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Westworld: Zhuangzi (2022)
That was the best episode the show has had in years!!!
WOW. I didn't think it was possible, but the show at last delivered an episode that wasn't merely adequate or better than season 3, but simply spectacular. It felt like the series finally rediscovered what makes for an engaging hour of television, setting aside the obfuscations and empty mysteries in favor of a slickly paced, emotionally resonant, richly satisfying installment that echoed the best of season 1.
Unlike a lot of you I wasn't very impressed with last week's "Generation Loss": its reveals felt obvious, emotionally empty, and derivative of moves the shows has made before, and the writing and directing simply weren't up to par. This one, on the other hand, wisely chose not to make the reveals themselves the focal point, but the emotional and thematic consequences on the characters, which is where all the actual drama lies. And man, what a thrilling viewing experience it was.
It was genuinely incredible seeing Christina hurtle through a journey of self-discovery that felt like a twisted, horrifying mirror of both Dolores and Maeve's triumphant ascents to consciousness in season 1. Evan Rachel Wood gave a gorgeous, understated, truly moving performance that finally allowed her to utilize her talents after two seasons of thankless, one-note material. Her story also found purposeful, powerful ways to refer back to the first season without feeling tacky and superficial, and was gracefully directed so as to allow every stage of her journey to land with an emotional punch. Assisted of course by a wonderful James Marsden, playing a wiser, more reserved Teddy, but with all the warmth and reliability he originally exuded.
This all ran in parallel to a terrific B-plot about William, where Ed Harris similarly got to give one of his best performances in the series (and he's been absolutely owning this season so far). A true "redemption arc" for William was never in the cards, but the prospect of him finding a reason to turn against Charlotte and tear down this sick project of hers is genuinely enthralling. Here's hoping the show commits to this turn.
These stories worked not because of any major "twist" or cryptic games of chicken with the audience, but because they were steeped in tangible thematic and emotional stakes for the characters. Christina writing the humans' narratives was about as predictable as the reveal about Charlotte controlling the park, but rather than try to fool us, the episode focused on Christina's reaction to discovering this for herself, which made it ten times more rewarding and engaging. The episode finally provided answers that didn't simply open up two more questions, giving it a refreshing forward momentum that this series hasn't had in quite some time. And the action/thriller elements of the episode felt earned this time (and therefore genuinely gripping), a lot of it feeling like the best episodes of Nolan's previous show, Person of Interest. Excellent use of the NYC setting as well.
The episode was obviously not without its flaws: the dialogue remains painfully patchy, with most of the exchanges comprised of characters monologuing at each other ad nauseam. Four seasons in, such stilted and unnatural speech just can't be chalked up to the characters being artificial beings. (Charlotte suffers the most from the script's flaws, which is a shame since she's the main villain and should be more compelling to watch, especially given Tessa Thompson's natural charisma and gravitas as an actor.) The episode also tried to wrangle some philosophical ideas whose scope exceeded what could be meaningfully explored in an hour, which meant most of its themes were relegated to clumsy exposition (particularly the bits about hosts not wanting to transcend their human bodies). I feel like some of this could've been solved by the writers not stalling so long before revealing NYC to be a controlled environment, which was blatantly obvious from the start and wasn't worth turning into a "twist". Much of the buildup in the first four episodes could've been traded for a closer look at how the New York hosts have navigated the "game" constructed for them. Instead, this episode sadly had to scramble to fill in this backstory simply because the preserving the "twist" meant it couldn't be be examined beforehand.
That aside, this episode was a gigantic leap in quality for both the season and the series, and if the show can maintain this level of storytelling for the rest of the season, it would be an absolute miracle. The preview shows next week's episode switching back to the Bernard/Maeve/Caleb end of things, which are decidedly less interesting than what we saw today, but let's hope that changes.
Better Call Saul: Point and Shoot (2022)
Beyond worth the wait!
This is the kind of show that's so impossibly good that it makes me nervous. They just keep topping themselves over and over. Incredible how this season was never planned to be split in two, and yet they found both a perfect point to end part 1 and an even better way to kick off part 2.
This episode was like watching a car accelerate toward a brick wall. A stunning mix of breathless intensity and surreal horror, directed with masterful precision by Vince Gilligan and written for the ages by the great Gordon Smith, king of monologues (how great was it that Gus got his own "Nacho speech"?) Let's appreciate the outstanding performances from every single member of the cast, especially Rhea Seehorn and Giancarlo Esposito. The episode felt like a payoff not only to the midseason finale but to "Black and Blue", which set up the superlab showdown and also drew a parellel between Kim and Gus living in constant terror. If the tone of that episode was steadily mounting paranoia, then this one was a full-blown panic attack.
There were also a number of absolutely brilliant (and earned) callbacks and parallels to Breaking Bad in this episode. Kim going to execute Gus in much the same way as Jesse with Gale, which included the perfect recreation of the overhead shot in "Thirty-Eight Snub" where Walt tries to kill Gus. Jimmy seemingly throwing Kim under the bus only for her to realize he's trying to save her, much like Walt's infamous "Ozymandias" phone call. Jimmy falling into the "Ozymandias pose" while tied up in the chair. Gus staring down certain death at the laundry entrance, like Walt in "Full Measure". And of course, "it wasn't me, it was Ignacio." Vince did a beautiful job honoring his original masterpiece, in an episode whose intensity matched (and even surpassed) some of BB's highest highs.
I absolutely cannot wait to see how the rest of this final season closes this perfect story. What an incredible, incredible way to kick that off.
The Boys: The Instant White-Hot Wild (2022)
Disappointingly safe and poorly executed
What an absolute wet fuse of a finale. It's as if their balls dropped off and they were too afraid to commit to anything with real stakes. Maeve is dead? Actually she's alive! Soldier Boy is dead? Nope! Homelander is actually under threat for once? No again, the world loves him even more! It made most of the (otherwise excellent) season feel completely pointless.
The writing and directing was also very weird, especially during the laughable final battle, which felt awkward and unrehearsed. (Why the did they stage it in that newsroom instead of the top floor?) Butcher turning against Soldier Boy was completely contrived and yet again embodied the trope of using a kid to deprive all the characters of logic. I also found the Annie/MM/Frenchie alliance utterly uninteresting, and their feud with Butcher was totally eyeroll-inducing. This season had been set up with such high stakes up till now but they just threw it all away.
Barry: starting now (2022)
OH. MY. GOD.
I finished the episode seconds ago and I can barely breathe. That was the most frightening, psychologically intense episode of anything I've seen since Breaking Bad's Ozymandias. Not a SINGLE character can ever come back from anything that happened here.
Better Call Saul: Plan and Execution (2022)
That was the best episode of the entire series.
This really was the best episode of Better Call Saul so far, and that's not just the adrenaline or recency bias talking. This episode exemplified pretty much everything the show does so perfectly, and then some.
I remember reading somewhere that the best "twists" work in two ways: 1) tell the audience exactly what's going to happen, and then make it happen, and 2) set them up to expect one twist, and then deliver another. This episode did both in horrifically perfect fashion. Jimmy and Kim's plan against Howard worked exactly the way it was telegraphed (and the way the theories guessed it), and yet nothing compared to the unbearable suspense, sadness, and pitch-black cringe comedy of watching it unfold. For the first time, the knowledge that Jimmy will remain a lawyer in Breaking Bad (and hence, not get in trouble for this) ADDED to the dread and tension instead of undermining it, as it gave a crushing sense of finality to what was happening to poor Howard.
Which brings us to the second, even bigger moment of the episode. All this while we were led to believe Howard's downfall would be the climax of season 6 part 1, in part due to some fiendishly clever misdirection from the writers ("this wasn't written to be a midseason finale, so don't expect a huge cliffhanger!"). Lalo's story was moving at a more methodical pace, and the rigorous separation of the cartel and lawyer sides of the story throughout the show suggested that the two plots wouldn't intersect anytime soon. But nope. That ending scene was an absolutely masterful follow-up to "Bad Choice Road" (also written and directed by the great Thomas Schnauz), where we were at the edge of our seats waiting for the worst to happen, only for everything to turn out okay. This time, the worst DID happen, and it hit like a brick in the face. Reminded me of "I watched Jane die" from Breaking Bad, which was made all the more crushing by Walt nearly confessing in the "Fly" episode several seasons prior.
There was so much more to love about this episode as well. How about the poetic parallels between the Howard and Lalo stories prior to the ending? Both involving a man doggedly trying to prove a wild, outlandish conspiracy that just so happens to be true, but tragically failing to convince anyone, and left to solve it on their own. There was the episode's deft balancing of comedy and drama, with a first half full of screwball thrills culminating in a scene as sad as it was hilarious, rivaling *that* Roman scene from season 3 of Succession (you know which one). And of course, Howard's piercing, cathartic monologue to Jimmy and Kim at the end, finally giving voice to everything we the audience have imagined is going on inside these characters' heads. A spectacular final performance by the spectacularly underrated Patrick Fabian, whose talents will be sorely missed on this show.
Rest in peace, Howard. You deserved better.
Succession: Retired Janitors of Idaho (2021)
A beautifully made... treadmill of an episode.
This episode encapsulated an issue I've had with season 3 as a whole, which is that while the writing, acting, and production values remain better than anything else on television, the season as a whole feels like it's just running in place. The critics really hyped up this episode as a standout, and while it was in many respects (the palpable tension and cringe comedy were at peak levels), it also felt bizarrely inconsequential despite bringing the two most teased elements of the plot (Sandy/Stewy and the shareholder vote) to a head. And Logan's illness felt amped-up to contrived levels in this episode, as if it was just an excuse for the writers to facilitate the central conflict. This season has been curiously devoid of what made season 2 so strong - each episode being centered around the Roys in a different environment that puts them through the ringer in unique ways. I'm afraid the pandemic may have had something to do with it, given that group scenes were more difficult to film. The episodes seem to now be largely centered around one location and a particular subset of characters rather than the entire family. This episode definitely felt bigger and more propulsive than the rest of the season, but it wasn't the turning point that we were led to believe it was, and I'm waiting for this season to actually change the dramatic stakes in a meaningful way.
The Mentalist: White Lines (2014)
DAMN! Absolutely fantastic!
This episode yet again proves the capabilities of Ken Woodruff - I absolutely ADORE the new version of The Mentalist SO MUCH! In addition to the massive improvements in directing, writing, tone, lighting, quality, etc., the case in this episode was just brilliant. The new Jane after Red John further establishes him as one of the best TV characters in history - he's playful, flamboyant, charming, and downright hilarious like he was before, though it's now all purely genuine as he's free from Red John and can embrace the world's pleasures to the fullest. This episode ran so smoothly, with some fantastic action pieces, perfect directing (all those integrated scenes, camera angles, use of the new lighting and color tone), sharp dialogue and retaining a joyfully light yet gripping and intense tone that led to a hell of a conclusion. Basically everything that happened in this episode screamed "badass". Ken Woodruff has done it again.
The Mentalist: White as the Driven Snow (2014)
Seriously, why the hate?
I have NO idea why this episode is getting so much hate! Seriously! It was so damn intense, the acting was TREMENDOUSLY good, and the sense of teamwork was perfect! So what if the story was a little predictable? This was driven by characterization, and also the directing was very realistic and immersing - the writing was also fabulous. There were some truly amazing moments in this episode, some great humor, soundtrack, chemistry, and seeing the characters interact with ones they usually don't (Haibach was usually Lisbon's problem but seeing him face off with Jane and have this sudden vendetta was cool - I love seeing obscure characters or those who know supporting characters better finally face off with the protagonist.) This episode deserves a much higher rating - Van Pelt and Rigsby had a perfect finale.