TV

Cobra Kai
3x09 Feel the Night
3x10 December 19 [season finale]

Having spent most of the season on a post mortem for the previous finale, this finale seems to primarily set up what the next season will be about! Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, because it's actually a very satisfying episode in its own right thanks to an impressively-staged centrepiece brawl between the students, followed by a long-awaited punchup involving the adults. That might sound a little slap-happy, but this is a show all about karate: of course the fights are a highlight.

Nonetheless, a negative reading of this season would be that it treads water, dealing with the aftermath of season two before setting up the next leg in season four. A kinder reading would be that it's a necessary bridge, moving characters and situations from where they were to where they want them to be for the next leg. I think a bit of both might be true.

On the bright side, at least season four exists — this is where YouTube cancelled the show, before Netflix came in and saved it. It scarcely bears thinking about that this could have been where it ended!

Non-Fiction

Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman
Introduction
Chapter 1

Subtitled "A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears", this book examines 11 significant events or trends in the history of the Oscars, exploring how those have shaped and changed the insitution, and through that Hollywood movies in general. So, for example, this first chapter is all about how and why the Academy and their associated awards were founded — a sequence of events with their own dramas and controversies to rival any that would follow. Despite beginning at the beginning with a fairly narrative chapter, this is billed as something more analytical, and with a wider overview, than just "a history of the Oscars". Based on all the positive reviews, I expect it to be very interesting.