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Roxana Hadadi

TV Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine
@roxana_hadadi
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Roxana Hadadi is a TV critic who also writes about film and pop culture, with the closed captions on and motion smoothing off.

  1. deep dive
    Dune Has a Desert ProblemThe sci-fi story has always been about more than just arid expanses, but Denis Villeneuve’s Part One can’t see past the sand.
  2. overnights
    Invasion Recap: In the StarsInvasion’s forward progress hits a wall in an uneven transitional episode.
  3. overnights
    Invasion Recap: The Wrong WeekInvasion is still setting up characters and relationships and pleasantly focusing on Aneesha.
  4. overnights
    Invasion Series-Premiere Recap: The EndApple TV+’s latest big sci-fi premiere sets up the series’s “aliens as outsiders” themes in seemingly unconnected events that we know are related.
  5. close reads
    A Game of Marbles Turns Squid Game’s Anti-Capitalist Critique Inside OutThe season’s narrative turning point fully reveals the stacked-deck nature of the game, and how it fundamentally changes its players.
  6. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Series-Finale Recap: Lose ControlAn underwhelming finale fully rehabilitates Masha’s manipulative nature and gives everyone happy endings that aren’t satisfying.
  7. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Recap: An IllusionDoes the Carmel development work because Regina Hall is committed as hell? Sure. Does it make sense narratively? I don’t really think so.
  8. 9/11: 20 years later
    Ramy Captured the Paradox of Being Muslim American After 9/11A revisitation of “Strawberries,” Ramy Youssef’s examination of how to come of age in a country that demands your culture’s disavowal.
  9. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Recap: Money, Money, Money, MoneyIs there anyone who does not find Masha attractive? What is the power of this woman!
  10. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Recap: The KeyFinally, we have some character development and enough plot twists to keep us saying, “Wait, what?”
  11. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Recap: Unprecedented TimesSo everyone is just cool with Masha drugging the smoothies?
  12. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Recap: Frame of ReferenceMasha’s plan seems to be unraveling. Or is it? Yes. Maybe. Actually, what is the plan?
  13. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Recap: Finding the WoundFrances, Tony, and the Marconis reveal their damage, but nearly everyone else remains less compelling.
  14. overnights
    Nine Perfect Strangers Series-Premiere Recap: Birth in DeathWelcome to the wellness-industrial complex where everything is beautiful and everything hurts.
  15. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Season-Finale Recap: Everyday HeroIn terms of sheer audacity, “Fixed” should be commended. In terms of characterization, well …
  16. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Recap: Make It WorkWhat’s harder, the waiting or the pretending?
  17. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Recap: Asking for MessyIs Allison shedding off layers to reveal her true self, or is she transforming into someone else?
  18. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Recap: What Normal People DoWhile Allison is bounding forward, Patty is sinking back.
  19. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Recap: Escape GroomKudos to this show for knowing its enemy so well, but spending this much time with Kevin is thoroughly unpleasant.
  20. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Recap: Mutually Assured DestructionWith things out in the open between them, Allison and Patty can begin to move very slightly toward something like friendship.
  21. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Recap: The Nicest DreamWe don’t yet know Allison well enough to say how likely she is to follow through on this new plan, though she certainly seems committed to the setup.
  22. overnights
    Kevin Can F**k Himself Series-Premiere Recap: Someone Has to Be ResponsibleAllison McRoberts’s days of self-pity and acquiescence are over.
  23. overnights
    Gangs of London Season-Finale Recap: Pawns Can’t Be KingsLike father, like son.
  24. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: Pick a SideThe feasibility of the Wallaces winning back London seems increasingly out of reach.
  25. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Series-Finale Recap: A Way to Live With ItMare could never have left this alone. It’s not in her nature.
  26. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: Some Old Man’s FantasyEverything between these two families is out in the open now, and it’s unclear how either comes back from the schism caused by Finn’s betrayal.
  27. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Recap: A ProtectorWith Erin’s story as the central remaining question, the penultimate episode purposefully lays down clues that point in disparate directions.
  28. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: Rules About KillingA comparatively slower episode feels like a direct rejection of the Wallaces’ belief that any of this was personal.
  29. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Recap: Jump In TogetherJust when Mare and Colin were starting to finally click as an investigative partnership …
  30. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: A Wolf ComingGareth Evans really aimed for the jugular with this episode, and he didn’t miss.
  31. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Recap: Life of the PartyMare may be chastened, but she’s not about to stop pushing her boulder up that mountain.
  32. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: Cement and GlassThe Wallaces are under attack, and “Episode 4” brings the threat home.
  33. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Recap: Hero DetectiveAn episode packed with twists, turns, backstory reveals, and plot progression reveals just how far Mare will go to avoid losing another child.
  34. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: Rival InterestsHow deep does Lale’s desire for vengeance go? What else will she be willing to do?
  35. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Recap: Not Ruling Anything OutA bleak episode doesn’t so much peel away the layers of Easttown’s dysfunction as it shoves them directly in Mare’s face.
  36. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: Kill or Be KilledWe’re seeing the cracks in Sean’s rule already.
  37. overnights
    Mare of Easttown Premiere Recap: Being the HeroOur introduction to detective Mare Sheehan and her struggling hometown sets the table with tragedies past and present, and hints at even more to come.
  38. overnights
    Gangs of London Recap: A Peaceful SolutionIs traveler leader Kinney Edwards the most ruthless person on this show? Very possibly!
  39. overnights
    Gangs of London Premiere Recap: The Old UltraviolenceFrom its visceral opening action sequence to its closing one, this premiere makes clear exactly what kind of series Gangs of London will be.
  40. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Walks Into Splintered SunlightThe series ends bittersweetly, with most of its characters stepping tentatively, then confidently, forward into who they want to be.
  41. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Throws McKinley High’s Social Rhythms Into DisarrayPenultimate episode “The Little Things” uses Vice-President Bush’s school visit as the catalyst for multiple stories about moving beyond expectations.
  42. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Delivers Its Best Worst Cringe MomentWith Sam and Nick, “Smooching and Mooching” gives us a tale of two Nice Guys.
  43. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Gives Daniel and Neal New Outlets for Their Anger“Noshing and Moshing” spotlights a new freak/geek pairing defined by their shared familial frustration, and their very different responses to it.
  44. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Nudges Bill Haverchuck Out of His Comfort ZoneSo much about Bill snaps into focus just by spending a little time with him at home.
  45. the gold rush
    Nicole Kidman’s 15 Career Golden Globe Nominations, RankedThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association may have snubbed Eyes Wide Shut and Paddington, but at least they gave these performances their due.
  46. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Survives a Bad Trip“Chokin’ and Tokin’” explores many different kinds of vulnerability, for teens and parents both.
  47. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Finally Gives Neal Schweiber His Spotlight“The Garage Door” gives the geeks a heartbreaking lesson in the difference between a Cool Dad and a Good Dad.
  48. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Sends Lindsay Into RetreatLinda Cardellini does some of her best work as Lindsay considers a return to being the person she was before she met the freaks.
  49. tv recaps
    Freaks and Geeks Tests Its Grown-UpsIn “The Diary,” both the Weir parents and Mr. Fredericks are asked to look beyond their own biases when it comes to high-school stereotypes.
  50. tv recaps
    An Unlikely School Spirit Overtakes Freaks and GeeksSome high-school experiences are so universal that they transcend labels and transcend cliques.
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