After trying out a shot in the fourth episode in which Kim smiled, barely perceptibly, while watching Jimmy pull off a stunt, the creators settled into the idea that her character wasn’t a scold but was turned on by Jimmy’s shenanigans — and could be a surprising and active ally.
—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
15 Dec. 2025
Don’t be a scold, don’t be a moaner, don’t be a finger-wagging elitist, don’t be an eco-bore, don’t be a mentally ill homeless guy.
The critic Nathan Scott McNamara, writing in the Los Angeles Review of Books, has aptly compared NDiaye’s writing to that of Shirley Jackson, and NDiaye herself cites Joyce Carol Oates as a strong influence.
—
Kristen Roupenian,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
And yet, when HB 1098 was introduced in 2023, critics dismissed it as a solution in search of a problem.
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