Of all of the Netflix Original Series so far, Stranger Things feels like the most attuned to the binge-watching model. Despite their serialized natures, series like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards are still relatively episodic, giving each hour some semblance of its own story. Stranger Things, though, feels like an 8 hour movie. The episodes give the viewer decent stopping points, but there’s never any suggestion that the show is meant to be consumed one episode at a time. The show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, mean to hook you at the start and keep you attached until the very end.

They’re quite successful, too. It’s true that Stranger Things borrows from a whole host of 80s movies, especially those written and directed by Stephen King and Steven Spielberg: ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, It, The Goonies, The Shining, and more. The influence of other filmmakers can be felt as well; the teenage storyline feels like a direct engagement with the work of John Hughes, and the creature designs are inspired by the work of John Carpenter (this connection is even directly acknowledged when a couple characters are watching The Thing on TV). But just making a series of nostalgic references doesn’t make for good TV. The most impressive aspect of Stranger Things is how engaging its individual storylines are and how perfectly it weaves them together in its later chapters.

Continue reading Stranger Things Season 1 Review →

Season 4 of Orange is the New Black is the best of the series. It fights back against criticism of the third season (which I actually liked) with a darker tone, a weightier central arc, and a renewed focus on the series’ central characters. And yet, simply calling this year’s run of episodes the best of an already-great show still feels like damning it with faint praise. This season is the most socially relevant piece of television released this year, and probably the strongest overall as well.

Without going too far into specifics (although I will later in a spoiler-section), this season is far more concerned with race and power dynamics than previous seasons. The women’s prison setting of Orange is the New Black provides the perfect scenario to delve into such topics, which have been touched on in the past but never to the degree that they are here. The show’s complex characters and continued appeal to empathy help to reveal how complicated such matters often are. While a few characters are cast as outright villains, the ones who cause the most damage this year are ostensibly decent people, thrust into difficult positions that they are in no way ready for, or simply doing what they believe is right.

Continue reading Orange is the New Black Season 4 Review →

(This article contains spoilers for season 6 of Game of Thrones)

For the first time in the history of the series, the writers of Game of Thrones really got to forge their own path this year. With only a few lingering plotlines held over from the books, we moved into uncharted territory, without the guidance and proven ability of original author George RR Martin. From the writers’ standpoint, this had to have been as intimidating as it was exciting; all of the season’s successes are attributable to them, but any of its failings are too. Had this year been weak it would have been an argument against them taking the reigns for themselves.

Fortunately, that was not the case. Season 6 of Game of Thrones has been one of the most well-received of the series, with stunning set-pieces, major reveals, huge power-shifts, and characterization and dialogue that felt consistent with what came before. It wasn’t a perfect year, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss led with their strengths, making a show that was more propulsive than in years past.

Continue reading Game of Thrones Season 6 Review →

(In case you missed it, my fiancee Reba and covered the entirety of You’re the Worst’s first season in our Podcast, Firsties! You can find that on the website, on Sound Cloud, on iTunes and other podcast apps under “Medium Mashup Podcasts,” and coming soon on Google Play Music’s podcast channel!)

One of the few complaints I had about You’re the Worst’s hilarious and assured debut season was its tendency to stall regarding Jimmy and Gretchen’s relationship. By its midpoint, we had already seen several episodes that hammered home the same point: Jimmy and Gretchen made sense in a relationship and improved each other’s lives, but were consciously afraid of such things. Both characters had reasons to keep their distance, with Jimmy’s denial of love as a concept and Gretchen’s fear of commitment and maturity, but there was only so much there to sustain a full season of television.

Fortunately, the start of the show’s second season largely does away with this particular conflict. Jimmy and Gretchen find themselves on solid ground from the start, and much of the conflict shifts to Lindsay’s divorce and Edgar’s interest in her. This period of the season does an excellent job of expanding on both characters, defining Edgar in ways completely independent from his PTSD, and showing just how far Lindsay can fall when desperate. Just like its first season, this section of season two succeeds by balancing very funny (and often crude) jokes with an actual care and interest in its characters.

Continue reading You’re the Worst Season 2 Review →

Despite their tonal differences, the first season of Daredevil had a lot in common with the original Iron Man movie. Both were entertaining and well-received, made the public-at-large care about long-ignored central characters, and opened the door for a whole cinematic or televised universe. I guess, then, that it’s not too surprising to see season 2 of Daredevil reflect so many of the flaws seen in Iron Man 2. Each sequel splinters its narrative in order to service the storylines of future movies/TV series’, and neither holds together particularly well as its own thing.

The most problematic storyline in Daredevil’s second season is the rise of The Hand. No matter how big we’re told the stakes are, it’s simply hard to care about a clan of ninjas looking for a ‘weapon” called black sky that will give them unlimited power (or perhaps REAL Ultimate Power) The writers try to get our attention by tying in minor season 1 characters Stick and Nobu, but the whole thing just feels divorced from the world set up in the show’s first year. I’m sure that The Hand will play a big role in the Defenders series that will eventually premiere on Netflix, but they’re just not interesting here, and devoting the majority of this season to glorified foreshadowing was not the right call.

Continue reading Daredevil Season 2 Review →