The X-Files S1 E13

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“Beyond the Sea”

This was the best episode of The X-Files so far in this re-watch.

“Beyond the Sea” is a Scully-centric episode and it casts our heroine into an uncommon situation… as the believer. And Mulder is the skeptic.

Gillian Anderson gives an extraordinary performance, really able to dive into the character of Dana Scully for the first time as an individual and not just as the opposite of Mulder. The episode kicked off with the death of Dana’s father, played by Twin Peaks vet Don Davis, and Dana sees a vision of her father just prior to being told the unhappy news.

Then, the inclusion of the villainous Luther Lee Boggs, a serial killer that Mulder had helped to catch, as a potential psychic who claimed to have psychic visions of a kidnapping of a pair of teenagers. Mulder refused to believe that Boggs had any kind of psychic power because he knew the kind of manipulator he was. However, Boggs made some remarks, particularly singing the song ‘Beyond the Sea’ (which was Dana’s parents song), that made Dana think that maybe he was real.

The episode became even more about Scully after Mulder gets shot and ends up in the hospital, leaving her to carry the heavy load for the rest of the episode.

This episode had a ‘Silence of the Lambs’ vibe to it and Gillian Anderson and Brad Dourif, who played Boggs, were excellent. As in all X-Files episodes, the questions about what was actually happening are everywhere. It is just as possible that Boggs was working with his accomplice to set up the whole situation as it is that he was a psychic. That dichotomy is one of the reasons the X-Files is as beloved as it is.

The other major theme of this episode is one that the X-Files will focus on heavily over its entire run. The father theme is used regularly and with both major characters.

Great episode.

American Horror Story: Murder House S1 E3

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“Murder House”

Vivien finds out that her house is on the famous murder location tour in LA (which was emceed by Josh Gad).

We get a bit of an origin story for the house as they give some details about the man who built the house back in 1923, Dr. Charles Montgomery. He was doing Frankenstein-like experiments in the basement, which we know is the most haunted place in the house.

Because of their desperate need for money, Montgomery’s wife, Nora, forced him to perform abortions in the basement as well.

Besides the Montgomery horrors, we saw what had happened with Moira and how she ended up trapped in the house. And surprise, she had been having an affair with Constance’s husband, although she wanted it to end and he was forcing himself on her when Constance found them. She shot her through the eye and then murdered her husband.

The show hinted at a deeper connection between Constance and Tate.

Hayden, the young girl Ben had an affair with in Boston and who he had taken to the abortion clinic, showed up in LA and told him that she did not go through with the abortion. The cracks in Hayden were really starting to show. She was murdered by Larry with a shovel. They bury her in the backyard of the Murder House and Ben builds a gazebo over the spot. Moira was buried in that same spot.

Kate Mara was amazing as Hayden, who was clearly unbalanced and crazed. She had just a few scenes but she really shook the life of Ben.

There are a ton of events happening in the show and everything is centered around the Murder House. There is a power to the place that almost feels like it is messing with the Harmons.

Murder House is one of my favorite anthology series from the AHS list.

Moonlighting S2 E3

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“Money Talks…Maddie Walks”

Maddie talks to a suicidal man off the ledge, a man that she knew. man who lost all of his money to the same accountant that stole all of Maddie’s money.

And he knew where the accountant was.

Buenos Aires. He had taken the money that he had stolen and opened a casino.

That information drove Maddie mad. She could not accept the fact. Despite David trying to talk her out of it, Maddie bought an airplane ticket for Argentina and went to confront the thief.

David followed her down and they ended up in a poker game with the thief.

This is a solid episode with a lot of development for characters and the relationship between David and Maddie. This episode broke with the format of the show as there was no actual case for the detectives to investigate.

This was one of the better acted episodes of the series so far.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #66

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November 4, 2023

Welcome. This past Wednesday was not only NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, but it was also my official anniversary for collecting comics. I have been collecting comics for 43 years now. Sure there were stretches where I did not have much money and so I did not buy comics (I’m looking at you 1990s), but I never considered myself not a collector.

I remember staying over at a friends house over Halloween, reading a bunch of his own comics and deciding the next morning that I was going to collect comics too. He had a folder at Comic World in Dubuque and since my dad worked at John Deere and would commute daily, I would have him stop off monthly at Comic World and pick up my folder from Al Picker, the owner at the time.

Dad always gave me crap about how much money I was spending in my collection, but he never refused to pick them up for me. 43 years later, I am still picking up comics at Comic World, though Al Picker is gone from the store and it is no longer down on Central Ave.

Being the fifth week of a month, there were not as many comics this week as usual.

This week’s books:

Planetary #6. “It’s a Strange World” Written by Warren Ellis and drawn by John Cassaday. I have been pushing this book off lately while doing Omega and Howard the Duck. I have enjoyed this book so far, so it will be nice to get back into it.

Spider-Boy #1. Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. The cover art was from Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado. The fun new book featuring the mysterious Spider-Boy, who claims to be Spider-Man’s sidekick though no one else remembers anything about him. At this point, I find Spider-Boy interesting enough to be curious.

Ultimate Universe #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Stefano Caselli. Bryan Hitch and Alec Sinclair did the art for the cover. The Ultimate universe is being reborn with a group of characters that are somewhat like the ones we know. This has an Ultimate Thor, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimate Doom, Ultimate Sif, along with some others. I am giving this a try, but I have never been a big fan of those books outside of general continuity in Marvel.

Unnatural Order #1. Written by Christopher Yost and featuring art by Val Rodrigues. This was on sale at Comic World for $0.25. That was why I picked it up. I read part of it. It was not for me. It felt like a D & D campaign.

Blood Commandment #1. Part 1: “Flesh.” Written and drawn by Szymon Kudranski. I picked this up because of Kudranski. He was the creator behind Something Epic which has been one of my favorite books. Blood Commandment started off very strong too with a very intriguing character named Ezra, whose relationship with his son Wil was front and center even though there was a secret in Ezra’s life. Art is absolutely gorgeous.

Avengers #7. “Twilight Dreaming” Part One. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cover art. A new arc begins for the Avengers and this started really dark. I was not sure what was happening as characters were being killed. Then, it revealed the truth. Nightmare. Looking good.

White Widow #1. Written by Sarah Gaily and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art was by David Marquez & Rachelle Rosenberg. Yelena BeLova is featured in this new series. This was okay. I may not have loved it, but I did think it was fine. May check out number two just to see how it progresses.

X-Men #28. “Jail Break.” Written by Gerry Duggan and penciled by Joshua Cassara. Firestar and her undercover work is having some success as she helped Juggernaut escape and passed some vital info to the X-Men. Her time inside Orchis may be coming to an end soo though. Not sure what is happening with Sunfire, but… was that Apocalypse?

Doctor Strange #9. “Nebraska Pt. 1” Written by Jed MacKay and with art by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross did the cover art. The battle between Stephen Strange and General Strange intensifies and there is a little baby girl?

Scarlet Witch #10. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Sara Pichelli. This is the last issue of this series which I have been enjoying. I am sad to see it go, although apparently there is a new series coming next year called Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Here Wanda takes on Hexfinder, the killer of witches.

Ghostlore #6. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. Cover art by Reiko Murakami and Jakub Rebelka. Jakub Rebelka illustrated a few pages in the center of the story when one of the ghosts was telling his story to Lucas as he is in search for his daughter.

It’s Jeff: The Jeff-Verse #1. Written by Kelly Thompson and drawn by Gurihiru. The short stories with the shark Jeff are back. That’s about all I have to say.

Picket Fences S1 E9

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“Thanksgiving”

Thanksgiving means family, but in Rome, Wisconsin, Thanksgiving means conflict.

This was the first of the annual Picket Fence Thanksgiving episodes that they would have every year and every year there would be a new chance for the Brock family and their circle of friends to argue, fight and eat turkey.

This first episode sees Jill’s father arrive with a brand new fiancé who just happened to be 26 years old. Jill can barely contain her opposition to the surprise that was sprung on her.

Other conflicts that were being contained within this Thanksgiving episode included Douglas Wambaugh, who had caught his wife Miriam in bed with another man, and Maxine and Kenny alone at the police station.

The master of dialogue, David E. Kelley, loved these kind of episodes that would split up the characters in different places around the Brock house (and the police station) and just had one on one conversations, dealing with the conflicts among them.

The episode laid some groundwork for a possible relationship between Maxine and Kenny, who have always been close. It started with Kenny calling Maxine “Supercop.” It ended with a passionate kiss under the “New Years’ Eve rule” which says that a kiss at New Years does not have to mean anything, just a way to satisfy curiosity.

Holiday episodes are a staple of this series and “Thanksgiving” is the first one to be seen. It is a style that this show will emphasized throughout it.

Moonlighting S2 E2

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“The Lady in the Iron Mask”

Another classic episode of Moonlighting. It has all the trappings of the iconic show, a case that doesn’t seem to be as it looks, Dave and Maddie disagreeing on whether they should take the case, a fight between them, and a weird third act chase scene.

And everyone looks better in a dress than David.

Cleverly written, the show follows David and Maddie as they appear to be manipulated by their client, though, in the end, they kind of stumble into the answer.

The chase scene at the end of the episode with the Lone Ranger theme playing and the four characters all dressed in a black dress and veil is visually funny on several levels. The end sequence when the four of them are in a line down the hallway being pursued and doing the pursuing is a wonderful shot. As is the final shot of the four of them sliding in the soap on the floor.

The added in one of the fights with David and Maddie when Maddie says things that she doesn’t mean and, as Ms. DiPesto said, ‘are you and Mom fighting?’ It is so clear that these two characters have unbelievable chemistry that when they interact in whatever manner they do, it is fire.

The X-Files S1 E12

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“Fire”

Pyrokinetic ability is the basis behind this season one episode of the X-Files, an episode that has Agent Mulder facing a childhood fear and an old flame from England.

We find out that Mulder had a childhood fear of fire, stemming from a time when his best friend’s house burned down. And the old flame was an inspector from Scotland Yard who had a habit of playing mind games with Mulder, and picked up doing the same immediately ten years after the relationship ended.

Honestly, this was a weak episode. The villain had little motivation for his actions and the ending was not satisfying. And Phoebe, the inspector, was one of my least favorite characters the show has introduced since. I did not like her manipulations and I did not like how she sort of replaced Scully at Mulder’s side for much of the show.

The relationship between Mulder and Phoebe was not believable and the reigniting of the chemistry (or lack there of) between them did not work and felt tacked into the story. I am sure that Phoebe Green was intended to be a conflict eventually between Mulder and Scully but she just did not fit into the story.

Then, why the villain did the things that he did made no sense. There was a scene of him involving a bar and a woman where he set his arm on fire which seemed to fly in the face of what he was trying to accomplish with the British family he was stalking.

There were some solid scenes involving fire that were well shot and impressive, especially for the time. Sadly, this was an episode that took a step down from some of the other strong episodes in this first season.

Goosebumps S1 E8

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“You Can’t Scare Me”

The Harold Biddle storyline came to a dramatic conclusion on a cliff in the middle of a snowstorm.

Harold had finally gotten Slappy away from Nora and the crew of the kids and their parents confronted Harold as Isaiah dangled from the cliff (how he did that with his broken arm…well, that was pretty impressive, if not impossible).

The villainous puppet egging on Harold to keep fighting and to kill Isaiah in revenge for what had happened to Harold when he was alive.

Harold’s ghost parents played a part in the finale of the episode too as Harold turned on Slappy and sent him flying over the edge of the cliff.

This did feel like a finale. It was also one of my favorite episodes of the season and it was a big step up over the last few episodes which had been a little weaker.

It is clear that Slappy is not done though. We see his decapitated puppet body as his eye opens.

I like this episode a lot and I am curious to see where this goes from here.

Gen V S1 E8

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“The Guardians of Godolkin”

Man, the Gen V finale was brutal.

It was also tough because of the connection to the school shootings that have been a stain on our country over the last couple decades plus. However, the use of superpowers instead of guns did help make it less horrific.

Still very brutal, however.

Cate and Sam lead an assault on the Godolkin campus, killing a ton of people and using her mind control ability to make other super powered students aid them in the slaughter as well as those super powered kids from The Woods that Cate and Sam freed.

This all led to a massive showdown between Cate and Marie, where Marie exploded the blood from her arm as she reached to control Jordan. Then, a shocker…

Homelander!

And not only was there Homelander, but he blasted Marie. The news ended up treating Cate and Sam as the new Guardians of the Godolkin and that Marie, Andre, Emma and Jordan were the ones who were doing the attacks. They end up in a room with no doors and captured. There is no way to know what is planned for these characters who are now seen as the terrorists that have attacked Godolkin.

Then, in a mid-credit scene… Billy Butcher!

This is clearly heading into the next season of The Boys. I am curious to see how this group of characters from Gen V fit into the next season.

Picket Fences S1 E8

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“Sacred Hearts”

Picket Fences was a very topic heavy show and one of the topics that David E. Kelley’s show covered a lot was that of assisted suicide/euthanasia. This was the first time the idea came up in Rome, Wisconsin as a singing nun, described by Maxine as a serial mercy killer, helped ease the pain of a leukemia patient by ending her life.

This topic is one that was extremely passionate on both sides and created a lot of uncertainty among all of the characters in Rome. This week, it was Judge Henry Bone who spoke about it on the bench as he made a shocking ruling in the case. Ray Walston was amazing in this performance.

The episode also dove deeply into religion and the questions surrounding what happens when you die, a question that was plaguing poor Zachary Brock after he had seen the leukemia patient’s dead corpse accidentally. His nightmares only confused him more with what Heaven, Hell or any kind of afterlife might contain.

As always, Jimmy is under the microscope as his own religious doubts are touched upon. I know that this is a theme that is returned to again over the life of the series. In this episode, Jimmy’s oldest son Matthew called his dad out on his own habit of breaking the 10 Commandments. This was a hilarious scene.

Picket Fences has never shied away from the controversial and this episode made that case clear. It is brilliant writing when you can take a controversy and make each side of the issue feel both right and wrong at the same time.

Another long term storyline is introduced here as Howard Buss, who made his first appearance recently, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Howard’s arc will continue for quite awhile and this is where he becomes a major character in the show.

Echo trailer

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Okay… who saw this coming.

The speculation on the series of Echo was that it was going to be a failure. All the signs were pointing at the possible fact that Echo was going to be a mess. It had been pushed to January. They plan on dropping all episodes at the same time, a first for any Disney + show. And the character of Echo was easily the worst part of the Hawkeye series.

So color me surprised when this trailer came out and it was fantastic. The story of the trailer was centered around the relationship between Echo and Wilson Fisk, who looks as brutal as he did during the Netflix Daredevil series. It was a thrilling trailer.

Before the trailer, I was planning on watching Echo but I was not anticipating it. After the trailer, I am excited about the series and hope that it is as good as the trailer. The trailer succeeded in making me more intrigued for Echo.

Loki S2 E5

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“Science/Fiction”

I had no idea where Loki was heading after last episode. The entire TVA was apparently destroyed and all of our favorites were blasted away.

Come this episode and Loki is once again Timeslipping.

I should say that there was a midseason trailer out there for Loki and I avoided that thing like the plague. I really wanted to watch it. I saw that John Rocha had done a trailer reaction with it and the New Rockstars were breaking it down as they had a wont to do. But I refused to watch it, no matter how badly I wanted to because I wanted to go into these final two episode of this series with fresh eyes.

So as Loki was timeslipping around the time lines, seeing where the others had originally come from, it was fascinating to see where these variants were from. Casey as an escapee from Alcatraz? O.B. as a frustrated sci-fi writer? B-15 as a doctor? The only one that made sense was Mobius as a jet ski salesman.

Loki was desperate to save the TVA and he did everything he could think of to try and get the others to help.

When he approached Sylvie, I thought to myself, why would she be on this timeline? She was not a variant like the others were. And I was right. She remembered Loki immediately and it was clear that she was just living out her best life, working at McDonald’s and listening to records at a record shop.

She also helped Loki realize that he was not that desperate to save the TVA and the worlds, but that he wanted his friends back because he did not want to be alone. Once again, Loki’s arc takes precedent and showing how lonely and painful Loki’s life had always been and that he really wanted to have people who cared about him. It was a powerful moment.

Of course, it was not to stay since the other worlds started to spaghettify.

Looks like Loki has learned to control the timeslipping and that he wound up back before the loom exploded at the very end of the episode.

It was a solid episode that was never going to live up to episode four, which was one of the best episodes of Marvel television yet. Still, I think as a penultimate episode, it does a great job of setting the situation up for what’s to come.

If Loki saves the TVA, will he allow Mobius to go back to his real life, where we found out that he had two boys? Will all of the others want to return to their real lives too? Will Loki be the one who remains? Hm.

And…we had nothing with Renslayer, who was pruned last episode and must be at the Void and planning her return. We do not see her though. Clearly she’ll be back for the finale.

The finale next week has to be crazy.

The Beatles- Now and Then- The Last Beatles Song

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With the new Beatles song dropping today, which I had not heard of until today, I discovered that there was also a short which I watched on YouTube.

It was the story of how Paul and Ringo came back and finished a song that had been on the tapes that Yoko Ono had given to them back in the 1990s that led to “Free as a Bird.”

Listening to Paul tell this story was truly emotional and had me feeling as if I were ready to sob. This film is only 12 + minutes long, but it was amazing.

This has been my favorite short in years. It made me feel and I was utterly fascinated by the story of Now and Then, the “last” Beatles song, a song that included John Lennon’s vocals, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums and a mix that included George on a guitar solo.

You are able to get a song that includes all four former Beatles, despite the fact that two of them are gone. For Beatles fans like me, this short is magnificent. I think that even those people who are only slight fans will love seeing how they were able to create this song.

Go out of the way to see this.

5 stars

Edit: I see that this is also on Disney +, which surprises me that I was able to see this short on YouTube.

Picket Fences S1 E7

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“The Contenders”

It is election night in Rome, Wisconsin and there is a surprise write-in candidate, Jill Brock.

Jill decided to join the race for mayor initially to try and get Mayor Pugen to agree to some projects that she wanted to get done. Jill decided she really wanted it.

This was a look on the world of politics, especially how the negativity can mess with people. The press brought up the fact that Jill and Jimmy had gotten together prior to Jimmy and his first wife, Lydia, had actually been legally separated. This brought up huge scars for Kimberly and we got some specifics of how this whole thing happened.

Meanwhile, Kenny arrests a man who was on the run from tax evasion who turned out to be a former pro boxer, “The Poet” Jeff Freed, played by Henry Brown. He was a hero to young Jimmy. Jimmy challenges the former champ to an exhibition boxing match to raise money for his defense. Jimmy was a former Gold Gloves boxer and wanted to face off with him. The relationship between Freed and Jimmy was strong through the episode.

Kenny is knocked out and Pugen wins re-election. Watching Douglas Wambaugh sadly leaving the boxing match after losing the election was devastating.

This is a perfect example of Picket fences. It takes the events and plot points to inform conflict among the characters, whether or not it makes the characters look bad. This is such a wonderful character piece.

Now and Then

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A surprise today. I’m listening to the radio after school in the car and they started talking about a new Beatles song.

What?

Apparently there was a song that was sung by John Lennon that the surviving Beatles have been working on for forty years. The recording was Lennon playing piano and singing with a TV playing in the background. With the tech, they were able to remove the TV sound and make a great new song.

I purchased it on iTunes and listened to it immediately, and I will say that I really loved it. I had some feelings, some emotions that I did not expect. The fact that both John and George Harrison are gone now was a part of that feeling. I felt as if I could cry.

I was not that much of a fan of the song “Free as a Bird” that the group put out several years ago in the same manner, post John Lennon’s death. It just did not have the same feel. Now and Then, that one had something.

Apparently a video is out tomorrow and there is a making-of short film available somewhere too. The Beatles are one of my favorite bands of all-time and the fascination with them continues to this day.