Spoilers

“The Pediatric Oncologist”

Matt is dating a doctor. A pediatric oncologist, to be precise, and she invited him to a fancy black tie fundraiser with other doctors.

Things do not go well.

Matt agrees to go even though, as the studio head, he has to get a trailer for Johnny Knoxville’s new satire about projectile diarrhea approved.

This led to a conflict between Matt and the doctors who were with his girlfriend. They were looking down on his work, treating it as if it was not important. Matt disagreed, claiming his work as “art.”

While it is difficult to compare movie making to trying to cure cancer, these doctors were extremely dismissive of Matt and looked down their collective noses at him and what he does for a living.

This led to some extremely funny moments. My favorite one was when Matt outbid the doctors at his table for a gold trip to Ireland, even though he does not like golf. I actually cheered for Matt when he tossed out his winning bid at the last second.

I have been enjoying this Apple TV + comedy every week. Again, it feels so very meta, but has some very strong themes.

Spoilers

“The War”

Quinn and Sal are at war with one another over the director for a blatant rip-off of the Smile movie franchise called Wink. They go to all sorts of shenanigans to make the other one look bad until there is a dramatic and terrifying burrito accident.

The Studio is such fun show and, while I know this is a parody of the behind the scenes events that occur at a movie studio, I have this feeling that there is more truth to the episode than fiction, and that it is just turned up to a higher volume.

This episode featured Chase Sui Wonders as Quinn and Ike Barinholtz as Sal as Seth Rogan is more around the outside of the episode. We see him, but he is not the center of the chaos as he has been for the first four episodes. Several other cast members such as Catharine O’Hara and Kathryn Hahn are missing completely.

The show is very funny and I do like how it is willing to put Seth Rogan off to the side with confidence that the episode would still turn out great. The Studio is one more excellent series from Apple TV and I am glad I started with it.

Spoilers

“The Missing Reel”

This is another great episode of this new show from Seth Rogan.

One of the reels of the new movie from Matt’s (Seth Rogan) movie studio Continental Studios disappears and Matt and Sal are on the case.

“Good artists borrow; great artists steal.”—Pablo Picasso

They use this premise to set up a noir-like story, which is absolutely hilarious. The writing on this episode is just so clever and awesome. The background music makes this all the more epic.

This show has had some special cameos so far. In this episode, we get the cameos from Zac Efron and Olivia Wilde. Olivia Wilde’s cameo is so fun because they play off her own image in the real world.

This was such a fun little mystery, and filmed as a noir, it makes it even better.

And the ending… unbelievable.

Spoilers

“The Note”

The third episode of the behind the scenes, meta show, The Studio, was hilarious. This is yet another huge success for Apple TV.

This episode had Matt, in his role as the head of the studio, needing to give a note on a new film directed by Ron Howard. Matt is afraid to do so because he had done something stupid years before after viewing A Beautiful Mind with Howard at a friends and family viewing party.

The note was that they needed to cut a sequence at the end of Howard’s movie that was dragging down the film, a sequence that everyone who saw it, hated. However, no one could face up with Ron Howard and tell him. Apparently, it was a sequence in honor of his dead cousin.

Ron Howard, who appeared last season on Only Murders in the Building as himself in a fabulous cameo, is awesome here and Anthony Mackie guest stars as himself, the star of the aforementioned film.

Kathryn Hahn is here quite a bit too and you can never go wrong with more Kathryn Hahn.

This pull-back-the -curtain series has been really fun so far and I have enjoyed them tremendously.

Spoilers

“The Promotion”

“The Oner”

The new Apple TV + comedy from Seth Rogan is called The Studio. Seth Rogan played Matt Remick, the newly appointed head of Continental Studios, is hopeful to be able to keep movies relevant and alive.

The first two episodes were hilarious. Apple TV + has had some of the best comedic shows of recent times (Shrinking, Ted Lasso) and it seems as if they have had another great one.

The show is filled with a bunch of “inside baseball” references in movie making and it works with Seth Rogan’s bumbling, almost slapstick, behavior.

My personal favorite of these two episodes was The Oner, which showed a film set trying to get a complicated “oner” scene shot, fighting against time to shoot it as the sun went down. The only trouble is that Matt was constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time, causing delays and conflict. Of course, the whole episode itself was shot as a oner.

The show also starred Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, and Chase Sui Wonders. The first two episodes featured guest appearances from Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Paul Dano, Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Greta Lee, Sarah Polley, Peter Berg, and David Krumholtz.

I am curious how this show would play to those who are not into the meta world of filmmaking, yet I found it extremely funny and clever work.

Spoilers

“Jupiter”

“Entanglement”

I’m conflicted over the last two episodes of Dark Matter.

On one hand, I like the sort of happy ending for the characters… at least, it seemed like a happy ending.

On the other hand, I am not a fan of the League of Jasons that suddenly formed with hundreds of doppelgangers coming together. All apparently able to find their way to the same universe.

I was so confused when Jason 2 killed that first Jason right off the bat in episode eight. Then, there were Jasons coming from the woodwork. There were Jasons everywhere you turned.

The entire time, I kept wondering how we were going to know if the Jason who wound up with Daniela and Charlie was the OG Jason. I suppose they all were OG Jasons, but I mean the Jason that we have been following since the beginning of the series. Not an alternate version because Jason made a choice.

Overall, I am not a fan of how this ended. The multiple Jasons just did not do it for me. I just wanted Jason and Jason 2 to be the final conflict, but Jason 2 even helped them out at the end. That character changed his tune too much for my tastes and I just did not know what was going on.

Spoilers

“In the Fires of Dead Stars”

This was a great episode that has seemingly set the show up for a huge final two episodes.

Jason finally found his way back to his universe.

Jason 2 returned Ryan from The Box after the police started looking for him. Was this a different Ryan from a different universe?

Amanda had decided to stay in a universe instead of continuing on with Jason.

Jason tried to buy a gun, after seeing Jason 2 with his family in his home.

Jason 2 came into the gun shop right after Jason left and Jason 2 discovered that Jason was there.

Jason 2 had cracked open the cement covering the Box, leaving it open for Jason make his way through.

Jason 2 had a disagreement with his therapist version of Amanda, telling her that he wants to leave.

There is so much in this episode and it feels as if the next two will be insane. Episode eight is the penultimate episode of the first season.

Spoilers

“Superposition”

Jason 2 is becoming more manipulative with every second. He accidentally gives his son ice cream with nuts in it, not aware that the boy has an allergy to them. This started some questioning by Daniela about what was going on.

Then, man the Box is a perfect way to get rid of bodies. Imagine, you could just drop a body off in some nearby dimension and no one would ever know. Jason 2 does that very thing, albeit not a dead body, when he tricked Ryan into going with him into the Box only to strand him in an alternate universe.

Jason and Amanda are starting to feel the stress of their continued failures at finding Jason’s actual universe. They’re coming across so many that are just a little different and they were feeling it. They are also growing closer to one another, bringing even more stress into the situation.

Jason 2 sealed up the Box at the end of the episode, seemingly finishing his plan. However, I get the implication that Jason 2 may not be as happy in this universe than he thought he would be.

I am not sure what will happen next, but I do think the doubts that have creeped into Daniela’s mind will continue to grow as Jason 2 increases his efforts.

Spoilers

“Are You Happy in Your Life?”

“Trip of a Lifetime”

“The Box”

Apple TV + has had some great series. Ted Lasso, Shrinking, and Silo are three of my all-time favorites shows. So with an opening in the schedule and Battlestar Galactica done, I needed a new show to go along with the X-Files and The White Lotus. I knew of a show called Dark Matter, which I had heard positive things about, and I decided this would be a good opportunity to start this watch.

After the first three episodes, I am completely in! This is some fantastic sci-fi storytelling and some top notch multiverse action.

I will admit the first episode or so was kind of confusing until I was able to figure out which one of the Joel Edgertons were Jason and which one was Jason 2. Once I was able to focus in on which one was which, things fell into place.

Three episodes in and this is really rocking hard. So hard that I am trying to avoid just binging the entire nine episodes in one sitting. That would defeat the purpose.

Joel Edgerton is awesome in this series, playing two versions of Jason Dessen. You can see the differences, subtle as they may be, between the two men. Edgerton does a fantastic job of carrying this story on his back.

With Jason and Amanda conceivably back in Jason’s universe (or on their way) I am curious to see where this show goes next. When Jennifer Connelly took a bullet to the head in the one universe, it was a shocking moment that told me that anything could happen. No one was safe in this multiversal tale.

I have found yet another massive winner on Apple TV +.

Spoilers

“The Book of Quinn”

Apple TV +’s sci-fi series Silo is marching along this season with plenty of tense and anxiety-filled moments.

My favorite section is those including Rebecca Ferguson. She is an awesome actress and her character, Juliette, is one bad ass. Just this episode, she gets shot by an arrow, pulls it out, treats the wound, while suffering from the bends, and continues on in her search for the person who took Solo. She needs her suit back to make it back to her own silo and only Solo knows where it is.

At the end, though, Juliette comes across three others, one of which had that bow trained back on her for a second time.

Bernard is a real dirtbag. His quest for power is just non-stop as he manipulates poor Walker into becoming his snitch. He placed her former spouse’s life in danger in order to blackmail her. He truly is an epically horrible man. He is also going to be taking advantage of Lukas until he gets the message translated. Sims told Lukas that Bernard will dump him immediately after he gets what he needed from him, and I believe that fully.

More details on the mysterious and apparently awful Salvador Quinn are revealed as Lukas found the book that he was looking for, a copy of the Pact.

Two more episodes remain in season two of Silo and I see big things preparing to happen.

Spoilers

“The Dive”

Juliette goes diving again and winds up in trouble. Solo convinced her to fix the water pump before she left his silo because, and rightfully so, he believes that once she leaves she most likely will never come back.

He explained about swimming to her and also about the bends. It’s a fascinating world where someone has to be explained what swimming is. Plus, you know that his comments about the bends were going to lead to something.

While she is down in the water, her oxygen goes off and the connection to the bell she would ring is severed too, forcing her to ascend in a rapid manner. When she gets up there, Solo is nowhere to be seen and there is blood around the area.

Is there someone else in this silo? Always thought so. This all but confirms it.

Bernard continues to flail in his attempts to keep everything together, but more and more things are going against him. This includes Sims, whose wife has been whispering in his ear. Sims and Bernard have a tense convo where lines sure seem to be laid down.

The food poisoner is revealed too. The level’s head cook who had told them about the poison in the first place. Her mother is above the blockade and they were using this as a way of pressuring her to do their bidding.

Lucas is making progress with the code too as it is a numerical code from a book- Bernard believes it is from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.