Image via Complex
After an HBO-led winter, it's dope to see some other channels starting to emerge and deliver quality talent. That's right, FX returned this week with a full slate of premieres, including the return of a steady favorite. FX on Hulu is the actual truth.
These aren't the only fire that dropped this week, but they are the best. This is truly the calm before the storm; big things are going to continue coming through, making this list more robust than it normally was. It works, as we can't want to fully be submerged with fire television and film. Savor these moments, scroll, and figure out what you need to make a part of your viewing.
'The Outsider' - "Tigers and Bears" (Season 1, Episode 9)
Where to Watch: HBO Now
In the series’ penultimate episode, we’re given a very simple plot—Ralph, Holly, and co. figure out that El Cuco lives in the cave near the cave convention from the previous episode and venture there to stop it. However, the episode starts with a flashback from decades ago focusing on the Weaver brothers. They play in a barn eerily similar to the barn in which Terry Maitland’s clothes were found, eventually veering into Bear Cave and getting stranded. It’s clear that they’re somehow tied to El Cuco, with their story providing the warning that El Cuco cannot be stopped.
In the present day, Ralph examines the photo of Claude at the cave convention, trying to convince the local police that the real Claude was, in fact, with him and his fellow officers the entire night. Ralph and Yunis interview El Cuco’s almost-victim—the young boy from the previous episode. With Ralph asking whether the boy or his family scratched by El Cuco, it’s an indication that he’s slowly embracing Holly’s theory. He’s not only starting to believe in El Cuco, but he’s also determined to stop it.
The episode interweaves between the present day and the flashbacks of the Weaver boys. Their father organizes a search party and leads them into the cave, only to be trapped inside and suffer slow deaths. Holly has observed how El Cuco usually lives near cemeteries, festering off of the pain of grieving love ones. As Ralph and his team zero in on Bear Cave as El Cuco’s hiding spot, they question whether they can even stop this insidious boogeyman if it’s been around for decades, possibly centuries.
This particular episode’s ending is by far the series’ most devastating one. We see characters we’ve invested in not only position themselves in danger but get swiftly killed off. Seeing who survives Jack’s killing spree (including Jack himself) is a question for the finale, but at this point, no one is safe as they get closer to El Cuco. —Andie Park
'Better Call Saul' - “The Guy For This” (Season 5, Episode 3)
Where to Watch: https://www.amc.com/shows/better-call-saul/season-5/episode-03-the-guy-for-this
The opening of Better Call Saul’s third episode of season five, “The Guy For This,” opens in a fashion not unfamiliar to viewers of the Breaking Bad universe. A largely artistic opening, we return to Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) dropped ice cream cone as a large group of ants begin to swarm over it, eating up all the sweetness. It’s perhaps a bit dramatic to frame this as an infection, but it’s fitting nevertheless; whatever actions Jimmy had taken of the course of the show had always skirted the lines of legality, but by the episode’s conclusion there’s no mistaking the fact that Jimmy is fully into the “criminal” part of his eventual criminal lawyer namesake. Jimmy’s actions with the burners could be viewed—under a certain lens—as a lark, but this is different. He’s in it now.
So much of this episode hangs on Odenkirk’s fantastic performance, realizing that his relationship with Nacho (Michael Mando) has basically trapped him into an ongoing working with his one-time client. With Lalo (Tony Dalton) pulling the strings now, there’s not a path forward for Jimmy other than to continue under these circumstances. The way Odenkirk plays these moments of realization continues to show that Jimmy, at least at this point, is just Saul in name only. While the real corruption is still to come, the marching ants prove it officially begins here.
On the Kim (Rhea Seehorn) front, her work with Mesa Verde puts her in just as difficult a position. Despite the freedom she believes she may have, Kim has to respond to the big client that, at the end of the day, still keeps the lights on. Even if it means having to wield the hammer of the law to force a tenant (played by character actor Barry Corbin) off his property.
With a cameo appearance that’s better left a surprise, “The Guy For This” continues to move Better Call Saul along at a thrilling pace, proving to be a nice little parable on reckoning with the consequences of one’s actions. Sometimes, you just can’t get out clean. —William Goodman
'Better Things' - "She's Fifty" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Where to Watch: FX on Hulu
New TV Season is officially kicked off via a week of FX premieres to celebrate their new FX on Hulu initiative (which brings joy to this person who's had to struggle using the FX streaming site and app in the past). And while shows like Breeders and Devs have piqued our interest, it's Pamela Adlon's Better Things that has (re-)won our hearts. With the third full season where she's writing, directing, producing, and starring in every episode of the series, you can see how much Adlon's directing eye is fully-realized. We get a real Sam-focused episode this week; she's overjoyed at the bum car she's left with, as it means she can cop a new whip. She's also helping her friend (played by the underrated Cree Summer in her Season 4 return) deal with her own relationship while turning up at the gym, and having to deal with the realization that she has to re-audition for the voice role she made famous years back. It ends with a bit of hard truths regarding animal ownership, and calls it a day, but it brings some truly awesome looks into where Sam is at as a person, not just a mother, at this point in her life. Truly sets the tone for the season as it develops; expect to see this series on these pages on a regular basis. —khal