Allison Keene

Wainwright knows how to do a proper sendoff that speaks to the series’ many recurring themes, pays homage to its troubled locale, and honors its affecting stories. While there’s not much happiness to find in Happy Valley, there’s the right amount of satisfaction in the glimmer of hope that we get a peek of at the end.

Unlike Season 3, there are fewer (if any) memorable moments from the start of Season 4. It mostly runs off vibes, filled with ennui, as its characters exist adrift in their own lives.

It will be of little surprise from a Horgan project that the series’ women are written incredibly well and portrayed with humor and heart—the excellent cast shines in individual scenes and when they are together. But Claes Bang is also phenomenal as a man you not only want to see murdered, you’d like to do it with your own bare hands.

Only Murders’ second season feels more like a seamless continuation of its first rather than a whole new case, which—along with the show’s incredible sweaters, coats, and sports jackets—adds to the overall cozy and familiar feel. Essentially, everything you loved about the first season is still fully intact here, and while not perfect, it’s still a charm and a half.

Hotel Portofino makes for a relaxing getaway. It’s the kind of series that invites you to relax and spend some quality time basking in its well-coiffed drama—I simply wish we didn’t have to check out so soon.

Quiet, dark, staid, and familiar in many ways, Becoming Elizabeth may not win over any new viewers to the genre, but for the faithful it certain fills its niche well, guided by excellent dialogue and direction and full of satisfying turns.

There is a sense of rebirth here built on a new, enlightened, and empowered understanding of 21st century womanhood, wonderfully represented by the unlikely triumph of the group.

It’s like we the viewers are Anne Walker to Gentleman Jack’s Anne Lister—it knows we are prone to anxiety and melancholy, and therefore handles us lovingly and carefully, only providing what we can take on. And like Walker, it’s hard—even when faced with faults—not to fall in love.

Unfortunately, A Very British Scandal is a dull, lifeless retelling that wants very badly to say something but—just like Anatomy of a Scandal—delivers little more than banal cruelty from the extremely wealth.

Barry Season 3 is all about second chances. There are various seeds of revenge being planted, but also the powerful idea that forgiveness must be earned. Where Barry or Barry goes next is an exciting, if trepidatious mystery. But both the man and the show are earning every step.