Welcome back to the TV Week That Was.

Just finished watching the Walking Dead special 90-minute mid-season finale.  Most of the episode was leading toward a shocking ending, an ending that they were teasing that everyone would be talking about.  And what they were referring to is that Carl was bitten by a Walker.  After Negan had gotten free of the zombie trap, he came to Alexandria for vengeance.  However, Carl had gotten the others out and confronted Negan.  After that, in the sewers where the survivors were hiding, Carl showed the Walker bite to Rick and Michonne.  Carl is not dead yet, and, on the Talking Dead, writer/producer Scott Gimple teased that Carl will have something important to do when the Walking Dead returns in February.

Dirk Gently on BBC America continues to be solid television each and every week.  The show has tremendous humor, exciting action, twists and turns and some great characters.  This week, the violence capita went through the roof as several of the characters from Wendimore were killed.  Hardest of all, moments after the sweet reunion, Panto and Silas were shot to death.  However, the sight of Bart with a chainsaw preparing to unleash holy hell is really dramatic.  I am hoping that the Boy will be able to save some of these characters when Dirk rescues him from Blackwing.  Either way, we found out this week that Sheriff Sherlock Hobbs is not dead.  Whoo-Hoo!  Of course, he then promptly got shot along with Farrah and Tina.  This show has really been on a breakneck pace this season.

Agents of SHIELD was just off the charts again this week with the group still in the future and in space.  Not only did we get more awesomeness from the crew, but they officially introduced the concept of the Multiverse in the MCU.  It was a difficult week for Simmons, though she is just looking all kinds of beautiful with her gold trimmings.  She was brought out of her weird daze to help train an Inhuman with her phasing power. The girl wound up in a gladiator style showdown, eventually sending her fist through her opponent’s chest.  And what did she get for it?  Sold.  Besides this plot, Coulson came across some kind of strange message coming from the surface of what is left of the earth, that is covered with the roaches.  Agents of SHIELD is rocking season five hard so far.

On Gotham we had a bratty Bruce Wayne sighting this week.  Bruce’s bad behavior had Alfred very concerned, but Bruce was not in the mood to listen to his guardian/butler.  So Alfred got into some fisticuffs with Master Bruce and blackened the brat’s eye.  Because of that, Bruce got himself emancipated and fired Alfred.  Bruce’s evolution in Bratman is well under way.  Also on the episode, we saw he murder of Carmine Falcone, who arrived to retrieve his daughter.  Everyone believed that Penguin had ordered the hit, but it turned out that it was Sophia, his daughter.  Sophia blackmailed Jim Gordon into keeping it quiet.  Plus, she shot the escaped Pyg in the head.  That was my least favorite part of the episode, because I really enjoyed Pyg.  Then, with Penguin returned to Arkham, he wound up in the cell next to Jerome.

Star Wars hype continued on the Disney owned network ABC on Speechless as JJ and his brother Ray were able to get tickets to the premiere of the new Star Wars movie.  This, of course, led to conflict when JJ wanted to use the tickets to get a hot girl to take him.  There is a funny cameo on the show by famous director Kevin Smith, which is even more ironic since Smith talked about not being invited to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere on his latest Fatman on Batman podcast.

I tried to watch the new SyFy series Happy, which is based on a Grant Morrison/Darick Robertson graphic novel but I just could not get into it.  Happy starred Law and Order star Christopher Meloni and a blue, flying unicorn that only Meloni could see. 

Marvel’s Runaways took another awesome step this week as the group came together for the first time and showed off their powers.  And old friend of Alex’s father, who had taken the rap for him to get him out of prison, returned this week and grabbed Alex fro leverage.  Little did he know that the Runaways were here to take care of business.  We got a good scene between Chase and his father as well, as it turned out that Victor revealed that he had a brain tumor.  The show on Hulu has been really great so far and I have enjoyed the slow burn on it.

The Movie Trivia Schmoedown continues its push towards its big show, The Schmoedown Spectacular on Dec. 22nd.  This week they had a number one contender for the Star Wars Championship, currently held by “The Pit Boss” Ken Napzok.  The fatal five way match saw Sam Witwer come out on top after a very dramatic match.  However, after the victory, they brought out Napzok who apparently turned to the Dark Side of the Force and joined the Lion’s Den.  Seemingly, Napzok’s Nerd’s watch partner Rachel Cushings talked him out of it, getting Ken to agree to team up with her again against the Lion’s Den team Blofeld’s Cat.  That match up is Tuesday, and I expect some shenanigans, especially if Ken and Rachel lose.

The week ahead features a sneak peak of the return of Movie Fights to Screen Junkies.  The show that has been off the air since the Andy Signore sexual harassment situation is on its way back and Thursday has a sneak peak.  Also more from Agents of SHIELD, a new Runaways, and more.

Happy viewing