Classic Coverage looks back on the episodes of past shows from a modern perspective.
The Simpsons has always been better at capturing the foibles of everyday human thinking than taking on broad social trends, ideas, and policies, and this episode is a great demonstration of that. As a commentary on American gun culture, it’s … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Six, “The Cartridge Family”
The Library Halfway through the second season of the show, the writers for Avatar know it’s time to refocus the story. The first half of the season honed in on two story tracks: Aang getting an earthbending teacher, and the ongoing conflicts … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Library” & “The Desert”
Well, well, well, what have we here? An episode that has dinner parties, country manors, butlers, poison, and a double fake or three? Sounds like comfort food to your Faithful Author in These Troubled Times (TM)! The Setup: Dick Abernethie, … Continue reading Poirot (Classic): S10E03 “After the Funeral”
Showtime’s Masters of Horror debuted in 2005. It was a horror anthology series where a mix of established and emerging horror directors were invited to create hour long horror films with no restrictions. They could do whatever they wanted with … Continue reading Masters of Horror S1 E10 “Sick Girl”
The Chase The thrill of season two of Avatar is that you can have an episode like “The Chase”: a fun, thrilling, and action packed adventure that would be a highlight from the first season, sandwiched between two of the best episodes … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Chase” & “Bitter Work”
In Which This Man Does Have a Name Avatar has always excelled at being a show of genre, a blending of multiple influences and ideas that synthesizes them instead of merely replicating the experience. Avatar is a melange of Harry Potter, Lord of the … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Zuko Alone”
Sacre bleu! I expect this week’s episode to most divisive among fans of the original work, n’est ce pas? Not surprising as it is, in many ways, at odds with itself; just as the sinister Mr. Shaitana’s party divides the … Continue reading Poirot (Classic): S10E02 “Cards on the Table”
In 2005, Showtime debuted an anthology horror series called Masters of Horror. Each hour long episode was directed by a different horror director. Some of them are practically household names; others are relatively unknown. Each director received the same budget to … Continue reading Masters of Horror S1E09 “The Fair-Haired Child”
In Which Toph Joins The Gaang From this moment to the finale of season two, Avatar goes on a astonishing run of episodes. Perfectly balancing out singular episodic stories with grander narrative moments, blowing out our characters in new and exciting fashion, … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Blind Bandit”
It never occurred to me until watching this to consider the prequel episodes in the context of the discussion of Hollywood prequels; ever since the Star Wars prequels came out and we had a glut of prequels and reboots of … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Four, “Lisa’s Sax”
Return to Omashu Avatar is a show that does not forget its past. Such a tool can be wearying as writers have to navigate reams of important canon and context when they tell such a long story, but it’s also a … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Return to Omashu,” “The Swamp,” & “Avatar Day”
One can be forgiven, mes amis, for experiencing a bit of deja vu this week, as our tale of murder most foul is an outsized retelling of a shorter work we’ve covered here before – “The Plymouth Express”. How does … Continue reading Poirot (Classic): S10E01 “The Mystery of the Blue Train”
In 2005, Showtime debuted Masters of Horror, an original anthology series of hour long horror films. Famous and emerging horror directors were given the same budget and no restrictions on what they could make their film about. It’s actually pretty … Continue reading Masters of Horror S1E08 “Cigarette Burns”
The Avatar State If you’re a reader joining the watch of Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time you may be a touch consternated by the lavish high praise that the show has received. While the first season is an … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Avatar State” & “The Cave of Two Lovers”
Here is an episode that I react to in much the same way many of you reacted to “The Principal And The Pauper”. I’ll start with the good: I always found the broad idea of Lisa’s frustration in this episode … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Three, “Lisa The Simpson”
In Which There’s a Giant Fish In all ways that Avatar is a response to the renewed interest in fantasy during the 2000’s, in its production it is fairly modest. For all the epic questing and grandiose sweep, it’s still a TV … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Siege of the North”
Quite the week, n’est ce pas? Let us then proceed forthwith in a tale of skulduggery and… uh… a sort-of-but-not-quite-a-mystery? I dunno, let’s figure it out bullet-point style this week, because time is limited (and frankly I didn’t like this … Continue reading Poirot (Classic): S09E04 “The Hollow”
Masters of Horror is an anthology horror series from 2005. Famous and emerging horror directors were given a set budget to create an original hour long horror film. There were no other restrictions. The show ran for two seasons on … Continue reading Masters of Horror: S1E07 Deer Woman
The Northern Air Temple As I’ve noted multiple times throughout this series, the first season of Avatar has constituted a string of introductions. A show thoroughly laying the groundwork for the epic fantasy story to come. Sometimes those openings are cleaner then … Continue reading Re-Avatar State “The Northern Air Temple” & “The Waterbending Master”
I admit that this episode is a big part of why I wanted to continue on into season nine. How could you not talk about the single most controversial episode of the show? Much like “Homer’s Enemy”, its controversy comes … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Two, “The Principal And The Pauper”
The Fortuneteller After finally fully grounding our characters, setting up the stakes for the series, and providing thrilling spectacle in the past few episodes, Avatar does a curious thing. Just when it seems like the engines are kicking into high gear it … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Fortuneteller” “Bato of the Water Tribe” & “The Deserter”
