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Close Reads

  1. oscar endings
    Let’s Talk About the Ending of Once Upon a Time in HollywoodIf you’ve read the reviews of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, you’ve probably gathered that something is up with the ending.
    By Nate Jones
  2. close reads
    Veronica Mars’s Inability to Evolve Made Veronica Mars BetterOur beloved stagnant marshmallow’s self-destructive sprint toward rock bottom is often frustrating to watch, but important for the character’s future.
    By Anne T. Donahue
  3. close reads
    Euphoria Is High on Scorsese’s SupplyThe influence of filmmaking’s premier poet of self-destruction courses through the HBO teens-behaving-badly series.
    By Charles Bramesco
  4. close reads
    Stranger Things 3 Is Basically One Big Back to the Future HomageWhat the many allusions to the 1985 blockbuster tell us about this season — and what hints they might provide about the series’ future.
    By Jen Chaney
  5. close reads
    Stranger Things 3 Offers an Unexpected Requiem for the American Shopping MallIn an age when shopping centers have come to represent a dead end, the vibrantly alive Starcourt mines a particularly potent vein of nostalgia.
    By Sean O'Neal
  6. close reads
    Why Is Hopper Such a Jerk-Ass in Stranger Things 3?So. Much. Yelling. But is there a reason for it?
    By Jen Chaney
  7. close reads
    The Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid- and Post-Credits Scenes, ExplainedLet’s dig into why that character is returning to the franchise.
    By Ryan Britt
  8. spoilers
    How Should We Feel About the End of Stranger Things 3?Let’s talk about the implications of that credits scene.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  9. close reads
    What I Learned After Watching Eyes Wide Shut 100 TimesIf Stanley Kubrick’s film felt dated back in 1999, maybe that’s because we weren’t quite as savvy as we thought.
    By Lila Shapiro
  10. close reads
    The Hills: New Beginnings Is More The Hills, Less New BeginningsA few conversations about parenting aside, the revival of the genre-defining MTV reality series feels eerily unchanged from the original.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  11. close reads
    Toy Story 4 Is a Movie About Getting Older and Getting Out of the WayYou see another nice Pixar movie about sentient playthings. We see a story about baby boomers and presidential candidates.
    By Jen Chaney
  12. first person
    In Defense of Cousins Who Fall in Love, on Ramy and IRL(Not to be read by any of my cousins.)
    By Mallika Rao
  13. close reads
    Is Black Mirror Not Cynical Enough for the Internet Anymore?When you’re extremely online, it’s tough to think metaphorically about technology.
    By Emily Yoshida
  14. close reads
    The Rise of the Female Buddy DramedyDead to Me, Booksmart, Tuca & Bertie, and other recent movies and TV shows prove that this is a golden era for female duos.
    By Jen Chaney
  15. close reads
    What Does the Fleabag Fox Mean?If you’re wishing for a happy ending to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s sexy, wry British comedy, consider this theory.
    By Ellen O'Connell Whittet
  16. close reads
    The Decadent, Visceral Pleasures of Killing EveThe second season culminates in a boldly queer retelling of the Bluebeard myth.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  17. close reads
    Fleabag Breaks the Fourth Wall and Then Breaks Our HeartsThe end of Fleabag season two is a perfect, crushing conclusion.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  18. close reads
    The Last of the Dragons: What Drogon’s Ending Reveals About Game of ThronesThree dragons, three fates, and three ways of looking at the show’s central themes and conflicts.
    By Sean T. Collins
  19. close reads
    Why Game of Thrones Ends With a New Beginning“The Iron Throne” invites us to imagine unwritten futures for the Starks.
    By Nina Shen Rastogi
  20. game of thrones
    Westeros Is ScrewedHow do you say plus ça change in Dothraki?
    By Max Read
  21. obits
    The Most Upsetting Game of Thrones Death Was the Show ItselfAnd we couldn’t look away.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  22. spoilers
    Tyrion Lannister Was the Real Winner of the Game of Thrones FinaleIn the end, everything happened because of Tyrion.
    By Jen Chaney
  23. *stares awkwardly*
    In Praise of Bran Stark, a Total WeirdoI love Weird Bran and you should, too.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  24. close reads
    The Tragedy of Daenerys TargaryenNo matter how Game of Thrones ends, the Dragon Queen’s downfall really hurts.
    By Sean T. Collins
  25. close reads
    In Praise of Christine Baranski’s Performance on The Good FightAs her character tries to manage her anger this season, her body language changes from her signature self-assured grace to a sharply pointed threat.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  26. tv review
    The Big Bang Theory Was a Pop-Culture Black HoleIt was a dominant sitcom that sucked in nerd culture, but never reflected back anything it absorbed.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  27. close reads
    How Game of Thrones Lost Its PerspectiveCruelty and violence aren’t out of the norm for Game of Thrones. But cruelty and violence without a point of view are.
    By Nina Li Coomes
  28. close reads
    The Game of Thrones Debate Has Overshadowed the Show’s Best ActingLove “The Bells” or hate it, Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke brought the horror of war to an unbearably intimate level.
    By Nina Shen Rastogi
  29. close reads
    Game of Thrones Finally Got Its Mad QueenEven if Daenerys was destined for madness all along, it’s still a painfully stale trope.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  30. close reads
    Cersei Lannister Deserved BetterSo that’s really it for one of the best villains on television?
    By Jen Chaney
  31. spoilers
    How Empire Left the Door Open for Jussie Smollett’s ReturnAfter being written out of the last two episodes of season five, Jamal Lyon may still have a part to play in next season’s family drama.
    By Starrene Rhett Rocque
  32. close reads
    Jane the Virgin Had to Leave Miami to Get Back to ItselfJane’s excursion to Montana allows it to play with being a different sort of series entirely, and ultimately reaffirm what kind of series it is.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  33. close reads
    The Essential Question for Game of Thrones’ EndgameIn Westeros, does family always trump romantic love?
    By Nina Shen Rastogi
  34. close reads
    Game of Thrones Did Brienne and Missandei Dirty“The Last of the Starks” is full of depressing beats for the show’s female characters.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  35. vulture recommends
    Parenthood Ain’t Easy, But These Great Comedies Embrace the ChaosShows like Better Things, Catastrophe, and SMILF turn the hard work of raising children into brutally honest comedy.
    By Lara Zarum
  36. close reads
    The Dothraki Are Dead. Does Game of Thrones Care?For all the show’s grand sweep, it’s never really made space for the lives of the common people.
    By Nina Shen Rastogi
  37. close reads
    Did Game of Thrones Have a Better Battle Than Avengers: Endgame?Two pop-culture juggernauts, two massive fight sequences, and a ton of lessons about what makes onscreen battles work.
    By Jen Chaney
  38. close reads
    Why Does the Night King Want to Destroy ‘Memory’ on Game of Thrones?How much stock you put in Bran’s interpretation of the Night King’s motive depends on whether you see it as a literal fate or a figurative one.
    By Nina Shen Rastogi
  39. close reads
    The Message of Sunday’s Game of Thrones? Never Underestimate a Teenage Girl.“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” reminds us how far Sansa, Arya, and Dany have come.
    By Jen Chaney
  40. close reads
    Game of Thrones Finally Let Arya Be a TeenagerYay for a sweet sex scene!
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  41. close reads
    The Horror of Game of Thrones Goes Way Beyond Jump ScaresUnderneath all the zombies lurks something much more intimately terrifying.
    By Sean T. Collins
  42. close reads
    The Real Purpose of Spirals on Game of ThronesChaos is a ladder, but maybe it’s also a feedback loop.
    By Nina Shen Rastogi
  43. close reads
    The True Love Story of Crazy Ex-GirlfriendThis isn’t the happily-ever-after ending Rebecca Bunch moved to West Covina for. It’s better.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  44. close reads
    Star Trek: Discovery Reinventing the Borg Would Be Its Smartest Choice YetWhat looks to be a slowly revealed origin story for one of Trek’s most infamous villains feels purposeful, subtle, and positively inspired.
    By Devon Maloney
  45. tv history
    The ’60s Sketch-Comedy Show That Crashed and Burned Into TV InfamyIn 1969, Turn-On was supposed to be television’s next big thing. But then it got canceled after one very offensive episode.
    By Charles Bramesco
  46. close reads
    How Does Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s New Greg Stack Up to Original Greg?Replacing Santino Fontana with Skylar Astin between seasons changed the stakes for “Grebecca,” and for the series overall.
    By Allie Pape
  47. bathroom humor
    How Broad City Encouraged Women to Be Their Grossest, Truest SelvesAbbi and Ilana’s worry-free acceptance of the ickier parts of life is the foundation of a larger message of self-love.
    By Caitlin Wolper
  48. behind the scenes
    How Gina Rodriguez Pulled Off Jane the Virgin’s Amazing 7-Minute Monologue“When you have an actor like that, you can write something with full confidence that she’s going to kill it.”
    By Kathryn VanArendonk and Maria Elena Fernandez
  49. spoilers
    Decoding The OA: Part II’s Extremely Meta EndingIt’s the most OA thing The OA: Part II could possibly have done.
    By Jen Chaney
  50. close reads
    Jordan Peele’s Us Is a Bone-Chilling Allegory for Generation XThe movie’s references, and its use of Hands Across America, speak directly to those who were born in the ’70s and grew up in the ’80s.
    By Jen Chaney
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