Barry, Yellowjackets, and mini grab bag
Barry, Yellowjackets, and mini grab bag
Ruthless killing (season 4) and ruthless killing (season 2), plus some things we've been watching lately
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Barry and Yellowjackets, two series about human darkness.
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05:17 Barry season 4, streaming on HBO Max, is reaching new, uncanny, glorious heights.
Is a comedy still a comedy if the darkness outweighs the laughs? That’s a question that some viewers of Barry’s latest season have been wrestling with. Our opinion: It may no longer be a dark “comedy” in its earlier sense, but Barry is still worth watching—maybe now more than ever, as the series grows more experimental, cynical, and surreal. It peers into the worst of humanity and, far from shying away, spins the wheels over and over again.
29:51 Yellowjackets season 2, streaming on Showtime, doesn’t quite live up to all its promises, instead faltering and stalling to an unfortunate degree.
A common issue with shows that have to sustain central mysteries and suspense across multiple seasons, inching forward little by little while still not giving it all away, is that sometimes the balancing act is simply too hard. This season of Yellowjackets is suffering from that problem. It feels like we’re treading water, for much of the season: The girls are stuck in the cabin, the adults are stuck doing… whatever. Some of the pulpy fun that we felt the first time around is just not here. Here’s hoping that the season ends on a high note (it has started picking up again in recent episodes).
45:02 Plus, mini grab bag time!
A collection of TV and films we’ve been watching recently:
You Hurt My Feelings
The Eight Mountains
Somebody Somewhere season 2
Mrs. Davis
The Other Two season 3
Dead Ringers
Love Village
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5
SUCCESSION SENDOFF EPISODE 9
Bonus etc.
Killers of the Flower Moon… yes.
Finally, if you listened to the episode, you know that we are embarking on a little summer hiatus through the end of June, at least. We will miss you all, but thankfully there are plenty of good things to watch coming out that you can fill your time with. HAGS, LYLAS, XOXO.
— Jenny
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Inquiries, complaints, and recs for what to watch can go to criticismisdead@gmail.com.
Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu