- Update: The remainder of the season was... less good. But the first half of S07 was gold. Gold!
Zomboat! I pretty much swore off anything zombie-related years ago, but this was very funny. Perhaps zom-com still has some meat on its bones.
Solar Opposites: This is to Rick & Morty what American Dad was to Family Guy. Not that Family Guy was any good (it was not) but somehow American Dad managed to be exactly the same show but worse. This is that.
Space Force: From the first couple episodes, this seemed like it was going to be another Veep: a show comprised entirely of venal idiots being cruel to each other. It's not quite that, but there's far too much of that in it. It gets better about halfway through, though. (Also Lisa Kudrow's character made me think it might be time for a Romy & Michele sequel.)
Hanna, S02: I enjoyed this, but it was literally exactly the same story as Treadstone, except Treadstone was better.
Warrior Nun: Has kind of a Buffy vibe. Maybe halfway between Buffy and Impulse as far as the "reluctant hero" trope goes. Very fun. Unacceptable cliffhanger for a "binge" season release. (Watch Impulse!)
The Great: This was hilarious! And we're doomed forever!
We Summon The Darkness: The Craft meets Green Room. Such amazing costume design! The mullets and moustaches, the crimped hair, the Brooke Shields eyebrows. And it's nice to see some serial killers who are just not very bright, and kind of shit at their jobs. As we know, even dimwits can make a real mess of things.
The Turning: Pretty standard Victorian haunted house story, set in the early 90s for some reason. It hits all the usual ghost jump-scare, cruel-caretaker and creepy-kid notes, and there's not a lot to the plot, but it does look really, really good, because it's by Floria Sigismondi.
Guns Akimbo: I did not expect to make it more than 10 minutes into this, but it was kinda funny.
The Old Guard: Charlize Theron is a Highlander? Shit, that's all you had to say. (And it's based on a Greg Rucka comic that I hadn't heard of, somehow...)
Palm Springs: It's Groundhog Day and it's fantastic. It actually brings some new perspectives to the trope.
The Beach House: It starts off slow and fakes you out by pretending to be a "bad boyfriend" story, but once the eldrich body horror kicks in it is absolutely terrifying. I was impressed.
Sea Fever: Another eldrich horror on a boat! There seems to be a sub-genre of "climate change strikes back" horrors where the villain is unthinking and incomprehensible, and I'm here for it.
Aniara: A three week escape-cruise to Mars from a scorched Earth goes off track. So it starts off as Avenue 5 but fully bleak rather than a comedy. Then it takes a detour into some Solaris hallucinations, and then decades-long descent into isolation and Lord of the Flies. It's good, but in hindsight this was maybe not a good movie to watch during quarantine.
Brave New World: I'm only halfway through this but it is... not good. I haven't read the book since I was 13 but I don't remember it being about heterosexual monogomy as a revolutionary act. I think I liked this better when it was called Logan's Run. Though if someone were to offer me one of those bottomless MDMA pez dispensers that they all carry around, I wouldn't say no.