Between the big Arrowverse crossover episode, its normal winter hiatus, and its more abnormal late winter hiatus, Supergirl has had a bit of a wonky third season. To its credit, the show has maintained a palpable sense of forward momentum and a pretty solid season-long arc—perhaps its most solid one yet, in fact.…

At its core, the romantic-comedy is about wish fulfillment. Individual films can subvert or comment on that idea in some way, but wish fulfillment is the basic template. That’s true of plenty of other film genres, too, notably sports dramas and superhero films, but rom-coms are unique because they’re the rare genre…

After spending the past five years trying to turn live musical theater into a TV movie, NBC finally figured out that the best way to present live musical theater is as, well, live musical theater. Billing Jesus Christ Superstar Live as a “concert” turned out to be something of an April Fool’s Day joke. This Easter…

For its first 40 minutes, last year’s The Big Sick follows a fairly familiar rom-com structure: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl are driven apart due to the fact that they’re from different worlds, even as the audience can tell a romantic reunion is all but inevitable. And…

If you were trying to find a consensus pick for the best romantic comedy of all time, 1989’s When Harry Met Sally would definitely be a huge part of the conversation, if not just the clear-cut winner. It’s the rom-com that forever changed the nature of rom-coms, and you can find traces of When Harry Met Sally’s DNA in…

“The Wedding” spends its runtime trying to convince us that something bad is going to happen. Will Kate freak out and run away from her wedding? Will Toby get cold feet and call it off? Will Kate and Rebecca get into a big blowout fight? Will Deja act out and ruin the wedding, potentially by murdering Randall and…

“You should be very afraid of the woman who has absolutely nothing left to lose.”

“AKA Playland” feels a bit like Thelma & Louise if instead of driving off a cliff together at the end, Louise got shot in the head and Thelma went on to live a normal, happy life as a superhero. The episode opens with Jessica and Alisa on…

“AKA Pray For My Pats” is a relatively solid episode of Jessica Jones that nevertheless helped me figure out why this season isn’t working as well as the first. It’s now clear that this season is telling an overarching story about female anger, but it’s struggled to find compelling motivations for why so many of its…

I’ll give the second half of Jessica Jones’ second season this: It’s way less slow and boring than first half of the season was. The pace has improved significantly, the plot twists are coming faster, and there’s no doubt the show is a lot more engaging to watch. But is it actually telling a more interesting,…

Well, it was nice while it lasted. After a string of solid episodes, “AKA Pork Chop” returns to the messiness that defined the first half of Jessica Jones’ second season. But it does at least provide an informative case study on how to build a season-long story. And how not to.

In my review of Jessica Jones’ second season premiere I praised the show for positioning Jessica’s murder of Kilgrave as its emotional fulcrum. But the truth is, I only meant that compliment to a certain extent. I like the idea of exploring Kilgrave’s murder in terms of what it means for Jessica as a character; how…

We’re a little more than halfway through Jessica Jones’ sophomore outing, which seems like the perfect time to stop and take stock of how the season is shaping up. So here’s my biggest question: What was the point of anything that happened in the first six episodes?

I’ve always been a sucker for a flashback episode, particularly in these Defenders series. Flashbacks let a show fill in the gaps, bring to life things that have only been mentioned in passing, and reveal new sides of familiar characters and actors. In the case of these Defenders shows, they also offer a break from…

In the final few moments of this episode we watch Jessica come to a realization we don’t know she’s making. She hears a familiar song, spots a familiar hand cream, and smells a familiar perfume. And then she sees a photo of herself and her little brother and the seemingly impossible suddenly starts to feel a whole lot…

“It’s better to let things go before they drag you under,” Jessica explains while praising the way octopuses will simply ditch their injured arms and swim away when they’re attacked. So much of this season has been about characters investigating the past in order to find answers about the present. But there’s also…

“AKA God Help The Hobo” opens with a New York City heatwave. Jessica Jones, of course, is still dressed in jeans and a leather jacket because that’s how she rolls. But the heat has upped everyone’s emotions. I’m always a fan of these Marvel Netflix shows adding more of an episodic feel to their “13-hour movie”…

It’s cliché to say “a hero is only as good as their villain,” but it’s true that these Defenders show have all been at their strongest when they’ve paired their heroes with a compelling antagonist: Daredevil and Kingpin. Luke Cage and Cottonmouth. Jessica and Kilgrave. Though I initially assumed Will Simpson would…

“Maybe I am a freak, but someone made me this way. And this lab rat’s got some complaints.”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching these Netflix Defenders shows, it’s that you don’t come to them for plot. None of these shows have fully succeeded at telling a tight but compelling story over a 13-episode season, although the first seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones came the closest. (Iron Fist and…

Even among those who like it, This Is Us often gets discussed as if it’s a conventional, old-fashioned family drama. The show’s tearjerker status and Jack’s death-by-Crock-Pot have been the source of far more conversation than the fact that its structure is unlike anything else on TV. It’s not just that This Is Us …