You're the Worst Season 5, Episode 4, "What Money?"

Check out my review of last week's You're the Worst, which saw the return of many of its recurring characters (for better and for worse): https://culturedvultures.com/youre-the-worst-s5-e4-what-money-review/

You're the Worst Season 5, Episode 3, "The One Thing We Don't Talk About"

Check out my thoughts on the latest YOU'RE THE WORST, where I discuss how the characters sometimes tread the line between human and caricature.

You're the Worst Season 5, Episode 2, "The Pin in My Grenade"

I wrote about a back-to-normal second episode of this season's You're the Worst over at Cultured Vultures. Check it out here.

You're the Worst Season 5, Episode 1, "The Intransigence of Love"

I wrote about the excellent ode to 1990s romantic comedies in the season five premiere of You're the Worst for Cultured Vultures. You can check it out here.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

After the misfires that were the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films, and two out of three varyingly disappointing Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films, what a treat it has been to see two films within a year and a half that perfectly capture much of what’s great about Spider-Man. These two films are of course Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and this year’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (with special mention going to the 2004 Spider-Man 2, which is a superb overall film, if an inferior representation of the character).

Better Call Saul Season 4, Episode 10, “Winner”

The season four finale of Better Call Saul, “Winner,” is aptly named, as it offers up a great finale to another ultimately strong season of television. This season has had lagging moments, but when firing on all cylinders like it is here, even previously lackluster or mixed bag plots like the construction of the super lab come to life in new and exciting ways.

Better Call Saul Season 4, Episode 9, “Wiedersehen”

One of the questions Better Call Saul has raised, and that “Wiedersehen” addresses explicitly, is the actual effectiveness of Jimmy’s powers of persuasion. Just how charming is Jimmy supposed to be? On the one hand, his folksy shtick goes over really well with the elder care clientele he courted in seasons two and three, and many of the cons he’s run over the course of the series have been successful. Moreover, we’ve also seen him be an effective salesman, most recently in his burner phone business. Yet on Breaking Bad, Saul’s attempts to charm people always came off as smarmy and half-assed, and were often much less successful. Take, for instance, his transparent attempt to flatter Skyler upon first meeting her, and then his patronizingly explaining money laundering to her. Here and elsewhere (there are many examples), Saul fails to read his audience, which begs the question: How can we reconcile Jimmy’s charm on Better Call Saul with Saul’s smarm on Breaking Bad?