Spoilers
“A Party Prepares”
This episode of Bonus Action was just chocked full of character development. It was really fun taking the time to give these characters the chance to shine.
This is such a fun time every week.
Spoilers
“Blow Up”
I loved this episode.
Like a found footage film, Only Murders in the Building went through the whole episode on cameras, which happened to be everywhere.
The Brothers Sisters were set up as a new suspect last week, but they are cleared this week after spending most of the episode trying to make them look guilty.
Best Zach Galifianakis cameo of the season so far as he was recovering in the hospital after being shot by a ricochet off Glen Stubbins’ metal plate in his head. The few seconds Zach was on were hilarious.
The discovery of two left shoulders in the ashes of Sazz was cool. The reveal that the second body from the incinerator being the mysterious Dudenoff was a great twist. I never thought that the Brother Sisters were the killers, but the way this used the reveal in this episode was tremendous.
The way the show used the narrative plot map (Inciting incident, Rising Action, Climax, Denouement) was unbelievably clever and worked so well.
There is still the emotional connection for Charles in Sazz’s death, even with the increased paranoia as it seemed that all three of our podcasters were the targets, as the Oliver crew were shot at.
And the discovery of the cameras and the text message to all three of them saying “I’m Watching You” was creepy.
Love love love this episode. I watched it twice. I love this entire season so far.
In my 8th grade classes, we have been doing some study on sonnets. I said to my class that I wanted to write a sonnet too and I asked them to give me a topic. Most sonnets are love poems, but I did not want the eighth graders writing love poems, so I allowed them to do whatever topic they wanted. My topic was chosen to be Four-Wheelers.
The rules were that the poem had to have fourteen lines, follow the rhyme scheme of abbaabbacdcdcd and could have no more or nor less than ten syllables per line (which is kind of linked to iambic pentameter. Yes, I know there is more to it than just the syllable count, but it is a tough concept for 8th graders).
Here is my sonnet.
FOUR-WHEELER
The sun shines brightly in the midday sky,
The warmth on my face brings joy to my life.
It washes away the pain and strife
I am so excited, I want to fly.
Bursting forth with an exuberant cry,
Bouncing and hopping; excitement is rife.
Sharing this fun with my friend and his wife.
Suddenly, the fun ceases. Why oh why?
I cry as my body flies through the air.
My four-wheeler flipped when I hit a rock,
The oncoming ground gave me quite the scare.
Spiking my head caused me a state of shock,
The doctors placed me in intensive care.
Months and months to recover. What a crock.
Spoilers
“Family Business”
“The Finish”
I wonder what this documentary series would have looked like had the lawsuits and the scandals of sexual misbehavior had not come out when it did. I have a suspicion of what it would have been.
There felt like there was a lot of positive Vince moments and that they would have outweighed the negative or the rumored scandals and this would have been like a fluff piece of the WWE Chairman.
Even now, I would say that most of this documentary felt like it was telling the positives of Vince McMahon and those things that were really bad seemed to be added into the episodes.
Bruce Pritchard was on the doc in episode six making a reference to seeing some of the earlier episodes and saying that it sucked, that it was a hatchet job going against Vince. I am not sure what episodes he was watching because they never felt like a “gotcha” episode to me. Pritchard was a close friend to Vince and so perhaps some of this ideas he formed came from being protective of him. Outside of the sixth episode, the first five felt so much more like a WWE doc.
I really think there are many more things the doc could have gone into with more specificity than what it did. It was an interesting doc, but it did not feel like something that was really worthwhile.
Spoilers
“Inside Man”
Boy, Oz is just a big time manipulator. He thinks on his feet better than anyone. He is so close to being revealed, but he just talks someone out of it by making them believe something else.
I am sure that I will never do one of these reviews without commenting on the unbelievable make up job Colin Farrell has. There is just no way that you could identify him as the actor playing Penguin if you did not already know. It is astounding.
I thought that Victor might actually be done when Penguin had him in the grave in the ground with the other two bodies. Penguin was teaching him a lesson, but was it just simply a cruelness in Oz?
This show looks great and it is a dramatic and tension-filled crime story of a manipulator who has goals beyond what some believe is possible.
Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) is fabulous and borderline crazy. Okay, maybe not borderline.
I thought this was coming out on Thursdays, but, instead, it is out on Sunday nights. That works well for me. The Penguin is on HBO Max.
Spoilers
“Pilot”
“True Crime Catholics”
I did not need another series on my watchlist. Currently, I am watching Agatha All Along, Only Murders in the Building, Bonus Action on YouTube, The Penguin, Mr. McMahon on Netflix, Raw and Smackdown, as well as coming to the end of season four of Bates Motel, preparing to start season seven of The X-Files, in the middle of season two of The Greatest American Hero and nearing the end of season two of Battlestar Galactica. The schedule is pretty tight at this point.
Yet, seeing the series entitled Grotesquerie pop up on Hulu (originally aired on FX), a series that I had seen intriguing trailers for at Cinemark, and a series by American Horror Story producer Ryan Murphy, I thought I could find a time to add this to the rotation.
The first two episodes became available together and it combines a vicious and brutal serial killer with the world of religious iconography.
Niecy Nash stars as Detective Lois Tryon, who finds herself at these horrendous crime scenes, really not wanting to be on the case. Still, the cases feel so very personal. Drinking heavily throughout both episodes, Lois is joined by a journalist who also just happens to be a nun, Sister Megan Duval. Sister Megan is an odd duck as a nun, unlike most nuns that you would see.
Lois’s husband, played by the incomparable Courtney B. Vance, is in a coma after being revealed as a cheater. Lois’s feelings toward her husband Marshall is complicated to say the least. However, she feels as if she needs to protect him from a nurse at the hospital, Nurse Redd, who has other ideas of what to do with Marshall. Nurse Redd is maybe the creepiest character on the show so far.
Showing on FX, Grotesquerie is available on both Hulu and Disney + the next day. I hope this is stronger than the last American Horror Story that we got.
Spoilers
“The Vault”
The storyline between Norma and Chick came to a dramatic conclusion (or at least seems to have) as things came to a head. Chick had pressured Norma into telling him where Caleb was. Norma did not know, but she was able to find out. She met Chick on a bridge one rainy night, bringing out her gun. She had planned on shooting him, but she realized that she couldn’t do it. She screamed that she did not want Caleb hurt, but she could not kill him so Chick should just do what he was going to do… which was tell Alex the truth about Norma and Caleb as children.
This was a tremendous episode for Vera Farmiga, facing down Chick on the bridge and then ripping him a new one when he brought the window to her house. She ripped him a new one in front of Alex, which shocked him. He asked what was going on, and Norma told him the truth. All of it, about her teenage years and her brother. She expected Alex to leave her.
She told him to go pack his bag.
Alex said okay…. adding, “Where are we going?”
Such an amazing moment between these two broken characters, two people who found each other and have formed an amazing relationship. It was one that was unexpected, but they are truly in love. I have said it before, but this relationship between Norma and Alex is maybe my favorite relationship in all of TV. Maybe Penny and Desmond from LOST matches it, but nothing else in my head comes close.
Norma’s kids are going to be causing more issues soon. Norman, in his DID personality of Mother, is threatening Dr. Edwards in therapy sessions. Norman, as Mother, recounted a horrific memory of Norman’s father raping Norma. Norma has clearly had a terrible life, which makes the happiness she has found with Alex all the more special.
Dylan found the letter left with Norma by Emma’s mother and it has tweaked his curiosity. Bad tidings will be coming for this too.
I know there is not much more time left for Norma and every second of her time with Alex is precious, and will make the loss only all the more tragic.
Spoilers
“Screwjob”
“Attitude”
The middle two episodes of the new Vince McMahon docuseries on Netflix are next up and, honestly, they were entertaining, but they felt totally like one of the documentaries that the WWE would produce about their own talent. There was not much more here than what was already covered many times about the Montreal Screwjob and the Attitude Era.
The interviews with present day Vince seemed as if they wanted to show him as reasonable, and I really think this is what the entire docuseries would have been like had real life not taken such a drastic turn on Vince McMahon in recent times.
There were several major incidents that were looked at during these two episodes, such as the Owen Hart death, taking the title off Bret Hart (as well as Wendi Richter a few years earlier), and the end of the steroid trial. None of them provided anything new or deep in an investigation. They were just presented as something that happened.\
They showed the creation of the NWO in WCW, the arrival of Stone Cold Steve Austin (without mentioning the Ringmaster), the heel persona of The Rock, and the ratings war between Raw and Nitro. None of this added anything to the already known narrative.
I sure hope the last two episodes kick it up some because as of now, there is not much meat on the bones of this doc.
When actor David Hyde Pierce got the first script for the TV comedy Frasier, he thought it was terrible because they had written the same character twice. Frasier and Niles were basically the same character and he thought it would be a failure. Of course, Frasier turned out to be a hugely successful show.
The new Apple TV + movie, Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, debuted this weekend on the streaming service and Clooney and Pitt play extremely similar characters, much like Frasier and Niles.
An accidental death in the hotel room of the DA leads to her calling for help. George Clooney showed up as a fixer (think Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction) to take care of everything. However, Pitt showed up too, with the plan of also taking care of everything. When they are forced to work together against their better judgment, they discover that this case has much more to it than they initially thought.
After seeing trailers for this movie, it was one of my more anticipated films of the remainder of the year. Now since seeing it, Wolfs is okay. It has its strengths, but it also has some glaring weaknesses as well.
The biggest strength of the film is easily the chemistry between Clooney and Pitt, whose characters are never named during the film. They have such wonderful comic timing during their interactions and their moments on screen stand out so well. They are basically playing the same character but the auras of both men create something different, unexpected. There is a third actor, Austin Abrams, who plays the kid who adds to the ambiance of the movie.
The biggest weakness of the movie, unfortunately, is the story. It is very messy and convoluted, and not in the good way. Everything that is happening around these two fixers lacks any real context to it and the story is chocked full of fixer cliches that we have seen in other films. The story has too many branches and the final explanation, which is done through exposition, of what was going on just does not work, and makes the film feel somewhat anticlimactic.
The film moves quickly and does have plenty of entertaining moments, especially between Clooney and Pitt. I wish there was a movie where these characters were together but it had a better script. Overall, I did like what was good about the movie more than what was bad bothered me.
3.2 stars
Spoilers
“Heat”
The second episode of the Netflix docuseries about Vince McMahon, the former head of the WWE, started off fairly minor, discussing Wrestlemania II and then Wrestlemania III. The stories behind these two event were interesting, and I did like hearing about the Hogan-Andre match, but the episode started kicking more when the scandals started coming out.
There were a bunch of scandals mentioned. The ring boy scandal where three executives were sexually abusing teens who were there to set up the ring. This was gross situation. Then there was the steroid scandal, first with the doctor, and then eventually from the federal government against Vince himself. They also touched upon the Jimmy Snuka girlfriend possible murder.
The words of the wrestlers about all these events were fascinating. Tony Atlas making reference to Pat Patterson grabbing his penis was disturbing.
There was also a lot about Hulk Hogan in here, including how he went to WCW and how it hurt Vince. It included how Hogan had to testify against Vince for the government. Hogan is not the best character over the years and he definitely did not look great here. They showed him lying on Arsenio Hall Show too.
The documentary spoke to Phil Mushnick of the NY Post, who has been writing columns about Vince and the WWE for years. Mushnick had plenty of negative words to say about Vince, specifically that he was a dirtbag.
The doc ended abruptly with a major cliffhanger with Vince’s steroid trial.
Overall, this episode was okay, and it really shows what kind of person Vince McMahon is. His clips from the Donahue Show are some obvious evidence of that. And I do not even think we’ve hit the worst part of his life.
September 28
New banner! Always enjoy making a new one of these.
Last weekend was Batman Day and there were some cool free comics given out. I picked them up which included Joker: The World #1, Batman: The Long Halloween Special Edition #1, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #1 as free books. I also picked up the book Batman/Elmer Fudd Special Noir Edition #1 too. These were cool, even though I am not the biggest Batman fan.
I also got the variant cover of Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 with art by Mitsuhiro Arita, which wound up as the Gold Medalist this week.
Here are the new books this week:
The Blood Brothers Mother #2. Written by Brian Azzarello and art and cover art by Eduardo Risso. It has been awhile since number one of this series so I was pleased when this new issue came out. This Western series continues to be a lot of fun and beautifully drawn. I have been enjoying several of the DSTLRY books.
Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #2. Written by, drawn by and cover art by Michael Walsh. The story of Frankenstein’s Monster continues with new pieces of story mixed with the classic original story. These Universal Monster comics at Image have been exceptional and this one is right in line with this.
Saga #69. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and drawn by and cover art by Fiona Staples. The Saga kept going on with the continual story of The Will and Gwendolyn and their personal loss of their daughter and the pair dragging each other down. There is a surprise cameo within as well that shocked me. This is just always really epic every issue.
Zatanna: Bring Down the House #4. Written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn and cover art by Javier Rodriguez. John Constantine is here and trying to bring Zatanna back to the world. This series continues to be weird and wild and Zatanna seems as if she may be ready to step back to the forefront of the DC Universe.
Avengers Annual #1. Written by Derek Landry and art by Salvador Larroca. Larroca and GURU-eFX did the cover art. Thanos is here in an attempt to reclaim the infinity stones from the current Stone Bearers have different plans. The Avengers (or at least Captain Marvel and Thor) try to keep Thanos from grabbing them all from the Infinity Watch. The storyline from all of these other annuals wraps up here as Coulson and the death stone meets up with the rest of the Infinity Watch.
NYX #3. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Francesco Mortarino. Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee did the cover art. The mutant Anole makes his way back to where he began… with the Morlocks. Meanwhile, there seems to be a traitor inside the team with Ms. Marvel and Wolverine.
Feral #6. “Patchwork” Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs. Feral is back after an hiatus and we see more of the spread of the rabies among some of the characters that we have come to know over the first five issues. This is a surprising emotional tale of a group of cats and other animals and the danger that they are in.
Amazing Spider-Man #58. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Morry Hollowell. Spider-Man and Tombstone begin what is to be advertised as one of the most violent fights in Marvel Comics. Spidey is trying to stop Tombstone from killing his own daughter for turning him in. It does kick off with some blood and more brutality than you would expect in ASM. This is the penultimate issue of Zeb Wells ASM run.
Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #1. “Claws of the Chimera”. Created by Christopher Sequeira. Phillip Cornell, Dave Elsey, and Jan Scherpenhuizen. Cover art by Dave Elsey (Bronze Medalist). I saw this on the Midtown website and I was disappointed because I missed it in Previews. So I was really excited when I saw one copy of this at Comic World. I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes and was happy to be able to pick it up.
Chasm: Curse of Kaine #2. Written by Steve Foxe with art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Leinil Francis Yu & Dean White. Druig is here, controlling the Mole Man, as Chasm and Hallows’ Eve try and get him loose, while Kaine continues to search for his ‘brother.’ This is an interesting series with several Spider-Man adjacent characters.
Uncanny X-Men #3. “The Inside Man” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. The four young mutants that arrived recently start their training, trying to retrieve a belt, held by Nightcrawler. Things do not go as expected.
Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #3. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling & Ivan Fiorelli. David Yardin & Alex Sinclair did the cover art. Silvermane and Nefaria face off with Elektra and end up sending her to attack the new Punisher.
Werewolf By Night: Red Band #2. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. Elsa Bloodstone is wanting to help Jack Russell discover why he may have started his brutal killings. Elsa went to the Midnight Mission to seek help from Moon Knight, or at least look for info from Khonshu. I really do not think this comic needs a “Red Band” label, nor the bag it comes in to prevent people from looking inside. Some heads cut off, but nothing too out of bounds.
Drawing Blood #6. “The Cat’s Meow.” Script by David Avallone and pencils by Ben Bishop. Kevin Eastman did the cover art. “Books” in Hollywood with all kinds of shenanigans going down.
Deadpool Team-Up #2. Written and penciled by Rob Liefeld. Most of this issue featured the hero vs. hero battle between Deadpool and Wolverine facing off against Crystar in Weirdworld. Crystar showed himself off as a bad ass in this battle. Then, at the end of the issue, with the three heroes together finally, a dragon requires the arrival of the Hulk!
Man Goat & the Bunnyman: Beware the Pigman #3. Written by Joe Brusha and artwork by Taylor Esposito. Cover art by Mike Krome & Ivan Nunes. Phil and Floyd wrapped up their battle with Baphomet as their latest mini series comes to an end. However, there was a clear cliffhanger at the end indicating that there will be more Man Goat & Bunnyman in the future (YAY!).
Ultimate Spider-Man #9. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Peter wants to change costumes so there is no question about Tony Stark being able to trace him. Otto Octavius, who worked for the Osborns, tries to give Peter a version of the Iron Spider outfit. Peter wants something less. Ultimate Spider-Man has been the most consistently good Ultimate books so far.
Hello Darkness #3. Once again, this is a horror anthology with a variety of stories by a group of writers and artist. Erica Slaughter returned this issue with a James Tynion IV penned continuation of the story. Cover art was by Paolo Rivera (Silver Medalist).
Phoenix #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art was by Yasmine Putri. Jean Grey and Corsair takes on the Black Order over a group of exiled Asgardians who had attempted to overthrow Odin. I have enjoyed this cosmic Phoenix stories that we have gotten so far in this new series. I like Jean as Phoenix and not being seen as the villain.
Namor #3. “And God Moved Upon the Face of the Waters.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Alexander Lozano did the cover art. More flashbacks to the past life of Namor as we see him very brutal as the avenging warrior of Atlantis. I am finding this series to be very well done. Jason Aaron has done some wonderful writing in this series.
Standstill #2. Written by Lee Loughridge and art and cover art by Andrew Robinson. This is such a cool comic. Spy action but what I really love about the book is the size of the panels in the book. These panels are extra large and it really makes the story jump off the page more than a typical comic.
X-Force #3. “The Walking Man” Written by Geoffrey Thorne and art by Marcus To. Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo did the cover art. X-Force vs. Nuklo. Nuklo is a giant and he was truly difficult to battle.
Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #1. Written by Gerry Dugan with art and cover art by John McCrea. I really enjoyed this issue. It was an unsuspecting protagonist that the story seemed to imply had been around awhile. It made me think that there was another series featuring this Dead Eyes. I went to eBay and, sure enough, there was a 2019 series from Gerry Duggan. I promptly ordered it. I liked this one a lot.
Plastic: Death & Dolls #4. Story by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. We learn more about the dark and bloody backstory of Edwyn. There is a truly disturbing scene with his mother. I can certainly see why he cuts off heads and put them in plastic bags. This has been a really wild book.
Other books this week: Phases of the Moon Knight #2, Predator vs. Black Panther #2, Black Cloak #8, Moon Man #4, Kill All Immortals #3, Nights #11, and Self Help #4.
My Old Ass is a coming of age movie that tosses some unexplained magic in the story centered around taking mushrooms that provides us with a lovely little movie with some wonderful new actors.
The movie features Maisy Stella as Elliott, a young teen who is preparing to leave home to college, and is anxious to get away from everything. When she and her friends partake in some mushrooms, Elliott is approached by Aubrey Plaza who is playing a 39-year old version of Elliott, and she begins to warn her younger self about things she should avoid.
Somehow, older Elliott is able to put her number into younger Elliott’s phone (listed as ‘My Old Ass’) and they could communicate across time, showing amazing cell service.
Maisy Stella does an amazing job leading this movie, providing us with the emotion and confusion that would go along with this, as well as bonding, in a way, with her older self. Aubrey Plaza is perfect as the older Elliott, but she just is not in the film enough. Aubrey Plaza disappears for a big chunk of time in the middle of the film and you can feel her lack of presence. Still, when she is on screen, she is electric and she has amazing chemistry with Maisy Stella.
There is a real likable character introduced to us named Chad (Percy Hynes White, from Netflix’s Wednesday) who Elliott tries to avoid, but they have amazing chemistry as well and Chad is just such a wonderful character that the crowd is rooting for him despite what the story was telling us.
I do think that this could have been more emotional and I was left wanting more when the screen went to black, but I was entertained throughout the run time of My Old Ass. I would have liked more scenes with the two Elliotts, but what we got were really great.
3.85 stars
Animated movies have been on a roll lately. I have two 5 star animated movies during the summer (Inside Out 2 and Transformers One) and now we have another exceptional animated movie hitting the theaters this weekend.
The Wild Robot is from DreamWorks Animation and tells the story of a robot named Roz that was designed for helping with tasks being stranded on an island with a plethora of animals. When a gosling hatches from an egg that Roz had found, the baby goose imprinted upon the robot, believing her to be its mother. A somewhat helpful fox with possible ulterior motives named Fink befriends the odd couple, they start to train the gosling runt what it will need to survive the upcoming migration.
There are so many wonderful things about this movie. It has a tremendously fulfilling coming-of-age story that included an underdog type story of the runt, soon to be named Brightbill. There are several moments throughout the story that are funny, feel-good and touching. The story does take a turn about halfway through as the migration happens. One would think that the migration would be the big event of the film, bringing the story to a close, but there is much more after that happened.
The story is emotional, and it sneaks up on you. You are just going along and enjoying what the movie is doing and, suddenly, your eyes are misting up because there is something there that touches you unexpectedly.
The voice work is amazing. In particular, Lupita Nyong’o as Roz and Pedro Pascal as Fink do exceptional work. Roz is a machine that finds that there is more than just her programming and Fink is an unlikable sneak who discovers what it means to have friends. Both of these arcs are emphasized by the wonderful voice work of these two top notch actors.
There are other excellent voice cast members including Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry and Stephanie Hsu.
The animation is spectacular. It is difficult these days to release an animated film if your animation is not competitive. The background of this film are spectacular and almost makes one think they were actually in the wilderness. There are a couple of times during action beats that the animation gets a little shaky. I know the reason for that, but it stood out in a picture that is such a piece of art otherwise.
However, there are some wonderful action beats in the film too. In the first half of the film, I was gasping in shock over some of the surprisingly dark moments of the movie. Let’s just say that the circle of life is on display in this movie in several moments.
The themes of this movie are wide spread and one of the most relatable of the year. In fact, there are themes here that will appeal to just about any segment of the viewership, from motherhood struggles to overcoming challenges to friendship. I would venture to say that everyone would find something to connect to in The Wild Robot.
I’m not going five stars with this one, but it is close. There are just a couple minor complaints that bring it down, but The Wild Robot is still a magnificent family film that is perfect for both parents and kids. Beautifully animated with exceptional voice acting, this is another huge win for DreamWorks.
4.9 stars
Spoilers
“Junior”
The infamous former head of the WWE, Vincent K. McMahon is featured in a new docuseries on Netflix called Mr. McMahon, with interviews from everyone involved, including McMahon himself.
Ironically, before the doc finished filming, Vince McMahon resigned from WWE because of a series of horrendous scandals that were to result in lawsuits. Reportedly, there were some of the most heinous things listed among the lawsuit. The docuseries pushed on.
The first episode of the series addressed McMahon’s rise through his childhood and to the world of sports entertainment. His father, whom Vince said he never met until he was 12, Vincent J McMahon, let his son join his business, at the time named the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) and we learn how “Junior” came up through the organization to eventually purchase the company from his father. After doing that, McMahon crushed the idea that wrestling promotors remained inside their own territories, and he began promoting shows across the country, taking his WWF nationwide.
This episode showed us up to the first Wrestlemania, including the infamous John Stossal/David Schultz encounter and the Richard Belzer choke out by Hulk Hogan. While there were some of the scandals mentioned in the first episode, this was more about how McMahon took stars like Hogan and created something more than the industry of professional wrestling had ever seen.
Personally, the biggest shock for me was seeing present day Vince McMahon on screen and being interviewed. He had the obviously dyed eyebrows that were as black as you could imagine. He had dark hair too, but nowhere near as dark as his eyebrows. They made he look downright evil and I could not stop looking at those weird looking brows.
Just as strange was when Vince’s ex-wife Linda McMahon was on screen. She looked nothing like I remembered. It was so odd to hear Linda’s voice coming out of this person who did not resemble her at all.
Then Dave Meltzer weaseled his way into the documentary too. I am not a fan of Meltzer and I wish they could have found a different voice to speak on this topic.
The first episode was interesting, but did not feel like it had much more than other a typical doc you might see on the WWE network. We’ll see how the rest of the six-episode series goes.
Spoilers
After all of these years, it has finally OFFICIALLY happened…
Mephisto confirmed.
Jennifer Kale confirmed Mephisto with a name drop during the second week of Agatha All Along and the mere mention of his name freaked me out. After so many weeks in WandaVision with the belief that Marvel’s head demon/devil was behind everything, this was just a slight mention by one of Agatha’s coven. And it was everything.
Then, sadly, my expectation came to fruition as poor Sharon Davis, aka Mrs. Hart, died during the first trial on the Witches’ Road. If this is truly the last we’ll see of Mrs. Hart, then I, for one, will miss her tremendously. Debra Jo Rupp got limited scenes in this show, but every one she got was amazing. She stole every moment and she brought such a wonderful humor. She will truly be missed. Here’s hopin’ that once the trip down the road ends, she will be back in Westview tending those flowers.
Boy, this show is absolutely showing Agatha to be a selfish and uncaring witch. She is our protagonist, but it feels clear that she had not reformed her wicked ways. The show also hinted at the rumor that Agatha gave up her child for the Darkhold. Then, we all thought at first that Teen would turn out to be Billy, Wanda’s child who would become Wiccan, but is he Nicholas Scratch, Agatha’s son instead? Again, the show certainly teased at that too.
I am thoroughly engaged with the rest of the coven too, especially Patti LuPone’s Lilia Calderu. The delusions she faced while poisoned were fascinating and mysterious. She is my favorite character outside of Agatha and Teen. I look forward to learning more about her as we continue down the Witches’ Road.
No sign of Aubrey Plaza this episode, but I expect her to arrive soon with the untimely death of Sharon (How cold was Agatha’s ‘Who’s Sharon?’ comment at the end?).
This has been completely entertaining so far. Can’t wait for next week.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 