Tag Archives: 2025

TV Reviews

The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 1 Review

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“Gotta Have Fun”

  • Creator: Nathan Fielder
  • Starring: Nathan Fielder

Grade: A-

Warning: The review of the season premiere of The Rehearsal will contain spoilers.

Before pressing play on episode 1 of season 2, I wondered “what the heck does airline safety have to do with The Rehearsal?” I had not watched the trailer but had read the headlines and was left confused as to how this conceit would track with what was previously established in season 1. Even after watching the darkly comedic cold open, where creator-writer-director-star Nathan Fielder watches as two actors recreate a plane crash from black box transcriptions, it’s not entirely clear where the season will be headed. But then Fielder has a meeting with John Boglia, a former board member of the National Transportation Safety Board, and it all clicks into place.

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TV Reviews

Severance Season 2 Episode 10 Review

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“Cold Harbor”

  • Creator: Dan Erickson
  • Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zack Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: A-

Warning: The review of Severance season 2 episode 10 will contain spoilers.

“Cold Harbor”, the season 2 finale of Severance, had a lot to live up to, and it mostly succeeds, further establishing the show as one of the best on TV today. The season 1 finale so memorably opened up the world with a shocking final sequence that was unlike so much of what we see in modern television, and while this week’s installment offers a lot of similar flavors, I don’t know if it goes down quite as smoothly. We’ll get to the final moments, and how it sets up the future, in a moment, but first we should talk about what episode 10 is primarily concerned with.

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Movie Reviews

Eephus Review

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Eephus

  • Director: Carson Lund
  • Writers: Carson Lund, Michael Basta, Nate Fisher 
  • Starring: Keith William Richards, Cliff Blake, Ray Hryb, Bill Lee, Stephen Radochia, David Pridemore, Keith Poulson

Grade: B+

The special thing about Eephus is that there’s nothing particularly special about it. Carson Lund’s directorial debut never swings for the fences, instead resting on bone-dry comedic observations and characters to subvert the sports drama. It’s an indie film through and through, devoid of false sentimentality, stakes, and character development, and while its originality is appreciated, it could still use some refining.

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TV Reviews

Severance Season 2 Episode 9 Review

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“The After Hours”

  • Creator: Dan Erickson
  • Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zack Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: B+

Warning: The review of Severance season 2 episode 9 will contain spoilers.

So many television shows use the penultimate episode of a season to produce the biggest shocks, but Severance episode 9 is all about building suspense for next week’s season 2 finale. With Mark’s (Adam Scott) completion of Cold Harbor imminent, our major players are coming together – or going apart, in some cases – as they seek to destroy or protect Lumon. Unlike so many of season 2’s installments, “The After Hours” moves along at a breakneck pace, so let’s get going on one of the show’s most densely packed offerings.

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TV Reviews

The Studio Season 1 – TV Review

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The Studio

  • Creators: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez
  • Starring: Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, Bryan Cranston
  • Ten episode season, ten episodes watched for review

Grade: B-

Effective satire has to dig underneath the skin of its target to get at an unspoken truth. The Studio, the latest prestigious comedy series from AppleTV+, has its sights set on some of the lowest-hanging fruit available – Hollywood – but rarely has anything insightful or biting to say that hasn’t already been said over the years. It’s the kind of star-studded affair where it feels like co-creator and star Seth Rogen has pulled together as many famous friends and previous collaborators as an attempt to poke the eyes of the system the show is skewering, but plays it safe in order to ensure everybody’s reputation escapes intact. Though it’s more handsomely mounted than its modern contemporaries – 30 Rock and The Other Two, to name a few – The Studio lacks those series’ key insights and specificities.

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TV Reviews

Severance Season 2 Episode 8 Review

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“Sweet Vitriol”

  • Creator: Dan Erickson
  • Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zack Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: B

Warning: The review of Severance season 2 episode 8 will contain spoilers.

Whenever a TV show veers away from its main story to focus on a secondary character, or an understated plotline, it can often feel like the show is spinning its wheels, filling out the network’s episode order mandate. I’m reminded of the season 2 Ted Lasso episode “Beard After Hours”, where the creative team had no plans to write an additional episode, but was thrown a curveball when Apple ordered one more. But episode 8 of Severance doesn’t feel quite so purposeless as it explores the mysterious origins of Ms. Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), even as we edge closer and closer to the season 2 finale.

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TV Reviews

Severance Season 2 Episode 7 Review

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“Chikhai Bardo”

  • Creator: Dan Erickson
  • Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zack Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: A

Warning: The review of Severance season 2 episode 7 will contain spoilers.

Why do we care about Mark’s (Adam Scott) search for Gemma (Dichen Lachman)? Besides the very relatable, human notion of wanting to reconnect with a lost loved one, we don’t have much to go on regarding Mark and Gemma’s relationship or their past. Episode 7 of season 2 fills in some necessary gaps in their backstories, and provides some shocking developments to show exactly what’s been happening since she disappeared into that dark hallway, and it’s another fascinating episode of Severance at its best.

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TV Reviews

Severance Season 2 Episode 6 Review

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“Attila”

  • Creator: Dan Erickson
  • Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: A

Warning: This review of Severance season 2 episode 6 will contain spoilers.

Fun fact: episode 6 of Severance season 2 was the last which AppleTV+ had distributed to most critics in advance of the show’s premiere. And with the final moments arriving in the shocking fashion as they do, I can understand why. Within the world of the show, reintegration has always felt like a kind of trial-run procedure – especially given what happened to Petey last season. So to see Mark (Adam Scott) rushing through the terrifying process first-hand makes us understand just how great the stakes are.

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TV Reviews

Severance Season 2 Episode 5 Review

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“Trojan’s Horse”

  • Creator: Dan Erickson
  • Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: B

Warning: This review of Severance season 2 episode 5 will contain spoilers.

Last week‘s bombshell reveal raised a number of questions for the plot of Severance going forward (some of which are addressed here), but episode 5 truly soars when it digs into the existential meaning of being severed. Irving (John Turturro) is gone. Helly (Britt Lower) was really Helena, an outie posing as an innie. Not to mention Mark (Adam Scott) and the situation with his missing/dead wife.

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Movie Reviews

The Monkey Review

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The Monkey

  • Director: Osgood Perkins
  • Writer: Osgood Perkins
  • Starring: Theo James, Elijah Wood, Tatiana Maslany, Rohan Campbell, Christian Convery, Sarah Levy

Grade: B

Last year, Osgood Perkins broke into the mainstream with the box-office hit Longlegs. Not only did the film find success at the theater, but critics praised it for its atmospheric tension and gorgeous visuals. Less than a year later, Perkins teams with James Wan to adapt Stephen King’s short story “The Monkey.” Unlike his last film, The Monkey has a drastically different tone, delving deep into satire and absurdist humor, making this a riot from start to finish.

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