Not sure what to watch next? ), since they obscure rather than reveal the truth about our pasts and ourselves.
Nonetheless, The Great is the exception to that reliable rule, as Tony McNamara’s manic Hulu hit employs its inaccurate vision of 18th-century Russia for delightfully daffy comedy that speaks directly to the issues at the heart of its, and our, era. It’s yesteryear reimagined as a theater of the absurd, and all the more winning for the way in which its ridiculousness is rooted in enduring personal, social, and political dynamics.”
Brandon Scott Jones, Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke, Josh Segarra and Molly Shannon in The Other Two.
Greg Endries/HBO
See: The Other Two Season 3
The Other Two Season 3 finds the already-elevated satire reaching new heights, juggling its constant barrage of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them punchlines with a necessary amount of character development and drama.
Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:
“There’s a wise saying that goes a little something like this: ‘A good pop culture reference is hard to find.’ Maybe it’s in a book. Or was it just a short story? Surely this quote is a reference to something (maybe a Sufjan Stevens song?); I can’t remember where I heard it. But it is true: fantastic references to our culture, be it books, movies, celebs, music, whatever, are few and far between. That’s why the parodying in The Other Two is so remarkable. The comedy has some of the smartest satirizations and possibly the firmest grasp of the zeitgeist of any TV show airing today. Perhaps even of any sitcom ever made—The Other Two is boldly rivaling 30 Rock at this point.
The plucky HBO Max series, which moved from Comedy Central to the fledgling HBO streamer in 2021, is one of the very few original titles that withstood the many cuts Warner Media made in the lead up to the launch of ‘Max,’ its new streamer. It’s what the show deserves. In fact, Warner’s goofy restructuring seems like something The Other Two would parody. And wouldn’t you know it, they do! In the very first episode of this third season, The Other Two teases the platform it airs on, tossing in a light roast about the hunt for VOD movies amidst a chaotic streaming landscape.”
Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin in Succession.
David M. Russell/HBO
See: Succession
Succession’s final season is ramping up into its last installments. As the drama tightens its focus, so do its scripts, particularly in heated, pivotal scenes that highlight the broad character arcs that have been leading up to these final episodes.
Here’s Kevin Fallon’s take:
“Though we love them, the Roy children are not, as their father Logan famously said, serious people. Their parade of ineptitude and buffoonery, excused by their privilege and entitlement, is what makes them so sadistically entertaining to watch each week on Succession. Still, once in a while, the fact that these guys just really suck needs to be called out, probably for viewers’ sanity. And it’s so gratifying when it happens, as it did in Sunday night’s episode of the series, ‘Living+.’
The hilarity of Kendall and Roman (Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin) being co-CEOs of Waystar Royco stems from the fact that they’re huge idiots, and everyone knows it. Lukas Mattsson (Alexander Skarsgard), who is in the process of purchasing the company, knows it. Their sister, Shiv (Sarah Snook), knows it, to the extent that she can barely keep a straight face any time her brothers talk seriously about business. Someone as lowbrow as Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) is even aware of it, and he’s Cousin Greg. But no one is as cognizant of this as the senior leadership team at Waystar, and it is such a blast to watch when they finally get to vent about it.”
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