“In a world crying out for a Top Ten show…”
I have been loving the Top Ten Show with John Rocha and Matt Knost on the Schmoes Know Network, and I have been trying to follow along each week and make my own list here at EYG. It has been great fun, and you can listen to the show here.
I made a copy of the title page from YouTube of the Top Ten Show and added EYG to it so there could be a title heading to this weekly column. I wish I knew who had created the artwork for the Top Ten Show so I could give that person credit for that person’s remarkable creative vision. I love it so here it is, with the EYG logo added.
This week’s episode included special guest Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing and the three of them went through the list of Top Ten Historical Figures in Film.
I will be honest… I cheated several times on the list. Rocha, Knost and Cushing thought the list needed to disqualify those movies of “cultural” figures but I am including those, at least a couple of them. I am missing a chunk of this knowledge as this would not be my best category, so I am including what I want. One of the rules I did “basically” adhere to was the person in the film should have been known to me prior to the film. I follow that rule (for the most part).
#10. Gandhi. This one was one that I almost dropped off the list, but it felt like a movie that really fit this category and so I decided to add it. I have only seen this one time in high school history class (thanks Mr. Hillebrand). Ben Kinsley was magnificent in the role of the Indian leader. The film was an Oscar winner and it deserves the praise.
#9. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the titular roles of the outlaws like no others. Written by William Goldman (who also wrote my all time favorite movie, The Princess Bride), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid became a cultural iconic film that inspired many future films. Add to that a great use of “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” and you have got something.
#8. Man on the Moon. The first of my “cheats” but this one was mentioned in the honorable mention by Matt Knost, and I really liked this film, so I am giving it a slot. Jim Carrey, who starred as comedian Andy Kaufman, literally became Any Kaufman and drove people crazy. His commitment to the role was phenomenal, if not insane. I loved the story of Kaufman and how the film included the world of professional wrestling that Kaufman entered looking for that perfect way to interact with people. Kaufman, many times, seemed like a comedian who was only trying to do things that HE found funny, and this movie shows that beautifully.
#7. Frost/Nixon. This was a tremendous film that showed the relationship between these two men in a dramatic and stunning manner. Watergate was over and Richard Nixon continues to compulsively require a chance to explain himself. The film does a great job of looking at the neuroses that drove the former president and what led him to this interview with David Frost. The film also examined Frost and how he was believed to be below Nixon in intelligence, only to expertly lead the president into, basically, a confession. Frank Langella and Martin Sheen give wonderful performances throughout the film. It is compelling and dramatic and it is the first time that Nixon appears on the list (though not the last time- you may be surprised on the next one).
#6. Bonnie and Clyde. Another example of outlaw movies, Bonnie and Clyde focuses on the infamous pair of bank robbers who wound up in a bloody pile on the road. Such a tragic ending that, in the film, really comes out of nowhere and ends the film suddenly. I had not expected such a brisk end to the film and in such a violent manner. I knew that they were killed in a riddle of bullets, but to see it happen in an instant really drove home the way these two lived their lives. Great performances too from Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Gene Hackman as well.
#5. Lincoln. I am with John Rocha on this one. I probably wouldn’t have put this one on a list of my personal favorites if the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis had not been so eerily perfect. It really was as if Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, stepped out of our collective consciousness and onto the screen to be directed by Steven Spielberg. Daniel Day-Lewis really cemented himself as an acting auteur. While the film was entertaining, there is simply no denying how much the performance of Day-Lewis dominated everything about it.
#4. 42. My next “cheat” although I think one could argue that Jackie Robinson could be (or should be) considered a historical figure for what he did for baseball and for the African-American world. I really enjoyed this movie as a baseball fan and as a Dodger fan. The amount of brutality and cruelty that Jackie Robinson faced was off the charts and those ball players who refused to accept the man really displayed the ugliest aspect of ourselves. It was great watching Jackie win them over with his play and his attitude. Chadwick Boseman is great as Jackie and Harrison Ford is transcendent as Branch Rickey. I loved this movie.
#3. Braveheart. This was another one that I thought might be a cheat, and then Matt Knost made it (spoiler) his number one film on his list, so I immediately added it back on mine. Sure, Mel Gibson is a piece of work (another one of those is coming up at #2) but that does not take away from this triumph of a film. Sure, it absolutely took historical liberties with the character of William Wallace, but an argument could be made that all of the films on this list may have done the same. The fight scenes are still unbelievably epic and several of the monologues are iconic. Braveheart is the best Mel Gibson has ever been and certainly was the peak of his career.
#2. Elvis & Nixon. I, like most, am saddened by the news about Kevin Spacey. I liked to think that the actors I watch on the screen aren’t pieces of scum, but apparently, they are just as likely to be horrible people as any other occupation. Who’d have guessed. So, when compiling this list, I thought about this film. It tells the story of a time when Elvis Presley arrived at the White House to have a meeting with President Nixon. There is photographic proof that the meeting took place, although much of what was discussed is speculation. This is a funny and real presentation and I really loved the movie. Neither Spacey nor Michael Shannon tried to imitate their famous character. Instead, they took what made them larger than life and added that to their performance. Shannon, in particular, was perfect. And the film was deeper than it had any right to be. This was a wonderful hidden gem that I hope people don’t lose track of because Kevin Spacey is a horrible man.
#1. Apollo 13. Another Ron Howard film to appear on the list is the final “cheat” of the group. The historical figure was the crew of the ill-fated Apollo 13 vessel on the way to the moon only to have technical problems, stranding them in space. Apollo 13 was an amazing film that brought us into that capsule with Jim Lovell, so wonderfully played by Tom Hanks, and the rest of the crew. A brilliant cast gave great performances across the board bringing this compelling and fascinating story to life. Some claimed that this was the greatest moment in NASA history as they are able to save the crew through intelligence and ingenuity. This film is consistently rewatchable and remarkably entertaining and deserves a spot at the top of this list whether it be a cheat or not.
Honorable mention: The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Social Network, Theory of Everything, My Week with Marilyn, Selma, Ed Wood.
Where to start? How about the Walking Dead? Last week, I wrote that I had been unhappy with the new season of the Walking Dead because the show had become boring. Just a few hours later, the Walking Dead would have the best episode of the season. Why? Easy. They focused on people that we knew– with stakes for them. King Ezekiel, Jerry, Carol, Rick and Daryl. Then, they gave us the most emotional scene of the year and it was about the death of Shiva, the CG tiger that had been prowling the Kingdom. I could not believe that Shiva died, even though it was a heroic death as Shiva saved Ezekiel from the Walkers. I was on the edge of my seat. More episodes like this one please.
The Punisher debuted on Netflix this weekend and… HOLY CRAP. This series was not what I was expecting. There was more character development and characterization than any of the Marvel Netflix series. It had remarkable writing and tremendous dialogue. I was very engaged by the story, even though some claimed that the early episodes were slow or boring. I love the character stuff so I was enthralled. Then, when it came time for the Punisher violence, this show went further than I ever believed it would. People who complained about Marvel/Disney not doing Deadpool right if FOX sells to Disney should just look here for the example. There was so much blood and there were several times when I had to look away because it was so graphic. This was easily the best version of the Punisher ever on film and Jon Bernthal deserves an Emmy nomination for his work as Frank Castle.
But the most emotional I was all week was at the end of the Winter finale of How to Get Away with Murder. All season we had been fed tragic scenes making us wonder what exactly had happened, and tonight we found out. Laurel passing out in a stuck elevator as she went into labor, giving premature birth. There was blood everywhere, and it was up to Annalise to try and save the baby… the baby that we knew had disappeared from the scenes all season. Those desperate cries from Annalise to the 9-1-1 caller and her yelling “live” at the baby was just unbelievable. Watching her give CPR to that tiny preemie was as emotional as you are going to get. I have never taken a deeper breath than when we heard the baby cry as the screen went black. Amazing.
We got a new series on AMC this week that I have enjoyed. Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics told the story about the unknown back stories of the comic industries. The first episode talked about Stan Lee and the history of Marvel. There was a great deal of focus on Jack Kirby as well. There was a second episode that I saw this week with the story of 
This week’s episode of Ghosted was fun, but it showed the strengths and weaknesses of the series. Ghosted has a great cast, with some creative stories… this week dealing with an A.I. named Sam who went evil. The problem was that the show goes too fast. The half and hour show always feels that as soon as they get things properly introduced, the plot wraps up because the show’s time was over. Perhaps if Ghosted was an hour show, or they did two part episodes the show would feel less choppy. I really enjoy the humor of the show and the interaction with the characters, so I hope they figure out the pacing issues.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ended their show for the remainder of the year and they did it with a great episode looking at the Trump presidency. Oliver showed clips showing how Trump and other Republicans use the techniques of “delegitimizing the media,” “whataboutism” and “trolling” as a way to distract and detour his opponents. It was a really funny show.
The Movie Trivia Schmoedown concluded their team and singles Ultimate Schmoedown tournaments this week and one person stood out as the highlight of the week, “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine. First, the team tournament finals happened where Above the Line, featuring Samm Levine and Drew McWeeney defeat the heelish Team Action. Then, later in the week, Levine won the singles tournament as he upended “Little Evil” JTE. So now, Samm Levine, at the December Schmoedown Spectacular, has two title matches. Above the Line takes on the team champions The Patriots, and then Levine takes on the Schmoedown Champion Kristian Harloff. Congrats to Samm Levine on his big week.
It seems as if Dirk Gently is having some serious trouble with all the death going on around him. He has really lost the sparkle in his eye and he has become tired of the mantra that “Everything is connected.” That is making the stakes on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency all the more tough. There is a lot of strangeness going on on Dirk Gently and it is awesome fun. However, please do not let Farrah be dead.
Did Papa Pope kill the very pregnant Quinn? He supposedly kidnapped her in a way to get his freedom and his dinosaur bones back, but when Olivia did not fold, he shot her…off screen. Personally, I do not believe for one minute that he did it. I believe that Quinn and Pope were working together to try to save Olivia’s soul. However, her soul is very, very dark right now. Scandal is in its final season and will be off until January 18th.
I also sampled the first few episodes of Hulu’s new show Future Man starring Josh Hutcherson. After the first three episodes I had not been convinced to watch the remainder. It was not terrible, but it did not grab my interest as much as it needed to. I may still continue to watch it, but I am not feeling the need to binge it. Here is hoping that the next Hulu series, The Runaways which starts this week, is more engaging for me.
#10. Batman (1966). This is my guilty pleasure that I decided would make this list. As a kid, Adam West was my Batman and I loved this movie. When I saw it as a child, I was enthralled with the heroics of the show and as I got older I loved the ridiculousness of the camp. The Bat Shark repellent is just unbelievably funny. And I still might find myself using the line, “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb.” Sure this is not the serious, Dark Knight Batman that has been so popular, but Adam West was special and I loved this film.
#9. Batman (1989). This one does not hold up as well, but I found myself placing it above the others from the honorable mention category and I couldn’t put those others ahead of it. Jack Nicholson was a fantastic Joker, and, honestly, this helped kick the super hero movie genre into high gear. And yes, this series of movies also nearly killed it with Batman and Robin. People believed that Michael Keaton was a terrible choice as Batman, and he just became, arguably, the best ever.
#8. Batman Begins. The first of the Christopher Nolan trilogy is one of the great movie origin story around. The film took Bruce Wayne and showed the process of him becoming Batman in his training in the Himalayas . He does it with a great new Batman in Christian Bale and the villainous Ra’s Al Ghoul. Batman Begin beautifully sets up the fantastic sequel that will follow it. Batman Begins helped save the character of Batman from the horrific Batman and Robin (the second time I mentioned that terrible film).
#7. Watchmen. Our first non-Batman movie. I actually enjoyed this more than some people. Watchmen the mini series is one of the greatest comic series ever (and is in the EYG Hall of Fame) and the film does an admirable job of adapting it. Rorschach is done as well as it could possibly have been. Rorschach is like the Wolverine of the film and his fate is amazingly tragic. Dr. Manhattan is perfectly used in this movie. The Comedian is portrayed brilliantly by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Watchmen might be a bit overlong, but it is a great adaptation.
#6. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. This is one of the animated films that had been released theatrically, and it is nice to have one of the animated films on the list. This is connected to the Batman: The Animated Series universe and that is one of the greatest animated series ever. This is one of the best Batman movies around. The movie features an original villain in the Phantasm that was created for this, and he fit in with the Batman rogue gallery. We get the classic voice acting by Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker.
#5. V for Vendetta. To this day, I love to quote “Remember, Remember, the fifth of November” line from this film as our hero, V, wears the iconic Guy Fawkes mask. And V for Vendetta is a great movie that rages against the corruption of government in ways that we had never seen before. V’s promo with all the words starting with v is another one of my favorite moments in the film. Even though Alan Moore, the writer of the original graphic novel, hated the adaption, I loved it.
#4. The Lego Batman Movie. This felt like it was not going to work because there was just not enough here to make a full movie. And yet, Lego Batman worked brilliantly and could be considered one of the best Batman movies ever made. Will Arnett is a surprisingly solid Batman and the film does a real strange thing and made the film feature Robin. From earlier this year, Lego Batman is one of the best super hero films of the year. It is hilarious. It worked as well as you could imagine.
#3. Wonder Woman. After Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad, the DC Universe had its troubles and there were people really worried. Then, here came Wonder Woman, and the film was tremendous. Gal Gadot, who was questioned whether she was capable of playing the role, just dominated the role. She was an inspiration to people everywhere, but really spoke to women. The sequence of the film at the No Man’s Land in World War I was one of the best scenes in any movie this year. I was not a huge fan of the CGI ending sequence, but it did not deter from this wonderful movie. Wonder Woman is an important movie and a true success in the DCEU.
#2. Superman: The Movie. You’ll believe a man can fly. One of the great super hero movies of all time, Superman starred the great EYG Hall of Famer Christopher Reeve as the perfect rendition of Kal-El, the last son of Krypton. There is a fun relationship between Superman and Lois Lane (played by Margot Kidder) and they had one of the great scenes with Superman catching Lois, saying, “I’ve got you, ma’am.” And Lois Lane says, “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?” Sure the reversal of the earth to save Lois’s life is a bit cheesy and not the best use of superpowers, but this film survives the bit. Superman: The Movie is a magnificent movie.
#1. The Dark Knight. The best DC movie of all time is the second film of the Nolan trilogy for several reasons. First, we see great action with Batman. Second, the film is really a crime drama with batman involved. Thirdly, the film took some real chances, including a recast. Oh… and there is the Joker played by Heath Ledger, who posthumously was awarded an Oscar for this performance. Some might claim that this is more of the Joker’s movie than Batman’s and that might be a truth, but I don’t see that as a negative. We have seen Batman many times. This was a new take on the genre. And The Dark Knight is arguably perhaps the greatest comic book movie ever. Do you want to see a magic trick?
Speaking of a mess, The Inhumans ended its 8-episode run this Friday night with an okay episode. However, I, for one, found Black Bolt leaving his brother stranded in a bunker on the moon as the city collapsed around him to be a bit less than heroic. I understand that they did not want to kill of Maximus and he had done some terrible things, but perhaps he could have been stranded accidentally… presumed to be dead… instead of making Black Bolt be the one to carry out the sentence. Plus, there were several questions that were raised in the series that, I believe, will never be answered since I cannot believe that this series will get a season 2. Now, the Inhumans have moved to earth, and we know the Asgardians are on their way to earth as well. Hm… hope there is enough space. I also want to call out how weak of a death it was for poor Henry Ian Cusick. He was killed by the reanimated Gorgon, and, honestly, no one even gave a single crap. Was I wrong, but he was truly an innocent bystander in this, right? I mean, he was manipulated by Maximus, but he was not evil and I thought he deserved better.
Olivia Pope is officially evil now. Any semblance to the Olivia Pope from the first several seasons of Scandal is gone now. It was revealed this week that Olivia was actually behind the plane explosion and the murder of the foreign leader and his daughter. Then, she spent the whole episode trying to keep the rest of her friends from finding the missing Quinn because she thought Quinn was going to reveal the truth about Olivia. Turns out, Quinn was truly kidnapped. I’m sorry, but I think that Olivia Pope died back when she was kidnapped and they replaced her with a Skrull. That is the only explanation for the character assassination that has gone on with her since that horrible storyline.
A lot of complaining going on this week. Let’s hit on some positives. Gotham continues its hot streak as the James Gordon-Harvey Bullock feud rages on. This week, Jim has officially replaced Harvey as police captain of the GCPD and Harvey was not too pleased about it. Some may see this as the first step to creating Commissioner Gordon, however, the fact that Jim is beholden to Sofia Falcone. This is certainly leading to bad things.
How to Get Away With Murder is in high speed right now, heading dramatically towards its mid-season finale and an explanation of exactly what is happening. Whatever it is, it is going to be terrible. It was tough to see Connor get blindsided with the truth. Especially after he had spent the whole season in the sad world and he had finally found his smile. I am afraid for his fate in the upcoming episode because that it an awful lot of blood in those flash-forwards and it must belong to someone.
Riverdale seems to be fast forwarding its story as well and it is doing what it can to trash the relationship between Betty and Jughead. The fans of “Bughead” took it hard as the Black Hood apparently has some kind of Jones for Betty and then proceeds to threaten her family (including her sister) with murder if she did not break up with Jughead. Then, Jughead kissed the Serpent Toni in some kind of rebound kiss thing. I am not sure I am too happy with the way the Black Hood has moved forward and it does feel like these characters change to fit whatever the plot of the show needs them to do. Still, Riverdale is a continually interesting show and a must watch.
Tuesday night saw the crowning of a new WWE Champion on Smackdown, and it was awesome! A.J. Styles defeated “The Modern Day Maharaja” Jinder Mahal for the title. I was so excited when the hand hit the mat for the count of three that I yelled out and applauded. It has been a long time since I reacted to WWE television in that manner. I had hoped that this title change would happen for many reasons, chief among them being that I really like AJ Styles’s work. But even more so was that now, next weekend at Survivor Series, AJ Styles will be in a Champion vs. Champion non-title match against Brock Lesnar. This could be a match of the year candidate.
And perhaps the most consistently entertaining and weird show on television right now is Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency. Dirk, whose motto has always been that “everything is connected” and has said that all he has to do is wait until everything come to him, has begun to find the coincidental aspect of his fate annoying, and it is extremely funny. Seeing Dirk react to the major coincidences as if they are doing it just to spite him is extraordinarily funny. The show also has great side characters that it spends time developing. I am very concerned that we just lost Sheriff Sherlock Hobbs this week. Hobbs has been one of my most favorite additions to season two and I hope that he has not been killed off, as I fear.
#10. The Breakfast Club. The film that was like the representation of the Brat Pack in Hollywood, The Breakfast Club showed what happened when kids of all ages are forced to have detention on a Saturday morning. The film depended on the charisma of the actors in detention and these characters were brilliantly portrayed. They felt like real kids and they faced real problems. Some of the best work that all of these actors ever had.
#9. Galaxy Quest. By 
#8. Stand By Me. The story of four boys heading off to find the body of a dead kid is a tad dark. You would expect that from a Stephen King short story, but Stand By Me is as wonderfully emotional and dramatic a movie than you will ever see. The young cast truly brought the goods and they were able to create characters that you will never forget.
#7. A League of Their Own. I love this movie. The cast is one of the best parts of this. Not only do you get Tom Hanks and Geena Davis, but there is Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna, Lori Petty, Jon Lovitz, Bitty Schram, Bill Pullman, Anne Ramsey. The story is one of the best of the baseball movies. It also has some of the best quotes of all time. Sure, everyone loves “There’s no crying in baseball”, but my personal favorite is “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
#6. Pulp Fiction. The fantastic film from Quentin Tarantino that was told out of order, which revitalized John Travolta’s career, which made a big deal of Royale with cheese, and where you found out the answer to “what happened to Zed?” I was completely floored by Pulp Fiction and I did not expect to love the film as much as I did. I was a huge Bruce Willis fan at the time, but honestly, the whole Bruce Willis segment made me uneasy. The easy chemistry between Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson is what made this a classic.
#4. This is Spinal Tap. This one is turned up to eleven. This is Spinal Tap, the brilliant mockumentary by Rob Reiner featuring the out of touch heavy metal band Spinal Tap that became a real heavy metal band, putting out a couple of albums and going on tour. Life imitating art? With a great cast that included Christopher Guest, Michael McKeon, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, a bunch of drummers and Tony Hendra. This film became a cult classic and it is one of the funniest films Rob Reiner ever did.
#3. The Godfather. I thought about putting it at number one, but honestly, I really think this is a great movie, but it is not one of my all-time favorites. It is here on the list out of respect for the film and because it is one of the great ensemble films ever made. I actually only saw it for the first time earlier this year at a Fathom event and I enjoyed it very much. I know it is one of the greatest movies ever made, and that is really why it is on this list. Great performances and an extremely influential film in Hollywood, the Godfather in the top five was an offer I just couldn’t refuse.
#2. The Avengers. I thought about leaving this off the list, but honestly, it fit the category extremely well, so I had to include it. I mean, this is Embrace Your Geekness. Joss Whedon brilliantly gave his entire cast moments to shine, while never ignoring anyone (maybe Hawkeye). The Avengers had magic about it. Never before had we seen all of these characters of their own movies franchise come together to assemble. The Avengers solidified the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some people never believed that The Avengers would work and it worked better than any film before it and it paved its way to a ton of movies in the MCU.
#1. The Princess Bride. This was another movie that I was not sure I should include on this list, but, it is my favorite movie of all time and it is an ensemble so I acquiesced. I cannot say enough great things about The Princess Bride. It is the most quotable movie. It has amazing heart and emotion. There is true love. Miracles! What else could you want. The film rests on the great chemistry between its cast, on both the heroes and villains side. It introduced the movie going public to Robin Wright. We had Andre the Giant. Cary Elwes. Mandy Patinkin. The amazing Wallace Shawn. Billy Crystal. Carol Kane. Fred Savage. Peter Falk. Chris Sarandon. Christopher Guest. I almost left this off the list, but that would truly be inconceivable.
Well, at least, happier for some. The Houston Astros won game 7 of the World Series this week to become World Series Champions. The Astros defeated my Dodgers 5-1 in the final game of an excellent series. Congrats to Houston, which brought some good news to a city that has not had a lot of good news this year. Also this week, members of the Astros found their way to Saturday Night Live and onto the set of Weekend Update. Jose Altuve, George Springer, and Alex Bregman walked out and Altuve ended up on Lesley Jones’s lap.
I have to say, I have not been into The Walking Dead yet this year. Last week’s episode was difficult to get into. They kept bouncing back and forth between people I did not know and other people I did not know firing guns at each other. There was not enough interactions with the characters who I do know and love. There was also another fake out on a character’s death as it sure looked like Morgan had been gunned down. Yet, he survived. I’m not even sure exactly how he did this. There was an interesting turn at the very end of the episode as Morales, a character from season one returned to stick a gun in Rick’s face. I assume Rick will be fine since we saw him as Old Man Rick last week.
The Inhumans brought both Triton and Gorgon back to life this week as the Royal Family returned to the moon, made a deal with Maximus, handed over Dr. Desmond from LOST to Maximus, and then acted surprised when Maximus did not keep his word. The episode ended with Maximus being led into a trap and winding face to face with Black Bolt. Only one episode left as I continue to count the days until Agents of SHIELD returns and fills this time slot with watchable Marvel TV once again. Seriously, Marvel TV has been pretty average to poor lately with Iron Fist and Defenders both being “meh” and Inhumans being downright bad. Hopefully Agents of SHIELD and Punisher in two weeks (as well as Runaways on Hulu) can start matching Marvel TV with the excellence that is happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at Marvel Studios.
I am also split on Riverdale season two. I loved season one, but I am just torn with this Black Hood killer storyline. I love serial killer storylines and I do like how they have woven the killer into Betty’s story as well, but I am just not sure what to think about how this story is completely altering Archie Andrews as a character. He has turned into a crazed and violent nutjob. Archie bought a gun and got into an Outsiders style street fight with the Serpents. I understand that the Black Hood started by shooting Archie’s father, but he seems to be going way over the line. I am interested in the character of the Black Hood and I do wonder whom this killer truly is, so I hope some of the characterization can get straightened out before it ruins Riverdale completely.
Dark Olivia Pope continues on Scandal as the White House CoS and “Command” of the B613 secret organization each week and even being outed as the head of B613 did not stop Olivia this week. Show of hands if you expected something to happen to that airplane at the end of the episode? Yeah, my hand is up too. This final season has been very disappointing as Olivia has really gone over to the dark side and I am just about ready to say let her stay there. I also hated how President Mellie Grant, the first female president, fell for the first handsome foreign leader she came across. So much for female power. That was terribly cliched and borderline offensive. Why couldn’t have Mellie just been a strong and powerful woman without having their be “sparks?” Well, at least the leader was on that plane so there won’t be any more sparks.
Gotham continues to be must see each week as the Professor Pyg storyline continued this week with Jim Getting a lot of kick back among GCPD for his NOT being targeted by Pyg (that’s like Pygmalion, btw). However, Jim’s act of bravery to save a group of cops won them all over. All of them, that is, except Harvey Bullock. There are definite cracks appearing in the relationship between Jim and Harvey, and it all makes sense. We also got a storyline with Bruce Gone Wild at a nightclub and getting heavy into it with a girl. The Bruce Wayne part was the weakest part of Gotham this week, easily.
Designated Survivor has been consistently entertaining for the last several weeks. I like how it has moved away from the deep seeded conspiracy to events that a president may have to deal with every day. This week, a US spy ship crashed with a junker in waters where it was not supposed to be. We got some really good drama, especially between President Kirkman and the young captain Griffin, played by Gregory Smith, who had to step up as leader after the higher ranked officers died in the accident. The conversations with these two were very emotional and took its toll on Kirkman when we learn that Griffin stayed behind to make sure that the ship’s secrets did not fall into enemies hands. It was a strong episode of a series that has been very reliable this year.
How to Get Away With Murder continues to amp up the situation and continues to drive Annalise toward what looks like some sort of bloody confrontation. This episode showed us some demons in the mind of Annalise’s therapist, Isaac Roa. It looks like Jimmy Smits’s character has lost a daughter in his own past and the fact that Annalise has confided in him that she lost a child in the hit and run seems to have sent him into his own emotional tailspin. The flash-forwards of this show are getting closer each week and soon we will be able to put it all together.
The Movie Trivia Schmoedown is continuing its Ultimate Schmoedown singles tournament, which is turning out to be full of major upsets. The number one seed, “The Outlaw” John Rocha fell this week to “The Inglorious One” Samm Levine in a close and dramatic match. That means our final four consists of Levine, a 9 seed, taking on Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing, a number 12 seed, and Mike Kalinowski, a seven seed, taking on “Little Evil” JTE, a number 11 seed. The winner will receive a shot at the Championship, currently held by “The Commish” Kristian Harloff, at the Schmoedown Spectacular. The finals of the team tournament are scheduled next week as well with Team Action vs. Above the Line. If you enjoy movie trivia and you are not watching the Movie Trivia Schmoedown, you need to get on it immediately. There is fun every match.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 