TV #37 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 3 Aging a television setting up from high school to college is a tricky prospect, with inevitable cast turnover, different plot beats to work out, and more mature storytelling possibilities. And for the most part, Veronica Mars manages that transition well. The heroine herself is recognizable yet played …
Tag Archives: 2019 TV reviews
TV Review: Better Call Saul, season 1
TV #36 of 2019: Better Call Saul, season 1 This is my first time rewatching this program from the beginning, on the heels of my first time going back through its parent show. And overall, I really think I prefer this one. Breaking Bad is an amazing piece of television storytelling on any number of …
TV Review: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 6
TV #35 of 2019: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 6 With its future still uncertain at the time, the previous season of Marvel’s sci-fi spy show ended in such a way that it could have functioned as a series finale if necessary. Instead, the program got renewed for two final outings, leaving this first one …
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TV Review: Veronica Mars, season 2
TV #34 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 2 Let’s start at the ending. This season is so much more serialized than the first, with major storylines unfolding over multiple episodes and a lighter focus on the cases of the week — and although a few of those sub-plots peter out before the end, they mostly …
TV Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 4
TV #33 of 2019: Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 4 Another season of Star Trek that’s generally solid, but not exactly spectacular on an episode-by-episode basis. The sinister Starfleet xenophobia in “The Drumhead” definitely makes me sit up and pay attention, and there are a few other gems like “Future Imperfect” and “Clues” scattered …
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TV Review: Orange Is the New Black, season 7
TV #32 of 2019: Orange Is the New Black, season 7 Netflix’s flagship dramedy has always had two distinct modes of storytelling, which sometimes complement each other but more often work at cross-purposes. In the first, the program aims to tell grounded, realistic stories, using its prison setting and signature flashback structure to shine a …
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TV Review: Veronica Mars, season 1
TV #31 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 1 What an incredibly satisfying and well-crafted season of television. The high school noir tone is pitch-perfect, the title figure is layered far beyond her initial feisty appeal, and subtle clues to the ultimate answer of who killed the teenage sleuth’s best friend are threaded brilliantly throughout the …
TV Review: Stranger Things 3
TV #30 of 2019: Stranger Things 3 My biggest issue with this series as a whole is its tendency to fracture the narrative into engaging yet isolated small-group subplots that never intersect much with one another. And that’s definitely on display in this third outing, which is especially rough at the beginning before those disparate …
TV Review: iZombie, season 5
TV #29 of 2019: iZombie, season 5 iZombie has been a bit lifeless for a while now, and it finally shambles to a rest here. I hate to say it about a series that I once loved, but the last season of this zombie-cop comedy is just awful. The case-of-the-week stuff occasionally still delivers, but …
TV Review: Jane the Virgin, season 5
TV #28 of 2019: Jane the Virgin, season 5 What a beautiful send-off to a beautiful show. Jane the Virgin has gone down a few narrative dead-ends over the years, but its final season leans strongly into the character relationships that have always made its telenovela twists and heightened magical realism elements land so well. …
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