Pixar's Win Or Lose

Lot of interesting cinematic boarding choices here. The visual of the street getting longer and more disjointed definitely feels like a nightmare. The show also uses upside-down camera angles at various points to suggest Rochelle's life spiraling, which is clever, and hits the viewer on a visceral level (even if they don't know it).

I also love how all of the various scenes from previous episodes are working with each other. The plotting of this show is pretty much the tightest thing you can ever see on a cartoon show. The fact that it's a kiddie cartoon makes that fact all the more impressive.

I think this show might wind up quite an achievement for Pixar. 5 stars.

I might be inclined to complain that Vanessa's episode is immediately following Rochelle's. But instead it feels like a good two-parter. Well done.

It's really interesting that Vanessa has NO idea how much Rochelle has been "Adulting" on her behalf. Both people think they are the grown-up in the relationship. And they are both right and wrong at the same time.

Yeah, this show is really speaking to me. Pixar is really onto something interesting here. 4 1/2 stars.

Ira is cute but the Bleacher Creatures are somehow even worse than we thought they were.

I know it's Rashomon, but I don't feel like any momemtum is being made. It's episode five and the furthest we're gotten in the final game is Laurie being hit by the pitch in the Pilot. I had assumed each episode past that would reveal things past that moment, including the fall-out, but that hasn't happened. And it's episode 5. It really should have.

I'm getting a bit impatient because I am person. 2 1/2 stars.

Yuwen is an asshole, and maybe a borderline sociopath, so I'm not really interested in his process.

The Barack Obama mic drop clip was pretty good though. 2 1/2 stars.

One of the flaws of the series that we're seeing in the final stretch is that with each major character only getting a single focus episode, we don't really know much about anyone. The reveal that Kai is trans is a surprise at the beginning because none of the rest of the series remotely focused on her. And that's a weakness.

We got a little further in the final game than ever before. Laurie was okay and was walked (goofily). We'll see how this all works out. I have at points thought this show was genius, and a masterclass in making hindsight connections. And yet the emotional connections I make feel a little cold at times. Hopefully Coach's story will bring it home. 3 stars.

We don't actually learn who won the game. It's an interesting narrative choice. But it's also not the right one.

The episode played it right by focusing on Coach Dan BEFORE the big game, and expanding the scope to all of the characters DURING it. But the fantasy sequences in the climax took me out of any sort of real-world connection I was making. It's one thing for an individual character to have their own weekly fantasy. But seeing them all interacting with each other breaks credibility there.

The series showed sparks of brilliance, and definitely made rewatches more fun than most shows. But despite that I still feel like it collapsed under its own weight by end. Often genius television is not sustainable. That doesn't mean I didn't appreciate the moments of genius when they happened, and it doesn't make me reject them in hindsight. But it is SUCH a rare thing for an ambitious show to come together in the end. This one wasn't able to do it. But that doesn't stop its flashes of brilliance from resonating. I just wish we had enough time so that the character moments did that more too. 3 1/2 stars.