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I enjoyed this season less than the first two. The strength of the show was always the chemistry between the main trio, and this season attempted to change up the formula by having them “split up” temporarily. It might have worked had they individually been given compelling storylines, but I think the show fell in love with the Broadway scene too much. Personally, I wasn’t very interested in the behind-the-scenes world of musicals, even if the musical itself—a murder mystery where the suspects are babies, called Death Rattle Dazzle!—is a pretty funny concept.

The premise and visual design of this show intrigued me enough for me to give it a watch. It takes place in a multi-level underground bunker, where the members of the population are not allowed to go out. The look of the show reminds me of the Fallout video games.

This show started off strong. The third episode is a standout, creating white-knuckle suspense from an engineering/mechanical problem. Unfortunately, beyond that episode, after the main character becomes the sheriff of the silo, it becomes a bit of a slog. She becomes fixated on the mystery of her lover’s death, which is only peripherally related to the mysteries that we as viewers want to solve: namely, what the heck is up with this silo, anyway?

This show has a killer premise that doesn’t quite pay off, in my opinion. A mysterious machine appears in the general store of a small town, and whenever someone presses a button, it spits out a card that predicts that person’s “potential.” I’m into cool supernatural concepts, but what I ended up enjoying about the show was more the character relationships and the comedy (especially when delivered by Chris O’Dowd). There’s a tragedy and a secret hanging over the core characters, and I thought there was enough drama there without the extra mystery of the machine. We don’t find out enough about what the cards really mean to make it compelling; perhaps the pressure to set up a second season forced them to drag out the plot.

I chose to watch this show because of its star, Alicia Vikander. Probably my biggest celebrity crush. She’s alluring as always in Irma Vep as an actress cast in a niche indie miniseries remake of a silent-era French film. There’s lots of behind-the-scenes filmmaking stuff which is both satirical about the excesses of turbulent artists, and sentimental about the purity of said artistry. It’s also cool to geek out with the layers of self-reference: we see scenes from the film-within-a-film, along with real footage from the original silent film, along with re-enactments of the production of the original silent film. Oh, I forgot to mention: Irma Vep itself is a remake of a film, and we see scenes from that film spliced in here as well. Throw in some unexpected supernatural turns and the scenery of Paris, and it adds up to a fun, chill, occasionally mind-bending watch.

Watching this show means almost always being on the verge of happy tears. Every character does exactly what you want them to, but it still feels like a surprise, because people just aren’t that nice in real life. I acknowledge that the third season lost its way, but I still enjoyed it, and I don’t want to let it take away from the perfection of the first two seasons.

This series is a collection of short animated films set in the Star Wars universe, without any concern for continuity. I wasn’t too hot on the first season, in which every episode was made by a different Japanese anime studio. Consequently, I found it monotonous, because many of the films had the same samurai feel. No offense to samurai.

Season 2, on the other hand, is much more diverse. I’m glad they expanded the palette to include animation studios from around the world. A highlight was “Screecher’s Reach”, with its painterly animation style, and horror-like journey into a dark cave.