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[9/5/10] Leslie Knope is a problem solver. She has thoroughly demonstrated that with her boundless energy, her wits, and her persistence, she can tackle anything – anything, that is, sans the slippery, insane logic of April and Andy. And that’s why I love this episode.

I’m not sure if I agree with Ron’s message at the end of the episode – that you find someone you like and roll the dice, at least to the point of marrying somebody after dating them for a month (man, could that have led me to some trouble or misery) – but I definitely love his point that it wasn’t a problem Leslie would be able to solve. April and Andy are who they are, and were going to do what they were going to do, all she could do was stand by and try to appreciate it.

Then, by god, Leslie actually takes something from the behavior of Andy and April. Ever hesitant about her growing attraction to Ben, she tells him to stay in Pawnee and take the job Chris offered him, after waffling early and ending with a handshake. It’s an arc for Leslie – learning to be a bit more willing to go after what she wants in her personal life the same way she is in her professional life – and it lands with a great deal of force.

Plus, you know, April and Andy get married! A surprise wedding is so absolutely them, and it’s done in such a ramshackle, “never give up, never think things through” spirit that it’s absolutely adorable. Chris Pratt has become a superstar now, and it’s not hard to see his talents as an actor beyond the big goofy puppy he plays. When he looks at April, there is such love and joy in his eyes that it absolutely sells the moment. (That and Paul Simon’s song.) For her part, Aubrey Plaza shows the joy and affection that pierces through her typical sullen demeanor. It is as affecting as it is ridiculous.

What’s more, there are so many wonderful little touches and details at the margins. Orin is done perfectly (as his conversation with Chris). April’s gay boyfriends throw flower petals. Andy gives a completely Andy speech about defending April and April gives a completely April speech about hating most things but not him. Jerry has a “party shirt”! Chris does a wacky dance! Some guy can’t remember that April just got married and asks Ben if she’s available! It’s all just so hilarious and well-crafted.

The piece de resistance is April telling Leslie that she admires and respects her. It’s a touching moment, and Leslie’s simple “oh” in response is perfect. Amy Poehler is an amazing actress here, and the way she goes from frustration to acceptance to downright melting with all of this stuff is wonderful.

Even the C-stories are great. Tom asking to be a best man and then feeling stymied as the position gets more and more watered down, only to get a shout out and endorsement at the end is slight but amusing. And even Ann’s love life, which hasn’t been my favorite part of this season, is made fun and amusing with Donna to lead the charge and coach her up.

Overall, it’s one of Parks and Rec’s finest episodes, that is true to the characters and their lunacy, but which shows enough growth and sweetness to make it stand out.

[7.1/10] The easiest thing for a reviewer to do is argue that the story of an episode is a metaphor for the story that’s going on behind the scenes at the show, but it’s hard not to speculate here. After the Harvest Festival arc, which marked a turning point for the show and, in many ways, served as the culmination of its repositions and retooling after the show’s poorly-received first season, it’s not hard to imagine the folks in P&R’s writers’ room trying to figure out what to do next and whether they’ll be able to follow up such success.

So it’s natural, then, to imbue that same concern into Leslie Knope, as she worries about whether she can capitalize on the momentum and expectations that come from the Harvest Festival having done so well. The notion of a big Parks dept. camping trip to help come up with ideas is a nice comic premise, but it works better in idea than in execution.

The episode is kind of all over the place, from the camping-related misadventures to the personal stuff with Leslie to the trip to the bed and breakfast. Most Parks and Rec episodes pack in a number of little stories, but with everyone together, “Camping” feels more jumbled than harmonized in that regard.

And the lesson that comes out of it – that Leslie needed to let herself stop thinking about work for a while and the ideas would flow again – feels a bit too trite. Leslie’s anxieties are relatable, and it’s a neat enough (though a bit too sitcommy) solution that Ron locks her in a room and forces her not to work. It just doesn’t really pass the smell test as an epiphany.

The rest of the episode works well enough. Tom’s luxury camping experience is pretty amusing, though the reveal that he drained the battery of their van to get there is, again, kind of wacky sitcom plotting. The same goes for the overly quaint, cat-filled bed and breakfast they all end up in. Andy trying to make April like campign, but getting completely lost is standard stuff from him, but it’s enjoyable enough if not overwhelming. And we return, yet again, to Chris and Ann drama played for laughs, a well that ran dry a while ago.

But the comedy comes at the margins. Ron getting stuck fishing with Jerry was worth some good laughs, particularly Ron’s line that an abstinence seminar from Jerry for his kids might actually scare them off sex. Ben being too posh to “get” camping was a nice touch, including his referring to the ground as “the floor.” And Jerry loving the B&B was fun too.

Overall, true to the fears that Leslie’s storyline reveals, this isn’t much of a followup to “Harvest Festival” but despite the scattered structure of the episode and weakness here and there, it still has its moments and humanizes the preternaturally capable Leslie with her worries about what comes next.

[9.1/10] A great way to end the Harvest Festival arc of Parks and Rec, one which paid tremendous dividends for the show. There are, as usual, so many great stories here, all of which come together in a fantastic way.

The main story is “The Curse,” and it’s a thrill for any King of the Hill fan to see Jonathan Joss doing his thing here. The concept that Leslie has planned for everything, to where no plot obstacle can stop or stymie the Harvest Festival, only for something as outlandish as a media-stoked Wamapoke curse to throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings is a great exercise in contrasting Leslie’s nose-to-the-grindstone preparedness with typical Pawnee lunacy.

Joss does a great job as Ken Hotate, and the gags about Matchbox 20, his subtitled and nonsensical “curse removal” ritual, and lines with lines like “A local tribe making a deal with the government, what could go wrong” find lots of great comedy amid the media hoopla over the curse. That, combined with the generator issue (which is a tightly-written way to balance “the curse” and the media frenzy as an explanation) show how Leslie overcomes whatever’s thrown at her.

At the same time, it adds some nice character development for Ben. Him overcoming his Ice Town fiasco and his own sense of failure is a brief but potent theme here, and grounds the whole curse thing in something personal. The fact that Ken Hotate “de-curses” him too as part of his overcoming it is a nice comic touch.

The B-stories are pretty good as well. My favorite of them is, once again, April and Andy’s. When April says “I love you” and Andrew responds, “Dude, shut up! Awesome sauce!” and goes for a high five, it’s the perfect scene that’s true to both of them. There’s great emotional subtext, with the normally placid April breaking through to express deep emotion, and her being hurt and angry when this major gesture from her isn’t returned in kind. Andy, for his part, continues to just be a big oblivious puppy, who is sweet and goofy as ever in his quest to figure out what’s bothering his girlfriend and find Li’l Sebastian.

That leads to the other most memorable part of “Harvest Festival” – the introduction of Li’l Sebastian. I love love love the fact that Ben just doesn’t get it, and the rest of Pawnee is just enraptured by this “mini-horse” (even, and especially Ron). It nicely captures the sort of town attraction by acclimation that baffles outsiders. And the quest to find him, including the ferris wheel has plenty of laughs.

I’m less enamored by Tom losing Li’l Sebastian and blaming it all on Jerry. I go back and forth on the Jerry-bashing stuff. Sometimes it’s amusing in small doses, but sometimes it just becomes cruel and a little too harsh to be funny.

Thankfully, it leads to a great moment in the episode where everyone’s stuck on the ferris wheel and Ron basically tells everyone what their conflicts are and to get over them, in that oh so paternal demeanor he can put on, essentially resolving all the B-stories. The way he tells April that Andy clearly loves her and that she’s being a child is an especially nice touch, because despite the tough love, it teases out how Andy’s feelings for April are clear, even if they’re expressed in a characteristically silly way. Andy’s response that he does love her, “that’s what makes the sauce so awesome” is the perfect button.

The only weak part of the episode, once again, is Ann trying to get over Chris, this time by giving into “using and abusing” a random meathead who comes into the med tent. But Donna’s sarcastic quips liven it up a little, and it’s a thankfully minor part of the proceedings

Overall, it’s a great climax to the first half of Season 3, that gives everyone something to do, develops Ben and Leslie independently and together, and could have made for a great series finale if it had come to that.

[6.7/10] Not one of my favorite episodes of the show. As I’ve mentioned in my prior write-ups, the Ann-Chris business just doesn’t light my fire, so an episode where the main story is more or less centered on that isn’t my cup of tea. The gag that Chris broke up with Ann, but is so positive that he doesn’t realize it funnier in theory than in practice. Leslie is still a comedic powerhouse and the heart of the show. The fact that she’s so close to Ann that she’s both willing to snoop around Chris’s apartment to see if he’s cheating, and to give up receiving the Parks Dept.’s commendation from the state to support her friend is a nice testament to their relationship. And the rapid-fire takes on her bad break ups are one of the funniest parts of the episode. It’s just not a great story and it’s limited by being focused on Chris and Ann’s relationship.

Even Ron’s excitement for his favorite steak restaurant, despair at its closing, and quest for real meat is a bit too cartoony for me. His slowly increasing anger after he’s been fasting, and his disgust at portabello mushrooms are both amusing bits, but it turns Ron into more of a caricature and loses the comedy in that for me.

I’m warmer, albeit still come-see-come-saw on Ben-Tom story at the snakehole lounge. Getting pathos out of Tom is a hit-or-miss proposition, and the fact that his cologne doesn’t go over well with Dennis Feinstein didn’t inspire much pity from me. But I did appreciate the narrative through-line in the story, that despite Ben’s intentions not to get too close to people because he has to travel around for his job, he’s unwittingly developed friendships with these people, to where he’s there to prop Tom up, and Donna knows his favorite drink. There’s a connection there, whether he intended it or not, and that’s a great way to illustrate it, even if the Feinstein stuff falls a little flat. (That said, the gags about how bad Tom’s fragrance smells were funny.)

The most minor, but overall best part of the episode, on the other hand, was Andy and Ann’s quest to see how much free stuff they can get at The Snakehole Lounge. Their various tricks, from Andy asking for tips for doing nothing as a bathroom attendant, to the first mention of April as “Janet Snakehole” are all the ridiculous kind of fun that she show leans into with these character. And the larger narrative, that Andy is worried about being broke, but that April just wants to spend time with him, injects enough sweetness to make it more than just comic relief. The fact that they give the tips back to the waitstaff is a nice character-saving touch as well.

Overall, it’s a weaker episode in one of the show’s best season, but there’s still enough good stuff there to recommend it.

[9.4/10] One of those great episodes of the show, that just blends comedy, awkwardness, goofiness, narrative momentum, and even a little heart to make everything work perfectly.

The A-story is Leslie taking Ben and Tom on the titular media blitz to promote the harvest festival. There is so much great comedy to be wrung from Ben’s complete and total awkwardness about being on air in any way shape or form. His word salad when confronted about his past on Crazy Ira and The Douche is perfect in its incoherency, and the montage of his appearances on Ya Herd, With Perd were the comedic highlight of the episode. (The smash cut to Ben stating angrily, “Who hasn’t had gay thoughts?” cracked me up.) Ben can often be the straight man on the show, reacting quizzically to the lunacy of Pawnee, so giving him a chance to be the source of laughs, while also giving him some pathos from not being able to live down his very public teenage mistakes, is a great choice.

But it also leads to a lot of great comedy and character moments for Tom and especially Leslie. Tom trying to impart his charismatic wisdom to Ben is amusing (as is his reference “Brooks Brothers Boys”). Leslie’s commitment to cheesy 40s-style newspaper headlines is one of the show’s running gags that I never tire of. More to the point though, Leslie finds the solution to the problem – bringing Ben back on the air and powering through all the questions until 1. Ben pushes through it and defends himself and 2. the town is so exhausted by the issue that it can’t help but go back to thinking about the Harvest Festival (a la Alan Vinick). It shows both how shrewd she is in redirecting that energy back to the Harvest Festival, but also that she’s helpful and cares about Ben enough to try to get him through this.

Despite how great that is, I’m not sure anything in the episode could top Andy and April finally making up and kissing. It’s hard to encapsulate (thanks for the word, Leslie!) why the two are so adorable together, but something about how the normally gloomy April is so enlivened by Andy’s puppy dog qualities makes them a perfect match.

The premise of the B-story, that April is planning to move to Indiana anyway, but has given Andy her equivalent of Hercules’ labors to earn her love in a fool’s errand is a good one. It leads to a lot of great, goofy Andy moments of trying to fulfill this absurd list as best he can, and the team up of the reserved Ron and the exuberant Andy as a team is a great one. But as funny as it is, it also leads to some sweetness between Ron and April (and by extension Andy) when Ron gives April his fishing metaphor about reeling Andy in or cutting him loose. It’s scenes like these that helped develop Ron from a one-note character in a fully fleshed out and vital presence on the show. And it makes that kiss between April and Andy feel very very earned.

As usual, the only part of the episode that doesn’t really work is the Ann-Chris stuff. The jokes about Chris’s uber-healthy lifestyle are amusing enough, and Ann trying to match it and hint that she wants to move to Indiana with him is fine, I guess. But I’m just not invested in their relationship drama so it doesn’t really compel me.

Thankfully though, it’s a minimal part of an otherwise awesome episode. Ben’s story develops him, his relationship with Leslie, and his comic potential nicely, and the April-Andy story is a major payoff that brings the laugh and the heart as well. Overall, one of the show’s finest episodes.

[7.7/10] The Ron and Tammy stuff was always a little too exaggerated for my taste. Parks and Rec was never above getting cartoony now and then, but their outsized relationship was just never on my wavelength, despite the electricity that comes from the real life husband and wife playing off one another. There’s some good material with the intervention, with everyone but Leslie pretty much sucking at it, Jerry being blithely enthusiastic about the remarriage, and even a video from Ron himself being unable to snap current Ron out of it. But for the most part, it’s too wacky for me to get into.

That said, it has a solid narrative through-line, with Tom feeling upset with Ron for dating his ex, and wanting to get back at him for that. He eventually realizes (with Leslie’s help, of course), that that’s a really crappy thing to do. While the whole notion of him getting pummeled by Tammy was a little too much for me as a resolution, I do appreciate the closure of the story and Tom trying to make up for his poor deeds.

But the best part of the episode is the stuff that happens on the sidelines. For one thing, I love love love Ben’s interactions with Chief Trumble. On the one hand, it’s the perfect fish out of water business, with his love of calzones (to the dismay of Pawnee’s residents) and his awkwardness around cops combining to create great laughs every time. But on the other, it also leads to one of the great mission statements about who Leslie Knope is from Chief Trumble – she gets as many favors as she wants “because she uses favors to help other people.” This part of the story even name-drops Dave, building up Leslie’s professionally and personally, and communicates to Ben and the audience who she is and why she’s great.

The other B-story is the natural comedic pairing of the endlessly chipper and professional Chris with the anemic, dark, slacker stylings of April. Watching the two bounce off one another is a treat, and the way it turns into another front in the mutual dislike society between April and Ann is great too. The whole twist of April trying to start a fight by not canceling the lunch with Ann for Chris, only for Ann to turn around and use it to dig April deeper into her hole of good behavior with Chris is fun.

But it also builds up both relationships at play. The way that Ann has entirely melded her behavior to Chris’s is a little scary, but fits into the general thread of her adjusting her life to be like her boyfriends’, and the question of whether he’d ask her to move (especially when he asks April to move as his assistant and speaks to her potential) adds stakes to it. At the same time, Andy trying to free April from the job with a Burt Macklin letter is sweet, and speaks to his dumb but well-meaning gestures.

Overall, the main story of the episode doesn’t really work for me, but the rest of the material is so great that it makes up for it.

[8.5/10] One of those episodes that does great with the pure comedy stuff. The opening list of Pawnee’s former slogans is just such a great example of how the show’s rapid-fire comic lines can work like gangbusters. On top of that, you have the “crackpot convention” of a public forum, which may be the height of the show’s absurd, Springfield-esque town hall meetings. The byzantine debates among the populace over what should go into the titular time capsule is the show at its absurd best.

But all the Twilight-related humor works very well too. Taking as absurd a premise as a guy chaining himself to a Parks Dept. pipe in order to get a Y.A. vampire novel into a time capsule, and giving an emotional undercurrent of a divorced dad trying to connect with his daughter is a deft choice. As always, Will Forte is great, combining both his everyman qualities and his vein of pure lunacy into the perfect well-meaning nutbar proselytizing bad vampire fic. The way that he, Tom, and Donna get into and start having their little book club is pitch perfect.

That leads nicely into the B-stories, with the weakest one being Tom sulking about why Lucy broke up with him. There’s some solid material there, with Tom himself relating everything to Twilight, and it shines a light on his own emotional insecurities and fixation on Ron. It’s just undercooked and not as sturdy as the rest of the episode.

But the side-story peak is the unexpectedly delightful pairing of the different flavors of high energy that are Chris and Andy. Chris’s enthusiasm for helping Andy with his Eduardo problem is a lot of fun, and the fact that Andy being nice and being in a band (as Chris wrote on the whiteboard in their brainstorming session) actually are what helped Andy to sideline his rival is a great twist. Plus, the grace note with Andy talking up Ann to Chris rather than trying to destroy their relationship, however ineffectually, a la Mark is great too.

Overall, a very good episode of the show, with plenty of laughs and the sort of Pawnee craziness that makes the show and its oddball denizens so memorable and enjoyable.

Perhaps the best episode yet and a great example of the show working with more of a confined narrative, that being the ongoing flu epidemic in Pawnee. It's interesting and fitting perhaps to watch now in the midst of the Coronavirus, particularly when Donna, Jerry and Tom quarantine themselves against Leslie's flu ridden state.

This episode simply fires on all cylinders. I absolutely love April and her petty but understandable contempt for Ann and how Ann decides to not let April get the satisfaction of having provoked her. Since the show seemed to really find April's purpose beginning with the season two episode, "Hunting Trip" (where April bonded with Andy for the first time onscreen), she's perhaps the character I most love watching in a show with many characters that I love to watch.

Speaking of a character that I love watching, this is a quintessential Leslie episode for me and one of Amy Poehler's greatest outings yet. Her performance is consistently hilarious and has such a gripping authenticity to it, how she plays the fever ridden state that Leslie finds herself in this episode. The resolution to her story is amazing and Ben's talking head that wraps up that storyline is fantastic too.

Then there's the Andy and Ron side story, where they bond during April's absence as Ron's assistant. It's such a simple storyline and one that I find utterly infectious to watch.

Then there's the highlight, or co-highlight (along with the Leslie stuff) of this episode in Chris and his 'microchip' having been compromised. Rob Lowe's finest, most outrageous and hilarious performance yet and the monologue that he gives himself in front of the mirror, "Stop. Popping", is a complete laugh riot.

Exceptional episode.

[9.1/10] One of those episodes that just shows you how many great character combinations and great individual performances Parks and Rec can boast. There’s hardly a weak link in this episode, with all of the stories being tied together nicely and feeding off of one another.

The best, naturally, is Leslie Knope powering through the flu. It’s so clear rewatching these episodes how much Amy Poehler brings to the table, but she just outdoes herself comedically here. The way she absolutely conveys Leslie’s resolve in the face of debilitating illness, her ability to stand up and power through when she needs to, and most of all her flu med-assisted lunacy is amazing. The lines are great from “Hello I’m Leslie Monster, this is Nightline” to “Scott Bakula from Quantum Link everyone,” but Poehler sells the bewildered, hallucinatory state to perfection.

By the same token, Rob Lowe does great work at communicating Chris’s utter debilitation when “the microchip” is compromised after he too contracts the flu. His crash and bounce back and germophobia is supremely well done, and his mirror-facing demand to “stop pooping” is hilarious. Tying it to Ann feeling nervous about her date but seeing him like that easing her fears is a nice touch.

My second favorite bit in the episode, however, is Ron and Andy bonding. The two are so opposite in personality, but the way the show teases out the common ground between the two of them is terrific. There’s great comedy in their hijinks, and using them as fodder for the two to get close enough for Ron to tell Andy about April adds a touch of heart to it as well.

Speaking of April, her mini-feud with Ann isn’t as strong as some of the other material, but it still brings the funny and moves along the April-Andy romance nicely. Similarly, Tom’s bit at the spa (amusingly named “Spa-wnee” is slight, but advances the cause.

Last, but certainly not least, Adam Scott is great as a straight man to Leslie’s flu-addled ramblings, and then as someone duly impressed at her ability to turn on the Knope when she needs to for the Harvest Festival. He and Chris Trager were a pair of ingredients that really put this show, which had already found its groove in S2, over the top. Altogether, an episode like this one was a sign that P&R had truly arrived and was at the height of its powers.

[8.7/10] And thus begins the Harvest Festival arc! Thought it would be good to go back and round out my unplanned rewatch of P&R, which randomly started in the middle of S3, by watching the first few episodes of the season. It’s interesting watching the season premiere shortly after seeing the season finale. It shows how far Leslie & Co. come from the humble, position they start in.

It’s also backstory: the episode! That’s not a bad thing. I’d forgotten the deal about Chris’s blood disorder and how it makes every day a gift for him. And I’d forgotten that we hear about Ice Town so soon. There is something very sitcom about Leslie (and the Ben) crashing Chris and Ann’s date to hash the budget issue out, but it works despite some of the hoariness of the premise. Ben and Leslie have chemistry even as frenemies, and the combination of Chris and Ann is surprisingly effective when they’re in a typical situation and not doubling down on relationship drama.

Plus, it’s the beginning of the meme-ification of Ron Swanson. His pyramid of greatness and coaching some kids basketball pays a number of silly, amusing dividends, and the same goes for Andy’s team, which is the disorganized, goofy yin to Swanson’s disciplined yang. The Tom-Lucy-Ron-Wendy love triangle was never one of my favorite storylines on the show, but I do appreciate the gag of Tom trying to be a biased ref and revealing his complete lack of knowledge about sports.

The larger story of the episode, that the Parks department is broke and the team is scrambling to fight for the dept. rather than let it be whittled down to nothing, works as an animating theme for the whole season. Using the parallels between Leslie and Andy as unlikely peas in a pod is nice touch, and the way it plays on Chris and Ben’s good cop/bad cop routine, eventually breaking down the walls of their denial, paves the way for so much that happens in the rest of S3. It’s a great start to arguably the show’s best season, one that embodies the fun but meaningful things the show is capable of.

Okay, I was going to try and review every episode of this season (and the next and the next after that hopefully and so on) during this, my second run through of Parks and Rec but I ended up watching 5 episodes virtually back to back because this is the season where everything comes full stride. I don't remember if I prefer this season or four (I had the feeling I preferred four because of the election campaign storyline but either way, this is the beginning of the show's absolute peak.

For the most part, I absolutely love this episode. What doesn't work here is very little and in fact, it comes down to a certain few moments in this episode only. One is the culmination of the Ron v Tom tension that takes place during the junior basketball game and Ron exploding into a violent outrage. I just could not help but feel the humour of the situation (Tom's inability to cope with the fact that his boss is now dating his ex-wife) was completely deflated in the moment but it's not good enough for me at least to work as a dramatic moment because the whole Tom/Ron/Wendy angle was never that interesting for me and in fact, prior to my recent rewatch of season two, I had completely forgotten it. Regardless, it came across as a clunky and/or uncharacteristic moment from Ron.

Everything else here is fantastic and there is very little I hold issue with. I love the progression of the April/Andy storyline here, the date between Chris and Ann is great and the episode's ending sets up an ongoing story arc for this season that I am excited to revisit and re-experience.

Fantastic season premiere.

[8.7/10] So many great moments in this one, let’s break them down.

Let’s start with fan favorite Ron. I love his glee at being a part of the budget cut task force and his zany ideas for saving money (like selling the zoo animals). It’s very in character for him and his utter joy at that is amusing. But that just makes it more meaningful when Ben moves to fire Leslie, and Ron not only offers an impassioned defense of her and the work she does, but offers to have himself be fired in her place because he recognizes her value. It’s a big moment (one that, if I remember correctly, never comes up with Leslie from either Ben or Ron) that cements their mutual, aisle-crossing admiration for one another.

That’s a natural lead-in to Leslie’s efforts to put on the Freddy Spaghetti concert (hello Brian McCann! from Conan!) despite the government shutdown. It’s always heartening to see Leslie go to the mattresses for what she believes in and marshal the rest of the Parks Dept. forces in that effort. Putting on that concert on Lot 48 with the whole gang is the sort of big project that shows what Leslie can do even in the face of strong opposition, and stalwart Ben melting a little bit and paying to get Freddy Spaghetti to come is a nice way to soften him and show that he’s not made of stone despite his principled objections to what Leslie’s doing. It’s a nice character moment for both Leslie and Ben.

There’s also some pretty solid developments on the romance front. I like that Andy finds April and just straight up tells her that he likes her and wants to go out with her, and April’s reaction is great -- both heartened but insecure. (And their high five after admitting their shared affections is nice.) It’s understandable that as much as April likes Andy, she would feel worried about him not being over Ann.

That obviously doesn’t help when Ann kisses him. I like the swerve of that, where Ann explains that she’s fragile after a rebound which makes you think she’s going to hook up with Chris, but instead retreats to an injured Andy once more. The episode mines it for both sentiment and comedy, with Andy doing the right thing by backing away and telling April about it at the first opportunity. (Andy and April’s first kiss is a big moment too, with again, the actors’ performance and reaction to the moment really selling the sweetness of it.) It’s a little convenient as a roadblock, but it works. And Andy telling the next nurse who comes in not to try to kiss him is a great comic button to put on the whole thing.

Last, but certainly not least, we get the exit of Mark. I have to admit, I expected to loathe Mark’s every appearance revisiting this season, but on rewatch, he steadily grew on me to the point where I was actually a bit sad to see him go. He was never as vital a part of the show as he could be, but he has a great if limited arc here -- someone who’s jaded and cynical about government who comes to believe that change and progress can be made, even if it’s not by him. Mark taking a buyout and going to work for the private sector is very in character as to the former, but him giving Leslie plans for a park on Lot 48 and telling her that he wouldn’t bet against her speak to the latter. It’s a tidy but well done final coda for the character.

Overall, “Freddy Spaghetti” is a lovely little instance of Parks and Rec closing the book on one chapter of the show and beginning another. It seals and reinforces the things we’ve come to know about Leslie, Ron, and the rest of the gang, while giving Mark a satisfying farewell and cementing the new roles for Ben and Chris. Season 2 is, for me at least, the part of the series where Parks and Rec became the show I knew and loved, and this finale is, in many ways, the culmination of the show hitting its stride. A great end and a great new beginning for a great series.

This is just a monumental episode and those who have seen the show in its entirety would agree that this in many ways is really the beginning of Parks and Recreation as it is known today and its the point of no return for a series that began well under the shadow of The Office. Season 2 found its stride, even if it occasionally stumbled and an actor like Louis CK brought a much needed energy and weight to the season that helped the show establish its own identity. Now, the show is at that point where it is free to go completely in its own direction and here we are. Welcome to the show, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe!

This is a magnificent episode and one where everything works really well. There's very little here that's weak by any means so the episode has a nice energy and feel to it. Even the show's most problematic character (IMO), Tom Haverford, gets a nice storyline where he's pretty much his sleazy self but with a degree of humour (his whole animal lover schtick to the one girl is amusing as is him coming back for his "seed" to seemingly every woman in the bar later) but also thus far an infrequently seen humanity to the character when he meets bartender Lucy.

The April/Andy stuff is fantastic and the way episodes of April's jealousy and concern over Andy's potentially still existent feelings for Ann boil over here is deserved and organic development of that relationship. The same goes the other way with Andy, who confesses in a talking head that he likes April. The tease begins now. Also Andy using the mathematical "equation" to derive whether its appropriate for him to date April is classic Andy.

Then there's the little matter of two of the show's greatest and most important characters FINALLY being introduced at the pitch perfect time: Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt. Immediately, they're such an interesting partnership and Rob Lowe and Adam Scott have such pitch perfect yet contrasting energies for their characters and good god, does the show immediately feel ever more alive. Where some of season two can suffer by having essentially two "straight men" in Mark and Ann, we now get two more absurdist figures arriving into the show.

Perhaps my favourite scene in this whole episode of which there are numerous is the bar scene with Ben and Leslie. It's superbly written, the chemistry between Poehler and Scott is so on point and commands a sense of attention and the way we see a friendship about to grow out of that scene is amazing. Chris so often makes Ben a villain, unintentionally, by the optimist vs. realist angle between the two but the whole Ice Town reveal is perfect and what Ben says to Leslie, that you need to be willing to make the hard decisions that could make yourself unpopular among your people to succeed at the game of politics is so on point.

Chris immediately makes an impression and Rob Lowe has such an amazing energy about him but he'll get his moments to shine a little later on. I do absolutely love the death hazard vitamin pill that Chris takes which requires Ben's presence.

Parks and Recreation will never be the same again...

I rarely do this, but there are so many things big and small that play into the show’s longterm trajectory that I’m going to offer this proviso: DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ALL OF PARKS AND REC. IT CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE RUN OF THE SERIES AND YOU’LL DO YOURSELF A DISSERVICE BY SPOILING YOURSELF

Alright, with that out of the way, let’s talk about this one. What’s striking in retrospect is how “The Master Plan” plants the seeds for three of the show’s biggest relationships, and progresses a fourth considerably.

The biggest one of those is obviously Leslie and Ben. It’s so interesting to see where the two of them start with the knowledge of where they end up. I love that Leslie is instantly combative with him, so defensive of her department and the threat of budget cuts that she yells at him not once, not twice, but thrice. And I love Ben’s early characterization, as a non-nonsense but decent guy with Ice Town looming in his background and motivating him to show that he’s responsible. It’s a nice way to show that while he and Leslie are on opposite sides of their dispute, like all great Parks and Rec pairings, deep down they want the same things and have common ground.

The episode offers a tidy, compelling introduction to him and Chris, as the hatchetman and chipper cheerleader respectively. By the same token, the episode wrings some good comedy and Ron’s excitement at the prospect of cuts and government shutdowns and Leslie’s horror at the same thing.

We also get the start of Chris and Ann. It’s only the barest of beginnings, but Ann getting really drunk after breaking up with Mark and not remembering who she made out with made for a nice little mystery in the third act. I’m not crazy about Ann saying that she broke up with Mark because they didn’t fight enough, or deciding that she should be with Andy because they did argue, but I think there’s an argument for realism in how we rationalize the end of one relationship and look at others with rose-colored glasses. Plus, her intoxicated interactions with Chris in the flashback to the Snakehole Lounge were actually pretty amusing.

We also get the start of Tom and Lucy. It’s a minor plot in the episode, but I like that the show takes a typical Tom plot -- trying to use pickup artist style tricks to get women -- and has it be a bridge to Tom seeming like a human being. While I feel like the show ultimately rushed Tom and Lucy together at the end, they have good chemistry at the end of the episode here. The way she can call him on his crap in a funny way, and Tom can admit it in a funny way, makes you intrigued by them as a pairing and starts to show a more down-to-earth side to Tom that the show would visit all too infrequently.

Last, but certainly not least, it’s a heartrending episode for Andy-April boosters. Seeing how touched and clearly excited is that Andy clearly seems interested in her, how dismayed she is to see Ann flirting with him, how sad Andy is when he thinks he picked up the wrong signals after seeing her with Jean Ralphio, and how much pathos there is in the tag when Andy plays his little “will you go out with me” song is just a rollercoaster of emotions. Their shared weirdo energy is just so great, and what’s notable is that this doesn’t feel like the episode dragging out the “will-they-won’t-they” unnecessarily, but more earning the complicated feelings and worries the two have about each other.

Again, so much that starts in this episode becomes so important to the series as a whole, and how well all of it comes off is a great sign for where the show goes in its second season finale and beyond.

[7.4/10] Not a big fan of the A-story here. Leslie having a personal concern and transmogrifying it into a professional concern that she goes overboard with is a tack Parks and Rec will return to regularly. In some places, I like it, but here, it’s mostly an excuse for Leslie to be kind of obnoxious and for Tom to be creepy. Her trying so hard to prevent the Newports from tearing down an old gazebo is fine as Leslie transferring her feelings onto something over which she has greater control, but chaining herself to the fence just feels like a bridge too far.

I do like her realization that she’s projecting her feelings about Mark and Ann, and also that it’s not a romantic or jealousy thing, but stems from a worry that she’ll lose two of her best friends. Still, the path to get there is a little too rocky.

Thankfully, the rest of the episode is outstanding. April accidentally scheduling every meeting for Ron for the same day and the whole team having to pitch in made for some great comic sketches. Ron dealing with guys who yell at sporting events for five-year-olds or wear too revealing clothing at pools was quite funny. Andy trying to join ultimate frisbee leagues and say yes without actually saying the word yes was amusing. April pretending to be Ron’s daughter enacting his last wish or being an operator like Leslie was fun. And even Ann having everyone show her their medical problems when they realize she’s a nurse is well-done.

But there’s meat on the bone too. Ron yelling at April, April quitting, and then him asking her to come back is a nicely done story. Getting a glimpse of April’s Crate & Barrel home life is fun, and the emotional side of April feeling like she’s not good at her job and that Andy doesn’t care about her, so why stay, is done in a nicely understated way. Plus I love that she knows that Ron’s Duke Silver and keeps it under her hat because they get each other.

Overall, the Leslie’s insecurity stuff doesn’t really play well with me, but the business with the rest of the cast, particularly April, is both very funny and good character-based storytelling, which lifts the episode up.

[7.7/10] Another very good episode as the show hits its stride. One of my favorite Parks and Rec plots is Leslie being disillusioned and then re-illusioned. To that end, I love that she gathers all current living Pawnee Parks directors in the hopes of embracing some received wisdom and dignified grace, only to find that one is backward fossil whose fixated on her inability to lead due to menstruation, one is a total mercenary who just wanted to screw over the last guy and didn’t care about parks, one is obsessed with pot (and presumably planted the weed in the pit!) and one is, you know, Ron!

There’s great comedy from the interactions between the four of them, and Leslie’s resulting disgust at how her would-be idols are not quite fit to be idolized and loathe one another to boot. But I also like where the show ends with it. All of these people are very different from one another, and that inspired great enmity among them. But what distinguishes Ron and Leslie is that while they’re very different, they respect one another, they expect “a good argument” from one another, and while they order different things, they share a love of breakfast foods that symbolizes their common ground. Having each of them speculate about the future is a good button to put on the story.

The B-story with Tom trying to get a shot for the front of the summer catalog is just okay. I like the subtle hints the show gives that Ann isn’t necessarily happy with Mark even if everything’s fine on the surface, but it’s the sort of outsized Tom comedy (Tomedy?) that doesn’t typically work for me. Though having Mark as his straight man pays some dividends.

But the C-story, with April and Andy bonding while helping Leslie with the picnic, is great. Again, much of it is just the two of them being weirdo goofballs together, which I find enjoyable. But the better part is Andy asking April out (kind of?) to her lightly flustered chagrin, and then the bummer when he blanches from her not being old enough to get into the bar. The finish, with Leslie’s letter emphasizing the importance of friendship and the picture of April and Andy on the cover to exemplify that is the perfect way to tie the two stories together.

Overall, the Tom/Mark/Ann stuff is a little weak, but Leslie’s story is great, and it’s another important chapter in the April-Andy story. Quality ep.

[6.1/10] I’ve just never been a big fan of the “rag on Jerry” stuff. I suppose there’s a way you could do it right, but it’s just never sat right with me. This episode is big on that, and while there’s comedy from the gang trying really hard not to bust on him when he has an endless parade of mishaps, it just doesn’t click. (Though I’ll admit, I laughed when he bent over, had his pants split, and then farted. I’m not made of stone.) The story about Jerry faking the mugging story because he didn’t want the gang to make fun of him for grabbing a burrito and falling in the lake is a decent hook, I guess, but it’s just okay at best.

I’m also not a huge fan of Andy Samberg’s character here. The exchange about not having seen Avatar is mildly amusing, but the overly-loud character is a kind of dull trope (which Dilbert, of all things, did better), and Samberg doesn’t necessarily have the right energy for the show.

The self-defense class leading to a cold war rivalry between April and Ann for Andy’s affections doesn’t do much for me either. While it kind of funny seeing Ron do self-defense holds and watchign Andy goof around, I’m not particularly invested in the love trinagle shtick.

It’s not a bad episode, and there’s definitely some laughs, but they’re milder than usual and not as frequent here.

[7.7/10] Plenty of great stuff in this one. Anytime Leslie has a moral dilemma, particularly one as low stakes as whether to fib about whether the possum she caught is the possum, it makes for a good episode. Leslie’s struggle with whether to take the credit for nabbing “Fairway Frank” and pick up a chit from the mayor’s office in the process, or to be honest that she’s not sure if it’s really him and save a potentially innocent possum is a good one. It has great talking head segments (like the one about Leslie asking herself questions) and other fun stuff like her frantic insistence that April help.

April’s help is a nice deal too. She worries about the fact that Andy caught the possum, because Shawna Malway-Tweep suggests it might win him Anne back. Andy’s boasting and preening in front of “the press” and April’s quiet frustration makes for a nice contrast. And her and Leslie freaking out and hiding and chasing when the possum gets loose in Anne’s house makes for some great comic setpieces. (The same goes for Tom fleeing in a panic as soon as he sees the possum.)

The B-story is a good one too. Mark helping Ron get his woodshop up to code, despite Ron’s insistence that the city code shouldn’t apply to him and his libertarian leanings is another great instance of Ron bending his own principles a little bit because someone is being kind to him. His smile after running the book with the city code in it through a saw and the perturbed noise he makes when he has to then go back and try to read it are both great. It’s a nice Mark-Ron story, which we don’t get much of. (Sidenote: I didn’t expect to have this reaction on rewatch, but I’ve actually really enjoyed Mark as the straight man this season. Still love what happens next, but I wish we’d gotten to maintain at least a little of that.)

Overall, it’s a very funny episode that has great character moments for Leslie, Ron, and April, which makes it a-okay in my book.

"I do worry sometimes I might just be entertaining myself while staving off the inevitable."

The Banshees of Inisherin is one of the saddest breakup movies since Marriage Story. Well...in the film, they are not a romantic couple, but Padraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) were good friends, until one day their friendship ends abruptly, just because Colm decides that despite there being no bad blood between them, he does not like him anymore. The reason is: you are dull. In some ways, friendships are like relationships; it starts with the strong bonds you form with each other until that feeling towards them is not the same, and you no longer like/love them anymore.

I mean, everything was fine yesterday.

A strange occurrence that is not explainable but does happen. I believe it starts when one person changes while the other doesn’t. In the movie, Colm is a wise and articulated older man with an artistic ambition that he never acted on and never stopped to think about getting older. Living on a small remote island off the west coast of Ireland, where everybody is freaking boring and gossiping little bitches who love to stick their noses in other people's business and drama, because there is nothing else to do on the island. The movie does a fantastic job of giving you the impression that living on this rock slowly kills you on the inside. While being a supporting character, this is the dilemma with Colm. He does the same thing every day with his ex-friend, going to the pub at two pm and talking endlessly about meaningless crap and nonsense, and who knows what else happens the rest of the day, which is not that interesting, I assume.

The end of their friendship is hard to watch because it leaves the audience with everlasting pain. Brendan Gleeson is remarkable as the desperate and often cold Colm.

Despite what film Twitter tries to tell you, Martin McDonagh has yet to make a bad movie. In the same vein as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, whenever McDonagh makes a new movie, I am 100% there. Every movie this guy has made has been brilliant, and Banshees is no different. A dark comedy at its finest cause you know when things go so wrong to the point it gets funny. Well, Martin McDonagh's movies are like that.

The writing is superb and has plenty of dry humour. The film-making is not anything grand or flashy; some comment on how stagy it is, but I do not feel it needs to be a technical marvel. With that said, there are some beautiful shots of the landscape of Ireland.

Comparing his work in The Batman early this year and this movie proves that Colin Farrell is one of the finest working actors. His character Pádraic Súilleabháin is a dim-minded, polite man who, unlike Colm, has found peace and happiness in his daily life. Farrell brings a child-like vulnerability to the character, where everything he does or says can be funny and depressing. His character arc is incredibly heart-rending.

Pádraic sister, played by Kerry Cordon, another standout performance, and some of her line delivery has implanted itself in my head. Her character Siobhan is trying to find the ultimate purpose in her life, echoing the problems that Colm is facing, which the two get along like a house on fire.

Barry Keoghan plays Dominic, and out of all the characters in the story, he lives the worst life under his abusive father. Keoghan continues to be an excellent actor who is on a winning streak. The character of Dominic is a playful and childish man, but the tragedy of the character is that he is lost in this life and has nowhere to call home, often appearing at the most random of places during odd times.

The score from Carter Burwell immerses you in this story and contributes to the stunning visuals.

Overall rating: On paper, a simple concept of a friendship breaking up, but its approach to mental illness, kindness, art, masculinity, and our inevitable death was strikingly profound. At times, it felt like Shakespeare mixed with the Brothers Grim tale.

It is one of the best movies of 2022.

Adored this movie. Solid performances, amazing screenplay, and McDonagh’s most gorgeous looking film to date. All of the actors were fantastic in this. This has to be my favorite film of the year.

One of my favorite moments of the film was Siobhan correcting Colm about Mozart. It shows that Colm was not as smart as he appeared to be, and cracked open his wise old man facade. He was being truthful to about his reasons for tanking the friendship, but his methods for doing so are still bullshit. He is wise, but also bitter and stubborn, and that so he thinks that the key to breaking his monotony is by suffering.

Colm resents Pádraic for being content with his simple life and not being concerned with having a legacy or being remembered beyond those he cares about in life. Colm, due to his frustration with his own existence, concludes that the only reason Pádraic is so content and untroubled is because he is dull and stupid.

Ironically I think Pádraic is actually Colm's muse, after each encounter with an impassioned Pádraic Colm seems to progress with his work on his magnum opus 'The Banshees of Inisherin'.

Moral of the story, in my opinion, is that men create meaningless conflict for contrived reasons and that leads to innocents being hurt (kind of like a civil war).

It was a pretty smooth affair but honestly I'm not sure I understand the difference between this any 90% of the MCU films. It's by that calculation a generic action blockbuster. I hear a lot of people saying this movie doesn't deserve to be this good with barely suppressed glee. I just don't see it. I'm a fan of science fiction and fantasy. I sporadically watched the D&D cartoon as a child. I enjoyed to an extent the previous D&D movie.

I just don't see anything in this movie worth getting overly excited over as someone who isn't steeped in D&D lore. That said this movie is like an MCU movie if it wasn't stuck with the framework of having to fit itself into a (at this point fairly rigid) context. It doesn't have to account for Captain America or give a nod to Marvel's Captain Marvel or have cameo by photograph of the Hulk or have Shield logo on some paperwork. This is an MCU movie if it wasn't beholden to the rest of the MCU. I mean there's a bloody hulk smashing scene at the end. Everyone loved that scene in The Avengers. it gets referenced every 5.8 MCU films. Here we have the fantasy version. It's still funny it's just.... well I've seen it before.

Maybe if you were into the D&D modern lore this might feel different. There were certainly nods I recognized by name only and certainly things I felt certain were nods I didn't understand. Unlike say Dune where I can understand how important a sandworm must be to this story even without reading it. I don't care about displacer beast. Looking back that was probably an audience clap moment. I was more impressed with the mimic myself.

But it's fun enough. I call it generic. I imply it's reductive but walking out of the movie I was very satisfied. Not the best thing I've ever seen. Not even the best blockbuster I've ever seen. But as a movie it was good and effective. I'd even watch it again. Even if it does have an overly-perfect-dead-wife trope.

In a cinematic landscape craving adrenaline-pumping excitement, the fourth installment of this series boldly emerges as a breathtaking testament to the power of action cinema. With a unique blend of pulse-pounding stunts and a mesmerizing palette of colors, this film delivers a cinematic experience that is both visually striking and physically awe-inspiring.

One of the most captivating aspects of this action extravaganza is the commitment of the main actors to perform their own stunts. Their dedication and fearlessness shine through in every heart-stopping sequence, immersing the audience in a world of authenticity and intensity. Each punch, kick, and breathtaking leap feels raw and real, leaving spectators on the edge of their seats, mesmerized by the sheer audacity and skill on display.

Beyond the jaw-dropping action, the film's visual composition stands out as a true work of art. From the vibrant cityscapes to the lush exotic locales, the palette of colors chosen by the cinematographer is nothing short of mesmerizing. Every frame bursts with life, creating a sensory feast for the eyes. The juxtaposition of vivid hues against the gritty backdrops heightens the film's intensity, enhancing the overall experience and immersing viewers in a rich tapestry of visuals.

While the previous installments set a high bar, this fourth chapter rises above expectations, striking gold with its exhilarating action and stunning cinematography. It seamlessly blends heart-pounding thrills with a feast for the eyes, creating a symphony of entertainment that will leave audiences craving for more.

In conclusion, this action-packed journey, driven by the fearlessness of its performers and the artistic vision of its creators, cements itself as a standout addition to the series. Brace yourself for an electrifying experience as this film takes you on a wild ride, leaving you breathless, enthralled, and eager for the next installment.

Gun Fu, Gun Porn, Stylized Ultra violence, call it whatever you want, but, one thing is certain, John Wick 3 delivered it all, and then brought you second and third helpings. Tom Cruise gets a lot of cred for doing his own increasingly elaborate stunts for each M.I. installment, but I'll see you EVERY stunt the couch jumping Mr. Cruise has done his ENTIRE career, for the first two action sequences in this movie ALONE! Also, Keanu Reeves isn't just harnessed to a plane or rappelling down the side of a building and leaping across roof tops. Reeves weapons handling and combined intricate fight sequences aren't the result of Steven Seagal style quick cuts, Fast and Furious edits, post SFX, or tricky camera angles to disguise whats actually happening. It's VISCERAL, because the camera lingers on the mayhem so that the viewer can savor each strike, slash, stab, and gunshot, and ALL the accompanying carnage. Not in Sam Peckinpah slo-mo, but in real time, yet, somehow, one is still able to take it all in, and then the sequence would end, just about the same time you remembered to BREATHE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=nrawit53W7s

Yes, it's over the top, but this is the world John Wick inhabits. A culture of hired assassins, an entire society, existing just beneath the surface of the one you and I can see, the one the rest of us inhabit. A society with rank and file members, management, service, and executive classes, and RULES. And it is the rules, which have kept order from devolving into chaos for hundreds of years, that have made them "different from the animals".

For the love of his deceased wife, a car, and a puppy, John Wick reached his proverbial "last straw". (John Wick 1) For his loyalty to a blood oath, which was broken, he violated a cardinal rule, and was marked for death. (John Wick 2) Yet, using those same rules and oaths, (and his particularly unique set of skills) he was able to braid for himself a life-line, tenuous as it was, but a life-line nevertheless. The powers that be cannot allow that to happen, and seek to intimidate, punish, and if necessary eliminate each of those who extended him a thread of that line, even if they technically only "stretched" the rules. What they have failed to realize is that John Wick's reputation as the "Baba Yaga", the proverbial Boogie-man, is not only well earned, but, if anything, it is UNDER stated.

Those who were paying attention saw that we actually DID get quite a bit of origin/back story on the eponymous Mr. Wick, as well as a glimpse into the world of the contract killers, as to how the contracts are put out, and the hierarchy that pulls the strings behind the scenes. I look forward to seeing this expanded upon in future installments

Kudos and Props this installment to Iron Chef Mark Dacascos and a host of other Asian Martial Artists as the closest thing John has to true competition, yet, they are at the same time fanboys who geek out at getting a chance to fight him.

To Halle Berry, for NAILING her fight sequences, then being a trooper and not quitting when her scenes cost her a couple of broken ribs. Her character obviously has some issues with the menfolk, considering how many she shot in the "kibbles and bits. Also props to the trainers of her two pups, and the stunt men for allowing same said puppers to gnaw precariously close to their kibbles and bits until she shot them. OUCH!

In case you doubt me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=66&v=xa2RJPrY2Og

To Laurence Fishburne, for making sure that Neo still has Morpheus as a Mentor, even if you "sometimes have to cut a Mo Fo".. All we need now is Carrie-Anne Moss' Trinity to show up in the inevitable Part 4, and all will be right in the Universe. (make it happen writers)

10 out of 10 - Best of the 3 so far IMO

Seinfeld occupies a peculiar space in my cultural consciousness; it has nowhere near the ubiquity of, say, Friends where I live and I've never seen it shown on television here. It existed for me as something I saw referred to as a classic sitcom that I'd never actually been exposed to in any meaningful way (see also Cheers, Frasier, etc). When I saw that it was available to stream, I thought it would be a good idea to catch up on it and see what I've been missing out on.

The format differs from what I'm used to—I should mention here that I'm by no means a big sitcom fan—but that's fine. The main 'action' is interspersed with Jerry doing stand-up and riffing on what we've just seen. It's amusing enough, and I hope it won't become tiresome as the episodes go on. We're introduced to Jerry and George, two New Yorkers who seem to spend an awful lot of their time discussing their problems with dating. Jerry is in something of a pickle as a woman he met at a show has asked to stay with him while she's in New York. Cue the episode's central problem—are her intentions romantic, or is she merely using Jerry to find a cheap place to stay?

The back-and-forth between the two characters is amusing enough without ever really pushing through into laugh-out-loud funny. Both men are likeable, which helps, and the focus on the minutiae of daily life is a refreshing change. I like the show's mantra—'no hugging, no learning'—and it's an agreeable watch if not an outstanding one (yet). There's a dearth of women in the show with the exception of the waitress at the diner George and Jerry frequent, but my understanding is that this will be rectified after this episode. Kramer makes a brief appearance as Kessler and garnered a couple of laughs, especially when he pulled two slices of bread out of his pocket. There's a lot of potential here for a pilot, and I'm looking forward to the show getting into its stride more in the episodes to come.

Conceptually interesting, but we’ve seen it done better in other movies and even tv shows at this point.
Yes, I certainly can’t deny that the acting and visuals are brilliant.
Also, the action scenes and worldbuilding are magnificent.
Can you tell it was made in the early 2000’s? Absolutely, the cyberpunk look is ever so present in a lot of scenes, but that’s not bothersome. In fact, I think it’s awesome.
Furthermore, this story goes in directions you don’t expect.
It takes a while for the real adventure part to kick in, and only then you’ll realize that the first act was just a lot of character development.

This film fails on a point where Spielberg hardly ever failed: tone.
As you probably know, this film was originally intended to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.
His dark touch is felt, and it really doesn’t mix with Spielberg’s whimsical style at all.
For example, do PG-13 Ted and an Einstein cartoon played by Robin Williams feel as if they belong in the same movie as where a mother leaves her own kid behind in the forest, and cries her eyes out for doing that?
Unfortunately, they don’t, which results in bizarre tonal shifts throughout the film.

Moreover, I found the choice to have the AI act like our stereotypical imagination of robots a mistake, as it makes it harder to connect to the characters, or understand certain choices of human characters in the first act.
Finally, certain scenes were, in the larger scope of the story, unnecessary (e.g. Brendan Gleeson’s circus show). Removing those scenes would’ve sped up the pacing and shortened the runtime, something this film needed.

5/10

[7.4/10] This is an episode that took a fair amount of setup to get going, but once things kicked into gear in the second act, there were a lot of laughs and some good family and character moments.

The A-story worked well for me. Tina heads to Joshua’s (her dairy aisle/dancer former paramour) tap recital, wanting to let him down easy after things have been going well with Jimmy Jr. (in the form of a joke that he sort of laughed at and thus made their souls touch). The actual setup is a little stock, but once Tina decides to investigate who tried to sabotage Josh in order to make him so happy he won’t be crushed when she preemptively dumps him, it becomes a lot of fun.

For one thing, there’s just a lot of great gags about Tina overzealously (and semi-incompetently) playing detective. Her shakedowns of the various Sawyers, and the bewildered reactions of Douglas and Josh’s dance teacher are hilarious. I particularly enjoyed Tina getting stuck behind a gate with one of the wrong Sawyers who’s scared out of his wits. At the same time, the show has fun both poking fun at the world of middle school dance recitals and all the red herrings. Plus the solution is reasonably clever. The episode ties things off nicely with Tina and Josh, leaving them with the same feelings and putting them on an even keel, which is a good way to leave things.

I was more on board with the B-story from the get-go, but even that really escalated in terms of humor one it got going. Gene and Louise competing to see whose burger will be the best and thus get a hallowed place on the “burger of the day” board is a good premise, and Bob gushing and daydreaming over this development is very sweet and amusing. The fact that it turns into a competition, replete with a side bet between Bob and Linda is the right kind of Bob’s Burgers weirdness.

But the payoff -- that the parents agree to declare it a tie so that nobody’s feelings are hurt, only to realize that both burgers are absolutely terrible -- is a winner. And Teddy being forced to be the tiebreaker, seeming oblivious to Bob and Linda’s efforts to hurt the kids’ feelings, and then being forced into pretending the burgers aren’t awful is an even funnier escalation.

Overall, this episode struggles a little bit out of the gate, but gets better and funnier as things progress.

I thought this movie started off really strong. I found the whole concept and the setting of the world to be very interesting. But then the dragon character appeared and everything started spiralling downwards. Sisu (the dragon) was annoying, and ruined the entire tone of the movie as soon as she popped up on screen. I get that this is Disney and they like to have a lot of humour thrown in, but Sisu was just too much. For most of the movie, she was just comic relief. Then the movie continued going downhill by introducing a ninja baby who had been raised by monkeys. I was so disappointed to find that this promising movie with a great setting was taking this route of just filling the movie with ridiculous comic relief characters.

The movie also felt way too fast. The characters were jumping from location to location like it was nothing. It would have been nice to stop and breathe, and to spend some time exploring and learning about the different regions in this world. But instead, the characters just leapfrogged from one location to the next, barely brushing over the intricacies of what seemed to be interesting places and cultures. There was simply too much going on for a movie of this length.

It wasn't all bad though. As I said, it started well. And although I wouldn't say the ending was great, it was certainly decent - although I'm still confused as to why the dragons all came back at the end, when they didn't come back the last time the gem had been forged. Maybe I missed something? Anyway, the main issue was with the middle 70%, and it's not even that it was bad, it's that it was generic and extremely disappointing. I felt like there was so much potential for a great story to be told in this world, but instead we got a bunch of shallow, comic relief side characters rushing from one location to the next, not even giving us a chance to explore these seemingly interesting places.

I'm probably being too generous when I give this movie a 6/10.

The pursuit of masculinity through fantasy.

It's undoubtedly about masculinity, hence the incessant competition between them about who is the better husband or who has the better body (the characters working out is such an important thread throughout), but I'm not entirely sure on what I get out of this just yet. I've seen some reviews that call it outright feminist and a satire on the 1960's working man/housewife dynamic but I disagree and think it's focusing on the fantasy that can creep up in lonely/lost men's heads...
If you actually think about it, these are men that can leave their problems behind by literally leaving the planet at a click of button - which is kinda hilarious in concept - so they are already living in a fantasy land (hence the choice for outer space, charlie brooker a flat earther?? all the fisheyes seemed like he couldn't help but drop hints and space denial would fit the themes/point of the episode damn perfectly) but it obviously zooms further into the fantasy idea with one of the protagonists by exposing him at his most vulnerable (not long after he lost his entire family) to a utopian lover, home and kid that the other guy seems to take for granted. This is where the plot's core really begins, and shows how an emotional (in this case heavily grieving) man is not far away from being an unstable man. Not only does he get near to sleeping with his space partner's wife very quickly but also immediately gets possessive with her to the point where he murders her just so another man won't have her (which in itself is covered in irony since he is already the replacement).

This episode is extremely allegorical, in pure Black Mirror fashion - I tried to find one for pornography (addiction) but it didn't take me long to realise that one's a stretch.
I want to watch it again very soon to find more though.

Cate Blanchett is truly fantastic in Tár. I'm sure she'll be nominated at pretty much every awards show. But the film is also more than just an Oscar vehicle. It addresses a wide range of issues affecting the world of arts in the twenty-first century. It's about separating art from the artist, systemic power abuse a la "MeToo," and the so-called "cancel culture." The focus here, however, is not on the victims. Instead, for almost the entire runtime (a whopping 158 minutes), we follow the fictional conductor Lydia Tár (Blanchett), who is guilty of quite a few things. Not everything she's accused of is true, though.

Not everyone will like the way the film answers the various questions. It positions itself too strongly in a certain direction for that. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to follow the main character in her downfall. I was also able to understand everything to some extent, even though I don't have much of a connection to classical music or the orchestral business. Yes, there are a lot of technical terms used, but you don't need to know them to understand the plot.

I did have an issue with the pacing, though. There are several lengthy, riveting scenes that stand out. These include the Juilliard lesson, which has been mentioned numerous times already. But I would also point to several dream sequences in which the main character's psychological breakdown is made apparent. In between these repeatedly great moments, however, the movie often became too drawn out for me. I sometimes couldn't stop myself from looking at my watch. But the film drew me back in near the end. I especially did not foresee how the story would end for Lydia Tár.

Abstract and pompous like the titular character, Tár throws you in at the deep-end and seldom gives you time to start kicking your legs and get your head above water before unpacking these characters and the world they inhabit. We the audience are thrown into the suffocating world of Western classical music, the cut-throat nature of which is apparent right from the jump. Tár has multiple things to say and it says them all with ambiguity and a passing comment, nothing direct or forced; this off-hand delivery will completely glance off many and makes the subtleties of this plot impenetrable for most. There's discussion of cancel culture, religion, spirituality, ego, heirarchy and positions of power, prestige, wealth, sexuality, art and the nature of mastering your craft; so many messages just thrown to the wall for the audience to pick up and form their own understanding of. There's also so many vague scenes that are left to the viewers interpretation to draw meaningful conclusions from, many that define Tar as a character and how you feel about her. There's also some very good horror elements dotted throughout that I feel might go unnoticed as they are very "blink and you'll miss it" in nature.

2022 really is the year of the character studies, with Tár and The Whale leading the charge. I think I preferred the latter much more than the former, but I can see the merits of this movie and the craft that has gone into its creation. Blanchett completely embodies this character, and her performance is as good as you've heard. If you enjoy dissecting film, watching them over and over to discern details that you missed the first time round, then Tár will be your favourite movie of the year, maybe even the decade. There's so much to pour and ponder over here I feel compelled to try and carve out another viewing of this behemoth. I feel going into the dense opening act of the movie armed with the knowledge of how it all plays out might shine some light on what originally was an impenetrable wall of music lingo and cold open character plots.

A masterpiece? Possibly to some, but you're going to have to work hard to get the most from this dense, layered mammoth. Prepare yourself for at least two viewings, you're gonna need it.