Tag: Season Review

REVIEW: Big Little Lies – Season Two (2019)

Release Poster – HBO

The following is a review of the second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies.

The second season of Big Little Lies — now directed by Andrea Arnold, but more on that later — follows the so-called Monterey Five — Madeline (played by Reese Witherspoon), Celeste (played by Nicole Kidman), Jane (played by Shailene Woodley), Renata (played by Laura Dern), and Bonnie (played by Zoe Kravitz) — during the aftermath of Perry Wright’s death. Bonnie is struggling as she feels incredibly guilty about what she did. So guilty, in fact, that she considers turning herself in to the local police. Just as Celeste is struggling as a single mother, Perry’s mother, Mary Louise (played by Meryl Streep), starts to question not just her son’s death but her daughter-in-law’s claim that she is a victim. Meanwhile, Madeline’s marriage is coming apart and Renata’s financial security is at risk of collapsing. Continue reading “REVIEW: Big Little Lies – Season Two (2019)” →

REVIEW: Stranger Things: Season Three (2019)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a review of the third season of Netflix’s Stranger Things — Created by the Duffer Brothers.

Today, Stranger Things is, alongside The Crown, probably the original show that has become the face of Netflix. The first season of the series was a surprise hit that seemed to have significantly overperformed. It was a nostalgic 80s science-fiction drama with children in the leading roles that made people think of E. T., The Goonies, and many other films like those. It was a 2016 breakout hit that gave career boosts to David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, and Finn Wolfhard. The much anticipated second season, which was released the following year, wasn’t met with as much acclaim, but still succeeded in developing characters’ relationships satisfyingly while still bringing pleasant references to the beloved 1980s-era cinema, with Aliens now being the primary inspiration. Continue reading “REVIEW: Stranger Things: Season Three (2019)” →

SERIES REVIEW: Fleabag (2016; 2019)

Fleabag was created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

This is a complete series review of the BBC Three and Amazon Studios black comedy series Fleabag, which aired its first season in 2016 and its second and final season in 2019. Both seasons consisted of six episodes with each episode having a runtime of approximately thirty minutes. A ‘series review’ is a new review concept on the blog that is inspired by my franchise reviews, which feature short reviews of every film in a franchise within a single article. Below you’ll find my reviews of each season as well as a full season grade for seasons one and two.
Continue reading “SERIES REVIEW: Fleabag (2016; 2019)” →

REVIEW: Game of Thrones – Season Eight (2019)

The following is a season review of the final season of HBO’s Game Of Thrones.

The final season of Game of Thrones has come to an end. White Walkers, Dragons, and foreign sellswords have shown their strength, and conquerors, leaders, and usurpers have had their say. During the run of the final season of the show, I’ve written thorough episode reviews that recap and critique all six episodes of the eighth and final season including the series finale. In this season review, I’ll link to those reviews, and provide general thoughts on the season as a whole. For spoilers, detailed analyses and discussions, do check out my spoiler-filled episode reviews. Continue reading “REVIEW: Game of Thrones – Season Eight (2019)” →

REVIEW: Veep – Season Seven (2019)

Release Poster – HBO

The following is a review of the seventh and final season of HBO’s Veep.

For seven seasons, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been the face of the state of American political satire. She has dominated awards ceremonies, cussed out her supporting cast more times than Jesse Pinkman said “Bitch!” on Breaking Bad, and given outstanding performances again and again. But now her time as Selina Meyer is over. She has left an already long-standing satirical legacy that is much more significant than her character’s political legacy if the final shot of Veep is to be believed.

Though Veep changed showrunner over the course of its run, it was almost always a step ahead of the political state of America, even as America seemed insistent on nominating someone for president who would be just as vicious and disinterested as Selina Meyer. As showrunner David Mandel once wrote in a column for The Hollywood Reporter: “there’s nobody more Trumpy than Selina. […] Trump, in a weird way, is sort of doing us. We’re not doing him.” Continue reading “REVIEW: Veep – Season Seven (2019)” →

REVIEW: Maniac (2018 – Mini-Series)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a full review of Netflix’s Maniac — Developed by Cary Joji Fukunaga & Patrick Somerville.

It is a good time to be Cary Joji Fukunaga, the director of Sin Nombre and Beasts of No Nation, who won an Emmy for directing the first season of HBO’s True Detective. Although Fukunaga’s career has seen him deal with behind-the-scenes production issues, with his exit from 2017’s IT being the primary example, he may have just had the best week of his career. Continue reading “REVIEW: Maniac (2018 – Mini-Series)” →

REVIEW: BoJack Horseman – Season Five (2018)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a review of the fifth season of BoJack Horseman — Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Daredevil, GLOW, The Crown, or Stranger Things? — Over the years there have been many Netflix favorites for the streaming audience, but, in my opinion, no Netflix show has managed to be consistently great for as long as BoJack Horseman has. Though I might say The Crown is currently the best live-action Netflix show, I feel confident in saying that BoJack Horseman is the greatest show on the streaming service — and the fifth season is just as excellent as the one that came before it. Continue reading “REVIEW: BoJack Horseman – Season Five (2018)” →

REVIEW: Sharp Objects (2018 – Mini-Series)

Series Poster – HBO

The following is a review of HBO’s Sharp Objects — A Mini-Series Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.

I had been looking forward to this show for quite some time when I first sat down to watch the first episode of Sharp Objects, which is titled Vanish. The entirety of HBO’s latest well-cast mini-series was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée who, just last year, was the talk of the town with his first HBO series Big Little Lies — one of my favorite shows from 2017. It only made me more interested in the show when I learned that Sharp Objects, his new mini-series, was based on a novel by Gillian Flynn, who also wrote Gone Girl. Continue reading “REVIEW: Sharp Objects (2018 – Mini-Series)” →

REVIEW: Disenchantment – Season One (2018)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following review is of the ten episodes released on August 17, 2018.

Say what you will about the quality of Netflix films, but one thing you absolutely cannot deny is the high quality of Netflix’s American adult animated series. Although I didn’t care for F Is For Family, last year’s Big Mouth starring Nick Kroll and John Mulaney was a surprisingly strong animated series. But the cream of the crop in adult animation on Netflix is Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s BoJack Horseman, which I think is one of the best things Netflix has ever greenlit.   Continue reading “REVIEW: Disenchantment – Season One (2018)” →

REVIEW: First Team: Juventus – Part Two (2018)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a review of the last three episodes of the first season of First Team: Juventus – A Netflix Documentary Series.

You may not have noticed, but Netflix doesn’t always release every episode of a season at once. With some shows and docu-series, they’ve started to release half of the content at one point, only to release the conclusion at a later point (often six months later). Back in February, I reviewed the first part of First Team: Juventus, which was basically three episodes on the first half of the 2017/2018 football season. Now, Netflix has released the second half of the season, and while it is more compelling, it, unfortunately, suffers from some of the same issues that the first part did. Continue reading “REVIEW: First Team: Juventus – Part Two (2018)” →