Dave Has Thoughts On... Black Mirror, Hacks, The Last Of Us And More
In this column, TVLine's West Coast Bureau Chief Dave Nemetz shares his take on the current state of TV, including capsule reviews of upcoming shows, commentary on recently aired episodes and perspective on TV casting news, cancellations and more.
As an anthology, Black Mirror is hit-or-miss by nature, and some episodes (and seasons) are better than others. But Season 7, which just hit Netflix last week, feels like the most consistently great season since at least Season 4, with a couple of installments that rank among the best the show has ever done. For me, the top episode was "Eulogy," with an absolutely heart-crushing performance from Paul Giamatti, and "Common People," starring Rashida Jones and Chris O'Dowd, was a close second, with its frighteningly plausible look at life-saving health care tailored to the subscription model.
The "USS Callister" sequel didn't boldly go anywhere new, but it was a fun space caper — and I kind of wish I'd been able to see it on the big screen, with all the gee whiz sci-fi effects. "Bête Noire" and "Plaything" were flawed but decent enough entries into the Black Mirror canon, and even "Hotel Reverie," probably the least successful of the new batch, boasted a stunning performance by Emma Corrin as an old-timey Hollywood starlet trapped inside her most famous movie. All in all, a nice comeback season for Black Mirror, which had been stuck in a celebrity-chasing funk of mediocrity for a couple of seasons.
Which Season 7 episode was your favorite? Vote in our poll:
* Hacks is coming off a very strong Season 3, and I'm happy to say it's picked up right where it left off with the first two episodes of Season 4, with Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder back in top form. I was a little worried about the Deborah-Ava dynamic after last season ended on such a bitter note, but it turns out Deborah and Ava make great enemies as well as friends, trading vicious insults at a head-spinning rate. Plus, it still finds plenty of room for laugh-out-loud one-liners, at a time in TV history when we really need our "comedies" to be funnier. And can we just applaud this show for coming right back in less than a year with a new season? That shouldn't be rare, but these days, it is.
* I posted a full review of The Last of Us Season 2, based on the first four episodes, but I actually liked Sunday's season premiere quite a bit, simply because it gave us a chance to breathe and get to know these characters a bit better. Yes, the fortified town of Jackson is a whole lot like The Walking Dead's Woodbury — and we know how that turned out — but it was nice to see Joel and Ellie fixing electronics and mooning after girls while in a bubble of relative safety. (Joel even went to therapy!) Plus, two new cast additions really stood out: Kaitlyn Dever, who put a human face on the show's ultra violence as a vengeful Abby; and Isabela Merced, who shined right away as plucky town girl Dina. It was a good start — and well, I'll talk about the rest when it happens.
* I'm usually all for comedy pushing boundaries and not being afraid to offend anyone, but I do think Saturday Night Live crossed a line with its impression of Aimee Lou Wood in this week's otherwise stellar parody of The White Lotus. Reducing Chelsea down to a bad British accent and a set of fake teeth wasn't "edgy"; it was just lazy. There were plenty of ways to poke fun at The White Lotus without stooping that low, and I'm glad Wood herself spoke up against it. SNL is a comedy institution: It should hold itself to a higher standard and not resort to cheap shots like that. Especially if they're not even funny.
Got questions for Dave? Thoughts on his thoughts? Reach him at davehasthoughts@tvline.com.