Damon Lindelof

Friday

Ross Anderson

The Severance season two finale is of a quality rarely seen on TV

Burned by the backlash to Lost, Damon Lindelof went in a new direction for his following show, The Leftovers. It also had a mystery at its center: why did a rapture happen where 2 percent of the world’s population instantly vanished on a random Friday? But whereas Lost set up an expectation of answers, only to disappoint, The Leftovers made it clear that there were no answers to this mystery. Over its unfortunately abrupt three seasons, neither the viewers nor the characters would ever find out why this event happened or what it meant; why some people were taken and why others were left behind. It wasn’t a puzzle to solve but a situation to cope with and live through. It’s the greatest TV show you haven’t seen.

severance

Friday

Alexander Larman

Maureen Ryan exposes the Hollywood horror show

In late July, the actor and director Kevin Spacey was acquitted of a range of sexual offenses against young men, some dating back the best part of two decades. Spacey’s acquittal was greeted with a mixture of relief by his admirers, who are now keen to see a great actor resume his career, and dismay by those who believe that Spacey, and others like him, are powerful figures who have not been held to sufficient account. It is salutary to look at the court case — and indeed the media frenzy surrounding it — and ask what it’s saying about contemporary Hollywood mores, which, in the post #MeToo climate, show few signs of becoming more socially acceptable.

Ryan