I just want to get it out there right now that it was announced this week that Riverdale are doing a musical episode based on the Carrie stage adaptation, and frankly, if the producers are just going to straight lift ideas from my blog I at least deserve some credit. I see you, Riverdale. I see you seeing me.
Some might say I’ve taken on too many shows to recap this year. Those people would be right, but they would also be fuckheads about it so let’s ignore them.
If you’ve been following my other recaps (currently, I’m recapping Vikings, American Crime Story, and the novel version of Carrie as well as doing a series of secret TV recaps you can access by supporting me on Patreon), you’ll know that, in the last few weeks, one of my favourite shows has taken a major turn for the worst. Vikings, which used to be my precious baby show that I recommended to everyone while basically bellowing the praises of, has turned into a steaming mire of boredom, sex, and contrived rape plots in the last month or so, and it’s a damn shame to be so let down with a show. And I think in some ways, Riverdale has benefited from the fact that one of the shows I write about week to week is so fucking boring.
So, you know that I’m clinically incapable of saying no to a Ryan Murphy show. I watched Glee. I watched The Glee Project. I watched Nip/Tuck. I watched Scream Queens. I watched so much American Horror Story – God, so much American Horror Story. And I have been disappointing and delighted by each and every one, in various percentages. But every time a new one comes along, no matter how bad that last one might have been, I have to dive into it, whether I like it or not: I have a perfect run so far, and I’m not going to ruin that now. Even if it means sitting through another season of AHS, God help my immortal soul.
Well, a new season of Black Mirror out, and a new excuse for us to spend the next two weeks shooting fearful glances at our phones and wondering if they somehow contain the lost souls of that weird hamster you owned as a child. I just finished up the season, and I have some heavy opinions, and I’ll bet you do to (so share them with me in the comments below). Spoilers ahoy!
So, it’s that time of the year once more. I may not have been the most positive I’ve ever been about TV this year – between the outright awfulness of Doctor Who, to the sproadic weirdness of Vikings, to the who-the-fuck-knows-seriously of American Horror Story, I seem to have spent a lot of time exasperated with the small screen. But I still love my TV, we’re closing out on 2017 and for once, I feel like being a little positive. So let’s take a look at my ten best shows of the year!
Ah, another year gone by, another myriad of awful shows to whine about when I could just turn off the TV and get some bloody fresh air for a change. If you’re wondering why there are no movies on this list, my worst-of list for the world of cinema will be up on No But Listen later this week! But for now, let’s focus on the disappointments of the small screen, and count down the worst shows of the year.
Ugh. Honestly, I want to come in here all guns blazing and ready to write a killer review for this week’s episode, The Plan, but right now my head is mince from The Last Jedi and honestly I’m having a hard time thinking about anything other than that despite the fact I already vomited up three thousand words on it today.
So sorry if this comes across as a little disjointed. But then, that could just be the fault of the episode – The Plan, for all it promisingly set up, was a spectacular mess of the highest order. Good thing they’ve got some great direction and performances to keep it clinging together, but it’s threatening to bust at the seams under the weight of it’s own story any minute now.
Hey, now this is more like it!
After last week’s Veronica-heavy, slightly dismal outing, Riverdale is storming back with a brilliant, spooky, slippery episode that might as well have been made for me. On to the review!
We’re rounding the final bend for this season of American Horror Story, and, as ever, things are coming apart. But this season, it feels like they might just be coming together, too. Bear with me: this is going to be a long, odd one.
Sorry we’re a little late this week – I could come up with any number of excuses (not least snugging this little cat’s tiny ears!), but the truth is the episode left me kind of…eh.
I loved last week’s outing both for the sense of gleeful, gothic fun it exuded and the fact that it actually leaned into some of the underexplored corners of Kevin Keller’s…well, you know. And yeah, I suppose, this week took a shot at doing the same, but came off more perfunctory than anything else.
This sequence was so, so damn well-directed that I couldn’t even hate it for how dumb it was
The Cutprice Guignol 