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Reviews
Ted Lasso: Sunflowers (2023)
Top 3 of the Series, Maybe #1
My biggest fear with Ted Lasso was that they wouldn't be able to keep the good vibes of the first season going without getting stale and repetitive. Season 2 answered that they could, but there's always a question of how long a show can keep their winning formula going.
This episode is proof that the Ted Lasso crew is operating at peak form still. The episode managed to balance several distinct storylines with ease, never feeling like it was shorting any of them (the extra length helped, no doubt).
Somehow, they managed to not just give us everything we want right away, but also give us exactly what we need, and in some cases didn't know that we wanted. Ted and Rebecca keep getting their signals crossed which is building the tension in the classic will they/won't they dynamic that humans apparently love. Even if you are in the camp that wants them to, you have to admit that Dutch star Matteo van der Grijn is hard to dislike.
The Jamie and Roy adventure, much like the adventure with Higgins and Will, was equal parts funny and touching. But the real stars of the show were Trent and Colin. So glad they opted not do the cliched 'trusted reporter' blows up the story (at least not yet) and instead gave us the kind of achingly earnest wholesomeness that Ted Lasso is famous for. Love that they are giving more time to more characters and great actors. Sunflowers is an instant classic.
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
A Breath of Fresh Air for the Genre
The first 1/3 of the movie or so, I wasn't really feeling it. Then all of a sudden it felt like it found its footing and it transformed into something special. If you want a typical superhero movie that takes itself very seriously this isn't the movie for you.
I'm so glad this movie wasn't a bunch of people in tights acting like this latest super villain and their menacing CGI Army is as serious as, well, cancer. Which isn't to say it doesn't have a super villain, it has a sensational one that Christian Bale really poured himself into. And to be share, it has plenty of CGI minions, too, but here all of that fades into the background and the movie really finds itself when it becomes a story about two people coming to terms with their past, present and future. Life, as it turns out, is what happens while you're busy saving the universe.
If you want something different, you just may find what you're looking for. Thor: Love and Thunder wears its heart on its sleeve and doesn't apologize for it as Taika and friends dare to tell a story about loss, love, and the search for meaning, with space goats and somehow, they pull it off. I found it to be a breath of fresh air.
Ted Lasso: Beard After Hours (2021)
Lasso gets weird and pulls it off with style.
This episode was a throwback to when TV shows would run 20 episodes a season and they had time to take stylistic risks and/or just let their characters be without worrying about advancing the "main" story.
This was an episode none of us knew we wanted but oh my, are we happy they gave us. And while Ted Lasso has consistently made good use of music, the soundtrack to this episode was perfection.
Best episode of the season.
The White Lotus: Departures (2021)
A Masterpiece
I had zero expectations for this series and it absolutely blew me away. From top to bottom the cast made the most of a stellar script. The slow burn of the mystery from the opening of the first episode builds with agonizing intensity right up until the reveal. Music, editing, directing, all of it was perfect.
Surviving Death: Mediums Part 1 (2021)
Skip Episodes 2 and 3
Episode 1, 4, and 5 were pretty good. Based on my own levels of interest in the topic I watched them in that order. Tonight I went back and watched episodes 2 and 3 and found many of the individuals claiming to be mediums as, well, embarrassing really. It would be easy to write them off as harmless except they are messing with people that are in a great deal of pain, and probably taking money from them to do it.