TV #26 of 2018: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 5 The finale of this season is outstanding, especially for the closure on Coulson and Fitz’s respective character arcs, but I’m not as sold on some of the episodes that get us there. Although the season has clearly been written with the knowledge that it might …
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TV #25 of 2018: Bob’s Burgers, season 8 I don’t have much to say about this season of Bob’s Burgers that doesn’t apply to the show at large, but it remains impressively strong this late in its run. Top-notch, character-driven comedy that somehow hasn’t worn out its welcome despite the general lack of any sort …
TV #24 of 2018: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 5 It’s been a whirlwind time to be a Brooklyn Nine-Nine fan, with the show getting canceled by Fox and then saved by NBC in roughly the span of a day. I’m super glad that show isn’t ending now, but if it had, it would have absolutely gone …
TV #23 of 2018: Saturday Night Live, season 43 We started watching SNL regularly sometime last year, making this the first season of the long-running sketch comedy show that I’ve actually seen in its entirety. Taken as a whole it’s understandably not as great as the isolated bits that go viral, and its present iteration …
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Book #95 of 2018: Native Son by Richard Wright This 1940 classic feels astonishingly modern — which is a sad commentary on the slow progress in American race relations over the decades since. Author Richard Wright pens a blistering look at privilege and marginalization, as embodied in the life of a young black criminal. Yet …
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Book #94 of 2018: Blindness by José Saramago This novel about an epidemic of sudden contagious blindness has a strong start of creeping desperation and a ruthless military quarantine, but it loses me in the back half of the story when society has effectively crumbled due to everyone losing their sight. There’s so much ableism …
Movie #8 of 2018: Doctor Strange (2016) I watched and reviewed this movie last year, and my thoughts are about the same: I’m still happy with my decision to wait until Doctor Strange was on Netflix to watch it (so as to hurt box office returns in protest of the casting). But having now finally …
Book #93 of 2018: A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas (Lady Sherlock #2) Although I really like the character of Charlotte Holmes, she’s yet to have a truly engaging novel built around her. This second adventure at least centers the clever detective more than the first, but it relies far too heavily on coincidence …
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Book #92 of 2018: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #1) A gloriously uplifting space opera, featuring a diverse crew of interstellar travelers who are fascinatingly drawn and who all care deeply for one another. The setting is sort of like Firefly amid a Star Trek or Mass Effect-like …
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TV #22 of 2018: ReBoot: The Guardian Code, season 1 I have so many mixed feelings about this — apologies in advance — reboot. I loved the original show and have been longing for a revival ever since it went off the air back in 2001, but this new version is pretty different… and pretty …
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