Series · Max · 2021

The White Lotus

31It will not make you better.Not an average of critics. Eight questions, one house.

A satire of money that also sells you the pool. Watch it awake, or don't.

The glance

Household, Piety, Courage, Republic, Temperance, Stewardship are the thin ones.

This phone

Set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

After the credits

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

Take controlThis scores 31. The White Lotus cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The useful part is the staff. They have names, shifts, and a guest who will not remember either. The show sees that clearly, and then it spends most of its time poolside, where the ugliness is attractive and the linen is the product. Satire that luxuriates in the thing it mocks is only half a satire.

Adults. The sex and the contempt are the seasoning, and the seasoning is heavy. If you watch a season, watch for whether anyone leaves kinder to the person who carried the bags. If the answer is only a corpse and a tan, you have the measure.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

The eight

Industry
5/10
The workers are the moral center, and they are not the stars.
Household
3/10
Marriages are on holiday from their vows. The children are luggage.
Piety
2/10
The sacred is a wellness menu.
Courage
3/10
Almost no one risks a real comfort.
Republic
3/10
A hotel is not a town. The guests owe the staff nothing, and the show enjoys that.
Temperance
2/10
Appetite is the vacation and the camera's.
Truth
5/10
It tells the truth about how money talks to a uniform. Then it sells the uniform.
Stewardship
2/10
Nothing is left but a review and a tip.

Live historicallyTip in person this week, and look at the person you hand it to.

Series · Netflix · 2008

Breaking Bad

31It will not make you better.Not an average of critics. Eight questions, one house.

The finest argument on television for how a man becomes a villain. Do not mistake the argument for an invitation.

The glance

Household, Piety, Courage, Republic, Temperance, Stewardship are the thin ones.

This phone

Set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

After the credits

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

Take controlThis scores 31. If you do not want Breaking Bad in the house, the steps are on Netflix. Block it

This is a great piece of work and a bad teacher. Walter White is given a real fear, a real bill, and a real gift with his hands, and he spends all three on an empire he pretends is for his wife and his boy. The series is honest about the corpse count. It is less honest about the thrill it sells you on the way there. People quote the man. They do not quote the ending, which is the only moral sentence the show has.

Not for teenagers. Grown people who watch it should watch it through, including the cost, and should say out loud that competence is not absolution. If you feel yourself admiring him past the first season, stop and notice that.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

The eight

Industry
7/10
The chemistry is real craft, and the show never pretends the product is anything but poison.
Household
2/10
He starts for his family and ends by destroying it. The series knows. It also makes you want him to get away.
Piety
2/10
No soul is allowed to stop him. The closest thing is a brother-in-law who still believes in the law.
Courage
4/10
He takes enormous risks. They are for pride, long before they are for a child.
Republic
2/10
Every institution he touches — school, DEA, a partnership — he turns into cover.
Temperance
1/10
Addiction, murder, and the pleasure of being the smartest man in the room. The show is hypnotic about all three.
Truth
5/10
It tells the truth that a lie can wear a man's love for his house. Then it asks you to miss him.
Stewardship
2/10
What he hands his son is a name that has to be lived down.

Live historicallyDo a piece of skilled work this week that your house can use, and refuse the story that skill entitles you to a secret life.