The fruits of all that binge-watching
Since 2016, Rotten Tomatoes-certified TV critic and Film Critics Guild member Akhil Arora has written and recorded over 280 TV series and episode reviews, largely from the entertainment worlds of the US, the UK, and India. You can discover the highlights on this page. Tap the year to discover the full collection of Akhil’s TV reviews from that year.
2024, 2023, and 2022
Heeramandi
“[Sanjay Leela] Bhansali can never seem to decide where he stands on his female protagonists. Does he view them as women who sell their bodies and souls to survive? Or does he see them as diamonds, women who defied the odds and struggled amidst pressure to emerge as shiny objects that everyone covets? Bhansali thinks he’s spinning a women empowerment tale … but the reality is far from it.”
Ted Lasso: Season 3
“[Just] because you’ve a plan in mind, doesn’t mean the plan is great or the execution is rock solid. (Hello, Game of Thrones!) With overlong episodes, unbelievable plotlines, botched character arcs, and the lack of the ol’ Lasso magic, the third and final season of TV’s favourite heartwarming series crumbled under the pressure and scored a howler of an own goal.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
“[Nothing] says you’re trying to cash in on the success of the Lord of the Rings films than The Rings of Power’s ultimate villain […] Sauron. After a brief tease at the start, just as with the movie trilogy, he mysteriously disappears. […] That hollowness is intentional, for [it] hangs itself around the suspense of Sauron’s true identity. Take a trip around the Internet, and you will notice that a majority of the discussion about the first season during its six-week run revolved around ‘Who is Sauron?’”
2021, 2020, and 2019
WandaVision
“Grief is usually the first act of a story, more so for the likes of Marvel that are in the business of making action epics for the big screen. […] Grief is the catalyst, not a destination. But not so for WandaVision. [The] longform nature allowed [it] to explore a character’s inner life like never before. No other MCU property has had this amount of time to navigate how a Marvel superhero is feeling.”
The Mandalorian: Season 2
“In contrast to the Star Wars lore-lite that was season 1, The Mandalorian season 2 intertwined itself more with the franchise’s past. […] If season 1 was about bringing in new fans to the Star Wars galaxy far, far away, then it seemed like The Mandalorian season 2 was about rewarding older fans. I mean, you can’t go much bigger on the nostalgia chart than Luke [Skywalker].”
Game of Thrones: Season 8
“Game of Thrones’ butchering of the Dorne storyline was the first major warning sign that the writers were incapable of successfully deviating from the written word.”
2018, 2017, and 2016
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
“What makes Bandersnatch [wild] is that [Charlie] Brooker didn’t stop [at multiple endings]. […It] also offers commentary on adventure stories, free will and the illusion of choice, and the entertainment landscape among other things. It’s highly self-aware, which allows it to critique and mock the very thing it is: a piece of interactive fiction on Netflix.”
The Handmaid’s Tale
“The show—like [Margaret] Atwood’s book—is a fictional representation of a future that has existed in the past, or exists in parts today, if you know where to look. It argues for us to be eternally vigilant, and by way of Offred’s tale, it shows us why that’s so important.”
The Grand Tour
“It’s their genuine passion for motoring, mocking known and oft-repeated idiosyncrasies, revelling in their own stereotypes, and engaging in silly banter amongst themselves that made a car show involving three old blokes such fun to watch for over a decade. And so when The Grand Tour gets down to business, it feels a lot like the old Top Gear.”