NOW SEE THIS APRIL 30, 2021
Welcome to Now See This, THR chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg's weekly viewer guide newsletter dedicated to cutting through the daunting clutter of the broadcast, cable and streaming TV landscape! Comments and suggestions welcome at daniel.fienberg@thr.com.
'Pose' and Cons The third and final season of Pose premieres on FX on Sunday and it's impossible to overstate the massive impact the period drama has had on LGBTQ+ representation on both sides of the camera. Whether it's the result of COVID restrictions or a rush to reach a series conclusion, the new season is a bit of a mess at times. THR's Inkoo Kang says, “There's a lot of love, but a lot less compelling storytelling.” For me, the performances by the likes of Billy Porter, Mj Rodriguez and, especially in these new episodes, Dominique Jackson are more than enough to smooth out the bumpy patches. Check out this week's TV's Top 5 podcast for a great chat with series co-creator Steven Canals. The 'Coast' Is Toast Apple TV+'s take on The Mosquito Coast — not quite a prequel to Paul Theroux's novel, but definitely not an adaptation — isn't bad. Justin Theroux (the author's nephew) is quite good as the eccentric, capitalism-hating patriarch of a family-on-the-run, as is Melissa George as his skeptical wife, while the entire series is beautifully photographed. Unfortunately, the drama, which premieres on capitalism-loving Apple on Friday, has taken everything quirky about the premise and smoothed it into a by-the-numbers prestige cable structure, much worse than Breaking Bad, though probably better than lesser moments of Ozark. Not bad, but still disappointing. Sasha Fierce The entirety of Amy Sherman-Palladino's short-lived Bunheads is available to stream on Hulu, and if you haven't watched it, the ballet dramedy is well worth your time. I mention this because Julia Goldani Telles' character, Sasha, is one of that show's standouts, especially thanks to her sublime dance set to "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)." I mention this, too, because Telles is the lead in the third season of Starz's The Girlfriend Experience, playing a young woman who researches the intersection of neurology and technology by day and serves as a high-end escort by night. The show is an odd mix of erotic tension and behavioral mumbo-jumbo, but I think it's a great transitional role for Telles, whose behavior would definitely make Sasha blush. Gunpowder and Gilead The week's biggest TV release actually hit on Wednesday with the launch of the fourth season of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. I've seen the first eight episodes of the new season and I still love the performances — Elisabeth Moss is always worthy of all the awards — but the show continues to struggle with committing to anything new, and certain episodes, like the 63-minute third installment, wallow in torture to a desensitizing degree. Be sure to follow all of Jackie Strause's regular weekly coverage at THR, starting with this chat with showrunner Bruce Miller. Where's Wallace At? Where's the Boy, String? We did it, y'all! We survived the Academy Awards! Though you can still watch Nomadland on Hulu, the streamers are offering up more populist movies this weekend. The best of the pack appears to be the animated The Mitchells vs. the Machines on Netflix, an animated family comedy that THR's David Rooney praises for its energy more than its consistency. When it comes to Amazon's Tom Clancy adaptation Without Remorse, Rooney mostly seems to like Michael B. Jordan and his "charged physicality and emotional intensity," which are what you'd be watching the movie for anyway. [If you don't get the title of this blurb, you should skip everything else in this newsletter and watch The Wire this weekend.] Finally, THR's Jon Frosch laments that Netflix's neo-Gothic Things Heard & Seen has "no discernible spark of passion or purpose," though he deemed Amanda Seyfried's lead performance to be "sympathetic." 'Tenet' Commandments If you're like me, you've been playing a 10-month game of chicken with Christopher Nolan's Tenet. I was never going to see it in a theater, but month after month I found something else to watch instead of pay-per-viewing the newly minted Oscar winner. I claim victory when Tenet hits HBO Max on Saturday, and I'll finally get to see a film THR's Leslie Felperin called "easy to admire, hard to love" on a platform Nolan called the "worst streaming service."
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