Amy Amatangelo

Crudup gloriously leans into what the show truly is and watching his performance is an utter delight. .... Strangely, Alex and Bradley don’t have that much screen time together as other plots pull the two main characters apart. Both act in ways that aren’t totally consistent with their characters, but narrative integrity has never really been the show’s strong suit.

The penultimate episode, the last made available to critics, is a riveting nailbiter. The community of Paradise may not be as perfect as it seems, but the TV series Paradise pretty much is.

What gives No Good Deed extra oomph is the ongoing murder mystery that unravels slowly over the eight episodes. The action flashes back and forth through time and the suspects are many. The ultimate culprit is a great plot twist that I, for one, did not see coming. And, thanks to Kudrow and Romano, the finale hits hard emotionally.

As the series has gone on, the storylines have become far too familiar and repetitive. .... But then, like the underdog story the series is rooted in, Cobra Kai rises from the ashes to come out on top. By the end of the five episodes that premiere as part of this first tranche of the sixth season, the series delivers one heck of a cliffhanger.

Preston remains a delight. .... The first three episodes plant the seeds for a larger mystery the show may need to grapple with, and perhaps that ultimately will make Elsbeth appointment television. But right now? It’s just a disappointing letdown.

The show totally works. The comedic beats, witty repartee, and comedy of errors-pratfalls and misunderstandings are all still there.

Ventimiglia and Kim do have remarkable on screen chemistry. ... I’m curious enough about this fairly ambitious network television drama to keep the show company and find out.

The supporting cast play their roles broadly and without a lot of nuance, making their characters extremely one-dimensional. Larroquette, who always made Dan more than his snarky comments, and Talwalkar, whose Neil is figuring out what he wants to do with his life, are the notable exceptions.

The show And Just Like That should have been. Fun, funny, emotional, and full of characters and friendships you care about. A celebration of what it’s like to be in your 40s and 50s.

You can almost feel the show trying too hard to be of-the-moment trendy. Often it can feel like when your parents use a slang term that’s passé.