Home » Articles » Reviews » Television

Category: Television

Carmen Sandiego review: Crime School of Thought

By Barry Neenan

And so we close out my (at time of writing) trilogy of reviews of Netflix cartoons starring spirited young women. After finishing She-Ra, I was honestly surprised to find many structural similarities to it in the new Carmen Sandiego reboot. The trailers had already informed me that Carmen had been given a moral makeover, placing her more firmly in the ‘spirited’ camp. But young, too? The Carmen I grew up was definitely an adult. Here, she’s barely out of Crime School.

…Yyyyyeah. Remember how I said your enjoyment of She-Ra would come down to how well you could process the words “queen of the princesses”? The analogue here is undoubtedly “Crime School”. Read more

She-Ra Review: Princess to Impress

By Barry Neenan

Thank god for Netflix. For a while there, I was running dangerously low on animated shows starring spirited young women, but the studios within the Netflix empire have been working tirelessly to ensure I’m never bereft. A few months back we had Hilda, I’m currently watching Carmen Sandiego, and I’ve just now caught up on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Read more

Steven Reviewniverse: ‘Change Your Mind’

By Mark Laherty

In her well-known essay about the alleged genre of hopepunk, Alexandra Rowland compares it to the genre of ‘noblebright,’ which she says is “about goodness and truth and vanquishing evil forever, about a core of goodness in humanity… in noblebright, when we overthrow the dark lord the world is saved and our work is done. Equilibrium and serenity return to the land.” But in the real world, she continues, “There’s no such thing as winning forever. Evil cannot be vanquished, only beaten back for a day or two, and then it trickles back in, like water seeping through the cracks in a dam.”

So. Steven Universe.

Read more

Steven Reviewniverse: ‘Escapism’

By Mark Laherty

This prelude to ‘Battle of Heart and Mind,’ boarded by series stalwarts Joe Johnston and Adam Muto, sees Steven and Connie in dire straits. In seeking help, Steven is unhappily surprised to find himself reacquainted with some familiar faces. This makes the episode sound like a cool payoff to some part of Homeworld, which would make more sense than what we got here. But, what we have is cute too.

Read more

Steven Reviewniverse: ‘Familiar’

By Mark Laherty

After several months, we finally have a truly new episode. Since we’re in a heavily serialised stretch, this one feels more like a few plot-light scenes taken in isolation rather than a standalone story. The gist is that Steven has a chat with Yellow Diamond where she gets a few beats, a similar chat with Blue Diamond, then he gets a song and a Cinderella moment.

Read more

Steven Reviewniverse: ‘Legs from Here to Homeworld’

By Mark Laherty

And so, we begin the Diamond Days. As Steven Universe unfurls what surely must be one of its final batches of episodes, I’ll be writing the Steven Reviewniverse column. For today and the following three weeks, I’ll be reviewing each new episode as it airs, followed by a bigger breakdown of the four-episode event ‘Battle of Heart and Mind’ on January 21st. While these reviews won’t spoil the episodes themselves, they will spoil anything that’s come before owing to the heavily serialised structure of SU arcs. With that said, let’s begin.

Read more