South Park (Season 23)

South Park felt largely like a show running out of steam in its 23rd season. There were a few good episodes mixed in there, but for the most part, it was disappointing.

Among the more ambitious episodes was "Band in China", a shot at various people and corporations selling out their principles to do business in China. I remember that one being well timed with the NBA / Hong Kong controversy, and the Winnie the Pooh mix-in was excellent. The episode "Shots", which involved Cartman behaving like an actual pig/farm animal whenever he was faced with getting a required immunization, was probably the funniest installment of the season. Finally, the "Board Girls" episode focused on PC Principal, Strong Woman, and the PC Babies. It stirred up controversy while attacking trigger-happy applications of the term "transphobe" and mixing in a solid Macho Man Randy Savage parody.

The rest of the season was basically either mundane or flat out boring. South Park struggles when it tries to stretch 10 minutes worth of material into a 22-minute episode, and their rougher installments of Season 23 followed that pattern. "Basic Cable" got in plenty of great jokes about cable company customer service but was otherwise fairly dull. "Christmas Snow" successfully poked fun of the dependence of many adults on alcohol and drugs to get into the Christmas spirit, but eventually had to lean on tired Tegridy Farms schtick and lackluster re-appearances from long-time South Park characters Santa and Jesus to get through the full episode.

Finally, "Turd Burglars" introduced the concept of a "fecal transplant" which becomes a highly desired procedure of the women of South Park. From reading reviews, I'm likely in the minority, but I hated this episode, and the one-note jokes and Tom Brady "Spice Melange" plot did virtually nothing for me. I laughed when the other women instantly turned on Sheila when she left the lunch table but that was basically the only thing amusing about the episode.

I'm probably never going to drop South Park because their ability to tackle current events is unique and refreshing. They're probably going to continue to churn out gems here or there, but I get the impression that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are getting a little burned out. There's no shame in that after a show has been on the air this long, but after the brilliant resurgence offered by Season 19, it's a little disappointing that virtually all of the momentum has worn off.

Episode Grades:

1. "Mexican Joker": B
2. "Band in China": A-
3. "Shots!!!": B+
4. "Let Them Eat Goo": C+
5. "Tegridy Farms Halloween Special": B
6. "Season Finale": B
7. "Board Girls": B+
8. "Turd Burglars": D
9. "Basic Cable": B-
10. "Christmas Snow": C

Season Grade: B-

BoJack Horseman Season Six (Part One)

When it was announced that Season Six of BoJack Horseman would be its last, I was somewhat sad. At the same time, though, it felt like the series was heading toward the point where there needed to be some form of resolution, lest the cycle of its titular character taking one step forward and two steps back every season begin to feel tiresome. Each year, BoJack's struggles and self-defeating tendencies changed in scope and intent enough to keep the show feeling fresh, but it's not a formula that could continue forever.

And so, Season Six finally presents us with a version of BoJack that we've never seen before -- a good one. There's been bits and pieces of modest improvement in his character over the course of the show, but each time, these triumphs have proven to be fleeting, and it's only a matter of time before he self-destructs again.

This time around, it doesn't feel like the rug is going to be ripped out from under us. BoJack spends much of the season in rehab and seems committed to avoiding drugs and alcohol. The last episode he's a part of involves him breaking away from his house (a site of no shortage of awful memories from the past) and going around to make amends to the various members of the main cast. He has a good discussion with Todd, and later gets a woman to sign up for his asexual dating app ("All About That Ace"). He gives Princess Carolyn a nudge in the right direction, and indirectly convinces her to re-hire Judah to help give her more time with her baby, Ruthie. BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter finally sort of get their "crossover episode" on the set of their shows at the Smithsonian. Finally, he visits Diane and gives her the inspiration she needs to begin treating her depression with medication, followed by performing the kind gesture of cleaning her house.

BoJack Horseman has saved the most crushing moments for its seasons' penultimate episodes, so it was interesting that they flipped the script by using this one to give happy and hopeful endings to each member of the main cast. Of course, the finale was still to come, and it was one of the most brilliant episodes that BoJack Horseman has ever done. None of the five main cast members appear in the finale. Instead, it's an episode that checks in on several minor characters whose lives BoJack has significantly affected. This could fail on a lot of shows, but Hollyhock, Kelsey Jannings, and to a lesser extent, Gina Cozador, have been so well-developed that they're more than able to carry a full episode by themselves (I love it whenever the show brings Kelsey back).

The conclusion of the finale, however, invites trouble ahead. Hollyhock's at a party and meets a guy named Peter, whom (::pats self on the back::) I immediately recognized as Penny's friend "Pete Repeat" from the series' best episode, "Escape from L.A."  The show cuts to the credits just as Peter is about to reveal to Hollyhock what BoJack did with Penny all those years ago, which would have major ripple effects. Couple that development with an investigator getting closer to the truth about Sarah Lynn's death, and BoJack's two greatest crimes are about to re-surface at a time when he's reached the peak of his progress. That's a lot of ammo for the back half of the season.

Per usual, the least effective episode of the season was the 'political issue' episode, a consistent pattern that held true each of the last three seasons (Season Two's "Hank After Dark", by contrast, was fantastic). I feel like I say this every season, but while the show has valid points to make, it doesn't deliver them in a unique way. Their attack on capitalism in "Feel-Good Episode" lacked the usual BoJack Horseman creative touch (except for their ability to portray a white whale as an actual white whale, named Jeremiah Whitewhale). Also less effective was Mr. Peanutbutter's running storyline in which he had to deal with Pickles learning the truth of his affair with Diane. I've found it much harder to care about that relationship than the others on the show.

On the other side of the coin, Todd and Diane received excellent season-long arcs, and we finally got some backstory on Todd's family that we've been lacking to this point. I thought the relationship between Guy and Diane was a good direction for the series to take, and the friendship between Todd and Princess Carolyn continued to pay dividends. Princess Carolyn's journey as a new parent was also an interesting one, and while I can say from experience that being a new parent is challenging, I've never had to deal with my baby being an actual porcupine with quills that can puncture my skin.

BoJack Horseman continues to succeed as one of television's greatest shows, and it's set up for a fantastic conclusion. January 31 can't get here fast enough. CAN'T. WAIT.

Episode Grades

1. "A Horse Walks into a Rehab": A-
2. "The New Client": A-
3. "Feel-Good Story": B
4. "Surprise": B
5. "A Little Uneven, Is All": B+
6. "The Kidney Stays in the Picture": A-
7. "The Face of Depression": A
8. "A Quick One, While He's Away": A

Half-Season Grade: A

The Mike Cameron / Paul Konerko Debate

First off, this site is typically reserved for my non-baseball writing. However, I'd rather keep this one off of Sox Machine.

Earlier this week I made a tweet that caused a bit of a ruckus. The gist of the tweet was that although things turned out OK for the White Sox when Paul Konerko was traded for Mike Cameron, the Reds got the better end of the deal. The tweet was poorly worded, which led to the ensuing stir.

After some discussion, I wish I could have changed how I framed my point. Here are my core beliefs about that trade:

1. The Cincinnati Reds acquired the better asset (5 years of Cameron vs. 7 years of Konerko), and the better player, and it's not particularly close.
2. (Somewhat amending the language in the tweet) The White Sox benefited more from the trade than the Cincinnati Reds. 

Let's start with assertion #1, because this was unexpectedly the controversial part. I understand that there are people out there that don't like WAR as a stat. Some such folks go about this dislike in the correct way, essentially ignoring WAR and continuing to enjoy baseball without needing or wanting to view it through a sabermetric lens. Then there are others who will yell into the ether when WAR spits out a number that paints a player they like in a less favorable light. That's when we hear that WAR is "biased" or "stupid" or "unfair" or "isn't everything".

The reason WAR is useful is that it tries to level the playing field across players who field different positions and have different skill sets. Specific to this discussion, it was pointed out to me (many, many times) that Paul Konerko is a better hitter than Mike Cameron. In the years of control that exchanged hands in the deal (and for their careers as a whole), that's certainly correct. Konerko averaged close to 30 homers per season, while Cameron was closer to 20. If we look at OPS+:

Konerko, 1999-2005: 118

Cameron, 1999-2003: 110

So yes, Konerko was certainly a better hitter than Mike Cameron, both over the course of their careers and specific to the years that were traded in the deal. It is notable, however, that they aren't light-years apart in this regard (unless you look at career counting stats, which favor Konerko's longer and healthier career).

So why does the ledger tilt in favor of Cameron? There's three principal ways: baserunning, defense, and defensive position.

Baserunning is obvious. Konerko was one of the worst runners in the game over the course of his career. He was bad at taking the extra base, and was consistently a GIDP candidate. Cameron was a good runner who stole bases with efficiency and frequency. In 2002 and 2003, Cameron had more than a 1.0-win edge on Konerko -- just from running.

With regards to defense, any Sox fans can recount how great Konerko was at picking throws out of the dirt. He was damn good at it. There's no question about it. He didn't have good range, but he was responsible for saving some throwing errors from his teammates. Overall, I'd say in his younger days, Konerko was probably decent-to-good at first base. Cameron, however, was one of the best defensive center fielders of his generation. It's easy for a White Sox fan to appreciate Aaron Rowand's incredible defense (he was Cameron-like in 2004 and 2005) in center and consider it very valuable. The same argument benefits Cameron's case here.

Finally, defensive position is another one. I hear frequently that "WAR puts 1B at an unfair disadvantage". Whether the quantity of the defensive adjustment is fair is up for debate, but it's certainly fair and correct to penalize someone for playing an easier defensive position than someone else when we're comparing the two players. It'd be easier to find a replacement first baseman that can hit than a replacement center fielder.

For these reasons, WAR prefers Cameron to Konerko by a healthy margin, despite Konerko's advantages as a hitter.

Now, let's turn to the second part of the discussion. It's rare that a team makes out better in a trade when acquiring the inferior asset. Here is what was specifically dealt between the White Sox and Reds:

Player A is obviously Konerko and Player B is obviously Cameron, but let's take the names and context out for a second. In a vacuum, it is a really, really, really bad idea to trade Player B for Player A. That's the sort of trade that could significantly contribute to a general manager getting fired.

So how can a team make out better when getting Player A in that exchange? The specific scenario requires Year 1 - Year 5 to essentially be nothing of consequence, and then you need to have big success in either Year 6 or Year 7 (beyond the control horizon of Player B). That's exactly what happened here. The Sox stagnated (aside from a brief playoff appearance in Year 2, against Cameron's Mariners, no less!). Then, after Cameron would have already hit free agency. Konerko helped the team win a World Series in Year 7.

Notice how much coincidence went into this. The Sox didn't deal Cameron (a long-term asset) for Konerko (another long-term asset) in 1998 with eyes on competing specifically in 2004 and 2005. It just so happened that their annual strategy of assembling a roster just good enough to be interesting hit the variance lottery in 2005. The stars aligned, and a great team emerged where most didn't expect it. In addition to Konerko coincidentally having easily his best season in 2005, the Sox surrounded him with many pitchers who had career years, forming the best pitching staff in baseball. Their mid-tier free agents paid off as well to form an offense with just enough power to carry that team to a title.

The 2005 White Sox could have fallen apart for many reasons outside of Paul Konerko's control. Maybe their starting pitching struggles in the ALCS, leading to a series loss. Maybe they don't catch lightning in a bottle on several relief pitchers with otherwise unremarkable careers that made for one of the deadliest bullpens we've seen. The team could have easily not won the World Series in 2005, and Paul Konerko may have gone down as a respectable player in the team's history rather than a White Sox legend.

Of course, that's all revisionist and hypothetical. The Sox won it all with Konerko. He's rightfully celebrated for his prominent role in the greatest team we've ever had the pleasure of watching. For that reason, we don't regret the trade that brought him here for a second. In the case of Konerko vs. Cameron, "WAR doesn't tell the whole story" is actually a true statement. It does tell us -- rather definitively -- which asset was more valuable (in a vacuum) and which player was better. But it doesn't tell us which team benefited the most from that trade. The team that benefited the most, thanks to a wonderful combination of coincidence, luck, and baseball magic, was undoubtedly the White Sox.

Billions (Season Three, Incomplete, Dropped)

This is more or less a housekeeping post. I dropped Billions for good. This might have been foreseeable in that it's taken me about two years to get through half of Season Three. There wasn't a particular moment that did it for me (though I've heard from others that the direction the plot's taking is disappointing).

Billions had an okay-ish first season and a slightly improved second, but there's no point in continuing on anymore. Most of the characters on this show are completely not interesting (Oliver Dake is the biggest crime here, that guy might be one of the worst-written characters I've ever seen for someone who serves as substantial a plot role as he does in Seasons Two and Three, very reminiscent of Raymond Tusk from House of Cards), and almost all of them are horrible people. Every episode is basically a contest to see which character can screw over another character the hardest (often in confusing and difficult-to-follow ways), which is problematic when it's hard to really care who wins.

On top of all that, there's plenty of investment and legal lingo included that's deliberately written to be confusing to the common viewer, because Billions needs to create the impression that all of these characters have practically superhuman ability in their respective fields, and what better way to do that than to make it appear that all of them understand something that you don't?

Billions had some strong moments and some legitimately exciting plot threads to this point in the series, but by the middle of Season Three, it started to feel like the financial/legal equivalent of House of Cards (for those who don't know my views on that show: that's an insult). The important lesson to learn from these two shows is that "sick" plot twists don't give a series a long shelf life. If you're going to put a (mostly) humorless drama out there, you'd better get yourself some compelling characters, because otherwise, even great actors like Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis won't be able to save it.

Season Three Grade, Don't Give a Damn That I Didn't Finish It: C-

The Big Bang Theory (Season 12 & Full Series)

First of all, there's inevitably going to be spoilers in this space, but this isn't the type of show where that matters much.

The Big Bang Theory wrapped up its twelfth and final season in May of this year, and it occupied plenty of space on our DVR as a "show of last resort" that my wife and I would watch when pretty much all else failed. While not necessarily "bad", the show generally didn't have much to offer these last four seasons and we were more or less just riding it out until the end.

The major plot of Season 12 involved Sheldon and Amy gunning for a Nobel Prize for their work on "super asymmetry", and navigating the politics involved in trying to attain the award, not to mention trying to fend off a couple frauds (played by Sean Astin and Kal Penn) that kept trying to take credit for their work. They eventually win the award, with Sheldon's portion of the acceptance speech consisting of a big "thank you" for the friends that supported him all of these years, rather than the extremely long list of arrogant "I-told-you-so's" that he had planned to fling at his doubters. 

That was among the more satisfying of endings for the show's character arcs. Penny winds up pregnant and in the finale seems completely content with this, despite it not seeming like something that she fully wanted earlier in the season. It's not implausible, but that happy ending doesn't feel fully earned, as the show didn't exactly explore her feelings on the subject aside from a scene nine episodes earlier in which it's revealed that she's conflicted about her prior convictions of not wanting any children.

There isn't much in the way of resolution for the rest of the characters (except Stuart, who moves in with his new girlfriend, Denise). The series more or less just ends for Howard and Bernadette, whereas Raj breaks it off with Anu thanks to some last-minute heroics from Howard. He doesn't get much in the way of a resolution, aside from sitting next to Sarah Michelle Gellar at the Nobel Prize Ceremony. I'm disappointed that the show never really figured out what to do with Raj.

Season 12 had its moments, and the finale definitely had its high points, but The Big Bang Theory had already milked every last bit of intrigue out of these characters, so there wasn't much left to do besides sit back and enjoy the occasional witty one-liner. There's only so many times Chuck Lorre and company can expect a Sheldon "I-can't-care-about-other-people-no-wait-nevermind-yes-i-can" storyline to really resonate. Heck, even the finale was just another episode in that mold (though admittedly a stronger-than-usual one). The best that The Big Bang Theory ever had to offer was left behind almost a half-decade ago. We knew that going in, so how disappointing could this really be?

Season Grade: C+

***

The Big Bang Theory got off to a very rough start as a series, with a first season that created characters that were socially inept and hoped that its audience would get a kick out of laughing at nerds. The tone of the series measurably changed in its second season, as the viewing experience felt a lot more like hanging out with quirky people rather than poking fun at them. As the series progressed, the "nerds" began to feel more like people with dignity.

That didn't mean that all of the characters ultimately wound up compelling. Bernadette, Raj, and Leonard weren't drawn as well as the rest of the main cast, and that was a consistent black mark on the series. However, Sheldon, Penny, Amy, and Howard had lives that were fun to follow, and each evolved a great deal over the twelve seasons of the series. In particular, Jim Parsons has been showered with awards for his work as Sheldon Cooper, and he deserves every bit of it. The quality of The Big Bang Theory ebbed and flowed throughout its run, but Sheldon is one of the greatest sitcom characters ever, and this show may have not even been renewed for a second season if he didn't quickly become a breakout star in its first.

Throughout much of The Big Bang Theory's run, it has been one of the most popular scripted shows on television, and that owes just as much to its aim for broad appeal (at the expense of more complex story arcs and continuity concerns) as it does the fact that plenty of its episodes are pretty funny. There's a fair amount of basic, predictable jokes, and those that cite this as a criticism of the series are certainly not wrong. 

However, there's also a lot of good humor and heartfelt stuff mixed in, and that's missed by most who have a cursory understanding of the show. The Big Bang Theory's ubiquitousness is the main reason it's become the butt of jokes (similar to Nickelback, a band with obvious shortcomings that no one would care to joke about if it also didn't have enough appeal to have a massive following). As a result, it's the most underrated overrated show on TV. Anyone who lists The Big Bang Theory as one of their five favorite TV programs likely doesn't watch enough shows with depth or ambition. Likewise, anyone who turns up their nose and sneers at it without at least giving it a reasonable chance is missing out on the endearing charm that kept millions of people tuning in each week. 

Series Grade: B-

Deadwood (Full Series & Film)

I actually watched the first season of Deadwood several years ago, but for some reason stalled after watching the first episode of Season Two. However, with the movie coming out this year, I got re-motivated to finish off the series, and it was quite the worthwhile journey.

"Deadwood" is a town in South Dakota, and the series is set in the 1870s, prior to the territory gaining statehood. A large contingent of the characters on the show were actually real-life figures, including well-known ones like Wild Bill Hickok, "Calamity" Jane Cannary, and Wyatt Earp. Through three seasons, David Milch shows the growth of Deadwood from its infant stages to a vibrant community with inhabitants intricately tied to each other's interest and well-being.

In 1876, the righteous, hot-tempered marshal Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) leaves his post in Montana to open a hardware store in Deadwood with his friend Sol Star (John Hawkes). He soon becomes entangled with Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the proprietor of The Gem, which doubles as a bar and brothel. Though initially presented as a somewhat dangerous antagonist, Swearengen eventually becomes the series' most important character and a sort of anti-hero.

Part of what makes Swearengen endearing is that many of the other figures that either live in the camp or filter through it are downright despicable, from Cy Tolliver (the late Powers Boothe), the owner of the rival Bella Union, to perverse geologist Francis Wolcott (Garret Dillahunt), to the gold-obsessed businessman George Hearst (Gerald McRaney). Swearengen and his seedy crew seem to have just a shred more humanity in them than those they clash with, and it's enough to get you to root for them in the town's frequent conflicts (even sometimes, when the lawful Bullock is on the other side).

That's largely a testament to McShane's performance as the charismatic Swearengen, who is just a Tony Soprano away from being in the conversation for the best television character ever created. McShane steals every scene that he's a part of, and his one-liners and monologues range from powerful to hilarious. I can't say enough about the combination of the perfect voice, spot-on delivery, and superb writing that went into Al Swearengen, and it says quite a bit that I prefer him to every one of the rich characters on The Wire.

The main knock on Deadwood is its third season, as it was cancelled too soon and left many threads lingering, which made the de facto series finale something of an anticlimax. There's a plot line in Season Three involving a theater group that moves into Deadwood that proves to be thoroughly inconsequential, which is a shame considering how much screen time it received. I imagine that their presence was all a setup for the never-produced Season Four, but as it stands, the arc (if you can even call it that) was worthless; I checked out during many of those scenes and was no worse for the wear.

With such critical acclaim surrounding the series and a general understanding that the show never got the ending it deserved, HBO released Deadwood: The Movie on May 31, 2019. It was set ten years after the events of Season Three, and it was a little sad to watch just how much older all of the actors had become. In some ways, the film's conclusion felt just as disappointing as that of the full series, though that owes in part to the need to maintain historical accuracy in some respects. However, it did succeed in showing that the rough, often uncivilized mining camp had developed into a prospering, much more respectable town. As Deadwood (similar to The Wire) utilizes a large ensemble cast and aims for the town itself to be the "star" of the show, that's probably the most important ending of all.

Series Grade: A-

Film Grade: B

Atlanta (Season One)

Aside from Deadwood, which is still a work in progress, the most recent TV show I've been watching, or at least trying to watch, is Billions, a program that couldn't be more plot-driven. Atlanta is more of my kind of show, focused on drawing interesting people and trusting that the audience will be content to just hang out with the characters without needing to push forward some sort of overarching plot. Indeed, most episodes of Atlanta involve main storylines that aren't interested in advancing the larger narrative, such as Donald Glover's protagonist Earn searching for his lost jacket or trying to get a promised payment from a club owner.

Earn is essentially broke and aspires to fix that problem by becoming the manager of his rapper cousin, Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry). He's also in a complicated relationship with a woman, Van, (Zazie Beets), with whom he has a daughter. Van has her life together much more so than Earn, and it's clear that Van is the one feeling the pressure to be responsible and a provider. The two are on speaking terms it seems primarily due to the need to care for their child, but Van is openly seeing other people. There's an episode focusing entirely on Van and her worldview, and it's one of the season's better installments.

There's not much of an over-arching storyline in Season One besides Earn's struggle to elevate his financial status (his moniker is not a coincidence) and make his own way, rather than being overly dependent on those around him. He's a mostly likable character whom you want to root for, but he's also quite brooding and weird. Then again, the strange and often surreal circumstances he faces make Earn something of a product of his surroundings.

Paper Boi is also a fascinating character, who seems standoffish and not willing to trust anyone except his obtuse sidekick Darius (a hilarious LaKeith Stanfield). His classically tough exterior begins to come down a little bit in the second episode, when he witnesses children pretending to be him when shooting each other with toy guns (note: not a spoiler, the opening scene of the series involves Paper Boi shooting someone). It reminded me a little bit of a young(er) Kenard pretending to be Omar in The Wire. Paper Boi's visibly bothered by the experience, and the rest of the season focuses a great deal on how scrutiny over his actions increases as he gains fame.

While there's a great deal of realism in Atlanta, the show takes a few trips into the absurd. In one episode, Paper Boi gets into a celebrity basketball game with a black version of Justin Bieber, and is forced to confront the different expectations society places on pop singers and rappers. In another, Paper Boi appears on a talk show called Montague, airing on an alternate-universe version of B.E.T. I'm not sure I've laughed more at a television episode in a long time, between the fake and often absurd commercials ("The price is on the can, though"), to Paper Boi delivering well-timed retorts when questioned about his insensitivity to certain social issues. Brian Tyree Henry plays the "does-not-give-a-shit" card extremely well, and while the scenes could have had problematic implications on other shows, it's clear that Atlanta as a whole isn't using Paper Boi as a mouthpiece; the show's views are primarily grounded in Earn's rather direct social commentary.

I'm not currently able to watch the second season of Atlanta, as it requires an FX+ subscription. I hope to be able to watch Season Two at some point down the road and see where Glover and company decide to take this show next. It's a show bursting with creativity and a very worthwhile experience.

Bullet Points:

• Steve Urkel sighting! Jaleel White guest stars in the celebrity basketball game episode (fans of Family Matters will remember that Urkel was quite the ballhandler). I have to say, though, the actual basketball action in the episode was very bad, and while I admire the episode's commitment to not using stunt doubles, the difference between what it looked like and what the editing was trying to make it look like was very evident.

• The actual hip-hop group Migos makes an appearance as drug dealers. I didn't know it was them until reading reviews.

Episode Grades:

1. "The Big Bang": A-
2. "Streets on Lock": A-
3. "Go for Broke": B+
4. "The Streisand Effect": B
5. "Nobody Beats the Biebs": B-
6. "Value": A
7. "B.A.N.": A
8. "The Club": B+
9. "Juneteenth": B
10. "The Jacket": A-

Season Grade: A-

Game of Thrones, Season 8

This is another one of those reviews that I'm purely doing for completionist reasons. Everything that could possibly have been said about this show -- and particularly this season of this show -- has already been said. Furthermore, I'm not a major GoT expert. I read like 75% of the first book, saw the pilot episode, and drifted in and out of the plot line as my wife has watched it over the course of the decade. I watched Season 7 and Season 8 in full, and while I might not have the depth of the background that everyone else had, I knew enough about the key plot points and characters prior to Season 7 such that I was not hopelessly lost.

The prevailing opinion seems to be that Season 8 was disappointing. I found it to be fairly entertaining. The standout episode was "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms", which featured the knighting of Brienne and all of the build-up before the Battle of Winterfell. The Battle of Winterfell was very confusing due to the weird choice to make everything extremely hard to see (exception: I thought the scene with the Dothraki torches being extinguished one by one off in the distance was pretty cool).

A lot of people were mad about Dany's heel turn, but it seemed like this was foreshadowed pretty well throughout the series and rooted in what we know about her character. She's had plenty of moments of kindness before, but she's been all about power from the jump, and her lean into the "tyrant" mindset wasn't all that shocking.

The final episode did a good enough job. It's impossible to tie up all of the many remaining threads in a way that satisfies everybody. I thought Drogon burning the Iron Throne was one of the weirdest scenes of the series. The decision to make Bran the new king was shocking to everyone except Las Vegas bookies, who apparently had that one nailed from the jump. Bran was such a weird goober for the entirety of the last two seasons and I didn't like much of anything they did with him (particularly given that his powers were basically useless at the Battle of Winterfell).

Tyrion's whole deal for most of the series is that he's smarter than everyone else, but the show's writers fashioned him into an idiot who couldn't see two steps ahead down the stretch, which was really odd. The show tied up Arya and Sansa's arcs pretty well, and Arya's story in particular in this final season was a strong point.

Another thing that I thought was strange was that Euron Greyjoy's fleet was so dominant against two dragons with support in one episode and then completely helpless against a single dragon the next. They didn't do a good job of making it clear why Dany was so much more successful the second time around.

Anyway, those are my scattered thoughts. They're even less coherent than usual because I know I'm not going to match the same passion for this show as the superfans and again, this season's been beat to death all over the place (plus, I'm getting around to writing this over a month late).

Season Grade: B

Barry (Season Two)

Season One of Barry was one of the best TV debuts of 2018, and for their work, Henry Winkler and Bill Hader cleaned up at the Emmy awards. Its eight-episode second act was often just as strong, despite a significant hiccup close to the midpoint. Barry Berkman's (Hader) story continues to get darker, as we learn more about the demons he's been fighting as he tries (often fruitlessly) to put his past behind him. He no longer wants anything to do with his life as a hired killer, including his inconsiderate handler, Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root) and his former Chechen mob connection NoHo Hank (a brilliant Anthony Carrigan). Both men inevitably re-insert themselves into Barry's life and he's once again forced to try to push forward in his acting class with Gene Cousineau (Winkler) and his romantic life with Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg).

Sally's been a strange character since her introduction, and while her behavior would be extremely bothersome to be around, the show does a good job of drawing her as a self-centered mess. Her behavior can be absurd, but she feels real enough for her to come off as sympathetic when she needs to. The show digs into her past relationship with an abusive boyfriend, Sam, and we learn where a great deal of her insecurities come from.

In fact, Sally's so focused on herself that she remains completely oblivious to who her boyfriend Barry really is. Nearly all the time that Barry's around her, he's trying to deal with his recent awful deeds he commits, and she only notices that something's wrong when he needs to rehearse a scene or otherwise do something for her. Given Barry's journey in Season Two, the dissonance between their focus grows increasingly stronger.

That's because NoHo Hank approaches Barry early in the season and despite his usually-polite demeanor, he blackmails Barry into getting re-involved with the Chechen mob. Carrigan only has a scene or two when he has to get serious and isn't bubbly and upbeat, but he sells those critical ones enough to remind us that the Chechens are, in fact, dangerous. As a result of the events of the Season One finale, the local police push further into their investigation and when the cop leading the investigation eventually confronts Barry, it results in the most effective (and thanks to Hader's delivery) twists in the series to-date.

Unfortunately, that excellent episode is followed up by easily the weakest installment of Barry to-date. I hate it when highly realistic shows take a dive into the surreal (exception: The Sopranos), unbelievable, or supernatural when they've been making their bones on gritty drama. There's a particularly strange sequence in episode 5, "ronny/lily" in which Barry encounters the titular father who has what feels like nine lives and the titular daughter who, in addition to seeming unrealistically feral, seems to have the ability to climb trees, fall from great distances unharmed, and hover a little bit in the air. The whole thing was weird and didn't work at all for me. I've got no problem with a show trying to flex its creative muscle, but it felt like it would have worked better as a dream sequence or something.

The other storyline that didn't do much for me this season was Gene's attempts to reconnect with his estranged son. It just seemed like something that the writers forced in there, and it seemed pretty inconsequential. I'm guessing that they're laying the groundwork for something in the third season, but I wasn't invested in this story at all, and the payoff is uncertain for now.

Fortunately, Barry picked up right where it left off right after "ronny/lily" and this turned out to be just a one-off blip. The remainder of the episodes packed plenty of the tense drama that the show's becoming known for, along with a good dose of hilarity from NoHo Hank (the conversation he has over the phone with a furniture store regarding buying a table on which to put a cocaine shipment is comedic gold). I had read mixed reviews on Barry prior to watching this season, and my opinion is that it's certainly held up to its Season One strength.

Episode Grades

1. "The Show Must Go On, Probably?": B+
2. "The Power of No" A-
3. "Past Equals Present x Future Over Yesterday: B-
4. "What?!": A
5. "ronny/lily": D
6. "The Truth Has a Ring to It": A-
7. "The Audition": A
8. "berkman/block": B+

Season Grade: B+

You're the Worst (Season Five & Series Review)

Season Four of You're the Worst was its weakest, and the fourth season is where many shows lose their footing and can't maintain the quality demonstrated by its earlier seasons. Sometimes, the show never recovers (The Office) and sometimes they come roaring right back in Season Five (The Sopranos). Fortunately, You're the Worst was able to stick the landing after it looked like it was losing its grip.

Much of the season centers around the buildup to Jimmy and Gretchen's wedding, including the first episode, which focuses on Jimmy and Gretchen meeting a wedding planner. They invent this whole backstory about how they met. The scenes of this story are played out by different actors in the first 10-15 minutes of the premiere, and I got sucked into it pretty good. The whole time I was also just wondering whether I was even watching the correct show, since Stephen Falk made the interesting choice for his main characters to not appear until about halfway through the episode.

Another standout episode was "Zero Eggplants", which was You're the Worst's sweet spot between comedy and drama. Jimmy and Gretchen actually meet another couple that they don't hate and really get along with. They get close, but the woman in the couple, Rachel, utters the quote:

“Here’s how it is with me. I don’t let just anyone in, but I don’t lose people. So once you’re in, you’re in for life.”

Predictably, that's too much for Gretchen, who immediately sabotages the friendship. Gretchen's commitment issues are well-documented (hell, they're a healthy part of the rationale for the show's theme song), but even the lack of surprise can't stop her actions from being gut-wrenching to watch.

That was quite the emotional contrast to one of the series' funniest scenes earlier in the episode. Jimmy embarks on a quest to fellate another man in an effort to make things up with Gretchen (incidentally, she was sort of joking about that, which makes the whole thing all the more crazy). Jimmy finds a man on an online dating app, but his efforts to be sexy fall woefully short, and he spends most of the encounter spitting obnoxious intellectual blather, which earns him some pretty swift rejection.

Another unforgettable episode was "Bachelor/Bachelorette Party Sunday Funday", in which the gang busts Sunday Funday out of retirement for an insane episode with a thrilling sequence that involves Vernon getting stabbed by a deranged Paul F. Tompkins, and then Tompkins getting shot by Jimmy in defense of Edgar. The whole thing was staged, which was great not only because Jimmy and Gretchen got goofed, but also because we finally got some payoff out of Edgar's comedy writing career, which had been a consistent weak point of the series over these last couple seasons.

The last thing to discuss is the finale and the ultimate closure of the arcs for all of these characters. I found the finale somewhat odd, even if the conclusion of Jimmy and Gretchen's storyline makes sense. The show foreshadowed the commitment issues of each, and sure enough, they bail on the wedding. However, they make a resolution while eating pancakes at a breakfast restaurant to choose each other every day. It makes sense, because each one has only been able to function in the relationship as long as they know they can have one foot out the door at any given time. Without the specter and formality of a marriage hanging over them, they're able to pursue their love in a way that makes sense for what we know about the way Jimmy and Gretchen operate.

The conclusions for the rest of the cast are hit-or-miss. Vernon and Becca (who, by the way, is the actual worst, if we're keeping score) seem to move past many of their issues, and Vernon starts to get back on his feet financially. Edgar gets his clean break from Jimmy (after telling Jimmy not to marry Gretchen, in one of the series' most shocking moments) and has come a long enough way to pursue his career successfully.

Other stories didn't work as well. I actually thought that Paul's storyline came to a natural, if weird conclusion in "The Pillars of Creation", in which he gets intimate with Vernon and Becca. The three seem almost like a family afterwards, but the show has other ideas down the stretch and pairs him back up with Lindsay, who re-marries him. That didn't make a lick of sense to me, as the pair couldn't be worse for one another and the last time they were together, Lindsay stabbed him with an actual knife, in what looked like a possible shark-jump for the series. This all comes after Lindsay's random two-episode stint as a lesbian, which she seemed to shrug off as quickly as the show did. I was disappointed in Lindsay's arc all season long after she practically carried the show in Season Four, and You're the Worst seemed to have no clue how her story should end.

Those blips aside, Season Five of You're the Worst had some of the series' best episodes and found its peak form for extended stretches. Falk & co. went out strong in their final season of a show that was bursting with humor, creativity, and feeling. They took a show about two cynical, selfish jerks and turned it into easily the most unconventional romantic comedy I've ever seen. It's not part of the inner circle of the best shows of all-time, but it's practically a lock to go down as one of the greatest hidden gems of the Golden Age of Television.

Episode Grades

1. "The Intransigence of Love": A
2. "The Pin in My Grenade": B
3. "The One Thing We Don't Talk About": B-
4. "What Money?": A-
5. "A Very Good Boy": B
6. "This Brief Fermata:": B+
7. "Zero Eggplants": A
8. "The Pillars of Creation": A-
9. "Bachelor/Bachelorette Sunday Funday": A
10. "Magical Thinking": C+
11. "Four Goddamn More Days": B
12. "We Were Having Such a Nice Day": A-
13. "Pancakes": B+

Season Five Grade: A-

Series Grade: A-

Top Chef (Season 16)

I've never recapped Top Chef before because the quality is relatively consistent from season to season. But I've been making more of an effort to just log the shows I watch, so here's some observations from Season 16.

• There was no powerhouse chef (like a Paul Qui or Kristen Kish) to speak of from this season that simply steamrolls everybody. That made the question of who was going to win it all a little more interesting to follow, but it's hard to actually know who was the "best" chef of the group

• I wasn't particularly invested in any of the individual chefs this season except for Eric. I was hoping he would win, and maybe he'll get another chance to compete if they continue this practice of re-admitting chefs from past seasons to the competition.

• Speaking of re-admitting past chefs, the one time that there was anything resembling a conflict among the contestants was when Brother Luck made it back into the competition. Overall, this crop was a likable group of people, but apparently they liked each other so much that the thought of having Brother compete alongside them was too much. From just the under-their-breath snippets and what we saw in the confessional, they were legitimately awful to Brother, who has to be one of the nicer contestants the show has ever seen. This reflected well on no one.

• Another interesting issue was a team competition early in the season in which Eddie used up nearly all of his team's budget and felt so bad about it that I thought he was going to voluntarily eliminate himself at Judges Table. Ultimately, one of his teammates went home for a mistake that wasn't related to what they had to shave off of their shopping budget, but I definitely felt bad for him and wanted him to do well the rest of the way.

• Nini must have been much more likable off camera, because the group seemed very loyal to her. The editing made her seem very abrasive.

• Brandon came off as super arrogant in the first couple episodes and seemed impossible to work with, but he really did seem to make good decisions in the kitchen and seemed more helpful later on. He was frequently snapped up as a sous chef to help for challenges later in the season, which I never would have guessed after watching him early in the season (both that he'd be an eliminated chef and that someone would actually want to work with him)

• That Kelsey and Sara were both friends before this competition had to make competing in the finale a wild experience. They both handled it well, and I have to imagine that both understand that the runner-up gets so much value in exposure that "losing" isn't really losing.

Season Grade: B-

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season Two)

After a very strong first season, I was pleased to see that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was able to turn things up a notch in its sophomore campaign. The show explores Midge's continuing progress toward stardom, including battles against Sophie Lennon, unhelpful gig bookers, her family, and per usual, misogyny. Unlike in Season One, there's fewer questions surrounding Midge's comedic ability and more focus on how difficult it can be for a woman in the late 50's to make it even if talent is taken as a given.

The best arc of the season involves the three episodes in which the Maisel family heads to a summer vacation spot of sorts in the Catskills with many other families. Susie, still trying to get gigs for Midge, humorously finds a way to get room and board at the site simply by walking around carrying a plunger (to which she develops emotional attachment), because everyone assumes that she's on the janitorial staff. One of said gigs puts Midge's comedy life and her family life on a collision course in possibly the most dramatic and hysterical way possible. "Midnight at the Concord" is probably the high point of the season, and the series' best episode other than the Season One finale, "Thank You and Good Night".

The series' other characters have excellent seasons as well. Susie gets noticed for her talents as a manager, and Abe's descent into madness over the course of the season is extremely amusing to watch, because Tony Shalhoub sells the eccentricity so well. Joel continues to grow as a sympathetic character, and a guy who could have simply been a knucklehead who was written out of the show after the first episode gets a chance to grow as a businessman and a person. He even has a few heroic turns during the season. The show's handling and development of Joel has consistently been a strong point of the series, and he's probably the best-drawn character other than Midge.

There's no shortage of cliffhangers at the end of Season Two as Abe contemplates a career change, Midge's comedy act could take a dramatic new turn (which may test her professional relationship with Susie), and Midge's romantic life is an absolute whirlwind. The little universe this show has crafted is extremely well put-together, and I'm very excited to return to it for Season Three.

Season Grade: A

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season One)

If you watched last summer's Emmy Awards, you know that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel absolutely cleaned up, winning the awards for Comedy Series, Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Rachel Brosnahan), Supporting Actress (Alex Borstein), and Casting for a Comedy Series. It was straight up dominance, and after watching just a couple episodes of the excellent first season, it's not hard to see why everyone was so in love with the show.

Maisel is set in the late 1950s in New York City. Miriam "Midge" Maisel (Brosnahan) is a housewife to her husband Joel (Michael Zegen) and their two children. Both Midge and Joel come from Jewish families, and the show explores their often complicated relationships with their parents. It's established early on that Midge is essentially a flawless supporter of Joel, going over the top to make him happy and help him to be successful. In particular, Joel is an aspiring stand-up comic and though he's not funny at all, he achieves whatever modest success he has to Midge's assistance with preparing him and setting up his gigs.

Joel is unappreciative of what he has in Midge and winds up leaving her, which leads to Midge getting drunk and trying her own hand at stand-up comedy. She's wildly successful, which gets the attention of Susie Myerson (Borstein), who encourages Midge to pursue comedy and becomes her manager. That's essentially the set up for Season One.

Over the course of the season the show covers the fallout from Joel and Midge's separation, including the complicated effect it has on the parents of each. Midge's stand-up career has its ups and downs, and the difficulties of trying to make it in the comedy world -- even for someone as clearly talented as Midge -- are made clear. Maisel has rich, multi-dimensional characters; even Joel, whose behavior early on garners him no sympathy, experiences a great deal of growth to the point where he's not completely loathsome by the end of the season (which is really saying something).

One odd observation I had about the first season is how little Midge and Joel interact with their children. Midge ostensibly goes out all the time to practice comedy and enjoy parties. She seems to enjoy the relative freedom of a childless woman. It seems like she just dumps the kids on her parents all the time. I have two kids who are each about a year older than the two kids on the show, and as my wife and I are in a comparable stage of life, it just seems bizarre to me. 

Brosnahan is absolutely stellar in the lead role, and Borstein is hilarious as the sarcastic, quick-witted Susie. Tony Shalhoub was nominated for an Emmy for playing Midge's stern, math-professor father, and I thought that was a well-deserved honor. Maisel kept us laughing throughout while keeping us invested in the characters' storylines. Season Two is out now as well, and while we have some other TV to catch up on in the interim, continuing this show is pretty high on our priority list.

Season Grade: A-

The Good Place (Season Three)

Season Three of The Good Place picks up the reboot initiated at the end of Season Two, with the four humans back on earth and given a second chance to improve themselves enough to make it into The Good Place. The show has essentially (and necessarily) taken on a different premise for each season to keep the plot from getting stale and it has largely worked. It's a good, consistent comedy with sharp wit and superb writing.

In addition to laughs, The Good Place is a contemplative show that continuously considers the question of what it means to be a good person. There's things that are obviously bad, like the crimes that Jason's father Donkey Doug (plot twist!) and Pillboi commit, but the show digs even deeper this season into exploring the unintended consequences of ostensibly good actions. It points out that life on Earth has gotten so complicated that it's practically impossible to make decisions that have perfect levels of morality, and nearly all that we do has shortcomings. It's a bit of a grim message, and a rather overwhelming one. The Good Place effectively distracts from these big questions with well-timed laughs, but it presents them nonetheless.

The falling action of the season created some drama in Eleanor and Chidi's romantic relationship, and I suppose how well that hits home depends on how much one truly buys into the pair as a couple. I never really saw it, and it's probably because it felt like Eleanor forced it after finding out that they fell for each other during some of the simulations. Plus, it's hard to see the romantic side of either character given how their exaggerated flaws (Eleanor's selfishness, Chidi's indecisiveness) have tended to dominate their characters over the first few seasons.

The show set itself up for yet another reboot in Season Four, and it's clear from the outset that there's going to be some pretty high emotional stakes for its main characters. I look forward to seeing what Ken Tremendous & Co. have in store for us next.

Season Grade: B+

Television Review - 2018

Because I made an effort to review every show that I watched in 2018, I'm going to be able to structure this year's TV review post a little differently and cram it all into one. In the past, I've broken out reviews of my five favorite viewing experiences of the year into separate installments, but since I don't have all that much new to say, I'll simply rank them and link those reviews here.

Here are all the shows that I've watched during 2018. I completed the most recently concluded season of the show (and only the most recent season of the show) unless otherwise indicated. The crop is a little thinner this year because Cheers and The Americans both took a very long time.

• Everything Sucks! 
• Cheers (Seasons 5-11)
• The Good Place (Seasons 1-2)
• Atypical (Seasons 1-2)
• Barry 
• Ozark (Season One)
• The Americans (Full series, Seasons 1-6)
• The Big Bang Theory
• Jersey Shore Family Vacation (Seasons 1-2)
• BoJack Horseman
• Better Call Saul
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• South Park
• Top Chef (Okay, I forgot to review this)

Here are the shows I watched last year that have dropped off the list due to no new episodes:

• You're the Worst (returns in January)
• The Sopranos
• Master of None
• High Maintenance
• Rick and Morty

Here are the shows that fell out of the rotation since last year, or that I am 100% sure I will not be continuing, with an explanation:

1. Silicon Valley - We watched an episode or two of this, but rumors of its decline in quality along with the departure of T.J. Miller's Erlich Bachman character from the show stunted our enthusiasm, and we've just sort of stopped watching it.

2. Billions - I can't actually say we stopped watching it -- in fact, we watched the third episode of Season Three after a long hiatus last night. We might complete Season Three next year if that momentum sticks, but I think it's just decent, and the repeated power plays and backstabbing make it feel a little too much like House of Cards and Suits at times. The characters on Billions lie somewhere on the spectrum between the boring, 1-dimensional ones found on House of Cards and the highly entertaining but caricature-like ones on Suits, so it's walking a tight rope.

3. Ozark - I can't stress or repeat myself enough on this point, and it's actually cathartic to say it out loud every so often. The Season One finale episode of Ozark was so unbelievably terrible that I'm dropping the show out of principle, even if it definitely had its moments along the way. There's only a handful of TV episodes I've ever seen that I'd slap an "F" grade on, and adjusting for expectations (Ozark was otherwise decent-to-good), it might be the most disappointing (not to mention repulsive) single installment of a show I've ever seen. It's close between that and the How I Met Your Mother finale.

Finally, here were my Top Five Viewing Experiences of the Year:

5. Barry (Season One) - I'm giving this the slight edge over Season Four of Better Call Saul in a year in which I just happened to watch a lot of great TV. In the end, it's probably because Barry was a completely new experience and toed the line between comedy and drama perfectly.

4. Atypical (Seasons 1-2)- The second season wasn't quite as strong as the first, but overall, but Atypical is rife with strong characters and presents an interesting look at a family whose son (and series main character) is on the autism spectrum.

3. BoJack Horseman (Season Five) - BoJack Horseman might be the best actively-running series on TV and delivered another consistently stellar slate of episodes in 2018. It was something of a bounce-back from Season Four, in which there were a few amazing episodes scattered among weaker (for BoJack) installments.

2. Cheers (Seasons 5-11) - This is the best live-action sitcom I've ever seen and it delivered consistent laughs all the way up until the finale, which is one of the greatest episodes of television of all time.

1. The Americans (Full series, Seasons 1-6) - What a ride. FX's period drama is firmly in the "best of all-time" discussion. When I finished watching the show, my reaction was, "Well, I know The Wire is better, but what else?" As far as other completed dramas are concerned, I know there's Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Mad Men (which I don't love but is critically acclaimed) to reckon with. I'd certainly put The Americans somewhere in that group.