manicure

VIP

4

In "Grace and Frankie," Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin play two aging women whose husbands reveal that they have been secretly in love for over twenty years. Frankie is a hippie who has lived life to the fullest, while Grace is a grumpy, cynical career woman who has coped with her frustrations and unhappy family life by drinking. Although they have known and despised each other for decades, circumstances force them to share the family’s beach house while trying to rebuild their lives. Gradually, they develop a strong friendship that transcends their individual values and prejudices.

Despite its quirky premise, “Grace and Frankie” mostly plays out like a classic sitcom from the late 90s, complete with choppy writing and an uneven tone. However, the chemistry between the two leads is so good that I would watch them do anything until the end of time, no matter how sloppy things get.

The show hits its peak in seasons two and three, when a stronger emphasis on family drama arises. The challenges of aging and the impact of our actions on those around us are hinted at, creating a more relatable and memorable experience. Unfortunately, the show rapidly declines from the fourth season. The main problem is that the same overall structure and dynamics keep getting rehashed each season, and Grace's character becomes too soft too soon, making the same recipe feel bland. Additionally, the feel-good comedy dominates too much, overshadowing the poignant family drama that could have made the characters even more relatable. Even when exploring Sol and Robert’s goofy relationship, we only scratch the surface of their problems, despite their more grounded approach to life providing a more relatable counterpoint to Grace and Frankie’s extravagance.

The supporting cast is another major issue contributing to the show's decline. Although it seems that the showrunners were planning for the kids to get a more prominent role over time, they clearly had no clue of what to do with them. The lack of consistent storylines and character development resulted in them becoming more annoying than anything else. Brianna is the only exception, though she has little interesting material to work with in the later seasons (just like her mother, she gets too soft too soon).

Grace and Frankie's love interests fare no better. Although they are initially introduced as important characters who can add new dynamics and spice things up, they are conveniently disposed of with ridiculous excuses as soon as they become a threat to the status quo. Jacob is the only one to get decent storyline without turning into a joke, but poor Nick...

Overall, "Grace and Frankie" has its ups and downs, but I would still recommend it as a casual comedy to enjoy occasionally, provided you can feel the chemistry between the two leads. Just be sure not to binge-watch it.

I finally had time to rewatch "Breaking Bad", and it has been just as fun as the first time. Definitely one of the best TV series ever made in terms of writing, direction, and acting. Popular series tend to grow stale over time, but the quality is uniform throughout the five seasons here. Everything is crafted so carefully that even the subplots and fillers are worth it. It's basically a crime drama with a lot of focus on exploring the depths of all characters. It's not a new formula but has the perfect balance between action, black comedy, introspection and tragedy. The cast is what makes this series so unique: even though the spot is on Walter and Jesse, the side characters are just as iconic and meticulously written that even potentially boring daily life sequences and family drama events are entertaining. Gus is one of the best villains in television history, but does he really count as a villain? I understand that he could not stay around forever, but after he is gone I couldn't help feeling the void that he left. Hank didn't get the same recognition, but I personally thought that in the end he was one of the most likable and multifaceted characters, and the one with the most realistic development.

Even though I enjoyed the whole series, the first two seasons are by far the best in terms of pacing, development and realism. It's impossible not to binge-watch mid-season one to early season three. Things get bigger and more complicated in later seasons, but basically rely on the same structure and situations of the first two. Season three and four introduce great characters like Gus and Mike, but season finales apart the pacing significantly slows down. A lot of situations also start to repeat themselves: Walter and Skyler have the same conversations every single time, Jesse gets manipulated by Walter and turns against him when finding out, Jesse loses himself and gets saved by Walter in some unorthodox way, etc. Season five tries to change the game a little and mostly succeeds, the second part in particular offers a lot of great moments as all storylines start to close. The ending was maybe a bit low-key, but it felt like the right thing to do without getting too unrealistic and leaving loose ends.

Not sure if that even makes sense, but "Game of Thrones" could be an excellent example of a down-to-earth fantasy. Magic and superstition have a tangible impact on the events - you could replace the dragons with nuclear weapons and it will still make sense. You can see blood, sweat, and all kinds of body fluids in a hostile world where there is (almost) no plot armor for anybody. Revenge is hardly direct, and good guys don't always get to win.

My favorite thing is the focus on the sociopolitical implications rather than empathy with individual characters. It doesn't matter if a major character gets abruptly killed mid-season; their house's story will keep going on without losing its main thread. Characters can change sides and do the most questionable things, but there will always be a detailed sociological setup that had led to those decisions. Everything is affected by chaos and chance, but it still seems to happen in the function of someone's story arc.

The early seasons are more focused on character development and world-building, with most minor battles happening off-screen. It's probably due to budget restrictions rather than storytelling necessities, but the action for each season is limited to one "zombie" episode and one traditional battle episode (usually the penultimate). The rest is primarily dialogue-driven. The second, third, and fifth seasons are the least eventful, but they also happen to have at least one memorable episode or a mind-blowing plot twist towards the end. The pacing got remarkably tighter from the sixth season, which also happens to be the first after the writers ran out of material to adapt from the books. There the writers did a remarkably good job and remained coherent with the source material.

Unfortunately, the writing took a significant turn for the worse with the seventh season, getting much closer to any other mediocre TV show, flirting with soap-opera level dialogue and filling pages with logical fallacies and forced or incoherent character development.

The meticulous construction of the source material has been both GOT's strength and weakness. For the portion that covers Martin's books, the central plot was mostly kept on hold while expanding the scope sideways, with tons of new characters and locations each season. This made the show remarkably rich, but at the same time it made it hard to wrap up coherently. It might have worked if they were planning to keep going on for decades, but there's no way that a couple of seasons could close so many meticulously built-up character arcs. From the sixth season onwards, you can clearly notice that the showrunners started to purposedly cut storylines and kill off characters just to make the load lighter and write themselves out of the corner with many situations. The overall direction of the plot is still coherent with the previous seasons, but the ways the characters end up to their outcomes became highly questionable. Many character arcs that have been carefully drawn over have been conveniently cut out, some regressed or lost their whole purpose, some even ended up being exploited for mere fanservice purposes. Another big flaw comes from the fact that the characters that would take on a more prominent role towards the end also happen to be the ones played by the most terrible actors in the cast, killing any further chance to add nuance to their relationships.

Regardless of the problems with the writing, the show has outstanding production value, compelling world-building, and, even at its worst, it always manages to be gripping and engaging. That's not obvious for a show that is made of 80% talking, 15% action, and 5% boobies in the air. It's also one of the rare cases where slow pacing becomes a necessity, as it takes time to remember all characters and their intricate relationships as the plot keeps turning, twisting, and subverting expectations. Characters are first introduced as either black or white, but as the show progresses, things get more and more ambiguous. It's rarely to the point you will change sides, but there were many moments I could get into the bad guys' shoes and empathize with them as much as with the protagonists.

S4 > S1 > S6 > S3 > S2 > S5 > S7 > S8

"Attack on Titan" undoubtedly lives up to the hype, offering a layered and accessible adventure suitable for audiences of all ages. It manages to maintain a delicate balance between adhering to the traditional "shonen" narrative tropes while skillfully avoiding the most clichéd genre stereotypes.

The series' real allure lies in the depth and ambiguity of its characters. While they may initially appear to fit into the standard anime archetypes, the deliberately slow-burning progression of the story allows for profound introspection and character development. Despite their stylized characteristics, they exhibit a human quality through their inherent contradictions, hardly any of them being unequivocally right or wrong.

In the long run, the plot often adheres to familiar paths without delivering major surprises, but it does throw in unpredictable and grim turns, shedding light on a bleak view of the world and human nature. Choices that initially appear as the obvious things to do may lead to tragedies, keeping no character truly safe. At times, the limited perspective of the characters can even reshape our perceptions of their decisions.

However, one major drawback is the prevalence of fillers and lengthy inner monologues that serve no purpose other than to reiterate the obvious or imposing character traits that could have been suggested through visual storytelling or concrete episodes. Furthermore, as the series progresses, the previously palpable atmosphere of danger surrounding the characters can be compromised by instances of implausible plot armor, possibly due to the characters' soaring popularity within the mainstream audience.

These might be less noticeable when binge-watching the show, but are particularly evident in the second season, where things start to get a little repetitive and the main protagonists’ team gets consolidated. Then, the show luckily makes a remarkable improvement in terms of pacing and risk-taking in its storytelling, reaching its peak from the end of the third season to the first half of the fourth season. The latter, in particular, explores the world of "Attack On Titan" at its bleakest, introducing complex themes and political subterfuges that are not so obvious in this kind of narrative. At this point, there are no clear-cut villains; each side possesses its motivations and questionable beliefs, mirroring the complexities of real-world conflicts.

Unfortunately, the series loses some steam and narrative focus after the first half of the fourth season, with production delays intensifying the sense that these final episodes (and their source material) were developed somewhat on the fly. Despite the fourth season being billed as the "Final Season" in 2020, the series extended into 2022 with an additional run of episodes, concluding with two specials in 2023 to close the plot. This last phase exhibits both highs and lows, at times relying on conventional anime chitchat and fanservice, obvious plot armor for the protagonists, and questionable ways to get them out of problematic situations and successfully "assemble" to save the world.

Overall, the series' ending doesn't venture as boldly as its premise would suggest, but it still found a reasonable compromise between its established worldview and the mainstream audience's expectations. While there remain loose ends, a few wasted character arcs, and some perplexing dynamics (including the key to it all), considering the uncertain pacing and direction the plot was starting to take with its characters... it left me mostly satisfied. It may come out as a little rushed, but considering the huge delays in production, it was definitely time to bring this epic journey to a close.

Ratings:
Season 1: 8
Season 2: 6.5
Season 3: 9
Season 4 Part 1: 8.5
Season 4 Part 2: 6.5
Average: 7.7

Despite the passing of time "Boris" is still a pleasant, yet not exhilarating, sitcom. Despite the lighthearted tone, it even manages to make some sharp satire of the rotten Italian showbusiness, where purposely making shitty TV shows truly became a specialized job. The writing could be sharper, but we are still above the level of similar shows. A little like "The Office" did in the US, "Boris" generated countless quotes and memes all over the internet, most of which are untranslatable to other languages.

The first season is a little rough on the edges but still the most genuine. Each episode has its own self-contained plot and things don't drag on for too long. The only problem is, horrible music aside, the protagonist. Alessandro's mediocrity is a perfect counterpoint to the madness of the other characters, but it's almost as if he is just witnessing the events without being involved too much.

The same old jokes and dynamics already started to grow thin by the second season, which was a big upgrade technically but at the same time tended to play too easy and rely on the same old stuff. The side stories that span over multiple episodes like Alessandro’s love interests, the nonsense Machiavelli quest, and in particular, Biascica’s panic attacks, dragged the pacing down a little.

The third season tried to shake things up a little, but felt a little tired in its humor. The cynical ending seems to be unpopular, but it is actually the only really good idea they had here. The rest was pretty old jokes and uninspired situations. It also felt like the crew wasn't actually able to make a "good" show. Their mastery of garbage TV is what made "Boris" sharp and enjoyable, but every time they try to flirt with quality, it was hard to spot the difference.

Showbusiness has drastically changed since the end of "Boris" in 2011, and this revival makes it even more noticeable. The fourth season of "Boris" is undoubtedly crafted with passion and with the fans in mind, but I doubt it will be able to appeal to new generations. For better or worse, nothing has changed since 2011. The commentary on streaming services and the new standards for television feels unfocused and shallow, and most of the jokes that land are allusions to the old seasons or guest appearances from fan-favorite characters. Moreover, the eight episodes are barely enough to move the plot forward and expand on the characters. Many arcs get closed all of a sudden and some even fade out throughout the series. Nevertheless, it was still an extremely pleasant viewing from a fan's perspective. The ending was unexpected, but at the same time quite satisfying.

(Nonostante gli anni rimane una sitcom piacevole ma non esilarante, che tra un sorriso e l’altro riesce pure a introdurre un po’ di satira e problematiche vere dello showbiz. Quanto a quantità di tormentoni introdotti nel web, possiamo definirla la "The Office" italiana. La scrittura scricchiola di tanto in tanto, ma ci possiamo accontentare. Del resto, da amante del trash televisivo sarebbe impossibile non amare una serie consacrata a chi fa la merda di professione. Tra le tre la prima stagione è la più scorrevole, con episodi generalmente autoconclusivi e che non fanno ancora troppa insistenza sui vari tormentoni. L’unica vera pecca è, oltre alle musiche orrende, il personaggio di Alessandro: perfetto a bilanciare la follia del resto della troupe ma un po’ troppo anonimo come protagonista.

La seconda stagione è decisamente migliore tecnicamente, ma in certe cose sa un po’ più di stantio. Inizia ad esserci la sensazione che stessero campando un po’ troppo sui vari tormentoni e sulla gente che strilla in romanaccio. I drammi di Biascica e in particolare l’insipida storia d’amore tra Arianna e Alessandro ammazzano un po’ il ritmo generale, per non parlare del Machiavelli di cui onestamente non ho esattamente colto il senso. Tra le new entry abbiamo un Guzzanti un po’ sprecato e due cagnacce niente male.

Nella terza stagione ho apprezzato il tentativo di variare un minimo la formula, ma purtroppo ho percepito una spossatezza acuta nell'umorismo. Il finale cinico e rassegnato mi sta benissimo, anche perché si riconnette alle premesse fatte all’inizio della serie, ma le situazioni divertenti o vagamente intelligenti sono veramente poche. Tra l’altro non è che Medical Dimension fosse tutta sta qualità, eh. Anche quando avevano provato con il corto della formica, rimane l'impressione che la troupe dietro a "Boris" abbia poca dimestichezza con la qualità, trovandosi a suo agio solo quando si beffa di ciò che conosce a menadito, ovvero la monnezza.

La serialità è cambiata radicalmente dagli anni di "Boris", e questo ritorno fuori tempi massimi ne è la prova lampante. La quarta stagione di "Boris" è indubbiamente fatta con il cuore e con un'attenzione particolare ai fans di vecchia data, ma dubito sarà in grado di accaparrarsi nuovi spettatori. Nel bene e nel male, tutto è congelato al 2011, e rimarrà tutto congelato anche dopo questi otto episodi personaggi inclusi. I riferimenti allo streaming e al nuovo modo di fare televisione sono fuori fuoco e superficiali, tant'è che i momenti che strappano un sorriso sono quasi tutti riferimenti ai tormentoni dei bei tempi o comparsate del cast storico (in un modo o nell'altro torneranno praticamente tutti). Le otto puntate sono inoltre insufficienti a sviluppare la trama orizzontale, con personaggi e situazioni spesso perse per strada o chiuse alla bell’e meglio. Il tutto resta comunque molto piacevole e di facile fruizione. Il finale è stato inaspettato quanto soddisfacente.

No wonder why this is still remembered as one of the best-written TV shows ever. The realistic, unvarnished approach to the mob's lifestyle is clearly inspired by films like "GoodFellas" (with which it shares a few cast members), but "The Sopranos" is surrounded by an aura of melancholy, cynicism, and sarcasm that cannot be found anywhere else. It starts off as some kind of offbeat comedy about a depressed Mafia Boss in a dysfunctional family, but you can notice that things are getting gloomier and gloomier as time goes by. Surely many things happen along the way, but it looks like it's always about the people more than the events. The writers keep teasing us for years about things that eventually never happen, but when it's someone's time to go, they are suddenly out, without offering dramatic build-ups or drawing any conclusions whatsoever. Today you are here, tomorrow you are not. That's it. It's a fascinating yet disorienting approach for us television literates. The characters and their stories are realistic in their mediocrity, but you always get the feeling that you are watching something sophisticated and cinematic.

The first few seasons are definitely more entertaining and offer more payoff for the audience, but the writing and performances are incredibly consistent throughout. It's never particularly engaging, but never disappointing either. After all, we are talking about the show that turned "low-key" and "anti-climatic" into its weapons - consistency and (relative) sobriety are the key, not twists nor tension.

The characters are sometimes too many to keep in mind, but the ones who stick are unexpectedly lovable (even though there's not even a single positive figure in the whole show). Tony is such an asshole, yet we can't help loving him. Being able to join his therapy sessions helps to build affection and grasp the depth of the character.

There is a difference between unique and influential products. While unique works tend to keep their edge and traits for years after release, influential works are strongly related to the time they were created. What was felt as fresh and innovative back then tends to become stale and trivial over time as it gets endlessly imitated by later products. "Twin Peaks" has a little bit of both. I got a chance to rewatch the series after decades and could feel both its unique and influential elements. It felt a bit old and trite at times, but after getting back into the mood I thought the show still holds pretty well. The exaggerated soap opera elements are hilarious, but are well-balanced by the crime fiction storyline and uncanny, surreal elements. The first season has very little action and takes its time to introduce Twin Peaks and its inhabitants. Quality is not so uniform as different directors and writers took part in the project, but overall everything is well-balanced and, despite the slow pace, hooky enough. Attention lowers a bit towards the end, but the intense and over-the-top season finale manages to effectively bring us back on board. Donna and James' story was the only thing that felt a bit tired, sometimes even painful to watch though. Did anyone really care about them?

The second season starts strong and offers some of the best episodes ever ("Lonely Souls", above all), but it gets completely lost after Laura's killer is revealed. The cheap soap opera elements are the only things left and it doesn't even feel like a parody anymore. Characters have completely different personalities and do silly things all the time. Ben Horne's descent into senile dementia and James new cringe-worthy love interest could be counted among the worst moments in television history. Windom Earle had some potential as the new threat, but he ends up just fooling around and acting like a weirdo with no real consequences. The last episode "Beyond Life and Death" makes little sense but is at least visually interesting. It might be what David Lynch's wanted to do but made me feel the previous 10 episodes even more useless.

Almost thirty years later, Lynch finally gets a chance to revamp the show and have full creative control. For the first time, he co-wrote and directed all episodes himself. However, the final product is closer to "Fire Walk With Me" than it is to the original series. As the characters also keep saying, it doesn't even feel like the same place anymore. America changed, television changed, we changed. A lot of the events do not even happen in Twin Peaks, and most of the historical characters just got minor roles. While the original series was fairly linear and self-explicative, there is no-one helping us figure out what is going on. There will be some challenges even if you are familiar with Lynch's recurrent themes and symbolism, especially in the ending. It's one hell of self-indulgent, purely Lynchian 20+ hour movie, but I personally enjoyed it. Despite some cheap-ass CGI here and there (God, that Bob ball and glove dude scene), there are a lot of visually and atmospherically striking shots and a lot of cult moments. I would recommend it to hardcore fans only though.

BoJack Horseman is an intelligent and multilayered tragicomedy that follows a “selfish, narcissistic and self-destructive” middle-aged horse in his struggles with addiction and depression after losing his fame as an actor in the 90's. It's mostly a light-hearted black comedy that aims to be a sharp satire of the show business and at the same makes you reflect upon delicate social issues, your own mental health as well as the meaning of life or lack of it, without lapsing into easy moralism or getting too heavy-handed. Each season always has at least a handful of brilliant episodes that are entirely focused on exploring the characters' personalities and many times even experiment with visual storytelling and animation techniques as you would expect an arthouse film to do. Sometimes they hit really hard, bring you close to tears, or at least make you raise a few questions about yourself. Still, it's sad that this is just about 25% of the whole show. The rest is just mild jokes and silly gags that might have looked funny on paper, but unfortunately miss the mark too many times on screen. There are also too many episodes that are built around a single idea or simple gag that wouldn't get developed properly nor bring to any outcome whatsoever. I don't think there was a single bad episode in the whole series, but a bit too many mediocre ones.

"Breaking Bad" became a legend as one of the most masterfully crafted TV shows in recent history. "Better Call Saul" shows off even better production value, with some of the best cinematography, direction, and writing to bless television. Yet, I doubt it will satisfy the fans' craving for more "Breaking Bas", as it’s much slower and way more low-key, subtly suggesting things rather than spelling them out for the audience. The first two seasons follow Saul’s first steps as a lawyer, and it’s all about character study. Then from the third season, Gilligan and Gould lost to the temptation of throwing in as many “Breaking Bad” characters and references as possible, becoming a full-fledged prequel to the series more than a show about Saul. This made fans interested again, but I always thought that “Better Call Saul” should have stayed an independent show unless when strictly necessary. I honestly started getting a little bored in season four, but things suddenly got much more compelling in season five. That's probably the best in the whole series, or at least the one that kept me on the edge of my seat the longest. I wasn’t much interested in Lalo’s character (or in the Cartel for that matter) at first, but once he starts to get real loco, he becomes such a great addition to the story. It’s also the season that sees Jimmy finally becoming the Saul we knew. The final season betrays all expectations again, and instead of picking up from where the fifth ended, it goes the opposite direction and comes back on Saul’s usual pranks. Then there are three or four episodes in the middle where the plot finally moves forward all of a sudden. It’s a rather weird season that continuously makes you wonder where the hell the show was heading, but once the ending came in, it all made sense. After all, it’s a show that always used vertical “filler” episodes to expand on the characters and finally connect to the main plot much later in the story. Some changes in heart in the last episode felt a little too sudden after all the time spent carefully fleshing out Saul’s character, but it was a satisfying ending nevertheless.

"The Walking Dead" started as a short but intense series of episodes that somehow managed to give back dignity to zombie flicks. Sure it might have had its clichés (God, that love triangle), yet the gritty and semi-realistic tone was not something that obvious in this kind of production. Still, who would have thought it was doomed to become one of the longest beaten dead horses in recent TV history? My experience ended with the fourth season, and I can't believe that was less than 30% of the whole thing. There was no particular event that triggered me, but I just naturally stopped thinking about it. Coming back to the show just felt like booking my next visit at the proctologist.

The second season had already started getting slower and thicker, which is understandable as we got twice the number of episodes. I liked that they were making the show about the people more than the zombies, but despite all the time spent on drama, we never got significant character development. Most of the time it would just be people going over their traumas. It was good that some people started to step into the gray zone, but the writers usually prefer to depict characters as either heroes or villains. The day you are evil, you would start doing the craziest things for pretty much no reason.

The third season had a very underwhelming finale, but the pacing throughout was pretty good. I liked how they kept switching the focus away from the zombies, with the collapse of all institutions turning humans into a much bigger threat. The villains could use more complexity though, sometimes they just feel like caricatures that need to act evil at all costs. I didn't expect some characters to get killed off already, which is great news as I hated most of them. Still, the subplot with Rick going crazy was absolutely ridiculous.

The fourth season felt so long that by the end I thought I had mistakenly watched two seasons. It’s not atrocious, but out of 16 episodes, maybe just a couple felt worth watching (8 and 15, maybe 12?). The rest just dragged on for too long and didn't add anything to what we had already seen.

Obviously, it's been a long time since I watched the first two seasons or even a David Lynch movie, and it took me a few episodes to get back into the slow-paced mood and remember all characters and related symbology. This time Lynch got a chance to do whatever he likes with no constraints, as he managed to direct and co-write all episodes himself. The final product is closer to "Fire Walk With Me" than it is to the original series even though, as the characters also keep saying, it doesn't even feel like the same place anymore. America changed, television changed, we changed. A lot of the events do not even happen in Twin Peaks, and most of the historical characters just got minor roles. While the original series was fairly linear and self-explicative, there is no-one helping us figure out what is going on. There will be some challenges even if you are familiar with Lynch's recurrent themes and symbolism, especially in the ending. It's one hell of self-indulgent, purely Lynchian 20+ hour movie, but I personally enjoyed it. Despite some cheap-ass CGI here and there (God, that Bob ball and glove dude scene), there are a lot of visually and atmospherically striking shots and a lot of cult moments. I would recommend it to hardcore fans only though.

Has everything already been said about "Neon Genesis Evangelion"? Sure, but it's always good to remind how groundbreaking it was for its time and still is after 25 years. Netflix gave me the chance to finally re-watch it as an adult and connect with the material on an even deeper level.

The action and comedy bits didn't age too well, but that has never been the main focus of the series anyway. The classic anime tropes are there only to make you feel comfortable before Hideki Anno starts scraping off the facade and dig deeper and deeper into his characters' psyche and expose their complexity and ambiguity. It faces critical issues of Japanese society like depression, loneliness, suicide, sexual taboos, repressed emotions, fear of human contact, all without any kind of sugar-coating or whatsoever. It's a journey through personal demons as much as it is a (fucked-up) coming-to-age story, but it sometimes insists a bit too much upon silly sexual overtones that felt just like fanservice and end up being detrimental to the moments where sexuality is being used for a purpose.

The controversial ending, which totally gives up the pretense of being a straightforward robot anime to solely focus on the character introspection, is one of the most creative and innovative ways to deal with budget cuts and still deliver the important message, yet I still understand all the backlash it generated. I have a weak spot for dreamy films and psychological tragedies, but that felt like a too easy way out rather than a serious attempt to properly close story arcs and [unfold the various mysteries behind Adam, Eve, Lilith, the Angels, and the Human Instrumentality Project.
Overall, I got the impression that after taking their time for the first dozen of episodes, they ended up without budget halfway and rushed the rest, with compressed story arcs and lots of recycled or still footage. The development of Kaworu and Shinji's relationship is the thing that suffered the most from the cut. The little time they spent together hardly justifies the impact his death had on Shinji's psyche. A few more episodes or a more balanced distribution of events would have definitely helped.

The feature film "The End of Evangelion", which goes alongside the last two episodes of the series, luckily provides a more satisfying explanation of the events, accompanied by lots of fucked-up yet equally astonishing visuals, and of course some boobs and robot brawls for the nerds. It's a mandatory watch to the point that it should be considered as an integral part of series rather than a related work, and that should be avoided at all costs if you haven't watched the series first.

In "The Good Place," we follow the journey of a woman mistakenly sent to paradise instead of hell, as she endeavors to become a better person while remaining undercover. The show's core dynamics and world-building are enchanting, although some of the humor, especially with characters like Jianyu, can become repetitive. Nonetheless, the blend of jokes and pop culture references remains largely enjoyable. I appreciate how the series presents ethical dilemmas and philosophical viewpoints without feeling like a lecture. While there are moments of oversimplification, they don't detract from the show's substance and relatability. The protagonist’s flaws might feel caricatural, but they perfectly exemplify our human inclination to make mistakes despite our awareness of basic moral codes.

The first season exposes some contradictions that are ultimately addressed in the finale, along with a clever twist that sets the stage for multiple seasons of compelling storytelling. From the second season onwards, the show undergoes frequent changes, with many mid-season episodes altering the status quo to such a degree that they could pass as season finales. Thanks to this tendency to continuously shake things up, the series manages to stay fresh without succumbing to the fatigue typical of long-running shows.

My only complaint is the prominence of love interests in the plot despite the apparent lack of chemistry between the characters. They all feel like good friends but never believable lovers. While all characters are indeed likable, maintaining the focus on all four proved challenging. Although Michael, Janet, and Eleanor shine as the most memorable characters, the others often feel too caricatural, serving the same jokes each time and quickly running out of steam. Despite this, I would still recommend "The Good Place" as one of the most consistent, lightheartedly fun, and still somehow thought-provoking, comedies out there.

S1 + S2 > S4 > S3

"Mr. Robot" is far from being the perfect TV show, but it deserves praise for how it always tries to do something different. Like "Lost", some crazy solutions worked, some didn't, but I still dare you to find another series that is as personal and innovative in the last decade.

The plot is convoluted and all over the place, often with too convenient plot contrivances, pointless deviations, and easy ways out in the most desperate situations. However, the story has only relative importance as, after all, it's just an excuse to make a pitch-black cynical social commentary on our generation's social anxieties, chronic isolation, and insecurities. Everything we see is filtered through the alienated mind of an unreliable narrator who is nothing but the product of our fucked up society. The subjective perspective of the show is tastefully portrayed by uncomfortably odd camera framing and glitchy editing that always go along with Elliot's feelings.

The first season seems even too over-stylized and naive in its social commentary to be actually taken seriously, but as the show progresses, we realize that we should keep questioning whatever happens, that Elliot is as delusional and self-contradictory as the other characters. At some point we are not even sure if we are actually with the good guys, if the revolution is actually making any sense. The second season is a little too slow and sometimes even displeasing in how it tries to be artsy at all costs, but it manages to set the right tone for the definitely more mature and possibly even more cynical third and fourth season. I was not always satisfied with the abrupt ways most of the characters' arcs have been closed, but Elliot's inner journey has been dealt with almost perfectly.

The original "Money Heist" series was written and planned as a one-time thing, with each characters' story arc perfectly closed by the end of part two. The writing and pacing have always been shaky, but at least the show hardly held back with its choices. As the events developed, you could feel the tension and danger because there was no need to keep anyone clean and alive for future seasons. This new heist commissioned by Netflix forcefully brings the original gang together plus a couple of new additions, and it's clear that they are trying to milk the cow for as long as possible. Situations are stretched out till they become ridiculous, characters like Arturo and Andres have been brought back for no particular reason, and the mandatory soap opera nonsense gets bigger and bigger.

At first, it's not clear if the show is taking itself seriously, but by the beginning of the third season, it became obvious that we are asked to enjoy things as they go without thinking about it, like in a Fast & Furious movie. The whole second and third seasons are more self-aware and entertainment-oriented than the previous, but at the same time, Tokyo's "deep" aphorisms in the narration suggest differently.

It's absolutely ridiculous that the writers are doing the impossible to make the authorities look bad so that they can justify a gang of terrorists getting recognized as teenager idols. New characters Sierra and Palermo were fairly interesting though, boom boom ciao bullshit aside. I hate Rio and Tokyo, so whoever hurts them bad gets my respect.

The pacing has been pretty slow for the whole first season and slightly picked up in the second, while it goes quite speedy in the third if not for the Berlin flashbacks. Those were just to backdoor sell you some spin-off or just bring back fan-favorite characters.

Despite the abused source material, "Hannibal" manages to create its own peculiar atmosphere and surprise its audience with a whole new approach to the same old story. The first season works as some kind of prequel entirely focused on Hannibal and Will Graham's ambiguous relationship, while the other two seasons freely rearrange events from Thomas Harris' books to fit Bryan Fuller's vision. Even the characters directly taken from the novels tend to be gender-bent, have completely different personalities or new roles in the story. Compared with Anthony Hopkins' somewhat campy portrayal of Hannibal Lecter, Mads Mikkelsen's performance feels much more sober, elegant, and charming in its own way.

I liked how the show attempts to take us inside the killers' minds and capture the twisted beauty of their "designs". It requires suspension of disbelief on many occasions but ultimately pays off with sophisticated visuals, a consistently intense atmosphere, and hours of wicked mind games. Hannibal Lecter's character is obviously what makes the show so engaging to watch, but his superior intellect tends to be emphasized a little too much at times. In particular, things start to get a little repetitive from the second half of the second season. It was interesting to see Will Graham fight his way out of prison and at the same time work new series of murders from behind bars, but once he gets out and starts his new "therapy", the same old cat and mouse game begins again. Still, the level stays pretty high and gets even higher for the sumptuous season finale.

The third and last season is overall satisfying, even though a bit too disjointed in pacing. It starts with a series of classy yet tediously slow and pretentious episodes set in Florence and inspired by the "Hannibal" novel and film. Then, Mason Verger's campy revenge story kicks in to serve as a memorable climax for the whole series. The second half revisits the "Red Dragon" story arc but felt a little dull in comparison. Still, it's heartbreaking to see this show end so abruptly. At least we got the long-debated homoerotic subtext officially celebrated in the season finale.

On a side note, I can't believe that so many characters kept coming back from the dead, though. I understand that they were trying to keep the main cast alive for a long as possible, but every time someone gets stabbed or supposedly killed, you already know that most likely they are going to make it as usual.

Kendall Roy, true tragic hero of our times.

Although the first few episodes didn’t click with me, my interest skyrocketed after the gala fundraiser episode. Despite not having a clue about stocks and board meetings, it was incredibly easy to empathize with the characters, as their interpersonal problems and career issues are universal regardless of where you work. Although one could argue that it's basically the same dynamics repeating themselves, we are getting deeper and deeper into the mud with each reiteration. The fact that the big corporations always get an easy way out and win the game felt realistic.

The characters’ flaws and incoherences make them feel so authentic, and the fact that they are all loathsome assholes makes everything even more entertaining. What caught me off guard was witnessing unexpected depth within the characters while they maintained their narrative roles. The most grotesque aspect is everyone's inability to break their bad habits and cut ties with their abusive family relationships. As much as I despised Logan in the early seasons, the siblings' deserved their fair share of misery. Shiv and Roman have been unlikeable from the get-go, but it's Kendall's descent into darkness that leaves the most painful imprint.

The main roster is flawless, with perhaps a minor exception for the "wacky" characters like Greg and Connor. They serve their purpose as providers of comic relief, but at times, their characterization feels a tad heavy-handed. Tom treads a similar line, yet gradually sheds his layers, revealing a satisfying progression. Although, it must be said, he has a knack for acting like a complete imbecile throughout seasons, only to miraculously awaken and take a single step forward in the finale.

Although "Westworld" still deserves some praise for always trying to reinvent itself and get bigger and more ambitious in scale each time, they completely missed the point after the end of the first season. I wonder if they actually had more than ten episodes in mind when laying down the foundations.

Now that the show got canceled, I would highly recommend watching the first season only and forgetting about the rest. Despite the open ending, all questions find an answer, and most arcs get perfectly closed. As with all big productions, it had to make more than one compromise to please everybody, but it still retained the potential to become one of the decade's most balanced and intriguing mainstream shows. It was eye-candy enough for popcorn entertainment, yet thought-provoking enough for those who want something more engaging. The dark, gritty tone mixed with extreme violence and sex continued the HBO trend set by Game of Thrones but still pulled it off quite elegantly. I didn't like how they had to throw in a random shoot-out in every single episode, but I guess you can't keep people interested if a gun doesn't fire every 30 minutes.

Artificial intelligence has been an abused theme in sci-fi entertainment, and Westworld limits itself to making the same textbook philosophical considerations on free will and identity without adding much new. However, I thought the writing shined when exploring the darkest sides of its human characters. Ford, William, and (implicitly) Arnold are the three primary forces around which the whole season and its mysteries revolve. On the other hand, I found it pretty hard to empathize with most of the hosts, as they were programmed to stick to the clichés of their narrative. It's more than understandable, but as the writers insist on getting them killed or raped to make us humans feel sorry, I ended up caring very little about them.

After the second half of the second season, it just became a mixed bag of generic sci-fi/action tropes to stretch the plot for as long as possible. The writing started to take a completely different approach, and the original team became less involved with each new season. Characters became inconsistent and, at times, unrecognizable, continuously going from one extreme to another. Some would even keep changing their goals and motives depending on the writer they got for the episode. It all becomes about making the plot as convoluted as possible for its own sake and resorting to cheap tricks to surprise the audience or distract them from the gaps in logic.

Maeve's storyline was the one that required the most significant amount of patience and suspension of disbelief. She hardly had a purpose to stick around for longer than a few episodes if not because the actor's contract needed to get renewed. Her story arc is the second season's most significant issue, but it only got worse in the third and fourth. Not to mention that she died and came back to life at least a dozen times.

The third season is probably the most ambitious, as it finally took us outside the park and showed a whole new world, but the transition could have been handled better. None of the old characters make sense in this new storyline, and the new screenwriters are obviously not as competent as the previous ones. It just became a generic dystopian sci-fi show with questionable fan-service moments with the old cast. Surprisingly enough, Hale suddenly became the most compelling character, even considering the sudden change of heart in the last few episodes. Dolores played more with ambiguity, but her ending made everything up to that point kind of pointless and illogical.

The fourth season acknowledged the fans' complaints and attempted a return to form. Whatever happened in the third season gets labeled as a little more than a diversion, and many situations and plot points from the second season are brought back again. The problem is that we still miss the most important thing that made the first season unique: the writing. This fourth season is even more contrived and utterly pretentious than the previous one. It eventually just limits itself to resetting the status quo and bringing characters back alive for the umpteenth time so that they can wrestle some more. The only moment it felt like being back to the original mood of the show was with the twist and change of perspective in the middle of the season…. which didn't lead to anything anyway. The ending has to be one of the most ridiculous things ever, as if nothing up to this point meant anything.

An evil British businesswoman orchestrates an unconventional scheme: hiring an amateur soccer coach from the US to undermine and dismantle her ex-husband's team from within. Despite its seemingly improbable premise, “Ted Lasso” successfully navigates the fine line between fiction and relatability. The show's charm lies in its ability to present situations that feel anything but real, yet consistently deliver relatable emotions that resonate with viewers. Initially painted with broad strokes, the characters gradually reveal depth and nuance, endearing themselves through their struggles and triumphs.

One of the show's strengths is its balance between sugar-coated optimism and grounded storytelling. Although Ted usually manages to infect the whole team with good feelings, at the same time, he does no miracle. In its first season, the series resists the temptation to rely on miraculous solutions, offering a surprisingly realistic resolution for a comedy of this kind.

However, it felt like a limited series would have worked better. Starting from season two, the writing felt noticeably uninspired, as if the writers had no idea of what to do with most of the cast. Too often, they would resort to contrived and mechanical plot developments happening just because it was convenient for the characters' journey at that point. Changes always occur abruptly and without any buildup whatsoever. Additionally, the inclusion of "thematic" episodes feels forced, with a different character each time serving as a puppet to yell out social issues that definitely needed a more organic and in-depth exploration.

Ultimately, it felt like the characters only got random things to do for each season before being abruptly brought back to the status quo with a couple of excuses at the end. In addition, the series has veered increasingly toward romantic entanglements and sappy plotlines, sacrificing some of its earlier charm and wit.

Overall, the show still works as a proper “feel-good” comedy for the current generation, but ultimately falls short of its potential, leaving viewers longing for the tighter storytelling and fresh humor that made the first season shine.

Two lonely old guys and a mysterious girl share their true crime passion by secretly investigating a murder in their building while at the same time leaking all their progress on a public podcast? That's not even the most unrealistic part of “Only Murders in the Building”, but the tongue-in-cheek tone and references to old-school crime dramas with improvised investigators like “Murder, She Wrote” make me forgive everything. The three leads have perfect chemistry, and their characters are surrounded by a sense of melancholy that balances the comedic aspects well.

Surely a whole season for a single case might seem like a little too much, but episodes are relatively short and filled with the right amount of humor, investigation, and juicy character development. Watching episodes was like eating cherries.

The second season aimed higher but, at the same time, lost some of the spark. The case got more complex and involved more characters, although things mostly went all over the place with obvious red herrings that didn’t add much to the narration. The direction also felt less inspired than in the first season, losing most of those surreal bits that used to spice up the character-driven moments. The chemistry between the core characters still makes the show worth watching, though. The dialogue didn’t feel as snappy and witty as it used to be, although it got slightly better along the way.

The third season further intensified this sense of redundancy and undue intricacy at the expense of character development. By this time, we’re left with caricatures that have very little to say. Each episode tried to paint a different character as the main suspect, and the diversions were so obvious that sitting through the season felt like a chore. It's a pity, because the musical as the primary setting really suits the tone of the series, and the overall direction still shows a few interesting ideas here and there.

Despite the passing of time "Boris" is still a pleasant, yet not exhilarating, sitcom. Despite the lighthearted tone, it even manages to make some sharp satire of the rotten Italian showbusiness, where purposely making shitty TV shows truly became a specialized job. The writing could be sharper, but we are still above the level of similar shows. A little like "The Office" did in the US, "Boris" generated countless quotes and memes all over the internet, most of which are untranslatable to other languages.
The first season is a little rough on the edges but still the most genuine. Each episode has its own self-contained plot and things don't drag on for too long. The only problem is, horrible music aside, the protagonist. Alessandro's mediocrity is a perfect counterpoint to the madness of the other characters, but it's almost as if he is just witnessing the events without being involved too much.

(Rivista in luce dell’annuncio della quarta stagione. Nonostante gli anni rimane una sitcom piacevole ma non esilarante, che tra un sorriso e l’altro riesce pure a introdurre un po’ di satira e problematiche vere dello showbiz. Quanto a quantità di tormentoni introdotti nel web, possiamo definirla la "The Office" italiana. La scrittura scricchiola di tanto in tanto, ma ci possiamo accontentare. Del resto, da amante del trash televisivo sarebbe impossibile non amare una serie consacrata a chi fa la merda di professione. Tra le tre la prima stagione è la più scorrevole, con episodi generalmente autoconclusivi e che non fanno ancora troppa insistenza sui vari tormentoni. L’unica vera pecca è, oltre alle musiche orrende, il personaggio di Alessandro: perfetto a bilanciare la follia del resto della troupe ma un po’ troppo anonimo come protagonista.)