TV
Magical Medicine : 6 Fictional Healers Who Eased Our Pain
Whether their abilities are innate, learned, or thrust upon them, fictional healers have long been a staple of fantasy. These six healers use physical touch, chaos magic, and even their own saliva to mend wounds and restore health.
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From Mrs. Maisel to Rory, Amy Sherman-Palladino Relies on Flimsy Anti-Heroines
With “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Amy Sherman-Palladino finally had the opportunity to lean into the anti-heroine—but she didn’t take it.
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“Yellowjackets” and the Disturbing Reality of Social Contract
With Yellowjackets, the so-called “puzzle-box show” achieves a kind of maturity by doing away with the conspiratorially furrowed brow of the masculine heroes who are obsessed with, and eventually resolve, whatever metaphysical conundrum that has made life unlivable.
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13 Shows and Movies We Loved in 2021
From the unexpected buzz around Squid Game’s horrifying meditation on the problem of debt in South Korea to the catharsis of Mayday’s feminist revenge.
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9 Shows and Movies We Hated in 2021
These are some of the biggest disappointments we saw this year.
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“Harlem” Could’ve Offered Escapism. Instead, its Black Characters Are Woefully Unoriginal
The new show makes confusing choices that deliver woefully unoriginal Black characters.
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White Christmas: Can Holiday Movies Add Diversity and Ignore Politics?
The challenge of diversifying holiday movies is about more than representation.
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Double Down: "King Richard" Is an Ode to the Power of Believing in Black Girls
“King Richard” succeeds in drawing us to root for the Williams family to beat the odds against them—the specter of both genteel and bloody racism, the gang violence that threatens their neighborhood.
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Rare Delight: : "Sort Of" Is a Refreshingly Complex Take on Nonbinary Life
What makes Sort Of work is its exploration of a nesting series of communities; one is diverse and queer, featuring people of a variety of genders and sexualities who move fluidly through each other’s lives in a way that highlights the rapid diversification of the LGBQT community... Read more »
Crimeless Victims: What Is the True-Crime Takeover Doing to Us?
The emergence of “highbrow” true crime allows listeners to recast spectatorship as objective critical analysis.
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