The Mandalorian Chapter 5: A Reputation to Keep
Coming back to Luke’s hometown is like coming home at last. The Mandalorian as a whole lives on nostalgia; while other parts of the Star Wars canon are advancing the story of the Force and the universe it balances, this…
The Mandalorian Chapter 4: No Escape from Sanctuary
If the second episode of The Mandalorian felt like A New Hope, this Star Wars take on Seven Samurai felt like an homage to Return of the Jedi. From the lush setting to the saturated color palette and music that…
The Mandalorian Chapter 3: Family Battle
Okay, so everybody’s calling him “Mando” now. No, no, I’m not bitter, Greef Carga. I just want the record to show that I called him that way back in Chapter 1. And honestly, if this is the sort of story…
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and the Insistent Intimacy of Being Known
I usually wear a smartwatch; a round Android smartwatch which, while I like it, isn’t very good: in recent months, it’s taken to buzzing loudly for no particular reason a couple of times a day. I wish I could figure…
The Mandalorian Chapter 2: Supernatural Infant
The second episode of The Mandalorian did not disappoint, but again it required a second viewing to really give the show its due. I was a bit overwhelmed in this episode at how much like A New Hope it felt;…
The Mandalorian Chapter 1: Rebuilding a People
It took until my second viewing of The Mandalorian’s “Chapter One” for me to take a good critical look at the show. My internal eleven-year-old, long since resigned to never again having an experience like Shadows of the Empire, finally…
Editorial: Martin Scorsese and the Marvel-Go-Round
Around the middle of the decade, Harper’s critic Charles E. Whittaker gave a scathing film review. Art is supposed to be expressive, he said; but the idea of “art” is far from the movie… …not merely in absence, but in…
Trektember: 2019 Wrap-Up (plus: Deep Space Nine Season 8?!)
Hey, guess what? We did it, for the fourth time! (Did what? If you missed the entirety of Trektember, click here) This year’s Trektember reminded me how much I really love Deep Space Nine. It isn’t a perfect television show,…
Trektember: Treachery, Faith and the Great River
“Treachery, Faith and the Great River” contains, from my point of view, the second-funniest line ever written in the entirety of the Star Trek canon. Weyoun: Let’s just say I left Cardassia because my life was in danger. Odo: From…
Trektember: The Sound of Her Voice
Star Trek doesn’t do ghost stories very often. In an intentionally pro-science, anti-supernatural universe, the unusual always has an explanation; gods are advanced shape-shifters, prophets are nonlinear aliens living inside a wormhole, and spirits do not haunt our heroes. This…