Hi all. I wanted to drop a quick explainer re: what’s going on with the review scores. You’ve probably noticed by now that all the scores include a “spread,” the application of which I don’t think I’ve adequately articulated. Let’s look at an example: I rated the most recent episode of The Boys a 9/10 (+.25/-.25). The “9/10” is the score that I, personally, assigned as I wrapped up the review. The “(+.25/-.25)” represents the spread of where I think most people’s hypothetical scores would fall (so, for the episode of The Boys that we’re using as an example, I think most folks would rate it somewhere between an 8.75 and a 9.25 out of 10).

What I’m trying to do with this system is give the reader a way to evaluate what they might think of something (after they’re done reading what I think of it). If there are things that I’m critical of that don’t bother you at all, your own experience may fall on the higher end of the score spread. For example, if I complain about low-speed spaceship chases being boring, but you actually like slowly paced pursuit scenes, your score would be higher than mine. By the same token, if I give a pass to something you absolutely can’t stand, you’d want to look toward the bottom of the spread.

Speaking of giving passes to things that bother people: I’ve had a few days to mull over my Obi-Wan Kenobi reviews, particularly the parts where I addressed the way my fondness for Star Wars was impacting my scoring. As I said in one of my innumerable footnotes, it’s an issue I’m working on; through practice, I think I’ll be able to divorce my more sentimental feelings toward certain media from the conclusions contained in my individual reviews. This means that, even though I love the original trilogy, I’ll stop letting bad writing/characterization slide in the modern Star Wars shows and take off points like I would with anything else.

This brings us to the last thing I wanted to touch on: I’ll be going back through my previous reviews and posting scores that are “Adjusted for Sentimentality” (the original scores will stay up, don’t worry). I think that this strikes a good balance of being open with my audience (you!) and bringing a more accuracy to review scores that could otherwise be inaccurately tinted by my own nostalgia-goggles. Should have that done by the end of the day.

Until next time…stay badass.