The Legend of Korra - 2/5

This show starts off by making some interesting updates and changes to the established worldbuilding, but quickly loses its way. The characters are almost exclusively terrible and annoying, and the underlying world view the show is promoting is pretty toxic; the men are useless, bumbling idiots, the women are brilliant and effortlessly talented. Apart from a few interesting moments and story beats, it’s not worth watching.

Closest comparison: It’s like Avatar: The Last Airbender rewritten by the makers of Skull Island (2023).

Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Comedy

Skull Island (Season 1, 2023) - 2/5

This show has some great ideas in it, but the characters are too bland and irritating, getting in the way of the impact of the natural mood of the setting. The action and horror are undercut by aloof, wisecracking teenagers the story centers around.

Closest comparison: It’s like Kong: Skull Island by way of a cross between Venture Bros. and Velma (2023).

Setting: Adventure
Plot: Horror
Tone: Comedy

The Terminal List (Amazon Prime) - 4/5

This show is excellent over all, but the wrap-up was only decently executed and went by too quickly. Antoine Fuqua brings his strengths to the plot, keeping the audience guessing about the true nature of everything and who the true reliable narrator of events is. It paints a vivid picture of the complicated nature of geopolitical conflicts while keeping the story relatively small and grounded. This has many of the hallmarks of a ‘90s action thriller, but the uncertain nature of the narrative and some questionable revenge behavior from the protagonist make it a much more modern story. Being mostly known for his manchild comedy antics, this is a drastic change of pace for him and a standout performance in his career.

Content warning: language, one scene of gore

Closest comparison: It’s like a Tom Clancy book by way of Training Day.

Setting: Military
Plot: Revenge
Tone: Espionage

Stranger Things (Netflix, Season 4) - 4/5

This season leans heavily into disturbingly gory horror, so if that’s a turnoff for you don’t even try to watch it. That being said, the writing is miles better than the previous two seasons (though still not as good as season 1). There’s a much better presentation of consistent character motivation and exciting, compelling, understandable conflict to keep the audience engaged despite the unconscionably long episode lengths (the final episode is 2h40m long). The Joyce storyline is weaker than the rest but not too bad, and Max’s storyline is some of the best in the entire series.

Content warning: torture, many prolonged gory child deaths

Setting: Horror
Plot: Sci-fi
Tone: Splatter

Only Murders in the Building (Season 1, Hulu) - 3/5

This show is a fun, modern take on the cozy mystery genre. It takes its time and dwells more on the interpersonal drama than on the actual mystery, which will be engaging for some viewers and off-putting for others. The characters are quirky, as if they were designed to be so. But it’s a fun murder mystery with lots of fun twists and turns in the plot, and enough character motivation to keep the story trundling along. While it isn’t the ultimate mystery, the payoff is better than it needed to be.

Closest comparison: It’s like an early Poirot with the modernism of Knives Out.

Setting: Murder Mystery
Plot: Detective
Tone: Bumbling Comedy

Loki (Season 1, Disney+, 2021) - 3/5

This show is fun and interesting, but has several problems holding it back. The show poses a lot of good questions about the multiverse, but season 1 ends on a cliffhanger without resolving almost anything which is very annoying to say the least. The set design and costuming is gorgeous, but some of the new superpowers and worldbuilding rules are very problematic in their retroactive implications. Owen Wilson does an outstanding job, but the writers seemed to want to write for a post-Ragnarok Loki and sloppily shoehorn 6 years of character development into one scene. It also seems to think it’s ‘woke’, so all the female characters are stronger, smarter, and more competent than all of the men. Ironically, this backfires by making the two male leads by far the most interesting characters. This show could have been great, but in the end it has nowhere to go.

Closest comparison: It’s like Doctor Who by way of Brazil (1985).

Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: Sci-Fi
Tone: Action Comedy

Invincible (Amazon, 2021) - 3/5

This show takes the Spider-Man high school drama, combines it with a broader Avengers-style narrative, and wraps it all up in the gore that is much more realistic to the physics at work. The story isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, but it keeps the audience sufficiently curious and pays it off decently well in the end. It certainly lags in the middle and a few of the main side characters are insufferable, but they’re not a big enough part to ruin it completely. If you can stomach the extreme gore, it’s a fascinating watch.

Content warning: extreme violence, extreme blood, extreme gore

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man by way of Kick-Ass with a Dexter (2006) plot woven in.

Setting: Marvel-Adjacent Super Heroes
Plot: Super Hero Origin
Tone: Brutal Action

WandaVision (Disney+) - 3/5

Most of the draw of this show was its mystique and intrigue. The premise was so outlandish that it kept the audience in a state of wild speculation during the two months it was coming out. But by the end it neither crashed nor stuck the landing, sticking it in the bottom half of Marvel productions. There’s a lot of content here from a lot of angles so mileage may vary on your enjoyment, but if you like a curiosity definitely check it out.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Twilight Zone by way of Too Many Cooks.

Setting: Sitcom through the decades
Plot: Aftermath
Tone: Sitcom / Super hero

The Mandalorian (Season 2, Disney+) - 2/5

The second season of The Mandalorian keeps introducing great characters, moments, and setpieces like the first season, it sprinkles in painfully terrible characters, dialogue, and character choices. The action is often good, though sometimes absolutely terrible, and Amy Sedaris, Sasha Banks, Katee Sackhoff, and even occasionally Rosario Dawson are painfully grating every instant they are on screen. Boba Fett gets many outstanding moments that fans will appreciate, though he gets Worf’ed in another pointless and irritating scene. Overall it’s like nice dinner of filet mignon and lobster tail with a diarrhea gravy; the wonderful things in this show get completely ruined by the vomit-inducing parts. If you can ignore the bad and enjoy the good, or just have selective memory, then it’s worth a watch.

Closest comparison: This is the Shanghai Nights of the Star Wars saga.

Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: Western
Tone: Adventure

The Umbrella Academy (Netflix, Season 2) - 1/5

This season is an unmitigated disaster. The first several episodes are great and set the show up with a lot of potential; unfortunately, the rest of the episodes just get dumber and dumber. Where the first season explained why the main characters made their bad decisions, here all of the main characters make bad decisions randomly, often directly contradicting previously established character traits with no explanation. By the middle of the season everything becomes drama for drama’s sake, dumb for tension’s sake, and needlessly obtuse. By the final few episodes the show drops all pretense of internal consistency, destroying all of the beautiful potential and adding layers upon layers of insult to injury. It’s not worth watching for anyone, especially fans of the show.

Closest comparison: It’s like Heroes Season 2, but so much worse.

Setting: Super Hero
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Family Drama

Over the Garden Wall - 5/5

This is easily one of the greatest works of animation bar none, and an obvious 5/5. The music is beautifully melancholy, sometimes funny sometimes sombre in perfect step with the winding tone of the narrative. It’s firing on so many cylinders that the audience can thoroughly enjoy it at any level of analysis, from the funny jokes to the deeper themes to the meta analysis of the use of overarching structure for tension and payoff. This is an unparalleled masterpiece from start to finish and a must watch for anyone who likes a little spookiness in their stories.

Closest comparison: It’s like a cross between Nightmare Before Christmas and Adventure Time, but with an order of magnitude more depth.

Setting: Folk Tale
Plot: Wandering Adventure
Tone: Spooky Comedy

Wu Assassins (Netflix) - 2/5

This show could have been great, and it starts off well. But like so many other shows it loses its way about halfway through. The martial arts is very good, where present, but they use drama for drama’s sake to pad out the runtime, a common trend among Netflix titles. The acting is overall mildly uninteresting, except for an ancient mystic wu assassin character who provides top tier terrible acting every moment she’s on screen. The effects are modern TV level and ultimately not even the presence of Iko Uwais and Mark Dacascos can salvage the show from boredom.

Closest comparison: It’s like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon by way of The Fast and the Furious, but without the fun.

Setting: Modern Crime
Plot: Martial Arts
Tone: Fantasy

The Witcher (Season 1, Netflix) - 4/5

This is a dark, violent, low fantasy show with excellent production values. The character-driven plot provides a refreshing take on the monster-of-the-week style of TV show. The action choreography in the first few episodes is outstanding, and the swordplay in particular is unparalleled among filmed sword combat. The first five episodes are easily 5/5 material; it’s not that the last three are terrible, they are just disappointing after such an auspicious beginning. Still, it’s the perfect bounce-back for disappointed fans from the last season of Game of Thrones.

Content warning: bloody violence, crass language, and lots and lots of nudity.

Closest comparison: It’s like Constantine (2005) by way of Game of Thrones.

Setting: Dark Fantasy
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Political Intrigue / Adventure

The Mandalorian (Disney+) - 4/5

This show is the best Star Wars to come out since Return of the Jedi (1983). It starts off strong, then dips to its worst episode in episode 4, then climbs back up to finish strong in the final two episodes. Not only are the stakes small enough to care about but the job-a-week format keeps the plot moving to new and exciting places, both physically and metaphorically. The music is outstanding, not relying on any of the previously established themes, and the cast is mostly character actors that settle comfortably into a flushed-out world.

Closest comparison: It’s like a mix of Have Gun Will Travel (1957) and Lone Wolf and Cub (1970) with all the trappings of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Setting: Sci-fi
Plot: Western
Tone: Adventure

The Punisher (Netflix, Season 2) - 3/5

There’s a lot to like here, but like all Netflix shows there’s 6 episodes of content stretched into 13 episodes. The action scenes are well executed, for the most part, but consistently fall into the trap of having the Punisher start each fight by getting beaten to within an inch of his life and then somehow rallying and taking everybody out so competently that it begs the question of how he got himself into this situation in the first place. It’s not as intellectually interesting as the first season so its main appeal will be for those who are invested in the character already. Overall it’s just too long with not enough to say, despite some great moments.

Closest comparison: It’s like John Wick meets Logan, but as a drier, drawn-out TV show.

Setting: Action
Plot: Vigilante
Tone: Crime

Mob Psycho 100 (Season 1, 2016) - 4/5

This is a strange show but very funny. It pulls heavily from the Shonen anime genre, simultaneously subscribing completely to it and taking it in an entirely new direction. It’s spooky in a good way, mixed with teen drama that’s mostly played for laughs. Unless you’re familiar with many of the popular anime tropes you may be pretty lost with this one, but for those in the know it’s a very fun show.

Closest comparison: It’s like One Punch Man by way of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Setting: Supernatural
Plot: Supernatural High School Drama
Tone: Comedy

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix) - 2/5

This show starts off strong, very quirky but also very enjoyable for everyone who enjoys some depressing catastrophes in their humor. Unfortunately the scenarios keep getting more and more unbelievable and, while true to the books, they are just too far out there to work as a show. Of course the production values are incredible, with Neil Patrick Harris and Patrick Warburton stealing every scene they’re in and everyone else delivering good or great performances as well. Eventually the narrative goes off the rails and once the writers start weaving extreme political beliefs into the core narrative it all comes to a shuddering halt.

Closest comparison: It’s like Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by way of The Upside Of Anger.

Setting: Tragedy
Plot: Tragedy
Tone: Comedy

Jean Claude Van Johnson - 4/5

This show is simultaneously a finely-honed parody of a genre and one of the best entries in that genre. It oscillates between over-the-top sarcasm and down-to-earth sincerity without the jarring disconnect that so many other attempts create. It has a hilarious premise and a bonkers execution, continually upping the ante of what the audience will believe while constantly poking fun at the more ridiculous elements of film making. It’s fairly consistent throughout, so if it doesn’t grab your attention off the bat then you can safely give this one a miss. But if even the premise sparks your interest, definitely check this one out.

Closest comparison: It’s like Mission: Impossible by way of Hail, Caesar!

Setting: Spy Thriller
Plot: 80’s Action
Tone: Action Comedy

Stranger Things, Season 3 (Netflix) - 3/5

This season of Stranger Things is a strange case of inconsistency. The direction, editing, and acting are all phenomenal, and the plot is better constructed and more memorable than season 2. The first six episodes are exciting and binge-worthy, but after that it starts going downhill fast. The show constantly portrays bullying and bickering as an integral part of natural, healthy relationships which is offensively tone-deaf, and it only gets worse in the last two episodes. Most of the intriguing build-up gets squashed by shoe-horned character moments and one blindingly out-of-place experiment in bathos whiplash (using comedy to cut dramatic tension) that grinds on painfully for the duration of an entire song. This season had the makings of something great, but the last two episodes drop it from an almost 5/5 to a mid-tier 3/5.

Closest comparison: It’s like a conglomeration of ‘80s pop horror movies with modern production values.

Setting: ‘80s Horror
Plot: Mystery Thriller
Tone: Pop Horror

Disenchantment - 2/5

In theory a Simpsons- or Futurama-esque show set in a medieval fantasy world should be great, but in practice it falls flat. Most of the cast is unlikeable, including the main character, and in a character-based comedy that spells death. There is too much plot for the jokes they’re telling, and a lot of the setup for the situations doesn’t really make sense, so the impact of the satire it’s going for is lost. Some improvements on the animation style from the Simpsons are all that this show has going for it.

Closest Comparison: It does to Futurama what American Dad did to Family Guy.

Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Comedy