The plot hole is that Cora’s parents tell Ambrose that Phoebe died a month after Cora went missing, but it’s then revealed that she disappeared at the same time as Cora. Leaving aside the wholly unbelievable idea that Cora’s mom just accepted that they ran off to Florida and did nothing, what about all the other people who are expecting to see Phoebe over the next month? Her aunt? Her doctors? If they say she’s dead, don’t they have to produce a body? What about a funeral?
Apparently in the book this is based on, there is the following explanation:
They wrap it up in the book. There it was explained that they couldn’t handle her just disappearing, so her family stole a body and publically claimed it as her sister. The spread the ashes and everything for closure. The gap in the timeline was because she was never reported missing, so it took them that long to get the body and put together the funeral.
No words for how stupid this is. A devout Catholic family stealing a body and doing a fake last rites?
The plot device where a central character can’t remember what happened and they then remember information as required by the plot is pretty cheap to begin with imo, and then in this show we’re told that Cora has PTSD flashbacks where she vividly relives her experience. We see information from her flashbacks relied on as accurate to progress the plot (the stabbing pattern, the water tower, the school bus etc) but then it turns out that in the very central point of the trauma, her sister’s death, a different person is substituted to clumsily conceal the workings of the plot. This, like the misinformation around Phoebe’s disappearance, is just Calvinball where information is accurate where it needs to be for the mystery to operate and inaccurate in a totally unbelievable way where the workings of the mystery need to be concealed from the viewer. It’s basically a deus ex machina, one step above “space aliens did it” as a resolution. If I have to assume that any piece of information I’m given can just be handwaved away on the thinnest of pretexts, then following the mystery at all is just a waste of my time.
I wouldn’t care so much about this if it wasn’t for the fact that the progression of the mystery is the only interesting thing about the show. Pullman has the same expression in every scene, sort of a combination of bemused and genial. The B plot with his wife is excruciatingly boring because he’s so poorly drawn as a character, I don’t give a shit if his marriage works out or not.
Side note: There’s a conversation between Cora and her husband where he tries to convince her that Ambrose is entrapping her and that she can’t trust the police and shit AFTER SHE HAS PLED GUILTY AND IS AWAITING SENTENCING FOR SECOND DEGREE MURDER. What the fuck are you talking about?
It’s the first episode of the second season where Ramy’s uncle gives him a gun. Then Ramy’s dad makes the whole family go to his dad’s boss’s house for dinner. Ramy leaves the table to go to the bathroom to jerk off, and puts the gun on a table. His dad’s boss’s senile father comes into the bathroom, holds the gun to Ramy’s head, then holds it to his own head, then puts it in his pocket and leaves. Then it’s never spoken of again.
Plebs is a nice fun sitcom about two buds in ancient Rome trying to make it in the big city with minimal connections and one lazy slave. One of them is the charming slave owner guy from game of thrones and he’s great in this, he’s way better than the guy who’s presented as more of the main character, who is like Richard from Silicon Valley but in ancient Rome but it’s good, it’s light comedy
During the internet’s infancy, a vulnerable woman follows her sister into the sex industry as a webcam model, but her sudden popularity tests their bond.
4/5
[X] premise
[X] cinematography
[X] score/soundtrack
[X] compelling point of view
[ ] transcendent execution
The Red Sea Diving Resort
International agents and brave Ethiopians use a deserted retreat in Sudan as a front to smuggle thousands of refugees to Israel in the early 1980s.
3/5
[X] premise
[X] cinematography
[X] score/soundtrack
[ ] compelling point of view
[ ] transcendent execution
A teen fresh out of juvenile detention tries to rescue her sister from foster care in order to exact revenge on their father for their mother’s murder.
4/5
[X] premise
[X] cinematography
[X] score/soundtrack
[X] compelling point of view
[ ] transcendent execution
The point of view doesn’t need to be likable, but it does need to be compelling. Similarly, just because a point of view is likeable doesn’t mean it’s compelling.
A film has transcendent execution if everyone should watch it and/or is likely to enjoy it regardless of their tastes.
WW84 was weird. Like it was objectively not good, but I also enjoyed watching it. And not “enjoyed the trainwreck,” but was genuinely entertained. At the same, though, nothing really grabbed me and all I could think about afterward were all the problematic things in the movie.
Disappointing, because the first Wonder Woman was legit great.
The Batwoman season 2 premiere is, well, worth the wait. Though it has been eight months since we last saw the citizens of Gotham, the episode seems to pick up fairly soon after the finale, as Alice has yet to move forward with her plan for Tommy Elliot posing as Bruce Wayne and there’s mention of Kate going to National City to chat with Kara about the kryptonite.
Below, we’ve put together a few teases and our spoiler-free review of what’s to come on the Batwoman season 2 premiere, and though I always say this about The CW’s best superhero show, this episode cannot be missed.
Struggling with his older brother’s death, 13-year-old Dayveon spends the sweltering summer days roaming the streets of his rural Arkansas town. With no parents and few role models, he soon falls in with a local gang. Though his sister’s boyfriend tries to provide stability and comfort as a reluctant father figure, Dayveon becomes increasingly drawn into the camaraderie and violence of his new world.
4.5/5
[X] premise
[X] cinematography
[X] score/soundtrack
[X] compelling point of view
[ / ] transcendent execution
