19. The First Day (S1.13)
20. Wing It Like Witches (S1.17)
21. Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances (S2.04)
22. Elsewhere And Elsewhen (S2.12)
23. Escaping Explusion (S2.02)
24. Something Ventured, Something Framed (S1.09)
25. Follies At The Coven Day Parade (S2.11)
26. Eda's Requiem (S2.07)
27. Any Sport In A Storm (S2.13)
28. O Titan, Where Art Thou (S2.19)
29. Escape Of The Palisman (S1.10)
30. Echoes Of The Past (S2.03)
31. A Lying Witch And A Warden (S1.01)
32. Once Upon A Swap (S1.08)
33. Really Small Problems (S1.14)
34. Separate Tides (S2.01)
35. Hooty's Moving Hassle (S1.06)
36. Through The Looking Glass Ruins (S2.05)
37. I Was A Teenage Abomination (S1.03)
38. Sense And Insensitivity (S1.11)
39. Them's The Breaks, Kid (S2.15)
40. Witches Before Wizards (S1.02)

The Owl House (Season 2)

While Season 1 of The Owl House, it was mostly focused on ground-laying in retrospect. With all of the characters properly introduced, Season 2 ups the ante in a big way, making for a season that is better than the first in pretty much every way... except for one.

Season 2 focuses a lot more on the overarching plot compared to the first. Emperor Belos, the show's main antagonist, is trying to start a Day Of Unity that could destroy the Boiling Isles, so the main cast has to try and stop it, all the while learning the truth about Belos's origins. While I found that the Day Of Unity was a bit vague for much of the season, all of the big flashbacks and loredumps are well-executed, Belos's iron grip on the Boiling Isles makes for an imposing antagonist, and the final stretch of episodes is especially intense. But what I especially liked about Season 2 was the fact that it made sure to give every single major character a story arc, all of which are compelling and flesh them out. Luz is trying to get home while also dealing with if she wants to go home, King is trying to find his father and figure out his origins, Eda is grappling with her curse and past, Amity is trying to break out of her parents' control and start a relationship with Luz, and so on and so forth. While I don't find the Belos stuff all that amazing, it's the abundance of character drama that really spices up the show.

Season 2 also introduces a whole bunch of new characters, and they're all fantastic. The highlight is obviously Hunter, Belos's adorably dorky Golden Guard who gets an incredibly enjoyable redemption arc even by redemption arc standards. But there's also Raine, a great nonbinary character with a strong dynamic with Eda, and Vee, Luz's surprisingly adorable doppleganger who I really wanted to see more of. However, there's one weak part of The Owl House that hasn't really been fixed, and that's the pacing. Just like in Season 1, with such a large cast, characters get written out for several episodes at a time, but it's even worse this time since the writers have a bit of a time limit. Disney cancelled the show (because of course they did), so it really felt like Terrace and the crew were trying to cover all of the ground. I think they did the best they could, but when every single episode has to some some massive plot development (especially in the final third), it just gets way too overwhelming.

Highlights:

Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door: Do I... like Hooty? I thought he was the most annoying thing in Season 1 but he really won me over in this episode. Not only did he make this probably the show's funniest outing so far ("DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER"), but he somehow managed to single-handedly progress all three of the major character arcs. King has superpowers, Eda's backstory is revealed, Eda makes peace with her Owl Beast, and probably best of all, LUMITY IS CANON. What a fantastic episode.

Yesterday's Lie: This episode was a long-time coming and it absolutely lived up to the build-up. The whole final scene where Luz briefly manages to reunite with her mom before they get torn apart again was a fantastic payoff. But the real surprise was Vee, who ended up being utterly adorable and lovable.

Reaching Out: This was probably the most emotional episode of the series for me, the whole sequence where Luz tells Amity about her dad's death was so well-executed. The cherry blossom visuals, the way it takes a realistic look at Luz being away from home, the way it tackles grief, it's a really impactful scene. It was also nice to see Amity managed to slightly bond with her own father.

Hollow Mind: I think we need a name for episodes like Hollow Mind and The Massacre At Hawkins Lab, relentless loredumps that completely flood you with world-shattering new information that dramatically changes the cast. While Hunter being a Grimwalker and Belos being Phillip was pretty strongly hinted at in previous episodes, what really hit about Hollow Mind was the fallout of that reveal. Luz and Hunter are both visibly shaken up by the ending (with the latter straight-up running off), and Belos seems incredibly pissed at them for going into his mind. Also, the Collector is literally just Dimentio from Super Paper Mario and that's awesome.

Clouds On The Horizon: Befitting the penultimate episode of a very packed season, Clouds On The Horizon has a lot going on. Alador turns against his wife and joins the heroes, Odelia is actively collaborating with Belos, Eda gets a sigil, and Luz gets captured. But none of that matters much since LUZ AND AMITY KISSED AAAAAAAA.

King's Tide: Here's another trope we need a name for: The penultimate finale of a cartoon being the biggest downer ending in the series. Amphibia had True Colors, Avatar had Crossroads Of Destiny, Korra had Venom Of The Red Lotus, She-Ra had Destiny, and now, The Owl House has King's Tide. This episode was particularly dark, between Phillip's monster form, the Draining Spell, and literally everything about the Collector. It leaves a lot hanging too, with Luz and her friends on Earth in a cliffhanger very similar to the aforementioned True Colors, Raine fainting, Eda losing her arm, Alador's fate being unknown, and the Collector doing something to the Boiling Isles.

Overall, while it still suffers from pacing issues, Season 2 of The Owl House is a fairly great improvement on the first. The character work is stronger, the episode quality is higher, the plot is more ambitious, and the final stretch is fantastic.

4/5 Stars

The Rehearsal (Season 1)

I adored Nathan For You. I thought it was absolutely genius, so when I learned that Nathan Fielder was working on another comedy, I couldn't be more excited. This was probably my most hyped show of the year. But when the show started airing and people were talking about how screwed up it was, I immediately became worried about what I had gotten myself into. I decided to structure this review like one of the reaction posts I do for a Marvel or Star Wars show, because I know I'm going to have a lot to say about every single episode. 

Orange Juice, No Pulp: The interesting thing about The Rehearsal's premiere is that it feels like a Nathan For You episode. It could've passed as one. It's a standalone story about Nathan trying to help someone out ala The Hero or Finding Frances, and the rehearsal gimmick really could've just been a weird one-off idea that Nathan had and would inexplicably work. The fact that it's the only 45-minute episode makes it feel all the more disjointed from the rest of the season. The fact that Orange Juice No Pulp felt so much like a NFY episode made it feel oddly comforting. It's like the show never left, although I found the premiere to be a lot less funny than most NFY episodes. It feels more like a drama, though an oddly wholesome one. While there are moments where you wonder if Nathan is crossing the line (especially that chilling ending, holy shit), the fact is that his plan worked and things ended up going really well for Kor, the episode's subject. 

Scion: Scion is the first episode of The Rehearsal that feels genuinely different from Nathan For You. It feels like it could've and should've been the premiere of the show. Nathan's next subject is Angela, who he wants to help rehearse raising a kid, but nothing's really resolved by the end. For the first time in any Nathan show, The Rehearsal gets fully serialized. I get why Orange Juice, No Pulp exists though, and why it feels so disjointed from the rest of the series. It implies that Nathan (the character) tried to make a NFY-esque show but it ultimately derailed into something entirely different as he got attached to Angela's rehearsal. Maybe that's what happened behind the scenes too, like Nathan (the real person) and the crew were still figuring out what they wanted the show to be. I found Scion to be a slightly funnier episode than the premiere, since Angela and Robbin are both incredibly weird, though I also found it a bit more uncomfortable. Nothing topped that Pure Imagination scene from last episode, but having seen Nathan For You, the lack of resolution left me very unnerved.

Gold Digger: The Rehearsal continues to unnerve. I was surprised that Nathan actually started trying to multi-task, simultaneously tackling Angela's rehearsal and the rehearsal of an entirely new person, Patrick. It feels weird saying this about an actual person but I didn't really like Patrick, it was pretty hard to sympathize with him once the casual anti-semitism started. But even then, his breakdown and subsequent disappearance was still really hard to watch, especially since, once again, he's a real guy. I ended Gold Digger genuinely hoping that he's okay. Gold Digger also has yet another new storytelling technique for a Nathan Fielder show, a subplot. As mentioned above, Nathan is still trying to help out Angela, and once again the way he inserts himself into the rehearsal feels increasingly uncomfortable. Angela's ridiculous levels of Christianity also got put on the forefront and it's just so surreal seeing someone genuinely talk about how "Halloween is Satanic" and "Google is the devil". It's especially jarring considering how Angela has such a soft-spoken tone of voice. She could be having a perfectly casual conversation with Nathan only to drop some bizarre line that leaves me laughing with confusion.

The Fielder Method: This might be the most demented episode of television I've ever watched. For starters, there's just how ridiculously convoluted Nathan's plan ended up being here. It started as Nathan teaching a class of potential rehearsal actors and ended with him roleplaying one of his own students because they felt his tactics were unethical. While the show hinted at this topic for the first three episodes, it was interesting to see someone explicitly call Nathan's tactics unethical to his face only for him (the character) to double-down on them while simultaneously claiming that he "understands now". Once again, it feels like Nathan is starting to take over the show more and more, as if it's more about him than the "subjects". The Fielder Method pretty much entirely deals with Nathan (the character) struggling to show emotion and empathy, and as disjointed as it initially seems, Nathan acting out his "son" having a drug problem works as a coda to that. Putting that aside though, that whole "fake drug problem" bit just made me uncomfortable, 

Apocalypto: This was probably my favorite episode of the show. At its simplest, Apocalypto is about the end of Angela's rehearsal. The whole episode deals with tensions between the two, particularly in regards to Angela's Christianity, but it was surprising to see how Nathan's fake confrontation with Angela and his real one. The actress for Fake Angela was fantastic and their fight obviously seemed to hit Nathan pretty hard, but the real thing ended up being really chill and Angela ended up leaving on a pretty amicable note. Nathan continuing the rehearsal though left me very scared, though. I found the religious stuff especially interesting. For starters, it made for the funniest episode of the show, between Nathan secretly teaching "Adam" Judaism and the whole Dr Fart debacle. But even more, I don't think I've ever related this much with Nathan. I'm culturally Jewish but not religious in the slightest, so a lot of his sentiments like "synagogue is boring" and "I only celebrate the holidays" are stuff that I just get on a personal level. I felt how uncomfortable he felt throughout the episode too, the show does an amazing job at illustrating how relentless casual antisemitism can be for people who are aware of it. There's a scene in the finale that was especially cruel about this.

But then there's Miriam and that final punchline, where someone who seems to be the voice of reason about Angela's antisemitism ends up being a hardcore zionist. I've seen so many responses to this scene calling it a betrayal from Miriam, with some even claiming Angela isn't that bad in retrospect (I can't even begin to express the problems with that). I don't agree with this reading at all. I know people like Miriam, I had her pegged as someone who would be totally pro-Israel right from the start. It's not a betrayal, and it's not a big political statement about the conflict either, it's a scene that hammers home the episode's main theme about religious nationalism. The scene is meant to strike a parallel between Miriam and Angela, not just in "my religion is superior" stuff but in the ridiculous conspiracy theories about Intel and, most of all, Miriam pushing her views onto an increasingly uncomfortable Nathan. Once again, I couldn't relate more to Nathan in this scene. The Israel/Palestine conflict (as of 2022) is such a toxic hot-button issue, more than anything else, that I dread it being brought up. I genuinely spent an entire day panicking about how I worded this paragraph, it's that tense. And every time I talk to someone about it, they urge me to echo their sentiments, but my views on it are so nuanced that I would disappoint all of them. Nathan stammering and panicking the moment it got brought up was something I found very relatable. Maybe this is just my reading, but the whole scene and episode felt like a critique of religious nationalism and how uniquely toxic it can be.

Pretend Daddy: I have never wanted to know what went on behind the scenes of a show more than in The Rehearsal. I need to know if the people who participated in the show are okay (especially the kids), and how much of it was truly scripted. I'm especially unsure because of how perfectly Pretend Daddy pays off everything set up in Scion. The derailing of the show, Nathan getting attached to the project, the themes on the usage of child actors, it all leads to some pretty awful consequences here, and it makes for a truly uncomfortable episode. Basically, one of the child actors (named Remy) thinks Nathan is his actual dad, so he spends the rest of the episode trying to rehearse what he could've done to handle it only to conclude that the show was a mistake. His bizarre rehearsals in this episode did add a bit of levity, but what really pained me in Pretend Daddy was the fact that we don't really know how things turned out with Remy. Like Nathan could've possibly traumatized a kid, who leaves the show in the first five minutes of the episode. I wanted to care more about Nathan's plight and the resolution of his whole arc, but I spent the whole episode wondering "Why is Nathan goofing around right now? Is Remy going to be okay?". Pretend Daddy resolves a lot and feels like the perfect ending, but it left me feeling unsatisfied.

Most people seem to finish The Rehearsal thinking Nathan Fielder is either an absolute genius or an utter psychopath. Personally, I'm kinda leaning towards both. The fact that The Rehearsal, despite being unscripted and relatively impromptu, feels so thematically rich and cohesive is incredibly impressive. It feels a bit pretentious to just list out a bunch of themes The Rehearsal tackles, but I've seen readings of the show that claim it deals with parenthood, ethics, child acting, religion, overanalyzing social interactions, and empathy, and they all make total sense. For me, though, The Rehearsal is an utter mindfuck of a show that grapples with the ethics of Nathan's work and takes the reliably light-hearted antics of Nathan For You and distorts it, playing them in a far more serious light. It's able to fully and wholeheartedly deconstruct itself, literally an entire show about why its own premise a bad idea. And as someone who despises reality TV and thinks it's almost all unethical trash, I like that there's a show willing to echo that exact same sentiment.

However, I also can't say the show didn't make me immensely uncomfortable, between the way child actors were used, to the rehearsals that ended up falling apart. I think it's just that I'm not sure what's real and what isn't that truly concerned me. I'd like to hope that the worst of it was planned out and acted and that The Rehearsal never really harmed anyone, besides Nathan is fully aware of the ethical dilemma of his show's premise since he tackles it pretty much every episode. The show never really punches down either, Nathan seems to be poking more fun at himself than anyone else. But there's also the looming thought that the show did have real consequences that weren't just fabricated by the show, that Nathan could've truly traumatized a child, that Patrick is still MIA, that Angela saw her fake kid have a drug overdose. It's because of this that I'm not entirely sure how to rate The Rehearsal. I've never felt this conflicted about a show since FLCL, which makes sense since that was also a very one-of-a-kind series. It's a brilliant and thought-provoking piece of art with a ridiculous amount of possible readings, that also made me incredibly uncomfortable concerning how it was made. All I know is, I don't think I'll ever be the same after having watched this.

No rating

The Good Place (Season 1)

Can a season finale be so good that it makes the entire season better in hindsight? If the first season of The Good Place is any indication then absolutely.

The Good Place is a sitcom about Eleanor dying and going to heaven (which in this show is called The Good Place), which leaves her shocked since she was a pretty awful person during her lifetime. Adamant that she doesn't belong in The Good Place and that something's not right, Eleanor spends the season adjusting to her new unlife, getting to know the others in The Good Place, and unraveling the mystery of what she's doing there. As you can tell from the summary, The Good Place is incredibly high concept for a sitcom, seeing as it takes place in heaven. The show uses special effects fairly frequently and isn't afraid to use its uniquely fantastical sandbox to creative some truly weird and trippy gags. But even with all the fancy set-dressing, The Good Place is as funny as any sitcom written by the guy responsible for The Office, Parks And Rec, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. If anything, the setting allows for even more comedic creativity. There are a lot of very smart, witty, and quotable lines in pretty much every episode that just wouldn't have been possible outside of that heaven setting. The cast is also absolutely fantastic and has incredibly strong chemistry with each other, with Ted Danson as Michael and Jameela Jamil as Tahani being the most noticeable highlights for me.

The Good Place does two things that really sets it apart from other sitcoms though. First, there's the fact that the show actually deals with philosophical themes and morality. What would earn someone the right to go to a theoretical heaven? Are selfless acts really selfless if they have a motivation behind them? Is it possible for someone to reform and redeem themselves? The Good Place tackles some really complicated and heavy questions, but manages to do so in an impressively light and easy-to-digest manner. The Good Place is incredibly close to being an educational show about philosophy, which makes it all the more admirable that it manages to balancing being entertaining and discussing these topics without watering them down. The other thing that makes The Good Place, especially this season, stand out is the utter lack of a status quo. The Good Place became known for its ridiculously fast plot progression, plot twists that repeatedly pull the tablecloth out from under you, and unwillingness to stay still. Nearly every episode has some big twist or reveal, all culminating in the phenomenal finale where we learn The Good Place was actually The Bad Place (hell) all along. It's a perfect twist, expertly foreshadowed, incredibly unpredictable, and it makes you want to rewatch the season to see how brilliantly everything has been set-up. The only problem is that Season 1 of The Good Place hinges on that twist, so the season can actually be a bit slow-moving on first viewing, especially before the midseason finale where things really start to kick into gear. Unfortunately, even with the meticulously twist planning, not even The Good Place could really escape sitcom growing pains.

Highlights:

Most Improved Player: The Good Place's midseason finale was a big turning point for the series in terms of quality and stakes, as Eleanor publicly announces that she doesn't belong in The Good Place. Most Improved Player does a great job at following up with that cliffhanger by giving a bunch of juicy The Bad Place lore with the introduction of Trevor and "real Eleanor". Trevor also happens to be played by Adam Scott and his devilish (literally) performance adds a lot of humor to the episode.

Chidi's Choice: In between a lengthy streak of big plot twists, Chidi's Choice feels like a bit of a breather, and it's all the better for it. Chidi's Choice is pure comedy from start to finish, from Jason's bizarre wedding with Janet, to the love triangle shenanigans that get blown completely out of proportion, to Chidi's indecisiveness that's at least funny for most of the episode.

Mindy St Claire: Coming right before the season finale, Mindy St Claire lays the final bit of groundwork for the big twist, while also revealing a lot more lore as we learn about the titular character and her "Medium Place". The episode also introduces one of my favorite running gags in the series, Jason's molotov cocktail.

Michael's Gambit: I pretty much said everything I needed to say about the big twist in Michael's Gambit earlier on in the review, it's a perfect twist. It fits perfectly into the information you've been given while also recontextualizing everything to the point where you want to rewatch the whole season. The delivery is perfect, from Eleanor's big "ah-ha" moment to Michael's sudden burst into demonic laughter (amazing performance from Ted Danson there, by the way). And even if you did see the twist coming or were spoiled, there's still a pretty massive cliffhanger that can easily leave you just as blindsided. Michael's Gambit is a phenomenal piece of television and one of my favorite episodes of all time.

Overall, while it probably fares better on a second or third viewing, this is a strong first season for The Good Place. The cast is memorable and has great chemistry, the writing expertly blends great humor with thought-provoking philosophical discussions, and the final twist completely recontextualizes the season in the best way possible.

4/5 Stars

Reacher (Season 1)

There's something really old-school about Reacher. It doesn't try to tell a super complex or grand narrative, it's just a solid action thriller with a simple plot, likable characters, and fun action scenes. It's not anything ground-breaking, but it made for a very light and fun watch.

Season 1 of Reacher starts with the titular character, Jack Reacher, arriving in a town called Margrove only to be falsely arrested for a murder that happened just as he arrived. While he's able to quickly clear his name, when the murderer's next victim ends up being his brother, he (reluctantly) teams up with two police officers to find the murderer, discovering a much larger conspiracy in the process. It's not a super complicated plot by any means, and the answer to the underlying mystery is actually incredibly predictable, but what keeps Reacher fun is the surprisingly light and breezy tone. Like I was expecting an intense and fairly serious crime drama but Reacher turned out to be a pretty silly show that doesn't take itself too seriously, more focused on being pure dumb fun over being actually logical (I can take a lot but do you really expect me to believe wandering nomad Reacher came into town the day his brother happened to die?). It also helps that the main cast has a really charming dynamic, their banter keeps the show feeling light and fun, especially between Reacher and Finlay. 

Now I need to touch on the elephant in the room: Reacher himself. This isn't the first time he's been adapted for film, as Tom Cruise played him in two movies a few years ago. I think most people can agree Cruise doesn't necessarily fit the character, being way too small by comparison, but I still thought his natural charisma and action star chops made for a good lead even if he wasn't necessarily a good Reacher. In the show, Alan Ritchson plays Reacher, and I kind of have the opposite opinion in this case. Ritchson nails the physique perfectly, and the show points out how tall and strong he is a lot, it's actually kinda funny. However, he feels a bit wooden in the role and doesn't work as a leading man like Cruise did. The show does do a pretty good job at writing around him, portraying Reacher as blunt and antisocial, but there's only so much the writers can do. Still, Ritchson nails the physical side of things, meaning he absolutely kills it during the great action scenes. It's rare to get good fight scenes in a TV show, but the ones in Reacher are brutal, shot well, and often times utilize the full extent of the environments in which they take place. The action scenes are easily some of the highlights of the show, at least outside of the slightly lackluster ones in the last two episodes.

Highlights:

Papier: Reacher and Finlay's dynamic was one of my favorite parts of Reacher's first season so an entire episode focused on them going on a stakeout together made for a really fun time. Papier also had one of the show's best action scenes in a chase that culminates in, to quote Reacher himself, a game of Hangman.

Pie: While the action is a bit hit-or-miss, I still found Pie to be a pretty satisfying finale on a plot level. KJ being the murderer may not be the most surprising twist out there, but it does make a lot of sense which is way more important. Reacher killing pretty much everyone involved in the conspiracy is a pretty hilariously gratuitous way to end off the season, and Roscoe and Finlay both get pretty great sendoffs.

Overall, Season 1 of Reacher is a pretty fun time. While it's not anything amazing, the banter between the characters, strong action, and breezy tone made for a solidly entertaining few hours.

3/5 Stars