Category Archives: Apple TV +

Widow’s Bay S1 E10

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“We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time”

Widow’s Bay has been one of the best shows on TV recently. The Apple TV show was a real surprise with how wonderful it was. A wonderful blend of comedy and horror, Widow’s Bay ended their first season with a big twist.

All season long, I was making references to LOST with this show, and this episode drove those references wildly. We get a shot of what looked exactly like the moment when the hatch was opened and they were looking down the shaft. This was with Evan and his friends looked down the shaft. I recognized that shot right away.. it was just missing Jack and John looking down.

Another LOST allusion was the discovery of the film cannister explaining how to sacrifice people to the island. I said out loud after that scene ended that “We need to watch that again” which was a famous line said by both John Locke and Mr. Eko in LOST. This film in this episode was right out of the Dharma Initiative training.

There is also major issues about births on the two shows. On LOST, women could not successfully give birth on the Island and on Widow’s Bay, children born on the island can not leave or they would die. Just the idea that both shows refer to the Island as if it were a real person is a connection that is here.

There are times when I see things that remind me of LOST that are probably not there, or are just my own over-analysis. These are not the case. I refuse to believe that this is anything but an homage to LOST.

The whole Ruth is the final descendent of Richard Warren storyline brought us the big twist. The whole time Tom was in her house, preparing to do her in, I was holding my breath, hoping beyond all hope that he would not kill her. When Bechir left the bunker, I knew what he was going to do. The show tried to make you think that he was going to try and prevent Tom from killing Ruth, but I could see his motivation coming. I was shocked though when he shot her in the back of the head (apparently only glancing, though).

Making Ruth the “secret-mother” of Tom’s wife Lauren was a stroke of genius, which means, of course, that Evan is the last surviving descent of Warren, which immediately switches Tom’s motivation. It is probably a major storyline moving into season 2.

Ruth seemed to be able to survive all of these murder attempts, not falling victim to Tom’s tea poison and not dying after the sheriff shot her in the head. I sure hope she did survive the night, because she was awesome and who else is going to help Deidre up and down her steps?

Does that bell ringing at the end of the episode mean that the island wants 8 more sacrifices? That is sure what I took from it. I assume that Kenny was the first sacrifice, which is why the storm subdued in such a rapid fire moment.

Matthew Rhys was astonishing in this role all season, but his performance here was Emmy worthy.

I hope we do not have to wait too long for season two. The show has been renewed for a second season and no show on TV deserves one more than Widow’s Bay.

Widow’s Bay S1 E9

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“Emergency Shelter”

It is time for the penultimate episode of season one of Widow’s Bay.

As I write this, there is a big storm outside my house. Coincidence, yes, but still kind of odd.

A massive, unnatural storm descended upon Widow’s Bay in the 9th episode, and it led to some drastic decisions to be made.

The show gave us the identity of the final descendent of Richard Warren. We knew that someone had survived of Warren’s kids and the curse would last until the end of the Warren bloodline. It just was an unexpected answer. After a lengthy (and remarkably funny) and extensive genealogy report, it was revealed that Ruth was the sole surviving descendent of Richard Warren.

Moreso, Ruth had not come to the bunker to ride out the massive storm. Everyone else made it. Ironic? Hm.

The idea that Tom and Wyck immediately came to was that Ruth was old and it could be easy to break the curse. Wyck even offered to put a bullet in the back of her head, peacefully. She’d never see it coming, he said. Understandably, Patricia found this shocking that they would even consider it.

Tom left the office with an unknown intent.

This has been an awesome season so far and with just the finale remaining, anything could literally happen. Ruth being the descendent of Warren was unexpected and the reveal was done expertly well.

The series’ first season ends next week.

Widow’s Bay S1 E8

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“Your Baggage”

With the corpse of Richard Warren officially gone, everything in Widow’s Bay is all peaches and flowers, right?

Maybe not.

Tom went to his house to deal with his son, Evan, who had all the pictures of his mom and wanted answers. Tom gave them to him, even though he did not want to do so. The father and son had some moments together when Tom gave Evan Red Sox tickets, signaling that they could leave the island.

We all knew that last week was too good to be true and, when Wyck showed up at Toms door with the message that it was not yet over, Tom’s face revealed how crushed he was, certainly because he was just making plans with his son to go to Boston for the weekend.

While this was going down, Patricia was being chased by the Boogeyman, the serial killer who killed a bunch of high school girls years before, and who tormented Patricia (though no one believed that this happened).

The Boogeyman pursued Patricia across Widow’s Bay in grand Michael Myers fashion. Patricia eventually dowsed him with gasoline and set him on fire. Unfortunately, the gas station attendant put him out with a fire extinguisher, thinking that he was doing the right thing. He learned his error as the Boogeyman grabbed him by the throat and threw him away violently.

Luckily, Patricia was able to shot him twice with a shotgun, but not before the former sheriff Bechir got slashed with a knife by the killer.

It was hilarious as Patricia kept the gun trained on the Boogeyman’s head the whole time, on the ambulance, in the morgue, as he went into the crematorium, and until he was nothing but ashes. That was really funny, but I would have shot him in the head immediately when he was down. Patricia was dedicated in making sure this killer was not coming back.

There are two more episodes in the first season of this awesome series. All eight episodes so far can be streamed on Apple TV +.

Widow’s Bay S1 E6, E7

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“Our History”

“Seasickness”

Widow’s Bay dropped episodes 6 & 7 together on Wednesday this week, probably because of the format of episode six, which took us back in time to see the origins of the curse of the island with Richard Warren and Sarah Westcott.

Richard was a horrific monster back in the day, which led to them to burying him alive, as his wife Sarah took his children off the island. At the time, they did not know that this would mean they would all be doomed. I have a suspicion that some of the bloodline of Richard Warren survived that encounter.

The present day, Wyck and Patricia dug up the coffin of Richard Warren to retrieve the object he wore around his neck. However, they found a surprise in the grave… Richard Warren was still alive.

This was a hoot of a twist. I actually thought of the idea as Wyck was digging up the grave, but I never seriously considered it as an option. Hamish Linklater played the town founder and man who entered into a pact with the demon of the island. He was great, both as the demonic killer from episode 6 and the ancient man surviving in the coffin for hundreds of years.

Evan discovered a lie that Tom had been telling him. He found pictures of his mother, who he thought died in childbirth, alive while Evan was alive too. These moments are very powerful and Kingston Rumi Southwick, who played Tom’s son Evan, does a solid job conveying his heartbreak.

Stephen Root had some powerful scenes too as he recounted a time as a youth where he lost his best friend because of his own poor choices and the island’s curse.

Patricia’s job was to distract the sheriff so Tom and Wyck would get Richard onto the boat to take him past the “Dead Zone” because Richard believed that if he went past that spot, he would turn into dust because of age. Patricia’s scene with Sheriff Bechir Clemmons as she started to tell him about what they were doing was hilarious. Sherriff Clemmons tapped out and said he did not need to know any more. That was one of the funniest parts of this episode.

While it seemed this were good when it came to the curse on the island, I would guess that there is a surviving bloodline of Richard, keeping the conflict on the island.

There are three more episodes in season one of Widow’s Bay. This has been one of my favorite shows of the year as it really combines styles with LOST, Twin Peaks, and Northern Exposure.

Widow’s Bay S1 E5

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“What to Expect on Your Trip”

After finding the body of Reverend Bryce hanging in his office, Tom, Wyck and Patricia find a mysterious phone number in Bryce’s phone that he called multiple times. It turned out that this was one of Patricia’s old classmates who supplied drugs to people.

Specifically, there was a drug called the “True sight” drug that Todd, Patricia’s old classmate who, when Tom calls him a drug dealer, responded with “I’m a shaman.” And yes… that’s cocaine.

This was a drug trip episode for Mayor Tom and it was hilarious. Matthew Rhys does a wonderful job as playing this incredibly stoned individual, bouncing around to different places in the city, trying to mitigate the chaos of the town being mad about the curfew ruining the night of the fireworks.

We also get Evan sneaking out with his friends yet again and heading to the serial killer’s house, nearly heading inside.

We get flashbacks to when Tom’s wife died in childbirth… after they had attempted to leave the island for the first time.

Another excellent episode of the Apple TV + show. I laughed multiple times while the show is still able to create tension and anxiety about the mysterious island and the curse that it has succumbed to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E10

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“Where We Belong”

The second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters concluded on Apple TV + this past Friday with a big titan slugfest between Kong and Titan X and the official switch from Cate to Kentaro of the stupidest Randa sibling.

It can’t be that Cate is the standout character on this show now, can it?

A few episodes ago, I would have celebrated had the show killed Cate off. Now, she feels like the true heart of the show, certainly moving forward into a potential season three.

What a character arc she has had this season.

The face off of Kurt Russel and Wyatt Russell in the opened rift felt as if it were a true goodbye for the flashback characters as they had been used less in the last few episodes this season. This feels like the correct moment to end those flashbacks as the show apparently is taking a new step in any potential season 4.

Keiko was such a bad ass driving her jeep around the gigantic Kaiju fight going on around her, but… girlfriend… where did you learn to park? As soon as she stopped that jeep and hopped out, I knew it was a goner. Why park it there? Geez.

The final shot of the season showed Lee looking out at a volcano and seeing Rodan sitting atop of it as the lava flowed around it. Rodan was last seen in Godzilla: King of the Monsters leaving a ton of questions about this Rodan.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was a hit and miss season for me. There were several moments where I considered dropping this show from my viewing schedule because I was just not enjoying it. I am happy that I maintained through the middle because the ending was much stronger than I expected. It ended strongly enough for me to watch the next season, if it is renewed by Apple TV.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E9

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“Ends of the Earth”

So it seemed that Kentaro has caught the stupidity gene from his sister Cate. Maybe it is genetic after all.

Kentaro has come up with a hairbrained idea that they can go back in time and save their father, and that is why he is doing everything that he has done with Isabel. Honestly, these two deserve each other. I used to not mind Kentaro that much and I was hating Cate, but now the roles have switched completely.

I’m not 100% sure what the motives of Isabel are. Why are they manipulating poor Titan X who just wants to take care of her egg baby? Is she planning on using her to open a rift to use as her personal time machine? That plan feels as if there are a few holes in it. Like gigantic, titan filled holes.

Lee and Keiko have come back together and found the rift on Skull Island where Billy had been sending messages to for years before his death. It kind of reminded me of LOST when messages were being sent in the tubes that wound up in one of the hatches. However, Billy was using the rifts to send a message to Keiko, making Billy’s remaining years really sad and maybe even a little pathetic. Romantic too , I guess.

We got both Godzilla and Kong cameos. Godzilla wrangled Titan X to Skull Island and was happy. Kong- not so much. Kong does not like people around his island. It sure seems that Kong is going to bring the hurt to the invaders in the finale next week.

The penultimate episode of this show brought some good action and some tense moments. It went back into the past once again with flashbacks which are always welcome. This show has consistently been more entertaining in the past than it has been in the present. It seemed that Kurt Russell’s Lee has come to his senses after a couple of episodes of lunacy. I guess it is understandable that you go a little cuckoo when you have spent time talking to past self.

I hope the finale next week brings it hard, because the second season has been up and down for me and I would love to end on a strong note.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E8

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“Separate Ways”

I’m not sure what happened this week, because I found myself behind behind Cate. I know… I really feel dirty.

I think what happened is that EVERYBODY ELSE IS SUDDENLY JUST AS STUPID AS SHE WAS.

I mean, why can’t they just talk about what is going on, share notes and be smart about it? They can’t everyone has their own hairbrained scheme to make things even worse than it was before. Lee has decided that calling Godzilla was the way to stop people from dying. That plan seems to have some holes in it. Kentaro is working secretly against Cate and Keiko by teaming up with Isabel. Isabel’s crew wants the egg. Titan X just wants to protect her baby… Godzilla is here to kick some ass (It is always great to see Godzilla). Does Godzilla figure out what is happening as they are flying away with an egg dangling from a helicopter?

When Cate is the voice of reason, you know shit is hitting the fan.

Everybody has their own motives, their own selfish choices, their own stupid ideas and no one is wanting to collaborate.

It makes me want to cheer for Titan X.

I love to see Godzilla, but some of the scenes of this show were so obviously green screen that it took me out of the moment.

I’m most disappointed that Shaw has caught the “I’m really Stupid” bug. I would like to think that he would listen to Keiko and believe in her. But I guess there was just too many years of brain cells depleting to make it make sense.

Go Titan X. Go Godzilla. Wipe out these dumb humans. Let’s start again.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E7

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“String Theory”

I have been down on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters over the last few episodes. I absolutely can’t stand Cate as a character and her consistent dumb actions just make me want to stop watching the show.

I have been close to just dumping this show form the watch list.

This episodes was much better, mainly because it focused on Lee, with both Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell playing Lee in the same scene against each other. While there are some holes in the concepts (which I tried to push out of my head), the performances from the father/son duo was fabulous. In particular, Wyatt Russell was extraordinary with the situation that he found himself stuck in.

The scenes got even more intense when young Lee learned that he was talking to himself as an older man. The conflict within Lee’s face over the idea that he could just step forward and have a life with Keiko was written across it.

This was strange, because I felt the stakes in these scenes because I was never sure if something would have happened to change history. I really thought something could have happened, and that was a nice change for the past events. They have always been the best scenes of this show, but there was always the idea that nothing was going to happen to out main three. That was not this.

Yes, I basically ignored the Cate scenes, especially after she fell into the well and was perfectly fine.

I do think that this show has bought itself at least another episode of my viewership. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Shrinking S3 E11

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 “And That’s Our Time”

The third season of Shrinking ended on Apple TV + today with a sweet and sentimental episode dealing with Jimmy and his loneliness.

Everybody was leaving him. Alice is off to college. Paul had left and moved to Connecticut after he and Jimmy had a falling out. Sean moved out of the boathouse. Derek and Liz prepared to go to on vacation to Spain. Brian and Charlie are going to Tennessee.

Gaby found the ring that Derrick had bought, and she was angry that he bought the ring and planned to propose without discussing it. So, after getting advice, Gaby turned the tables and proposed to Derrick. Derrick accepted. I did enjoy the story of Gaby and Derrick.

The ending of the episode, with a discussion between Paul and Jimmy, was very emotional. But Paul had something up his sleeve because he had set up the breakfast to be for Jimmy and Sofi.

This finale had a definite final feel to it. Everything had an all-wrapped-up feel and I see that next season we may get new stories. The arc involving Jimmy’s grief over his wife’s death feels done. Jimmy being able to move forward is long overdue.

I am anxious about Harrison Ford’s Paul and his story with Parkinson’s (F Parkinson’s!) I saw an article saying that next season the cast is back with all new stories. That sounds great.

Yet, I think season three may have been the best season of the show to this point. I found this to be remarkably funny and some of the best writing on TV. I can’t wait until Shrinking returns.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E6

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“Requiem”

I guess Skull Island is taking place at Jurassic Park now.

What was that opening scene meant to convey? It was a huge nothing. I guess there had not been many scenes between Kentaro and Hiroshi so the writers felt they needed something to show the audience. Or maybe they needed to throw a Kong cameo in to justify the name.

I don’t know how much more of this show I can take.

I did like how Kentaro ripped into Cate with her ridiculousness. The Cate character does the same thing every episode and it feels like they could just take her dialogue and copy it every scene.

What has been true about this show since day one is that the flashbacks are heads and shoulders above the present day material. That remains to be true. We follow Shaw in his reassignment and we come to meet his father. It didn’t make me feel much better when his father asked him why he was here, and he said was it a fight or fornication. Fornication? Who uses that word in their daily dialogue?

It was interesting to see how Lee’s flashback to his father was similar to the way Lee was thinking in the present. It is meant to show that Lee is not thinking clearly, but if he is on the opposite side of Cate then I am all down with it.

The Godzilla cameo in Kentaro’s dream was ridiculous. It was not as superficial as the Kong cameo, but it wasn’t much above it.

Then, as Lee was attempting to see if it was possible to open a rift to summon Godzilla to fight Titan X, something wonky happened and present day Lee started talking to young Lee on the walkie talkie.

Has the show added a time travel element to it? That ending was an interesting tidbit that maybe becomes something to help the show out. I have found this to be quite the sludge to get through each week, and I hope that the second half of the season would bring more to intrigue me than what it has done before.