Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Agents of Shield S4 E13, E14, E15

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“BOOM”

“The Man Behind the Shield”

“Self Control”

In season four, Agents of Shield was divided into three separate story arcs. The first arc was the “ghost Rider” arc, which incorporated the first 8 episodes. The next 7, which included these final three episodes, were under the “LMD” arc.

This arc was not my most favorite of the Agents of Shield show. Still, it was quite an enjoyable three episodes to end off this storyline and it lead perfectly into the next arc “Agents of Hydra”, which sees the Agents of Shield living their lives in the Framework, an AI-type world where their minds are inside this fake world.

The final of this arc was extremely suspenseful, especially as Simmons discovered that Fitz had also been replaced with an LMD. Not only Fitz, but Coulson, Mace and Mack were already LMDs and in the Framework. Watching Simmons stab LMD Fitz was so rough. Iain De Caestecker was great in this scene.

The scenes with Daisy and Simmons was very tense as well. This highlighted the strength of Elizabeth Henstridge as a performer.

Quake continues to be such a kick ass character. She is so great that you have to keep putting her in jeopardy to try and give some stakes for her.

Ada is becoming a sinister enemy who is programmed to protect the Framework. She killed Radcliffe and put his mind into the Framework, believing she could protect both the Framework and Radcliffe that way. Perfect thoughts from an android.

The Framework story goes into full gear next episode.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #69

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Hulk Hogan: Real American

“The Rise”

This week, I start the next Sunday Morning Sidewalk show on Netflix, the documentary featuring the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan: Real American started off with images from Hulk Hogan’s funeral. Imagine working on your documentary, with plenty of access to Hulk Hogan himself, and have the subject die. It certainly gives the documentary series a beginning and an end.

The first episode was about the rise of Hulk Hogan, from a kid growing up in Tampa, Florida to the arrival of the biggest star the industry of Pro Wrestling ever saw.

There were plenty of interviews during the doc from not only Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan’s real name), but also people he met and dealt with during the time such as Jerry Lawler, Bret Hart, Jimmy Hart, Brian Blair, and even Jesse Ventura.

The thing is that there was not much negative mentioned. They did not hear the negatives that you usually hear from Hart or Ventura about Hogan. They talked about him being green in the ring, which he clearly was. They mentioned Verna Gagne, but had no video of his opinion of Hogan.

The only negative was the time Vince McMahon Sr. fired Hogan for going to shoot Rocky III. The rest of this episode was basically the typical story of a wrestler making his way through the Indies to make it big.

They did make some references to some controversies surrounding Hogan, so I am interested to see exactly how they deal with the second part of his life. The early days are easy to show him as a “superhero” as his persona, but later on, things got tougher. Will they just touch on this or will this be a major aspect of the doc? I have my suspicions.

This was an intriguing start, but I want to see more in depth from this doc over the next three weeks.

Widow’s Bay S1 E4

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“Beach Reads”

At the end of the last episode, we got a distress call over the police radio that was hectic and sounded like all hell was breaking loose. It came out of nowhere, but it really put a button on last week’s wild episode.

This week, we learn what was going on.

The episode was a Patricia-centric episode, which flashbacked four days and showed her getting ready for a party. The show does a great job of creating suspense through the struggles of Patricia and her anxieties of the party. It also snuck in a surprise… a special book that seemingly was a self-help book, but instead turned out to be a witches’ spellbook.

The scene where Sheriff Bechir comes into the restaurant to find Patricia, and the audience, for the first time, sees Patricia in the true light… with a crown of antlers and rodents’ hair, mixing punch that included blood from dead animals.

I actually gasped when they revealed this sight, as I just did not expect it to be as shocking as it was. We discovered that the punch sent the party guests to the water, looking to drown themselves. It took Patricia burning the book to break the spell.

This was quite the departure from what this series had been building up with the Mayor and his own problems dealing with acceptance of supernatural truths on the island. We barely saw him at all this episode. And yet it worked completely well. On LOST, they would have episodes focused on different characters, and this was just like that.

Then, the episode ended with Mayor Tom, Patricia and Wyck finding the dead body of Reverend Bryce hanging on the door.

Widow’s Bay has been excellent with the cliffhanger/final scene shock so far. This one keeps me wondering what exactly is next among this wild show.

The Boys S5 E7

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“The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk”

Penultimate episode. Heart crushing end.

I really hoped that Frenchie and Kimiko would end up together at the end. I should have realized that when Frenchie told Kimiko he wanted to settle down and have the three kids she wanted, someone was doomed. Frenchie was the heart of this season and with him gone, I am not sure what levels the show will go to.

Frenchie sacrificing himself to Homelander to save Kimiko and Sage was so beautiful and so tragic. Kimiko’s screams crushed me. I never saw his demise coming. Once he closed Kimiko and Sage in that zinc place, I knew he was going to die.

Even still, when Frenchie actually died, I was so sad. I have never cried while watching the Boys… but this one got me.

There are a lot of things this episode that were incredible. Some examples:

  • The Deep backing away from helping someone who was drowning because he was afraid to go into the water. Samuel L. Jackson voiced a hammerhead shark.
  • Mother’s Milk gave a speech that was amazing.
  • Starlight and MM saved a focus group from being assassinated.
  • Ashley’s mental powers let her read the president’s mind- leading to Homelander killing him.
  • Butcher and Hughie have a great scene with a mind controller.
  • Homelander choked Soldier Boy out when Soldier Boy tried to leave him. I doubt he killed him, but Homelander wants him to stay.
  • Jeffrey Dean Morgan returned for a fabulous scene.
  • Jesus made a cameo.

But Frenchie is easily the most emotional and haunting moment of the show.

One more episode in the series.

Punisher: One Last Kill

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I love the Marvel Special Presentations.

After eight episodes of Daredevil, we get a special presentation featuring a character who was notably absent from Daredevil: Born Again season two: Frank Castle aka Punisher.

Jon Bernthal is an amazing actor and his take on Frank Castle is both heartbreaking and beautiful.

The special presentation shows us how much Frank Castle is still suffering the PTSD from his family’s death. It got to a point where he was sitting by his daughter’s tombstone with a gun pointed at his head. It was really heavy and hard to watch.

Frank’s outburst is horrific. He is so full of pain.

The show transitioned into a Judge Dredd/John Wick/The Raid type of violence with some of the most brutal scenes we have seen in the MCU.

The opening scene really put us into the mindset for this show as a punk killed a puppy. No better way to get yourself ready for some retribution.

Then, in the building, Frank jumps into the action, killing people, still on fire from the flames. They then ran through a series of brutality, while still doing what he could to save people.

And in the end, Frank made the choice to come back and help the people of the neighborhood instead of pursuing Ma Gnucci (played by Judith Light).

There were some remarkable shots in this special including a shot of Frank falling backwards off a roof that was just tremendous.

And it ended with Frank back in the Skull outfit, ready to keep doing damage.

Frank Castle will return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen E7, E8

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“Something Living, Something Dead, Something Stolen, Something Red”

“I Do”

I love the synopsis on Netflix for episode eight. It simply says “Something very bad happens.”

These last two episodes of this Netflix limited series were simply batshit crazy.

Holy cow. This went in a manner that I never thought it would. I mean, I never saw Nicky backing out of the wedding at the altar, basically dooming his entire bloodline.

Nicky never believed in the curse that Rachel was so desperately trying to avoid. She went to the extreme by having Jules cut off Rachel’s pinky toe. She had to put all this stuff into a drink. Part of it was the bone of the bride. She needed the seed of the groom.

Honestly, the creation of this cocktail mixture was making me want to puke. It was so gross.

Rachel does not end up drinking it, as she has convinced herself that Nicky is, in fact, her soulmate.

So when Nicky stops the wedding, the sun goes down and the whole group of their bloodline started bleeding from their eyes and mouth.

The Witness arrived at the wedding too. I had forgotten about him. I also forgot that if Rachel called off the wedding, she would replace him as witness. All this because she accepted a proposal that she did not really want to in the first place.

It is difficult to go over these two episodes because of all the craziness that went down. I thought after episode six that Victoria had died. Seems that I overexaggerated that as she was only suffering a certain attack. Victoria was played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and she was amazing. Ted Levine, from Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer from Monk, was the father of Nicky, which I had not realized until episode six. These two are great actors and really solidified the cast.

I hadn’t considered why Jules did not die when the curse switched to the family, but it was because he was married to his true soulmate in Nell. That makes total sense. It was also why Nicky and his father did not die. Of course, when Victoria died, that said that she did not truly believe that Boris was her soulmate, which would be a tragic thing to live with.

This was a great eight episodes with tons of tension and exciting family shenanigans. The supernatural was used heavily, but it the perfect amount and the ending was so shocking that I never would ghave thought it would have been filmed. A lot of bloody fun.

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen E6

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“Last Night of Freedom”

Things are really happening.

So Rachel and Nell are out to investigate any relatives of Rachel who may not have died on their wedding day. They found a long line of family members who died on the same day they got married. It did not sound like a coincidence.

Meanwhile Nicky, Jules and their father go out on a fox hunter for a “bachelor party.” The tension between the three of them could clearly be felt, especially after the event from last episode. Truths came out about relationships.

When Rachel and Nell found one of her relatives who did survive her marriage, they went to Portia and they held some kind of seance. We got a Ouija board and everything. However, they are able to summon her and her arrival was unbelievably creepy.

As she possessed Portia, she answered the question Rachel was asking: How did you survive your marriage?

The response… “Something living, something dead, something stolen, something red.“

But that was not even the worst part of the evening. Nicky confronted his mother over everything that she has been protecting him from his whole life and he wanted to know everything. However, his mother died right after he insisted on her telling him everything.

Two more to go on this awesome limitd series.

Widow’s Bay S1 E3

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“The Inaugural Swim”

After three episodes of the Apple TV + series Widow’s Bay, I have decided that I love it. This is absolutely my jam with the spooky stories and the superstitions of a little town. The shows such as Twin Peaks, Eerie, Indiana, LOST are all good examples of shows that I love.

This episode featured a local legend of the “Hag.” This show jumps back and forth from fun and silly to creepy and downright scary in tone and it does it expertly. This “Hag” was as creepy as it comes.

Mayor Tom was scratched by the Hag and it came after him. Tom has to be more open to the possibilities after the scary moments he faced in this episode. Wyck ended up saving Tom before the hag could sit on Tom’s head in the bathtub.

This episode ended with a strange message coming over the police radios about “evil coming”.. sounding like it was coming from Reverend Bryce. The ending was striking, especially after the whole hag shooting by Wyck.

This was the last of the episodes that were dropped already. The rest of the episodes will be dropped on Wednesdays.

Agents of Shield S4 E12

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“Hot Potato Soup”

We get a full family reunion of the Koenigs, Billy, Sam, Thurston and LT. They were whom Coulson trusted the Darkhold to in an attempt to keep it hidden.

Of course, Billy gets captured and Radcliffe heads into Billy’s mind to discover where it was hidden.

Patton Oswalt played three of the Koenig siblings… all except LT who was a sister.

The Darkhold winds up in Radcliffe’s possession at the end and the Shield agents finally figure out that May is also an LMD.

Radcliffe and Nadeer want the Darkhold to get rid of all the Inhumans.

Widow’s Bay S1 E2

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“Lodging”

We have a haunted house episode this week. The article came out comparing Widow’s Bay to Martha’s Vineyard and Mayor Tom is beginning preparation to the expectation of the increasing tourists.

So we get The Inn. Wyck is trying to nail a board across the Inn door, yelling about it being haunted.

So here is the hook for this episode.

We also got a bunch of lore from the town during this episode, including a Killer Clown from the 1950s.

Tom was bullied into staying overnight at the Inn when the townspeople were mad at him for calling Wyck a “Dumb hick.” They gave him a list of rumors and superstitions about the Inn for him to do. Tom finally agreed with them, on the condition that when he makes it through the night without any trouble, they needed to stop talking about it and causing trouble for potential tourists.

Of course, trouble was going to happen at the Inn.

Tom met another person at the Inn, which was clearly always going to be a ghost. Turned out the ghost was that of the Killer Clown and it led to a creepy scene in the crawlspace. Of course, the creepy clown was very much resembling Pennywise, especially the way it moved in that crawlspace.

Tom is still in denial about what is happening in the town, but he does seem to be slowly letting the doubts crawl into his head.

This was a really solid episode of the show and there are two more currently available. I read that there are ten total episodes to this first season and it is great. It had an It meets Northern Exposure meets Twin Peaks vibe this week that I dug.

Something Bad is Going to Happen E5

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Episode five feels like a huge turning point in this story.

The episode centered around the family pre-wedding dinner with the whole family getting a chance to meet Rachel.

Everyone keeps asking about how Rachel and Nicky met, and Rachel would tell the story. It was a romantic story about them meeting at an airport and how they decided to drive where they were going because Rachel had a premonition about the plane crashing. Nicky said to her that she “save his life.”

It made Rachel feel like someone listened to and believed her. Turned out, much of the story was a lie Nicky told. Jules heard the story and started picking out the lies.

This is the worst timing since Rachel received the news about her family curse last episode. The lies broke her spirit and she announced to everyone that she was going to die on her wedding day. Rachel then revealed everything about the curse to the whole family.

I do think it is going to be Jules who ends up saving her, as it is his destiny since her mother told him to save her on that fateful day.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #68

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A Knight of the Seven Nine Kingdoms

I finished the HBO Max show A Knight of the Seven Kingdom, which ended with Egg telling Duncan that there are actually nine kingdoms and not seven. It was a funny little bit at the end of the series.

This final episode was mostly wrap up after last week’s major Trial of Seven. You could how many people were blaming Ser Duncan for the death of Prince Baelor, which is completely unfair considering the circumstances.

Prince Maekar Targaryen was very resentful toward Duncan, but he did request that Duncan take Egg on as a squire while Duncan’s own training continued. Duncan refused stating that he was done with princes.

However, Duncan changed his mind under the condition that they were free to roam. Maekar rejected this idea as he said Egg was a prince and would not live a life of poverty.

At the very end of the show, Egg approached Duncan telling him that his father had changed his mind and accepted the condition.

I knew immediately that Egg was lying. I did not expect to have that confirmed in a mid credit scene where Maekar was searching for Egg. I feel for Duncan and worry that this is going to lead to another problem for him down the road.

However, with this series concluding, perhaps we will not see either of these characters again. As someone who never watched Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was a lot of fun and an enjoyable story. Episodes were short and easy to digest and I did not feel as if I needed the Game of Thrones to enjoy this show (although I might have missed some Easter eggs I wouldn’t have if I had more knowledge).

Next week, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk continues starting with the four episode documentary on Netflix based on the life of Hulk Hogan, entitled Hulk Hogan: Real American.

Widow’s Bay S1 E1

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“Welcome to Widow’s Bay!”

I was watching the YouTube show Fatman Beyond with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin the other day when Marc talked about a new Apple TV + show that he started called Widow’s Bay. He spoke highly of the show and said how he planned on continuing to watch it. It piqued my curiosity so i watched episode one tonight.

There are four total episodes released at this point, three in the same night. I have to say that this first episode does an amazing job of grabbing your attention and I find myself fully into the show, excited about watching the next episode.

The premise of the show is there is a small time mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is trying to increase the tourism to the island where they live, but he is having trouble from the locals who are about as superstitious as you will find. Sadly, the superstitions are having the same affect on Tom as he is becoming paranoid and uneasy.

However, clearly there are strange things going on with this island, including some potentially soul-stealing fog.

This show is right up my alley. It feels like a throwback to a combination of LOST, Stephen King and Jaws. I loved the final shot of the first episode with an electric chair way beneath the town in a tunnel. What does that have to do with the bizarre events that have Tom so spooked.

The show has done a great job of building tension and creating an air of paranoia among Tom and the viewers. With the supernatural elements in existence, the town’s truth is the central mystery. It is appealing and compelling.

One of the best characters so far is played by Stephen Root, which is always awesome. This character is being set as on the opposite side of Tom, as he pushes the crazy ideas of the island.

I will be continuing with Widow’s Bay on Apple TV + moving forward. I’m hoping to get to the second episode sometime tomorrow.

Gary

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Who saw this coming?

A prequel episode of The Bear dropped on Hulu this week starring Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The episode, which is leading into the final season of the Bear later this year, sees the two friends on a “mission” for their Uncle Jimmy delivering a box to Gary, Indiana.

Jon Bernthal is an amazing actor. This gave him an opportunity to dive deeper into the character of Mikey prior to his suicide which was a kick off of the show The Bear.

Set five years prior to the first season, this show had a look at the relationship between the “cousins” and each man’s issues.

The scene where Mikey verbally attacked Richie in the bar was brutal and heartbreaking. The show was able to give us examples of Mikey’s mental illness without making it obvious.

Even more than that, the end of the show left us with a cliffhanger, as Richie, seemingly back in the present day, gets t-boned by another car. Did something horrible just happen to Richie heading into season five?

The duo were unbelievable together and their acting skills were on display for this hour episode. It is amazing that it just appeared without any huzzah or promotion.

It was a powerful episode that was written by Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach.

I’m not sure if this is considered an episode of The Bear or if it is something of its own. Either way, this was a great surprise.

Lord of the Flies E3, E4

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“Simon”

“Ralph”

These two episodes were remarkably dark and heartbreaking as the community on the island took a turn into one of savagery and chaos.

Jack started out that third episode coming to Ralph’s camp and offering everyone meat. They had killed a pig and invited all to come share it at their camp.

It was a terrible mistake to go.

Simon had told them that it was a trap, and it absolutely turned out to be a mistake to attend.

Simon was the focus of episode three, and that really made me nervous for him. When he wound up being stabbed to death by Jack’s camp when they mistook him for “The Beast,” I remembered that scene from previous variations of the story. It really was a tough thing to watch and seeing Simon’s body drift away into the sea was heartbreaking.

The death of Piggy was even worse. In this version, Piggy is hit on the head with a rock thrown by Roger, but he is not killed immediately. In other versions, including the novel and the movie, this blow to the head lead directly to Piggy’s death. Here, Ralph is able to get Piggy out of the camp and into the jungle. Piggy survived for awhile, but it was clear that his time was nearing an end. The extra time between Piggy and Ralph made this moment even more painful to watch. Seeing Ralph dig a grave for his friend was another tragic moment.

I was not overly clear on the “Beast” in this version, but it did turn out to be a parachuter who had died, entangled with his parachute. The kids’ imagination and own fears made this to be even worse.

I do not love the ending of the show, which feels fairly faithful to other versions I have seen. The arrival of the British naval officer, attracted to the island from the smoke of the fire that was set to flush Ralph out of his hiding place by the Hunters. I want to know more… what happened to the boys? To Jack? To Roger? These are murderers, as Piggy said at the beginning of episode four. We saw the break down of civilized from the boys and I wish to know consequences for their actions. I did not feel for Jack, whose shocked stare was the last imagery we saw of him. He had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing, but he consistently chose the path of cruelty.

Piggy had wanted to give Jack a chance to do the right thing, after a raiding party arrived in episode three and stole his glasses in the middle of the night. He was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it only led to tragedy.

Once again, young boys are among the worst out there and without a strong hand, they will become savages. That’s the take away here, right?

This was an emotional adaptation of a dark and brutal novel. The performances were really strong, and the adaptation was excellent. The episodes are each about an hour long and can be viewed on Netflix.