Reviews of Feud, Tokyo Vice, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, and much more from the week in TV

True Detective: Night Country recap: It’s hunting season

Is Raymond Clark—that spiral-tattooed scientist who somehow wrenched himself free from the Corpsicle last week—the man responsible for those Tsalal deaths? Eh, likely not, given how early in the season it is for True Detective: Night Country. But Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) still need to track the dude down to get answers not only about what happened to those freeze-dried researchers out on the ice that night, but also Annie Masu Kowtok’s still-unsolved murder case from six years earlier. Read More

How are we still processing The Curse finale?

The Curse is gone; long live The Curse. And thanks to the series’ unforgettable ending, it probably will—at least in our minds. As a goodbye present, Showtime’s drama delivered 2024’s first truly petrifying episode of TV with its season-one finale, which dropped on January 14. “Green Queen” leaves a haunting memory in its wake as a WTF-inducing hour of television, which is simultaneously delirious, shocking, and darkly comical. How often do you look at the screen and go, “He what? He clung to a tree branch that was chopped off, thus ejecting him into the goddamn orbit?” How are we expected to process that? It’s exactly the kind of episode that takes up space in your brain long after it’s over. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Read More

10 times J.B. Smoove was the best part of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Those of us who felt compelled to rewatch beloved shows during the more locked-down days of the pandemic may have noticed a certain “ruckus” was missing from the earlier seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm. That’s because, if you’ve acclimated to the pace of the later seasons, especially nine through 11, Leon Black (portrayed by actor/writer/comedian J.B. Smoove) has been a force in defining it. Where Larry David is self-loathing, Leon is all self-love; when Larry has a wild idea, Leon either immediately cosigns it, or goes wilder. And Larry supports Leon’s big schemes as well, even driving him to different spots around town to step in for workers who need someone to watch their post as they go pee (a business endeavor Leon and Larry named Gotta Go in season 11). The comedic escalation that Smoove’s improvising chops have brought to this show is rare and undeniable. Read More

Mr. & Mrs. Smith review: A heartfelt, surprising spy thriller

Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s most appealing thrills aren’t found in its gun-toting action scenes, high-octane chases in stunning locales, or undercover spying. No, in Prime Video’s new drama, which premieres February 2, the true adventure lies in the dissection of a nuanced, somewhat cursed relationship. Against all odds, Mr. & Mrs. Smith works because of this. Despite a measured start and a bunch of predictable twists, the story clicks into place as the show slowly but endearingly builds on its strengths over eight episodes. Read More

February 2024 TV preview: Shōgun, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and 38 other shows to watch

February is shaping up to be a busy TV month, with network shows like Abbott Elementary and Ghosts finally returning. There are plenty of action dramas to look forward to as well, including the Donald Glover– and Maya Erskine-led Mr. And Mrs. Smith and FX’s epic saga Shōgun. Plus, Netflix’s hyped live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender arrives, as does the final round of Curb Your Enthusiasm. And that’s just scratching the surface of what the month has to offer. Read on for The A.V. Club’s guide to what to watch in February. Read More

Netflix’s American Nightmare is a must-see indictment of police misogyny

Believe women. It’s not just a political phrase or concept that rediscovered fame once the #MeToo movement emerged in 2017. It has, to be polite, always been a basic expectation. It’s not hard to meet it, yet society’s internal misogyny has everyone continually asking for it: Believe women. It’s what you’ll be repeating throughout American Nightmare, Netflix’s latest true-crime docuseries, which documents a wild, eye-opening case. Read More

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans review: A brisk, bitchy eight hours of eye candy

There’s an unfortunate meta in-joke in episode two of Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. Truman Capote, the celebrity-obsessed celebrity author, has been cast out of New York café society circa 1977. He is at home, bloated and blotto, inhaling Chinese takeout in front of the television. What he’s watching is an episode of Family, the landmark 1976-80 TV series that remains unsurpassed in portraying the real-life emotional dynamics between parents and children. “The writing is sooooo good,” says the frustrated Capote, who compares it to Tennessee Williams, concluding: “Even when they treat each other terribly, they still love each other.” Read More

Tokyo Vice season 2 review: Patience is power in the show’s slow-burning sophomore run

Tokyo Vice’s breathless first season had the rushed energy of a rookie reporter. Like its lanky, floppy-haired star, the show barreled into Japan’s yakuza underground with abandon. Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort), the gaijin reporter for the Meicho, would solve this whole organized crime thing on his first day. Sam (Rachel Keller), another white American expat, would circumvent the mob and open her nightclub without interference. Sato (Show Kasamatsu) would prove himself an invaluable yakuza oyabun. Over eight episodes, though, each of these plans would fall to sabotage or tragedy. Ultimately, their failures would define the season, leaving them worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. Ending on a series of massive cliffhangers, season one acted like a show outrunning its cancellation. Tokyo Vice promised a massive show. If only it could have more time to build on it. Read More

Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s showrunner previews the subversive new spy drama

Prepare for Mr. & Mrs. Smith to completely surprise you, at least according to series co-creator Francesca Sloane, who developed the show with star Donald Glover. Prime Video’s spy romance drama, which drops all eight episodes on February 2, is loosely based on the 2005 action film of the same name starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. But, as Sloane tells The A.V. Club, you should expect a fun subversion of the spy-romance genre here. Read More

Abbott Elementary has the perfect opportunity to explore autistic-coded characters

Since its debut in 2021, Abbott Elementary has managed to tackle issues related to class, race, and even the complexity of charter schools’ influence on education—and all without sacrificing its commitment to character development and ability to find humor in the public-school system. The sitcom has even shown characters making accommodations for specific disabilities: In the season-two premiere, Jacob converses with a student in ASL and Mrs. Howard finagles an ADA-compliant solution for a wheelchair-using student to sit comfortably at a desk in her classroom. One thing the show hasn’t touched on, however, at least explicitly, is neurodiversity (you know, autism, ADHD, typical brains—all the brains). But with Gregory on the scene and a third season kicking off February 7 on ABC, the series has a perfect opportunity—even a responsibility—to explore diversity in human cognition. Why? Because our pal Gregory is autistic-coded. Read More