I really enjoyed A Quiet Place: Day One, not as well as the first one but maybe equal to the second. The cat did stress me out the whole movie. Great podcast as usual.
I would agree that the first one is probably the best one. I felt like the cat stuff felt silly but once you buy into that is what is happening, it's a good tool to create the stress & anxiety needed for the film.
The book The Sympathizer is great. I'd recommend it. I've avoided the show because the trailer made it look kinda corny/silly, which is not like the book, but Taran's description makes me far more likely to watch it now. So thanks for that!
I heard the creator had said that he had a 3 season story, and it was during the strikes and all that, along with the critical success, that the producers or the network asked for more. Which would explain why this season's pace feels off.