2019 Honestly Amazing Thing Awards – Breakfast Recommendations #3

I might as well jump on the retrospective bandwagon and start up an annual (fingers crossed) awards series. Now, my first instinct was to opt for the best releases of the year, but while I've done plenty of catching up on shows I've been watching (for the most part), I tend to be actively bad…

Real Life Looks Worse – Watchmen (film)

As may be obvious by now, I’m using November to buff up my backlog and get a bit of practice in writing reviews on a tighter deadline. I’m definitely not doing this to cheat at NaNoWriMo. Anyway, this one is going to be basic because I’ve already talked about it — or about its source…

Failures – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Nine

All right, all right, it’s high time I finished this series given the show's been over for almost a month now. I’ve been procrastinating for a few reasons, some better than others. Work and sleep schedules being off. The previous episode dampening my resolve to press forward. Popping down to Australia to talk to people…

3P Reviews: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Season Three, Episode Six (Episode Thirty-Two)

All right, fun's over. Back to business. Series Breakdown Rating: Characters and Character Development: 7 Aesthetics and Style: 7 Creativity: 7 Overall Plot: 5 Dialogue: 4 Sum: 30/50   Spoilers: Yes Audience Assumptions: None   Season Three Episode Six: The Fuhrer's Son - ***   Part One: Livin' on a Prayer Booyah, we're halfway through! This episode…

The Other Shoe – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Eight

Well, I can't really say I'm surprised. Given the recent string of decent episodes and hard-hitting plot points, it was unlikely the show was going to keep up its momentum all the way through to the end. The accumulation of bad past decisions has caught up to the series, overtaking much of the good will…

Loss and Rage – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Seven

As with the previous episode, the merits of this one rely at least partly on the payoff of the next. Woven throughout are the escalating tensions of grieving characters; after the chaos of the previous episode, Tulip and Cassidy are off on their own again and driven to violence -- a dirtier, crueler sort than…

Out of the Blue – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Six

In a somewhat surprising, but not unprecedented, turn, the show opts to draw from a significant turning point in its source material to deliver a dramatic cliffhanger. With yet another rescue party out to retrieve yet another of the protagonists, the audience would be forgiven for believing the series to be stuck on a loop.…

The Breaking Point – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Five

Despite a rocky start, this season is proving it knows where it's going and how to get there. With characters reuniting after episodes, or even seasons apart, the emotional catharsis in this episode is high. New characters play their roles, but don't overstay their welcome, offering thematic coherence that is desperately needed at this juncture…

Father-and-Son Happy Hell Assassin Buddies Go to the Beach – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Four

When in doubt, this show will always choose the strangest solution to a problem. Or simply invent strange new problems when none exist. Luckily, it eventually figures out what to do with them, and manages to juggle disparate tones with a grace few series of its sort achieve. I've missed this part of the show,…

Cowards – Preacher, Season Four, Episode Three

Not all is well with this episode, but it’s much more of what I’d expect from this series: wacky and lightly offensive nonsense filmed beautifully, juxtaposed with moments of existential dread for both the characters and the audience. The season isn’t out of the woods by any means, with the characters all in fundamentally the…