CT Jones

By allowing all of the cringe, all of the hope, all of the tears and beach runs with blaring soundtracks, The Summer I Turned Pretty drags people in with the promise of a desperate love triangle, but eventually delivers a bittersweet reflection on maturity and desire — one that feels like it could be watched again and again.

The end of high school is a pivotal time that countless shows have tried to replicate and only a handful have managed to successfully pull off. I’d never have imagined I’d be saying this about a show that used to be a despised Mindy Kaling self-insert, but Never Have I Ever genuinely pulls it off.

The issues of race and inheritance only bog the series down with every mention — giving few answers and leaving in their wake massive questions about Bridgerton’s world. With only six episodes, there’s still plenty of glitz and glam that longtime Bridgerton fans will cling to. But by centering serious issues without handling any of them deftly, Queen Charlotte’s final result paints a pretty picture, just not one you want to look at for too long.

Mei Li and Renaux truly give their all, imbuing Alina and Mal’s relationship with the right amount of earnest pining and steaminess. But the show still falls back on YA tropes, failing to ramp up the sexiness in the right way. ... Shadow and Bone accidentally lets The Crows snatch the spotlight, making every moment they’re off the screen — and there are a lot of them — annoying. ... Shadow and Bone isn’t great. But you can’t call it boring.

In Part 2 of You, the series shows that its previous missteps were all part of a larger cause: an earth-shifting reveal in Episode Seven that takes the Netflix show from misguided to wild, jaw-dropping fun.

Season Three sacrifices nearly all of the show’s original charm to keep its already-unbelievable treasure hunt theme going just a little while longer. Season Three of Outer Banks relies heavily on narration and flashbacks to keep its momentum going, a party trick that does little to hide its thin plot.

It succeeds both technically and as a piece of art, skillfully weaving shots of Black Americans with firsthand accounts, explanations, interviews and stories that have been consistently omitted from the historical record.