Noel Murray

2 days ago | nytimes.com | Noel Murray

The "Star Wars" series, back for its final season, shows how a revolution takes hold and how even in times of radical change, people have to keep living their lives. Want to escape from the real world by watching a "Star Wars" TV show? Can I interest you in Season 2 of "Andor," which begins this week with stories about refugees being evicted from a safe haven, resistance fighters tearing each other apart, and the obscenely powerful plotting to destroy a whole planet? Maybe a touch too real?

3 days ago | nytimes.com | Noel Murray

The sophisticated and moody "Star Wars" prequel to "Rogue One" is returning for its second and final season. There's a lot to remember. It is totally fine that "Star Wars" series like "The Book of Boba Fett" and "Ahsoka" are aimed at deep-lore fans who collect the action figures, play the video games, watch the cartoons and know the difference between a Twi'lek and a Togruta. But it is also OK to think that "Andor," which returns to Disney+ on Tuesday at 9 p.m., stands apart.

4 days ago | nytimes.com | Noel Murray

The shocking twist in this week's episode is sure to have all kinds of fallout. One consequence is certain: The show will never be the same. In most postapocalyptic stories - "The Last of Us" included - one big idea that comes around repeatedly is that when death is omnipresent and inescapable, life becomes more precious. Just think of all the small twists of fate and fortune that kept Joel Miller alive for so long.

1 week ago | vulture.com | Noel Murray

Matlock Tricks of the Trade Season 1 Episodes 18 - 19 Editor’s Rating 3 stars *** At the end of last week’s Matlock recap, I made my predictions for how I thought the show’s first season would end. My guess was that Olympia’s whole team would leave Jacobson-Moore (either voluntarily or after getting fired) and go into business together with a lawsuit against Wellbrexa as their first major case. Annnnnd … I wasn’t even close.

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Noel Murray

It seems this season will be driven by one simple idea: that when Joel saved Ellie at the end of Season 1 and then lied to her, he made a mess. "The Last of Us" began with a prologue that set up everything about to happen, in the episode and in the series. In a scene set in 1968, a scientist explained that his greatest fear was that a warming planet would provide the perfect incubating conditions for a mind-controlling fungus that could turn humans into brainless killers.