Joy Press

Very few series operate on this many levels. Severance fuses together existential thriller, dystopian science fiction, corporate critique, romantic drama, buddy comedy and visual poem, with dollops of body horror mixed in for good measure. .... Not every plot path works, and it feels like every time one mystery is solved (or solved-ish), the writers drop another in its place. But the Severance team has come back to work with an engrossing, thoughtful season about exploitative billionaires, corporate trickery and the desire to escape real world misery. I can’t think of a more appropriate way to start off 2025.

Although we see a ton of the Front Man this season, his plans or motivation remain frustratingly opaque. It’s hard to love a show so claustrophobically submerged in trauma. Even star Lee Jung-Jae recently said of returning to his role as Gi-hun, “it was almost like I was being pulled back to hell.” This season of Squid Game doesn’t really get us anywhere new— which may just be the point.

The jokes about aging are mildly funny (on her osteoporosis: “I don’t even know how I’m standing up right now. I’m like a human sandcastle—I could disintegrate in the shower”). But they would be funnier if they didn’t feel like a ploy for sympathy, culminating in a saccharine speech about how she is no longer “a boss or a brand” but “a multifaceted person” who is honest and generous, but also tough and demanding.

With a title like How to Die Alone, you might be expecting either a self-helpish comedy crammed with #grateful #blessed platitudes or a harrowing existential drama. This new Hulu series from creator and star Natasha Rothwell actually blends both of these possibilities into an eccentric, uplifting dramedy with a real voice at its core.

The show’s second outing is both more cohesive and more disappointing, based on the four episodes I’ve seen—as if it’s either biding its time or preparing a launch pad for the back half of the season.

Based on watching half the season, I can’t say if The Acolyte will evolve into a classic. But it’s clear that Headland has set the show off on a unique path that is immensely watchable—and could open up a thoughtful new direction for the Star Wars universe.

This one doesn’t disappoint in the visual grandeur department. The VR scenes are particularly spectacular. .... But this show is a project of ideas, and I could never quite shake the aura of abstraction at its core.

In time, the formula may work. But right now, the organic warmth that inspired the pandemic binging isn’t there yet. .... Grammer overshadows everyone sharing the screen with him other than Lyndhurst, an English comedy legend best known for the 1980s sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

This season tips the scales toward preachiness. .... What saves the series from collapsing into earnestness is its unexpected swerves.

While it’s Eddie and Dulcie that command the storyline, a menagerie of brilliantly written and acted townsfolk and lower-ranking police round out the picture beautifully.