I feel like I am the outlier in that I am really enjoying Paradise. Sure, there are flaws in the show but bottom line I think it’s very entertaining and I feel emotionally for these characters. I can’t wait to watch this show every week. Part of it is the cast, who are extraordinary. But I have to also credit Dan Fogelman. I feel like using some of his This Is Us techniques but in a thriller/sci fi context is more successful than a family drama. It could fall apart eventually. But for now this show is a winner.
Oh man am I actually in the minority of people who loved last night's Severance? I agree that the Devon-Reghabi stuff was a bit weak. But I really needed some answers from this show, and I feel like this episode gave me at least some sense of what was going on, even if they didn't explictly answer everything.
Nicely done. Until the latest episode I was hate-watching this mostly because I so like SKBrown. And/But this last episode was better than all the other episodes put together times ninety-eleven. Wow. The scenes in the White House (and I was especially impressed by the stampede-scene on the South Lawn) were very well done and not like anything I'd seen in similar shows and movies.
This Severance episode didn’t work for me - but it was so lavish that I thought I would be in the small minority who felt that way. Maybe I still am, but was surprised to see Alan’s reaction (which I largely agree with). It just felt… a bit much. I feel like viewers who haven’t had much exposure to these type of sci-fi show episodes that are sweeping, grand, and off-kilter in its emotions could be bowled over. Not feeling like a Severance episode was probably the point, but it was just a lot of… not Severance (lacking humor, smart and grounded Devon making an extremely suspect decision as Alan pointed out)
I’m glad to have seen what Mark and Gemma were like - it definitely raises the stakes for me overall and the show benefits from it - but it was all just too much..
I am 100% with you. Easily the worst, most dramatically inert episode yet of a season that has been the very definition of a sophomore slump. I will keep watching to remain in the conversation and to continue to hope for improvement. It’s funny you mention finger traps, as I had that same thought last night. The mythology wasn’t what made the first season so sensational. Rather, it was great when digging into the themes of our work selves versus our personal life selves. That - and any sense of fun - has been lost this season. What a drag.
I haven't been enjoying this season much at all but this episode, like most of the last few episodes, felt cruel from beginning to end. I was deeply uncomfortable watching (SPOILERS) a character being psycho-sexually tortured and raped for an hour. I don't know what exactly Lumon is doing with Gemma but I don't want to see any more of it, and her brief moment of agency also felt cruel because I knew the plot wasn't going to allow her to escape at this point in the season. I'm tired of Lumon, their nonsensical cult of sociopaths, and their weird experiment on Mark. I can appreciate the production values and the acting but I'm a little shocked at how hyped this season was. This show was already skating on the edge of it in its first season but it's embraced being arty torture porn.
Handmaids Tale is a good comparison, but for me the difference is that Handmaid's Tale was the show it is from the first episode. I feel like Severance has really taken a even darker turn this season where Mark and Gemma were apparently targeted for these grim, evil experiments that were really barely hinted at in season 1.
The Severance world has become so broad that I miss when the 4 of them at MDR were trying to figure out what they were doing. There is no time for a dance party this season as we deal with much bigger issues. I'm not complaining; shows have to evolve, but we've come a long way from finger trappers.
Screamed twice during this week’s episode of The Pitt: Once when Whittaker caught and broke the rat’s neck, followed by jumping out of my chair with applause. Way to go, farm boy!
And then, the END, with that punch. Omg, I am SO angry. Find that prick and lock him in a room with all the other rats. Also, how am I going to survive til next THursday?
You mentioned Pete and Pete in the sad note about Ms. Trachtenberg, and I wondered if anyone had any insight into why that wonderful show has not made it to any streaming platform. I guess Paramount+ with its Nick content would be the logical place, but having it available like Homicide might get it some recognition it deserves as a slightly cock-eyed view of growing up.
I didn’t watch Dollhouse and was unaware of the strong parallels between Dichen Lachman’s roles in it and this week’s Severance.
I did feel a strong parallel the entire episode between Adam Scott’s character and the one he played in Tell Me You Love Me. In that series he and Sonya Walger are a married couple going through the struggles of infertility issues. Things did not take quite the unusual turn they did for Mark and Gemma, but there were strong enough similarities in Adam Scott’s performance that it made me think of a series he was in almost 20 years ago.
Pretty wild to learn there was a similar thing going on with Lachman’s two roles as well!
God, I had completely forgotten that Adam Scott was the husband in that Tell Me You Love Me storyline. My memories of that show — which I both loved and hated, occasionally at the same time — are almost entirely tied to the Ally Walker/Tim DeKay plotline about the couple who had stopped having sex.
Oh wow. I was thinking “this has been done before” but couldn’t remember what show. I watched Tell Me You Love Me! That is something. Thanks for the reminder.
Yep same here. Can’t say I had thought about the show or Adam’s Scott’s role in it for years but it was one of those weird things where it just popped in my head and got stuck there during last nights episode.
On the Pitt - can add to anecdotal evidence about medical professionals loving this show. My physician wife loves it, though she thought all medical shows were like Greys Anatomy or Chicago Med (she’s not much of a tv watcher). She doesn’t work in the ER but does consults there, and said she went into an ER room yesterday and asked the docs there (mix of students and residents) if they watched the Pitt and they all said they loved it / started gushing about it.
On the other hand, after we finish the Pitt on Thursday night, I switch over to Severance and try to ignore her loud eye rolls. Though she said she did walk in on some residents talking about TV last week and assumed they were discussing the Pitt, but then it turned out it was Severance :D
I am completely in love with The Pitt. I was worried (and I know that's a strong word to use when discussing a television show) that the hour-at-a-time format would mean we'd lose a lot of what made the (other show - lawsuit now going through) so special. But the character development here is fantastic, and as you say, I really admire how it tells its story, building on each case and adding new ones in each episode. I really wish we were in the old model where it would return for more in September or October. But I feel The Pitt has leaned into what makes the streaming era work while remembering how to do the best kind of procedural TV. Also really enjoying The White Lotus, and having my mind broken by Severance every week. Also, it would appear your book isn't being released here in the UK until the end of March. Slight frustration, but I'm looking forward to it nevertheless.
I feel bad for any Dollhouse writers watching Severance and thinking about what might have been if they'd been able to work under Apple streaming show conditions, instead of 2000s Fox conditions.
Man, I had the opposite take on Severance. We *didn't* get to know Gemma. We saw her from the outside - through a gauzy haze, never being given access to her inner life, never understanding why they work together, what drives her, who she *is*. The most we know about her is about wanting to have a baby - a gendered cliche that's used as a shorthand, because every woman must want a baby, right? So no more need be said. They could have spent one scene really carving out who this specific woman is and instead just gave us endless flashes of her looking pretty and liking plants. How in the world does anyone feel like they know her? She's just a damsel in distress with a surface-level backstory.
Aside from that, the larger episode was just a mystery box show opening more mystery boxes, advancing nothing. The Devon/Reghabi/Cobel stuff was nonsense and Mark is in the same place he was last episode, which is the same as the end of 203. The show is just spinning in circles, like the worldbuilding and mythology is enough. And I just think it's not. I want to be on the emotional journey of these characters. Instead, I couldn't even tell you what Mark's emotional journey *is*. (Not his plot, mind you, his *story*.)
At the start of this season, you called it "fantastic," which really raised my hopes. And I have been disappointed at every turn. The disconnect is really striking.
I thought White Lotus was fantastic this week. Mike White is really good at getting a whole bunch of plates spinning quickly while working in copious character development. Parker Posey never ceases to amaze me. I wasn't familiar with Aimee Lou Wood but she's been great too.
I know it’s best not to take the Emmys (or any awards stuff) seriously, but it’s still weird that Chicago Hope ended up with more wins for the main cast (3-Patinkin, Lahti, Elizondo) than ER.
Like Odenkirk’s BCS losses, it was bad timing (voters’ love for DEK shows; Franz’s performance).
In 1995, Patinkin was up against Clooney, Edwards, Franz, and Smits. Even if we know voters historically preferred Franz over Smits, there still had to be enough vote splitting between each set of co-stars that it no doubt eased Patinkin's path to a win.
Edwards should’ve won that year for “Love's Labor Lost”. And then the following year, Franz won deservedly for “Closing Time” but I do wish Clooney won for “Hell and High Water” as he wasn’t nominated again.
Wyle and La Salle losing to DEK nominees in the supporting category is the more egregious one to me.
I feel like I am the outlier in that I am really enjoying Paradise. Sure, there are flaws in the show but bottom line I think it’s very entertaining and I feel emotionally for these characters. I can’t wait to watch this show every week. Part of it is the cast, who are extraordinary. But I have to also credit Dan Fogelman. I feel like using some of his This Is Us techniques but in a thriller/sci fi context is more successful than a family drama. It could fall apart eventually. But for now this show is a winner.
Oh man am I actually in the minority of people who loved last night's Severance? I agree that the Devon-Reghabi stuff was a bit weak. But I really needed some answers from this show, and I feel like this episode gave me at least some sense of what was going on, even if they didn't explictly answer everything.
I've enjoyed "Paradise" overall, but episode 7 blew me away. One of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen.
Oh, and give Brown and Marsden all the Emmys for this episode.
Re: Paradise
Nicely done. Until the latest episode I was hate-watching this mostly because I so like SKBrown. And/But this last episode was better than all the other episodes put together times ninety-eleven. Wow. The scenes in the White House (and I was especially impressed by the stampede-scene on the South Lawn) were very well done and not like anything I'd seen in similar shows and movies.
This Severance episode didn’t work for me - but it was so lavish that I thought I would be in the small minority who felt that way. Maybe I still am, but was surprised to see Alan’s reaction (which I largely agree with). It just felt… a bit much. I feel like viewers who haven’t had much exposure to these type of sci-fi show episodes that are sweeping, grand, and off-kilter in its emotions could be bowled over. Not feeling like a Severance episode was probably the point, but it was just a lot of… not Severance (lacking humor, smart and grounded Devon making an extremely suspect decision as Alan pointed out)
I’m glad to have seen what Mark and Gemma were like - it definitely raises the stakes for me overall and the show benefits from it - but it was all just too much..
I am 100% with you. Easily the worst, most dramatically inert episode yet of a season that has been the very definition of a sophomore slump. I will keep watching to remain in the conversation and to continue to hope for improvement. It’s funny you mention finger traps, as I had that same thought last night. The mythology wasn’t what made the first season so sensational. Rather, it was great when digging into the themes of our work selves versus our personal life selves. That - and any sense of fun - has been lost this season. What a drag.
I haven't been enjoying this season much at all but this episode, like most of the last few episodes, felt cruel from beginning to end. I was deeply uncomfortable watching (SPOILERS) a character being psycho-sexually tortured and raped for an hour. I don't know what exactly Lumon is doing with Gemma but I don't want to see any more of it, and her brief moment of agency also felt cruel because I knew the plot wasn't going to allow her to escape at this point in the season. I'm tired of Lumon, their nonsensical cult of sociopaths, and their weird experiment on Mark. I can appreciate the production values and the acting but I'm a little shocked at how hyped this season was. This show was already skating on the edge of it in its first season but it's embraced being arty torture porn.
I compared it last night - unfavorably, of course - to the torture porn that the never-great Handmaids Tale has also become of late.
Handmaids Tale is a good comparison, but for me the difference is that Handmaid's Tale was the show it is from the first episode. I feel like Severance has really taken a even darker turn this season where Mark and Gemma were apparently targeted for these grim, evil experiments that were really barely hinted at in season 1.
The Severance world has become so broad that I miss when the 4 of them at MDR were trying to figure out what they were doing. There is no time for a dance party this season as we deal with much bigger issues. I'm not complaining; shows have to evolve, but we've come a long way from finger trappers.
Screamed twice during this week’s episode of The Pitt: Once when Whittaker caught and broke the rat’s neck, followed by jumping out of my chair with applause. Way to go, farm boy!
And then, the END, with that punch. Omg, I am SO angry. Find that prick and lock him in a room with all the other rats. Also, how am I going to survive til next THursday?
You mentioned Pete and Pete in the sad note about Ms. Trachtenberg, and I wondered if anyone had any insight into why that wonderful show has not made it to any streaming platform. I guess Paramount+ with its Nick content would be the logical place, but having it available like Homicide might get it some recognition it deserves as a slightly cock-eyed view of growing up.
I didn’t watch Dollhouse and was unaware of the strong parallels between Dichen Lachman’s roles in it and this week’s Severance.
I did feel a strong parallel the entire episode between Adam Scott’s character and the one he played in Tell Me You Love Me. In that series he and Sonya Walger are a married couple going through the struggles of infertility issues. Things did not take quite the unusual turn they did for Mark and Gemma, but there were strong enough similarities in Adam Scott’s performance that it made me think of a series he was in almost 20 years ago.
Pretty wild to learn there was a similar thing going on with Lachman’s two roles as well!
God, I had completely forgotten that Adam Scott was the husband in that Tell Me You Love Me storyline. My memories of that show — which I both loved and hated, occasionally at the same time — are almost entirely tied to the Ally Walker/Tim DeKay plotline about the couple who had stopped having sex.
Oh wow. I was thinking “this has been done before” but couldn’t remember what show. I watched Tell Me You Love Me! That is something. Thanks for the reminder.
Yep same here. Can’t say I had thought about the show or Adam’s Scott’s role in it for years but it was one of those weird things where it just popped in my head and got stuck there during last nights episode.
On the Pitt - can add to anecdotal evidence about medical professionals loving this show. My physician wife loves it, though she thought all medical shows were like Greys Anatomy or Chicago Med (she’s not much of a tv watcher). She doesn’t work in the ER but does consults there, and said she went into an ER room yesterday and asked the docs there (mix of students and residents) if they watched the Pitt and they all said they loved it / started gushing about it.
On the other hand, after we finish the Pitt on Thursday night, I switch over to Severance and try to ignore her loud eye rolls. Though she said she did walk in on some residents talking about TV last week and assumed they were discussing the Pitt, but then it turned out it was Severance :D
I am completely in love with The Pitt. I was worried (and I know that's a strong word to use when discussing a television show) that the hour-at-a-time format would mean we'd lose a lot of what made the (other show - lawsuit now going through) so special. But the character development here is fantastic, and as you say, I really admire how it tells its story, building on each case and adding new ones in each episode. I really wish we were in the old model where it would return for more in September or October. But I feel The Pitt has leaned into what makes the streaming era work while remembering how to do the best kind of procedural TV. Also really enjoying The White Lotus, and having my mind broken by Severance every week. Also, it would appear your book isn't being released here in the UK until the end of March. Slight frustration, but I'm looking forward to it nevertheless.
I feel bad for any Dollhouse writers watching Severance and thinking about what might have been if they'd been able to work under Apple streaming show conditions, instead of 2000s Fox conditions.
Man, I had the opposite take on Severance. We *didn't* get to know Gemma. We saw her from the outside - through a gauzy haze, never being given access to her inner life, never understanding why they work together, what drives her, who she *is*. The most we know about her is about wanting to have a baby - a gendered cliche that's used as a shorthand, because every woman must want a baby, right? So no more need be said. They could have spent one scene really carving out who this specific woman is and instead just gave us endless flashes of her looking pretty and liking plants. How in the world does anyone feel like they know her? She's just a damsel in distress with a surface-level backstory.
Aside from that, the larger episode was just a mystery box show opening more mystery boxes, advancing nothing. The Devon/Reghabi/Cobel stuff was nonsense and Mark is in the same place he was last episode, which is the same as the end of 203. The show is just spinning in circles, like the worldbuilding and mythology is enough. And I just think it's not. I want to be on the emotional journey of these characters. Instead, I couldn't even tell you what Mark's emotional journey *is*. (Not his plot, mind you, his *story*.)
At the start of this season, you called it "fantastic," which really raised my hopes. And I have been disappointed at every turn. The disconnect is really striking.
I thought White Lotus was fantastic this week. Mike White is really good at getting a whole bunch of plates spinning quickly while working in copious character development. Parker Posey never ceases to amaze me. I wasn't familiar with Aimee Lou Wood but she's been great too.
I know it’s best not to take the Emmys (or any awards stuff) seriously, but it’s still weird that Chicago Hope ended up with more wins for the main cast (3-Patinkin, Lahti, Elizondo) than ER.
Like Odenkirk’s BCS losses, it was bad timing (voters’ love for DEK shows; Franz’s performance).
In 1995, Patinkin was up against Clooney, Edwards, Franz, and Smits. Even if we know voters historically preferred Franz over Smits, there still had to be enough vote splitting between each set of co-stars that it no doubt eased Patinkin's path to a win.
Edwards should’ve won that year for “Love's Labor Lost”. And then the following year, Franz won deservedly for “Closing Time” but I do wish Clooney won for “Hell and High Water” as he wasn’t nominated again.
Wyle and La Salle losing to DEK nominees in the supporting category is the more egregious one to me.