Outer Range, Slow Horses, and grab bag/catching up
Wyoming rules (weirdo shit) and London rules (cover your arse), plus miscellaneous updates
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Outer Range and Slow Horses, two shows about families (one blood, one not) working through their flop eras.
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02:08 Outer Range, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, puts a wonderfully dissonant, bizarre-o twist on the stoic contemporary Western.
Outer Range is a bit of a weirdo. This sci-fi, surreal, mystery/thriller, family drama neo-Western has been described as Yellowstone meets Twin Peaks / The X-Files / Lost, which might give you some idea of what it’s like. Reviews have been somewhat mixed, but both Pelin and I (and Pelin’s mom) came out the other end liking it, tonal disjointedness and all. There’s some ambitious and surprising work going on here, and we hope that our many questions will be answered at some point (please, someone get it renewed for a second season!).
19:28 Slow Horses, streaming on Apple TV+, is a satisfyingly competent, classically British, genuinely fun spy thriller series.
Calling all John le Carré fans! This show is tailor-made for you. There’s a lot of entertainment to be found in the world of domestic counter-intelligence: the inner politics of the workplace, pervasive corruption, and secrets that just won’t go away. Slow Horses is a solid addition to that genre, boasting earnestness, a comedic sensibility, efficient storytelling, and a talented cast. It isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but it gets the job done in a most pleasing fashion.
32:50 Plus, an unfiltered look at what we’ve been watching under no obligations during this three-week break.
Selling Sunset, Ozark, Better Call Saul, Russian Doll, Top Chef, Hacks, Licorice Pizza, No Time to Die, etc.
Bonus links
Happy for Quinta and us :)
We’re happy to confirm that we do like Elizabeth Olsen.
This is exactly how Pelin sounds to me btw:
That’s it for now. See you next week!
— 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