Author Archives: Doc

The X-Files S5 E6, E7

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“Christmas Carol”

“Emily”

The two part story dives into Scully’s desire to be a parent, something that had apparently been taken from her when she was abducted.

The first episode was Scully-centric, with only one quick cameo appearance by Mulder. Scully gets a mysterious phone call when she had returned to her family for Christmas and Scully believed that the voice on the phone was that of her deceased sister, Melissa.

The call led Scully to a house where a woman had seemingly committed suicide. However, there was more to it than that.

What was at the center of this was the woman’s daughter, Emily. Turned out that Emily was an adopted daughter and, as we find out at the very end of the episode, that Scully was her mother.

This dated back to the time frame when Scully had been abducted and had her eggs removed.

Gillian Anderson did some fine work cycling through all the emotions in these two episodes. The final scene where she laid on the bed beside Emily in the hospital was painful and beautiful at the same time.

Oh, but I have to say, Scully’s brother is still a jerk.

Strangely, I do not remember this two part episode. I can’t imagine that I missed it when it first was broadcast, but I did not recognize any of the scenes. The only child I remember for Scully was later on in the series run.

The Jinx Part Two S2 E6

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Season finale

“It Takes a Village”

After Bob Durst was convicted in California, but before he could appeal, Bob Durst died.

It seemed as if Bob Durst was still evading justice, right up to the end.

Because he died before he could appeal, the conviction would be negated. It is a California law.

This led to Kathie’s family, The McCormacks, deciding to sue Bob’s estate for wrongful death. So we get to hear more from Debrah, Bob’s wife.

We also hear from Bob’s siblings, and they were some kind of rotten. I just found them to be such a group of monsters, to varying degrees.

There was no final, surprising confession at the end of season two as there was in season one. Instead, they make it appear that Debrah really won in the long run. She has fought the McCormacks the entire time, and still is doing so. With some legal machinations with a trust, most of Bob’s money is salted away. Debrah refused interviews. She said that everything was worth it.

And the Durst family had never once offered any help or assistance to the McCormacks.

Sounds as if Bob wasn’t the only horrific person in this story. Perhaps he is the sole murderer.

These two seasons of The Jinx is one of my all-time favorite documentary series that I have watched. Andrew Jarecki does a tremendous job of both of these seasons.

Bates Motel S1 E6, E7

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“The Truth”

“The Man in Number 9”

The Deputy Zack Shelby storyline came to a dramatic conclusion in episode six as Shelby wound up in a gunfight with Dylan after he discovered the Asian girl in one of the motel rooms.

The whole situation came to a head with Shelby as he showed off his violent side, including smacking Norma a couple of times. This set off Norman.

The gunfire was tense as Dylan and Zack fired at each other. Zack ended up dead outside on the front steps of the house.

It also led to one of the big reveals of the early season. As we see Norman go into a blackout with Shelby, we learn from Norma that Norman had blacked out once before, and ended up killing his father Sam. Norma made it look like an accident and Norman believed that story.

Strangely, Sheriff Romero, who responded to Norma’s 9-1-1 call, upon finding the dead body of his deputy on the steps, listened to the story and then told the Bates clan what the actual story was going to be. That was odd considering how gung-ho Romero was to arrest Norma at first.

The show does not let us hear what Norma tells Romero. She said that he knows it all now about Shelby. How much that actually was would be interesting to know. Did she tell Romero about the rape? Or how she murdered Keith? I’m not sure we ever found out.

Another new story started in episode seven with the mysterious salesman who showed up claiming to have a standing reservation of room 9. He was definitely creepy and a riddle. Then he booked all the rooms for the first week of every two months. What is going on here?

Norman’s sex life took a turn as he talked with Bradley and she let him down as easily as she could, but we could see Norman turning into Norma as he walked away. Her kind hug brought him back, but it was spooky.

The arrival of a stray dog Norman named Juno brought another tragedy to Norman as a car accidentally ran over the dog. This is leading to the knowledge for Norman of taxidermy as he wanted to take the dog’s corpse to Emma’s father.

Norman feels very much on the edge. I’m not sure how he made it through five seasons. Bates Motel has been just an excellent show so far.

The X-Files S5 E5

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“The Post-Modern Prometheus”

We have come to an episode of the X-Files that would be one of my top ten episodes of the series. After watching it again tonight, I have an even greater appreciation for “The Post-Modern Prometheus” than I had when I first saw it.

Mulder and Scully came to a town where a woman claimed to have been impregnated by a monster in her home, without her consent. The woman, who seemed more intent on making the Jerry Springer Show, stated that her 18-year old son Izzy was conceived in the same manner.

Turned out that Izzy was the writer of a comic book that followed the adventures of the Great Mutato, a local legend and the Great Mutato fit the description of the supposed attacker/rapist.

Shot in a beautiful black and white, this episode took the story of Frankenstein and turned it about to fit into an episode of the X-Files. Much of the stylistic choices of the episode fit right into the type of old fashion horror movies, like Frankenstein. The episode was striking with its mood, creating a fantasy style and a surreal element of the tale.

Music of Cher was used throughout the episode, including a majestic version of “Walking in Memphis” at the very end. There was a reference made to Cher’s movie, Mask, where Cher played the mother of a disfigured boy, something to which the Great Mutato could relate.

I read that some people believe that this episode takes place outside of X-Files continuity since the episode begins and ends as if it was a story in a comic book. This is an interesting idea that does make sense with what was provided. It allowed the creators a freedom to be able to bring a different style of mood to this episode.

Over-the-top actor John O’Hurley, known as J Peterman from Seinfeld, played the “mad scientist” Francis Pollidori. His style of acting fit perfectly in this fantastical story.

This is one of the best X-Files episodes of the entire series, and it was epic to get a chance to see it once again. It is a beautifully constructed and filmed fairy tale that is a love letter to the Universal Monsters from the 1930s/1940s.

Bates Motel S1 E4, E5

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“Trust Me…”

“Ocean View”

Things are heating up among everyone in Bates Mote.

So much happened in these two episodes it was truly epic.

  • Norma is arrested for the murder of Keith Summers
  • Keith’s hand was found with carpet fibers from the motel.
  • Norman confided in Dylan.
  • Norman had sex with Bradley.
  • Emma and Norman found the missing Asian girl on Summers’ boat.
  • They took the girl back to the motel where Norma found them.
  • The girl told Norma that Zack was behind her kidnapping, keeping her for sex.
  • Dylan’s partner lent him $5000 to get a place for Dylan and ‘his bro.’
  • Dylan’s partner was shot in the neck.
  • Dylan ran down the shooter with his truck.
  • Zack steals the carpet fiber and the case against Norma is dropped.
  • Norman told Emma about his night with Bradley. She claimed it was just a hook up.

So much going down in these two episodes that it is just packed full. Norma’s manipulations are coming back on her, but Zack is certainly being shown as someone who is not just a good guy trying to help someone he loved. He is a control freak and he is out for Norma. The whole fishing scene with Norman was really tense and uneasy.

Norman’s own mental illness took a back seat in these episodes as his relationship with Dylan appeared to be getting stronger as his relationship with Norma took a hit. She was mad at Norman for being out ‘getting laid’ on the night she was arrested, but that was just another way to attempt to control him.

Bates Motel continues to be excellent, creating a ton of intriguing stories wrapped around these characters. Dylan is one of the most engaging characters included in the show.

The X-Files S5 E4

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“Detour”

The X-Files starts a strong run of episodes with “Detour” which finds Mulder and Scully in the woods in Florida in an attempt to avoid a FBI “team-building” conference with two inane agents.

That might not be fair, but Mulder and Scully were sharing a car with another pair of agents and it was quite apparent that they could not stand the discussions going on. So when their car was stopped because of a police barricade, Mulder took the opportunity to ‘stretch his legs’ and get away from the other agents.

Coincidentally, Mulder found himself engaged with the investigation of several missing people, attacks that did not seem to be human or animal.

The episode was written by Frank Spotnitz who said he was inspired to write it after watching Deliverance. I have to say that there are several scenes that felt more like Predator than Deliverance.

The strength of the episode was the interplay between Mulder and Scully. It was reminiscent of the episode “Quagmire” where Mulder and Scully are stranded on a rock in the middle of a lake with a supposed monster at large. However, the scene where Scully sings “Joy to the World” to an injured Mulder is excellent and gives an insight to the complex relationship between Mulder and Scully.

There was also a really funny moment when Scully had fallen into a hole in the woods and Mulder tossed down his gun to her because the creature was int he hole with her. Moments later, Mulder saw movement int he woods, and he dropped himself into the hole too. The comic timing on that was beautiful.

However, I did not like the explanation of the creatures from Mulder. It felt like the whole Conquistador/Fountain of Youth explanation was thrown on in an attempt to make the story make some semblance of sense in the X-Files world. As Agent Kinsley had said, it is just a way for Mulder to write off his motel room as a business expense.

Overall, this was a fun monster-of-the-week episode that is made better because of the dialogue between Mulder and Scully.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #99

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May 25, 2024

Welcome back to another episode of Comic Cavalcade.

Todd has been busy. He went to a con in Minnesota recently and he brought me back a huge amount of back issues that I had been missing. I have been filling back issues of Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 books, and Todd got me four ASM. I told Todd to look for certain issues of The New Warriors Vol. 1 and Groo, particularly from Marvel/Epic run.

He got me a ton of these. Literally I think it was over 40 books. Of course, I had blundered too. I told Todd that I did not have any Groo issues from Image because I did not see any of them listed on CLZ. I had forgotten that those were listed under Sergio Aragones Groo. I actually had all 12 issues from Image and Todd picked up several of them for me. My bad.

Books this week:

Her Frankenstein. By Kawashima Norikazu. Originally published in 1988, this manga graphic novel has just been released. I am not sure how I felt about this graphic novel. I was not a huge fan of this book, but it was an interesting and quick read. I like the addition to my collection.

Saga Volume 5. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and drawn by Fiona Staples. Continuing my way through the compilation of the Saga story, this week I read Volume 5. Once again, it is a compelling tale and a very excellent read. I buzzed through this volume as things just keep happening.

Ultimate Black Panther #4. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Stefano Caselli. Cover art by Caselli & David Curiel. Queen Okoye takes on the force of Ra and Khonsu to try and save the world of Wakanda. She discovers her husband T’Challa, along with some help… Killmonger and Storm.

Something is Killing the Children #37. “Road Stories Part Two” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover by Werther Dell’edera. Another story from the past of Erica Slaughter. I like these past stories as we can see more about Erica and her connection to the house.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Federica Mancin. Cover art by Mark Brooks (Bronze Medalist) and variant cover by Ernanda Souza (Gold medalist). I picked up two versions of this book, including the foil cover. Gwen is in the 616 universe now. I am not sure where that happened, but it had something to do with the TVA and O.B. Why is Gwen being told she should not be in costume? I really liked this first issue and I am happy Gwen is in the 616 universe.

Black Widow & Hawkeye #3. “Broken Arrow Part 3” Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Paolo Villanelli. Stephen Segova & Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. This was told in two times, one earlier in the early days of Hawkeye and Black Widow and one in the current time frame with Hawkeye and Black Widow in Madripoor.

Sensational She-Hulk #8. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art is done by Kris Anka. She-Hulk’s confrontation with Ganymede goes physical and the relationship between She-Hulk and Jack of Hearts takes a big step. She-Hulk has been very entertaining since Rainbow Rowell took over the writing duties.

Blood Hunt #2. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pepe Larraz. Larraz and Marte Gracia did the cover art. The Avengers make a come back against the Bloodcoven. What happened to Miles Morales? So much happening through this major crossover.

Union Jack the Ripper #1. “Ghoul Britannia” Written by Cavan Scott and penciled by Kev Walker. This is the full red variant cover issue. I have always liked Union Jack and this is a new take on that character, tying it into the Blood Hunt story. I enjoyed this issue very much. They also tied it into the Union mini series which I liked from a few years ago.

Amazing Spider-Man #50. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by McGuinness and Marco Menyz. Big issue as Norman Osborn returned to the Green Goblin. It was an intense issue as Spidey and Goblin went after each other hard and evil Spidey seemed to return at the end. There are several shorter, back-up stories in this extra large anniversary issue.

Superior Spider-Man #7. “Superior Spider-Island” Written by Dan Slott and penciled by Mark Bagley. Bagley & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Otto Octavius has sent out an army of spiders to take over the mind of EVERYBODY! Everyone is speaking like Doc Ock. Can Spidey and Anna Marie do anything to stop him?

Sam and Twitch Case Files #3. Script by Todd McFarlane and art by Szymon Kudranski. Jonathan Glapion did the cover art (Silver Medalist) Twitch continued to work on the mysterious murder investigation outside of his home city. This detective book has been great, though I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of the way the dialogue is handled, sans word balloons. I like trying something new, but this makes it harder to read.

Spectacular Spider-Men #3. “Arachnobatics Chapter Three: Meanwhile…” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. This was another issue that I picked up two covers this week because I really liked one of the variant covers. This was a strange issue with Peter and Miles in situations that did not feel real. Like Peter is married to Gwen, with kids.

Blood Squad Seven #1. Written by Joe Casey and art and cover art by Paul Fry. This was a new series featuring a group of super heroes who are back after a group of heroes, who were more like celebrities, were gone thirty years before. I had a little trouble following this issue, but it is an intriguing concept.

Void Rivals #9. Written by Robert Kirkman and art and cover art by Lorenzo De Felici. Desperately trying to keep Solila alive after being impaled at the end of last issue, Darak comes across an Autobot, Springer. Springer vs. Proximus round one.

Fall of the House of X #5. “The Turn” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Lucas Werneck & Stefano Caselli. Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia did the cover art. Major battle with Nimrod, we see some serious battle with Storm and Cyclops.

Rook Exodus #2. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Jason Fabok. Fabok and Brad Anderson did the cover art. This Ghost Machine series is one of the best of the new run at Image. I would say this is just behind Redcoat among these books. I love these new characters and I love the setting with the animals.

Cobra Commander #5. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andrea Milana. Milana and Annalisa Leoni did the cover art. This series comes to a close with Cobra Commander stepping up to be the head of the new group, Cobra!

Immortal Thor #11. “God of Doom” Written by Al Ewing and art by Valentina Pinti. Alex Ross did the cover art. Thor calls together the children of Odin! Who knew there were this many?

Blue Book: 1947 #4. Written by James Tynion IV and drawn and cover art by Michael Avon Oeming. We go through the story of Roswell in more detail. I enjoy this somewhat true(?) adaptation of what happened in Roswell.

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #7. Written by Brian Buccellato and art by Christian Duce. Drew Johnson & Romulo Fajardo Jr did the cover art. This Monsterverse title comes to an end with the Titans being returned but not before the death of Guy Gardner led to Kong with a Green Lantern power ring. What? This crossover series has been iffy at times, but that moment was all cheese and fits with the Monsterverse perfectly.

Other books this week: Feral #3, Grim #17, Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance #3, Local Man #10, Man’s Best #3, and X-Men ’97 #3

Next issue of EYG Comic Cavalcade will be the epic #100! I plan on some special things to commemorate the accomplishment of 100 posts (including a Legacy number). I will reflect back over the last few years and how my personal comic collection has changed over that period of time and how EYG helped that happen. Plus, new books from next week as well.

The Garfield Movie

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I have not been looking forward to this movie because the trailers for The Garfield Movie have been truly awful. Still, I went in with the hope that this would be better than I thought it would be.

Sadly, it is not.

I did not like The Garfield Movie at all. There are so many things that I just did not work for a Garfield movie. This was an action movie with a character that had always before spent all his time on the couch eating lasagna. The entire storyline with Garfield’s estranged father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), just did not work. It was something that did not work for the character and stood out as a huge problem with the script. Seeing Garfield jumping from drone to drone just should not happen.

The animation was good. I think some kids would like this movie, however, my theater was mostly filled with youngsters, and there was very little responses during the film. Very few laughs. There was no energy in the room. I did not think that was a good sign for the film.

I know there was some controversy with Chris Pratt as the voice of Garfield, but he was fine. I do not think that the voice performance of Chris Pratt was the problem of this movie.

This film did not resemble the classic Jim Davis Garfield character at all. He became an action hero and the relationship story with Vic was both ridiculous and predictable. There was not enough humor and the story was weak. Some youth may find this entertaining.

2.5 stars

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

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I was one of the people who thought Mad Max Fury Road was just okay. I did not love it like most of the people who saw it. I feel much the same way about the prequel film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, with Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth.

It was fine. I did not love it. It was passable for me.

According to IMDB, “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”

There are a lot of good things in Furiosa. To start with, the film looks tremendous. The effects, many of which were practical, were epic. The stunts are wonderful and work very well with the story.

Anya Taylor-Joy does a great job taking the role of Furiosa in this prequel. However I do think the standout performance of the film was from Chris Hemsworth, who just eats every scene away every moment he is on screen as Dementus. He is not just playing Chris Hemsworth nor is he just Thor. He is a fabulous villain in Furiosa.

My biggest problem is the story, which is the same basic problem I had with Mad Max. There is not much to the story, though I did like the background of Furiosa’s life. There is a lot of action, but I would appreciate more story beats to chew on.

So I liked Furiosa. I appreciated the work done by director George Miller and the cast, especially the main two, were top notch. You should see this in the theater. If you loved Mad Max Fury Road, you will love Furiosa too.

3.4 stars

Doctor Who S14 E4

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S14 E4, S1 E4

“73 Yards”

Snow is a recurring motif in this series when connected to Ruby, and this Ruby-centric episode is something else.

The Doctor and Ruby arrive in Wales and the Doctor immediately steps on a Fairy Circle. He disappears and a mysterious woman follows Ruby on her desperate attempt to find an answer of what happened.

The tension of this episode is just off the charts, as it goes from a supernatural-type story to one of a political nature and ends with a circular return that reveals part of the story.

However, there are still plenty of questions for me as the saga progressed over 40 years.

I did miss the Doctor during the bulk of the episode, but Ruby is an exceptional character and Millie Gibson dominates the episode with her charm and her anxiety over what was occurring.

Yet another episode that is unlike the previous episodes, making Doctor Who a series that truly spans the stretch of what a TV show can be.

Bates Motel S1 E3

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“What’s Wrong with Norman?”

The third episode of Bates Motel shows that there is something off about young Norman Bates. He blacked out during school, he took a belt from the rapist Norma killed and kept it as a memento, and seemed to not remember when he attacked Dylan from episode two.

The mental illness showed its ugly head early in this series. We all know where Norman Bates ends up, and it makes sense that he would have these issues as a young man. But you wouldn’t have guessed that he would be as likable as Freddie Highmore made him.

Norma is in full manipulation mode, but she has apparently gotten herself involved with Deputy Zack Shelby, who discovered the belt under Norman’s bed and took it before Sheriff Romero saw it. However, Norman, who had a delusion that Norma told him to take care of the belt, sneaking into Shelby’s house to search for the belt, discovered something shocking. A girl chained up in Shelby’s basement.

We get a touch of a relationship between Norman and Dylan. The step-brothers had a minor scene that told a lot. It hinted to Dylan that maybe something was not right with Norman.

Emma got a glimpse at Norman’s darker side when he rebuked her decision to go to the police with the journal with the artist renditions of the Chinese woman in it. Norman was fairly scary when he snipped at Emma that he did not want the police involved.

Bates Motel has been great in these first few episodes as we watch the creation of an iconic movie villain.

The X-Files S5 E3

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“Unusual Suspects”

I started this episode on Tuesday night. However, we had a horrible storm go through my city, knocking out my internet access (and the power for a time). I was about halfway through the episode when the internet went down. With the normally busy Wednesday, I did not get back to this episode until tonight when I was able to finish it up on Hulu.

“Unusual Suspects” was a back story of the Lone Gunmen, how they came to be together and how they ended up meeting Mulder.

This was also a crossover episode with NBC’s series Homicide: Life on the Street with a guest appearance from Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch.

The idea for the Lone Gunmen focused episode came about when David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson needed time to finish the X-Files movie.

X made a “return” in this flashback episode, as one of the men behind the problem at the center of this episode, which helped cement the paranoia of the trio.

However, I am not sure why X allowed the Lone Gunmen to live at the end of the episode after they saw as much as they saw. I can understand why he let Mulder live, but why them?

This episode was fine, but it does suffer from the same issue as many of these kind of shows, that place secondary characters in their own lead episodes. Much like the Miss Dipesto episodes of Moonlighting, these episode was fine, but was missing something. In this episode, what was missing was Scully.

As I said, this episode was okay, but just not to the level I am used to for the X-Files.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of May 20

Welcome back to the Favorite Comic Covers of the Week here at EYG. This week is another first. Last week, we had three variant covers receive the three medals for the first time. This week there is another first. Two of the three medalists are the same comic, one with the regular cover, and one with a variant.

Here are this week’s finalists!

Bronze Medalist

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1

Regular cover

Cover art by Mark Brooks

Gwen Stacy comes to 616 universe for good. And O.B. from Loki TV series is there. Lots of fun and a fun cover to boot.

Silver Medalist

Sam and Twitch Case Files #3

Cover Art by Jonathan Glapion

A clever and attractive cover with the frame of Sam Burke making up the cityscape. The red, black and touch of white made this an extremely intriguing cover and gives you a look inside what the story and character are about.

Gold Medalist

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1

Variant Cover

Cover Art by Ernanda Souza

A beautiful foil cover, listed at the cover D. The gold and pink swirls behind Gwen really pop on the foil cover and you can never go wrong with the always awesome Spider-Gwen costume.