THERE'S TOO MUCH TV - Roundup March 2023

“What are you watching?” is pretty much the automatic question I get when I tell people what I do for a living.

I don’t have time to do full conversations on everything I’m watching but here are some stray thoughts on everything I’ve watched in the last month. I’ve also been requested to include content warnings for shows that need them, so you can see those beneath each title!

I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum unless otherwise marked. These are ordered by how much I’m interested in talking about them, to you, right now, in this post.

Succession (Season 4)
CW: language, cringe

**Spoilers**

I won’t be doing episode by episode recaps this season, but don’t think that means I’m not 150% invested in those wacky Roy kids. While I’m incredibly disappointed that the show is set to end this season (and not get five like Brian Cox once teased in interviews), I have the utmost faith in this show’s creative forces. It is a true TV masterpiece, with all of its many flourishes pushing in the same direction.

I really do like how the show is starting to circle and underline its critiques of capitalism. Logan's conversation with Colin (a man he pays to dispose of bodies) was all about how capitalism totally separates people from any intrinsic value outside of capital: “What are people? They’re economic units.” It reminds me of one of my favorite lines in The Wire, when Marlo rejects the sentimental value of a ring, “I don't care much for sentiment, what's the real value.”

I think this idea was echoed really strongly in the final conversation with Tom and Shiv. Shiv's brain is so broken from “business” that she can't see the value of anything outside of how it's going to help her make more money or have more power. Tom talking about his feelings? What does that accomplish? Even though she clearly is upset about the situation, she can't understand a relationship as something that isn't just a business contract to be weaseled out of or exploited for all its monetary worth.

Logan’s conversation with Colin also set the stage for this final season: “You think there's anything after all this?” From the pilot episode, the show has focused our attention on the horizon. It’s called succession, Logan’s health is waning, so what will come next? While I have my own theories, I can’t pretend to have any idea, except that now, we are clearly in the endgame.

Yellowjackets (Season 2)
CW: violence, cannibalism…at some point

I have been almost more excited for the second season of Yellowjackets than any other 2023 show (okay it’s juuuust behind Succession). The first season was one of my absolute favorite new shows of the recent past, with its ability to bend between genres and making a strong case as the successor to Lost, a show that is among my favorites of all time. While it is ostensibly a female led retelling of Lord of the Flies, the show’s ability to toggle between timelines and genres made it feel incredibly fresh and creative. There is a good chance that the creators of Yellowjackets have bitten off a bit more than they can chew. Many high concept shows do and the second season tends to be when things start to crumble a bit—think Killing Eve or Westworld—but this show has a great confidence in its central theme of trauma, and as long as all of its notes are circling that idea, I am totally ready for wherever this ride brings me. I’m here for the creepy supernatural vibes, I’m here for the teenage angst, I’m here for the Desperate Housewives moments, and I’m definitely here for the cannibalism. Inject it into my veins, NO RETURN.

Abbott Elementary (Season 2)
CW: almost too based

I said a lot of what I wanted to say about this show in my recent video essay about it, but to be more specific to season 2 and the show as a TV show, Abbott Elementary has really found its stride. I found some of the rush to anoint season 1 as one of the best comedies on TV to say more about the state of TV comedies than about Abbott, but season 2 has just been on a steady upward trajectory. Not only is the show still making its incredible commentary without being too on the nose, but it’s found dynamics that truly work on a comedic level. Janelle James as Principal Ava remains a standout, but her plot role in season 2 feels much less aggressively harmful than it did in the first season, successfully pivoting her from David Brent to Michael Scott. Janine and Gregory continue to romantically circle each other in a way that feels very natural for the large number of episodes network sitcoms boast. In many ways, the show seems to have accepted itself the way Jacob did in the “Story Samurai” episode, embracing its heartfelt and corny nature, and knowing there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

You (Season 4.5)
CW: violence, stalking, rampant meta-analysis

You has captured my attention ever since that breakout second season, when it fully leaned into its most campy tendencies, and in some ways I think that You has kind of become the TV version of Scream. Where Scream commented on both the slasher genre that blew up in the 70s and 80s, You has largely done the same for the Difficult Man genre. But what makes these two so much more interesting is that as they go, they both enter into this fascinating space where they are not just in conversation with their respective larger genres but also with their own franchise and history, all while finding new ways to stay relevant as those genres change. As Scream is a film by film nerds for film nerds, I think You is a TV show by TV nerds and for TV nerds. The future of You is up in the air currently—this could easily be the way the show ends—but I am hopeful for a fifth and final season that can put a bow on the story they’ve told about dark and violent men being rewarded and embraced for that dark violence.

Rain Dogs (Season 1)
CW: violence, SA, drug abuse

The latest in a long line of compelling, sad comedies like I May Destroy You and Fleabag, Rain Dogs follows a single mother and her young child in London, as they live paycheck to paycheck. It is a rare show that depicts poverty in detail, as Costello and her daughter Iris bounce from flat to flat and from bad jobs to worse jobs. But crucially, it never forgets the humanity of its characters. It can be bleak, but it hasn’t felt like it’s been punishing.