Essays on TV and film — exploring stories, characters, and the choices behind them.
On May 13, 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Alex Murdaugh’s double murder convictions in a unanimous 5-0 ruling. On May 18, Netflix started filming a documentary about it. On May 30 — twelve days later — that documentary was streaming globally. That timeline is the story. Not just the Murdaugh story, though … Read more
There is a specific pleasure that Korean romantic comedies do better than almost anyone else: the slow, reluctant fall. Two people who should despise each other, trapped in circumstances that keep forcing them together, discovering — against their better judgment and everyone’s best interests — that they cannot stop thinking about the other person. My … Read more
The premise of Remarkably Bright Creatures sounds like a pitch that got through on charm: an elderly widow bonds with a giant Pacific octopus and a wayward young man. On paper, the octopus is the hook. On screen, you forget about the octopus for long stretches, and that turns out to be both the … Read more
he most disciplined thing The Four Seasons Season 2 does is refuse to let Nick haunt it. Steve Carell’s character was, in the first season, the kind of person a group of friends organizes itself around without quite realizing it — the one whose choices set the terms, whose appetites defined the social weather. … Read more
The first scene that stopped me in The Boroughs isn’t the supernatural one. It’s quieter than that. Sam Cooper has just moved into his new retirement community after the death of his wife, and he’s standing in his apartment looking at a box he hasn’t unpacked. He doesn’t open it. He just stands there. … Read more