It has questionable things to say about foster families, punitive justice, and even genocide, toying with tired both-sideisms that continue to plague TV to this day, and confuse even the show’s main cast with a lack of nuance. This may be a setup for interesting developments in a prospective second season, but unfortunately, I’m left feeling like Fate has little to offer beyond obvious pop culture references and crooning indie pop musical cues. Fate: The Winx Saga fails to dazzle at every juncture.

Pleasant. Mild. Benign.

There are trappings of truth everywhere, and while viewers can spot them easily, Wanda remains willfully ignorant. It is absolutely devastating to see her spinning as fast as she can to keep this all in place, to stay ahead of her trauma, when we know that ultimately it won’t change anything. ... WandaVision’s core conceit—that sometimes you just want to escape into television, into fantasy, into a daydream—couldn’t be more meta.

Besides the first season spent looking for Chantal, Season 4 is Dory’s best arc yet. She’s still trying to find herself, and although it sounds counterintuitive, being trapped frees an untapped side of Dory.

All Creatures Great and Small is not a series that requires much from you, but gives plenty in return. It’s not fluff—there are real emotions here, and an underlying sense of changing times as modernity creeps in to the practices of the rural counties. ... It is a wonderful treat and a balm for the soul.

Laura (Emily Browning) is still one of the best parts of the series, but she’s missing too much from the screen. There’s little focus and disparate storylines, and American Gods doesn’t seem interested in the deeper questions it once asked.

The entire run of Season 2 finds every aspect of Emily’s untellable story thriving under Smith and Steinfeld’s vision. ... Season 2 gives [Hailee Steinfeld] even more to work with: namely, the question of fame, and whether or not it’s dangerous to seek it out; and also the question of love, and whether or not the world needs or deserves to know where your heart lives

As is often the case in dense book adaptations, A Discovery of Witches Season 2 is an unqualified visual feast that may ultimately fall short emotionally because it tried to bring too much from the book to life.

Elizabeth Is Missing is yet another astonishing showcase for two-time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson. ... The film is a frustrating work in that it details layers and layers of frustration on every front, but it’s also simple, beautiful, and effective.

The Watch is currently in a category of show I would describe as Whovian-with-a-dash-of-2010s-Syfy-flavor. It has some interesting ideas and gives a fresh spin on an old sci-fi formula, but it doesn’t come together the way it really needs to in order to become recommended viewing. It’s difficult to suggest waiting around for a show to get “better” when “better” is such a nebulous idea, but essentially, if you find yourself cautiously intrigued by the premiere, consider spending a little more time with these lovable rogues.

All in all, Cobra Kai , which thankfully has already been picked up for a fourth season, remains a pure, escapist delight.

The series somehow manages to feel both comfortably familiar and completely brand new—an effervescent, romantic romp that centers the female-gaze and spirit in a world that too often views women as little more than objects. Its cast is effortlessly diverse. ... But it is also a story of family and friendship where every plot twist and relationship shift manages to feel completely and thoroughly earned.

As every episode started I felt like I had missed three more in between, or maybe three seasons. There are some decent moments buried in The Stand, but it’s so generally mishandled on the whole that it’s not worth slogging through the rest to get to them. If you are looking for your King fix, try Castle Rock on Hulu instead.

For fans who want a bit more going on than a bunch of solo heroes working through their own long, dark teatimes of the soul, I can see it being a bit of a slog. That said, a bit of a slog, when it comes to The Expanse, is still a deeply satisfying, multisensory experience, and for all that the interpersonal stories are smaller this season, it is still as beautiful to look at as ever.

It’s not great television, but it is a fun ride and you know what you’re getting—and sometimes that’s enough.

After a promising first half hour, the writers basically give up any pretense of constructing a good narrative, and the show slips into sanguinary dreck. The really offensive part here isn’t the violence. It doesn’t take long to understand that rather than using it to illustrate a point about the nature of the world, as the truly great shows do, the creators just seem to get off on the ugly depictions.

A Suitable Boy arrives with a fresh perspective and charm to spare—even through some of its most difficult storylines. It’s a richly composed series whose beats are recognizable and perhaps a bit fantastical, but nevertheless delivers a satisfying exploration into complicated matters of the heart.

While thankfully more innocent than say the CW’s sexed-up Nancy Drew and Riverdale adaptations, the show still wildly shifts in tone, seemingly caught in between a kids’ detective show and something much darker.

The acting in Your Honor is fine, although it’s an interesting choice that neither Cranston nor almost anyone else attempts the Nawlins drawl.

It is so funny! Every joke lands, half of them in a field you had no idea was in play. And as far as delivery goes, there are no weak players.

The entire story truly rests in Cuoco’s capable hands. Her knack for comic relief is securely intact, but she also easily dives into the depths of Cassie’s terror and uncertainty. Her journey is our journey. Her terror is our terror. She may be an unreliable narrator, but she’s a highly entertaining one. Bottom line? This is a series poised to take off.

Hart does work hard. So hard that a lot of his act can feel like style over substance, like a series of meta jokes about his own fame and success. But he also proves that great storytelling can make anything feel engaging in the moment. Hart is clearly in love with where he is in life, and that feeling rubs off on anyone who watches him perform.

Despite its convent setting, Black Narcissus is not an exploration of faith or even leans particularly heavily on it. But it does, beautifully, show the ways in which the sisters quietly mark time with prayers and daily tasks—often in bare-bones and realistic ways, but occasionally including scenes like a beautifully composed Christmas vigil filled with lanterns, baking, and warm interiors.

Joyful. Animaniacs may not match other animated shows’ high-brow humor or enthralling stories, but it’s able to contain so much unadulterated fun that the other things I may be looking for don’t seem to matter. Hulu’s new season isn’t a reimagining of the original; it’s a continuation. And in the 22 years since they left the airwaves, the Warner Siblings haven’t missed a beat.

Messy. But it’s a series that is also, occasionally, funny and revealing.

Despite some of the more ridiculous parts of Big Sky—or maybe because of them—the show is genuinely worth investigating based on its first two episodes.

Aunty Donna has made a very different kind of sketch comedy—louder, more cartoonish, less patient and less rewatchable—but it’s still funny. ... If you appreciate the unrepentantly absurd and the overwhelmingly silly, you’ll probably enjoy Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun.

The show takes him seriously, which means their fictional version of the SAS takes him seriously, which means the deeply realistic bad guys out to literally kill him also take him seriously. And while that much seriousness has the tendency to drag lesser adult action series to an absolute standstill, the hyper-realistic teen antics Alex and his tiny circle of friends get up to, even in the midst of life-or-death situations, serve as useful tonal ballast that lends the series just enough warmth and humor to bolster the rest of the story’s inherent tension.