The Chief, tormented by the events of going on with Sharon and Helo, decided to take his situation into his own hands and built a stealth plane from spare parts.
It was met, at first, with division and sarcasm, but as the episode progressed, more and more of the crew began to buy into the hope that Chief was selling, and joined in on the project.
Meanwhile, a Cylon virus started taking over the Galactica technology and was in danger of sending a signal to the Cylons to attack a defenseless Galactica.
This dangerous threat forced Adama to bring Sharon into the mix and give her a chance to help right the ship.
I am starting to buy into Sharon’s redemption arc, so I sure hope the show does not pull the rug out from under it. I’m still not sure what the long range story is here with Sharon, but I have bought into it.
Chief and his stealth plane was a brilliant way to help build up morale on a ship that was lacking patience. Of course, Starbuck can fly anything. Even a slapped together dream.
Things are looking bad for Laura and I wonder if the show is actually going to have her die from the cancer that she has. I can’t believe that there will not be some last minute save for her, but I have no idea where that would come from.
It was yet another top line episode in a series that has been filled with them so far.
It is a day for wrapping up season finales for the TV shows I am watching. I just watched season three finale for Bates Motel, and now I finished season one of Greatest American Hero with the oddly titled “The Best Desk Scenario.”
The first season of this show has been a lot of goofy, cheesy fun as Ralph struggled to learn how his super suit worked. This episode he tried for a pyrokinetic power, which did not go exactly how he thought it would.
You would also think that at some point, all the crooks brought to justice by Bill Maxwell who claimed were brought in by a guy in red long johns might start to add up and someone might question what was going on instead of just shipping them all off for mental checks.
Bill was having his own trouble here as colleagues of his were dying and it was making him look at his own mortality and question if he had lost his own step. It was an interesting idea for Bill, but it is not really dealt with during the story. It is there, but not with any real depth.
Ralph and Pam’s career successes were causing Bill to be jealous and to doubt his own career. A new head at the FBI, a really young guy, also brought Bill’s insecurities to the surface.
Season two is the longest of the three seasons for Greatest American Hero so we’ll get started on that one soon. Season one was fun and quite a flashback to the 1980s.
Season three finale of Bates Motel continues Norman Bates’ decent into madness as he finished off yet another young woman, the believed-to-be-dead Bradley in a frighteningly violent scene. Admittedly, it was Vera Farmiga who acted out the actual murder, Norman has slipped back into the multiple personality that has caused him to be such a dangerous young man.
I do find it fascinating that Bates Motel has been able to create two couples that are some of my personal favorite couples of all time on their little show depicting how Norman became a murderer.
First up this episode, we see the pairing of Dylan and Emma take a big step forward as they shared a kiss after Dylan was trying to get her to accept the lung transplant. Her reasons to be afraid of the transplant are understandable and relatable. She just wanted to live and was afraid that the transplant was too big of a risk. Dylan was understanding and sweet as he softly convinced her to take a risk.
And you can see the beginnings of what is one of my absolutely most favorite couples of all time with Norma and Alex Romero. I remember loving this couple when they got together and you can see how these two are being built.
However, on this rewatch, it is hard for me to consider Romero a hero. My memory from the first time through was that he was a good guy, but he clearly is not as he murdered Bob. Now, he did it to protect Norma and Bob was a really bad guy, but Romero outright murdered him. And it was not the first time that he had done this. It might have been for the greater good, but still…
Norma definitely needs to work on her knot tying as Norman got out of those binds in seconds.
I enjoyed this episode of the X-Files for all the ways it turned the typical formula on its head.
First, Scully was out in the field, assigned to a case with a different partner, and she would call back to FBI headquarters to talk to Mulder and he would do the background stuff. Lots of time, this was flipped, with Scully doing info searches or autopsies. Poor Mulder was like a sad puppy the whole time too.
This also felt like an opposite of “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” as we had an older man who could see death. This episode, the man himself could not die and he was determined to take a picture of death with the hope of being able to do what everybody else would do. This episode was played much more serious than “Clyde” was, which had some of the funnier moments in the early days of the X-Files.
The old man, Alfred Fellig, was played by character actor Geoffrey Lewis and he does a great job playing against Gillian Anderson.
At the very end of the episode, after Fellig had taken Scully’s place and had died from the gunshot wound, Scully was in the hospital from the same gunshot wound. Scully said “You know Mulder I don’t even know why I entertained the thought. People don’t live forever.” I think that was a reference, in Scully’s mind, back to Bruckman who had told her that she would never die. This brush with nearly dying herself from the gunshot wound made her question her own mortality in a very different way. At least, that is how I took it.
Norman and Norma have an uncomfortable conversation. Norman was upset from what Finnegan had said to him and he had to talk to Norma because he was afraid it was true. Norma reacted in such an understanding and honest manner that it completely put Norman at ease. It was really sweet.
That made the end of the episode, where Norma winds up screaming at Norman that he was going to kill her, all the more horrible. The juxtaposition of the two scenes were stark.
The whole Dylan and Caleb gun running scene was rough. The budding relationship between Emma and Dylan is cute. Alex is dealing with his own issues with Norma and he is told the truth about what happened to Norman’s father.
And what a shocker. Bradley is back.
Caleb and Chick have a major conflict and a fight. This is leading to something more explosive. It gave Dylan the money to help Emma get bumped up the transplant list. He gave it to her father with the caveat that Emma did not know it was from him.
Norma is unbelievably impulsive in a destructive way. Taking the shovel and starting to refill the ‘swimming pool’ in anger was shocking. She is a truly contradictory character. Sweet at times, insane at others.
And speaking of insane, Norman is really getting to that place.
A new horror movie came out this weekend written and directed by Tilman Singer. There were several moments inside the movie where I found myself literally with chills from the events.
According to IMDB, “Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.“
There were a ton of really creepy moments in this film and they do a fantastic job of building the tension of the mystery for the audience. As I mentioned, there were multiple moments where I had chills through my whole body. The music was a great help here too as it was wonderfully done.
Dan Stevens is excellent as always as the creepy and suss Mr. König. His performance is top notch and really helps sell the strange story that is going on.
Hunter Schafer is also excellent as Gretchen, the 17-year old girl at the center of the story. She had to carry a ton of the film and she does a tremendous job.
I will say that the resolution of the movie’s main plot is confusing and I am not 100% sure if I know what had gone on. I think I have a general idea, but there are still several issues that may keep the film from being awesome.
Still, I found this to be very tense and suspenseful and I was happy to have seen it.
Friday night’s Disney’s D23 gave us a bunch of upcoming movie trailers, some released to the world and others leaked online. I am not sharing those, such as Daredevil: Born Again or Ironheart, but there are a bunch of official trailers to watch.
Two different Greatest American Hero episodes with some intriguing stories.
The first one was Basically The Greatest American Hero No More.
If you are a Spider-Man fan like me, you know the reference to one of the classic stories of all time. Spider-Man was always looking to stop being Spider-Man, but he actually tossed his costume once.
Ralph does the same thing when his use of his suit nearly caused a tour bus to go off a cliff. Ralph started thinking about how dangerous he was with his suit and the possible guilt over his actions drove him to consider hanging up the suit for good.
Meanwhile, Maxwell was having his own crisis as his old army captain in the war starting making noise to Bill about stealing diamond from a fence and leaving the country. This had Maxwell doubting his own beliefs.
Both were cool storylines that did not go too deep. I would have like to have seen more of this, to see it more developed than what this show did. Perhaps even have them be separate episodes instead of both being contained inside the same one.
Oh, and there was the Lone Ranger too. Former Lone Ranger actor John Hart guest starred to influence and inspire Ralph to do the right thing.
It was Ralph’s own great power-great responsibility moment.
The next episode tested Ralph and Bill’s friendship and partnership by putting them at odds when Tony wound up as a main suspect in an arson case.
Ralph, Pam and eventually Bill, helped the fugitive Tony avoid getting arrested and trying to prove his innocence.
Both of these two episodes were different but they had the same base of Ralph and Bill at their core.
After a couple of lesser episodes, “S.R. 819” regained the feel of classic episodes of The X-Files, featuring a conspiracy level event.
The show begins with the apparent death of Walter Skinner, setting up the stakes for the episode.
Flashing back to before the ‘death’, we see the events leading up to the current situation and we learn that someone had poisoned Skinner, injecting him with nanobot tech.
Mulder and Scully raced against time to try and save the life of Skinner.
Of course, Mulder and Scully did not solve anything. They circled the truth, but the events were out of their hands. The final shot, of a now compromised Skinner with Krychek of all people was a kick. Especially after Skinner’s ‘deathbed’ confession to Scully that he regretted not being more of an ally to them.
This was a tough episode, but very enjoyable. It had that early X-Files feel to it and advanced the mythology along nicely.
Lucy Lawless brings a journalist aboard the Galactica with full access to everything to, as Adama put it, place a human face on the crew of the Galactica.
The shocking end of the episode was something that I never once considered. I love it when a series can surprise me.
The use of the camera provided the episode with that documentary style as Lawless, whose character was named D’Anna Biers, interviewed crew members and was constantly there sticking the camera into the faces of the people on Galactica.
It felt like what I expected. A cool concept where D’Anna Biers is won over at the end by the dedication and perseverance of the crews. And that is exactly what we see in the final cut… until we learn that Biers is a Cylon.
It was truly an unexpected reveal for me and it immediately elevated what was turning out to be an okay episode with a neat hook to something more.
The show also continued to show the faults of Col. Tigh, as he just does not seem to be mentally tough for any of this and that his decisions seem to not work with the position in which he finds himself.
I liked how the show returned to the Gideon incident from a few episodes ago. The whole firing on a crowd of people felt like it was dropped, but the show circled back to it and made it a major component for this episode.
We have yet another contender for worst movie of 2024.
I have had five other films that I would consider for the top spot of the worst film list and I am not sure yet which movie will gain that lofty position. You can add a sixth to the mix.
And this one had two Oscar winning actors on it too.
Borderlands, based on the popular video game, may have set the video game movie subgenre back years as the last several projects based on video games had been well received. Borderlands put that streak to an end.
According to IMDB, “Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous bounty hunter with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home, Pandora, the most chaotic planet in the galaxy. Her mission is to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Edagr Ramírez), the universe’s most powerful S.O.B. Lilith forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits – Roland (Kevin Hart), a seasoned mercenary on a mission; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral preteen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the oddball scientist who’s seen it all; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a wiseass robot. Together, these unlikely heroes must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of Pandora’s most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.“
The first thought I had when it started was how cheap it looked. It felt like a really low-budget film, something that might appear as a short on YouTube. The CGI at the end made Blanchett look really like a video game, and not in a good way.
The dialogue was horrendous. You could almost hear Blanchett gritting her teeth as she said some of the words. Okay, maybe that was just me.
The characters were silly and barely two dimensional. None of their stories were interesting and they were only relatable because they were famous actors in these roles. Kevin Hart was more laid back than he usually is in a film like this though. Ariana Greenblatt was an attractive young woman, but her character was inconsistent and shaky.
The robot Claptrap needed to shut up. He was not funny. He was obnoxious and not even the great voice over skill of Jack Black, who has done a ton of voice over work from Po to Bowser, could save this character.
I think I giggled twice (it may have been more of a guffaw) and the story just did not do justice to this amazing cast of actors.
I found little interesting in here, outside of just constantly thinking to myself that I was watching Cate Blanchett in this movie.
Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. We have a new banner this week. I do love putting together the new banners when it feels as if it is time. This one has several of the more recent books represented. This is the first non-special banner that did not have some variant of Spider-Man on it.
Books this week:
Refrigerator Full of Heads #1-6. This DC series was written by Rio Youers and drawn by Tom Fowler. I picked up a couple of these issues a week or so ago at Comic World because they looked interesting and I like horror books and then I filled out the remaining part of the six-issue series on eBay. This was a real hoot. I loved the story and the fact that there were decapitated, talking heads inside a refrigerator? What’s not to love. An awesome appearance by a chopped off shark’s head too. This was a lot of fun and shows a whole lot of creativity. One wonders if this series inspired the Plastics: Death and Dolls creators. By the way, the guy on eBay who I ordered the series from also sent me Heart Eyes #1 for free. It is from Vault Comics and I enjoyed it enough that I purchased 2-5 on eBay.
Uncanny X-Men #1. Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art by Marquez and Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). I love Gail Simone. She is extremely engaging and entertaining on X and she writes a beautifully powerful story for this new iteration of Uncanny X-Men. It also contains perhaps the best lineup of all of the new X-books with Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and Rogue at the heart. This starts out hot!
Spider-Man: Black Suit and Blood #1. This has four stories contained inside and three of them are okay. The first story in the book, focusing in on a small time crook named Joe Face, is a wonderful story of redemption and humanity. The first story was written by J.M. DeMatteis, who always seems to have a really strong grasp on Spidey and the people in the web-head’s orbit.
Avengers #17. “Impact Part One” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Valerio Schiti. Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX did the cover art (Silver Medalist). New regular artist joins the Avengers and brings along Storm! Sam Wilson goes to find Storm and asks her to be the mutant representation on the team while the rest of the team struggled with their successes/failures during the Blood Hunt.
Incredible Hulk #15. “Lament for a Fallen Crown”: Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Danny Earles. Cover art by Nic Klein. I also picked up the Disco Dazzler variant cover by Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg (Bronze Medalist). Not sure I cared much for this issue of the Hulk. I am not sure what is going on and I’m not sure I am enjoying the path this book has taken.
The Last Starry Night: Vincent Van Gogh graphic novel. Written and drawn by Jamison Odone. This is a lovely graphic novel detailing the final days in the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh in a style of The Last Starry Night, one of the artist’s classic painting. The graphic novel is beautifully illustrated and dives deeply into the last days of Van Gogh, a physical and psychological investigation. I’m calling it now. Keep your eyes on this one for next year’s Eisner Awards.
Spectacular Spider-Men #6. “Fulfillment” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Ramos & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Peter and Miles continue to battle robots in Arcadium. The robots, now with hammerhead at the lead, are the crimelords of the world, including Black Cat, which makes Peter uncomfortable.
Space Ghost #4. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Francesco Mattina. This series has been awesome so far. It has done an amazing job of taking these characters that I only really know via the Space Ghost: Coast to Coast animated series, which made them all comedic, and turn them into serious characters. In this issue, we get Zorak and he is completely terrifying. He’s not just singing with Brak. He is monstrous and an epic villain that puts the fear of death into Space Ghost. Amazing.
Arkham Horror: The Terror at the End of Time #1. Script by Cullen Bunn and art by Andrea Mutti. Cover art was by Rafael Albuquerque. This new Dark Horse book is the next horror comic and it was interesting. It started off feeling kind of like a noir/period piece, but the horror comes quickly near the end of the book.
A Vicious Circle #3. Written by Mattson Tomlin and illustrated and cover art by Lee Bermejo. To be honest, I have not read this one yet. I could not believe when I saw this advertised in Previews because #2 had been released so long ago that it was one of those that I just never thought we’d see again. In fact, I looked up the release date for #2 and it was July 2023. Over a year ago. That is quite the gap in publication. Because of that, I want to go back and look at the previous issues to recap what was going on. What I do know is that this has some of the best art I have ever seen in comics/graphic novels. It is breathtaking how beautiful it is and perhaps this is the reason the release date was so spread out. I am looking forward to reading this with some prior knowledge restored.
Doctor Strange #18. “Deathless“. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Pasqual Ferry . Cover art was by Alex Ross. This feels like the final issue for Doctor Strange as he was coming to grips with the fact that he is no longer Sorcerer Supreme, a title he had to give up to Doctor Doom in order to save the planet during the Blood Hunt. I assume Doc will be back at some point.
The Big Burn #1. Written by Joe Henderson and drawn by Lee Garbett. Cover B was done by Tula Lotay. Carly and Owen met one day as they were both trying to rob the same bank. They fell in love and began a crime spree together. When they were finally caught, the Devil showed up to offer them a way out, if they sold him their souls. When they agreed, they realized that selling their souls cost them even more than they expected. After a near death experience where the Devil taunted him, Owen decided to recruit a team of thieves for the ultimate heist, to steal their souls back from hell. This was a fantastic first issue from DSTLRY and I am excited to see the next issue.
Venom War #1. Written by Al Ewing and art by Iban Coello. Coello & Frank O’Armata did the cover art. This is the new giant crossover among the Venom books. I am not a Venom collector, but I did glance through this issue. There were some moments with Spider-Man that I found intriguing, but I do not plan on following this whole new crossover with Venom.
Ain’t No Grave #4. “Depression” Written by Skottie Young and art and cover art by Jorge Corona. This book literally has two words in it. The entire book is told visually with the stunning artwork from Jorge Corona. “Hello, Ryder” are the only words in the whole script. That is an amazing accomplishment, to keep the energy of the book alive without any words at all.
Daredevil #12. “Introductory Rites” Part Twelve. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Aaron Kuder. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove did the cover art. Daredevil has to square off with the possessed Kingpin in a violent battle for his own life and faith.
The Deviant #7. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Joshua Hixson. This has been a consistently awesome series as they take a look at a serial killer in the most original way. There is a lot of discussion among these characters but it is never dull. This is another classic Tynion story.
Blood Hunters #1. Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Robert Gill. Cover art was by Ema Lupacchino and GURU-eFX. From the pages of Blood Hunt comes a group of heroes out to take out the vampires of the world… Elsa Bloodstone, Hallows’ Eve, White Widow and Dagger… adn their first target… Miles Morales?
Spider-Man: Reign 2 #2. Written and drawn by Kaare Andrews. Brian Reber did the cover art. Old Man Spidey is back in time trying to desperately save MJ. This continues to be compelling, but I am never a fan of seeing Spider-Man who is willing to kill. That is so opposed to the character that it just does not fit, no matter what he has gone through. Still, the story is gripping and I hope it leads to Peter facing what he has become and reclaiming his humanity.
Other books this week: Public Domain #7, Free Agents #2, Cruel Universe#1, Ultimate Black Panther #7, Wolverine: Deep Cut #2, and The Boy Wonder #4.
Three medalists this week and they all come from the House of Ideas, Marvel Comics. I actually had a list of about six or so in the competition so it was a solid cover week.
Bronze Medalist
Incredible Hulk #15
Variant cover C
Cover art by Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg
Disco Dazzler cover! What more could you want than a sparkly Hulk on roller skates? Like most variant covers, this has zero to do with the story, but this cover was a ton of fun.
Silver Medalist
Avengers #17
Cover art byJoshua Cassara & GURU-eFX
Storm joins the Avengers and she is a major force on this Avengers cover. The lightning from her eyes is extremely dramatic and the colors of the cover are perfect for Ororo.
Gold Medalist
Uncanny X-Men #1
Cover art by David Marquez and Matthew Wilson
With all the relaunching X-Men books, Uncanny X-Men comes with the cover art featuring the hands of the members of the new team…each extremely distinctly X.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 