Isaac Feldberg

“Joke Show,” an hour-long defense of women being as obscene as the obscenity of the world around them demands, is funny. But it’s also forthright about how, in times as vulgar as these, she’s just a dirty mirror reflecting the crude national soul.

Sharp pop-culture commentary, escalating punchlines, and versatile performances are in steady supply across this series. ... It’s every bit as bizarre, and often just as brilliant [as “I Think You Should Leave"]

May be one of Netflix’s weirdest decisions yet. But this 45-minute special will likely be welcomed with open arms by fans of the show, which blended anti-capitalist messaging with loopily surreal animation.

[“Wu Assassins”] isn’t reinventing the wheel. But it does effectively showcase lead Iko Uwais. ... “Wu” coasts on the same, all-important rule of cool every Hollywood action franchise save the “John Wick” movies (with whom this series shares actor Mark Dacasos) seems to have forgotten.

The documentary is forthright about aiming to defend Meek. And it’s impressively clear-eyed about the bigger picture: how disproportionately the criminal justice system penalizes young black men who, like Meek, become ensnared in a vicious arrest-prison-probation cycle and, unlike him, lack the considerable resources required to break free.

“The Terror: Infamy” takes great pains to depict the full horror of internment, including the psychological toll it took on detainees. ... “Infamy” is thematically rich beyond that, especially in how it navigates the old ways, the new, and the messy realities in which they collide. The struggle between assimilating and honoring one’s cultural history is painful and knotted for many immigrants, and it’s given room to breathe here.

After a fitfully frightening start, the series falls into a kind of narrative catatonia benefiting none of the actors, even pros like Goldwyn and Thurman. ... The show’s sluggish pace often dilutes its sense of dread. The ingredients are there for a loopy body-horror freakout, but this series’ pulse stays damnably faint, even when it should be sending yours through the roof.

Four episodes in, the season’s still in cruise control, taking its time to build mood and character in ways a lesser show might deem unneccessary but that continue to make Mr. Mercedes one of the most sturdily constructed thrillers on television. ... Still one of television’s darker, most compelling rides.

At its core, this is a show sweetly more concerned with reaffirming the power lovers draw from one another than watching the world tear them apart in dramatic fashion. And even if what plot surrounds it is ultimately too shapeless to make you crave the too-eagerly teed-up second season, that’s an aim too refreshingly earnest not to embrace.

For a while, it smacks of an admittedly less optimistic version of Mirror‘s “San Junipero,” these two repressed young women finding a much-needed release in one another that’s terabytes more intoxicating that anything Azana could render. But somewhere around the fourth hour of its 6-episode first season, the show becomes something markedly different and far less interesting: a tech-thriller overflowing with bugs it can’t patch.