Wat? I don’t think they quite stuck the landing but this is pretty clearly top tier 2025 TV. If it isn’t lets hear who beats it. I wouldn’t put it T3 but it’s pretty clearly T10 at worst.
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Episode one delivered 
Slow Horses is the undisputed champ of TV shows since it started, in my opinion, and that made me realize I’ve forgotten to watch this week’s episode. Again, I’m only two episodes in but it has a lot of really unnecessary stuff in it (both episodes are close to 10 minutes too long). It reminds me a lot of The Outsider in tone, but that show did basically everything except one really stupid scene better. Ruffalo also looks, dresses, and acts like Detective Goren in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
I worked on a Tom Pelphrey movie in 2022 before he got his Emmy nomination for Ozark. He looked and was absolutely bizarre as an actor in the movie, just an absolute canned ham capable of going very dark places. His face was incredibly hard to look at. I was shocked he got an Emmy nomination because he frankly seemed like a terrible actor. I never saw Ozark, so have no idea how close of a performance to that he’s doing here. He’s doing a good job in this, and is actually even understated for the type of character he’s playing.
All I’m seeing after the first two episodes is a race of who gets to them first, the bikers or the FBI. I also didn’t like a particular Deus ex Machina they did in episode 2. Again, it’s not a bad show, but there are places where it is very unnecessarily stalled.
Task was damn good imo. Agree with Wichita, ending felt a bit rushed but I’m fine with it overall. Chair Company had an elite start. 2025 has been quite the year for TV
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I love slow horses too fwiw
Uh what 2025 TV is better than Task?
The Studio
The Rehearsal
Dying for Sex
Adolescence (? haven’t seen)
to name a few
Def agree on The Studio, though I thought it was too insider for the last 4 episodes. I was like how is anyone not in the industry gonna get these jokes? I about died when someone shouted Mary Pickford. My wife also laughed when I told her Mary Pickford was basically the most famous actor of the silent era (it was an age joke if you don’t remember). I could probably have a lot to say about The Studio but would need to be prompted.
Adolescence is very overrated. If you take away the every episode is done in a oner aspect, it’s basically a nothing show. The craft, especially in episode 2, was awe inspiring but otherwise it was just a rote crime show with some excellent performances.
Task was good. I will watch every single iteration of that genre no questions asked. But it wasn’t necessarily better than Untamed, which I feel like nobody watched but me.
Actually, not every single iteration: The Last Frontier seemed really bad after one ep and we’re not going back to it. I should say I’ll try all of them.
I watched Untamed, but I thought it was just another in a long line of troubled cop shows and the twist (if you can call it that) was very predictable. I’ll still probably watch the next season, which is supposed to take place in a different park.
The Last Frontier’s premise was so stupid I wouldn’t go near it with a ten foot pole.
Task was great
All I knew about the premise was “plane full of convicts crashes in the wilderness, small-town police chief must respond”. And it turned out to be dumber than that and everything about it was bad.
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Why would you take away that?
lol OK
You need to strip gimmicks out of shows to evaluate their true quality. That gimmick gone and it was a low tier British cop show. Like almost every British cop show I’ve seen is 10 times better than its hokey story.
Ok, you appreciate references to silent film stars in B+ comedies, but not modern shows that use gimmicks(?) and incredible acting to touch on topics that feel absolutely vital. Keep authoritatively telling us what’s good!
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Are you intentionally trying to misunderstand me? Where did The Studio hurt you?
It’s not really a gimmick in that show. The tension of experiencing events as the characters experience them in real time is central to the show’s premise. It would in fact be a less interesting show without it, but it’s not fair to strip it away.
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I’m not really stripping it away, and I was in awe of how it was done (knew it was going to win directing and cinematography Emmys as I was watching it). I was blown away by the technique (even though what The Studio did with their oners was spectacular in its own right, this was far more difficult to achieve than what they did).
When I first heard of the show, I thought it was going to be a one or two location thing. I was not prepared for the amount of extras and locations it was using and it was impossible to not be impressed by it. The end shot of episode 2 is absolutely spectacular (that was the Emmy winning episode for cinematography).
I just remember when the show was over feeling very unfulfilled by the story I was just told (I thought the last episode was extraordinarily weak and a let down). I was fulfilled creatively by a show that took a lot of chances most people would have been unwilling to take, but story wise, it was way down for British cop shows for me (one of my favorite formats). It did not provide enough backstory for anything going on, leaving the audience to fill in most of the blanks. I saw reviewers tying themselves in knots talking about how well it dealt with the manosphere or whatever, but that was a big nah to me. Most of the story and his reasoning was empty. The kid was great with what he was given, but the motivation felt very flat once it was over. I needed more backstory and that was what I was expecting the entire final episode to be. Alas.
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“Overrated” is the silliest cultural critique ever imo. Interesting conversation about art almost never comes from that starting position.
It’s fine to not like it but overrated suggests the majority of people are wrong.
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Artistically, when using that term it’s to suggest that people’s judgment is clouded by something they really like vs. the entire whole. The Americans was a technical and acting marvel, but it had extremely hacky writing and storytelling. Many people who watched the show couldn’t see through the facade, thus making it one of the most overrated shows on TV (with a tiny audience). I don’t use the term lightly.
I think most people should watch Adolescence for the spectacle, but still think the show’s overall message is vastly overrated related to its impact.
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