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Substream Magazine •

Star Wars Doubles Down On Nostalgic Adventure In First Two 'Skeleton Key' Episodes

Kids have it hard in the Star Wars universe. Take Anakin Skywalker, for example. He was born into slavery and later has to leave his mom because he’s at the center of some fate-of-the-world prophecy. If you’re a Jedi youngling studying at the temple, you barely have time to be a kid and must learn to suppress emotions we’d associate with that age. With the vast amount of planets in these galaxies, there must be a place with a healthy sense of fun and innocence paired with adventure. The first tw...
MovieWeb •

The Listeners Review: Rebecca Hall Intrigues in Buzzy Mystery Series

It’s amazing how a cross-section of people can interpret one singular phenomenon with so many different explanations, and how each explanation can create a community, for better or worse. An earthquake, a shooting, a disease, a feeling — most people look to science or common sense, others to political conspiracies, some to God, some to scapegoats. HBO's underrated The Leftovers is a phenomenal example of depicting this, how hubris, power (or the lack thereof), fear, and ignorance can create diff...
Substream Magazine •

'Napkins' Is The Bear's Way Of Fighting Off Runaway Ambition

In a world that feels like a never-ending hamster wheel of ambition, sometimes you want the comfort of routine to get you through the day. You could even argue The Bear itself could use a bit more routine to balance Carmy’s unrelenting need to get a Michelin star. Until ‘Napkins,’ everyone gets caught up in the tornado of Carmy’s anxieties, falling in love with the wrong kind of process. It’s unclear if the partnership between Carmy and Sydney will survive or if Cicero might decide to up and pul...
Substream Magazine •

'The Bear' S3E3 Review: Repetition Ain't All It's Cracked Up To Be - Substream Magazine

With The Bear, you can bank on an episode chronicling the heightened anxiety and anguish of running a restaurant. In the first season, there was the way-too-many-order meltdown of ‘Review,’ last season; it was the family and friends night gone wrong with ‘The Bear,’ and now we have ‘Doors.’ Carmy finds solace in structure because it’s the only thing he seems to have a grip on in his life. This is why he creates the non-negotiable list as a personal set of commandments to abide by. But the funny...
Substream Magazine •

'The Bear' Season 3, Episode 2 Review: A New, Shaky Chapter Is Non-Negotiable

“Take us there, Bear.” That’s a lot of pressure upon the shoulders of someone who is barely holding it all together in the first place. Is it possible Carmy is the capable leader The Bear needs him to be, considering he’s locked inside a routine that doesn’t allow for any malleability to be considerate to the others around him? “Next” perhaps feels like the collective of The Bear is looking to move forward, but not with a sense of identity other than Carmy’s quest to get a Michelin star. There’s...
Substream Magazine •

'The Bear' Season 3, Episode 1 Review: 'Tomorrow'

It’s all about what you can control, which is exactly why Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) finds his home in the kitchen preparing food. In ‘The Bear’s’ season three premiere, ‘Tomorrow,’ Carmy is writing a list of non-negotiables drawn from his previous travels and experiences. They run the gambit of saying “perfect means perfect” and “not about you,” a lot of principles that one would think are pillars of a successful restaurant. One of the very first ones he writes down is “less is more” –  somethi...
Substream Magazine •

The Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show's Intimate and Thorny Portrait Is Still Curated

It’s okay to start watching a reality television series with a healthy skepticism about what scenarios are based on fact. Who in their right mind would subject themselves to a Truman Show-esque setting where the world can see them fully, warts and all? Even in the early days of MTV’s The Real World, cameras were present, and specific edits were made to elevate drama or perhaps infer romantic liaisons more than they were for storyline purposes. I almost want to ask if people would be enthralled t
Substream Magazine •

Euphoria Ending With Season Two Wouldn't Be The Worst Thing In The World

It is March 25th, and to say that most of the main cast of HBO’s hit show Euphoria is busy would be an understatement. Zendaya is coming off the first big hit of 2024, Dune Part II, Sydney Sweeney is riding high from the successes of Anyone But You and Immaculate, Hunter Schaffer had a supporting role in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and her first starring role in Cuckoo comes out in little over a month. Then there are Jacob Elordi’s roles in last year’s Saltburn and Pris
Substream Magazine •

'Echo' Review: A Good Enough MCU Limited Series

If you haven’t heard yet, as has been said through most of the MCU transition from 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, things are in flux. Since the inclusion of Disney+ shows into its extensive canon, the universe has been pulled in multiple directions with more projects on the docket, resulting in uneven results on both big and small screens. Going into 2024, Marvel had to decide how to welcome those who felt the weight of the number of projects they had to follow. This is where the Marvel Spotlight ser
DraftKings Network •

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ episode 3 review: War and the impulsiveness it creates

One thing I like that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters gets across is how this monster story ties into real-world implications – at least in the 1950s timeline, hitting a big point during “Secrets and Lies.” To think of enormous kaiju walking around the earth with the potential ability for massive amounts of destruction is terrifying. We’ve seen what happened in the current timeline with G-Day. That said, you can speak to the post-WW2 mindset of America. The improvements in the military, having new w
DraftKings Network •

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ episode 2 review: Abandon ship!

There’s a reason why ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monster’ is doing a dual storyline with this particular pace. It’s all about uncovering the mystery surrounding the shadowy government entity and the gloriously dangerous monster they track. It’s to temper expectations from the audience that they will be swimming in a Godzilla-laden destructive path (hence, monsters in the title). But also approach things from a more ground-level perspective. In “Aftermath,” we get not only Endoswarmers presumably killing
DraftKings Network •

‘The Curse’ episode 3 review: The ails of TikTok curses and the biases attached to "good" deeds

“I know your heart is in the right place, and I give you the benefit of the doubt.” Asher says it in his fight with Whitney at the end of “Questa Lane.” The tagline for The Curse could very well be “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” because no matter how “good” their intentions may be, Whitney and Asher are just unable to see themselves. Hell, they cannot see that Flipanthropy might not be the HGTV hit they are hoping for.

But don’t take that from me. The focus group gave enough e
DraftKings Network •

‘The Curse’s second episode speaks to trying to belong in a place that doesn’t want you

There’s a busyness to the first episode of The Curse that keeps the uneasy nature of the show moving from a reality television perspective and a more personal aspect of these characters with blindspots. “Pressure’s Looking Good So Far” meets Whitney, Asher, and Dougie in limbo. HGTV hasn’t picked up Flipanthropy yet, and everyone has their own thing to conquer regarding the episode. Some aspects are more action-oriented (and intentionally hilarious), and others are inner turmoil. Writer Carrie K
DraftKings Network •

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ premiere is a story of hidden families and kaiju destruction

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has two things to balance as a show set within this ever-growing monsterverse. There is the Godzilla expectations where the iconic character and other kaiju (or MUTO) have to appear in some form. But in an episodic format, you must tinker with the right frequency. If the show is full of roars and massive destruction, it dilutes the human connections and minimizes their effect. On the other hand, if they rarely show up at all, it might seem a little ridiculous in a wor
DraftKings Network •

‘The Curse’ premiere episode puts all those HGTV shows and their creators under intense bright lights

Those HGTV home renovation shows always bothered me. It’s not just them, either. There’s the fake altruistic feeling of Undercover Boss, where a CEO puts on a bad wig and cap to tell a worker who has been at the company for 15 years with no raise or promotion that they got two extra sick days and a coupon for Olive Garden. Here we have Showtime’s The Curse, which elects to veer into entertainingly absurd territory to fortify its satire.

The married couple of Asher and Whitney Seigel (Nathan Fie
DraftKings Network •

‘Invincible’s second episode feels the tug of the many sub plots it has to service

“A Lesson For Your Next Life” established Invincible’s second-season core issue in how the world picks up the pieces after what Oni-Man has done. “In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to a Fish” further investigates this within the characters of Mark and Debbie. Within that 40-minute timeframe, it also looks to introduce a few more subplots that are hit or miss in the whole scheme of the narrative. It can’t all focus on Mark and Debbie’s perspectives, even if they are the ones that work the b
DraftKings Network •

‘Invincible’s second episode feels the tug of the many sub plots it has to service

“A Lesson For Your Next Life” established Invincible’s second-season core issue in how the world picks up the pieces after what Oni-Man has done. “In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to a Fish” further investigates this within the characters of Mark and Debbie. Within that 40-minute timeframe, it also looks to introduce a few more subplots that are hit or miss in the whole scheme of the narrative. It can’t all focus on Mark and Debbie’s perspectives, even if they are the ones that work the b
DraftKings Network •

‘Loki’ season finale is all about the change of a glorious purpose and legacy

Some of the biggest set pieces within the Marvel Cinematic Universe are predicated on sacrifice from specific characters naturally arriving at that point for the greater good. With Tony Stark, he was an egotistical, hotshot billionaire at the helm of his father’s arms company in the beginning. The visions Scarlet Witch enchants his mind during the Age of Ultron leads Tony to be on the opposite side of his friends in Captain America: Civil War. The love of Pepper and being a father figure to Pete
DraftKings Network •

‘Invincible’s season two reentry sees the sins of the father and how they affect the son (and the world)

Omi-Man’s ultimate homicidal postal moment at the end of Invincible season one was always going to have immense ramifications extending beyond Mark a breath away from dying. What I appreciate from “A Lesson For Your Next Life” is that it approaches Where I Really Come From’s final moments from an extended range of levels. A key is not glossing over the extensive damage and deaths that occurred within the city of Chicago. Not only do they have to rebuild, but they live in fear that Omni-Man could
DraftKings Network •

‘Loki’s season two penultimate episode finds it’s why at the end of time

We had a week to get over the shock of the timeline ultimately melting down in the last episode of Loki. In the spirit of Nick Fury, it’s time to put a team together. Let’s call them the Time Variance Authority Avengers. Loki’s worst fears have been realized at the beginning of “Science/Fiction” in that he’s all alone. In all actuality, that’s always been his main fear and the underlying reason he wants to save the TVA. To preserve that structure is to keep in place his friends and support syste
DraftKings Network •

‘Loki’ episode four hones in on the usual MCU show cliffhanger with a literal big bang

Cautious: spoilers for ‘Loki’ episode four ahead. You’ve been warned.

If you’re reading this review, you’re aware of the tempo these Marvel shows go. Something big almost always happens at the end of episode four, and this season of Loki is no exception. I didn’t have the temporal loom exploding on my bingo card (I did have Victor Timely and O.B. being friends on it last week). I had two trains of thought regarding how everything ended up. At first, it was shock and amazement at that cliffhange
DraftKings Network •

‘Loki’s third episode is revolving around a Timely introduction (and love triangle?)

The prior two episodes of Loki established the overall problem and then had the characters develop around it to a satisfying degree. In “1893,” the Temporal Loom is still about to explode, and O.B. is freaking out about it. Sylvie has already been found, and now the attention turns to Ravonna Renslayer, Ms. Minutes, and a potential Kang variant in the late 1800s in Chicago. The episode provides a fresh landscape for Loki, Mobius, and co. to play around in. The World Fair setting looks incredible
DraftKings Network •

‘American Horror Story: Delicate’s’ part one finale stubs itself in trying to withhold too much for its own good

So, for all the American Horror Story: Delicate enthusiasts out there, let’s do a brief rundown going over some of the happenings before this part one finale. There’s Anna, an actress on the verge of superstardom and having her first child. But a wide range of weird things are going on in a world seemingly looking to make her choose between one or the other. She’s had a stillborn baby come back to life inside of her, and her husband isn’t privy to what’s going on and is close to a woman who look
DraftKings Network •

‘Loki’s season two premiere joins the hands of time and everyone’s skin goes unharmed

The best way to classify Loki’s second season premiere, “Ouroboros,” is a reacquaintance of characters and a recontextualization of the threat at hand. The Multiverse saga and the looming threat of Kang the Conqueror have encapsulated the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although we did see him earlier this year in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ I feel this episode did somewhat of a better job stating how much of a threat he is to everything.

Not only is the Time Variance Authority (TVA) in dis
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