The annual crossover event is fun for what it is and also for what it isn’t—namely another chapter in the overlong arc of the season. Aside from a brief mention of Cicada, we get a respite from the ongoing storyline in favor of an enjoyable brand of comic-book gimmickry that can only be sustained for a brief burst of…

The clip show is something of a lost art, although calling it an art is giving it way too much credit. Really it was a money-saving device through which TV producers squeezed out an extra episode by having the cast of a show accidentally lock themselves in the basement and kill time reminiscing about past exploits,…

After last week’s episode devoted to Caitlin’s father issues, The Flash returns with an episode devoted to...everyone else’s father issues. Okay, so that’s an exaggeration, but dads who disappoint their daughters are all over this very special Thanksgiving episode. (Tangent: Something is wonky with the show’s…

The disappearance of Killer Frost has been one of the less compelling running storylines this season, so it stands to reason that an episode focused on that plot strand would end up being a lethargic lull. It’s not that I don’t enjoy Danielle Panabaker’s work as Caitlin Snow’s alter ego; Killer Frost usually provides…

Now that we’re well into the fifth season of The Flash, it’s getting much harder for the creative team to keep the one-off meta-of-the-week stories fresh. The Flash has always had one of the deeper benches in superhero comics as far as colorful villains are concerned, but we’re down to the C-listers now, and most of…

Even by House Of Cards standards, this final season has been a weird one. Given the circumstances under which it was made, that was probably inevitable; either there would be no sixth season at all or it would be truncated and assembled in haste. The result is compromised, consisting of too much plot and not enough…

“Chapter 72" opens with a time jump, one long enough for Doug Stamper to grow a bushy Beard of Sadness and for the world’s longest pregnancy to finally begin to show as Claire now boasts a noticeable baby bump. Stamper has taken a turn for the Shakespearean, muttering monologues as he digs up a grave in the desert.…

Claire’s choice of movie viewing a few episodes ago and the Gothic horror overtones to the soundtrack music of late have prepared for this moment: the spawn of Satan—or of Frank and Claire Underwood, close enough—is being loosed upon this world to bring about the end times. Contrary to my prediction in the previous…

Does Claire’s long con hold up to any scrutiny? Granted, this is House Of Cards, so plausibility is measured on a sliding scale, but it’s hard not to spot the flaws in Claire’s scheme even as it’s quite a bit of fun to watch it play out. (This show in a nutshell, really.) At the very least, it gives Robin Wright some…

Well played, House Of Cards. You got me.

Every once in a while, House Of Cards stumbles into a timely real-world parallel that may momentarily cause you to forget all the absurdities and pulpy twists and turns that have brought us to this point. For me, it was this episode’s subplot about Claire’s Supreme Court choice pick that got under my skin a bit, for…

Maybe Raymond Tusk had the best take on Claire Underwood. As Bill Shepherd tells her after a tense exchange of threats, Tusk always wondered whether Claire was a real person or just playing the part of one. That could read as a meta comment on Robin Wright’s performance as well. There’s an unknowable essence to…

Francis Underwood looms large over the sixth (and final) season premiere of House Of Cards, but he’s nowhere to be seen. You may have heard something about this. Production on this season was abruptly halted a year ago in the wake of sexual assault allegations against star Kevin Spacey, and not long afterward the…

On another Earth, tonight’s softball sequence might have aired against Game Six of the World Series, but on this one the Flash has the diamond all to himself. Not that Barry Allen would have proved to be much competition for the Red Sox, the Dodgers, or even any of their Single-A farm teams. Superman always made a…

If no season of The Flash is truly underway until it has gotten its Harrison Wells, then “The Death Of Vibe” marks the real beginning of season five. Yes, we have already met the new Big Bad, and for some that might be considered the starting point, but for Wells connoisseurs, the introduction of Tom Cavanagh’s latest…

Kid Flash has left town and the show (at least as a series regular), so why not tell his story all over again? That’s what happens in “Block,” in which Barry once again finds himself mentoring a headstrong, over-eager young speedster who is also a member of the family. The episode hits some familiar beats along the…

The fifth season premiere picks up exactly where we left off, with Team Flash celebrating the new addition to the family—a celebration that’s interrupted when another new addition to the family unexpectedly crashes the party. As you no doubt recall from the fourth season finale, this is Nora, future daughter of Barry…

One question kept running through my head toward the end of The Man In The High Castle’s season finale, “Jahr Null”: Do these scenes belong in the same show? Early on we’re treated to the most spectacular science fiction sequence of the series as the massive Nazi machine designed to open the portal between worlds is…