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Man Like Mobeen (2017)
Lazy, idiotic comedy.
Man Like Mobeen is the sort of pointless trash that seems to only be possible on the BBC. Though it certainly has a home on Netflix, where garbage has become the norm. It alternates between juvenile attempts at comedy and psuedo philosophical dialogues, both of which probably sounded better when the writers were high than they do on screen. It tries to be "edgy" in the way a 13 year old chav might think is impressive. As such, it appeals to a niche audience, one which frantically downvotes any negative reviews and labels critics as politically motivated. Truth is, the series just isn't as clever or as profound as the people writing it would like to think.
The Other Lamb (2019)
Why?
The Other Lamb is an utterly pointless retread of themes that have been better served in dozens of other films, all with more character and more purpose than this listless dirge. The plot is laid out in full in the synopsis. Nothing beyond that crops up in the film's entire runtime. It's just a dull regurgitation of themes that we've all seen done better. It has no insights to offer, not for the struggles of its characters or for the society that it's clearly addressed to.
I have to say, it's baffling to me that some reviewers are referring to this as a "revenge" tale. It definitely is not that. There is no revenge, no "turning of the tables" at any point. It's just an hour and a half of psychological torture, punctuated by a downer ending in which the "hero" and the rest of the cast are discarded like trash and the villain of the piece runs away scot-free. The dullards making the film probably thought this would be a chilling way to finish their half-formed narrative. If you really, really hate women, this finale might bring you some satisfaction. Anyone else can go look for a real film. Essentially any movie about this subject will be more worthwhile than this tired and unnecessary also-ran.
If The Wicker Man was the A Quiet Place of 1973 (i.e. it established the formula for a subgenre and was promptly ripped off in the ensuing years), this isn't quite as timely or relevant as the terrible Netflix ripoff that followed AQP with Stanley Tucci. It's not even on par with the sixth-rate DTV knockoffs that are coming out right now (e.g. Don't Speak). The Other Lamb is the movie that is still 50 years away, which will somehow do even less than any previous ripoff and leave audiences wondering why this story needed to be told again. With any luck, that future script will be tossed in the bin before it's foisted unto the moviegoing public, like this one should have been.
Genesis: Paradise Lost (2017)
Swing and a miss.
When Ken Ham and Ray Comfort are among your go-to "experts" to establish the science of a subject, you're not even trying to be taken seriously by anyone other than Creation Museum season pass holders.
This is not a serious documentary. It's religious propaganda, preaching solely to the already-convinced choir.
Lost in Space: Evolution (2019)
Evolution
This is a great episode, with strong performances and a some needed twists on the characters and usual tropes. It accomplishes a lot and sets up an exciting final run for the end of the season.
It's odd to me that so many of the reviews on imdb for this episode are actually referring to the previous episode, Severed.
Tunnelen (2016)
Compelling, but loses something in translation.
The Tunnel is adapted from a 1961 short story by Alice Glaser, The Tunnel Ahead. It holds to the major plot points but it takes many liberties with the details. All adaptations distill and distort details, but this one loses a major element in doing so.
As for details. In the original story, the car is far more cramped (the father is hunched over with his knees at his chest, his son also struggling to find space in the car). The car space in the film is luxurious. They have more space in there than people do now. There are also two more children in the car in the short story. As we go, narrations describe many aspects of life and restrictions on travel that further illustrate the ways in which this society is - literally and figuratively - crushing its inhabitants. There are some changes that make sense to a modern perspective, such as making the brightly colored cars and buildings uniformly grey and boxy. But it's not just the details that are lost. The characters undergo a transformation that changes the whole story.
In this version, the father and his family are expressly sympathetic, which is a key change from the perspective of the original story. The film presents the family as passive victims of a dystopian existence. They don't want to take this gamble, but it is the only thing they can do to get home. In the short story, the father spends a great deal of time within his internal monologue and through dialogue with his wife defending the practices and policies of the dystopian government. It is heavily implied that he voted for the policy when it was the subject of a previous election, as did the vast majority of the public. The film takes some of this, and externalizes it. "Population control without discrimination", is a line of dialogue that the husband delivers in the short story. The short film takes the line and puts it on a sign above the the Tunnel, simultaneously absolving him of his complicity and adding to the sense of a faceless oppressive force that exists outside of the family's control.
Both versions end with the same major event: the car ahead stopping traffic just as they are about to get out of the Tunnel to ratchet up tension, and their narrow escape as traffic resumes and the doors close just behind them. But the protagonists deal with the resolution in very different ways. The film presents them as horrified during the finale, and deeply relieved to be on the outside when its over. They silently resume their journey home, both parents deeply shaken by their experience. The short story, however, reveals that the father gets some perverse thrill from being in the Tunnel. He is excited when it appears as if they may be stopped within it. And once outside, he cheerily begins planning their next trip to the beach - to his wife's dismay. He is a complicit part of the dystopian society that we are horrified by, that we as readers feel he should also be horrified by. And that's why it works. Dystopias rely on not just the apathy of some, but the approval of others. Nazis didn't rise to power just because people didn't care, they did so because people cared very deeply and were passionate in their support of the Nazi regime. It had convinced them that they were on the right side of things, that they had the only real solution to all social problems. The real horror isn't the Tunnel alone, it's that people approve of the thing and justify its use. That is the point at which a government can do anything. It is not an Evil Empire passing edicts that are opposed by all citizens, it's just the policy everyone supported coming to fruition.
Portraying each character as a passive victim takes a major component of the original work out of the calculation. It's still an enjoyable short film, well made with solid performances. But it's hallow when compared to the weight of the original story.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Party Monster: Scratching the Surface (2018)
Best episode of the series.
I had no expectations for this episode, but it ended up being the funniest one they ever did. It seems to have hurt a few feelings, though. Lots of monocles popped and neckbeards rustled.
Shingeki no Kyojin: Beast Titan (2017)
Slump.
Apparently this where things get stupid. Talking titans, dancing titans, skilled and experienced soldiers acting like recruits, lots of dumb "revelations".
It's like Lost all over again. A compelling first season full of intrigue and mystery followed by bumbling attempts to provide answers while piling on increasingly ludicrous and unsatisfying new twists.
The Umbrella Academy: The Day That Wasn't (2019)
Rugpull
Totally pointless. A bunch of fairly average things happen alongside a few things we have already been waiting too long for, then it's all taken back when Five travels back in time...erasing the episode from continuity. There are only 10 episodes, how much time do you need to waste before getting the plot to move?
Killing Eve (2018)
Really?
High production value and a solid cast can't make up for the fact that this series is built entirely on unbelievable plot turns. Each character's motives and intelligence change on a whim to suit the needs of the plot in the laziest ways. Veteran agents make amateur mistakes for dramatic effect. Villains alternate between selfishness and selflessness as the plot demands. Eyewitnesses ignore murder in plain view because...it's funny? Or dark? Whatever it's meant to be, it's wholly unbelievable.
The main event here is the assassin "Villanell", for better and worse. While Jodie Comer's performance is impressive, the character strains credulity in a dozen ways. Her superhuman strength, speed, and senses are straight out of a video game. She is pure power fantasy. She's Captain America without the serum. She also teleports wherever she needs to be, somehow negates forensics despite leaving copious evidence behind, and essentially controls the plot and the actions of other characters through sheer force of will.
Killing Eve has the surface sheen of a quality show. But it's hallow. The plot is generic spy thriller 101, with melodrama and pop music where the substance should be. The first rate cast does its best to cover for writing that can't live up to the hype. But what little momentum the first few episodes build is squandered as the season comes apart at the seems, tumbling through an exhausting series of contrivances that do not survive even light scrutiny.
The Head Hunter (2018)
Almost a Movie
The Head Hunter is something like 80% of a film. If you've read anything about it, you may have been hit over the head with the fact that this was a LOW budget film. Nearly every positive review of The Head Hunter mentions the film's micro-budget when delivering praise. Because it's all relative. The Head Hunter looks good...for a movie shot on 30k. It has impressive effects...for a movie shot on 30k. And so on. Once you strip away the handicap, the film has trouble standing on its own merits.
The Head Hunter is a promising feature, but it is also woefully incomplete. The visuals are striking at first, but the film takes place almost entirely on a single set (The Hunter's cabin). So that lone set better look pretty good. And even at a brief running time of 70 minutes, the sameness of spending so much time in one place begins to bore. Ditto for the lonely Hunter, who has no one and nothing to interact with, and little to do for almost all of the running time.
Some reviewers have chided those who complain about the film's lack of action. In theory, I understand the position. Not every film without action is bad, not every film with action is good. But surely, for a movie with this title, poster, and synopsis, the lack of action is problematic. The real problem, however, is that the film's plot in fact contains a great deal of action. It all simply happens to take place just off screen. And so, for the first hour, you get the impression that you're watching an action film with all of the action sequences cut out. The viewer is taunted by the possibility of something happening onscreen, but only in the final act do we get anything close to what the film has been promising. And it is underwhelming.
The chase sequence is welcome after nearly an hour of cutting away from such things, though the confrontation itself is clunky. The creature is so patently unbelievable by the end that things turn to accidental comedy. And the absurd sequence of events that leads to the film's smug downer ending is the last straw, far worse than the ending itself. It hinges on too many stupid choices (STOP PUTTING THINGS ON THE WINDOWSILL) and improbable coincidences to be believed. Also just the total death of basic physics, given that the final antagonist is literally a severed head, one which somehow travels faster than any man or beast, digs like no one's business, and can even use human tools (offscreen, so they don't have to explain how in the hell). A better finale could have given us the same ending and made it work. A better movie would have had something more interesting to say in the first place.
The Head Hunter is a short film stretched beyond its limits. It either needed ~15 extra minutes and a rewritten final act to be a real feature, or some merciless editing to bring it back down to scale. As it stands, it's a disappointing film that seems to only exist because someone had an idea for a twist ending.
Midsommar (2019)
What happens when someone already remade The Wicker Man.
A film this bereft of plot or purpose does not need to be 2 and a half hours long. But Ari Aster is nothing if not pretentious. The unnecessary length of this film is just one example of his boundless ability to indulge himself.
If you've seen the Wicker Man, you've seen this. If you've seen just about any film in this genre, you've seen what this one has to offer (and likely much more). But above all else, it really is trying to just be The Wicker Man. It dutifully follows each expected beat, with no surprises in store. The usual tropes of an "evil village holiday" movie manifest. A troubled relationship, an innocent invitation, folksy people preparing for an upcoming celebration that is obviously the epitome of all evil to everyone but the clueless protagonists. The evil villagers themselves are indistinguishable from those of The Wicker Man's equally pointless 2006 remake. The whole "evil matriarchy!!" theme from that film is imported fully into this one (minus the bees, I guess), proving that Ari Aster believes storytelling is nothing more than a quick cut-and-paste job.
This film is not a trainwreck in the way that some are. It looks like a movie, and sounds something like a movie. On a technical level, it is mostly fine. But it's insufferable all the same. Because it fails on a creative level. Everything done here has been done to death already and done better. It is a hollow exercise in remixing other people's' work, with no update or insight to justify its existence. The perfect horror film for the time, I suppose. But not one worth actually sitting through.
Unplanned (2019)
No reason to exist.
This isn't a real film, it's a painfully dull and lifeless piece of propaganda. It exists only to push tired talking points and make people who already buy into its rhetoric feel righteous and confirmed. On every other level, it fails.
The cast is what you would expect, the sort of milquetoast almost-actors that are drawn to these almost-films. They can hardly be blamed directly for the material, though they might have known better than to say "yes" to a script this bad. I can't be so generous with the hacks who wrote and directed this farce. They aren't just trying to land a role, this is clearly a passion project for the creative team. It's also clear that the passion is for the anti-choice message, not for the story, its characters, or film in general. Any time a filmmaker places "the message" in front of "the movie", they risk a failure of this magnitude - regardless of which side of the aisle the message is coming from.
Even if you already think the liberals are trying to destroy family values because they have Satan in their hearts, surely there are better ways to spend two hours. You only need to spend 10 minutes on Fox to get the same bias confirmation, and it's free.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
A stellar film that will stand the test of time.
When it opened in 1980, the Empire Strikes Back was not the universal success that we now think of it as. Audiences were mixed, accusing it of being both too different from Star Wars and too similar to it. It was said that the film was too serious, and "machine-made". Many bemoaned that Empire and its creative team had missed the entire point of the original film. The final reveal of Luke's parentage by Darth Vader was not unanimously well received either, as many rightly pointed out that it contradicted the facts laid out in the previous film. While George Lucas wrote and directed the original Star Wars, he neither directed nor wrote the Empire Strikes Back. Much like some of the negative responses to TLJ, many who weren't expecting what ESB brought made a big stink about how they "missed George". But Irvin Kirshner, Leigh Brackett, and Lawrence Kasdan made a far better film than Lucas could have done. In case there was any doubt about that, he drove that truth home with the comparatively juvenile and disappointing Return of the Jedi (which saw Lucas regain creative control).
Some warmed up to Empire soon after its controversial premiere, while others needed to see ROTJ to fully appreciate Empire for what it was. In any case, it's now generally considered the indisputable classic of the Star Wars franchise, while its sequel is largely seen as a disappointment. What a difference time makes.
Now here we are in 2017, and similar things are being said of The Last Jedi. Like Empire, TLJ is a more complex and challenging film than its predecessor. As such, it will take time for some fans to come around. And, like Empire before it, The Last Jedi bucks many of the expectations that the audience had for it. You can witness the seething rage of those dashed fantheories in many of the negative reviews for the film currently on the web. Few discuss the film itself. They tend to complain about things external to the film (politics, racism, Disney's business practices, the fact that the film didn't incorporate the reviewer's fanfiction, how much the reviewer hates Rian Johnson's previous films, etc.). But those initial reactions are primarily an artifact of the time we're in. The movie has only been out for a few weeks now. When the dust settles - when the trolls get bored and go to complain about how Black Panther has too many non-white actors, and the fans come to grips with the curveballs that the film throws - The Last Jedi will be remembered as one of the great Star Wars films.
The Last Jedi, like Empire, pushes the franchise into new territory. Some were angry about Rogue One for this or that reason, but it was mostly uncontroversial popcorn fare. We already knew that story. Similarly, we already knew where things would end up in the prequels. This is the first new territory for a Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi. For once, we don't already know what happens to these characters. As such, many of the answers in the film will not be the ones people were imagining. But this is a film that will be remembered fondly for what it has done, rather than what is hasn't done (which has dominated much of the negative response so far). The things that it didn't do will fade, as always happens with sequels like this one. People no longer complain about the stuff that Empire didn't do (except Joss Whedon, who can't stop whining about the ending). When Empire was all potential, it could have been anything. Now that potential is gone, replaced with something real. Similarly, The Last Jedi must overcome not just the expectations of following up TFA, but of following the entire Star Wars saga. That's a whole lot of potential. It has 40 years of Star Wars nostalgia to reckon with, while also trying to chart new ground (something TFA didn't do much of, as it was mostly a nostalgia trip). That Rian Johnson manages to do that so well is not just impressive, but inspiring.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan who remembers when the prequels hit the theaters, The Last Jedi is a treasure. It tells a new story that is familiar without being rote or tedious, and weaves characters both new and old throughout. The ingredients are recognizable, and the film is true to its universe, but they are rearranged in ways that keep things exciting. Every time TLJ looks like it's about to give us a carbon-copy of a scene from the original trilogy, it does something far more interesting instead. Luke Skywalker may be older and scruffier than you remember, but that's what 40 years will do to you - especially if you spend many of those years as a hermit on an uncharted planet. And he does right by his legend, even if it doesn't happen in the way some expected. Rian Johnson even does the impossible, making Kylo Ren (a.k.a. Ben Solo) into a sympathetic character while simultaneously forcing the audience to take him more seriously than ever before. And for the first time since the original trilogy, the struggle between Light and Dark actually seems like a real struggle, and not just a prolonged lesson in good and evil based on lines arbitrarily drawn in the sand. The failure to make Anakin's fall believable was the cardinal sin George Lucas committed in the prequel trilogy. There is more believable tension and inner conflict in Rey and Kylo in this film than Anakin had in all three prequels combined. And it makes this story far more compelling for it.
This film will not give you everything that you expect. But if you're open to it, it will give you what you need. And in time, this film will stand alongside Empire as a science fiction classic.
Law & Order: White Rabbit (1994)
The legal drama that doesn't know what murder is.
This is perhaps the dumbest hour of television you will find anywhere. The acting and direction are solid, but the writing is unbelievably bad. And I mean that literally. Not only is the narrative unsatisfying, it is legally absurd. They spend the entire trial trying to pin a first degree murder rap on a woman who was outside a building while someone else murdered a cop. The actual murderer is known, and it wasn't her. Everyone involved knows the truth of the situation, from the cops to the lawyers to the judge. At several points in the episode they specifically mention that the woman in question didn't shoot anyone. She literally didn't commit murder, and that fact escapes no one. It is a verified truth. But because Susan Forrester, the episode's "villain", referred to said cop as a pig before someone ELSE killed him, they charge her with murder - as if they didn't know what that word means. Apparently, in this universe, they never discovered how to charge someone as an accomplice to a crime.
Susan Forrester was an accomplice to armed robbery. At most, they could have charged her with manslaughter. But first degree murder? That is the dumbest thing that anyone ever thought of.
You don't just charge someone with murder because they knew a murderer, or spoke poorly of a person before someone else killed them somewhere else. That isn't how murder works. And as bizarre as the law is sometimes, that isn't how the law works. Not having pre-emptive sympathy for a murder victim does not somehow make you guilty of the murder that someone else committed.
Bones: The Secret in the Siege (2013)
The nadir continues.
To the surprise of no one, this season finale sees the return of insufferable super hacker Christopher Pelant. Pelant, who originally appeared in season 7 (really? Has it only been that long?) and then just kind of...stayed, has since become the series' resident Boring Invincible Villain. With each appearance his impossible deeds grow more absurd and the writers test the patience of their audience a little further.
The episode plot is whatever. Bodies of FBI agents show up. Turns out it's Pelant. He's using papers that Sweets wrote to plan the crime scenes. The FBI guys worked with Booth at some point. It's all very implausible and all very cliché and it works out about how you'd expect (people die, Pelant wins, audience asks why they still bother to watch the show, etc).
The problem, in a nutshell, is Pelant. He is no longer a character. He is merely a plot device that allows the writers to do whatever they like and explain it away with "Pelant did it". Want Hodgins to lose his fortune? Pelant can do that. Want to have Booth and Brennan get engaged then immediately have it called off to build drama? Don't bother writing something plausible, Pelant can do it! And my God, the ways he does those things are getting more ridiculous by the episode.
The most egregious example of Pelant's absurd magical tech power in this episode, and ever, is when he rigs up an impossible combination of nonexistent technology to create fake videos of a long dead FBI agent (meant as instructions to said dead agent's mentally unstable daughter). Pelant talks into a camera, and then his computer produces a video of the dead FBI agent replicating his speech. Face, voice and all. The actual actor, just right there, saying the stuff that Pelant says into his camera. What's that, you say? That's really dumb? Yes, yes it is. We are ostensibly meant to believe that Pelant whipped this perfect dead guy simulator together with his stunning genius, but it is simply not something that can be done. Pelant single handedly shatters the uncanny valley in creating these videos and no matter how smart he is or how much money he has, it's just not believable that anyone could create something like this (they really could have used it in Tron: Legacy, though).
Complaints have been made about Pelant's secret evil tech bunker in general, and I can't say I'm a fan either. I'll give the writers the benefit of the doubt as far as funding is concerned. He did steal an entire fortune from Hodgins the last time he showed up, after all. The internal logic of the secret tech lair isn't so much the problem though, it's more the fact that the writers thought it needed to happen at all. And it isn't just the stupid ideas. Pelant himself has far, far overstayed his welcome. He's a bad joke that never ends. As a character and as a villain he never was at the same level as previous big bads. Gormogon, in particular, was a high point that the series never managed to return to. The Grave Digger and others, while not quite as engaging, at least had something to offer. Pelant has nothing going for him. He's just an omniscient, omnipotent convenience. He lets the writers shuffle characters around, change relationships, and kill off whoever without actually having to write a reasonable sequence of events to lead to these moments. It's lazy and insulting.
I'd like to think it's no coincidence that the ratings and the reviews for this series have suffered since Pelant's appearance (though the awful ghost episodes and other season 8 mishaps can't have helped either). The Gormogon plot kept people interested. It was a mystery that the audience was actually intrigued by. Pelant is not a mystery, or even a real character, he's an annoying plot device. Let's move on already.
Bones: The Ghost in the Machine (2012)
Woof.
Bones continues its downward spiral with the worst season's worst episode.
This POV episode features the return of Angela's recurring and absolutely irritating psychic/friend/plot device Avalon (played by Cyndi Lauper for no apparent reason) who improbably snakes her way into the lab in order to tell everyone that the soul of this week's victim, a teenage boy, is still around. Yeah, that's right. Just hanging around. In his skull. And we get to watch the entire episode from his point of view. Cue: everyone carrying around the skull for every important plot development and speaking directly to the skull at all times. Because why not.
For a show that was once about using science to solve crimes, Bones seems to have lost the plot entirely. Whereas Brennan and Booth in past seasons served as two halves of one never ending debate (skepticism vs. faith), Brennan has since been relegated to a minor role in this ongoing conversation. Angela condescends to her towards the end of the episode while trying to set the kid's soul free or whatever, saying something to the effect of "I know you don't believe in souls and stuff, but can you just help??", like a petulant child insisting that her fantasies be indulged by everyone around her. And it works. She just does it. Despite knowing full well that it's nonsense and having been established as a socially cold and clueless person who would never acquiescence to said nonsense if it was against her principles. But none of that matters anymore, it seems. Bones herself no longer even gets to join in the conversation, because the show has jumped the ghost shark and just flat out decided for us that psychics and souls and every stupid thing anyone has ever believed in is completely real and serious.
To add insult to injury, the episode ends with a cheesy sequence in which the team gathers the girl that ghost boy had a living crush on and shows her the video of a song he recorded for her before his death. And the audience gets to suffer through a full rendition of the deceased's Dashboard Confessional-lite warbling as a reward for sticking out this insufferable episode. Not done yet, however, this one goes the extra mile as Avalon, intrepid psychic, looks through the glass to see none other than Dead McKidderson's spirit as he SKATEBOARDS INTO THE AFTERLIFE. So yeah, the show is dead.
Bones: The Patriot in Purgatory (2012)
Disappointing.
Quick disclaimer: Because this is a component of the discourse following this episode, I feel the need to clarify: I am not a conspiracy theorist. If you saw the low rating and immediately figured "oh, one of those" please don't jump to such an easy conclusion. Now, to the review itself.
The episode starts out quite promisingly, with a gathering of the current interns at the mysterious behest of Dr. Brennan. It was interesting to see these characters, who had previously been restricted to their own episodes, interacting with each other and working together. Though the best of the interns left the show well before this point, the personalities of the squints in question played well together, at least during those first scenes.
Unfortunately, as the central mystery unfolds the writing quickly falls apart and the characters all adopt an identical conception of jingoistic and disingenuous patriotism. The problem with this "very special episode" is not that it chooses as its subject such an event as the attacks of September 11th 2001. The problem is that it is so poorly done. For fear of offending the pundits in the audience, the entirety of the dialogue concerning 9/11 is embarrassingly jingoistic, clichéd, and insulting to the memory of the victims of those attacks. Even Hodgins, the resident conspiracy theorist and eternal questioner of authority, becomes an honorary Fox News patriot for the day.
While much of the dialogue sounds like it was cut from leftover Sean Hannity monologues, the show takes a decidedly Left approach to its sole Muslim character, Arastoo (who is often the source of horrid dialogue and classless pandering), in order to provide a rousing monologue about the misappropriation of the Muslim religion. And it suffers from all of the same problems as the rest of the episode, being clichéd, reductionist, and insulting. This in itself is not great, but the real problem is the writers' unwillingness to question any of the assumptions made by the character (something the show has done regularly with other such moments and characters). For a series that has an otherwise admirable track record dealing with religion, this episode entirely fails to offer any kind of counterbalance to itself after Arastoo's declarations.
In any other episode, and particularly with any other religion, the show would have thrown Brennan or another intern into the discussion to offer another viewpoint from the simplistic and naive "religion is great and can never do wrong" speech given by Arastoo. This happens consistently throughout the series with regards to Christianity, where Brennan and Booth serve to balance one another. Brennan being the skeptic, Booth being the believer. Each offers their arguments and criticisms and the audience is left to decide for themselves who made the best case. In this special episode however, we do not get to choose. We are told exactly how to feel about religious belief, and everyone in the room comes to immediate consensus about it. There is no skeptic, no devil's advocate, no clarification or refinement. Nothing but "that was awesome!" (Yes, this is the literal line of dialogue that follows Arastoo's speech). Had Booth given a similar speech, Brennan would have immediately offered her rebuttal in her usual way. By cowardly removing this element from the show's religious discourse, the writers have utterly failed to live up to the series' standard.
This is not the smart, incisive show that it was in past seasons. This is emotional extortion. A national tragedy being exploited in order to trick the audience into feeling emotion that is not elicited from the quality of the script itself. This show is, or was, better than this. I hope the season improves from here.