Sci-fi and fantasy are both difficult genres to get right. Genre worldbuilding doesn’t always need to make complete logical sense, but it requires conviction on the part of the creators so that the audience can invest in the world with equal conviction. Misjudge the tone or the execution, and it’s…

The Tony Awards are an odd beast—an awards show in which the vast majority of the country has no real access to the art being lauded; a celebration of theater that’s eager to get as many famous Hollywood faces onstage as possible. Naturally, that begs the question: Who exactly are the Tony Awards…

In a 2017 essay, Erin Horáková describes a phenomenon she calls “Kirk drift.” She argues that our commonly accepted pop culture image of William Shatner’s Captain Kirk as a suave womanizer has very little basis in the actual Star Trek canon. As Horáková puts it, “Macho, brash Kirk is a mass hallucination.” Yet once…

Let me start by saying this: I don’t think any of the plot points in “Not Kansas” are unworkable. Turning a show about vigilante superheroes into a lesson in gun control isn’t the most natural fit (just ask The Punisher), but I’m not inherently opposed to the idea. Nor am I inherently opposed to…

I’ve never had the experience of being sent off my exploding home planet by my parents, spending years in suspended animation, being raised on Earth as one of the last of my kind, and then years later discovering my mom was actually still alive and living on a floating city. So, admittedly, I can’t…

For a movie that features a professional pickup artist as its romantic leading man, Hitch has a surprisingly insightful central thesis: It’s sleazy, misogynistic dudes who make contemporary dating difficult for both women and men. The existence of these creeps forces women to be guarded and to couch their true…

It’s almost hard to remember now, but back in Supergirl’s first season we used to spend almost as much time with Kara Danvers as we did with Supergirl. Hell, I used to spend these reviews bemoaning the fact that the DEO half of the show wasn’t anywhere near as interesting as the CatCo stuff. Now…

In a recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy titled “Cold As Ice” (the penultimate episode of the show’s 14th season and its 316th episode overall) one of the doctors arrives in the ER hypothermic and seemingly dead. “We’re not gonna lose her,” announces Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). “The same thing happened to me and I was…

What made the first season of 13 Reasons Why so addictive wasn’t its drawn-out mystery about the reasons Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) took her own life. It was the show’s ability to capture the nuances of modern high school life—the frankness with which teens discuss sex, the nebulous…

The tricky thing about reviewing a show like Supergirl in its third season is that it can be hard to come up with new things to say about episodes that are fun but lacking in depth. To be completely honest, some weeks it feels like there’s not much to do beyond recap plot details and comment on the performances.…

Rom-coms have happy endings. That fact is such a given that it’s often preemptively held against the genre. Why see a movie when you already know exactly how it’s going to end? It’s ironic, then, that one of the most beloved rom-coms of all time challenges the very nature of what we want from a happy ending. The…

“We’re in the endgame now.” That’s a line that’s knowingly delivered in the latter half of the superhero extravaganza Avengers: Infinity War and one that could apply to tonight’s similarly overstuffed episode of Supergirl too. For much of its runtime, “Trinity” almost feels like a season finale. The episode brings…

After a standalone story about Winn’s mom and an episode that mostly felt like it was stalling for time, Supergirl delivers its first big mythology focused outing since it’s return from hiatus. “Of Two Minds” not only introduces the third Worldkiller, Pestilence, it also ends with all three…

The strongest real-life romantic relationships are built on trust, mutual respect, and clear communication. In the world of rom-coms, however, all you need is a case of amnesia, a crude man with questionable morals, and a hoity-toity woman who needs to learn that her real value lies in being a wife and mother. At…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t just changed the way people consume movie franchises. It’s also changed the way audiences engage with cinematic characters. Heroes introduced as the lead of their own film can go on to be tertiary characters in another and vice versa. And no character better embodies this new form…

Denial: It’s not just a river in Egypt, it’s also a plot device that allows Supergirl to stretch 10 minutes of story into an entire 45-minute episode. Sam’s in denial about the fact that she’s Reign. Kara’s in denial about how much anger she feels towards Mon-El. M’yrnn and J’onn are in denial about how quickly his…

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…