Peter Counter
Featured TV Critic
Peter Counter is a freelance culture writer with relevant obsessions in television, film, and games (board, card and video). Trapped in a state of constant nostalgia and enthusiasm for well told stories, he is an avid fan of Hannibal, an unsullied Game of Thrones viewer, and convinced that he will never love another show like he once loved LOST. Peter is also the author of several plays, including an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Rats In The Walls.Articles by Peter Counter:
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April 11, 2014
Community Episode 5.12 RecapDan Harmon, like a one man Save Greendale Committee, has returned to a ruined school and turned it back into the place we most want to visit on Thursday nights, showing us the difference between stories and sandwiches.
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April 6, 2014
Game of Thrones Episode 4.1 RecapBetween its fantastic bookends, “Two Swords” is everything you would expect from a healthy HBO drama entering its fourth season: statements of intention, an occasional piece of exposition, and a lot of resetting the board for a new game of intrigue, brutality, and maybe even a little glimmer of hope.
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April 5, 2014
Hannibal Episode 2.6 RecapWhen Dr. Lecter is plucking the strings and writing the notes, Hannibal is thrilling, unpredictable and disgustingly beautiful to look at. In “Futamono” we get all of that, some meta humor, and the most disturbingly delicious looking human leg eaten on network TV. Also a fun dinner party.
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April 4, 2014
Community Episode 5.11 Recap“G.I. Jeff” constantly delivers nostalgic 80’s animated fan service, but Community has set a strong precedent for making these fun departures into character exploration exercises, so there is an implied mystery afoot as well: Who is imagining this? Why? And does it matter?
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April 4, 2014
Silicon Valley PreviewHBO’s Silicon Valley is exceptional. The jokes are highbrow and smart without being condescending or pandering, the emotional struggles are hooky without exploiting a central romance, and the episode premises and characters offer fresh takes on comedy staples without seeming overly familiar. But where are all the ladies?
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March 29, 2014
Hannibal Episode 2.5 Recap“Mukozuke” succeeds in providing the contemplative space that other serial killer centric shows don’t. It’s a case study in what we will let our icons get away with and what makes them different from us and the fictional people they prey on.
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March 22, 2014
Hannibal Episode 2.4 Recap“Takiawase” is as close as we will ever get to a Jimmy, Brian and Beverly episode. Because of that it is hilarious at times, but that doesn’t prevent it from being stomach churningly disturbing, perfectly thrilling, tearfully heartbreaking and as thematically tight as a well tuned pressure cooker.
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March 21, 2014
Community Episode 5.10 RecapDelivering about two laughs for every one second of airtime without leaving its primary location, “Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” is about slaying the metaphorical old naked lunatic called “communication problems” who rides an invincible dragon named “family ties.”
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March 15, 2014
Hannibal Episode 2.3 Recap“Hassun” is perfectly distilled Hannibal. It takes the conventions of a well established television format – the courtroom procedural – and mutilates it into a nightmarish message about the kind of love that compels you do horrible, violent things.
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March 15, 2014
Community Episode 5.9 RecapFor a pretty straight forward 22 minutes that takes place in only three or four settings, “VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing” is complex and fun, but might leave some people (namely those who aren’t familiar with Breaking Bad) behind as it eagerly eats its own referential tail.
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March 10, 2014
True Detective Episode 1.8 RecapBy the end, the thing that made True Detective darkest – the potential that Rust and Marty were truly bad people – became the very aspect that put the bright stars in Pizzolatto and Fukunaga’s night sky.
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March 8, 2014
Hannibal Episode 2.2 RecapWhere as last season, Hannibal was content with leaving our minds to do the job, this year we don’t get the ability to just shrug off the horror as CSI clowns Scott Thompson and Aaron Abrams describe it with practiced wit and perfect deadpan. Now, we see the stitches tear.
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March 7, 2014
Community Episode 5.8 Recap“App Development and Condiments” sees Community in comfortable territory as it takes laser focus on modern forms of cliquing, has fun digging at Internet meritocracies like Reddit, and imagines Greendale as a Huxley-ian meme-eugenic dystopia populated with highly upvoted comedian guest stars.
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March 3, 2014
True Detective Episode 1.7 RecapDisguised as a lit trail of gunpowder leading to a jam-packed keg, True Detective is a thread of black yarn that continues to burn throughout the crowded firework factory that Nic Pizzolatto has made for us, expertly missing all the fuses and gas cans that lesser shows would ignite.
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film
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TV
X-Men ’97 is Off To An X-Cellent Start With Its First Three Episodes
The Marvel Studios revival strikes the sweet spot between nostalgic and modern television sensibilities.
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music
Unboxing: Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 3 – The Asylum Years Vinyl Box Set
In this Unboxing video, Jason Gorber checks out the Joni Mitchell Archives Volume 3 on vinyl and covers just what you get with this latest release.
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podcasts
Springfield Googolplex Ep. 25: The Natural
Adam and Nate discuss The Natural on Springfield Googolplex!
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