A pretty stacked day of TV shows. At least one show that has topped the list every time out. Did it manage to retain its top spot again?

1) Shining Girls (Apple Plus)

English Audio Description Available?: Yes

Yes. yes it did. Even though when i realized what was happening, and that I was learning the backstory to the Thin Man (as well as his name), I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted this to happen. There’s a mystery and intrigue I love about the show, and I know that it has to all be explained somehow, but a full episode dedicated to uncovering the truth? Well, to be honest, I was still left with a lot of questions even with an entire episode full of backstory. I don’t know at what point he chose to be a serial killer, and we haven’t seen him time travel nearly as much, but it was just dropped casually that he’s been doing this a lot for a while. Still, even though I’m still not sure how the bread gets made here, I felt like I understood the killer and his personality a bit more, somehow without a full on reveal of how everything has been so damn trippy all season long. I kind of wish this wasn’t a limited series, but I understand why it has to be.

episode Grade: A

2) Loot (Apple Plus)

English Audio Description Available?: Yes

Truthfully, the only thing that came close to unseating Shining Girls was the second episode of Loot. This is just a fun little comedy, not attempting to be offensive, and manages to zero in on the absurdity of being trapped in the ultra rich bubble, while also making our lead character sympathetic enough that as the series progresses we will continue to love her. So far, after the first 2 episodes, this show is doing everything right.

Episode Grade: A

3) Angeline (Peacock)

English Audio Description? Yes

I’ve been occasionally interested in this show, so it seems appropriate that I would end being occasionally interested. I believe this was the last episode, but I’ve been wrong before.We got the past of Angeline, and who she was before this persona. Jsut Rachel. And how Rachel formulated Angeline as an escape. This show has been a bit of a mixed bag, but I will take nothing from Emmy Rossum’s performance. She’s been great all series long. With all the limited series happening though, I’m not surprised this got lost a bit in the shuffle.

Episode Grade: B, Series Grade: B

4) Physical (Apple Plus)

English Audio Description Available?: Yes

Sometimes, I look at Physical and I think of all the great things it could be. Rose Byrne is clearly up for this role, but her occasionally useful/funny supporting cast tends to fail her. I know that Episode 2 of season 2 was focused on the fact that now that she’s revealed her anger toward her husband, and has a plan to get past his bullshit and make a life of her own, that it’s supposed to be funny that they have this terrific hate sex. But, he’s always been a dull character, which was what he was supposed to be. Dull as shit. That was his point, so she could want something more for herself, carving a life out for just her. We never were supposed to believe in his political aspirations. his friends are clearly idiots. you can’t change that in one episode, so it kind of betrays her character to go back so quickly. Redemption arcs that work well take time, and if he was going to make a come back, it needed to be… not the next episode.

Episode Grade: B-

5) All Rise (OWN)

English Audio Description Available?: No

For me it seemed like yesterday a bunch of shows gave me their weakest/worst episodes, and Lola Through The looking Glass was no exception for All Rise. An episode that constantly saw Lola imagining alternate versions of her life, and wondering what could ahve been. Some it it is rather offensive, considering how great her life actually is. It would be like having Maya Rudolph’s character on loot dreaming about a bigger life than she already has. It’s not relatable. To top that off, most of her daydreaming centers on this “what might have been” situation with Andre (who needs to exit stage left yesterday), like her charmed life isn’t enough for her. Her husband is an active FBI agent, whose sole purpose on this show seems to be a stay at home father. This episode finally played with the idea that he might want to go back to work, or need to at some point, so juxtaposing that against her “but what if it was Andre?” Moment was kinda of gross for Lola, who we need to root for at all times. The series took a thoughtful and intelligent protagonist, and flipped her into this spoiled mid-life crisis version dazzled by the possibilities her ex hanging around could bring. Meanwhile, she’s rarely ever seen with her new baby, something that is not a point of contention until her husband wants to work. Having those two things in the same episode turned Lola’s fanciful and somewhat lustful dreams into a whiny reaction to her husband not doing exactly what she wants him to do at all times. And the fact that the show ended with an apology, from her husband… just… really?

Episode Grade: C+

6) Westworld (HBo/HBo MAX)

English Audio Description Available? Yes

Remember, I’m a week behind. This was episode 4, and hello Charlotte. Based on where we left Episode 3, and then moving into Episode 4, I think we moved into the wrong direction. I had just started to be interested in the plot structure of the series again, reminding myself of what I had originally loved about characters like Bernard and Maeve, only to realize how dramatically changed a character like Charlotte is, and a further reminder of how far Westworld has removed itself from its original conception. It might be more appropriate to use the Lost reference here than what Dr. Oz is using it for, but Westworld… we need to go back.

Episode Grade: C

7) The Pentavorate ( Netflix)

English Audio Description Available?: Yes

I do not know what happened. Did Mike Myers give up? Did he not know how to end this series? This latest episode (shockingly, not the last, though I assume next to last), was terrible. It wasn’t really funny, it did a poor job of trying to explain what this show was ever about based on how this show seems to be ending, and pulled a lot from thin air. I maybe laughed one time. I had previously been enjoying this show, but so much went wrong so quickly. It was like he didn’t plot out the episodes right, so when he got to the end, and realized his episode count, everything just rushes super fast with none of it making any sense. I know, he thinks it makes sense, but he also thought The Love Guru made sense.

Episode Grade: C-