Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I'm in awe over how much I enjoyed Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I feel awe not because my expectations were low given how bad the three prequels were, and not because I hold the original trilogy in such high esteem that I think nothing can touch it (I don’t). No, my awe is a product of how impressed I am that the new film managed to be so enjoyable while also being so derivative. The Force Awakens contains so many references, parallels, callbacks, rehashes, and remixes of the first film in the series, and to a lesser extent the second, that it’s not a stretch to say that the plot of The Force Awakens is essentially a (superior) repetition of the plot of A New Hope, but with some of the pieces rearranged, with greater immediate emotional investment courtesy of our familiarity with returning characters, and with some of the best bits of The Empire Strikes Back thrown in for good measure.Yet for all of its repetition, it's still a fun film nonetheless, more so than A New Hope, which has long seemed to me like a rickety bucket of bolts.

Catching up with You're the Worst

I just caught up with the most recent three episodes of You're the Worst, which has improved mightily over the course of season two. I attribute a lot of this improvement to creator Stephen Falk toning back the overly-broad sidekick characters (Lindsay and Edgar), and to his making the two leads Gretchen and Jimmy have things that they actually care about (and realistic problems).

A large part of my gripe with season one was that Lindsay and Edgar seemed like cartoons; they were too broad, and we were invited to laugh at their tired, sitcom trope problems, like Lindsay's crumbling marriage and Edgar's crush on Lindsay. This approach has largely disappeared in season two; now, their problems are taken more seriously, and we’re invited to celebrate with them during their moments of triumph rather than laugh at them for their failures. For instance, it's nice to see how proud Lindsay is when she gets her electricity turned back on (as meager an accomplishment as this might be), or to see Edgar’s PTSD no longer be a source of humor, but instead a source of sympathy for the character (although Jimmy and Gretchen are still amused by it, which is fine, as these two have little empathy for others).

The Leftovers Season 2, Episode 3, “Off Ramp”

Season two of The Leftovers just turned in a superb third episode. I went into it dreading it: the “previously on” bumper featured a lot of Laurie, so I knew she would be heavily featured, and I was really uninterested in a full episode immersed in the world of the Guilty Remnant, but by the midway point, I was completely invested. It was very smart to turn her character from a cult member into a cult liberator and recovery therapist. Rather than a morose, impish (if conflicted) nihilist, she’s now a crusader against an organization that has rather clearly taken on an air of menace beyond the cruel pranks they played on other characters last season. This character turn is a smart move not only because it makes Laurie more sympathetic and interesting, but also because it helps us see the Guilty Remnant as a disease preying on people either too empathetic or too traumatized to get on with their lives after the departure, rather than a curious or perhaps even valid response to the departure’s devastation. Moreover, Laurie’s recovery also provides her with great motivation for her intense reaction to the Guilty Remnant: searing, poorly-concealed rage.

Hannibal Season 3, Episode 13, “The Wrath of the Lamb”

I’d grown fairly disillusioned and even impatient with Hannibal over the course this past season. The show seemed to lose its way somewhat in the first half: Hannibal playing house with Bedelia; Will on his seemingly endless plod through the greatest hits of Hannibal’s developing years; Hannibal going through the motions of killing and eating thinly drawn European academics with barely a shrug, and worst of all, far too much indulgence in Bryan Fuller’s partially straight-faced dictum that his directors make an arty, “pretentious” show. Even the introduction of Francis Dolarhyde and the plot of Red Dragon in the season’s second half seemed to drag, although at least it allowed Will to become a more active character by again applying his heightened empathy to understand the mind of yet another monstrous lunatic.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 14, “Person to Person”

A lot of viewers and critics – myself included – have speculated about what the Mad Men finale would look like. How could we not? For a series focused so squarely on character rather than plot, the possibilities for the finale seemed nearly endless. Would it focus exclusively on Don wandering through America, letting the previous final appearances of the other characters serve as their respective series finales? Would Don return to New York upon learning of Betty’s terminal cancer, and encounter the other characters once again? Would Don commit suicide, or drop the Don Draper identity entirely? While some of these possibilities – especially a return to New York and suicide – seem distinctly likely at various points throughout the finale, ultimately the series ends with something more satisfying by touching on each of the major characters, providing both a firm coda for their arcs, as well as an idea of what their lives will be like heading into the 1970s and beyond. And then there’s a Coke commercial tacked on to the end for good measure!

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 13, “The Milk and Honey Route”

The penultimate episode of Mad Men features Don, Pete, and Betty each reaching epiphanies of sorts, as each comes to a realization about their lives or the lives of their families. I was somewhat surprised to find myself most interested in Pete’s story this week. Pete’s happiness in “Lost Horizon” reveals itself to be rather genuine here. As he tells Duck – who makes what is likely his final appearance as one of the longest running and most frequently recurring characters on the show – he’s contented with McCann’s hospitality, and the importance he’s been accorded. However, despite his own protests to the contrary, Pete is too self-aware to know it will last.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 12, “Lost Horizon”

Last week’s episode was the best of this half season thus far, but this week’s episode far surpassed it, easily ranking among my personal pantheon of Mad Men's greatest episodes. Where to begin with such an embarrassment of riches? Perhaps with some of the indelible, beautiful, and at times haunting imagery: the empty, torn down offices of SC&P; Peggy roller-skating to Roger’s drunken organ music; Peggy’s grand entrance into McCann, turning heads as the absolute essence of cool, with Bert Cooper’s Japanese erotic octopus painting tucked under her arm; Don being the odd man out and wearing his suit coat to the Miller meeting while all the other McCann creative execs go with only a shirt and tie; or even Don leaving Diana’s former Midwestern home to step into his Cadillac. This was a marvelously directed episode from start to finish, one that made great use of the all of the irreversible changes afoot in the world of these characters.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 11, “Time & Life”

This week sees yet another major overhaul to the organization of SC&P, this time in the form of their imminent absorption by McCann Erickson. Naturally, Don and the rest of the partners (except Ted) are resistant to the move, as it negates the independence they thought they were maintaining when they agreed to be bought out by McCann in the first place. Between a rock and a hard place, the partners have no recourse but to accept it, unless, that is, they can convince McCann to let them set up shop in California as SC&P West, maintaining the clientele that they would otherwise have to cut loose because of conflicts of interest.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 10, "The Forecast”

“The Forecast” is an aptly-named episode, as it finds many characters thinking about what they want out of the future and who they want to be. This episode finds Don having to write a speech for Roger about the future of SC&P for their bosses at McCann. Don’s at a loss for what to write about, and I think there are multiple competing possibilities for why it’s such a struggle for him.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 9, “New Business”

I was somewhat surprised to see Diana the waitress return so prominently in this episode, but midway through, it dawned on me that she’s actually kind of perfect for Don: she matches Don’s humble roots, and she has a world-weariness about her that suggests she knows what a hard life is like (in stark contrast with Don’s ex-wives, both of whom had privileged upbringings). Even more fittingly, eventually she reveals that just like Don, she is also running from a shameful past: her daughter died of the flu. It’s easy to see why Don is drawn to her. However, near the end of the episode she reveals herself not to be as kindred a spirit as she seemed: her pain stems not solely from the death of her daughter, but from her subsequent abandonment of another surviving daughter back in Wisconsin. She turns down Don’s attempts to escalate their romance because being with him makes it easier for her to forget, and unlike him, rather than run from her pain, she wants to hold onto it and remember it. The comfort Don can provide is not what she wants, ultimately.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 8, “Severance”

The first half of this final season satisfactorily resolved (more or less) the arcs of three of the most important relationships on this show: those Don has with Peggy, Sally, and Megan. All is right between Don and Peggy, Don has healed his rift with Sally as well (although I wouldn't mind seeing more bonding here), and while his marriage to Megan ended poorly, it resolved; they’re done, a point emphatically driven home by the string of women Don sleeps with in this episode. The resolution of these storylines leads me to wonder about what stories there are left to tell in this final half-season (some of which are strongly indicated in this episode), as well as what kinds of stories I want the show to spend its remaining time focused on.*

Girls Season 4, Episode 10, “Home Birth”

For a show whose main characters I’ve often jokingly described as each being “the worst” in their own unique ways, the season four finale ended on an extremely uplifting note, with each of them being at their absolute best.