Challengers

Electric viewing on my second watch. The way our characters' obsession swith the game infest their lives is played out near perfectly over the time-jumping plot, setting the stage for a long & riveting tennis match occurring both on and off the court. Glad that on this second watch, I was able to catch a lot of things I've been thinking about or read and couldn't remember upon first viewing: attacking vs pushing, the very explicit use of music at very specific points in the story, parallel dialogue, etc. The whole finale had me leaning in. This was elite, and if I wasn't sick rn, I would grab my racket and go see if I could pick up a fine ass tennis player myself. By the way, Tashi is a villain, Patrick is a villain, and Art is a good guy who just wants to escape the turmoil caused by his lover and best friend. A man who plays this the right way: gentlemanly and focusing on the basics. In fact, free him bc who doesn't want to just let a man be with his family after working hard to accomplish so much in his career. That being said, team Patrick.