The fourth installment in any franchise is going to be tricky. There’s a reason why we use the word “trilogy” without blinking but have to look up the word “tetralogy.” Trilogies meet our expectations of what a narrative should be, and they allow for a three-act structure within the three-act structure. They’re clean. Simple. Elegant. Familiar.
Which is why it was surprising to see the Giants return with a fourth installment, The Death of Even-Year Bullshit. Everything was wrapped up so neatly in the original trilogy. There were no unanswered questions. The progression of Cody Ross to Marco Scutaro to Travis Ishikawa was sublime and unexpected, even as we thought we knew the Giants’ tricks.