NEW SHOWS
Saturday Night Live – “Jessica Chastain/Troye Sivan” (B+)
Another consistently solid episode. That makes two in a row, which is something of a miracle. Chastain is both game and breathtaking in every sketch, even if they’re better in concept than execution (the real-life Bart Simpson bit).
Crashing – “Pete and Leif” (B+)
A purposefully meandering episode that chills Pete out after being racked with guilt over his one-night stand. It also made a sympathetic (rather than simply pathetic) character out of Leif, which I didn’t know was possible or that the show was interested in doing that. I’m interested to see if this season will continue to follow Pete literally each day of his life now, or if we’ll jump ahead any time soon.
This Is Us – “That’ll Be the Day” (A)
The strongest ensemble episode of the season, perfectly melding the modern day and flashback scenes and giving us our biggest hint yet as to how Jack died. It’s still dangling the whole thing from us, but it doesn’t feel like a cheat anymore.
The Good Place – “The Burrito” (A-)
Maya Rudolph has a blast as the Eternal Judge, but I can’t help but feeling there was too much hype for a solid but not shocking guest star. I literally cheered when Bad Janet revealed herself as Good Janet, and I can’t wait to see how the show breaks the rules again next week in its finale.
CURRENT SHOWS & SPECIALS
XTC: This Is Pop (B)
An entertaining if not revelatory documentary on one of Britain’s best post-punk bands. For as much as lead singer Andy Partridge enumerates his hatred of rockumentary clichés, there are still plenty this indulges in.