The Misinformation Age

We're in the thick of election season, and I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone out there that the Internet has proven to be a spectacular source of misinformation.  Some recent stories that have come out recently have made this very clear to me.  

The first, more entertaining one is the recent three-part series posted by Buzzerblog.com, a blog devoted to game shows, that tried to confirm the existence of a rumored lost episode of the PBS kids' game show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" where a contestant had been injured.  After contacting multiple people connected with the show, archivists, and television stations, reporter Christian Carrion concluded that the episode had never existed, and every bit of information out there on the web about it had been fabricated.  This information includes multiple Wiki pages with quotes from the episode, mentions by websites like Mental Floss, and even a page at the Lost Media Archive that has since been corrected.  

This is far from the first instance of misinformation about a piece of kids' entertainment being taken as fact.  A more egregious example, pointed out by a commenter on Reddit, is the admission by reporter Jordan Minor in 2016 that he had essentially invented an extra season of the '90s cartoon "Street Sharks," complete with voice credits and episode descriptions, and then submitted the information to various sites like TV Tome when he was in middle school.  The information proliferated all over the internet, to the point where  some "Street Sharks" fans were convinced that they remembered characters and episodes that Minor had made up.  His admission of guilt is titled "How I Used Lies About A Cartoon to Prove History is Meaningless on the Internet."     

You've probably heard of the Mandela effect, the phenomenon where false memories can be shared by different people, sometimes spontaneously.  There is no 1990s genie movie starring the comedian "Sinbad," and the Berenstain Bears were never the Berenstein Bears.  However, due to factors like misinformation, lack of correction, and other types of reinforcement, the false memories can proliferate.  I've experienced several instances of this related to pop culture from when I was very young.  For instance, I was convinced for years that I had seen an '80s version of "Land of the Lost," which was probably my mind combining memories with a different adventure show involving river rafting.  But I was convinced enough for a while, that I definitely argued about it on the Internet, and probably spread some misinformation myself.        

And this is all kind of fun and amusing when we're looking at pop culture examples, but of course, it's not just pop culture.  Over in the linguistics world, there's been a big uproar over the Scots language version of Wikipedia.  It turns out that nearly half of the wiki's entries - thousands and thousands of pages - had been written by an American teenager who didn't actually know any Scottish.  Most of his entries are mangled gibberish taken from auto-translation tools, or straight copies of English entries with a couple of misspelled Scottish words tossed in the mix.  From the contributor's statements, it seems like no malice was intended, but the damage is extensive.  Not only does this mean that half of the Scots wiki is essentially garbage, but all the linguistics and translations tools that used it as a reference are likewise in trouble.  And everyone who ever used those tools for Scottish translations is also screwed.  The Wiki administrators are still debating whether to try and fix the errors, or to just scrap all the bad entries and start over.     

The Scots Wiki disaster was made possible because there was very little oversight by the people in charge.  Anyone can edit Wiki entries, and the organization relies heavily on its contributors.  Unfortunately the Scottish language wiki, and many of the other wikis for various languages, have few contributors and thus a bad apple can have an outsized impact.  The rogue contributor started out as a twelve year-old who thought that he was being helpful, and it wasn't until seven years and over  twenty thousand entries later that somebody finally noticed what was going on.  

And so, as we continue along in the season of "fake news" and QAnon conspiracies, keep some of these examples in mind.  If a couple of misguided kids and pranksters could rewrite people's memories and mess with an entire language, think about what the real baddies are doing on the Internet.

---

"Killing Eve," Year Three

Spoilers for the first episode.

Perhaps inevitably, "Killing Eve" is on a serious decline. Phoebe Waller Bridge long ago took a backseat creatively, now only remaining as executive producer. We have yet another new showrunner, Suzanne Heathcote, and a bunch of new characters to tangle with this year. After the second season finale killed off Eve, which we all knew wasn't going to stick, the premiere killed off Kenny instead, setting up the season's big mystery and a reason for all the big players to get back to work. Eve and Villanelle don't really address anything that happened last year, instead pursuing their own goals separately, despite multiple instigating events that seem designed to pit them against each other again. They don't get a decent scene together until near the end of the season.

Instead, the big theme this year is family. Carolyn loses her son, but immediately has an exasperating daughter Geraldine (Gemma Whelan) come home, who insists on reconnecting with her mum in the wake of the tragedy. Konstantin is putting together an exit plan to get himself and his daughter Irina (Yuli Lagodinsky) away from the Twelve, which is complicated by Villanelle learning about the plot and being a very bad influence on Irina. As for Villanelle, she's having an annoying existential crisis herself, while also trying to move on from assassin work and advance in the Twelve organization. She's put back in contact with her old trainer Dasha (Harriet Walker) and spends some time digging up parts of her past. Oh yes, we also get to meet Villanelle's family this year, because why not?

Notably, the one person who doesn't get to do much soul searching or reconnecting with any family is Eve, aside from a few brief check-ins with Niko. This is because "Killing Eve" is no longer about Eve, but the Villanelle show, with supporting appearances by Konstantin, who keeps escaping every attempt on his life for increasingly implausible reasons. And as the Villanelle show, there are some good episodes here and there, and some good kills. I really enjoy Carolyn's subplot this year, and just about everything to do with Dasha. Even Villanelle's weirdo family reunion is a decent watch as an individual episode. The trouble is that none of it adds up to a good season of television, and put in the context of the older episodes, it looks even worse. At this point the entire premise of the cat-and-mouse crime show has run its course, and the writers don't seem much interested in exploring Eve and Villanelle's twisted romantic relationship anymore, aside from a few very tame encounters. What remains feels mostly like filler.

I still like all the characters and the performances enough to keep watching, but "Killing Eve" desperately needs some course correction. It's already starting to repeat certain plot points, and Constantin has betrayed everyone at least twice by now. Several of the other regulars are forced into uncharacteristic behavior on very flimsy pretexts. Carolyn trying to tolerate the dramatics of her overly empathetic daughter starts out as funny, but quickly becomes tedious with repetition. Villanelle's dissatisfaction manifests in the usual destructive ways, but nothing really gets resolved. The new additions have some promise, but the show doesn't seem interested in developing any of them, instead relying on our fondness for the core cast. The production values are still strong, with Villanelle still appearing in all manner of fabulous outfits, and visiting the most picturesque parts of Europe, but the eye candy can only compensate for so much. And it infuriates me that Sandra Oh is given so little to do.

In short, "Killing Eve" is spinning its wheels and running out of reasons to continue being a series. I'll happily watch for another year or two if the show continues in the same vein, but more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. I really did love the first year of "Killing Eve" and was happily onboard for the second. Hopefully year three is just a temporary dip in quality instead of a permanent one.
---

Rank 'Em: Laika Studios

The Laika animation studio has been around for well over a decade now, and been responsible for some excellent animated films. It's good to see the tradition of stop-motion animation still being kept alive, though the Laika films have always been a little under the radar. Here are the five films they've released so far, ranked from best to most mediocre. I don't think there's a bad one in the bunch.

"Coraline" - The first, and still the best of Laika's films is this spooky horror tale, directed by Henry Selick and based on a book by Neil Gaiman. It's such a fantastically unsettling piece of work, with these nightmarish images and ideas - all beautifully handcrafted, of course. I also like that it pushes the boundaries of children's media a little, with a genuinely frightening villainess straight out of old school fairy tales, and just a touch of bawdy humor. "Coraline" was also instrumental in launching the recent 3D wave, a year before James Cameron's "Avatar," using the technology as a storytelling tool. When Coraline travels into the world of the Other Mother, the film suddenly gains entirely new dimensions of depth and volume that the stop-motion animation takes full advantage of.

"Paranorman" - This is an oddball film, a boys' adventure movie about a kid who can see and interact with the paranormal. The character designs are odd, the story is a little offbeat, and the whole look and tone of the production is weird. For most of its running time, "Paranorman" is very much a comedic zombie romp on roughly the same wavelength as "Scooby Doo," but then the final act swerves into much darker and melodramatic territory to great effect. The "Angry Aggie" sequence is technically amazing, and so emotionally charged in a way that rivals any feature made for adults. It's one of my favorite scenes from any animated media of that era. Also, I love that the reveal that one of the characters is gay is treated like such a non-issue, it's literally the punchline to a running gag.

"Missing Link" - I don't really understand why this is the most highly lauded Laika film to date. It's a perfectly good one, about a lonely Sasquatch who decides to go looking for his Yeti relatives after meeting a British explorer. The voice acting performances are very strong, and the story is a very charming one, but it doesn't stick out to me as one of Laika's better films. It's a perfectly safe sort of children's adventure film, with a great message, and fantastic production values, and there's nothing wrong with that. It reminds me an awful lot of the Aardman "Pirates!" movie because of the similar main characters, and because both films are much better than they seem at first glance. And of the three bigfoot-themed animated films that came out in 2018-2019, "Missing Link" is definitely the best.

"Kubo and the Two Strings" - It's not that I don't like "Kubo" or think that it's a terrible film, but I have a couple of major issues with it. The first is that it uses a Japanese fantasy context and doesn't really do the work of actually engaging with that culture except on the most superficial level. Second, the plotting is pretty slapdash, with a bungled ending. There's the potential for the film to hit the emotional highs of "Coraline" and "Paranorman," and it certainly tries to reach that, but I don't think it ever got there. On a technical and aesthetic level, however, the film is an animated marvel. There are so many gorgeous visuals here, from the origami figures to the giant puppet foe. And I love the Regina Spektor cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that plays over the end credits sequence.

"Boxtrolls" - Here's another case of a film that has all the right elements in place, but never quite figures out how to make the best use of them. I like the idea of the boxtrolls, and their funny little community where you're named after whatever kind of box you adopt - resulting in a main character named "Eggs" - but the plotting is a mess, and the villain often comes across as more sympathetic than the lead. My favorite part of the film is the credits sequence, where two minor characters are having an existential discussion while also showing off the Laika animation process.
---

"Homecoming," Year Two

Minor spoilers for the first season.

Amazon's "Homecoming" is one of those shows that probably should have stayed a limited series. Its primary selling points were its star, Julia Roberts, and its director, Sam Esmail. Neither are involved with the second season, though writers Eli Horowitz & Micah Bloomberg remain onboard. Esmail has been replaced by the perfectly serviceable Kyle Patrick Alvarez, while our leading lady is now Janelle Monae, playing a new character, Jackie.

Jackie wakes up in a rowboat on a lake, with no memory of who she is or how she got there. A string of clues and encounters leads her to believe that she was with a man named Alex who attacked her, and there's some connection to the company Geist, which was behind the Homecoming program in the first season. Returning cast members include Hong Chau as Audrey Temple, who has been bumped up to almost a co-lead, and Stephan James as Walter Cruz. A few other familiar faces make brief appearances. New characters include Geist's founder Leonard (Chris Cooper), and a Department of Defense representative, Bunda (Joan Cusack).

It's rare that a puzzle box mystery series unfolds quite as mechanically as this season of "Homecoming" does. The first two episodes (of seven) show Jackie working her way from the boat to the offices of Geist, uncovering one odd thing after another, and setting up a series of questions. Who was trying to call her when she accidentally dropped her phone in the lake? Why did she and Alex have a fight the previous day in a local bar? Why is there a cantaloupe in Alex's hotel room? The next four episodes set about showing us exactly what happened through flashbacks and answering all those questions. The revelations are neatly spaced out enough to be satisfying over multiple episodes, but there's also a maddening shallowness to the narrative. "Homecoming" feels too preoccupied with plot mechanics to really give enough time and attention to its characters. And that's frustrating, because there's no shortage of acting talent here, and the setup has plenty of potential.

With only seven half-hour episodes this year (down from ten), the show is streamline down to the essentials. It doesn't have many pauses in the action, and there are barely any notable side characters. It maintains a sinister mood and keeps the established storytelling device of ending every episode on an extended static shot - sort of a visual ellipsis. However, I came away from this season feeling like I hadn't gotten to know Jackie and Audrey nearly as well as I should. There's a big, audacious ending that doesn't quite feel earned, because the show doesn't spend enough time with Walter Cruz.

The show retains its high production values, and accomplishes the rare trick of being accessible to newcomers, because its mystery is fairly self-contained. However, it never manages the same degree of thrills or is nearly as visually or aurally striking as the first season. Losing Julia Roberts was unfortunate, but Sam Esmail's exit had a much bigger impact on the show. Gone are the Hitchcock and Kubrick influences, and the stylistic idiosyncrasies that remain feel like they're just there to maintain consistency with the first season.

The performances are still good enough that they make the season worth the watch. Janelle Monae is very good, playing two different sides of the same coin to great effect. While I like the Audrey character here, and Hong Chau does a nice job of giving her some moral shading, I also think that taking her in a more conventional direction from the previous season is a bit of a disappointment. Cooper and Cusack both managed to make the best of their limited screentime, and I wish that we'd gotten more of them.

"Homecoming" was such an unusual, singular series when it premiered, and I'm not surprised that the new season is much less ambitious and seems to have lost a great deal of nerve. It often feels more like a side-story or a half-hearted epilogue than a proper continuation. For those who enjoy mystery shows and for fans of the main actors, it has its charms, but they're pretty minor ones. If Amazon wants the series to continue, they have some work to do.
---

"Altered Carbon," Year Two

Minor spoilers ahead

The body-swapping, practically immortal badass Takeshi Kovacs is back, this time in a new "sleeve" played by Anthony Mackie. Thirty years after the first series of "Altered Carbon," he's returned to his old haunts on the planet of Harlan's World, taking on a new murder mystery, while continuing his quest to find his old flame, Quellcrist Falconer (Renee Elise Goldberry). Among Tak's allies are a mercenary, Trepp (Simone Missick), Tak's old AI pal Poe (Chris Conner), Poe's new AI friend Dig 301 (Dina Shihabi), and yakuza boss Tanaseda Hideki (James Saito). The season's villains include a corrupt politician, Danica Harlan (Lela Loren), and the commander of an elite military force, Colonel Ivan Carrera (Torben Liebrecht). A few other old faces also return, but I'll leave viewers to discover in what capacity.

Despite a new leading man and a significant time skip, this series of "Altered Carbon" is clearly a continuation of the first series and takes pains to ensure viewers are aware of all the connections. Quite a few members of the original cast return, some in expanded roles, and we're yet again following Tak on an adventure that has an awful lot of connections to his and Quell's past as doomed revolutionaries. What's different is the tone of the show, now more concerned with romances and personal relationships than sci-fi worldbuilding. There's still plenty of angst and flashy violence and grungy cyberpunk aesthetics, but the universe feels a little smaller and more familiar. It's less exploratory and more concerned with examining its existing concepts. The budget has also noticeably been trimmed, resulting in fewer elaborate sets, a smaller cast, and less fancy CGI.

I like Anthony Mackie here, but his Takeshi Kovacs is more subdued and less imposing than the first season version played by Joel Kinnaman. This helps in his quieter scenes with Renee Elise Goldberry, but in others he tends to be overshadowed by the more bombastic performers, like Missick and Conner. And speaking of Conner, while I'm glad that Poe was carried over from the first series, I don't think giving him a bigger role was the best idea. He's much less interesting with a more conventional set of problems, given a new love interest and saddled with a nasty glitch that causes memory loss and time gaps. Goldberry, on the other hand, greatly benefits from more screen time and prominence, after essentially being promoted to a secondary protagonist. The character of Quellchrist is so outsized, she should be impossible to play, but Goldberry had no trouble convincing me she was a legendary warrior and scientific genius.

However, what I continue to appreciate "Altered Carbon" for the most is its willingness to engage with more complex science-fiction concepts. This series might be more simplified and streamlined than the last one, with only eight episodes and some really single-minded villains, but it's still full of body-swapping, needle casting, stacks, clones, synths, nanobots, AIs, virtual worlds, and a few new tricks too. The mystery is well laid out, and the investigation leads to some interesting new corners of the "Altered Carbon" universe. It's still also unusually violent and brutal, and committed to casting a variety of diverse faces. Having a sweeping, epic romance between two black leads in a science-fiction show is still rare enough that having the love scenes between Mackie and Goldberry feels like a win.

If the show continues, however, I'll be glad for Tak to leave his past further in the distance, and hopefully for a change of scenery. While I don't mind the proliferation of dank bars and prison cells, "Altered Carbon" is looking a little too much like every other sci-fi show out there these days, especially next to the "Star Trek" revival shows and "The Expanse." However, I'll gladly deliver kudos to the excellent fight and gun battle sequences, and a showstopper of a deus ex machina. When the show wants to deliver its wow moments, it definitely still knows how. Here's hoping that Netflix decides to bring this one back sooner rather than later.

---

Huzzah for "The Great"

"The Great," covering the rise to power of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, is pointedly self-described as "an occasionally true story." In fact, there's not much of "The Great" that resembles actual history except the broadest outlines. The series starts with Catherine (Elle Fanning) arriving at the Russian court after growing up an impoverished German noble, full of progressive ideals and dreams of bettering Russia. These dreams are quickly dashed when she meets her new husband, Peter III (Nicholas Hoult), a childish, narcissist reprobate with little regard for his subjects. Catherine tries her best to settle into court life, but is increasingly appalled at Peter's poor leadership and casual abuse of power. After considering her options, she decides to work toward a coup to take power for herself.

Written by Tony McNamara, who also wrote "The Favourite," "The Great" is played as the blackest black comedy. Peter is constantly abusing people, is often totally oblivious to his incompetence, and devotes most of his energies to having the best time possible. He has sex with anyone he wants, including his best friend Grigor's (Gwilym Lee) very willing wife Georgina (Charity Wakefiend). Catherine's early attempts at reform tend to go terribly awry, and end up further subjugating people or causing unintended tragedy. There's a lot of sex and bawdiness in the series, but the show draws the line at actual nudity. Likewise, while "The Great" covers similar thematic ground as "The Favourite," with its focus on the vulgar excesses and absurd privilege of the ruling class, its narrative is more traditional. Catherine never stops being morally forthright, and we already know that she wins in the end.

On the other hand, this Catherine is clearly invented. The real Catherine the Great didn't spearhead the coup of Peter III, and was actually less of a progressive and a reformer than her husband. Likewise, nearly all the other characters and relationships in the show are totally made up. The only supporting figures based on actual people are Peter's Aunt Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow) and Catherine's first major ally, Count Orlo (Sacha Dhawan), and they're portrayed as a wacky eccentric and a nervous bureaucrat respectively. Other characters include Catherine's sarcastic maid Marial (Phoebe Fox), her assigned lover Leo (Sebastian de Souza), and members of Peter's inner circle, the Archbishop (Adam Godley) and General Velementov (Douglas Hodge).

However, the point of the show is its inaccuracy. There's colorblind casting, so you have black and South-Asian Russian nobles in the mix, and everyone speaks with British accents. There are major honking anachronisms in just about every episode. "The Great" is not interested in Catherine the Great's life as it really was, but as a jumping off point for a big, juicy allegory about an inept government heading a country mired in corruption. It takes more inspiration from the Trump administration and episodes of "Veep" than the Russian court. However, because the series is so frank in showing Peter's rampant vices and celebration of his own ignorance, it feels more honest and clear-eyed about the politics of tyranny than a traditional piece of historical fiction. And it's certainly funnier.

This could have all fallen apart if the cast weren't up to snuff, but fortunately the assembled comic talents all bring their A game. Elle Fanning's Catherine is mostly the voice of reason and straight woman to the madness going on at court, but she's a very compelling and sympathetic character, with her own considerable faults. Her monologue about her expectations for her wedding night is fantastic stuff. However, the clear MVP of the series is Nicholas Hoult, whose Peter III is essentially an oblivious frat boy who has been handed all the power, and it's made him a monster. Still, he's frequently so genial and weirdly innocent in his monstrosity that he's kinda likeable in spite of it. Surely, he's not totally irredeemable, right?

The show's writing initially seems a little shaky on filling ten episodes, and there are slower stretches as Catherine vacillates between whether she should kill Peter or better him. Fortunately, there's some smart use of the ensemble, and many of the subplots yield good things. Even the romance that develops between Catherine and Leo, while very predictable, has some good twists and turns. McNamara is very good at turning very stressful situations into very absurd ones, and the dialogue is full of great zingers. One of the best episodes involves Peter and Catherine meeting the Swedish royals, who are essentially blonder doubles of themselves, and Peter gets a great rant about the Russian approach to warfare.

My one major complaint with "The Great" is that it's currently being billed as a miniseries, but functions better as the first season of an ongoing series. The finale, in particular, is a cliffhanger that leaves far too many questions unanswered, whether you know the relevant history or not.

---

The Posts I Didn't Write Today, 2020 Edition

There are a handful of recent entertainment and media items in the news that I've been toying with writing up posts for, but don't have enough to say about them to actually fill up more than a paragraph or two.  On the other hand, these are major stories that are going to have long-lasting implications, and I feel strongly that I really should put down something about them on this blog at this point in time.  So, cue the brief takes on three topics below, hopefully to be expanded on later. 

 

Paramount Consent Decrees -  Last week, a New York federal judge granted a motion by the U.S. Department of Justice to end the Paramount Consent Decrees, a set of court-established rules that were put in place after the 1948 United States v. Paramount Pictures antitrust case to end the vertical integration of film exhibition.  What this means in practical terms is that after seven decades, the major film studios are allowed to directly own movie theaters again and negotiate licensing films via "block booking" instead of individually.  The potential impact on film exhibition and theater owners is huge, since it's a struggling industry that's seen a  lot of clashes over the past few years between what the studios want - shorter exclusivity windows, bigger cuts of ticket sales - and what the theaters want.  

There has been a lot of speculation about a major studio will buy a major theater chain, that smaller theaters will be driven out of business, and that we'll see further consolidation of the industry due to the deregulatory action.  With Corona already hitting the industry hard, the decision will make it easier for a big player like Amazon to swoop in and acquire a lot of screens for cheap.  There's also the worry that the studios will go back to limiting the distribution of their films to the specific theaters that they own - and considering some of the draconian business Disney has gotten up to lately, it's pretty likely.    On the other hand, it's no longer 1948 and the exhibition business has changed significantly.  The new ruling pointed out that movie theaters were now competing with all manner of other media platforms, including streaming services and television, and removing some of the restrictions might be beneficial to help them stay open.   It's much too early to say for sure, but this is something that all movie lovers should be keeping an eye on.  

Cancelling Ellen - Now, let's shift gears over to daytime television.  I've never been a regular viewer of the "Ellen" program, but I do remember the early days when Ellen DeGeneres managed to fill the void left by the departure of Oprah Winfrey with a little  positivity, a little dancing, and a lot of celebrity fluff.  "Ellen" has now been on the air for seventeen years, and appears to be the latest battleground of the #Metoo movement.  Prompted by a bitter dispute over coronavirus shutdown pay, staffers have alleged that the show is a toxic workplace, completely counter to the "be kind" philosophy espoused by the host.  There have been claims of sexual misconduct, racism, bias, and hostility.  Though none of the more serious claims are tied to DeGeneres personally, many stories about her being cold, rude, and irresponsible are now in circulation.  Various celebrities have taken sides, both for and against.  

There are a lot of lenses you can look at this story through.  Ellen DeGeneres is viewed as something of a role model for being one of the most prominent and successful lesbian performers in the entertainment industry.  How much responsibility should she have for the actions of her producers and other bad actors?  Should people be holding her to a higher standard?  Is she allowed to be "cold" in person despite her effervescent stage persona?  Is this cancel culture run amok?  Is this a case of a hypocrite being rightfully called out?  Or have the times just changed, and another former trailblazer has gotten complacent and failed to change with them?  At the time of writing, "Ellen" ratings have taken a dive, but there's no indication that the show will go off the air anytime soon.       

Streamers Status Quo - There has been an explosion of new streaming services making their debuts in the last few months, the most prominent being HBO Max, Quibi, and Peacock.  With Apple TV+ and Disney+ not having been launched all that long ago, and many, many other smaller services all offering free trials - what the heck is Topic? - we are now fully in the streaming age.  A flood of new content has come with it, even with coronavirus having caused many delays and setbacks.  These new platforms have all taken a slightly different approach from each other, to varying degrees of success.     

How are the newbies doing?  So far, there's one clear loser: Quibi.  The service features short form content to be consumed by people on the go, like commuters or people stuck in lines.  So, it's essentially Youtube with flashier content.  People have not been biting.  Apple TV+  is sticking to its strategy of quality over quantity, with a small handful of hits and a subscriber base mostly comprised of people who get Apple TV+ subscriptions free with new Apple devices.  Peacock is following the Hulu model of replicating free TV with commercials, with a smaller commercial-free pay service tier.  It's doing okay, despite the cancellation of the Olympics which were supposed to be the big draw over the summer.  HBO Max, which I continue to keep confusing with HBO Now, is harder to parse, because it's trying to roll one subscriber base into another, and is still hammering out distribution deals with Roku and Amazon, but AT&T is doggedly moving forward with expansion plans.  Disney+ is the big winner, with over 50 million subscribers, and is on the hustle for more new content to keep them all happy.  

---

My Favorite Robert Stevenson Film

Robert Stevenson is one of those invisible directors, whose work is extremely popular, but who never saw much individual acclaim. Most people have almost certainly seen one of his films, but have no idea who he is. This is because, of course, his most famous work was done with Walt Disney Pictures during the '50s and '60s. Stevenson was responsible for some of the key titles that made Disney such a successful producer of live-action films during that era. In 1977, Variety called him "the most commercially successful director in the history of films," for helming family favorites like "Mary Poppins," "The Love Bug," and "Old Yeller."

Much of Stevenson's success at Disney was due to his ability to blend fantasy and reality, to work with special effects, animated sequences, wild comedy, and grounded melodrama. His productions often required coordinating many teams of talented artists. Easily his biggest success was with "Mary Poppins," which netted him a Best Director Oscar nomination in 1961. Disney tried to duplicate the success of the film in subsequent years, eventually producing "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" with much of the same creative team seven years later. And while I always enjoyed "Mary Poppins," it was "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" that really captured my attention as a child. Critical reaction was much less enthusiastic, however, leading to over twenty minutes of the film being excised for general release - though a reconstruction of the original version was created in 1996.

"Bedknobs and Broomstick" has plenty of spectacle. There are two sections of the film where the live action actors interact with animated characters and environments. There are several elaborate special effects sequences where inanimate objects are brought to life with a magic "Substitutiary Locomotion" spell. This includes the big action climax, where suits of ancient armor are recruited to defend the British coastline from invading Nazis. The soundtrack is full of Sherman brothers songs, plus a major dance number in the "Portobello Road" segment that originally ran for ten minutes, before being significantly trimmed back. While the lead actors didn't have the star power of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, they're perfectly cast. I adore David Tomlinson and Professor Emilius Brown, a genial con-man and showman, and it's utterly astounding that this is one of Angela Lansbury's only leading screen roles.

Critics of the time pointed to the film's darker tone being a mismatch for the more earnest Disney fantasy elements and silly cartoon antics. However, I saw the film at a time when I appreciated that the children were a little older, their circumstances more unfortunate, and the dangers they faced were more harrowing. The film is set during WWII, just after the Blitz, and most of the characters are presented as working or lower class. And while a magical nanny is all well and good, learning to be a middle-aged spinster witch like Miss Price struck me as much more interesting. The film may have its more sober moments, including a tense final act when the Nazis show up, but it's never glum. The episodic structure means that the film is easily broken down into discrete adventures that showcase a broad range of tones and moods, but I found the heroes consistent and enjoyable. Lansbury and Tomlinson give such appealing performances, I was never bored when they were onscreen. And, keep in mind that they were competing with a passel of cartoon animals, magically mobilized items of clothing, and an enchanted flying bed.

The level of the craft and the attention to detail in the film is such a delight. There's the title sequence designed to look like the Bayeux Tapestry, foreshadowing the film's ending. There's the ridiculous soccer match on the Isle of Naboombu, where the animal players have so much personality and liveliness. There's the little visual gags in every sequence, from "Portobello Road" to the finale, where the empty suits of armor are chanting "Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee" as they pummel their hapless foes. And there's the famous bedknob, which is turned into an object of wonder with a few keen sound and lighting effects.

Despite his successes, Robert Stevenson never seemed to catch the spotlight. He made nineteen films in his two decades at Disney, and was at the time one of the highest paid directors in Hollywood. I also seriously considered writing this post about Stevenson's 1943 adaptation of "Jane Eyre" with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine, where his contributions were famously overshadowed by Welles' involvement. However, if the lack of credit bothered Stevenson, I can't find much evidence of it. Instead, he seemed to get along with everyone, greatly enjoyed making crowd-pleasers, and credited filmmaking as a team effort.

In short, he was the original Disney tentpole director, and quietly more of an influence on modern filmmaking than many of the bigger names we all know.

What I've Seen - Robert Stevenson

Jane Eyre (1943)
Old Yeller (1957)
Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
The Absent-Minded Professor (1961)
In Search of the Castaways (1962)
Son of Flubber (1963)
Mary Poppins (1964)
That Darn Cat! (1965)
Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)
The Love Bug (1968)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Herbie Rides Again (1974)
---

Mourning the Movie Year That Wasn't

At the time of writing, movie theaters largely remain closed across the country, and all the major releases continue to be pushed back later and later into the fall.  Hollywood is facing the grim reality that theatrical exhibition is not going back to normal any time soon.  Production has resumed in some places, mostly overseas, but the backlog of unreleased films has only been growing.  More and more films are embracing hybrid PVOD and theatrical releases, and several will be released overseas first.  Others are going to Netflix, Hulu, or other online platforms.  We're seeing lots of experimentation with online distribution, like Disney's scheme for the live-action "Mulan," which requires paying a hefty additional fee on top of a Disney+ subscription.

And, as the potential window for more 2020 theatrical releases gets smaller and smaller, I've been daydreaming about the 2020 movie year the way it was going to be back in  January, with a new James Bond movie set for April, and a new Christopher Nolan movie set for July.  And the entertainment industry sure did try to stay optimistic for the first few months, until the coronavirus case numbers started spiking at the end of June, and "Tenet" finally gave up its original release date, moving later in the summer.  All plans and schedules are tentative now, because we simply don't know how this is going to play out.  I can easily see the theatrical exhibition hiatus lasting a full calendar year or more.  And it's been kind of heartbreaking to watch the 2020 movie schedule slowly disintegrate before my eyes.    

This was supposed to be the year that female superhero movies really got their moment, with "Black Widow" and "Wonder Woman 1984" primed to be the big summer tentpoles, putting claims about the non-viability of female-lead and female-directed action films to bed permanently.  Instead, only Warners' "Birds of Prey" movie was actually released, and it underperformed pretty significantly.  Some of this can be blamed on the film not getting to complete its theatrical run, but the optics are pretty glum.  And it's a shame, because I want a sequel.  Chloe Zhao's "The Eternals" has also been pushed back to next year in the big shuffle of Marvel Phase Four.

This was supposed to be the year of black horror films.  In addition to the "Candyman" sequel from Nia DaCosta, and Janelle Monae in "Antebellum," several older properties are being rebooted with black leads.  "The Witches" has Octavia Spencer fighting Anne Hathaway's Grand High Witch, and the new "Saw" movie, "Spiral," stars Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson.  "Candyman" released a chilling shadow puppet animation segment a few weeks ago that has me excited.   Speaking of Chris Rock, at least I'll be able to see him soon as the lead of the fourth season of "Fargo" - delayed several months to September.  I'm also happy that "Bad Hair" has found a home on Hulu.

This was supposed to be the year that Paramount Pictures got their groove back, with sequels to "Top Gun," "A Quiet Place," and "Coming to America," and action films "Snake Eyes" and "The Tomorrow War" on their slate.  Instead, they've sold the rom-com "The Lovebirds" and one of their major Oscar contenders, Aaron Sorkin's "The Trial of the Chicago 7," to Netflix.  "Sonic the Hedgehog" did come out in February and did very well, but everything else is on hold.

This was supposed to be a great year for high concept science-fiction films.  Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" and Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" were among my most highly anticipated titles of the year.  I also had strong hopes for Miguel Sapochnik's "BIOS" and Chris McKay's "The Tomorrow War," both delayed to next year at the earliest.    

This was supposed to be a great year for musicals, with "In the Heights" and "West Side Story" on the way.  We did get the filmed version of the "Hamilton" stage show with the original cast early, thanks to Disney+, so there's that.  

And, good grief, I really want to see "Last Night in Soho," and "Soul," and "No Time to Die" and "Godzilla vs. Kong" and "Promising Young Woman," and even "New Mutants."  I should be watching Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" right now.  

Most of the bigger movies that were scheduled for 2020 are going to come out eventually, though it looks like the U.S. will be last in line thanks to extended theater closures.  However, release schedules are currently a mess.  Trailers and ad campaigns are mostly suspended due to the uncertainty of when specific movies are actually going to make it to screens.  Smaller titles are falling through the cracks, and many upcoming projects that were in the pre-production or even the production stages are getting cancelled.  

Finally, I've become very, very appreciative of Netflix, which may not be turning out the best movies, but "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" came along just when I needed it.  I never thought I'd be so happy to see a goofy Will Ferrell comedy that should have come out in 2005, but here we are.   

---

"Trolls: World Tour" and "Scoob!"

So, since it looks like a couple of CGI kids' films are not going to kill theatrical exhibition as we know it, I suppose I should still put down a few thoughts on the films themselves. And no, I didn't pay the $20 for the PVOD releases.

First, the trolls of "Trolls" are back for a new adventure, this time ditching the Bergens and exploring the different tribes of trolls throughout the world, each related to a different style of music. Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) turn out to be Pop trolls, and they learn that there are also Classical, Country, Techno, Funk, and Rock trolls, with a bunch of subgroups and outliers running around too. The Rock trolls have been causing trouble because their leader, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), has decided to take over and assimilate all the other groups. So, of course, Poppy and Branch set out to save the day.

The original "Trolls" movie was a fun surprise because it was so bizarre and unexpected, full of strange design and story choices. "World Tour" dials this way down, opting instead for a very straightforward parable about learning to appreciate everybody's differences. The worldbuilding is very shallow and relies on a lot of stereotyping and basic gags. This is also very much a jukebox musical like "Sing," built on lots of little snippets of Top 40 favorites. I don't think there are any original songs this time out, or even any songs that are sung in full. However, it's all executed with good energy and plenty of colorful animation. It's nothing fancy, but it's well-made, with enough fun details to keep adults amused and children engaged. However, the wild creativity of the first film often feels a little short in supply.

Still, this is more than I can say for "Scoob!" which is Warners' attempt to relaunch the "Scooby-Doo" franchise. The first thirty minutes or so are fine, showing how Scooby (Frank Welker) and Shaggy (Frank Welker) first met as kids, and formed Mystery Inc. with their pals Fred (Zac Efron), Daphne (Amanda Seyfried), and Velma (Gina Rodriguez). However, things take a turn for the worse when it turns out that "Scoob!" is a surprise crossover with at least three other Hanna Barbera franchises from the '70s. First, there's the superhero team of Dynomutt (Ken Jeong) and the Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), then you've got appearances from Captain Caveman (Tracy Morgan) and Dee Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemons), and finally the big villain turns out to be none other than Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs) from "Wacky Races," sadly without his canine conspirator Muttley (Billy West).

This is the weirdest, and mostly unlikely reboot I've seen in recent years, because it's so uneven and doesn't seem to have a good grasp on who it's aimed at. The early parts of "Scoob!" focusing on the Mystery Inc. gang are fine, and make for a perfectly good introduction to this universe for kids. As someone who was never really a fan of the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons, I appreciated getting a solid little origin story in the opening act. However, the rest of the movie is far too concerned with pop culture references, snarky meta humor, and action-adventure set pieces to the point where it doesn't feel much like a "Scooby-Doo" mystery at all. For most of the adventure, Scooby and Shaggy are hanging out with Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, while the rest of Mystery Inc. is doing the actual mystery solving. I've also gotta question the film leaning so heavily on references to the older characters who have largely exited mainstream culture - though Dick Dastardly is by far the best thing about this movie.

I'll give the creators points for adding all the little references and callbacks to the "Scooby-Doo" and other Hanna Barbera cartoons where appropriate. The old sound effects and catchphrases get trotted out, and there's even an "eyes in the dark" sequence. The Mystery Inc. characters redesigned for CGI look just fine, even if the animation is on the cheaper side, and I like the updates to their characters. Velma's in charge, Daphne's not useless, and Fred has been demoted to being the muscle, but he's so much more loveable as the muscle. As for Shaggy and Scooby, well, their goofy charms still elude me, but seem more or less intact. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing these versions of the characters again - but maybe next time in a proper Scooby-Doo movie.

---

And What Didn't Make My Top Ten Films of 2019

As a companion piece to my Top Ten list, every year I write a post to discuss some of the other major films that got a lot of attention, in order to give some context to my own choices. I find that writing this type of analysis piece helpful when working out how I feel about my list and the year in film as a whole. It's also usually a lot of fun. Please note that I will not be writing about films listed among my honorable mentions, like "1917" or "Portrait of a Lady on Fire."

Let's start with the major award contenders. "The Irishman" was very high up on my list at one point, but the longer I thought about it, the less I realized I liked it, and I'd been giving it so much consideration mostly out of obligation. Still, I wish Joe Pesci had won that Oscar. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" just wasn't for me, and stands out as one of my bigger disappointments of last year, especially since I'd spent so much time watching films from the late '60s fairly recently. Quentin Tarantino has a very specific fantasy of Hollywood in that era that I just wasn't all that interested in. "Joker" got way more attention than it deserved, and I liked it fine as a Scorsese homage. However, it was pretty awful as a Batman flick.

"Knives Out" is an interesting movie, one that was both a critical and popular hit. I liked it fine, and I think it may be Rian Johnson's most consistent, well-executed movie to date. And that's about the extent of my interest in it. I was really rooting for "Rocketman" at one point, and thought Taron Edgerton was fantastic. All the usual biopic cliches that the movie indulged in kept it off my final list, but I still thought it was stronger than more typical programmers like "Ford v. Ferrari," "The Two Popes," and "Bombshell." I think I was much more enthusiastic about "Harriet" than most, but the movie's shortcomings were pretty glaring. And then there's "Ad Astra," which amassed a lot of ardent supporters. I'm glad the movie got made and found an audience, but I just couldn't get past the Malick-style internal monologue choices or the puzzling ending.

There was a good batch of foreign films from 2019, but some of the favorites eluded me. "Pain and Glory" was Almodovar being self-reflective and nostalgic, and I loved parts of it, but found the central character difficult to connect to. France's "Les Misérables" and "Synonyms" were bold, incendiary stuff that left me impressed at their daring but unmoved. I suspect that cultural barriers were why "Atlantics," "Monos," and "The Souvenir" all went a bit over my head. "Transit" had an unnecessarily confusing set of conceits that I felt undercut the film a bit. After "High Life," I think I'm just going to have to admit that Claire Denis and I are just never going to see eye to eye. And while I couldn't justify putting in on the list, I'm so glad for "Varda by Agnes."

Among the more popular releases, "Booksmart" was a lot of fun, but raunchy teen dramas are just never going to be my thing. I felt "Midsommar" wasted its excellent cast, though the movie looked spectacular. And though "Hustlers" did a lot of things right, I also felt that it was making far too many excuses for its leading ladies. Finally, "Avengers: Endgame" was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, and I won't begrudge it an iota of its success. The rest of the global box office being dominated by a parade of sad Disney sequels and remakes, however, makes me queasy. Well, I'll also make an exception for "Toy Story 4." That franchise can go on for as long as it likes.

Movies that just missed the honorable mentions include "Wild Rose," "Honeyland," and "The Art of Self Defense."

And that's my 2019 in movies.
---

My Top Ten Films of 2019

Boy oh boy, its been a long road to get here. I saw a lot of films for 2019, and almost everything I wanted to see was available via online rentals eventually - though wrangling multiple sources and subscriptions could be challenging. At this point, the only roadblock is a familiar one - waiting for those last few foreign films every summer, like Ladj Ly's "Les Miserables."

My criteria for eligibility require that a film must have been released in its own home country during 2019, so film festivals and other special screenings don't count. Picks are unranked and listed in no particular order, previously posted reviews are linked where available, and the "Plus One" spot is reserved for the best film of the previous year that I didn't manage to see in time for the last list. And here we go.

Little Women - I don't think this is the definitive film version of the story, but it's the right one for 2019. Greta Gerwig is able to highlight so many resonant themes, and show the classic characters in a modern light, while retaining everything that's made them so endearing to so many readers. The assembled cast is so passionate, and the 19th century New England setting so lovingly recreated, I find it impossible not to keep falling in love with this film.

Parasite - Bong Joon-ho's allegorical tale of a poor family conning their way into a rich household is full of wild twists, morbid humor, biting satire, and wonderfully imperfect characters. It's not just that the filmmaking is so fearless, and the storytelling so sharp, but that "Parasite" manages to cross multiple genres in a way that makes it totally unpredictable and consistently engrossing. Even among director Bong's other films, this one is in a class by itself.

Marriage Story - It's good to see Noah Baumbach getting more forgiving with age. The most tragic part of "Marriage Story" is that the protagonists still love each other, and neither one is wrong for wanting what they want. It's painful to watch Charlie and Nicole resort to more and more extreme hostilities, but along the way there are so many laughs, so many touching human moments, and both characters manage to come out a bit better in the end.

Us - "Us" is a film that you can take apart, almost frame by frame, finding meaning in all the little details from the character names to the sinister hip-hop song that serves as the main theme. It's not as well-conceived as "Parasite," but Jordan Peel's genre take on the American class divide is just as potent and impactful in its own way. The horror imagery is deeply resonant and disturbing, and Lupita Nyong'o's performance is the stuff of nightmares.

Bacurau - A Brazilian genre film that is all about subverting expectations and sticking it to the man - well, the man in this case being the forces of Western decadence and government corruption. It takes a while for premise to be established, but once everything is revealed and starts paying off, "Bacurau" becomes one of the most satisfying watches of the year. The filmmaking is a little rough around the edges, but that's completely thematically appropriate.

One Child Nation - Everyone knows about China's "One Child Policy" in theory, but it's another thing to see the mechanisms and the consequences of the policy up close. Nanfu Wang explores the topic through her own family's experiences, revealing the far reaching impact and damage that was wrought on both individuals and Chinese society at large. Wang's interview with an elderly midwife who helped to enforce the policy is especially illuminating.

Jojo Rabbit - Maintaining a delicate balance to avoid falling into the traps of being too cloying, too silly, or too serious, Taika Waititi tackles the eyebrow-raising story of a ten year-old Nazi with plenty of charm, humor, and intelligence. It's helpful to think of the film in terms of the audience it's trying to reach - the impressionable youngsters who, once again, mistakenly think that the Fascists were cool. And it kills me that Waititi decided to play Hitler himself.

I Lost My Body - I've never seen an animated film quite like this one, that manages to seamlessly blend the fantastical with the mundane, telling an impossible story in fairly realistic terms. The story of Naofel and his lost hand is a sad, deeply personal narrative, and yet the filmmakers manage to work in action, humor, and a beautiful, life-affirming ending. This was a great surprise, and along with "Klaus," a great example of 2019's gains in indie feature animation.

The Lighthouse - Sometimes it takes a maniac to get a certain kind of movie made. And for a movie that is so utterly, uncompromisingly an original auteurist vision, steeped in centuries-old influences, and yet has a sense of humor and yen for the ghastly that is unmistakably modern, you need a director like Robert Eggers. And Willem Dafoe at his most elemental certainly helps. "The Lighthouse" is too obscure, too niche, and too goddamn weird to exist otherwise.

Dolemite is My Name - I'm generally wary of showbiz biopics, but the return of Eddie Murphy is such a breath of fresh air, and the life of Rudy Ray Moore makes for such a perfect underdog story. The themes and messages may be a little blunt, but they're in the context of such a feel-good, celebratory paean to filmmaking that I couldn't resist. I don't enjoy the original "Dolemite," not being its intended audience, but the tale of its making looks like a classic to me.

Honorable Mentions:

A Hidden Life
1917
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Nightingale
Sorry We Missed You
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
The Farewell
Aniara
Doctor Sleep
Uncut Gems

Plus One

Shadow (Ying)

---

"Never, Maybe, Sometimes, Always," and "The Assistant"

We've seen a good uptick in films addressing the social challenges faced by young women recently, and it's been encouraging to see that many of these projects are being directed and written by women. Two recent examples are "Never, Maybe, Sometimes, Always," and "The Assistant," which look at abortion access and the concerns of the #Metoo movement.

"Never, Maybe, Sometimes, Always," written and directed by Eliza Hittman, follows a Pennsylvania teenager named Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) in her efforts to secure an abortion. She has several hurdles to get past - parental permission requirements in her state, a shady family planning outfit that gives her bad information, and no money to pay for a procedure or transportation. However, Autumn does have her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) on her side, who accompanies her on a secret trip to an abortion clinic in New York.

What strikes me as so effective about the film is that it completely sidesteps all the usual moral and politicall arguments about abortion rights and simply focuses on the experiences of one teenager in a difficult situation. The ordeal is often nerve wracking, from the girls staying up all night in the city because they can't afford a hotel room, to Autumn struggling to get through a series of questions on a clinic intake form. Autumn is quiet and doesn't offer much information about herself until asked directly. Even then, we never get the whole picture about her circumstances. I like that the film allows her to keep that measure of privacy, and treats her reasons for pursuing the abortion as ultimately nobody else's business.

The filmmaking here is very low budget and no-frills, to the point where certain clips could be mistaken for "Frontline" documentary footage. However, it does a good job of highlighting the performances of the talented cast. Sidney Flanigan is excellent as Autumn, often conveying a lot about her emotional state with hardly a word. And while the film takes pains to be true to life, it's also very effective at delivering plenty of dramatic tension and unexpected pathos. There's no doubt that "Never, Maybe, Sometimes, Always" is an issue film through and through, but it never feels manipulative or insincere because it also works remarkably well as a character study too. I'd put this one right in the same class as Ken Loach's and the Dardennes brothers' films about the working poor.

"The Assistant," written and directed by Kitty Green, also features a quiet, mild-mannered female lead. This is Jane (Julia Garner), a recent graduate who works as an assistant to a powerful film executive. You never see her boss directly, just a quickly passing figure or an angry voice on the phone. However, his presence hangs heavy over the film, as Jane and her fellow assistants (Noah Robbins, Jon Orsini) are constantly dealing with the fallout of his behavior. There are the frequent calls from an irate wife, and the evidence of multiple affairs and casual encounters. When a new assistant, Sienna (Kristine Froseth), arrives under suspicious circumstances, Jane finally decides to bring her concerns to HR (Matthew MacFayden).

Not knowing much about "The Assistant" going in, I was expecting a thriller or a more typical potboiler melodrama. I watched the opening scenes of Jane going into the office, and going about a typical, humdrum day, waiting for the pace to pick up and the action to start. This never really happened. Instead, I watched Jane go about her business as an overworked, underappreciated personal assistant, completing one dull task after another while trying to ignore - and occasionally apologize for - her boss's horrible behavior. Sexual harassment and misconduct are major elements of the plot, but kept offscreen and Jane is never directly involved. There's no background music and very subdued production design, adding to the mundanity, but the tension keeps building and building until it becomes unbearable.

"The Assistant" proved to be a great surprise, a very effective examination of Jane's dehumanized existence on the bottom rung of the ladder, and all the ways in which her boss's indiscretions are swept under the rug. Julia Garner continues to prove she's a strong talent, carrying the entire film full of long silences, worried glances, and simmering anxiety. She makes Jane's visit to HR one of the miserable highlights of the year. It may take a while to get into the rhythms of the filmmaking, but I appreciate that a film exploring these issues exists, avoids sensationalism, and is executed so well.

---

My Top Ten Episodes of "Mr. Robot"

Well, this is one of the more unusual Top Tens I've written in a while. I don't think I've ever seen another television series improve so much over the course of its run. Below, find my ten favorite episodes of "Mr. Robot," unranked and ordered by airdate. I include the caveat that it's been a very long time since I watched the first season.

All the spoilers ahead for the entire show.

"Eps1.0_hellofriend.mov" - The premiere episode of Mr. Robot is essentially a feature film, introducing us to the life of Elliot Alderson, his sinister new hacker friend, Mr. Robot, and the deeply unjust world that they inhabit, which is almost identical to our own. I love the fourth wall breaking, which gives Elliot's angry monologues some real bite, and the early signs that we're watching a deeply unreliable narrator at work. I wish the rest of the season had figured out how to follow its lead a bit better.

"Eps1.9_zer0-day.avi" - The first season's reveals were spoiled for me, so I was cooler on the big climax, and prefer the denouement. Seeing fsociety's hack actually being pulled off is very satisfying, but it quickly turns into a nightmare. There's an intensity and horror to the live broadcast that is highly unusual, even for a prestige drama, and I appreciate the use of Angela's POV in particular. The season's final, dreamlike encounter between Elliot and Mr. Robot also sticks out as a wonderful piece of fantasy.

"Eps3.4_runtime-error.r00" - And this is the episode where it became apparent to me that "Mr. Robot" was really getting ambitious. The episode features long, long tracking shots, stitched together to look like one take, following Elliot and Angela in the middle of the attack on E Corp's offices. And it still manages to find ways to incorporate its famous off-center framing and moments of absurd humor. Watching Elliot fight with Mr. Robot for control while trying to stop the Stage 2 attacks is phenomenal.

"Eps3.6_fredrick+tanya.chk" - Fsociety members Mobley and Trenton grew on me over time, and it was very difficult seeing them being set up as convenient scapegoats by the Dark Army. The bulk of the hour was a lot of fun, watching the two of them and Leon get into hijinks in the desert. However, matters quickly take a turn for the tragic, and bring about an emotional low point of the series, with Dom and Tyrell forced to concede defeat. Oh, and bonus points for great use of the "Knight Rider" theme.

"Eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko" - One of the most offbeat and touching episodes of the series puts Elliot on a voyage of discovery that involves Trenton's little brother Mohammed and a "Back to the Future" retrospective. I love that it's so culturally and location specific, especially the rare scene that takes place in a mosque. I love the encounter with the Yiddish ice cream truck driver, and all the little touches that encourage Elliot not to give up on humanity. The final monologue with Angela at the door is terrific.

"shutdown -r" - Bobby Cannavale! With an axe! At a barn! Irving, along with Leon and Whiterose, are among the most absurd characters in the "Mr. Robot" universe, but they're so much fun to watch that I can't bring myself to care. So even as Irving is busy killing off Santiago and traumatizing Dom, you can still find him weirdly genial and charming - and terrifying too, of course. I did not expect this season to end up here, but "Mr. Robot" never runs short of twists - and the execution's to die for.

"405 Method Not Allowed" - I don't find this hack as compelling as the ones from the previous seasons, because the stakes don't feel as high, but watching Elliot evade the police on a frantic Christmas Day foot chase through Central Park is as impressive as anything. I was so engrossed with the situation that I didn't even notice that the episode is almost totally dialogue free. I also liked seeing Darlene get in on the action this time out, and the whole season's wildly incongruous holiday themes and trappings.

"407 Proxy Authentication Required" - Possibly the show's most emotionally volatile episode is also one of its most formally audacious. The whole thing takes place in Krista's apartment, is structured as a five-act play, and was originally aired with no commercial breaks. I don't much like the character of Vera, but he definitely moved the story along here. And though I'm not crazy about the episode's big reveal, the actors certainly sold it. Rami Malek's performance, in particular, is a heartbreaker.

"410 Gone" - While the big hack of the Deus Group was exciting, I prefer the depiction of the aftermath through Darlene and Dom's eyes. Their relationship is such an impulsive, unlikely thing, and this is the only episode that really deals with their feelings in a genuine, thoughtful way. Still, it does put in the time and care when it counts. I also enjoy Darlene getting to finally fulfill the mission of fsociety and Dom's late encounter with a familiar face. And the ending, infuriating as it is, is just about perfect.

"Hello, Elliot" - And the final reveal actually works. I wasn't a fan of the dream dimension conceit, but finding out what it was actually setting up and leading towards was epic. The last episode of "Mr. Robot" was such a great payoff, not just to this final run of episodes, but the entire series. I've never seen anything quite like it, and it was definitely worth the trip.


Honorable Mentions: "eps1.8_m1rr0r1ng.qt," "eps2.5_h4ndshake.sme," "eps3.5_kill-process.inc," "401 Unauthorized," "406 Not Acceptable," "408 Request Timeout," and "409 Conflict."
---

"GLOW," Year Two

"GLOW" continues to be the most consistently entertaining comedy that I've seen in a long while. The second season follows the characters' ups and downs as they struggle to stay on the air. Meanwhile, the rift between Ruth and Debbie continues to deepen as Debbie struggles with her divorce and Ruth finds a new love interest. Ruth and Sam are also on the outs, as Ruth gets more ambitious and Sam more resentful. And then there are fans, and network politics, and family drama, and many new complications. Still, the GLOW team sticks together, and keeps working to make the best female wrestling and variety show that they can.

The second season delivers more on the wrestling antics than the first season, staging more matches and showing us the full-fledged "GLOW" program in action. One of the highlights is an installment designed to play out like an actual episode of the show-within-a-show, complete with spoof commercials and PSAs. The stunts and hijinks get crazier, and the soap opera plot twists of their storylines get wilder. Even though there are more fights, there's less emphasis on the athleticism, and more on the women's other talents - comedy, dance, acting, and general creativity. The behind-the-scenes drama follows suit, though in a much more grounded way. There are parenting troubles, injuries, sexual harassment, and all sorts of romantic entanglements. The show also doubles down on its commitment to diverse stories, devoting one of the strongest episodes to the travails of Tamme Dawson (Kia Stevens), who plays the offensive Welfare Queen. There's also a new lesbian character, Yolanda (Shakira Barrera), and an unexpected brush with the AIDS crisis.

What I love about this season of "GLOW" in particular is that so many of the characters are so wonderfully complex. Sam starts out the season as even more of an asshole than usual under all the increased pressure, and does some heinous things that put him in the antagonist position for a good chunk of the season. Debbie is an outright menace at points, self-destructing in harmful ways and engaging in some really awful behavior. But at the same time they're so relatable and often so funny in their awfulness. Debbie's frustrations manifest in her totally over-the-top performances as Liberty Belle, and Sam's sulky pettiness only makes his later redemption all the more meaningful. Ruth, who was often super-idealistic to the point of irritating in the first season, has been toned down a bit here, but is still kind of a mess. She gets to do more Zoya the Destroya schtick, which I love, but the show's creators wisely limit these appearances so that she's not overexposed.

It's clear that "GLOW" is well and truly more of a soap opera than a comedy at this point, but it's a very impressive one. It manages to juggle all these characters and subplots, spring some real surprises from episode to episode, and keep the audience guessing. With an ensemble this big, it would be easy for some characters to slip through the cracks - and I was certainly rooting for more screen time for some of my favorites - but the balance is just about right. There's just enough Sheila. There's just enough Cherry and Carmen. Even the most minor comic-relief types still get some little running gag or feud going on in the background throughout the season. Zoya's still my favorite, but Melrose (Jackie Tohn) sure got a boost this year for being a consistently funny presence.

And for those of you who love "GLOW" for the '80s nostalgia, it's back in full force. "GLOW" throws an '80s prom, an '80s wedding, visits strip joints and gay clubs, and has a great time recreating '80s television quirks. I especially enjoy the continuing tour of insane women's fashions of the era, and the incredible "GLOW" music videos. The soundtrack continues to impress, this time featuring old favorites from Madonna, Genesis, and Run DMC, because Ruth learns to pop and lock.

With only ten episodes a season, this is an awfully easy series to binge, and I'm a little upset I have only two seasons left to watch, one of which I'm going to have to wait a while for. Still, I'm plowing right ahead with Season Three. It's really too hard to resist this show's charms.

---

And I Finished "Mr. Robot"

Spoilers for the first two seasons ahead.

It's been a little over four years since I posted my review of the first season of "Mr. Robot," where I concluded the show was not for me and that I'd be moving on. However, the critical reception of the show's later seasons kept getting better, and after the series finale last year, it got me curious enough to take a second look. And, sure enough, the second season did a good job of smoothing out some rough edges and correcting the biggest issues I had with the first season. And then the third season raised the stakes, taking more risks and turning the show into a full-throated action thriller for several episodes. And finally, the fourth season delivered one of the most satisfying finales I've seen for any television drama ever made.

So, when we last left "Mr. Robot," fsociety had pulled off their hack of E Corp and global financial systems, throwing the world into chaos. However, E Corp isn't down for the count. E Corp CEO Phillip Price (Michael Cristofer) and the leader of the Dark Army hacker collective, Whiterose (B.D. Wong), emerge as the new major antagonists, each with their own sinister agendas. Another complication is the introduction of FBI agent Dom DiPirro (Grace Gummer), who is investigating the hack, and the disappearance of chief suspect Tyrell Wellick. Elliot is still trying to navigate his confusing relationship with Mr. Robot, and decide how to move forward, but gets drawn back into the power struggles he inadvertently helped to create.

Elliot, with his fractured mind and fourth wall breaking internal monologues, is still the star of "Mr. Robot," but he often takes a backseat to other storylines where Angela, Darlene, or Dom take the lead. The show's biggest improvement is that it's less dependent on Rami Malek, who remains a stellar performer throughout, and manages to develop its other characters to be more compelling. Dom's a great addition, and Darlene proves to be a badass with it counts. The series also knows when certain storylines have been played out, and doesn't hesitate to put characters who aren't working in the background, or just drop them completely. The Wellicks, for instance, are still important in the later seasons but get much less emphasis and screen time.

I also like that the show becomes more formally inventive and character focused, which is appropriate when you have a hero who is never quite sure of his own reality. The most obvious example is the second season episode where Elliot ends up in a sitcom version of his life, complete with a laugh track and cameo from ALF. Even better is the fourth season episode that is essentially a stage play taking place in two rooms. Or there's the episode where Elliot hits a spiritual low, and ends up babysitting a friend's younger brother for most of the hour. No doubt, the action-oriented episodes are the most exciting and technically impressive, often involving long takes, complicated environments, and great effects and choreography. The spectacle, however, isn't as impressive as the underlying drama.

A critical part of the show's success is that "Mr. Robot" never gets too outlandish. There are elements that are pure science-fiction, and the style is outre as anything, but the depiction of the world in financial meltdown is fairly plausible and restrained. The hacking, the mental health issues, and even the transgender character are all handled with care and consideration. The show also remains fully committed to its cyberpunk premise and aesthetics. The targets get bigger and the hacks get more dangerous and morally fraught, but it's always thematically consistent. The central mystery of Elliot and Mr. Robot's existence is also handled remarkably well. There are a lot of wild twists and turns throughout, but the execution is good enough that nearly all of them are effective - even the big finale revelation works, which is rare.

I don't think I've ever seen another cyberpunk show this successful on this scale before. It's such an emotionally satisfying series, and it stops exactly when it should at 45 episodes. It's incredibly timely in 2020, as the world is going through a major crisis, and yet ends up telling a very personal story with great compassion and candidness. I'm so glad I went back and gave it another shot,

Also, I know I complained about the title cards, but the "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" variant for the finale may be the greatest moment of the entire show.
---