REVIEW: "Cloak & Dagger" Season 2

If the first season of Cloak & Dagger was about 50% of what it ought to be, I’d say Season 2 creeps up to 63%. So, an improvement, but enough of one to warrant a bump in letter grades? Probably not.

Which is too bad, because the potential really is there with this one. The best part of the first season was the two leads, Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph as Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, and the bummer of the season was keeping them mostly apart until the last few episodes. I’m happy to say the show does learn from that mistake this time around and pairs them up immediately. Tandy and Ty are now a duo for all intents and purposes, best friends and partners, and the chemistry between Holt and Joseph is real and pretty much carries the show altogether. Having them in scenes together is almost enough for each full episode, and building their relationship even further (as they do this season), so that the love between them is all encompassing and just now starting to maybe become romantic is intriguing and what makes me want to keep watching.

The chemistry between the two stars carries the show entirely

But there are still things about the show that need fixing. One is the pacing. I never thought I’d have to say this about any kind of superhero show, but Cloak & Dagger really needs more action scenes. The powers Ty and Tandy possess (aside from their easily explained ones like teleportation and creating knives of light) are vague, spiritual and kind of difficult to track. Soon each episode involves a trip into the shadow dimension that Ty seems to be the gatekeeper of, and it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going on in there. I’m not even sure the writers could explain it to me if I asked, since I’m calling it the shadow dimension of my own accord- it’s never named or specified what, how or why this place exists within Ty’s abilities to access it (he’s referred to once as some kind of “master of time and space,” but he doesn’t even know how he does this). A lot of time is spent meandering in the depths of Ty and Tandy’s minds, especially when the villain of the season, Dyspare, starts messing with them using his own telepathic powers. I don’t mind these kinds of trippy visual quest episodes, but after a while you start tapping your foot, wanting to see Cloak & Dagger get down to business.

And they do, finally, in the last couple episodes of the season. Traditional costumes make their appearance, the duo teams up to fight some bad guys using their simpler abilities, and that’s when it feels like things are kicking into gear and the show starts firing on all cylinders. But it takes too long to get to this point. Much time is spent on the voodoo of New Orleans yet again, using unnecessary characters like Evita, the supposed girlfriend of Ty that he never speaks to or sees, and as much as I do appreciate the slightly different tone the show is going for, with such an appealing central relationship between the two charismatic leads, I actually think more convention in the genre could be used to great effect here. Give Ty and Tandy more traditional villains and episodic bad guy plots and a chance to make use of their powers as a team, all the while building up their love story. Ease up on the spiritual voodoo and spacial mind travel. With the two headed on a bus out of New Orleans to try their heroics in a new city in the finale, that seems like a promising start. Leave Louisiana behind and go full on adventure of the week. Then I’ll bet we get a show that can really live up to its potential.

Grade: B

Finally! Cloak wears an actual cloak and Dagger gets a kind of ballerina costume- let’s see more of that please

'Succession' Season 2 Starts August 11th

A new teaser for the second season of HBO’s Succession came out today, and we now have a premiere date- August 11th. I’m starting to get inundated with summer shows this year- Big Little Lies, Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, Veronica Mars, GLOW, Succession and the final seasons of Legion and Jessica Jones coming soon. Phew. And then there’s Netflix’s Mindhunter, a really good show whose second season is long overdue and still rumored to be coming in August, but not confirmed yet. Much busier than last year on the show front.

REVIEW: "Fosse/Verdon"

If you’re a theater junkie or even schooled in the the history of movie musicals and dance, you know the name Bob Fosse. A legend of the stage and screen, he revolutionized choreography, directed many stage musicals and had a highly successful career as a film director, though he only made five movies. But you’ve heard of them. 1972’s Cabaret and 1979’s All That Jazz are his undisputed classics. His life is fairly well known, not least of all because All That Jazz was an autobiographical musical, so a biographical television series is going to cover some familiar territory.

But less well known was his 27 year marriage and partnership with Gwen Verdon, herself a legend of the stage, a Tony winner before the two of them even met and before his career really took off. She acted in many of his shows, winning multiple awards for many of those roles, and the two of them even performed together occasionally. She also served as his collaborator on several of his films, as well as playing the inevitable role of the long suffering wife to his serial philanderer, to the point where she could no longer live with him, though the two never officially divorced. As Fosse’s muse, Verdon was never that famous outside theater circles, but her contribution to the work they made together was monumental, and the true discovery of this miniseries is her life, as portrayed through an astonishing performance by Michelle Williams.

Rehearsing Fosse’s famous moves for Chicago

Based on the biography Fosse, by Sam Wasson, and co-produced by Nicole Fosse, Bob and Gwen’s only daughter, this FX limited series takes you through the life of each of them in non-linear fashion. It starts out in present day 1971, right as Bob is getting ready to direct Cabaret, still married and living with Gwen, but in the throes of all his self-destructive habits and lifelong depression (as covered so well by All That Jazz). The making of Cabaret is interspersed with selective cuts to earlier days in either Bob or Gwen’s life, so that in any episode we may get their first meeting, childhood, early romance and solo careers as we then careen forward from the early 70’s through the major milestones of Fosse’s career. If the first episode is Cabaret, the next one is Lenny, then the staging of Chicago (the actual plot of All That Jazz), before landing on the making of All That Jazz itself. As I said, anyone familiar with Fosse’s career trajectory will know the high points, but that makes it insanely entertaining to go behind the scenes of what was going on in each era.

Sam Rockwell gives what seems at first to be a somewhat muted performance as Fosse, but as the series moves along you realize just how subtly and casually he captures the nonchalant charm and laidback attitude of a man wrapped up in his addictions and riddled by a quiet narcissism. The show doesn’t go easy on him, even showing how his womanizing may have been harassment, which is correct- these days, it doesn’t feel right to celebrate the “ladies’ man” image of the kind of man used to getting what he wants..and yet it was another time and he did get what he wanted, from women to drugs and power. But the real standout, as I mentioned, is Michelle Williams, who absolutely transforms herself into Gwen Verdon, embodying her completely, from an incredible vocal impersonation to the way she carries her body, to the way she sings. She steals almost every episode, giving so much dimension to this character, from her own tragic background to her professional success, to supporting and shaping her husband’s career even after they had separated. If anything is Emmy worthy, she is.

Not everything is perfect about this show- some of the editing in the earlier episodes is confusing and unnecessarily distracting, and Nicole Fosse herself is terribly miscast about halfway through the series when the original actress is inexplicably replaced by a 26-year-old playing her from ages 12-15 (why on earth did they do that? Talk about distracting). But other supporting performances are spot on- Norbert Leo Butz is wonderfully funny as Bob’s best friend Paddy Chayefsky, and Margaret Qualley is superb as Ann Reinking, and all eight episodes are vibrantly, musically alive and infused with a feeling of love and admiration for the showbiz career and unique relationship of these two unique people. As an aficionado of movie history and a musical lover, I enjoyed it immensely.

Grade: A-

A legacy more appreciated on stage than screen

'Jessica Jones' Has a New Villain in the Final Season

Jessica Jones was canceled by Netflix, same as all their other Marvel shows, but they still had one last season in the can, so it’s dropping next Friday, June 14th. I actually hated the second season, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to this one that much (are we really supposed to be rooting for Trish as a superhero now after her total character assassination in Season 2?), but I suppose I’ll have to finish it off.

REVIEW: "Killing Eve" Season 2 / "Barry" Season 2

KILLING EVE SEASON 2

Villanelle and Eve’s back and forth continues

The second season of Killing Eve had a lot to live up to, not least because its creator Pheobe Waller-Bridge stepped away to return to her previous series Fleabag, handing over the showrunning capabilities to Emerald Fennell, who will in turn be stepping down after this season and turning the reigns over to someone else next year. This consistent turnover in showrunners makes for potential unevenness from season to season, and this season was less surprising and amusing than last, in spite of continued good performances from Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer in the lead roles. After a great premiere that balanced Eve’s dark comedy and brutal violence perfectly, the show started to spin its wheels as Comer’s Villanelle slowly tried to get back to London to reunite with her beloved Eve, who had stabbed her at the end of last season and then run away. Now the two are more obsessed with each other than ever, and Eve is slowly starting to lose it as she wonders whether she’s the same as the happy go lucky murderer Villanelle. But the show somewhat clunkily made its way towards recreating the status quo of Season 1 (Eve and a new MI-6 team tracking down another assassin, Villanelle reunited with her Russian handler Konstantin), before turning on a dime to suddenly force Eve and Villanelle to work together on an MI-6 mission to target potential psychopath tech guru Aaron Peele (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). The season had good and even great moments strung throughout, which is why you can’t miss an episode, but overall it was a step down from Season 1, as you wonder just how long this cat and mouse game can continue (even the finale cliffhanger is kind of a repeat of last season’s). Aaron Peele himself was an intriguing wretch though, and a character who started to make me wonder how Villanelle would act alongside other psychopaths like herself, more so than with Eve, whose breakdown is getting kind of tiresome. Jodie Comer continues to be a wonder as the playful psycho, but she’s far too dangerous to be turned into an antihero, something I wonder if the show is attempting to move towards. Sorry, but that would be suspending disbelief a little too far.

Grade: B

BARRY SEASON 2

Barry confides in Cousineau

The other black comedy about an assassin that just aired its second season was Barry, and in contrast to Killing Eve, this show ascended from “really good” to “great” as it was ever more hilarious, shocking, brutal and unexpected in all aspects. The first season won two acting Emmys for Bill Hader and Henry Winkler, who both returned in fine form, but this time the spotlight was stolen by standouts Anthony Carrigan as Hank, the world’s sweetest Chechen mobster, and Stephen Root’s Fuches, Barry’s former mentor, given a lot of juicy material to work with and delivering in every single scene. In a just world they would both receive Emmy nominations for their work this season. After killing Detective Moss at the end of last year, Barry resolves not to kill anyone again and recommit himself to acting, but freak incidents keep pulling him back into the mob world, even as he does have some success in pulling himself out onstage in the form of explorations into his violent past. We sort of get Barry’s origin story this season, as we see how his military background fueled his prone to rage personality, while Fuches is targeted by the continuing Moss investigation and Hank recruits Barry to train his incompetent hitmen. Even though Barry can get dark, intense and serious, every episode is still laugh out loud funny, never sacrificing comedy for drama or thinking one can’t be the other. Winkler’s role is far more dramatic this season, as Cousineau deals with Moss’ death, and even Sally (Sarah Goldberg) gets her chance to shine in an interlude with an abusive ex-boyfriend and an extended monologue about women in the industry near the season’s end that rivals Teri Garr’s in Tootsie. Bill Hader continues to challenge himself in every area from acting to writing and directing, most particularly a surreal episode about a hit gone wrong that goes to hilariously wild places from moment to moment. You never quite know what will happen on this show, and the combination of suspense, black comedy, violence and action, all packed into a tight 30 minutes makes for a season that was, for me, just about perfection. There’s nothing else like Barry on TV right now and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Grade: A

Lots of Creatures in New 'Swamp Thing' Trailer

Swamp Thing premieres this Friday on the DCU, and so far the early reviews are pretty enthusiastic. This trailer doesn’t show you more of Swamp Thing himself, but it does show more of the setup and plot (and we see Alec Holland, who becomes Swamp Thing but will not be played by the same actor).

REVIEW: "Game of Thrones" Season 8

I don’t know what I can say about the final season of Game of Thrones that hasn’t already been said. And said. And written, and tweeted, and posted. It’s all out there. So let’s just recap it, shall we? These last six episodes were essentially one of the biggest letdowns in “final season” history, at least since Lost, I would say. Yet, it probably wasn’t as upsetting for me as it was for many others, simply because, though I’ve watched GoT since the beginning, I’ve never been as invested as most fans are. I liked parts of it (mostly the Lannisters and King’s Landing), others not so much. Maybe historical fantasy isn’t really my thing (unless it involves time traveling romance and redheaded Scotsmen).

So I went into these last few episodes mostly happy that it was finally ending (sorry), and still I can see what a disappointment it was. With the first couple of episodes setup for what was hyped as the climactic be-all end-all of universe ending battles, the third episode finally saw the clash with the Night King and his army of whitewalkers, and putting aside the fact that you could hardly see anything in the entire episode, the biggest letdown was the minimal number of deaths for third-tier characters like Lady Mormont, several people whose names I can’t remember, Sir Jorah and Theon Greyjoy. Theon was the only one who really went out as a hero, but come on. Several people in this episode had no business surviving the battle, namely Brienne, Jamie, and Podrick, who were right on the frontlines yet miraculously escaped every single blow. I understand not wanting to kill off characters you love, but let’s be honest- this felt like a massive copout (as did the Night King’s fairly easy death at the hand of Arya), which immediately lowered the satisfaction bar for the remainder of the season.

A thankless ending (and season) for a once great villain

And yet it still didn’t meet it. The biggest disappointment of the last two episodes you’ve probably heard about by now- the very rapid descent of Emilia Clarke’s Danaerys Targaryan into apparent madness due to threats to her crown by the revelation of Jon Snow’s true lineage, and the beheading of Missandei by Cersei. Yet it wasn’t her madness itself that bothered me- it was the complete lack of foreshadowing or build-up to it over the last eight years. Not once has Dany ever been presented as anything less than a hero, and not once has there been a single worry on her part over inheriting the insanity that apparently inflicted her ancestors. We were supposed to be on her side, we were supposed to think she was the righteous heroine of the series, and never were we shown any evidence that she was capable of spontaneously deciding to slaughter an entire city of innocent civilians that had already surrendered. The show doesn’t dwell on her change of heart either. In the series finale she’s still talking as if she’d liberated those people from captors instead of murdering them, and she doesn’t appear to be off her rocker in the typical manner of lunatics. Are we supposed to think those civilians didn’t all die? Does she think they didn’t? I’m not sure the show knows the answer either.

Dany’s 180 degree turnaround at the last second makes every other character seem stupid and/or weak for standing idly by, including Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion and Kit Harington’s Jon Snow (never more of a weak, pathetic fool than in this final season). The commitment to underwhelming deaths in the last two episodes is rampant- Jaime first gets stabbed by the pirate Greyjoy in the stupidest scene of the season, before making it all the way back to Cersei, who herself gets crushed by a building in Jamie’s arms rather than going out on the deliciously evil note her character deserved, and even Dany doesn’t last long after the massacre in the penultimate episode. Her own lame death is punctuated by Drogon the dragon burning down the iron throne in a ridiculous scene showcasing his complex understanding of symbolism and metaphor, followed by a series of scenes depicting where the surviving characters wound up. Tyrion conveniently and absurdly dictates the future of the crown in a vision that seems doomed to failure, starting with Bran of all people (that’s right- Bran) ruling over Westeros. 

All in all, I think what happened here was David Benioff and D.B. Weiss reluctantly following through on the results that had to take place in the outline George R.R. Martin gave them years ago, but only at the very last minute because they didn’t really want to go through with any of it. They certainly never set any of these actions up or marked the development towards the decisions these characters make, and it leaves them feeling mostly unrecognizable from the people we’ve known for several years. Technically, the show remained superb to the end, with impressive visual effects and battle scenes on a cinematic scale, but the lack of preparation and sloppy writing made for this ending falling flat on just about every other level. Perhaps if Martin ever gets around to finishing the books, the ending will feel a lot more satisfying and organic than this did.

Grade: C-

Tyrion survives but his famous wisdom and cleverness was all smoke and mirrors- should he really still be guiding the fate of Westeros?

'Black Mirror' Season 5 is Back June 5th

Yay! One of my favorite shows is back for a shorter fifth season (just three episodes this time thanks to Bandersnatch last year), but back in its typical, each-episode-is-like-a-movie format. Miley Cyrus aside, I can’t wait.

REVIEW: "Riverdale" Season 3 / "Supergirl" Season 4

RIVERDALE SEASON 3

New couple Reggie and Veronica bring some intrigue to the insanity of Riverdale

As one of the most bonkers shows on TV, how would Riverdale top last year’s obsession with serial killers? Apparently, the answer was cults! Yes, lots and lots of cults take the place of the Red Hood saga (although that too makes a mini-resurgence in the final part of Season 3). Funnily enough, I do think this season was somewhat more entertaining than last year’s, but when there’s multiple episodes of people ranting and raving about (when not running from) the mysterious Gargoyle King (the leader of the cultish Dungeons & Dragons-esque game that all the Riverdale teens are obsessed with), along with an episode where Archie is literally beaten up by a bear (seriously), the sheer level of ludicrousness can’t help but be consistently watchable. I also think it helps that Archie and Veronica are broken up this year (the two are for more enjoyable when not together), and the halfhearted introduction to a Reggie/Veronica/Archie triangle seemed like it could have been interesting, but oddly, the show doesn’t seem to want to go full steam ahead with it. The other cult in the mix this season was “The Farm,” a bunch of Scientology inspired, organ-harvesting loons led by Chad Michael Murray, who recruited Betty’s mom Alice and sister Polly, along with several of the Riverdale teens like Kevin, Cheryl and Toni, as Betty tries over and over (it does get a little repetitive) to infiltrate the group and save her family. As a soap opera, Riverdale remains one of the nuttiest shows on TV, but leans into its mania to an inspired degree at times, with multiple musical moments, an episode where the teens played their own parents in flashback, and as always, murder. Lots of murder (Dilton Doylie joins dearly departed Midge this season as Archies characters that never got their chance to shine). But it never bores me, I’ll give it that. On a final note, the recent death of Luke Perry led to the departure of Fred Andrews, the sole voice of reason in the entire town, but the show hasn’t addressed his absence onscreen yet (the hole he left will seemingly be filled by Molly Ringwald as Archie’s mom Mary, in a more regular role). 

Grade: B

SUPERGIRL SEASON 4

Supergirl finally finds its footing in Season 4

Of the flagship superhero shows on the CW, I never would have thought Supergirl would be the only one I was still watching after all these years. But yes, this was the year that The Flash became so bad that I was forced to bail (very similar to what happened to me during Season 3 of Arrow), while surprisingly enough, this was finally the year that Supergirl came into its own. Season 4 started out strong and finished on the same note, as it was obvious right away it finally had a sure focus and a clearer vision that it’s ever possessed. From the start, it took the relevant theme of humans vs. aliens to its logical metaphorical conclusion, real world parallels intentional and unsubtle. Sam Witwer (an actor almost too good for this network) joined the cast as anti-alien extremist Ben Lockwood, who soon morphed into the dastardly Agent Liberty, leading the hate movement against all aliens, while the equally charismatic David Ajala (above) showed up as Manchester Black, a radical on the opposite side, leading an alien revolt against human agitators. Supergirl herself is caught in the middle, while sister Alex plays for the government and Martian Manhunter and Brainiac 5 (Brainy) play sidekick to Kara for the most part. Nicole Maines also joined the cast this year as Nia Nal/Dreamer, the first transgender superhero. As always, with 22 episodes to air, there’s a fair share of filler (Alex’s late breaking forced romance with James’s sister Kelly is already deathly boring and unbearable), but the ratio of good to bad episodes this season was well over .500. Jon Cryer introduces us to a very hammy Lex Luthor, whose masterplan to sic Kara’s evil Russian twin “Red Daughter” on the planet was pretty good, but the familial interactions with sister Lena provided the high points of his appearances (please let Lena go evil- Katie McGrath’s cold, intimidating presence is wasted as a good guy and she’d be a great villainess). I hope the show has finally found itself for good- disposing of any sort of love interest for Kara seems to have worked in its favor, but finding charismatic actors like Witwer and Ajala as antagonists could also be a one season fluke. Let’s hope it’s the former.

Grade: B+

Secrets Rise Up in 'Big Little Lies' Season 2 Trailer

Finally, the full trailer for Season 2 is here and it looks pretty good. Starting June 9th on HBO and now with Meryl Streep as Nicole Kidman’s mother-in-law, the women of Monterey begin to break under the weight of their murderous secret.