How weird. I’m slowly becoming disenchanted with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, one of my go-to favorites for unwinding during the week. Not that the New Year two-parter is bad (though I am disturbed at how often I find myself repeating this sentiment), but as with the New Girl crossover, it feels unnecessary. If the show wanted to do a … Continue reading
Well: That’s it. Luke Cage‘s first season is over. It’s done. Finished. Complete. It went out well. I struggled with episodes five through seven, and I wish that the show had bothered to bring in Diamondback sooner; to use Stokes’ knowledge of Luke’s real identity against him; to pit Luke’s ideal of Harlem against Stokes’ and … Continue reading
At this point, I probably don’t need to say that I like Luke Cage, but I’ll say it anyways: I like Luke Cage. But I do wonder if there’s a more perfect version of the series lurking within the very good version we must content ourselves with, one where the fear explored in both “DWYCK” and “Take … Continue reading
Much as I love Mahershala Ali, I’m kinda glad to see him go in the context of Luke Cage: He’s one villain too many, or the show just plain ol’ has one villain too many, and if one of ’em had to go, Cornell Stokes makes the most sense. (Don’t feel too bad for Ali: 2016 is … Continue reading
I’m starting to sound like a broken record with Brooklyn Nine-Nine – “Predictable! Predictable!” – and it’s not just in the show’s fourth season. “Predictable” is exactly how I described the show’s Halloween episode back in 2015, too! The thing is, predictable isn’t the same thing as bad, and so, just like with last year, predicting … Continue reading
The best part of “The Night Shift,” last week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is that its crossover with New Girl didn’t totally sink it. It barely made a dent in it, in fact, but that’s because the crossover is minimal. (There’s more crossover in New Girl itself than in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, in point of fact.) But I still hated … Continue reading
So: Problems! Luke Cage hits kind of a standstill during its fifth and sixth episodes, mostly because it fails to appropriately pair its hero against a suitable villain. You can see how this is almost inevitable from the start: Stokes, a mortal man with a mean streak and delusions of Robin Hood-dom, uses bullets to get … Continue reading
Guys: I interviewed Bruce Campbell. I want you all to know, in case you don’t already, that this is a big deal for me, and I also want you to go to Paste Magazine, right now, so you can read the interview. I’m not wasting more of my energy on preamble than I need to, … Continue reading
