Placing three Black characters at the center of a new TV series yields fresh, unexpected turns.
Jim McDermott
Jim McDermott writes about pop culture at jimmcdermott.substack.
Posted inFaith, Features
Can we make retreats better? How modern Catholics are reinventing an ancient tradition.
These modern retreat centers are helping people grow closer to God.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
WNYC’s ‘10 Things That Scare Me’ shows how sharing our fears can bring us closer together
At times “10 Things” feels like being witness to little acts of self-liberation.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
A Good End for ‘The Good Place’: A meditation on the series finale
Watching the finale, my mind wandered through places in my life that have been special to me.
Posted inFaith, Features
A Jesuit’s guide to finding God in California
Again and again I have watched Californians find a way beyond the categories they are supposed to occupy.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
What ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ gets right about redemption (and wrong about the Force)
In my experience the separation of priest from everybody else is neither helpful nor based on any kind of truth.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
The Top 10 Pop Culture Events of the Decade
How can it be that the finale of “Lost,” the introduction of the iPad and “Bridesmaids” all happened within the last 10 years?
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
When you take a Jesuit to the Democratic debate
Being courtside at a presidential candidate debate sounds thrilling, but it turns out that you don’t get a great view of all the candidates. While I can see Biden’s head, I cannot see the body to which it is attached, and from my angle Senator Elizabeth Warren is just a left arm. Worse, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a haunting disembodied voice.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
HBO’s ‘Watchmen’ is a searing novel about race in America
The new show from Damon Lindelof is more than another high concept sci-fi series.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
The Jesuit missionaries who inspired Roland Joffé’s ‘The Mission’
The story of a film that became an inspiration to Jesuits and their companions worldwide.