The shot in Blue Heron that still makes me cry days later
The film about one family navigating an impossible situation does remarkable things with memory and storytelling.
Latest
The Sopranos finale could have been made yesterday
Whatever happens to Tony Soprano in the series finale, we're still living in his world.
Pluribus: Episode 9, "La Chica o El Mundo"
Save the world, or get the girl? Maybe it's not that simple.
Episodes Monday Rundown April 27–May 3 2026
This week: Charlie Kaufman, Martin Scorsese, Spike Jonze, and a gorgeously melancholic kids' show.
Check out what premium Episodes subscribers were reading in April!
Hello, beloved free subscribers! Today, we close the book on April, and with it a very busy month of publishing for Episodes. We published 17 pieces this month, with new writing from us every single Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday on Deadwood, Project Hail Mary, Something Very Bad Is Going
The Drama can't decide what it's about
A movie this well-crafted ought to have more going for it than shock value.
Want a romcom that goes to some very real, complicated places? Try Girl Next Door.
Rachel Meredith, author of Emily's favorite romance novel of 2025, discusses wedding ridiculous premises to real psychological heft.
Pluribus: Episode 8, "Charm Offensive"
Everything costs something.
Episodes Monday Rundown April 20–26 2026
This week: The Drama, Project Hail Mary, and some true classics of literature.
Project Hail Mary isn't competence porn. It's a love story.
The film's relationships matter more than its equations. You wouldn't know it from the discourse.
How I Met Your Mother is one last message from a pre-Recession world
And other theories on why this once-beloved sitcom hasn't quite endured
Pluribus: Episode 7, "The Gap"
Whether existential malaise or terrifying spiky palm trees, we all have things to overcome.
Rundown
Episodes Monday Rundown April 13–19 2026
This week: Faces of Death, Exit 8, and the new Olivia Rodrigo!
Mailbag
April mailbag!
This month: books that need reissues, songs that belong to one director, and the Buffy Big Bad ranking you've been waiting for.
Max Richter
The biggest danger of over-licensed music in movies and TV
Maybe the song doesn't need to do all the feeling for the audience!
pluribus
Pluribus: Episodes 6, "HDP"
Wait, WHAT are the Joined doing? Let's let John Cena explain.
Rundown
Episodes Monday Rundown April 6–12 2026
This week: The Testaments, The Subtle Knife, and an album that hints at the end of a beloved show.
Mailbag
Submit your April mailbag questions!
It's that time again!
Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen
Not every story should be two hours or 10 hours
Netflix's Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen shows the limits of "this should have been a movie" as a criticism
26 Episodes
We don't respect Grey's Anatomy enough
2005's 26 Episodes pick reveals the very gendered way we talk about "great" television
review
Pluribus: Episode 5, "Got Milk"
Sometimes, you don't want to be a sci-fi protagonist. Sometimes, you don't get a choice.
Roofman
Episodes Monday Rundown March 30–April 5 2026
This week: Roofman, First Time Caller, and a whole lotta horror.
Tournament of Books
Why did this year's Tournament of Books care so much about men?
Or: Why were the only books that got praised for being "about men" the grim, airless ones?
deadwood
Deadwood, God, and the coarsening of America
The show's first-season finale linked death, life, and everything else.