Last week was a big week. This week is another big week of covers. While I was able to narrow it down to just three, there are several books that could have medaled if I had adjusted it. I sure hope this is the rule moving forward. I could get used to having to make these tough decisions every week.
Two foil covers this week. All of them are variants.
Also-Rans: Department of Truth #34 (virgin variant), Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #3 (virgin variant), Absolute Batman #14 (C cover), The Undead Iron Fist #3, Cloak or Dagger #2, Mortal Thor #4, Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man #4 (Cover B), DC KO #2 (cover E), Justice League Unlimited #13 (cover C), and Black Cat #4
Bronze Medalist
Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #1
Virgin Variant Cover D Foil
Cover art by Denys Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz
It is a beautiful foil cover for this new DC series and it is awesome to give a medal to a legend as Bill Sienkiewicz.
Silver Medalist
Infernal Hulk #1
Foil variant
Cover art done by Dan Panosian
A stunning foil cover with the new version of the Hulk. It is very distinctive with this grey creature and the green glowing around it. Loved it.
Gold Medalist
Detective Comics #1103
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Lee Garbett
I love the Black and white contrast with the shadowy Batman in the middle of the cover. The bats flying out of Batman’s cape gives that a creepy look as well. Another great variant cover this week.
We have been waiting for the final season of Stranger Things for what has seemed like forever. Season four was shown in 2022, and we are just now beginning to prepare for the last season of shows for the Netflix hit.
Four episodes dropped on Thanksgiving eve on Netflix. Episode One was 71 minutes.
It was intense.
The town of Hawkins, Indiana is under quarantine by the military because of the events at the end of season four. The gang is using the military (unbeknownst to them) to carry out their own covert searches of the Upside Down in an attempt to find Vecna and finally put an end to it.
Things do not go well.
Holy cow. What a final few scenes.
Plus, Dustin gets the crap kicked out of him by the basketball punks. Dustin was bringing the Hellfire back around in honor of Eddie. Dustin was having some real problems, poking the bear.
The episode started slowly, but man did it kick into gear.
Zootopia was a giant surprise hit in 2016 when it broke one billion dollars worldwide. With that much box office success, one would wonder why it took nearly ten years to have a sequel.
Zootopia 2 is an excellent new animated movie that does a great job of providing a new story and continuing the awesome partnership between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.
According to IMDB, “Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.“
Ginnifer Godwin and Jason Bateman are the voices of Judy and Nick respectfully. They do a fantastic job with these characters and their voice work is part of the reason this pair is so good together. They are also written well as any friendship you’ll find in the movies.
There is a great voice cast along with Godwin and Bateman. This included Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, Dasvid Strathairn, Idris Elba, Shakira, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo, Quinta Brunson, and Bonnie Hunt. In a fun bit of casting, the Zebros were voiced by pro wrestlers, Joe Anoa’i (aka Roman Reigns) and Phil Brooks (aka C.M. Punk).
I liked the story of the film as well. It was nicely developed without succumbing to the sequel-itis where the sequel tried to do way too much, cramming it in. However, this felt very well constructed and worked well. I was worried at first that there would be too much here and make the story feel convoluted, but it came together nicely as it progressed.
The character design is amazing, and the creativity is off the charts. The animation looked fantastic and you could tell that they were having a lot of fun with the film as it translated to the screen.
It had real emotion and some wonderful character moments. It was also hilarious and filled with some great animated action. It was worth the wait to see a sequel.
General Hospital has been on ABC since April 1, 1963. That is 62 years, easily the longest running show in the Top 100.
My mother watched the soap opera General Hospital and I would watch it with her when I was young. I can say that, along with my love of comic books, General Hospital helped to embolden my creativity and my own storytelling skills.
Watching the Luke and Laura love story developing from an ugly rape, the mystery of the Ice Princess and the Cassadines, the arrival of super spy Robert Scorpio, Casey the Alien, the awesome ass kicker Anna Devane, probably my first crush in Holly Sutton (played by the gorgeous Emma Samms), the quarrelsome Quartermaines, Frisco and Felicia, mob kingpin Sonny Corinthos all brought out the best in me.
The show has featured countless actors that have become major stars in other projects that I love. Demi Moore, John Stamos, Rick Springfield, Ricky Martin, Mark Hamill, Jonathan Jackson, Antonio Sabato Jr., Vanessa Marcil, Tia Carrere, Jack Wagner. There were guest appearances from Elizabeth Taylor, Roseanne Barr, Richard Simmons, James Franco, among others.
My favorite characters over the years included:
Luke Spencer
Anna Devane
Robert Scorpio
Frisco Jones
Laura Webber
Lucy Coe
Kevin Collins and his evil twin Ryan Chamberlain
Holly Sutton
Robin Scorpio
Bobbie Spencer
The show had a ton of classic villains too including Mikkos Cassadine, Helena Cassadine, Cesar Faison, Heather Webber, Jerry Jacks, Franco, Stavros Cassadine, Caleb Morley, Ava Jerome, Grant Putnam, Frank Smith, and the spy organization DVX.
The show had both the crazy world of spies and mobsters, but also featured serious storylines involving AIDS, breast cancer, natural disasters, mental illness, depression, and substance abuse.
The show gave us one of the saddest storylines you could give: the death of a child. Little Barbara Jean Jones died in a bus accident, and her heart was transplanted into her cousin Maxie Jones, saving her life. The acting performances in this story were spectacularly powerful and painful.
The show would do a yearly talent show called the Nurses’ Ball where the cast members would put on musical and dance numbers. The Nurses’ Ball was always one of my most anticipated episode of the year.
General Hospital influenced me more than just about any show of my youth and it belongs on this list. I do not watch GH regularly any more, but I am aware of things that happen on the show, and my mom still watches it daily.
One of the funniest, most controversial show on TV was All in the Family, which ran for nine seasons on CBS.
Featuring the Bunker family, the show was led by bigot, loud-mouthed, abrasive Archie Bunker. Played by Carol O’Connor, Archie said things that you never thought he could get away with, and yet, he was a beloved character. Married to the essential airhead Edith, Archie was a husband from the old days. His daughter Gloria and her new husband Mike, aka “Meathead,” lived with Archie and Edith too. Archie and Mike collided constantly over their differing political values.
Archie was never short on opinions and it drove the show. Archie’s thoughts on President Nixon, the war in Vietnam, homosexuality, feminists as well as many other topics of the day.
Based on a British TV Show called Till Death Us Do Part, All in the Family was a huge success.
Carol O’Conno rplayed Archie. Edith was played by Jean Stapleton. Gloria was played by Sally Struthers and Mike was played by Rob Reiner.
There were two huge spin offs of All in the Family: Maude and The Jeffersons. You could mention that the show continued on after season nine by transforming it into Archie Bunker’s Place, where Archie bought his bar hangout, Kelsey’s, after the death of Edith.
Personally, I related to All in the Family because Archie and Edith were very much like my own parents, only with the volume turned way up. Mom and Dad were never as over-the-top as the Bunkers, but they defintiely shared traits.
All in the Family was a groundbreaking TV show that was controversial, topical, challenging and… above all else…hilarious.
One of the best Marvel Studios Disney + shows is next on the countdown as we reach Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson.
After Avengers: Infinity War, it looked as if we had seen the last of Loki in the MCU. “No resurrections this time” Thanos said as he cracked Loki’s neck. Fortunately for us, Thanos was not quite right.
While that Loki would not be back, we learned about the multiverse and the unlimited number of Loki variants, one of which would become our protagonist of this series.
Grabbed by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), Loki was recruited by Mobius to help with the apprehension of another rogue Loki who was causing all kinds of trouble. We would come to find out that the rogue Loki was, in fact, a female Loki who named herself Sylvie. Loki and Sylvie had a real weird relationship that carried this show through its run.
But truthfully, the key relationship of the show was Loki and Mobius, played by Owen Wilson. This bromance was apparent from the first scene they had together. Hiddleston and Wilson had amazing chemistry and made an amazing duo.
Loki and Sylvie confronted the man at the beginning of time, He Who Remains, who turned out to be a variant of Kang the Conquerer. This was easily the best moment for that character in the MCU as Kang ended up being defeated by ants. However, this version of Kang was an omnious force over both seasons of Loki.
The writing was extremely clever and funny. It was also a major event in the MCU, with the finale changing things massively with ripples we are still waiting to discover.
Who would have guessed back in the first Thor movie that the antagonist of that movie and the major villain of The Avengers would have one of the best TV shows from Marvel?
We have now officially seen Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the sewers of Derry. He is as frightening as ever.
I have to say, that I immediately really wanted that to be Matty… but I knew it wasn’t. Actor Miles Ekhardt looked amazing with his long hair and his white complexion. It was obviously a trap, but, man, I was hoping that Matty somehow defied logic and survived.
Of course, he did not.
When Matty changed into Pennywise, that was just terrifying. For a moment, too, I thought Lilly was a goner. I did not have any idea how she was getting out of that sewer. The magical rod (which was the piece of his cage that Daniel had brought in to the sewers and lost) stopping Pennywise in his place… awesome.
Of course, as soon as I saw Pennywise take the form of Charlotte and confront Leroy, I knew the kids, who were real and in the sewer, were in danger of being shot. I am glad they weren’t and I think Pauly needs more credit than he received for saving those kids lives. He took that bullet to stop Leroy from shooting Will.
We discovered the white woman that Hank was having his affair with… it was Mrs. Kersh. After the prison bus to Shawshank is attacked, Hank escapes and went to Mrs. Kersh for help.
Oh.. and Dick Hallorann … poor Dick Hallorann. He went through it…and he does not seem to be in his right mind yet.
Great episode. Very excited to see Bill Skarsgård in his clown attire.
Carol goes on the offensive in an attempt to discover what chance she has on finding a way to reverse the Joining. She comes up with a plan to inject Zosia with a truth serum (via heroin) but Zosia goes into cardiac arrest, which is where the episode ended.
This gives Carol the start of her investigation into what exactly is going on with the earthlings and their new hive mind.
Carol lists the things she knows on the board:
Eager to please—would give me A BOMB?!
Can’t kill, not a fly
Don’t play faves, like all jerks same
***Trying to change me!***
Weirdly honest?
Very funny. A little creepy.
The cold open of the episode returned us to the phone call Carol made on the airplane to the man in Paraguay. His name is Manousos and we get the conversation from his POV this time. I figured that character would return to the show and he is back just a couple of episodes later. He is fairly bizarre as he was licking the lids of pet food cans for remnants of remaining food. The cold open was mostly dialogue free and was just wild. He wrote down Carol’s name at the end of the scene so he is clearly on his way, one way or another.
This was a fun episode, though Carol’s desperation really has placed Zosia in jeopardy a couple of times.
The film, After the Hunt was a film that I missed out on while it was in the theaters earlier this year, but with it coming available on Amazon Prime, I was able to watch it this weekend. I have to say that I found this to be extremely disappointing and mostly a mess.
According to IMZDB, “A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.”
Thing is, this synopsis from IMDB is much more concise than this film is. I’m not sure what the overall story as meant to be, and it felt as if these characters were jumping back and forth in so many different manners that it muddied the waters of the narrative.
There are great actors in the film. Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny all had important roles in the film and they all can really act. There just was too much chaos in the script to allow any of them to elevate the material. Certainly, Julia Roberts had the strongest performance, but there was just so much going on that was needlessly convoluted that it sapped any semblance of her performance.
The score was constantly in the way. I have never been as distracted by the music in a movie as I was with this movie. The score was nonsensical at times and really caused disruptions.
The narrative was scattered around and did not have a comprehensive idea of where it wanted to go. This was compounded by the different characters and what they brought to the story. Some things were brought in for reasons that I am not sure have a purpose.
I found this to be overly long, messy, and wasteful of some strong performances. After the Hunt never really knew what it wanted to be, and that is hat it became.
Good Sunday to all. We are back with a HUGE week of books. Legitimately, this was one of the largest weeks of comic purchasing that I have had in a long time. I am jumping right in…
Batman Deadpool #1. “The Cosmic Kiss Caper” Written by Grant Morrison with art and cover art by Dan Mora. It is DC’s turn to team up Batman & Deadpool. There are, of course, a bunch of variant covers going with it. I picked up three other covers, including one with Joker vs. Doom, Nightwing & Laura Kinney and a homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths. I really enjoyed this comic this week. I would give a special shout out to the back up story featuring Nightwing and Wolverine.
Zdarsky Comic News #17. Chip Zdarsky’s news mag is always fun, but I included it here because, according to Chip inside the book, next issue is the final issue of the Zdarsky Comic News. That made me very sad as I enjoyed this every time I would grab it in Bettendorf. I think it probably has to do with the big Marvel stuff Chip is going to be doing soon.
No Man’s Land #3. Written, art and cover art by Szymon Kudranski. I picked up Cover C (Antlers variant) as well as the cover A by Kudranski (Gold Medalist-TIE). I truly love this book. It is one of my favorite books of the 2025 calendar year. The team up between our two agents from competing super powers continues to be engaging as can be, as does the mystery of who is responsible for the murder.
High Strangeness #2. “Book Two: 1975” Written by Daniel Noah & Zac Thompson with illustration and cover art by Noah Bailey (Silver Medalist). Is this a bigfoot story or some other type of monstrous creature? I don’t know, but I enjoyed reading it.
Amazing Spider-Man #16. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. More earth-bound action with Norman Osborn covering for Peter. I loved this issue because of how Tombstone reacted to Spider-Man. He was worried about the reactions Osborn-Spidey was having, that they were not the Spider-Man that he was used to, and he wanted to find out what was wrong. The level of respect Tombstone held Spider-Man in is one of those things that I love to see.
Radioactive Spider-Man #2. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Kev Walker. Cover C variant art was done by Juan Ferreyra. Age of Revelation, X Years in the future, it gives us a cool futuristic Spider-Man tale, featuring how much Peter loved his Aunt May. This has been a solid piece of the Age of Revelation.
Lion King #1. Written, illustrated and cover art by Edin Galmon. I grabbed this off the shelf for the heck of it. I have enjoyed the Dynamite books lately and this look like a nice collector’s item to have. Then, I thought the story was better than I anticipated. So much so that i will probably grab issue two as well.
One World Under Doom #9. “The White Sail of her Soul”. Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. The One World Under Doom arc came to a close with this issue as Doom went cosmic to undo his accidental killing of Valera Richards last issue. He lost his Sorcerer Supreme title as well.
Deluge #2. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Marika Cresta. Riley Rossmo did the cover art. The prison is flooded, putting the lives of the inmates in jeopardy, but the females of the prison did not have to face just the waters. It is what is in the waters that is the most dangerous. Ignition Press has a winner on their hands with Deluge.
The Twilight Zone #2. “A World of Your Wildest Dreams.” Written, art and cover art by Tom Scioli. Another story that would be exceptional as an episode of the TV show. The design of the art in this book was very original and different and I enjoyed it quite a bit. This has been a great anthology series so far.
Spider-Man Holiday Spectacular #1. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Luciano Vecchio, Paco Medina, Nathan Stockman, and Bob Quinn. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio. I usually do not like these holiday specials, but this one I absolutely loved! Aunt may is on a cruise, so Peter is going to be alone on Christmas, so the rest of the Marvel Universe stepped up to show how much they love Spidey.
The Ultimates #18. Written by Dennis Camp with art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art by Dike Ruan. Tony Stark makes a video appeal to the superheroes of the Ultimate Universe as major problems are coming soon.
The Last Wolverine #2. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Edgar Salazar. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo & Matthew Wilson. Leonard, along with Nightcrawler and Heather Hudson, are on their way to try and save Logan. I do like this character of Leonard quite a bit and this has been one of my favorite of the Age of Revelation books so far.
Punisher: Red Band #3. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. Punisher is back, though he does not remember who he is. But the Kingpin is trying to control him, use him as a weapon. Frank is on the case… and killing people in a violent manner.
G.I. Joe #14. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Tom Reilly. Did Cobra Commander just get fed to some pigs? The Dreadnok War moves along as CC and Duke try to find their selves a place to hide. Maybe they choose poorly.
Absolute Flash #9. “Rogue’s Revenge” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art by Nick Robles. Wally and the Rogue’s Gallery are looking to team up to take care of their mutual problem… however, there is a traitor in their midst.
Nova Centurion #1. “Deep Space Drifter” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Alvero Lopez. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Rachelle Rosenberg. I also picked up the foil variant cover by Ivan Shavrin (Bronze Medalist). I wasn’t much of a fan of the Imperial comic, so when I picked this up, I was not expecting much, even though I have always been a fan of Nova. I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this new take on Richard Rider. Much like Planet She-Hulk, this separate series started off strong.
Unbreakable X-Men #2. “Burial at Sea.” Written by Gail Simone and art by C.F. Villa. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. We learn about the X Years later fate of the Outliers. This continues to be one of the best written group of characters in the X-universe.
Terrorbytes #2. Written by Mark London with art by Emanuele Ercolani. Cover art was done by Sebastian Piriz. This Mad Cave book tells the story of a guy who is influenced by AI to do many bad things in exchange for money. It is the easy way… or is it?
X-Men: Book of Revelation #2. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, JP Mayer & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. Kitty Pryde, the Ghost of Philadelphia, showed up to save a little girl who was one of Revelation’s Choristers, Elbecca from Fabian Cortez. However, things are not as they seem.
Don’t Forget Your Briefcase #5. Written by Eliot Rahal with art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. The political-spy thriller/comedy book from Mad Cave wrapped up with this issue. I have to say that I was a little unclear about the ending of the book, but it seemed like everyone was happy. Maybe?
Pecos Bill and the Guns of Oz #1. Written by J. Hammond with art by Erick Marshall. Cover art was done by J. Hammond. This new Keenspot book including the tall tale character of Pecos Bill attracted my attention on the stand. It was a weird book, but it seemed to fit right in with some of the other weird Keenspot books.
Red Book #2. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Michael Avon Deming. The mysteries of UFOs are not just an American phenomenon. It is also found in China, and this comic gives us some background behind the Chinese stories. Tynion IV has always been great with these types of books and this is no exception.
Final Boss #1. “Stage 1: Genesis.” Written by Tyler Kirkham and art by Tyler Kirkham with David Miller. Cover art was done by Tyler Kirkham. Tommy Brazen is one of the top fighters around. This book reminds one of the fighting video game such as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. The panels are oversized and the imagery is fantastic. Story is not remarkably deep, but you kind of expect that.
News from the Fallout #6. “Chapter Six: Darkness Everywhere” Written by Chris Condon with art and cover art by Jeffrey Alan Love. One of the most original and enjoyable mini series of the year closes with this creative issue. Weirdness everywhere and I love it.
Nightwing #132. “Slapstick” Written by Dan Watters with art and cover art by Dexter Soy. Nightwing goes in search of a group of children that had been taken by the Spheric Solutions. However, Nightwing discovered a truth about Olivia Pearce that is definitely frightening.
Ferocious #1. “Hello, Survivor.” Written by Written by Luke Piotrowski and art by Emanuele Ercolani. Cover art was done by Andy Clake & Jose Villarrubia. The new Mad Cave book is based on the survival FPS video gameFerocious from OMYOG and tinyBuild. A young boy trains under a warrior woman who destroyed his village.
Captain America #5. “Our Secret Wars” Part 5. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. Cap’s adventure in Latveria comes to a close and Cap leaves the military to join the Avengers.
Omega Kids #2. Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Andres Genolet. Rod reis did the cover art. The Omega Kids, led by Quentin Quire, are a psychic spy network for Revelation. However, there may be more to these kids than it seemed.
All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art as done by David Marquez & Federico Blee. Gwen Stacy’s former symbiote has taken over a prison and, seemingly, has been able to control multiple hosts at once. What can Gwen and Flash Thompson do to stop this?
Justice League Red #4. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Clayton Henry. Cover art was done by Clayton Henry and Arif Prianto. Red Tornado lays out the plan to face off against Black Adam in an attempt to prevent the apocalyptic future.
Space Ghost #5. Written by David Pepose with art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. Space Ghost prevents a war between two squabbling planets.
Exquisite Corpses #7. Written by Michael Walsh with James Tynion IV and art by Claire Roe with Michael Walsh. Cover art was done by Michael Walsh. I also picked up a virgin variant with art by Marcos Martin. Wild action continues on in the tournament. There was a bit of a twist in the action that might affect the families.
Other books this week: The New Gods #12, Good as Dead #3, Marian Heretic #2, Mary Sue #2, It Killed Everyone But Me #3, Ghost Pepper #5, and Yuletide #2.
Quick Hits: Todd was able to find me a copy of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1, from Dynamite. James T. Kirk is back and alive again in The Last Starfighter #2. Curious to see where that may go. While the X-books are involved with the Age of Revelation, Marvel released X-Men of Apocalypse #1, a book with characters from the previous dystopian future. Tama #4 is getting more and more violent each week as Tama is losing even more control. The Terminator Metal #2 gives us a human to cheer for and then pulls the run out from under us. There are two reprints from the world of Mark Spears. Mark Spears Monsters #1 has a cool reprint with a zombie crawling through the grass and Mark Spears Monsters #4 -2nd print (Gold Medalist-TIE) has a Santa Claus Skeleton. I missed Grim #25 last week, which was the final issue of the series. Not sure I loved the finale, but I am glad I have the complete series. More zombie problems in Everything Dead & Dying #3 as the humans have found the zombie city. Viking Moon #2 is pretty awesome again as we get werewolves vs. Vikings. 20th century Studios comics Thor dies in the Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #4. A group of heroes are teaming up to take on the Predators… with the title, it does not seem like a positive thing for them. Hector Plasm : Hunt for Bigfoot #2 comes across what could be a Bigfoot. This is a weird book so far. Racer X #3 still focuses more on Speed Racer than on Racer X. More cool horror stories in the anthology book Hello Darkness #16. I grabbed this book, John Le Carre’s The Circus: Losing Control #1 from Dark Horse off the stands. It felt like a book that had other series prior that I was expected to know. Not going to continue with this one for now. There was a cool virgin cover of Spawn: The Dark Ages #1, but it was also a book that the story did not interest me. Awesome cover though (even though it did not crack the medal round this week). The final issue of Silverhawks #10 came out this week. This has been a book that has been losing my attention as it progressed so I am glad to see it end. Harley Quinn X Elvira #2 from Dynamite is filled with weird interactions between these two characters. Th, we got huge sword fights with oversized swords in Lost Fantasy #5.
More creepy things are going on with the Crain family as they have the funeral for Nell, and we spend a focused episode on Hugh.
Hugh has a major secret about what happened on the night when Olivia died, and we are slowly coming around to the answer to it. Of course, there are just three episodes remaining so those answers should be coming soon.
Hugh is shown being questioned by the sheriff and he was not overly forthcoming. We know that something weird happened that night that he felt the need to protect his kids from, but this does not shine any light on that.
We do learn for sure that Hugh has been talking to Olivia, as we suspected last week. He told Luke, who saw the Bent-Neck Lady and a scary Olivia at the funeral, that he had been talking to Olivia since the death, and that it was a coping mechanism that had been given an okay by his therapist. It feels like there is more to that than what he said.
Some of the scenes involving the dead and decaying corpse of Olivia, whether it be in Nell’s grave, grabbing Luke’s arm, or crawling along the floor in front of Hugh and Theo, are truly frightening and well done. The story of what happened on that night has been drawn out slowly over the first 7 episodes and I expect big things over the final three.
This is the show that many people made an account to Apple TV + for. Ted Lasso had three seasons on the streamer and was some of the best TV you were going to find.
Ted Lasso was a American football coach who was hired to move to England and coach football (aka soccer to us Americans), despite the fact that he had never coached the sport before.
There has never been a character like Ted Lasso on TV before. I binged the first couple of seasons because I was catching up with all the hype, and I can remember multiple times thinking to myself, “I wish I was more like Ted Lasso.” The constant positives and the humor that he faced every situation was inspiring.
Ted Lasso was played by Jason Sudeikis with such a perfect balance of zeal and down-home-charm. The rest of the cast around Ted was great as well. This included Hannah Waddingham, as team owner Rebecca Welton. Her story arc as the evil owner felt right out of “Major League,” except it took an entirely different path, completely unexpectedly. Bret Goldstein was Roy Kent, aging superstar player who had to come to terms with his skills slipping way. The relationship with Roy and Keeley Jones, played by Juno Temple, was one of the best storylines on the show.
Others on the show included Phil Dunster, Nick Mohammad, Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift, James Lance, Andrea Anders, Sam Richardson, Anthony Head, Cristo Fernandez, Annette Badland, Billy Harris, and Keeley Hazell.
Much like the Tick, Ted Lasso became known for his quotes, dubbed Ted Lasso-isms. Here are some of my personal favorites:
“Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong.”
“If that’s a joke, I love it. If not, can’t wait to unpack that with you later.”
“I always thought tea was going to taste like hot brown water. And do you know what? I was right.”
“You know what the happiest animal on earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a 10-second memory.”
“This woman is strong, confident, and powerful. Boss, I tell you, I’d hate to see you and Michelle Obama arm wrestle, but I wouldn’t be able take my eyes off of it either.”
“Sam was more open than the jar of peanut butter on my counter.”
“You beating yourself up is like Woody Allen playing the clarinet. I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s just a group of people who care, Roy. Not unlike folks at a hip-hop concert whose hands are not in the air.”
“Your body is like day-old rice. If it ain’t warmed up properly, something real bad could happen.”
“I promise you there is something worse out there than being sad, and that’s being alone and being sad.”
“There’s two buttons I never like to hit: that’s panic and snooze.”
“I shouldn’t bring an umbrella to a brainstorm.”
“Don’t fight back. Fight Forward”
“He thinks he’s mad now, wait till we win him over. He’ll be furious.”
“I’m like an incomplete list of Madeline Kahn’s best films. I ain’t got no clue.”
“Well, fellas, if you’re looking for a pep talk from me, you’re in trouble. ‘Cause I’m like Michael Flatley at 11:59 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day, I’m tapped out.”
“I’ve had more psychotic episodes than Twin Peaks.”
“I do love a locker room. It smells like potential.”
“I’ve never been embarrassed about having streaks in my drawers. You know, it’s all part of growing up.”
“If the internet has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes it’s easier to speak our minds anonymously.”
“You two knuckleheads have split our locker room in half. And when it comes to locker rooms, I like ’em just like my mother’s bathing suits. I only wanna see ’em in one piece, you hear?”
“Here’s an idea that’s gonna help a little or hurt a whole lot. Who needs a drink?”
“Well, as my doctor told me when I got addicted to fettuccine Alfredo, that’s a little rich for my blood.”
“Guys have underestimated me my entire life. And for years, I never understood why. It used to really bother me. But then one day, I was driving my little boy to school, and I saw this quote by Walt Whitman, and it was painted on the wall there. It said, ‘Be curious, not judgmental.’ I like that.”
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 