— By Carly Twehous — I’ll be honest. This one pretty much came out of left field. Given the sales pitch, the CW’s particular track record with this kind of lame teen dramas, and the charming, but overwhelmingly corny Archie comic source material, the bar was about as low as it could be. I was expecting an overpowering aroma of …
Hook, Line, and Sinker: A ‘Better Call Saul’ Review
— By Carly Twehous — Over the course of its five seasons Breaking Bad was able to accomplish something rather unique: it captivated the audience so much that, by the series finale, the show presented absolutely no characters with any semblance of a moral backbone. Breaking Bad became a series of choices between far lesser evils and roads paved with …
What the People Want: Review of HBO’s The Young Pope
— By Carly Twehous — Most people can reluctantly agree that when the phrases “fictional tale of modern Catholicism set in Vatican City” and “produced by HBO” are thrown around and mushed into the same sentence, assumptions are bound to be made. Those coming from a secular background with no influence from organized religion automatically assume that such a show …
Changing Climates: A Comparison of ‘The West Wing’ and ‘House of Cards’
— By Carly Twehous — When the critically-acclaimed political drama, The West Wing, first aired, way back in September 1999, headlines were relatively mild, bi-partisan at best, and hardly ever indicated that Bill Clinton was president. When the equally critically-acclaimed political drama, House of Cards aired, way back in February 2013, North Korea tested its third nuclear bomb, Pope Benedict …
The Greatest Story Ever Told: Review of ‘Supernatural’
An Objective, One-Hundred Percent Unbiased Review of Supernatural By Carly Twehous At first glance, Supernatural, now going on its thirteenth season, is a fairly standard genre show. “Star Wars in truck-stop America,” creator Eric Kripke said in his first pitch. Two brothers—one Han Solo and the other Luke Skywalker—brought up by their father as hunters of the bizarre and unnatural …
Marvel’s Cage Match: Netflix’s ‘Luke Cage’ Review
— By Carly Twehous — In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years or in case you’re one of the four remaining American citizens without a Netflix account, Marvel has been creating an empire for the small screen, starring everyone’s favorite vigilantes of Hell’s Kitchen. Luke Cage and the preceding Jessica Jones and Daredevil serve …
Sin, Not Tragedies: Review of History Channels’ ‘Vikings’
— By Carly Twehous — [The following review contains major spoilers for Seasons 1-3.] Everyone had that favorite time period and culture in history class. You know the one. It’s the subject that inspired enough genuine curiosity that it would rouse you from your regularly scheduled third period nap and give you the inexplicable superhuman strength to listen to Mr. …
Ace in the Hole: Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’ Review
— By Carly Twehous — If you’re not sick of the constant news coverage from the most recent election cycle—the scandals, the Russian hacking, the debate whether or not our current president is a reincarnated prophet or the antichrist—or if you prefer to drown yourself in fiction and ignore all of life’s infinite problems, yet still have an inexplicable craving …
The Resurrection of a Genre: Review of Syfy’s ‘The Expanse’
— By Carly Twehous — Let’s be honest. There hasn’t been any decent science fiction on American television since the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Enterprise — I’m still pretending that the last episode never happened — that aired way back in 2005. That’s going on twelve years, for all you math whizzes out there. An argument can be made …