Michael Cooney

The show seems scatterbrained. I get the first season. It's a picaresque, so not all episodes advance the main plot (e.g. Brenda at Halloween), kind of like how Buffy was. But so many things started to be left unresolved. It's like they planned double episodes, but just didn't film the second part. Others have mentioned the Angel episode in the early second season. At the end, a pregnant guest character goes missing, and her husband claims something miraculous. It's never mentioned again. Literally no followup at all in the next episode. No hand off to police, so interrogating the husband, no more probing whether he's an angel or not. It's like the Church just lost interest. The writers also don't understand emotions well. So many characters act oddly. A skeptic, who's literally always been right in each episode hears something bonkers from a girl he's been on a date with, but sticks around anyway. A mother dates her daughters stalker, and even after he breaks her heart by stating exactly that he was doing it just to hurt her daughter, she still hangs out with him occasionally, still undermines her daughter. These are so unbelievable re/actions from these characters. It officially jumped the shark in Season 2 Episode 10, where the aforementioned mother trusts the psychopath to set her up on a blind date where she winds up drugged and abused by the psychopath and the set-up guy. Just totally unbelievable choices. I wouldn't bother watching. Maybe, if you have discipline, just watch the first season. There's still some ridiculousness, but it's mostly contained.

I like characters, not caricatures. The plot is both ridiculous and porous, while somehow still being entirely banal. Acting is really poor. Save your two hours for something else.

This is a truly terrific film. Just rewatched it, and it stands the test of time. Terrific, real performances with nuance. The main character is unlikable but that's part of it's charm. It's not an easy film. It also doesn't beat you over the head or give you everything you want. Absolutely worthy of Best Picture.