It was now Mad Men, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, Homeland, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Boardwalk Empire, and other potent spells, amplified by Twitter, Facebook, and voluminous recaps, that transfixed fans and turned critics into evangelicals. For depth and psychodynamics of characterization, ingenious knife twist of storytelling, jaw-dropping sequences (the Challenger-like explosion and shower of debris witnessed from the backyard pool in Breaking Bad), and nutritious roles for women, TV had left the movies behind to play with their giant robots. The hearth fire of the H.D. flat screen had displaced the multiplex. Not everyone conceded this shift in pop-culture primacy. Some dissenters rebutted the column thoughtfully; others said mean things about me on the Internet, where lacy manners and the minuet won’t be making a revival anytime soon. But in 2013 doubts of my own began to creep in. It looked as if the pendulum had swung back in the movies’ favor, setting the stage for a rematch, or at least a rethink.
