re the disappointment of TWL s3: this season felt like a giant missed opportunity for parker posey to have been a meddling bitch in all the other guest's lives to avoid dealing with the issues in her own.
Would have loved more Parker Posey weirdness, I enjoyed her so much this season. I think White had a clear take on Victoria Ratliff, that she's so stuck up that she everyone else at that resort (along with most people on the planet) were beneath her. Her disdain for all the new money on the mega yacht was hilarious.
I not only wondered about withdrawal symptoms but found it hard to believe she didn't find the bottle just because she strikes me as a lady with *zero* compunction about going through her kids' and husband's things.
I think pretty much all parents LOL'd when Mel asks Becca wouldn't it be nice to watch something other than Elf! The casting was great - they seem like sisters.
As for the McKay-Robby arc and the fact that he never apologizes or gets called out for putting all the blame on her: I guess I took it as him being wrong (aka human) and he just has no more spoons left to recognize that he owes her an apology. He was pretty checked out during that last trauma (pelvic fracture) and I think he's just running on fumes. But perhaps you're right that someone else should've checked him on that.
I was moved by McKay's approach with David at the end, cuz I was really wondering, how is she gonna approach this non-compliant messed-up kid? People may have felt it was preachy for her to go to violence against women but I'm glad she did, and it seemed to be really effective.
Also two people who need to be slapped senseless: Langdon and Jake. I understood when he went after Robby right after finding out Leah was dead cuz he's still a kid, but to shoot off his mouth again like that after a few hours? Nope. Grow the fuck up.
"cute, likeable" and warm Canadian shows are needed! We've had "Schitt's Creek", "Kim's Convenience", and "Run the Burbs" and I look forward to "North of North".
I’ve read two of Mike White’s interviews on this season and its ending. I give wide latitude to creators over what they consider important about their own work but some of the complaints he dismisses and the way in which he does so really pissed me off. I’d say that beyond Sam Rockwell’s monologue and just Aimee Lou Wood in general the season was a big letdown, although we’re seriously considering naming our next cat Lorazepam on the condition that everyone has to say its name exactly the way Parker Posey said it in the show.
David's story in The Pitt is the one that sparks the most contention. I don't think the show has a very strong opinion about who is right and who is wrong in how they handled it.
David is pretty much a complete cypher. All he really does is act angry. The show doesn't give any sort of a peak at his interiority besides the fact that's he's obviously deeply unhappy. How you think about and react to him is going to very much depend on your priors.
I do wonder how we're supposed to take McKay's appeal to him at the end. Are we meant to take it an an attempt at a worthy, truth-telling, wake-up call or a misguided doctor using her own trauma to make a young man's mental health issues all about her? I suspect the intent is the former, but it all left a bad taste in my mouth.
There's a lot more to say about this and the show in general, but I have to say that The Pitt is the show I've most enjoyed watching in some time. The last show I enjoyed as much or more was Shogun.
this is so interesting cuz I liked the approach she took. Some may argue it was too preachy but violence against women is its own epidemic and I'm glad it got some screentime.
She didn’t make it about her. What do you mean? She was talking about what all women experience just existing in the world with men. She doesn’t even talk about herself specifically. I thought it was really well done and “studies show” that counter programming is one of the few ways to get through to angry young men/incel types. The whole David arc wasn’t perfect, but I liked this scene a lot.
I really enjoyed The Pitt but it felt like the writers struggled with some of the characters and they brought a broadcast melodrama approach to HBO that (for me) was in conflict with the hyper-realism of the show itself. David's storyline throughout the season was weak and contrived in my opinion, but I also didn't love some of the main melodrama that sprouted from the mass shooting either.
Outside of the very occasional House episode I've never watched nor cared for medical shows. Like ever. Not my typical type of show, even given all the good buzz both from friends IRL and the critic hive mind over on BlueSky.
But I'm a huge fan of the sublime Sweet/Vicious that starred Taylor Dearden. My favorite One Season Wonder that felt like Veronica Mars, Greek, and Spider-Man thrown into a blender.
And the Pitt? Fucking fantastic. Binged all episodes in three days, I haven't done that in years! The urgency, the humanity, the complex character shading... one of the best post-pandemic TV shows I've ever seen.
I assume ER is the best way to keep scratching this itch?
I’ve enjoyed The Pitt (I haven’t seen the season finale yet) but they haven’t really incorporated the city of Pittsburgh as a character on the show. They could’ve picked any US city and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
I wish producers did more to incorporate the city, but I know that would cost more.
I enjoyed the show very much, until the mass shooting episodes. The show seems to have lost what made it interesting for an over the top, very special episode nonsense. I’ll be glad when season two begins and the show gets back to what it does best - more of an illness of the week storyline.
What a finale for The Pitt! Best show of the year, easily. Sure, there were some wobbly parts - the David stuff, but also the Santos stuff from earlier in the season had a tendency to dip into melodrama that felt more like Grey's Anatomy - but that is one rock solid Robby character arc. I am so impressed they resisted the urge to have Collins return to save him; a lot of shows would've gone there, so it speaks to this one's confidence that it didn't. And Abbot being the one to talk Robby down was perfect. Kudos to the old guard.
Which is really the theme of the show. Glad to have a show done by such experienced hands, can't wait for more!
Alan, are you going to recap Andor S2? I HATE that Disney has decided to dump this season in big chunks of three episodes a week and I can bet that makes recapping it really difficult, and will make the conversation around the show both disjointed and compressed. Either drop them all at once or run them weekly, this 3 eps a week strategy is just super stupid.
We're figuring out what's doable. My opinions on the season are embargoed, but structurally, it's like s1, in that each three-episode chunk is basically a single narrative unit. So it makes some sense to both release and discuss them in that way.
I assumed that would be Gilroy's approach again and I'm excited to see him potentially adapt some new genre standards after S1's Dirty Dozen heist and the Shawshank/Alcatraz plot, but 3 hours of TV a week still feels like they're just burning through it.
I've seen only the first episode of the former and a couple of episodes of the latter. The first Side Quest was fine? But like the off-format ep of Mythic Quest s4, it wasn't up to the standards of these kinds of eps from earlier seasons. And I liked Hamm, but YF&N felt like a Showtime drama from 2011.
I absolutely loved this season of Black Mirror. It felt like going back to the OG tech stories with a lot of callbacks to other episodes. Hotel Reverie is my favorite episode which is a surprising considering San Junipero is one of my fav episodes of TV ever. But honestly all episodes hold up and I felt like there wasn't any miss.
Any Pitt natives recommend Iron City beer? And of all the beer tosses, Abbott’s mishandling the catch was a nice touch for some reason. Excellent show, excellent recaplets Alan!
I know you don't tend to watch as much un-scripted, but I highly recommend Game Changer on Dropout. Last season's "Sam Says 3" coupled with this week's season premiere is some of the funniest television I've seen.
I enjoyed Severance just fine, but for me The Pitt is far and away the show of the year. Can’t wait for it to come back.
re the disappointment of TWL s3: this season felt like a giant missed opportunity for parker posey to have been a meddling bitch in all the other guest's lives to avoid dealing with the issues in her own.
Would have loved more Parker Posey weirdness, I enjoyed her so much this season. I think White had a clear take on Victoria Ratliff, that she's so stuck up that she everyone else at that resort (along with most people on the planet) were beneath her. Her disdain for all the new money on the mega yacht was hilarious.
Did Victoria have any withdrawal symptoms from not taking her medication?
I not only wondered about withdrawal symptoms but found it hard to believe she didn't find the bottle just because she strikes me as a lady with *zero* compunction about going through her kids' and husband's things.
Good point. That stuff is nasty to get off of, it has very uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms and you have to cut the dosage very gradually.
I know, it happened to me!
I think pretty much all parents LOL'd when Mel asks Becca wouldn't it be nice to watch something other than Elf! The casting was great - they seem like sisters.
As for the McKay-Robby arc and the fact that he never apologizes or gets called out for putting all the blame on her: I guess I took it as him being wrong (aka human) and he just has no more spoons left to recognize that he owes her an apology. He was pretty checked out during that last trauma (pelvic fracture) and I think he's just running on fumes. But perhaps you're right that someone else should've checked him on that.
I was moved by McKay's approach with David at the end, cuz I was really wondering, how is she gonna approach this non-compliant messed-up kid? People may have felt it was preachy for her to go to violence against women but I'm glad she did, and it seemed to be really effective.
Also two people who need to be slapped senseless: Langdon and Jake. I understood when he went after Robby right after finding out Leah was dead cuz he's still a kid, but to shoot off his mouth again like that after a few hours? Nope. Grow the fuck up.
"cute, likeable" and warm Canadian shows are needed! We've had "Schitt's Creek", "Kim's Convenience", and "Run the Burbs" and I look forward to "North of North".
Your mention of North of North made me binge it and what a lovely, charming show!
I haven't gotten to it yet but very much looking forward.
I’ve read two of Mike White’s interviews on this season and its ending. I give wide latitude to creators over what they consider important about their own work but some of the complaints he dismisses and the way in which he does so really pissed me off. I’d say that beyond Sam Rockwell’s monologue and just Aimee Lou Wood in general the season was a big letdown, although we’re seriously considering naming our next cat Lorazepam on the condition that everyone has to say its name exactly the way Parker Posey said it in the show.
Yikes! Somehow I neglected to mention Carrie Coon. “New Age Girl” is now in my head as cosmic retribution…
David's story in The Pitt is the one that sparks the most contention. I don't think the show has a very strong opinion about who is right and who is wrong in how they handled it.
David is pretty much a complete cypher. All he really does is act angry. The show doesn't give any sort of a peak at his interiority besides the fact that's he's obviously deeply unhappy. How you think about and react to him is going to very much depend on your priors.
I do wonder how we're supposed to take McKay's appeal to him at the end. Are we meant to take it an an attempt at a worthy, truth-telling, wake-up call or a misguided doctor using her own trauma to make a young man's mental health issues all about her? I suspect the intent is the former, but it all left a bad taste in my mouth.
There's a lot more to say about this and the show in general, but I have to say that The Pitt is the show I've most enjoyed watching in some time. The last show I enjoyed as much or more was Shogun.
this is so interesting cuz I liked the approach she took. Some may argue it was too preachy but violence against women is its own epidemic and I'm glad it got some screentime.
She didn’t make it about her. What do you mean? She was talking about what all women experience just existing in the world with men. She doesn’t even talk about herself specifically. I thought it was really well done and “studies show” that counter programming is one of the few ways to get through to angry young men/incel types. The whole David arc wasn’t perfect, but I liked this scene a lot.
I really enjoyed The Pitt but it felt like the writers struggled with some of the characters and they brought a broadcast melodrama approach to HBO that (for me) was in conflict with the hyper-realism of the show itself. David's storyline throughout the season was weak and contrived in my opinion, but I also didn't love some of the main melodrama that sprouted from the mass shooting either.
Outside of the very occasional House episode I've never watched nor cared for medical shows. Like ever. Not my typical type of show, even given all the good buzz both from friends IRL and the critic hive mind over on BlueSky.
But I'm a huge fan of the sublime Sweet/Vicious that starred Taylor Dearden. My favorite One Season Wonder that felt like Veronica Mars, Greek, and Spider-Man thrown into a blender.
And the Pitt? Fucking fantastic. Binged all episodes in three days, I haven't done that in years! The urgency, the humanity, the complex character shading... one of the best post-pandemic TV shows I've ever seen.
I assume ER is the best way to keep scratching this itch?
I’ve enjoyed The Pitt (I haven’t seen the season finale yet) but they haven’t really incorporated the city of Pittsburgh as a character on the show. They could’ve picked any US city and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
They had sandwiches from Primanti Brothers!
I wish producers did more to incorporate the city, but I know that would cost more.
I enjoyed the show very much, until the mass shooting episodes. The show seems to have lost what made it interesting for an over the top, very special episode nonsense. I’ll be glad when season two begins and the show gets back to what it does best - more of an illness of the week storyline.
Maybe if they follow through with that Street Team plot.
What a finale for The Pitt! Best show of the year, easily. Sure, there were some wobbly parts - the David stuff, but also the Santos stuff from earlier in the season had a tendency to dip into melodrama that felt more like Grey's Anatomy - but that is one rock solid Robby character arc. I am so impressed they resisted the urge to have Collins return to save him; a lot of shows would've gone there, so it speaks to this one's confidence that it didn't. And Abbot being the one to talk Robby down was perfect. Kudos to the old guard.
Which is really the theme of the show. Glad to have a show done by such experienced hands, can't wait for more!
Yes, it was great that the final episode took Robby and Abbott back to the roof where the day began, in a bit of role reversal.
Alan, are you going to recap Andor S2? I HATE that Disney has decided to dump this season in big chunks of three episodes a week and I can bet that makes recapping it really difficult, and will make the conversation around the show both disjointed and compressed. Either drop them all at once or run them weekly, this 3 eps a week strategy is just super stupid.
We're figuring out what's doable. My opinions on the season are embargoed, but structurally, it's like s1, in that each three-episode chunk is basically a single narrative unit. So it makes some sense to both release and discuss them in that way.
I assumed that would be Gilroy's approach again and I'm excited to see him potentially adapt some new genre standards after S1's Dirty Dozen heist and the Shawshank/Alcatraz plot, but 3 hours of TV a week still feels like they're just burning through it.
Alan, if you’ve seen either, what did you think of the two new Apple TV+ shows - ‘Side Quest’ and ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’?
I've seen only the first episode of the former and a couple of episodes of the latter. The first Side Quest was fine? But like the off-format ep of Mythic Quest s4, it wasn't up to the standards of these kinds of eps from earlier seasons. And I liked Hamm, but YF&N felt like a Showtime drama from 2011.
I absolutely loved this season of Black Mirror. It felt like going back to the OG tech stories with a lot of callbacks to other episodes. Hotel Reverie is my favorite episode which is a surprising considering San Junipero is one of my fav episodes of TV ever. But honestly all episodes hold up and I felt like there wasn't any miss.
The Black Mirror episode "Eulogy" was fantastic. You should have watched that one.
I will at some point!
Any Pitt natives recommend Iron City beer? And of all the beer tosses, Abbott’s mishandling the catch was a nice touch for some reason. Excellent show, excellent recaplets Alan!
I… would not recommend it. Just drink a Yuengling, it’s at least cromulent.
I know you don't tend to watch as much un-scripted, but I highly recommend Game Changer on Dropout. Last season's "Sam Says 3" coupled with this week's season premiere is some of the funniest television I've seen.