NEW SHOWS
Watchmen – “Little Fear of Lightning” (A)
Tim Blake Nelson gets his chance to shine as this episode’s centerpiece, using exploration of his fears (some founded, some not) to explore the country’s fears after 11/2, showing no one’s really moved on, some are just more open about their anxiety than others.
Silicon Valley – “Maximizing Alphaness” (A)
Brilliantly skewers the concept of “women in tech,” which has resulted in lots of back pats, but very few solutions for tech’s inherent problems. Gavin delivers a great rant that becomes an anti-tech thesis, with hilarious logic and Laurie eats an artichoke like an apple. And then we also get Jared meeting his birth parents, who may be the most singularly awful people in the history of the show.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
“A Woman’s Right to Chop” (A)
“Waiting for Big Mo” (B+) / season finale
The penultimate episode was the funniest of the season, one of those extremely controversial minefield episodes that could have gone wrong in a dozen different ways, but they pulled it off, tackling abortion in two viciously funny stories. The latter was a bit of an odd bottle episode, but its meta speech from Dennis at the end felt more like a Community episode than an Always Sunny episode.
The Good Place – “The Answer” (A)
The show’s single best episode since the Season 1 finale, it runs through Chidi’s life in a way that deepens the character yet again, and sums up the show’s philosophy in a way a full retrospective or clip show never could.
OLD SHOWS
Better Call Saul – Season 4 (A- average)
Jimmy’s transformation into Saul is complete: an utterly cold, devious monster only out for himself. Whereas in the penultimate episode, you felt anger on his behalf that he wasn’t reinstated to the bar, by the end of the finale, you’re disgusted with him when he is. Never has “It’s all good, man” sounded so chilling.