Telemarketers Calls It Like It Sees ItThe scrappy, compulsively watchable series upends a corrupt industry — and what we expect from documentaries in the first place.
ByRoxana Hadadi
tv review
Painkiller Wants This to HurtNetflix’s righteously angry opioid-epidemic miniseries refuses to humanize its villains.
Twisted Metal Runs on EmptyPeacock’s adaptation of the car-combat video-game series says “yes” to guns, wisecracks, and shit that looks dope, and “no” to thinking too hard.
ByKathryn VanArendonk
merkin at work
Minx Unleashes a Tantalizing PairNow on Starz, the erotica-mag workplace comedy gets a fluff from two standout secondary performances.
Last Call Sees What Most True Crime MissesLoving yet full of palpable fury, HBO’s docuseries will make you deeply sad, then even sadder that more true-crime stories aren’t told this way.
Siren Goes OffNetflix’s brutal new K-reality competition elevates strategic gameplay to an art form.
ByNicholas Quah
endings
Succession Made You Decide“Who will win?” is a question as appealing and empty as Tom and Shiv’s apartment. The much harder one has always been “What kind of show is this?”
Universes Collide in American Born ChineseThere’s a tender, vibrant coming-of-age story in Disney+’s new series, if you can find it beneath all the tiresome celestial conflict.
Swarm’s Most Dangerous DevotionThe Prime Video series about a murderous stan falls short in exploring the ways female companionship can be amplified into something more sinister.
Perry Mason Has Solved the Case of Perry MasonSeason two of the HBO revival moves beyond its protagonist’s origin story and into the courtroom, and becomes the show it was meant to be.
Party Down Has Time on Its SideThe cultishly beloved cater-waiter comedy returns in peak form, using the 13-year gap between seasons to its best advantage.
The Last of Us Will Invade Your PsycheThe HBO video-game adaptation is a reminder of how effective postapocalyptic storytelling can be no matter how well trod the territory.
The Crown Wades Into a Royal MessThe choppy but absorbing fifth season of Netflix’s monarchical saga feels divorced from what came before.
ByJen Chaney
tv review
The White Lotus Retracts Its FangsMike White’s HBO series remains well appointed and well acted in season two, but a creeping timidity undermines its satire.
The Problem With DahmerThe series states its aim to humanize those affected by the serial killer’s crimes, but it can’t resist a base attraction to its central monster.
The Rings of Power Is Too Big to FailPrime Video’s much-anticipated Lord of the Rings series is a best-case scenario for storytelling by monetary brute force.
ByKathryn VanArendonk
tv review
The Patient Is All Killer, No FillerSteve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson deliver strong performances in a thought-provoking thriller that succeeds by keeping its focus narrow.
