Sophie Gilbert
The Radical Sincerity of The OA
More than two years after the surprise release of their Netflix series about an interdimensional traveler, Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij are back with an installment that’s even more ambitious than the first.
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HBO Gentleman Jack Sanitizes an Audacious, Difficult Woman
The new HBO drama depicts a bold, groundbreaking 19th-century lesbian. But its palatable tone falsely suggests that few obstacles were in her way.
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François Mori / AP The Indelible Awfulness of E. L. James’s The Mister
The author’s follow-up to her Fifty Shades series is hopelessly retrograde and dismally unentertaining.
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Yves Herman Reuters Notre-Dame Isn’t Lost
The history of sacred structures is defined by ruin and repair.
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Netflix Huge in France Delivers an Unconvincing Dissection of Fame
Netflix’s new fish-out-of-water comedy about a European megastar who relocates to Los Angeles is a strange kind of failure.
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FX Can Biopics See Beyond Male Genius?
The new FX series Fosse/Verdon considers one of the most spectacular partnerships in Broadway history.
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AMC The Genteel, Supernatural Smut of A Discovery of Witches
Vampires and witches and demons, oh my
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BBC America Killing Eve Season 2 Is as Macabre and Audacious as Ever
The BBC America drama navigates its way into a gratifying second year.
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CBS All Access What the Twilight Zone Reboot Is Missing
The Jordan Peele–produced revival of the classic speculative series has a stellar lineup, but pales in comparison with the original.
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HBO Barry and the Banality of Evil
The dark HBO comedy by Bill Hader and Alec Berg turns even more pensive in Season 2.
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Jonathan Prime / Amazon Studios The Subversive Thrills of Hanna
Amazon’s new eight-part series about a 15-year-old girl trained as a ferocious killer is—intermittently—a blast to watch.
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Michael Brosilow / National Theatre A Controversial Play Asserts the Humanity of Sex Offenders
Bruce Norris’s Downstate, at London’s National Theatre, makes a provocative case for the redemption of child abusers.
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Hulu Motherhood Is Monstrous in The Act
The new Hulu series is a fascinating, queasy blend of horror, fantasy, and true crime.
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Willy Sanjuan / Invision / AP / Quinn ... Patricia Arquette’s Second Act
At 50, the Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner is getting some of the most exciting roles of her career.
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Jeff J Mitchell / Getty / Shutterstock / ... The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann Is an Emotional, Exhaustive Project
The new Netflix documentary series revisits one of the biggest missing-child cases in history.
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HBO The Case Against Adnan Syed Challenges the True-Crime Playbook
The new four-part documentary series on HBO goes deeper into the story of Hae Min Lee and the ex-boyfriend convicted of her murder.
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Amazon The Clumsy Predictability of The Widow
Amazon’s new series stars Kate Beckinsale as a woman searching for answers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Danny Moloshok / AP Confronting Michael Jackson a Decade After His Death
Leaving Neverland is only the beginning of a debate about the King of Pop’s legacy.
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FX Better Things Finds Magic in Change
The third season of Pamela Adlon’s FX show considers the implications of being forced into a new reality.
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Pop The Grim, Caustic Appeal of Flack
Anna Paquin stars as a celebrity publicist specializing in scandal in Pop TV’s splashy, sporadically insightful drama.
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IFC How Documentary Now! Spoofs Male Genius
The IFC mockumentary series from Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers is better than ever in its third season.
