Laura Bogart

8/5/20

<i>Hitmen </i>doesn’t pack a hard punch, but it’s still highly entertaining

Hitmen doesn’t pack a hard punch, but it’s still highly entertaining

Hitmen is not your typical lady assassins show: A music cue in the very first episode announces that our titular…

6/25/20

In its second season, <i>Hanna </i>evolves into a stronger, stranger show

In its second season, Hanna evolves into a stronger, stranger show

When the first season of Hanna arrived in early 2019, it seemed like creator David Farr was given license to…

3/13/20

<i>Motherland: Fort Salem </i>squanders its early potential

Motherland: Fort Salem squanders its early potential

There is a moment in one of the early episodes of Motherland: Fort Salem that beautifully, and frustratingly, hints…

1/10/20

<i>Shrill</i>’s second season traces the exquisite joy and pain of growing up

Shrill’s second season traces the exquisite joy and pain of growing up

Anaïs Nin saying, “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to…

3/29/19

Amazon's Hanna packs a far weaker punch than its source material

Joe Wright’s Hanna was released in 2011, just preceding the boomlet in all tales Strong Female Protagonist ushered…

12/30/18

In its final episode, Escape at Dannemora proves that Hell really is other people

Sartre’s famous phrase, “Hell is other people” may have gone from a staggering insight about the nature of the Self…

12/23/18

In a brutish hour of TV, Escape At Dannemora takes us back to the beginning

Until this penultimate episode, Escape At Dannemora has distinguished itself as a character-driven drama, more…

12/16/18

Escape at Dannemora finally shows us the escape at Dannemora

Here, finally, for better and (inevitably) for worse, is the titular escape at Dannemora. Or, more aptly, escapes:…

12/9/18

Escape At Dannemora paints a brutal, ugly portrait of a marriage

“Chapter Four” is roughly the midpoint of Escape At Dannemora, so it makes sense that this episode would focus on…

12/2/18

Escape At Dannemora shows us its characters' inner strengths (and a very swole Paul Dano)

One of the pleasures of watching Escape at Dannemora is the way the show connects action (and “Chapter Three” has…

11/25/18

Escape At Dannemora shows us the downsides of desire

If “Chapter One” of Escape At Dannemora was about the power and sway of raw desire—how it invigorates and…

11/18/18

In a compelling "Chapter One," Escape At Dannemora shows that there's more than one way to be imprisoned

Escape At Dannemora could easily package itself as a stylish, well-pedigreed action tale and still be wildly…

11/3/18

Losing Rick Grimes is the best thing that can happen to The Walking Dead

Even though The Walking Dead has shuffled and slurred and growled a long way from its heyday as must-see Sunday TV,…

10/21/18

In one of its better episodes, The Walking Dead makes the case for a reckoning

“Warning Signs” accomplished what precious few episodes of The Walking Dead have done since about roughly mid-way…

10/14/18

The Walking Dead shows that it can be a smart, nuanced series (when it wants to be)

In the first scene of “The Bridge,” Rick Grimes rhapsodizes about the brightness of the future with his…

8/26/18

In a breathtaking finale, Sharp Objects takes us to the underworld and back again

It’s fitting that Persephone, the goddess most known for her suffering, is finally evoked in the last episode of Shar…

8/19/18

In a beautiful, bruising episode, Sharp Objects shows us the pain of being extraordinary

In “Falling,” Chief Vickery wryly, wistfully, wonders why the women of Wind Gap aren’t content to be ordinary. The…

8/12/18

In a surprisingly tedious episode, Sharp Objects forgets what makes it such a special show

Sharp Objects is a dark meditation of a show, long on mood and short on forward action. These six hours have been…

8/5/18

In "Closer," Sharp Objects presents a not-so-grand unified theory of female pain

In her seminal essay, “A Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain,” Leslie Jamison assesses the ways that women are…

7/29/18

In a powerful fourth episode, Sharp Objects explores the pain of a life left to wither on the vine

The episode titles for Sharp Objects offer a kind of wry commentary about the surface and subterranean events of the…

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