Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Silicon Valley, Season Three:
This was a pretty successful season with minimal retread of earlier story lines but all of the original characters finding some way to remain relevant in the story. I felt like the character of Erlich Bachman was slightly overused, and the weirdness of Jared was used just enough.

Final Grade: B+

Patton Oswalt: Annihilation:
This stand-up special gets all of the Trump jokes out of the way at the beginning and gets better from there. A large portion dives into the recent death of his wife, but the special never drags or gets too somber. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: B

Mindhunter, Season One:
This show is based on the book about serial killers by John Douglas, but even David Fincher can't keep the pilot from being slow and overly dialogue-y. That is really the theme of the venture, as the characters and plot are really just flat ciphers for the hugely interesting behaviorial crime knowledge originating from the book. The show is pretty uneven (I did finish it) and most people will probably get bored pretty quickly -- better to just read the original book. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: C+

The Insistence of Memory by Susan Quilty:
This sci-fi thriller about the concept of memory is written by one of Rebecca's yoga teachers. Though the back cover blurb is reminiscent of an episode of Black Mirror, the book immediately and effectively carves its own space out of the subject matter. It's a fast-paced read with a good blend of mystery plot and open-ended questions about where technology will lead us.

Final Grade: B+