“Sic Semper Systema” is a pure setup episode—and it’s the only reason it suffers. The last two episodes were a very clean arc, the White Tiger arc, and it ended brutally. But it also ended, and the fallout isn’t lingered on as much as I expected. It’s just bringing up the boil.
“The Hollow of His Hand” chronicles one of the most electric courtroom dramas I’ve seen in a long time. This may be because I only tend to watch certain genres and not typically legal thrillers, but the twists and turns, the emotional highs and lows, all contained within one episode, simply floored me.
Perhaps incorrectly, I went into the first two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again almost without any prior knowledge. I haven’t seen the original Daredevil show past the first episode or two—and that was years and years ago. I wanted to see if this new series would be understandable. That way, if you, dear reader, are also in the same camp, I can help inform, one way or the other.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser is a fascinating look at the current cultural interests, and especially what Marvel has learned from its other projects. The aesthetic, from moment one, is so very distinct—and so very familiar.
Wicked (part one) is a lush, spectacular, wonderful experience of a movie. It captures the delightful energy of live theater and has so many incredible scenes. I’ve had several of its songs stuck in my head since I watched it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Before reading this review of Dune: Part Two, I urge you to look at my previous one. It simply saves us some time. The issues of Dune: Part One carry over—as does much of the praise. As is ideal for the second part of a two-parter, this feels like the natural continuation. The long play simply had an intermission. Dune: Part Two assumes you recently watched the previous film and explains little to nothing.
Dune: Part 1 is a long movie covering only part of an even longer book, with a ton of history behind it, and I am writing this without having read the book. In 2025. And, frankly, there’s so much baggage here that I am not equipped to talk about. You can tell it’s not a story written in the modern day.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is inescapably a nostalgia grab of a movie, relying on people like me and our fond memories of the original film. If it weren’t for that history, I’m not sure it would’ve been that big of a deal for there to be a new kid’s movie about chickens attempting to escape being eaten.
Let’s make something clear about my reviewing Transformers One: I have no horses in this race. Transformers is not my fandom. I have no notable history with it. I am aware of it through other people talking about it, but that’s about it. So, I can speak on it without nostalgia, without a sense of fan betrayal for whatever aspect they changed. I am not objective—this is a critical media review—but I’m judging it as a standalone movie.
“Maiden Mother Crone” finally, fully, completely confirms the name of this show. While I’d argue Billy did a lot of it, it was Agatha’s actions that kicked off everything. The song she and her son sang, the schemes she managed to pull off: everything comes back to her, her relationships, and her mistakes. It lends cohesion to the series. It makes this twisty story more than the sum of its parts.
“Follow Me My Friend/To Glory at the End” is an episode almost defined by its last few minutes. But the rest of the episode is also really good. It’s a chance for several very good actors to flex their dramatic muscles, delivering impassioned, desperate, and emotionally resonant performances.
“Death’s Hand in Mine” confirmed what I had suspected: that this story was going to progress by standard story rules. And, also, seemingly my main plot theories were correct. Despite the wholly unnecessary death fake-outs that ruin some of Agatha All Along’s rewatch value, each witch will get their trial, and through each trial, they are given “back” their powers.
