Scout Tafoya - page 12

Surface finale will have Hitchcock rolling in his grave [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Surface finale recap Apple TV+: Oh no ... it's a new mystery.★★☆☆☆
Oh no ... it's a new mystery.
Photo: Apple TV+

Dreary Apple TV+ series Surface — about a woman who can’t remember her life, and the trouble her condition causes everyone around her — wraps up with a new set of twists and turns and an unrelated mystery.

Despite trying to make it seem like Sophie has finally done something for herself, the particulars and the ambition don’t bear this out. Surface ends by starting from the beginning, having apparently decided its central mystery isn’t interesting enough.

I could have told them that after episode one.

Trying saves its best jokes for season 3 finale [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆

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Trying season 3 finale recap Apple TV+: When everything's going wrong, it's time for a flash wedding!★★☆☆
When everything's going wrong, it's clearly time for a flash wedding!
Photo: Apple TV+

At long last, the third season of Apple TV+ family comedy Trying comes to a conclusion this week. Nikki and Jason must fight for their adopted kids in court — but first they’ve got a wedding to plan. Indeed, the whole gang comes together to help them plan their last-minute nuptials.

The fate of their happiness hangs in the balance. And, against all odds, the Trying cast and writers overcome their worst tendencies to put together the only good episode of this show that has yet aired. Mind you, I still don’t want any more of this. Trying will come back for its fourth season, which puts a knot in my stomach but at least season three went out with a bang.

The 5 best comedies on Apple TV+

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Best comedies on Apple TV+: Itching for a laugh?
Itchin' for a laugh? These Apple TV+ comedies deliver.
Photos: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is known perhaps first and foremost for its international hit Ted Lasso. But that heartwarming show about a bumbling soccer coach with a positivity streak a mile wide only scratches the surface of the streamer’s burgeoning comedy roster.

Comedy veterans and unlikely newcomers alike staked out spots in the ever-growing Apple TV+ lineup, offering laughs for the cost of emotional engagement with some deeply wounded and weird characters.

Ultimately, the best comedies on Apple TV+ are the ones that hurt a little.

Bad Sisters delves deeper into poison and plots [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Bad Sisters recap Apple TV+: Bibi (played by Sarah Greene, left) and Eva (Sharon Horgan) have a plan to get rid of their evil brother-in-law, John Paul.★★★
Bibi (played by Sarah Greene, left) and Eva (Sharon Horgan) hatch a plan to get rid of their evil brother-in-law, John Paul.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ dark comedy Bad Sisters regroups and strikes back harder this week. The Irish series about five sisters and their common enemies keeps winning — by losing.

After the untimely death of Grace’s no-good husband John Paul, Becka won’t let potential new boyfriend Thomas take “no” for an answer. And Thomas’ brother, Matthew, does the same in opening an insurance investigation into the death of Becka’s brother-in-law. In the past, Ursula gets on board with the murder plot as Bibi and Eva reassess after their first botched effort.

Surface squanders an intriguing premise [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Surface recap Apple TV+: So many questions, so little time ...★★☆☆☆
So many questions, so little time ...
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ thriller Surface circles the drain this week as it strains for meaning and solves its many mysteries in as tidy a fashion as possible.

Sophie hears two conflicting versions of events about who she really is and where her life was headed before what was either a suicide attempt or an attempted murder. Meanwhile, her husband James and cop Thomas Baden lock horns — with Sophie’s affection their reward.

Surface’s writers have one episode after this to really make everything fall into place.

Five Days at Memorial takes tragedy to a powerful place [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★★

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Five Days at Memorial recap Apple TV+: Don't worry. Help's on the way. (Actually, worry all you want.)★★★★★
Don't worry. Help's on the way. (Actually, worry all you want.)
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ thriller Five Days at Memorial enters its tragic endgame this week, with the Coast Guard forcing everyone out of the hospital. That means some patients will be left alone to die by themselves after Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught. Extraordinary measures must be taken — some ethical, some not.

The show’s cast all do their best work this week, and writer/director/producer John Ridley holds their hand every step of the way, doing right by this amazing assortment of talent.

Trying cranks up the sitcom cliches [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆

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Trying recap: Stop me if you've heard this one before.★★☆☆
Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Photo: Apple TV+

This week on Trying, the Apple TV+ show uses the hackiest sitcom elements imaginable as a backdrop for Jason and Nikki’s emotional problems and Scott and Karen’s awakenings.

Tyler is taken by a miscommunication. Jen is having a crisis of confidence at a crossroads in her life (and Nikki’s about to make it worse). Bev’s got Jason and Nikki in a vice, and Karen may have found her calling.

Does any of this matter when every joke makes your skin crawl? No, not really.

See’s biggest problem is a total lack of vision [Apple TV+ recap] ☆☆☆

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☆☆☆
Baba Voss (played by Jason Momoa) is looking for answers in See's final season.
Photo: Apple TV+

Oh, brother, here we go again. See is back for its third and final season with more grim, doomy, portentous, heavily filtered, scowling, medieval dystopian tedium for you.

The Apple TV+ show about a future Earth where most everybody is blind takes one last lap through Joseph Campbell and the big book of heroic cliches.

Jason Momoa’s Baba Voss is on the lam, Kofun’s a father (and hates everything about it), Maghra’s having no fun at all being queen, and Kane is still insane in the membrane. Strap in.

Hospital staffers make grim choices in Five Days at Memorial [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★

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Five Days at Memorial recap Apple TV+: Things get increasingly grim inside a New Orleans hospital hit by Hurricane Katrina.★★★★
Five Days at Memorial recap Apple TV+: Things get increasingly grim inside a New Orleans hospital hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ medical drama Five Days at Memorial, about the terrible misfortune of the staff of an abandoned hospital during Hurricane Katrina, hits the fourth day of disaster this week.

The power is still off, and the A/C is a distant memory. Helicopters are coming to evacuate, but the elevator to the roof is broken. Things are going to get worse before they get better. The gripping drama stays madly compelling and deeply tragic.

Surface explains everything, and we really wish it hadn’t [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Surface recap Apple TV+: Sophie (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) isn't who, or what, we thought after all.★★☆☆☆
Sophie (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) isn't who, or what, we thought after all. Bummer.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ mystery Surface, about a woman suffering from amnesia at the center of a dark web of mystery, finally tells the truth about who mystery woman Sophie really is.

Turns out she was the brains behind the operation, bringing herself and her husband from nothing to a beautiful house, a six-figure income, and more problems than they know how to handle.

So just how did she and James go from a young power couple lying their way to the top to a couple of criminals looking at the barrel end of jail sentences?

Trying desperately needs an actual crisis [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Trying recap Apple TV+: For Jason (played by Rafe Spall, left) and Nikki (Esther Smith), every microcrisis is a maximum annoyance.★☆☆☆☆
For adoptive parents Jason (played by Rafe Spall, left) and Nikki (Esther Smith), every microcrisis is a maximum annoyance.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ family comedy Trying hits a snag or two this week, as Jason and Scott both realize they’re running out of road before a fall.

Jason needs money if he wants to pay for the house he’s been renting, which otherwise will be sold out from under him at any minute. Scott needs to make enough money to pay for Karen’s incoming baby, or she’ll continue looking at him as the fatuous loser with his head in the clouds that the show has more than shown us that he is.

On top of that, the adoptees’ grandmother is gunning for custody and she’s willing to fight dirty. Good, I say. This show needs some actual tragedy.

Bad Sisters is a delightfully dark comedy [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Bad Sisters recap: All the Garvey sisters had reason to dislike the recently deceased John Paul.★★★★☆
All the Garvey sisters had reason to dislike the recently deceased John Paul.
Photo: Apple TV+

New Apple TV+ dark comedy Bad Sisters follows a family of Irish women who vow to help each other through thick and thin. Thick comes in the form of a miserable brother-in-law, who’s lying in a coffin and represents loose ends for all of them.

Can they outmaneuver a desperate insurance investigator and keep from turning on each other? This is good TV. Let’s just watch it cook.

Surface takes us on a trippy journey into Sophie’s mind [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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★★★☆☆
Can drugs help Sophie (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) sort out reality?
Photo: Apple TV+

Surface, the Apple TV+ mystery about a woman with no memory, goes tripping in an episode filled with twists, turns, memories and hallucinations.

Sophie has a secret identity. Her husband, James, has a secret file that Baden the cop needs to steal and investigate. And literally nothing is going to go as planned. Sophie treats herself to a little psychotropic therapy when her therapist lets her down.

She learns a little more than she bargained for in this mostly OK episode.

Loot finally gets to the point in season finale [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Loot recap season finale Apple TV+: Molly (played by Maya Rudolph) finally gets her head straight in the Loot season finale.★★★☆☆
Molly (played by Maya Rudolph) finally gets her head straight in the Loot season finale.
Photo: Apple TV+

Loot, the Apple TV+ sitcom about a rich woman discovering the meaning of life through charity work, finally hits the wall I’ve been waiting for after weeks of politesse and a too-overwhelming fear of the vulgar side of comedy.

In this week’s season finale, Molly and the crew head to Corsica for a billionaire energy summit where she must make an important choice. She must decide between her rich, debonair boyfriend and his million-dollar ideas about conservancy, and her friends who want to do real, on-the-ground work and fight the root causes of the problems facing their neighbors.

Trying fails out of the school of hard knocks [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Trying recap Apple TV+: Princess (played by Eden Togwell) gets busted this week on Trying.★☆☆☆☆
Princess (played by Eden Togwell) gets busted this week on Trying.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ series Trying, the James Corden of sitcoms, invents some new fake problems for its characters to solve this week. Tyler bumps his head, Princess steals a solution to an outcast’s problem, Nikki and Karen don’t feel like moms, Jason is disappointed in his son’s taste, and there may be a new wrinkle in the couple’s decision to keep their kids.

The writers also show their Tory hand this week with jabs at all things lower class — except when it’s necessary for our characters to engage in them. Not even a special cameo from a great villainess can lift this week’s offering above pitiful.

For All Mankind goes out with a bang in season 3 finale [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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For All Mankind season 3 finale recap Apple TV+: Things are getting dicey at NASA.★★★☆☆
Things are getting dicey at NASA because of course they are.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ space opera/soap opera For All Mankind closes its confounding third season this week by introducing us to a new character and a new geopolitical rival for the beleaguered space crews.

In this week’s season three finale, entitled “Stranger in a Strange Land,” Ed Baldwin learns Danny’s terrible secret. Jimmy Stevens hangs out with the wrong crowd for just a few minutes too long. Margo’s in trouble, Kelly’s giving birth, Karen’s making bold choices, and Dev is up a creek.

None of that’s going to matter by this week’s third act, of course. Just you wait and see.

Five Days at Memorial captures the horror of Hurricane Katrina [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★

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Five Days at Memorial recap Apple TV+: Susan Mulderick (played by Cherry Jones) is in charge, but Hurricane Katrina is about to make things spin totally out of control.★★★★
Susan Mulderick (played by Cherry Jones) is in charge at the hospital, but Hurricane Katrina is about to make things spin totally out of control.
Photo: Apple TV+

Hurricane Katrina has come and gone and there are 45 unexplained deaths in a hospital in New Orleans. That’s the hook for new Apple TV+ limited series Five Days at Memorial. The titular hospital is a crowbar used to examine the carelessness of U.S. disaster-relief infrastructure, health care and our attitudes toward one another.

This all actually happened. And show creators John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Carlton Cuse (Lost) mean to take us uncomfortably close to the truth of what happens when Americans are faced with unprecedented situations … because we are running out of those.

Loot puts friendships to the test, and shockingly, some will fail [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Loot recap: This week's episode is all about friends and making hard choices.★★★☆☆
This week's episode of Loot is all about friends and making hard choices.
Photo: Apple TV+

Loot, the Apple TV+ comedy about a woman with everything who learns from people who have nothing, has a play, a zoning board meeting and a summit to prepare for this week.

Howard and Nicholas must patch up their friendship. Sofia and Molly need to work out their differences of opinion and ambition. Molly comes face to face with the bad side of charity work. And in general, the characters needs to make some hard choices about the people they want in their lives.

Surface finds solid ground with straight-up storytelling [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Surface recap: Will Sophie (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) get to the bottom of what's going on with her husband, Jamie (Oliver Jackson-Cohen)?★★★
Will Sophie (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) get to the bottom of what's up with her husband, Jamie (Oliver Jackson-Cohen)?
Photo: Apple TV+

Surface, the new Apple TV+ mystery series about a woman who can’t remember her life or lies, keeps up the erotic intrigue this week. The show avoids all of its worst tendencies for a basically good fourth episode.

Amnesiac Sophie and her lover Thomas clandestinely chase leads as they try to solve the mystery of who almost killed her. Sophie’s husband, James, desperately runs around trying to hide his crimes, and Caroline gets pulled back into his orbit once again.

The investigation and the cover-up proceed apace. It’s just a matter of who’s smarter, more thorough and more careful.

Mars is getting monotonous on For All Mankind [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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For All Mankind recap: It's always something.★★★☆☆
Whether on Earth or on Mars, it's always something.
Photo: Apple TV+

For All Mankind holds a few cliffhangers up its sleeve in season 3’s penultimate episode, but first it must deal with its soapy dilemmas.

Ellen and Larry are in the hot seat, Kelly Baldwin’s baby is coming along ahead of schedule, Aleida Rosales is all out of heroes, Karen and Dev might switch jobs — and Danny Stevens’ goose might be cooked!

A decent episode of the Apple TV+ alt-history sci-fi hit focuses on plot nitty-gritty and emotional turmoil, until it gives way to a typically frustrating final reveal.

Physical season finale leaves us praying for cancellation [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Physical season 2 finale recap: Please say it's over.★★☆☆☆
Please say it's over.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s second season of Physical draws to a merciful close this week. Though she’s finally gotten John Breem out of her bedroom, Sheila still has to deal with him. He’s still making Danny crazy — and he’s still the only man in town with power enough to satisfy Sheila’s needs.

Wouldn’t it be funny if she had to wind up trapped with him in a business agreement? Well, no, it wouldn’t, and it isn’t, but that’s where we’re headed.

Trying wrings a tiny victory out of pregnancy and a party [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Trying recap Apple TV+: At least somebody's laughing.★★☆☆☆
At least somebody's laughing.
Photo: Apple TV+

Trying, the Apple TV+ comedy about middle-class ghouls making the once-a-generation decision to start families, plans a birthday party for special little boy Tyler this week.

Tyler’s party is too overwhelming at first, but with a little help from a lot of people it becomes fun. Elsewhere, Karen is pregnant and nervous, Nikki resents her fertility, Scott has to quit a burgeoning career, and Jason is still on the hook for a dream house.

Black Bird will break your heart with its riveting conclusion [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★

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Black Bird finale recap: Time's running out for Jimmy Keene (played by Taron Egerton).★★★★
Time's running out for Jimmy Keene (played by Taron Egerton).
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ murder mystery Black Bird draws to a pulse-pounding close as jailhouse informer Jimmy Keene’s last-ditch efforts to stay alive are being threatened at every turn.

Serial killer Larry Hall is inches from confessing, Jimmy’s about to get shanked — and nobody’s coming to help either of them. Plus, Jimmy’s dad Big Jim is dying in a hurry outside prison walls.

The limited series saves its best mechanics for last as the clock runs out on all of our heroes.  Black Bird concludes on a high note indeed.

Bad Luck for Apple TV+ and Skydance [Apple TV+ review] ★★☆☆☆

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Luck review: Skydance is going to need a lot of Luck to sell unimaginative movies with a problematic CEO.★★☆☆☆
Skydance is going to need a lot of Luck to sell unimaginative movies with a problematic CEO.
Image: Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s newest film is the streamer’s big flagship collaboration with Skydance Animation under the new leadership of disgraced former Pixar chief John Lasseter.

Can the film’s relative charms tip the scales in favor of a new endeavor, instead of back toward the hasty assembly of a company around a man who never really answered for his allegations? Unfortunately, Luck, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+, would have had to have a lot more going for it to get people talking about the movie on pure merit.

Things heat up for our jailhouse informer in Black Bird [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★

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Black Bird recap: Things are not going well for prison informer Jimmy Keene (played by Taron Egerton).★★★★
Things are not going well for prison informer Jimmy Keene (played by Taron Egerton).
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ miniseries Black Bird finally reveals the killer this week, along with the evidence that might hang him … or might not be enough to do anything but frustrate the people working to expose him.

Superlative work from actors Paul Walter Hauser, Ray Liotta and Laney Stiebing in the episode, titled “The Place I Lie,” pulls the show into greatness just before its final installment.

Black Bird covered a lot of ground in a little time — and now it’s time to bring it home.