It’s probably just a coincidence that tonight’s Westworld is airing on Father’s Day. But as (probable) coincidences go, it’s a good one. Mean, but good. Much of “Vanishing Point” is spent on William, both in the present and in the past, as we finally get more concrete information about his wife (played in flashback by…

There aren’t enough characters like Anna Volovodov on TV. I suppose that’s not entirely fair; part of the reason Anna is so compelling is that she’s played by Elizabeth Mitchell, and there’s only so much of her to go around. But on a show with its fair share of people trying to do the right thing—a show which, for all…

It makes sense that Westworld would have Indians. Not Native Americans, but “Indians”—the kind that used to show up in Westerns to menace homesteaders and go on warpaths. The park wasn’t built to offer up an informed, culturally respectful take on the past. The park, as we’ve learned multiple times, was built to offer…

It’s a small thing, but I appreciate how quickly Alex and Amos go along with Holden’s stories about Miller. Sure, they’re skeptical, and “Intransigence” gets at least one good joke about Alex doing his best to keep up, but they also don’t immediately dismiss him or assume he’s crazy. Partly that’s because they’ve…

We’ve talked before about how Westworld doesn’t have a particularly high view of humanity. There’s nothing wrong with that—plenty of great shows and books and movies and all sorts of art has been made that used our general crumminess as a main theme. The trick is that things have to be interesting even when they…

Okay, so let’s talk about cliffhangers.

“Phase Space” isn’t a terrible episode. It’s also not a particularly great one. There are sublime moments here, exchanges of unexpected emotional depth and texture, and one not-hugely-surprising-but-still-pretty-nice twist. There’s also some of that time-jumping obfuscation that plagued us in the first season; yes, it…

Every week while the season is airing, I log onto a website and click on a link for the latest episode of The Expanse; and every week, I breathe a sigh of relief at the running time. Out of every drama I’ve covered in the past three or four years (or more), this is the only one that consistently sticks to the 43…

How much do the stories we live by matter when we find out those stories are a lie? It’s an idea that Westworld keeps coming back to, especially in its second season, when the show has more or less surrendered itself completely to the hosts. Maeve knows that her daughter was a plotline she was programmed to follow, a…

The Expanse does a better job of capturing what it feels like to read smart, well-plotted science fiction than any other series in recent memory. Obviously it has certain advantages in this regard, considering that it’s based on a series of novels which, at least as far as I’ve heard, are smart and well-plotted. But…

Anyone looking for proof that the second season of Westworld is playing with a different set of rules than the first can find it in the introduction and reveal of the season’s first major new human character, Grace (Katja Herbers). She showed up in last week’s cold open, hanging out in Rajworld, having some intense…

After a good but slowly paced opening, “Triple Point” throws us back into the Earth/Mars war, devoting substantial time to events on the Agatha King and the Martian ship the Hammurabi as things take several turns for the worse. The crew of the Rocinante’s decision to head to Io to try and rescue Prax’s daughter…

The colonial critique inherent in Westworld’s premise has been present from the start. The only ones with any real power in the park are the guests, the outsiders, the invading force; they can murder, rape, and pillage to their heart’s content, without concern for their own safety or any sort of punishment, venting…

The main problem with last week’s episode was that it didn’t have strong self-contained story to hold everything together. “Reload” fixes that, finding time for an excellent, suspenseful mini-narrative about a trio of Maritan ensigns who attempt take over the Contorta, as well as pushing various other ongoing…

Well what do you know. Last week, I was predicting that Jimmi Simpson wouldn’t be reprising his role this season as William, given how that character’s fate played out. What would be the point? He was there for a bit of not-all-that-necessary mindfuckery, and once we connected point A to point Ed, the narrative loop…

After the high of last week—space battles! Yelling! Avasarala and Bobbie boarding the Contorta!—“Assured Destruction” slows things down a bit, devoting most of its in-space time to watching Holden and crew adjust to their new passengers, and spending time on Earth as Esteban and Errinwright struggle over the future of…

Who are we rooting for here? And do we have to be rooting for anyone? Westworld’s first season began with a consciousness waiting to be born; with Dolores stuck in a hellish loop of sacrifice without her knowledge or consent, before building to a moment that could change everything—the death of a single fly. The…

The thing about space travel is, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of space, and not a lot of us by comparison, and in order to transport a fleshy, vulnerable, air-breathing human body across millions of miles of void, sacrifices must be made. Often in science fiction, that sacrifice is time, but most narratives find some…

Grab onto your butts: The Expanse is back. When last we saw Holden, Naomi, Amos, Alex, Avasarala, Bobbie, and everyone else, things weren’t great; things don’t really improve for anyone in “Fight Or Flight,” although no one we care about dies, which counts for something. The premiere of the third season picks up more…

And here we find ourselves at the thrilling conclusion to another pretty good if obviously (and frustratingly) flawed season of A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Olaf has built lion pit and plans to throw in a “freak” to draw a crowd; Esme has convinced the “freaks” to sacrifice Madame Lulu so they can all get jobs in…