And one night, every star in the universe aligned and there she was: Veronica Mars. Angry. Curious. Funny. Underestimated. I wanted to be her.
All in Television
TELEVISION / Lost in The 'Verse: The Mishandling of Mal & Inara / Brian "Brie" Sheridan
While having Mal and Inara act antagonistically towards each other helps keep viewers invested, it loses much of its merit when one realizes the writers didn’t properly utilize everything about their own characterizations.
TELEVISION / Reading Between the Subtitles of House, M.D. / Destiny Pinder-Buckley
For months, I painstakingly watched whole episodes of House, M.D. on TikTok, posted by an innocuous user who surely pirated it from somewhere.
For the 104 episodes before “Mindy Lahiri Is a White Man”, Mindy is established as a strong independent doctor who just happens to be a single mom. “…White Man” comes late in Season 5, just after some other mind-bending episodes. With only a dozen episodes after it, many shows would have been jumping the shark. As the episode starts loading, I realize that we are nearing the end of the run. And I’m already thinking about what show I will stream-binge next in the background.
TELEVISION / The Brutal Brilliance of Babylon Berlin / Corey Paige
Babylon Berlin is set in Berlin when it was the center of the world for brassy jazz, exquisite drinking, all night dancing, artistic expression, and breathtaking sex. All of it happening as the worst imaginable nightmares are waiting for them right around the corner.
This is the fifth episode of the entire show, though if I had seen it out of order my only clue that it wasn’t one of Nicholas Colasanto’s last episodes would be Diane’s clothes and the lack of Frasier. How immediately cohesive this show was from its origin: George Wendt is greeted with a rambunctious “Norm!”, Diane’s trill of “Norman” quick behind. Sam wiggles in overture at Diane, who flits him away, only for her to lose her balance in the flit and land on her face.
First. A dream. It worked in the 80s. Dallas is one of the most iconic series of all time. No one questioned The Dream. Pam Ewing, known for hitting the sauce, passed out, nightmared that she flattened Bobby with his Mercedes, woke up, found him singing in the shower.
ONE PERFECT EPISODE / So Many Stars: Better Call Saul—"Winner" / Diddle Knabb
The season four finale plays out over two devastating storylines. In one thread, Jimmy (refuses to) grapple with the death of his brother Chuck. This exploration of grief leads Jimmy to officially adopt the moniker Saul Goodman. Until this point, we have only known the main protagonist as the charming fuckup Jimmy McGill.
ONE PERFECT EPISODE / Succession: "Connor's Wedding" / Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner
“Connor's Wedding” (S4 E3) starts off exactly as it sounds: the gang gears up for their elder half-brother's wedding to the (incredible!) Willa, who none of them respect. Connor has essentially purchased his bride to be; she was a call girl when they started “dating”, and the previous episode centered around his being in his feels, as Willa had run away from their rehearsal dinner.
TELEVISION / An Ode to Anna Gunn, or "The One Thing Skyler White Was Wrong About" / Brian Sheridan
While I watched the show, I made sure to keep track of everything Skyler did. I was curious, what could she have done that made her so hated?
TELEVISION / Angel on Wheels / Jessica Hudson
A black-and-white behind-the-scenes photo from Episode 12, “Angels on Wheels,” shows Fawcett in a roller derby rink, leaning forward, hands on knees, smiling at the camera.
TELEVISION / TV Boyfriend: Evolution / Katie Darby Mullins
This story starts with a chihuahua named Pablo. No. I’ll go back further. Criminal Minds is a television procedural that started in 2005, which is when I first fell in love with my TV boyfriend
This episode might be the one in which Sally is at her strongest, in her willingness to put her safety before her desire to please others. She had spent months laboring over her new TV show, creating and starring in this series oriented around abuse. After only twelve hours on the streaming site, the producers defer to the algorithm and something called taste clusters and decide to pull the entire show.
Doakes is what you’d want your personal trainer to look like or your local bar’s bouncer assigned to remove an unruly patron. I imagine he’d make a great boyfriend. He’d kick any guy's ass that looked at me the wrong way. No offense to my wife, I’m sure she would try her best, but you know - she’s just not Doakes. So, when Doakes walked into a crime scene and damn near shit his pants, it was clear season 1, episode 10 of Dexter was only beginning.
Part of the reason why the finale works so well is because we see the characters escape patterns of self destruction that had been eloquently described decades before its airing. Firstly, through the Freudian concept of death drive, the Fishers appear to want to find their own finalities within what they learn.
But alone, at night, in the dark, when nightmares come out to play, even I have to wonder “Would it be such a high price to pay?” In my waking hours I know that I would never do it. And yet, look at the characters who through various influences and for a variety of reasons also insisted the black pill was not an option and eventually succumbed. It’s easy to sit on my high horse in the comfort of my home with no pill waiting for me at the pharmacy drive-thru. What if this really were a possibility?
There’s a scene where Lucy and Ethel stare at the old-fashioned (even for them, yes) lawn mower that they borrow from the Ramseys, trying to figure out how it works. Once atop the mower, and once the engine is “cranked up” thanks to Ethel, Lucy’s comedic prowess does the rest. The mower runs amuck, and unless you’re dead inside, you laugh for real. Lucille Ball utilized every fiber of her body for comedy.
Molly was moody and dreamy, had career issues and artistic aspirations, and was short and wide of hip, which made her, for me, more like a mirror. Like me, she was a bit defiant about just letting life unfurl.
The pizza delivery arrives with no way to get it inside. Can you see where we’re headed? Jez has the carrier slide the slices through the letterbox, which is now laced with Jez's pee. This doesn't bother Jez but certainly disgusts Mark, for obvious reasons. It continues downhill from there, as one might expect.
The most perfect touch of this episode comes at the end. The wedding that an entire nation has been waiting for isn’t shown. Instead, we get Diana’s back, and that impossibly long train, and for all of us who know the long, sad history, it almost feels like an ending.