| Cult of Mac

Extrapolations trades climate doom for invigorating action this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Adarsh Gourav in ★★★☆☆
A pair of unlikely allies carry a mysterious cargo through some rough spots in India this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ climate disaster show Extrapolations takes a road trip this week to the sweltering underbelly of a continent in crisis. Across two long days, unlikely allies will transport a secret package that many other interested parties are gunning for.

Extrapolations is essentially an omnibus series about the future, as seen through the eyes of people affected by climate change. That means every episode bears a distinct identity. In this week’s installment, entitled “2059 Part II: Nightbirds,” the creative team hits upon something partly neo-realist, partly Bourne-inspired action and party speculative fiction. It’s the most consistent and engrossing episode of the very patchy show so far.

Hello Tomorrow! hits you with a velvet hammer this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Billy Crudup in ★★★★☆
Will Jack (played by Billy Crudup, right) get away with his lunar grift?
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewHello Tomorrow!, the Apple TV+ show about a Space Age con man and the hapless people stuck in his whirlwind, makes a fateful stop at a baseball game this week.

Lunar real-estate salesman Jack Billings goes deeper into his deception now that he’s found a financier with even fewer scruples than he has about cheating people out of their money. And his son Joey, desperate to get through to his dad, decides to finally start trying to put Jack away for his crimes.

Meanwhile, Shirley and Eddie are in deep money trouble and have nowhere nice to turn. And Herb is left picking up after everyone. The episode, entitled “Certain Forces Once Unleashed,” delivers a bracing half-hour of television.

Dear Edward gets its predictably boring happy ending at last [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Colin O’Brien and Taylor Schilling in ★☆☆☆☆
Yay, dear little Edward's smiling at last.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ series Dear Edward brings its tedious first season to a close this week. Edward winds up lost in the big city, sending his adoptive mom Lacey into hysterics. Plus, Dee Dee’s feeling very unappreciated, Shay and Edward get a second chance, Steve and Amanda have a choice to make, and there’s a party on the horizon.

The Dear Edward season finale, entitled “Shelter,” is a whiff of an ending to a whiff of a season. This show, supposedly about grief in the wake of a catastrophic plane crash, turns out to be largely about nothing at all.

Everyone wants a rocket ride on Hello Tomorrow! [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Billy Crudup in ★★★★☆
Salesman/serial liar Jack Billings (played by Billy Crudup) finally finds a situation he can't talk his way out of, this week on Hello Tomorrow!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewHello Tomorrow! returns for more Space Age shenanigans — and a brutal comeuppance for one of Earth’s biggest liars. The Apple TV+ show about a guy selling bunk timeshares on the moon finally hits the pause button on momentum to allow a devastating realization to sink in.

Salesman/con artist Jack Billings may be more doomed than he thinks, even as he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams. Shirley and Joey have had enough, Myrtle gets the sign she’s been searching for, Herb makes good, and Jack has to save an old hero in this stellar episode, entitled “The Gargon Mothership.”

Extrapolations takes a go at geoengineering terror [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Edward Norton and Mia Maestro in ★★☆☆☆
Can Edward Norton save the world from climate change? Can anyone?!?
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ limited series Extrapolations steeps itself in sci-fi wonkery this week as members of a tech billionaire family find themselves on opposing sides of a terrorist action meant to move the needle on climate change.

Novelist Dave Eggers joins the show’s writing team this week, and Edward Norton, Indira Varma and Michael Gandolfini lead the cast.

While this isn’t a bad version of what Extrapolations set out to do, the show’s sprawling mission statement remains blinkered.

Truth Be Told season 3 ends with confessions and a judgment call [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Octavia Spencer and Mekhi Phifer in a scene from the ★★★★☆
Poppy (played by Octavia Spencer, left) and Markus (Mekhi Phifer) wrap up loose ends in the Truth Be Told season three finale.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewEva’s been shot and might be dying on this week’s season three finale of Truth Be Told, the Apple TV+ show about a true crime podcaster.

After last week’s shooting, podcaster Poppy goes looking for the truth behind the recent grim series of events. Trini blames herself for Eva’s fate, and Markus has only one more chance to redeem himself. Can they catch the person responsible for all this misery before it’s too late?

The episode, entitled “A Kiss Not Mine Alone,” brings a nicely plotted, excellently performed close to a very fine season.

Truth Be Told whipsaws through another killer episode [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Mychala Lee, Merle Dandridge and Mekhi Phifer in ★★★★☆
Truth Be Told positively brims with strong performances this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewThe search for a mayoral hopeful’s killer takes center stage on this week’s Truth Be Told, the Apple TV+ crime series told through the lens of podcaster Poppy.

Eva’s on the hunt for a killer, but is it a smokescreen for her own guilt? Poppy can’t decide. Markus is still acting out, and it’s getting in the way of his parenting. Plus, Poppy has some secrets of her own to spill. And fate has one last curveball to throw this crew before the season’s final inning.

Dear Edward drowns in guilt and funky fan mail [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Colin O’Brien in ★☆☆☆☆
So. Many. Unbelievable. Letters.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewIt’s all about splitting and coming back this week on Dear Edward, the Apple TV+ series about the tangled web of grief in the wake of a plane crash.

In the episode, entitled “Paper Covers Rock,” Edward acts out at school and is rewarded with a crisis or two he wasn’t aware were coming his way. Plus, Linda goes into labor, Lacey is clueless, Dee Dee doesn’t want group to end, Adriana and Kojo don’t want their time together to end, and Steve and Amanda don’t want their affair to end.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, your Apple TV+ reviewer is anxious for this dreadful series to end. (The good news is, the end is nigh.)

Everyone’s pushing the panic button on Hello Tomorrow! [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Haneefah Wood in ★★★★☆
Shirley (played by Haneefah Wood) isn't the only one demanding answers this week on Hello Tomorrow!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewHello Tomorrow!, the Apple TV+ show about a salesman running out of ways to talk himself out of damnation, flies into a panic this week. Jack’s celebrity spokesman goes missing, and if he’s found by the wrong people, it could blow his entire operation.

At the same time, Shirley’s starting to wonder about Jack’s lies, and Joey has just stopped believing him entirely. And when Herb gets a brief moment to shine, he blows it immediately. The episode, entitled “Another Day, Another Apocalypse,” delivers another great half-hour of the show with the most verve and wit of anything on the Apple TV+ lineup.

Extrapolations is a sprawling cli-fi disaster [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Episode 1. Sienna Miller in ★☆☆☆☆
The world is ablaze in Extrapolations. Quick, somebody get a fire extinguisher!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review Astonishingly overwritten and mega-ambitious sci-fi parable Extrapolations, which premiered today on Apple TV+, has a cast of thousands and more than a few things on its mind. None of what show creator Scott Z. Burns (who wrote Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum) is saying in this show about the impact of climate change can be argued with. But the messages aren’t easily swallowed, either.

Rather than leave room for viewers to draw their own conclusions, Extrapolations sits you down and yells at you for 10 hours of dreary cli-fi drama. It’s certainly distinctive — but that’s not always a good thing.