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Close Reads

  1. close reads
    Mindhunter Is a Surprisingly Good Commentary on Toxic MasculinityThe series finds horror not by detailing the broken bodies of victims, but by looking at the banality of misogyny.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  2. close reads
    What David Fincher’s Fascination With Serial Killers Says About His FilmmakingFew filmmakers have shown such a consistent interest in serial killers and what makes them tick.
    By Kevin Lincoln
  3. close reads
    Why So Much Went Wrong in the Worst Episode of Stranger Things 2Eleven’s adventure with Kali in “The Lost Sister” feels distinctly out of step with the rest of the show.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  4. close reads
    On The Good Place, You Can’t Escape the PastThe NBC comedy tells us that important facts can’t just be deleted, denied, or avoided.
    By Jen Chaney
  5. Paul Reiser in Stranger Things Is Stunt Casting at Its BestDr. Owens isn’t just an homage to Aliens.
    By Abraham Riesman
  6. Noah Schnapp Is the MVP of Stranger Things 2Will Byers disappeared in season one, but he’s utterly essential now.
    By Jen Chaney
  7. close reads
    Why Mindhunter’s Bill Tench Is So LovableBill’s our humanity barometer.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  8. we need to talk about kevin
    Riverdale’s Cruising Story Line Finally Gives Kevin Keller Something to DoMysterious, sexy things are afoot in the Riverdale woods.
    By Jackson McHenry
  9. Why the Witch Is the Pop-Culture Heroine We Need Right NowStories about witches are stories about women, power, and harm.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  10. Why the Sex in That Outlander Episode Was So Damn GoodAnyone else need a cold shower?
    By Jen Chaney
  11. close reads
    The Better Things Episode That Captures What’s So Good About Better Things“Eulogy” is a funny, moving, and dark look at a mother who wants to be fully seen.
    By Jen Chaney
  12. How Mindhunter Makes Serial Killers Feel QuaintIt harkens back to a time when the most disturbing thing about society was a thing we, the audience, already know well.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  13. close reads
    Halt and Catch Fire Was the Most Quintessentially Gen-X Show on TVIn the end, it was a story about realizing the next big thing will be accomplished by the next generation.
    By Jen Chaney
  14. Why Tina Fey’s Great News Episode About Sexual Harassment Is So GoodIn a darkly genius way, the NBC sitcom underlines why it’s so dangerous to defend men like Harvey Weinstein.
    By Jen Chaney
  15. close reads
    American Vandal Is So Much More Than a Dick JokeBut don’t get me wrong, the dick joke is great.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  16. How American Horror Story: Cult Handled a Mass Shooting After Las Vegas“Mid-Western Assassin” collides with reality in disturbing ways.
    By Jen Chaney
  17. close reads
    How Outlander Seduced Us All Over AgainIt’s really nice to be wooed.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  18. close reads
    How Will & Grace Uses Age to Its AdvantageThe revival’s second episode is a lot better than its first.
    By Jackson McHenry
  19. way too close reads
    A Close Read of That Bonkers Harvey Weinstein Statement“I am going to need a place to channel that anger so I’ve decided that I am going to give the NRA my full attention.”
    By Nate Jones
  20. This Is Us and The Good Place Signal a New Era for the Mystery-Box ShowThese NBC shows have set a different bar for puzzle-solving TV.
    By Jen Chaney
  21. close reads
    Where Do Michael and Her Mutiny Fit Into Star Trek History?It can’t be properly understood without looking at the ways these topics have threaded through Star Trek in the 1990s.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  22. close reads
    Let’s Talk About That Scene With the Hand in Gerald’s GameIt’s not for the squeamish.
    By Jordan Crucchiola
  23. Megyn Kelly Today Needs to Be Torn Down and RebuiltHere’s (maybe?) how to fix it.
    By Jen Chaney
  24. Will & Grace’s Best Trump Joke Is Its SettingSitcom sets are a crucial, meaningful element of the genre.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  25. close reads
    The Saddest Moment in Lady Gaga’s Netflix Doc Involves Taylor Kinney“Well, nothin’ like getting flowers from your ex-fiancé on the day of the Super Bowl.”
    By Dee Lockett
  26. How Jimmy Kimmel Found His Political VoiceMainstream news outlets, late-night hosts, and the American left would do well to study what happened on ABC this week.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  27. close reads
    This Is the Scene When The Deuce Finally Becomes ItselfIt’s the first moment the show really relaxes into itself.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  28. close reads
    Younger and Insecure Prove It’s a Great Time for TV Rom-ComsThe two shows are very different, but their recent season finales highlight rom-com links.
    By Jen Chaney
  29. close reads
    An Appreciation of Molly’s Therapist’s Office on InsecureEat your heart out, Nancy Meyers.
    By Hunter Harris
  30. close reads
    Why Outlander’s Birth Scene Was So UnusualIt is stubbornly female, in a genre that so often is not.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  31. How American Horror Story: Cult Handled Election Night in Its First 7 MinutesThings got off to a nice, quiet start this season … just kidding!
    By Jen Chaney
  32. Twin Peaks: The Return Defied NostalgiaRebooted TV shows aim to satisfy us by revisiting the past, but Twin Peaks refused to play by the rules.
    By Jen Chaney
  33. What Game of Thrones Season 7 Tells Us About George R.R. Martin’s Next BookEuron Greyjoy will be a very different villain in The Winds of Winter.
    By Emmett Booth
  34. close reads
    Why Insecure’s Blow-Job Scene Felt Out of Step With the Typically Radical ShowFor the first time, Insecure doesn’t capture black millennial life.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  35. close reads
    Game of Thrones Has a Strange Relationship With BodiesIts characters are minds, seeking power and survival. They are bodies only whenever the plot suits.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  36. Episode Five of HBO’s Room 104 Is a Must-WatchEven if you skip the rest of the show, it’s absolutely worth taking half an hour and sitting down with “The Internet.”
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  37. Why The Bold Type Is the Perfect Crossover Show for Teens and AdultsNot a girl, not yet a woman.
    By Inkoo Kang
  38. close reads
    Is Time a Problem for Game of Thrones?Does it matter that the show’s timeline makes absolutely no sense?
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  39. The Links Between This Week’s GOT and Season One’s Penultimate EpisodeThere are a lot of callbacks to “Baelor” in “Beyond the Wall.”
    By Jen Chaney
  40. The Grand Feminist Legacy of Orphan BlackIt was an imperfect, astounding series.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  41. How Game of Thrones Turned Into a Story About SiblingsAs you may have noticed, nearly all the parents are dead now.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  42. ‘Hella LA’ Is Insecure’s Boldest Episode YetA cliché male fantasy gives way to a troubling racial nightmare.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  43. Audrey Horne’s Return to Twin Peaks Was MaddeningIt was one of the reboot’s most frustrating scenes.
    By Jen Chaney
  44. Why Do We Still Root for Arya Stark?She’s a bloodthirsty anti-hero on a killing spree. Why is it so easy to cheer for her?
    By Hillary Kelly
  45. game of thrones season 7
    The Opening to Game of Thrones Season 7 Is the Show’s Best EverIt’s a thrilling twist and a savvy callback to the show’s bloodiest betrayals.
    By Jen Chaney
  46. In Defense of Cersei LannisterWhy is she reviled as one of the show’s most deplorable villains?
    By Laura Hudson
  47. close reads
    Why Playing House’s Cancer Story Is So Unusually Well DoneIt’s the rare cancer story that’s more interested in how to deal with cancer as a crisis of friendship and the self than it is in the cancer itself.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  48. close reads
    Pretty Little Liars Was Great Because It Was BananasThe Freeform teen drama was a singularly crazy experience.
    By Jordan Crucchiola
  49. close reads
    The Eighth Episode of Twin Peaks: The Return Is Horrifyingly BeautifulIt’s a visually and sonically dazzling origin story for postwar America.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  50. What That Fargo Ending Says About the Show’s PolicewomenThe ending of season three is ambiguous. But it’s pretty clear to this writer who wins in the end.
    By Jen Chaney
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