sardonic

Though they all slot into known archetypes — the steely yet vulnerable “final girl,” the condescending jock, the sarcastic pal, the kooky yet intuitive bestie — they’re all fully formed characters, sardonic and self-aware.

Burns’ cyclical, sardonic prose underscores the unnamed narrator’s defenselessness against neighborhood gossip that marks the Milkman’s unwanted attentions as consensual.

But a few of the new season’s best characters are wholly original, including Catherine O’Hara’s Gail, Eugene’s gloriously sardonic wife who takes on the mixed bag of being the only therapist in Jackson.

He conjured the sardonic guru Mr. Natural, a tiny sex fiend called the Snoid and other sweaty, anxious creatures, human and otherwise.

The first half takes place in Los Angeles, driven by a narrative voice that is at turns sardonic, hilarious and yearning.