These shows shine an intimate, even glaring light on humanity in its less flattering manifestations.
Television
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
In ‘Reservation Dogs,’ a gang of Indigenous youth do bad things (but they are not bad people)
Creators Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo deliver a show with impressive emotional range that achieves an honest portrayal of the hardships that many Indigenous communities face.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
‘Ted Lasso’ officially has its own Judas character.
Both the heroes and villains of “Ted Lasso” remain quite ordinary. And it is the show’s portrayal of that daily reckoning with good and evil, those small temptations, that make it easy to relate to.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Review: Netflix’s ‘Midnight Mass’ is Catholic horror at its best
“Midnight Mass” feels like a throwback to the world that received “The Exorcist” in 1973.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Netflix’s ‘Shtisel’ offers relationship advice from the Jewish ultra-Orthodox
The show is not about Haredi Jews; rather, it is about humans who happen to be ultra-orthodox religious.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
‘The Chair’ was uncomfortable to watch as a recent college grad. And that’s the point.
Social justice scandals play out in Netflix’s newest hit “The Chair”, echoing college campuses across the country. The show’s empathy is remarkable, but as a recent graduate, some scenes hit too close to home.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Five Pieces of Pop Culture that Wrestled with 9/11
Many of the stories that came out of 9/11, tales of grief and rage, sin and freedom, seem relevant once again.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Most prison shows present problems for Catholics. But ‘Time’ defies the stereotypes of the genre.
The show presents a radical, eminently Catholic conviction: that men and women in jail are not “convicts,” but human beings on the same journey of sin, mercy and redemption.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
‘The White Lotus’ reveals the spiritual sickness of rich white people
The show’s true subject is nothing less than spiritual sickness, fueled by the existential dread of folks with no material wants who nevertheless don’t know what to do with their lives or how to spend them happily with each other.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
‘The Chosen’ dares to imagine stories about Jesus and the disciples that aren’t in the Gospels. It’s a revelation.
Jonathan Roumie’s Jesus has fearsome power to open the Scriptures to us and the women and men who follow him are people in whom we can find traces of ourselves. It helps me love the Lord like I never have before.