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Babylon, Ep. 1.06: “London” caps a smart, surprising season

As a season finale, “London,” which re-creates the London riots, is everything someone who has been following Babylon could want in a final episode. The plotting reaches its heights in true climactic form while some of the best character work is reserved here for big effect.

Babylon, Ep. 1.03: “Thameside Center” takes the series a big step forward

To this point in its short run, the series has excelled during moments of quick-witted comedy. The writing in that department shows experience and understanding of natural humor as well as command over punchlines. But “Thameside Center,” while still containing pieces of that comedic know-how, is actually more powerful as blunt piece of dramatic work.

‘The East’ is a riveting exploration of the space between idealism and terrorism

Environmental terrorism occupies a strange place in America’s security situation. The danger of pollution should be a scientific issue, not a political one, but of course it has become both. As with most political issues, there are those who would resort to violence and those who would not, and the real question is how a person decides which group they’re going to be in. The East, co-written by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij and directed by Batmanglij, answers that question just about as well as any movie can.

The East Movie

‘The East’ demands we see how easily white-collar crime escapes culpability

Regrettably introducing the rogue collective as wacky miscreants, the believability of the script picks up once it shelves a number of sensational rituals designed to showcase The East as much more mysterious and nefarious than they are. While this imagery is tactically used online to intimidate the corporate leviathans they stand against, it hardly seems like a way to gain sympathizers once the cameras are turned off.

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