"Zodiac Killer Project" and "Predators"

True crime content has raised a lot of concerns over the years for many reasons, and I'm seeing more and more media trying to address this.  Two features from last year stood out as excellent examples of the work of filmmakers trying to grapple with some of the major issues, one focusing more on form and the other one more on content.  

"Zodiac Killer Project" is a festival favorite that went largely under the radar due to its more experimental nature.   It's not a film about the Zodiac Killer, but writer/director Charlie Shackleton's film about a Zodiac Killer documentary that he was not able to make.  Shackleton intended to adapt Lyndon E. Lafferty's 2012 book, The Zodiac Killer Cover-Up, AKA The Silenced Badge, about a policeman's investigation into a specific suspect, but negotiations for the rights fell through.  This left Shackleton with detailed plans for his film and no way to realize them.  However, he still wanted to share his vision.

So, instead of making the documentary, he made a satirical meta-documentary, where he tells the audience all about the movie that never got made, using a lot of clips from other true-crime documentaries to illustrate various storytelling devices that he expected to use, and some limited original footage - mostly location shots around the Bay Area.  It's a very minimalist film, consisting almost entirely of Shackleton's narration and the cobbled-together images.  However, "Zodiac Killer Project" isn't just a look into the mind of a stymied filmmaker trying to let go of a project he was very invested in, but turns out to be a really biting critique of the whole true-crime genre.  Initially it's funny and illuminating to watch Shackleton point out all the common tropes of true-crime documentaries, from the use of grainy home movies and "evocative B-roll," to the prevalence of law enforcement figures named Bulldog, all while constantly referencing other true-crime docs like "Making a Murderer." 

As Shackleton describes how he planned to adapt parts of Lafferty's book and stage various pieces of action, the whole endeavor becomes increasingly troubling and the satire gets darker.  He's perfectly willing to stage scenes that never happened and play up the sinister nature of the suspect to make his narrative more engrossing to the viewer, even though he knows it's all bunk.  He points out the fallacies and inaccuracies of other directors, and then praises them in the next breath for making such entertaining work.  There's a fantastic moment where he describes a location that he plans to show as foreboding and creepy due to the appearance of disturbing painted symbols found there - only to reveal that the symbols are actually just scribbles and lewd graffiti that looks like a kid drew them.  Shackleton is the least interested in actually filling in the real details of the Zodiac killings, which are too well known and don't give him enough room to be more creative.       

And now it's time to talk about "Predators," David Osit's examination of the history and legacy of "To Catch a Predator," the popular reality television series that aired as a part of "Dateline NBC" from 2004 to 2007.  Osit was able to obtain behind the scenes footage and unused footage shot during the show's notorious sting operations, designed to entrap and force on-camera confrontations with purported child predators.  He also interviewed some of the crew and talent involved, including host Chris Hansen and actors who played the fake minors in the stings.  If you already thought that "To Catch a Predator" was ethically troubling, "Predators" just makes it all the more obvious that the show often operated on dubious moral grounds.  

Osit, an assault survivor, is very careful about how he presents his material.  Throughout, his position is that despite the show's enormous success, it does little to help the victims or to shed any light on why the crimes are committed.  Meanwhile there was every incentive for Hansen and his collaborators to operate recklessly, dehumanizing their targets and ignoring safety considerations to a disturbing degree.  The harms that resulted were foreseeable and preventable.  The show's targets were often caught in a way that meant they couldn't be prosecuted, and the public nature of the confrontations resulted in more than one suicide.  The success of "To Catch a Predator" also led to multiple copycat operations being run by amateurs chasing clout.  

There's been a spate of similar media lately, revealing what was going on behind the scenes of other prominent television shows from the same era, like "Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser" and "Quiet on the Set."  "Predators" is much more thoughtful than most of these, because it has a very personal throughline thanks to Osit, and the goal is to dispel much of the sensationalism that the others encourage.  Some of the most effective moments are very simple, like seeing the additional footage of the "To Catch a Predator" targets in more human moments.  There are no real bombshells, just a conscious reframing of the narrative to call our assumptions into question.  Hansen says nothing new here, but nonetheless his interview is damning.  

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My Top Ten Episodes of 2005-2006

Below, find my top ten episodes for the 2005-2006 television season below, in no particular order.  And a few spoilers ahead, including "The Sopranos" and "Lost."  Also, my apologies to the finale of "Six Feet Under," but the show remains on my very long "To Watch" list. 

The Sopranos, "Members Only" - Let's ease into things with "The Sopranos" returning after a very long break, to begin its final season.  Most of the episode is spent catching us up on all the characters and how they've been - AJ's in college and no one is the wiser about Adriana - but things take an increasingly dark turn as the Eugene Pontecorvo story plays out.  And then Uncle Junior ends things with a bang.

Doctor Who, "The Girl in the Fireplace" - I love how this episode is really the whole series in miniature.  The Doctor stumbles across an interesting new person, only gets a very limited amount of time with them, yet impacts their lives profoundly.  Having time travel just speeds the familiar cycle up considerably.  Reinette is such a memorable character, it's a shame that she only appears in this episode.  

Battlestar Galactica, "Pegasus" - Just when you thought that the Galactica was finally catching a break, finding a lost Battlestar - surprise!  They're baddies.  Led by Michelle Forbes as a merciless admiral, the Pegasus is a dark mirror to the Galactica, pushing the show into much darker territory as we learn about their treatment of Cylon prisoners.  It's one of the gutsiest, most harrowing  episodes of the show's run.    

Avatar, "The Blind Bandit" - Toph's introductory episode is such a wonderful series of subversions, and really expands what  the show does with earthbending.  The animation is great, but this pick is chiefly for the humor.  Toph trash-talking the Boulder immediately establishes so much about her, and the fact that she can back it up is such a joy.  The whole series improved dramatically with her in the mix.    

South Park, "Trapped in the Closet" - Some of the jokes have aged very badly, but this episode of "South Park" remains indispensable for its no-hold-barred takedown of Scientology.  The closet bit with the celebrities was widely parodied at the time, but once the "This is what Scientologists actually believe" segment hit the wider culture, the credibility of the organization plummeted permanently. 

My Name is Earl, "Pilot" - "Earl" aired in an awkward timeslot, so I never saw much of it beyond a few episodes in the first season, but I always loved the pilot, where we're introduced to a reformed reprobate played by Jason Lee, and learn about his karmic quest.  The worldbuilding and the character introductions are so fun - Hey, Crabman! - and the cast instantly clicks like few others have.   

30 Days, "Minimum Wage" - Morgan Spurlock is cancelled, but back in 2005 he made one the better reality TV shows, having volunteers live totally different lives for 30 days to try and foster more empathy and understanding.  Spurlock and his fiancee at this time were the subject of the first episode, where they live off minimum wage for a month.  And it's both illuminating and infuriating to see play out.

Lost, "One of Them" - Sayid never got enough screen time. He's one of the most complicated "Lost'" characters, with a very checkered past, but the writers often didn't seem to know what to do with him.  This episode is one of the few times they confront his capacity for evil head-on, as he interrogates Henry Gale for information.  The performances really give their scenes together a rare intensity.  

Arrested Development, "The Ocean Walker" - The entire arc with Rita is wonderful, spoofing romantic-comedy tropes and giving Charlize Theron a chance to show off her comedy chops.  However, the end of the arc, where the shoe finally drops, and we learn the very non-PC reason for Rita's behavior is just brilliant.  Also, I just love awkward wedding episodes, and this one has a doozy.  

Mushishi "Light of the Eyelid" - You're going to start seeing more animation on these lists, as we move into the period where I was an active otaku.  "Mushishi" is an anthology series about supernatural creatures who inadvertently cause trouble for human beings, and this particular episode stands out for its quiet, mesmerizing storytelling and absolutely gorgeous animation.

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My History of "Star Trek" Fandom

I've wanted to write this post for a while, detailing my relationship with "Star Trek" media and fandom.  I wrote one of these for "Star Wars" a while ago, and I want to do the same for "Star Trek," because my experience with the franchise is similarly filled with odd little nuances that I want to have a record of somewhere.

As a child of the '80s, "Star Trek" meant "Star Trek: The Next Generation."  It was one of the earliest shows I became a fan of that wasn't a cartoon  or children's programming.  My syndicated station ran the reruns in the early evenings before anyone else was using the television, so I could watch it regularly.  I didn't have the access to watch any "Star Trek" in prime time until the mid-90s, so my fandom was entirely based on repeated viewings of the earliest seasons of "Next Generation" starting around 1993.  I was able to get my hands on episode guides and a few tie-in novels from the library, which also helped.  Metamorphosis, the one where Data becomes human, remains a favorite.

The 90s were arguably the peak of "Star Trek." At one point there were three series airing simultaneously, plus shows like "Babylon 5" that were going after the same audience.  There were plenty of fans around and plenty of chatter about the series in wider pop culture, which filtered down to me eventually.  The premiere of "Star Trek Voyager," the flagship for the new UPN network, was a big deal in 1995, and I purposely rearranged my schedule so I could watch the show live.  However, I found that I didn't like the characters much and lost interest about halfway through the second season.  I started watching some of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" around that time, though it was a tougher show for me to keep up with.  Eventually I would watch most of the last two seasons live, and more in syndication, starting around 1996.  I keep meaning to go back and watch the whole thing properly one of these days, but I haven't managed it yet.

I was very aware of the original 1964 "Star Trek" by this point, but I had almost no exposure to it except occasional archival clips and parodies.  The movie series with the original series cast was over by 1991, and I wouldn't seek any of those out until I was an adult.  Of course I knew who Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and all the rest were just via cultural osmosis.   To date, I've watched a handful of the most famous older "Star Trek" episodes, like "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "The Trouble With Tribbles," but I have no nostalgia for the series and  no interest in watching more.  I didn't even know about the existence of the first animated series until a few years ago.  

With the 2000s came "Enterprise," and I was ready to call it quits.  The previous shows had all ended.  "Enterprise," with its very different aesthetics and attempts to broaden the appeal of the franchise, looked so off putting in the advertisements that I still haven't seen any of it beyond the unfortunate title sequence.  By that time I was in college and had plenty of access to other genre media that was taking precedence.  I was still watching the movie series, which had switched over to "The Next Generation" characters starting in 1994, but these were also in decline.  2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis" would be the last until the 2009 reboot.  I largely stopped paying attention to "Star Trek" for the rest of the decade.

However, just because I stopped watching "Star Trek" didn't mean I wasn't still a fan.  When the reboots did come along, I was very receptive to having "Star Trek" in my life again.  I've watched every single movie and episode since 2009.  Even "Prodigy."  Even the "Short Treks."  I went back and watched all the older "Star Trek" films and all the episodes of "The Next Generation" that I'd missed.  I've watched multiple documentaries on "Star Trek," and even visited the Las Vegas Hilton so I could go to "Star Trek: The Experience," with its recreations of the Enterprise D bridge and Quark's bar.

Ultimately, I think I have to admit that I'm more of a "The Next Generation" fan than a "Star Trek" fan, but I've gotten awfully attached to other parts of the franchise, and I don't plan to stop watching anytime soon.

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"The Agency," Year Two

Spoilers for the first season ahead.

I complained last year that Paramount's "The Agency" was a slow burn spy series that was burning too slowly for me, and needed to pick up the pace.  Well, the second season has definitely picked up the pace.  The newest batch of ten hour-long episodes positively flew by, and I'm hoping we get a lot more to come.  Everything that the first season of "The Agency" set up pays off in the second, as the scope of the show expands.  

So, when last we left CIA operative Martian, he'd become a double agent, while Danny was just getting settled in Iran.  Martian is still working various angles to rescue Samia, getting himself more entangled with the Brits.  Meanwhile, Danny attempts to recruit a new asset, Hassan Zamani (Keanush Tafreshi).  We also follow another case officer, Owen Lublin (John Magaro), trying to track down a mercenary leader code named Viking (Clayne Crawford), based in the Central African Republic.  Meanwhile, the situation is heating up for Martian at London Station, with both Naomi and Henry Ogletree suspicious of his actions.  This year, the focus shifts so that "The Agency" makes much more use of its ensemble, and more characters are carrying storylines individually.  We still get plenty of Martian and Samia, but I found many of the other stories and relationships just as compelling, and it was great to see actors like Jeffrey Wright and Richard Gere, as the London Station Chief, Bosko, really get to sink their teeth into some of this juicy material.    

As much as I like Michael Fassbender in spy mode, and think he's fantastic in this series, "The Agency" works better when it's showing us more POVs and not just relying on Martian as a focal point.  Samia spends the bulk of the season trapped in the custody of ne'er-do-wells in Khartoum, and the isolation from the rest of the characters allows Jodie Turner-Smith's performance to have much more interiority and resonance.  It's the same with Saura Lightfoot-Leon as Danny, who is often left to navigate complicated situations on her own as her mission progresses.  A lot of the minor characters who were only fleeting presences in the first season are a lot more well-defined now, like Blair (Ambreen Razia), Simon (Bilal Hasna), and Craig (Raza Jeffrey).  Katherine Waterston's Naomi is still playing second fiddle, but you can tell that she's being set up for bigger things down the line.  Even Poppy, who came off as a tiresome distraction in the first season, is a lot more nuanced and sympathetic in the second.

Another major improvement is that the characters in the field this time are a lot easier to identify with than the passel of similar-looking agents and operatives that were involved in the Coyote mission in the first season.  Dangerous situations feel much more visceral and impactful when they're happening to Danny or Owen, who we get to know before they're sent in harm's way.  As impatient as I was with the first season, I'm grateful that "The Agency" took the trouble to lay out all that groundwork, because it's so invaluable in the second.  Fans of spy media will probably see all the twists and turns coming long before they occur, but the high quality of the production and the accomplished cast really make a difference this time out.  "The Agency" isn't an action show primarily, but when the action scenes do come around, they're terrifically violent and unnerving.

Most of the comparable spy shows running now are much broader genre programs, some leaning toward action-adventure or comedy.  "The Agency" certainly takes the usual liberties to be more entertaining, but the level of the writing and intrigue help to distinguish this as probably the best straightforward espionage thriller out there right now, along with "Slow Horses."  Plenty won't have the patience for it, but those who stick it out will be well rewarded.  The French series "Le Bureau," which "The Agency" was based on, ran for five seasons.  I hope we're lucky enough that "The Agency" will follow suit.

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What Counts as a Movie?

The end of "Stranger Things" brought up an interesting existential question that I haven't thought about in a while: what counts as a movie?

The last episode of "Stranger Things," titled "The Rightside Up," screened in theaters on December 31st, which was a boon for movie theaters who reported making at least $25 million in concessions.  Should we treat "The Rightside Up" as a movie, and if so why?

Do we consider the platform?  Simply screening in a theater shouldn't have anything to do with whether we count a film as a film, though it's a big part of Oscar eligibility.  I've always treated TV movies as movies, especially after watching the Oscar and Emmy organizations squabble over eligibility rules, and the filmmakers themselves often not getting a say about the issue.  Especially in the streaming era, whether a film gets a theatrical release or not seems to be a matter of luck.     

Do we consider length?  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says a feature length film has to be over forty minutes.  I'm more comfortable with using sixty as the bare minimum, but even then I make allowances for older films from back when they were counting the running times by physical film reels.  Anyway, "The Rightside Up" runs 128 minutes officially, which is definitely feature length.  

Do we consider whether the media in question is part of a series?  Here's where things get tricky.  There are some institutions that will treat miniseries, segments of miniseries, television seasons, and specific television episodes the same as feature films.  I generally don't agree with this, and prefer to treat multi-part serials and films as different.  However, the boundary between the two has gotten significantly fuzzier over the years, with many franchise films essentially operating like serials on a storytelling level, and television seasons often being produced and released like films.  And there have always been "package" films bundling television episodes for theatrical release, and re-edits of films into miniseries, like we've seen with "The Hateful Eight" and "Blackberry."  

So the answer here is, it depends.  And in the case of "The Rightside Up," I don't count it as its own feature because it wasn't meant to be watched in isolation, but as the final episode of the fifth season of "Stranger Things."  I know this argument could be applied to "Avengers: Endgame," but the MCU movies were conceived of and released as movies from the outset.  "Stranger Things," despite some advertising describing the last season as a collection of movies, has always been a Netflix series that we're expected to watch at home.

Hold on, we're not finished yet.  A few days after the finale, "One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5" showed up on Netflix.  This is the two-hour behind the scenes, making-of documentary that was put together to spotlight the efforts of the cast and crew of "Stranger Things."  This is essentially an extended version of the behind-the-scenes material that used to be included on home video releases, edited together into a full-length documentary.  Does this count as a movie in and of itself?  I'm inclined to say yes.  A documentary about a piece of media is still a documentary.    

There are a lot more gray areas to consider - Youtube video essays, video installations, museum pieces, stand-up comedy specials, pro-shots of stage shows and musicals, pro-shots of concerts, special installments of programs like "Top Gear," anthology segments, holiday variety specials, and celebrity profiles, like the recent ones for Chevy Chase and Eddie Murphy.  I've counted all of these as films depending on the circumstances, if they happen to be long enough and have enough artistic intention behind them to stand as an individual narrative.  

Sometimes the impetus to call something a movie is simply that I want to recognize something for its quality, but it's hard to talk about it in cinematic terms if I don't treat it like a piece of cinema.  And if there's a director and a cinematographer and an editor involved, there's a good chance they're going to do what directors and cinematographers and editors do with any piece of media, whatever you want to call it.  And in the absence of anything better, sometimes that's a movie.

  

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"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," Year One

Let's get right to the point.  "Starfleet Academy" is a weird "Star Trek" show.  Since the main characters are the equivalent of college students, it's pitched at a YA audience, with a lot of modern humor and stylistic choices that are very out of the norm for "Star Trek."  At the same time, the show was clearly created by people who love the '90s era "Star Trek" shows, and there are tributes and Easter Eggs to the older series in every single episode.  They also bring back Robert Picardo's hologram doctor character from "Star Trek: Voyager" as one of the instructors at the Academy, along with Jet Reno (Tig Notaro) from "Star Trek: Discovery."  So ultimately, I'm not sure which audience is going to respond best to this.  

"Starfleet Academy" is set in a distant future era, at a point in the "Star Trek" timeline where the Federation is slowly rebuilding after a major cataclysm called The Burn.  Starfleet Academy, the storied institution that trains Starfleet officers, is being recommissioned, with a new Chancellor, Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), and an eclectic incoming class.  These include a pacifist Klingon, Jay-Den (Karim Diané), an overconfident Khionian, Darem (George Hawkins), the daughter of an admiral, Genesis (Bella Shepard), and the first sentient photonic cadet, Series Acclimation Mil, or Sam (Kerrice Brooks).  However, the main protagonist is Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), a criminal and fugitive, who has personal history with Nala Ake.  His options are either prison or school under her supervision, so he picks school.  

Because this is a show about the cadets in an academic setting, a lot of the episodes revolve around teachable moments, school activities, and teen drama.  Caleb quickly falls for a lovely Betazed named Tarima (Zoë Steiner), who attends a rival school called the War College (yes, really).  And you can probably guess some of the hijinks that follow from there.  There's also a recurring villain, the terrorist Nus Braka, who is played by Paul Giamatti in scenery-chewing mode.  He's half-Klingon, half-Tellarite, and all ham.  In keeping with "Star Trek" tradition, the tone is also frequently super-earnest and brimming over with optimism to the point where it can be overbearing.  The more irreverent humor doesn't gel well at first, possibly trying to take inspiration from the animated "Lower Decks" more often than it should.  There's a character who vomits glitter if he eats too much potassium, for instance.

However, over the course of the first season, things steadily improve.  It helps that the characters are all very well-constructed, even if some of the actors are a little green.  Veterans like Holly Hunter and Tig Notaro do a lot to pick up the slack.  It also helps that the show is trying to push ahead and show us new aspects of the "Star Trek" universe, even as it indulges in a lot of nostalgia.  Nala's first officer is a brusque but loveable half-Jem Hadar, half-Klingon officer, Lura Thok (Gina Yashere).  Jay-Den was raised in the Klingon culture, but is considered an oddity for being more interested in medicine than warfare.  Sam is probably my favorite of the youngsters, a recently created being who has been programmed to act like a teenager, and act as a bridge between her non-corporeal species and the Federation.  

Also, once you get past the first few episodes, "Starfleet Academy" turns out to be very much a "Star Trek" series.  Most of the problems are solved through diplomacy and science, though flashy pyrotechnics are also pretty common.  It's a much talkier show than it appears at first glance, as interested in building its characters and their relationships as it is with throwing common "Star Trek" challenges their way.  I found the more touchy-feely approach was often a hindrance on a show like "Discovery," but it fits "Starfleet Academy" better, because all the learning and growing is a major part of the  premise.  The first season definitely has its ups and downs, but it grew on me, and I expect it'll keep on improving in future seasons. 

Established "Star Trek" fans should take note that this is definitely for an older crowd than "Prodigy," with as much casual cursing in it as any of the other Paramount+ "Star Trek" shows, and significantly more onscreen sexuality.  Honestly, it's all very tame, but this is "Star Trek," so I feel some of my fellow nerds might need some warning.  

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"Margo's Got Money Troubles" and More

"Margo's Got Money Troubles," based on the book by Rufi Thorpe, is an admirable attempt to try and navigate some of the murky attitudes around sex work, drug addiction, and non-traditional family structures.  It's also a prime opportunity for some talented older actors to play some colorful, interesting characters that we haven't seen them play before.  The adaptation is spearheaded by David E. Kelley, who really outdid himself casting this one.

Margo (Elle Fanning) is a 20-year old with a bright head on her shoulders, who gets involved with her literature professor Mark (Michael Angarano), which results in a cutie pie baby boy named Bodhi, and Margo dropping out of school to support him.   Her mother Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), a former Hooter's waitress, is wooing the local pastor Kenny (Greg Kinnear), and can only offer limited help.  Her father Jinx (Nick Offerman), a former wrestler, eventually shows up fresh from rehab and in need of a place to stay.  Margo and her roommate Susie (Thaddea Graham) let him move in, where he becomes Bodhi's regular babysitter.  Unfortunately, Margo finds that the only way she can reliably make money is with an OnlyFans account, where she posts risque stories and photos under the persona of the Hungry Ghost, a sexy space alien. 

"Margo's Got Money Troubles" is absolutely bursting with talented actors.  Marcia Gay Harden and Nicole Kidman show up later in the series in roles that I will not spoil.  In addition, familiar faces like Kerri Kenney, Paul McCrane, and Laura San Giacomo keep showing up in bit parts.  And it's clear why.  "Margo's Got Money Troubles" is largely a family dramedy full of complicated, entertaining characters struggling to connect with each other.  It's offbeat, but heartwarming and an easy watch.  Nick Offerman and Michelle Pfeiffer strike me as the clear standouts, two people who had a wild youth together and now have to deal with the consequences as best they can.  Offerman as a burly, hard-living ex-wrestler who effortlessly slides into the role of doting grandfather, is a joy to watch.  Pfeiffer as the more reluctant, status-obsessed grandmother trying to maintain the fiction of a wholesome family life, takes longer to warm up to, but I found her deeply relatable in the end.

And of course there's Elle Fanning, taking on one of her most challenging roles yet as an overwhelmed young mother whose life gets complicated very quickly.  The show's creators make it clear that motherhood is tough, spending a good amount of screen time on the hell of newborn care.  Most of the nudity in the show involves Margo nursing, or in other non-sexual contexts.  And for all the talk of demystifying and destigmatizing sex work, Margo quickly discovers that making money with OnlyFans has its own challenges.  She has to be a smart self-promoter, find a niche,  and eventually partner up with other creators.  My biggest criticism of the show is that it's a little too cutesy about portraying OnlyFans as a platform where Margo is able to find a creative outlet, and focuses on the cosplay and the kitsch while avoiding the sleaze.  There are negative social consequences that Margo has to face for her OnlyFans work, but the depiction of work itself feels too sanitized, and probably paints a misleading picture of how much effort is actually required.

Then again, "Margo's Got Money Troubles" isn't really about the sex work.  It's about Margo making choices about her life that society deems unacceptable and having to deal  with the fallout.  And it's about the people closest to her also reckoning with their choices, and eventually reconnecting and becoming close enough to try and help one another when things get tough.  I was constantly being surprised by the show, whether it was Shyanne repeatedly misjudging Kenny, or Jinx and Susie unexpectedly bonding.  I don't expect that "Margo's Got Money Troubles" will be around for the long term considering the caliber of the cast, but it's so nice to see talented actors in roles where they actually get to use that talent.  Nicole Kidman in a slightly kooky supporting role is great - she could totally transition to being a character actress if she wanted.  Michelle Pfeiffer doesn't get enough good roles, and I'm so grateful she got to do this.

And with an eight episode season, "Margo" doesn't outstay her welcome.  I know another season is in the works, but the first feels like a complete show, and one I will happily recommend.

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