What I'm Watching: The Last of Us, Sick, Queer for Fear, and More

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us, HBO

Here’s everything I watched this week, and what I thought about it:

The TV shows:

• I actually watched HBO’s The Last of Us over a month ago by now, but I’m finally able to talk about it. I love this show. I think people who loved the video game about two very different people trying to survive – and find a reason to survive – in a post-apocalyptic world will love the show, but people who didn’t play it might enjoy it even more. I have a million more thoughts about the series, many of which will be published at /Film in the coming weeks, but for now here’s my review of the full season.
• I took half a sick day this week when my wifi went out and I wasn’t feeling well and used it to catch up on some things I’ve been wanting to see forever. Namely, I finally finished Shudder’s excellent docuseries Queer For Fear, a super entertaining and deeply informative four-part look at the LGBTQ+ history of the horror genre. I highly recommend this, and not just because my friends were among the interviewees!
• I also caught the last couple of Critics Choice nominees I needed to fill out as much of my ballot as possible before the award show. One was Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal, a wordless and striking animated series about a caveman, his dinosaur frenemy, and the many perils they face. This show is really cool but it’s not something I can marathon because every episode has a very similar premise and structure. The closest thing I can think to compare it to is the early seasons of Samurai Jack!
• Norm MacDonald: Nothing Special is probably the last standup comedy special you’ll be hearing me comment on until next award season. It won the Critics Choice award last night, and while I wouldn’t have picked it (there’s definitely some stuff in here that would’ve caused controversy if it hadn’t been released posthumously), it was mostly a very sweet show and a reminder of how much I’ve dug Norm’s sense of humor ever since I was a little kid.

The movies:

• The Kevin Williamson-penned slasher Sick is now on Peacock, and it’s pretty great! It tells a fast-moving story about two girls on a vacation during the 2020 pandemic lockdown who end up stalked by a killer. The movie’s third act reveal is a bit ideologically muddled, but I love Gideon Adlon (Pamela’s kid!) in the lead role and I love that it’s part of a small group of slashers with very resourceful and clever protagonists.
• My exceedingly random slate of 2023 first-watches continues with Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins, AKA the 2009 live-action one that doesn’t have Matthew Lillard, Sarah Michelle Gellar, etc. This is an alright movie with a mostly fun cast and truly horrendous CGI. I promise I watched this for a reason (see below).

Odds and ends:

• This week I wrote something I’ve been wanting to write forever: a survey and comparison piece charting the not-quite-complete history of Scooby-Doo. No, seriously. I’ve loved Scooby-Doo since I was a kid and have fallen in love with multiple versions of the show over the years, so I was excited to use the Velma premiere as a jumping-off point for a big old Scooby-Doo explainer that talks about how the franchise’s knack for changing make it better with age.
• I also wrote a quick, spoiler-free take on Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, the wild cult classic that’s finally on streaming after decades of limited or nonexistent availability. If you love horror, you’ve got to check out Possession while it’s right at your fingertips on Shudder.
• Here’s my full Mayfair Witches review, which I mentioned I’d share last week.
• My biggest piece of the week was my list of the 15 best TV scenes 0f 2022. I love getting the chance to put this list together, and this is actually the sixth year I’ve done it for Film School Rejects. I know this is the fourth (and last!) big 2022 TV list you’ve gotten from me, so I forgive you if the prospect of clicking it sounds exhausting, but I promise there’s a ton of stuff in here that I haven’t written about anywhere else.
• I finished two books this week! I’m trying a “just click what looks interesting” strategy with the audiobooks I check out from the Libby library app, and so far, so good. Alex Michaelides’ The Maidens is a dark academia mystery that’s either doing something ingenious or something very silly with its layers of obvious red herrings, but either way I enjoyed it. Tell Me Everything, by Erika Krouse, is an engaging and upsetting memoir/true crime hybrid about a private investigator uncovering a college sports rape scandal, and the path that led her to the job in the first place.
• Finally, I finished watching a playthrough of The Last of Us: Part II. I had put off getting into this sequel game not because of the troll-driven bad responses to it, but because I just wished the original game hadn’t ever gotten a sequel in the first place. I still think the first game’s ending would’ve been a perfect conclusion, but I will admit the second part has some amazing, beautiful, and truly brutal stuff. The inciting incident and the climax in particular are both fantastic.

Well, reader, I just (mostly) made it through one of the busiest weeks in recent memory for me, culminating in attending the Critics Choice Awards last night. I had a wonderful and surreal time there, and am excited I don’t have to get all dolled up for it again for another year. Here’s an awkward picture of me from the event:

Me! Photo by Megan whose last name I honestly don’t know but Megan if you’re reading this and want a photo credit, let me know

Anyway, what have you been up to? What pop culture has struck your fancy so far this year? Tell me about what you’re watching!