Also, I really appreciated that they dialed way back on the 90s needle drops after the first few episodes. Why doesn’t anyone in the 90s listen to older music? I was alive then and we definitely did! 

The fact that no new adult Yellowjacket was introduced at the reunion was such a huge missed opportunity (and would have been a bigger twist than anything this episode delivered).

Zola is great, but Bravo’s Lemon still has my heart. This is going to be amazing. 

I like to think of this show as “Religious Succession.”

Pixar really lost something when it quit releasing shorts with each film. Dumping their features into the streaming trough doesn’t help. That group used to be a magic factory. 

It’s definitely hitting the Leftovers shaped hole in my TV viewing. I think I’m glad I haven’t read the book yet. (Nor did I read the Leftovers.) From what I keep seeing, this series builds on a ton of original elements. 

It bums me out that streamers are increasingly dropping multiple episodes a week (Always Sunny did that for the first time this year). It robs shows (especially slow burners like this one) of the opportunity to be in the cultural conversation for a longer period of time, which can build audience. By burning off…

I cannot find S2 of Alan Partridge on legal streaming — assuming you’re not in US or used a torrent? S1 was bliss.

I have not watched every television show so really a top 5 is about what I was able to encounter that filled me with joy:

The core friendships and workplace struggles were always more unique than any romantic elements in this show. Moments like Molly’s involvement in the firing of the intern way back in season 1, for instance, are searing, while the will-they-won’t-they just feels so beside the point.

“Leering” is certainly in the eye of the beholder!

I truly thought Mary was going to find herself an alternative Leon Black to join her in Asia.

A Little Life sucked -- just crazy fetishistic of violence.

Enrico’s character wants to take them to Clark’s museum at the airport from everything we’ve been shown (I’m not burdened with the novel’s plotline, so I’m drawing only from the show). 

Clark got so caught up in being the center of attention — something he lacked his entire life — that it’s obvious why Tyler grew disillusioned. The killing of the survivor showed Tyler first hand that the adults were less interested in healing and renewal than they were fear and control. No wonder he began to identify…

Isn’t the formula as simple as: if a show is aimed at a demographic that predates the recap and meme generations then it becomes inherently invisible in the spaces that are designed for those generations? I don’t know that critics are out of touch; I’d argue they’re very much in touch — with their particular audience.

South Side is just waiting there to be experienced. 

Big difference between being the star and being a guest/side player. As a star, I imagine one becomes accustomed to people giving you free space to be you.

Just a note: Hemon’s Nowhere Man novel is fantastic.

It really makes no sense that Dennis wouldn’t get vaxxed. He’d look at anti-vaxxers and think of them as lowly trash, ignorant, uneducated — the opposite of everything he prides himself on. Honestly, maybe Mac (maybe religious reasons?) or Frank (“the libs want to track me, Chaaaaahlie”) could be candidates, but…