(L-R) The Changeling (Apple TV+); Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+), The Crown (Netflix).
In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, the point of this post is to function as a review compilation, if you will, of some notable 2023 television series that I’ve either caught up with in the last few months or which I never found the time to write about when they were released way back when (i.e. my review notes backlog). For this post, I have specifically highlighted three shows from the past year that didn’t fully work for me, even though I liked a fair bit about them.
Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson in Alice & Jack.
Series Created by Victor Levin.
In the last weekend of January, the full season of Alice & Jack, a British series soon to be released later this February on Channel 4 in the UK and in March on PBS in the US, was released on Denmark’s DRTV (the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s online streaming service), which was a relatively big surprise to me. Created by Destination Wedding and 5 to 7 writer-director Victor Levin but directed by Hong Khaou and Juho Kuosmanen, the romance-drama series starring Domhnall Gleeson, Andrea Riseborough, Aisling Bea, Aimee Lou Wood, and Sunil Patel tells the story of two on-and-off lovers over the course of years as they struggle with relationships, parenthood, heartache, and poorly timed love. For six episodes, we follow them through their lives from 2007 all the way up to this current decade.
It’s no secret that since the launch of Disney+ required Marvel Studios to produce a litany of superhero series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been in a bit of an identity crisis, which is also partly due to how the Marvel films in the post-Avengers: Endgame era haven’t always felt like they were pushing the overarching story forward in exciting ways that also spoke to its characters and their growth. There are always exceptions — like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on the film side or Wandavisionon the streaming series side — but Marvel Studios has lately been feeling like it’s been stuck in mud, with the release of the star-studded but already forgotten Secret Invasion, which crash-landed, being a notable attempt that failed to really find an audience or audience excitement. Because of all of this it feels really good to be able to say that Loki: Season 2 is a return to form for Marvel — it’s a great show and one of the very best things that’s been put out by Marvel Studios since the release of the outstanding Avengers: Endgame.
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in AHSOKA — PHOTO: Disney+ / Lucasfilm.
Series created by Dave Filoni — Episodes directed by Dave Filoni, Steph Green, Peter Ramsey, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Rick Famuyiwa.
Ever since the now-Disney-owned Star Wars franchise ended its sequel film trilogy to mixed reception in 2019, the stories about a galaxy of heroes set a long time ago have had its live-action portion relegated to streaming television, even though its films once revolutionized and forever changed Hollywood. On the one hand, it makes sense to try to grow the franchise on the small screen and win over new audiences that may one day follow the lasersword-wielding heroes back to the big screen. However, what I find to currently be the case is that rather than telling bold new stories to gain a new audience on the small screen, what the head honchos at Lucasfilm are doing is, instead, servicing die-hard fans. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the shows are executed at a relatively high level, but, more often than not, what we have been getting are these almost vapid easter-egg-filled series that either don’t have enough meat on the bone to justify a full series (and thus ought to have been a film instead) or a series that doesn’t have enough episodes to have complete and rich story and character arcs.
(L-R) Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso (Apple TV+), Idris Elba in Hijack (Apple TV+), Rebecca Ferguson in Silo (Apple TV+), Tom Holland in The Crowded Room (Apple TV+), Ronald Gladden in Jury Duty (Amazon Studios), and Aaron Paul in Black Mirror (Netflix).
In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I take a look at six series or seasons that I recently finished, four of which are Apple TV+ releases. The outliers are Netflix’s latest season of Black Mirror and the Amazon surprise hit of the year titled Jury Duty, but the remaining four series do a good job of showcasing how Apple’s series library is growing rapidly. Are any of these worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.
(L-R) Elizabeth Olsen in HBO Max’s LOVE AND DEATH; Bryan Cranston in Showtime’s YOUR HONOR; Jennifer Garner in Apple TV+’s THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME; Toby Kebbell in Apple TV+’s SERVANT.
This year, some of my favorite recent shows — like Succession and Barry — have come to an end. Both of their final seasons were tremendous, and they are both arguably the best seasons of their series. Since those shows have ended, I thought it would be fitting to fill you in on my thoughts on four other series that ended this year. Two of these are limited series, and the remaining two are ongoing series. Are any of them worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.
Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, and Kieran Culkin in HBO’s Succession — PHOTO: HBO.
It has been more than a month since Jesse Armstrong’s Succession, a highly addictive Shakespearian family comedy-drama, came to an end. Though I watched it week-by-week as it aired and even though I could’ve reviewed it right after the season finale was released, it never felt right to me to talk about this season of the show without actually diving in and talking about how the details of the season, how the ending of the show, and how its showstopping third episode all made this season what it actually ended up being. That meant that I had to give it some room to breathe so as to not spoil the conclusion to what I think is honestly one of the best shows of its era. One might have feared that, as the show moved into its final season, perhaps they didn’t know how to end it, that they didn’t how to do something new with it, or that what had once been so compelling and energetic about it would dim as the curtain call had been announced. Not so. In fact, I think Armstrong’s series wisely went out on a high (and presumably on its own terms) with a final season that understood that it was time to keep the promise inherent in the show’s title. It was an inevitable move, but it was also a move that ended up being risky exactly because of how early in the season it happened. Succession‘s fourth and final season is an example of a showrunner and a writer’s room understanding fully the ins and outs of a show so as to deliver a tragic but inevitable conclusion that will stick with its viewers for quite some time.
Inspired by Netflix’s hit sports docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Tour de France: Unchained (subtitled ‘Au cœur du peloton,’ meaning ‘in the heart of the peloton’ in French) is a sports docuseries that aims to give a detailed look behind-the-scenes of the most prestigious cycling race in the world and, supposedly, the world’s biggest annual sporting event, the Tour de France, i.e. a three-week cycling race (for Americans, made famous by Lance Armstrong) where numerous teams race around France until they reach Paris on the very last day. This, the first of hopefully multiple seasons of the show, follows the 109th edition of the Tour de France, which began in Copenhagen, Denmark in July of 2022, and had a Dane as one of the most prominent and high-profile riders in the entire race. The series takes you inside sporting director’s cars and team busses of several, but notably not all, of the 22 teams in the race.
Bill Hader as Barry Berkman in HBO’s BARRY — PHOTO: Photograph by Merrick Morton/HBO.
Be aware that the following review of the final season of HBO’s BARRY discusses details from episode 5 which would be considered spoilers for those who have not yet seen the season.
A lot has happened since this dark comedy started back in 2018. Five years and four seasons later, now the show has reached its conclusion on its own terms. Back when it premiered, I described it as a blend of “James Manos Jr.’s Dexter and, well, Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which is probably the closest comparison — a film where a criminal, who is hiding from the police, ends up running into an acting audition that he somehow knocks out of the park.” The dark comedy about a hitman who tries to fulfill his potential, and sort of disguise himself, as a wannabe actor has come a long way, and, in season three, it genuinely felt like Bill Hader — the series’ star, co-creator, and frequent director — was experimenting with the show, but in a way that made the show more engaged in the kind of deep reflection on guilt, redemption, and responsibility that half-hour comedies only rarely have the time and consideration to dwell on. In my review of season three, I noted that the show had gotten more depressing than outright funny as it progressed and that its focus on acting and the entertainment industries had changed (though it was still very much there). In the final season, I think the blend of dark and depressing themes and laugh-out-loud comedy is handled much smoother, and the result is arguably the best season of the show.
Everyone gets a documentary nowadays. Whether it’s Apple TV+, Disney+, or Netflix, you can find several documentaries highlighting musicians. Naturally, some of these documentaries are more fascinating than others. Some music documentaries are put out to function as tell-all documentations of a tour or the construction of an album, others function as these musician origin stories that are obviously heavily constructed by the musician so that the right story is told from their point of view. The very best music documentaries get to find a way under the skin of their artist. On the surface, this Ed Sheeran docu-series may look exactly like one of the many unremarkable types of music documentaries. But once you dive right in and follow along, you are met with the kind of documentary that goes more than merely skin deep.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 