There’s been an interesting trend in television over the last couple of years where the penultimate episode of a season is an extended flashback. Usually that episode also serves as a means to convey key information about the present-day story to the audience – think the penultimate episode of Paradise’s first season. And sometimes, as […]
Tag: HBOmax
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Seven Review
It took more than half of the season to finally hear the Game of Thrones theme in all its glory, but boy was that the perfect moment to bring it out. After three episodes that were much lighter in subject, the fourth installment of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms took things to a much […]
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Hard Salt Beef Review
The interesting thing about a show like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is that it isn’t concerned with an ever-longer list of characters. We have our two central characters – Dunk and Egg – and then the rest of the folks at the tourney. Now, some of those folk – including the ones we […]
Heated Rivalry Review
Note: This review contains spoilers for season one of Heated Rivalry. I have to state up front that I am decidedly not the target audience for Heated Rivalry. While I love to support LGBTQ+ representation on television (as a member of the lesbian section of that acronym), a gay hockey romance is not something I […]
The Last of Us – Look For the Light Review
The first season finale of The Last of Us was excellent for a number of reasons. Strong performances, once again, from our two leads – along with some great work from Merle Dandridge in her return as Marlene and Ashley Johnson (the video game’s Ellie) as Ellie’s mother, Anna.* A story that was unafraid to […]
The Last of Us – Left Behind Review
We all knew this was going to end in tragedy, right? I mean, it’s not like we weren’t prepped by the preceding six episodes – along with Ellie’s vague mentions of the mall from early in the season. But, as has been the case with each tragic ending we’ve experienced, it certainly doesn’t get easier […]
The Last of Us – Endure and Survive Review
After five episodes – all stellar, smart, and well-constructed – I think it’s become clear just what makes The Last of Us work as well as it does. Sure, there’s a pre-ordained narrative for the writers to follow (even if they take some liberties from the source material at times, it, thus far, only serves […]
Pop Culture Maniacs Podcast #22: Friends
Kieran and Jean talk about why Friends was so special
Zack Snyder’s Justice League Review
Rejoice internet, for the fabled Snyder Cut is upon us! As you might recall, Warner Bros. big-screen Justice League had a bit of a rocky road to release. I won’t get into too much detail here about its troubled production history, but as a brief refresher: Director Zack Snyder stepped down from directing his third […]









