Back in 2010, AMC’s flagship drama Mad Men was in the midst of its fourth season, tracing a trajectory of self-destruction for Don Draper while charting an upward course for his fledgling independent advertising firm. Just as things were beginning to pick up (for a show both admired and resented for its leisurely pace, “picking…
“Young lady, you will stop this nonsense, go to the PTA meeting, and support your mother. I won’t hear another word about it!” In the middle of this week’s The Good Place, Michael assumes the demeanor of a surrogate father, pushing Eleanor to reconcile with her lost-then-found real mother. Though this is a rather overt…
When Mike Schur initially pitched The Good Place to NBC, the game-changing twist at the end of its first season was a part of the package. From the beginning, rug-pulling was a piece of this show’s DNA, a part of the trick that kept viewers on their feet. With each new twist between seasons one…
I am Vlad Dracula Tepes, and I have had enough. Last summer, Netflix dropped a four-episode adaptation of Konami’s classic Castlevania video game series seemingly out of the blue. Written by Warren Ellis, best known for his comic series Red and the various Marvel storylines he has contributed over the years, the project had been…
Now this is The Good Place we’ve been waiting for all season. The last three episodes were the version of the show that’s a reasonably good sitcom with exceptional performances and an over reliance on plot twists—essentially what Mike Schur used in the opening hours of season one to ease us into the strange, emotional…
By the end of the second hour of The Good Place season three, it seems like we’re finally about to dive into the meat of the story Mike Schur and Co. want to tell us, one that will hopefully take us away from Earth for a while. However, to get to the interdimensional portal the…
“Here’s the story of a blond-haired lady / Who was helping save three hell-bound characters.” Several times in “The Brainy Bunch,” we hear Trevor make the same foreboding declaration: “Eleanor is the reason this is all happening.” Funnily enough, though this statement reminds us of Eleanor’s essential role as leader of the group, it comes…
Since NBC’s The Good Place premiered in fall 2016, it seems that, anecdotally at least, the viewing progression has been similar for most fans. The show’s unique premise was its initial draw, cemented by the assortment of talented people behind and in front of the camera, even while the show found its comedic footing. The…