Harold Meachum was not a great villain, but he had some good lines and his abusive relationship with his son was probably the emotional highlight of Iron Fist. I'd definitely rank him above Diamondback.

Twists (and character deaths, which is what most twists end up being) are a bane on television storytelling, a crutch for writers who can't actually tell a story. In a universe like the Defenders shows, whose toolbox has turned out to be so limited, these twists have become old hat with alarming speed (someone will…

It is kind of ridiculous that Maria makes this observation 5-6 episodes into Luke Cage and yet the show still goes the "super-bullet" route.

Hell, Diamondback was the worst villain in the Defenders universe (individual character category - obviously the Hand are worse than anyone).

In fairness, that's a plot point that the previous Defenders shows have gone to so many times that it's not such a point in this show's favor that it didn't do it.

Hey, remember how Bakuto's branch of The Hand were implanting agents at every level of society in preparation for some kind of takeover? Sort of the main revelation of Iron Fist? Now that our heroes are in a climactic battle with the entire Hand, with the stakes being the survival of the entire leadership and New…

I mean, TMNT is a parody of Daredevil (or at least the original, much darker and more irreverent, comics were). So Stick literally is Splinter.

I think the fact that the exchange makes it clear that none of the things Luke says had ever occurred to Danny is what makes it valuable. Yes, melting bodies is pretty bad, and it might have been good if someone had said that. But on the other hand I don't get the sense that that's what Danny cared about either. He…

I mean, good on them for sticking with a show that's critically beloved even though it wasn't a hit. I lost my patience with HaCF after S2, but it has some really great people in the cast, and it's nice to have a show about tech in which the people leading the charge are women.

ISIS's stated goal is to create chaos and fear in peaceful Western nations so as to intensify tensions with law-abiding Muslim immigrants/citizens there, and "prove" to them that coexistence is impossible. They want a war between Islam and the West just as badly as the right-wing crazies in the US.

No, but children learn from their parents' example. It's a lot more surprising when the son of a virulent racist turns out not to have those tendencies than the other way around.

Just once, I'd like someone to acknowledge that there's a meaningful difference between punching someone in the face and driving a car into a crowd of people. Yes, both are violent acts, both are illegal, and both are things that in a perfect world we'd want to discourage (very strongly in the latter case). But that…

I haven't seen Orange is the New Black or Bojack Horseman, but with that caveat, for me it has to be Master of None.

we will approach this project with the same level of thoughtfulness that has always defined our programming

Very OT, but: guys, I won a Hugo.

Speaking of weird Shakespeare-inspired stuff, last night I watched the final episode of Still Star-Crossed. It was, in pretty much every way, an awful show, wasting the talents of people like Anthony Stewart Head and Zuleikha Robinson. There's just one exception - the central love story is genuinely fantastic, as in…

I know the consensus is that the first season was rough, and though there's definitely a step up in terms of quality in S2, I still thought S1 was overall quite strong. The AV Club reviews of S1, in particular, seem quite brutal (though they also make valid points, especially pointing out how bad the Max storyline in…

On the other hand, he would have been hounded and possibly blackmailed over his sexuality, so it's probably a good thing he was born when he was.

Weekend watching report:

I can see how some people would consider Kevorkian controversial (though honestly I thought the idea that terminally ill people should have the freedom to end their lives on their own terms was pretty accepted by this point). But surely he's not on the same level as Paterno, who is only "controversial" to people who…