Category Archives: HBO Max

The Pitt S1 E14, E15

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“8:00 PM”

“9:00 PM”

The final two episodes of The Pitt were great, making this one of my favorite, if not my favorite, medical dramas ever. Admittedly, medical dramas and me do not necessarily mix. However, this was worth the moments of being uncomfortable.

The mass shooting patients slowed down in the fourteenth episode. Things were unbelievable with this show during this mass shooting story arc. I am also happy that David turned out to not be the shooter. Admittedly, he did make the eliminate list, and I liked the fallout from that.

Robby was discovered by Whittaker on the floor. He did a nice job handling Robby, but Robby was still very off-balanced. He seemed to be so angry over the last several episodes. His confrontation with Langdon in the parking lot was tense and sharp.

The end was wonderful, filled with hope and light among the darkness and depression. Robby looked as if he was going to make it through and they show did a nice job of tying up the different dangling threads that were out there. Some of them were simple mentions, but I do believe everything that the show had set up or hinted at was covered.

This show was really strong and became epic during the mass shooting event. The show did a great job with characterization and giving us specifics on the different characters. With a large cast, the show was great at giving each individual something specific about them. I feel like I know most of these characters now, and not just the main two or three.

Season two will start on HBO Max on January 8 and I will be watching it weekly after that instead of the way I watched this first season.

The Pitt S1 E11, E12, E13

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“5:00 PM”

“6:00 PM”

“7:00 PM”

Dr. Robby kept saying in episode 11 that there was only two hours left in the shift, but I knew there were still multiple hours of episodes remaining. I did not know what was going to happen.

And then all hell broke loose.

Some of the most unbelievably intense, stressful stretches of television that I have ever seen. The whole active shooter storyline came back around and slammed everyone at the ER in one massive blast.

I get the feeling that David, the boy who had the hit list back at the beginning of the day was not the culprit of this shooting. It may seem a bit contrived, but I believe it is all coincidence. When David strolled back to the hospital to pick up his mom, he did not seem like someone who just shot dozens of people.

Either way, this series of episodes was amazing, in the most difficult and painstakingly horrendous ways possible.

Who would have thought that the high pressure baby delivery in episode 11, with Dr. Collins working it after suffering her own miscarriage, would be the low stress scene of these three episodes. That whole baby thing was just anxiety-filled and I was begging the screen to save the baby.

Then, it went crazy.

Watching the hospital prepare for the mass shooting before the victims arrived was fascinating. I wonder if that is the way most/all hospitals respond to an emergency like that? They knew what had to happen and they turned their ER into a MASH unit. I have never quite seen anything like it.

Then, Robby cracking at the end of episode 13 brought one more scene for Noah Wylie’s Emmy roll, with all the weight of the deaths of the day, compounded by this horrible triage situation, and trying to explain to his step-son (of sorts) how he could not save the girlfriend.

I can’t imagine what would be going through the minds of those doctors and interns who were having their first day on the job before everything went to crap. They all were having their moments during the chaos.

The first season is down to just two episodes remaining, which does not seem to be enough to manage everything that the show has set up. This makes me feel that there will be plenty of things dangling at the end of the season, when this day finally comes to a close.

The Pitt S1 E9, E10

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“3:00 PM”

“4:00 PM”

Two more episodes from HBO Max’s The Pitt are in the tank now. This show has been exceptional. I do have to turn my head away a few times, including this episode with the burned man and the boy with the blood behind his eye, but the drama is just so intense it is worth a few wiggly feelings in my tum-tum.

When Dana took the punch to the face from a frustrated Doug Driscoll, I was shocked. I had seen a picture of her with a bloody nose when I was searching for pics on Google, but the cruelness of Driscoll was tough. I understand the frustration that he was feeling with the wait that he was having, but that does not excuse the violent response. I sure hope he gets what is coming to him.

Langdon was discovered for stealing medication. He had been leaning on Santos a lot, but she was noticing the discrepancies in some of his patients’ medication. Robby sent him packing at the end of episode 10. It feels as if this is just one more thing that is weighing down on Robby. Stresses are building on him.

We got back to the storyline with the boy and his “hit list.” McKay reported the boy to the police, who came to talk to his grandma. This arc has been slow, but feels like it is starting to build once again.

We are down to six episodes remaining of season one.

The Pitt S1 E8

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“2:00 PM”

I’m not crying… you’re crying!

Okay, I am crying.

This episode hit hard. It was a one-two punch and that did not even take into account Dr. Collins and the miscarriage. That was pushed back by the character and the moment.

We get a young girl who was a drowning victim, who the staff desperately tried to warm up so they could get her heart started. The little girl who, as we find out, saved her little sister from drowning in the pool.

Oh my god, this was heartbreaking. Every minute of this story on screen ripped at the heart. If there ever was a story that demanded a happy ending, it was this one, but that would not be coming.

Then, as the grief over the loss of this little girl was sitting with us, they held an honor walk for Nick Bradley, the young man whose story has been going on for most of the show. His parents finally decided to allow the organ donation to proceed and the wheeled him out of the ER past friends and staff.

The show had to counterbalance the anguish of the episode with a man who arrived with a malfunctioning pacemaker, who was named Willie, and he turned out to be a member of the Freedom House Ambulance Service, which was the very first U.S. emergency service staffed by paramedics with medical training that went beyond basic first aid. 

There was also a nice moment with Dr. Javadi, a patient and a corpse of a black widow spider.

But all of the loss floating around the ER was palatable and just emotionally stunning. This may have been the best episode the series so far.

The Pitt S1 E6, E7

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“12:00 P.M.”

“1:00 PM”

Okay, there were a couple of moments during these two episodes that we rough on me. There was a heart attack scene that was just about more than I could handle.

I do like how the show has been, for the most part, more about the characters than with the illnesses. Whether it be the staff of the ER or the patients, the characters are the driving force behind story.

The abortion arc is really good. There is a father abuse storyline that did not work for me. One comment was made that the doctors and nurses were mandatory reporters but couldn’t report without evidence. As a mandatory reporter, that is patently incorrect. That pulled me out of the scene.

Then, it took a dramatic twist with Trinity Santos, who was a character that I have not been a fan of so far in the series, and a vicious confrontation with the child abuser in question. It was fairly unrealistic, but very kick ass. It helped that storyline.

The end of episode seven was horrific, as Dr. Collins went into the restroom, with tears, seeing blood in her underwear. There had been subtle hints through the last couple of episodes that Collins, who was pregnant, was going to have something terrible happen to the baby. While it is unconfirmed as of yet, this ending scene did not make things look good.

This pair of episodes started to show Doctor Robby was acting unlike he normally would do. I had a bit of a problem with that too because up until here, he seemed like he was great. I had no idea that he was acting differently than normal. The show had told us about his struggles on the anniversary of his mentor’s death, but I still thought he was doing a great job. When Collins called him out on his behavior, I was surprised. Some of these scenes with Robby felt out of place from the rest of the season. Of course, we did not know Robby before this series, and all of the episodes have been the same day, so it is hard to see the changes.

The show brought up the kid with the “hit list” again, but it is a story arc that feels like it will come back hard later in the season.

I was so happy that Whittaker made it through episode 7 without having to change his scrubs!

The Pitt S1 E5

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“11:00 AM”

I have to say that I have really enjoyed the first five episodes of HBO Max’s series, The Pitt. I am in on the characters and the intelligent writing that is going along with them.

Even the medical stuff, which usually bothers me with a medical show, has not been too bad generally speaking.

Noah Wylie has been awesome so far as Doctor Robbie, although I expect there will be some problems coming up with this abortion that he falsified. Especially since the woman who brought the girl was not her mother, but her aunt… and Mommy’s here.

I feel bad for poor Whitaker, who has had to change his scrubs multiple times already. Is this a running joke with him getting blood spat on him this episode after getting peed on last time. He has been splattered with bodily fluids a whole bunch, and I feel for the kid.

Some of the stories that have running through the first four episodes were not seen or just barely mentioned in this episode. The new ones that have jumped into the rotation are engaging too. I do want to know more about the kid with the hit list, as that was one that grabbed my attention.

Good stuff. I sense more problems ahead.

The Pitt S1 E1, E2, E3, E4

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So this was a series that I have wanted to watch for awhile now. The time was just never right, but with Christmas break upon me, plus the second season debuting in January on HBO Max, I thought I would give The Pitt a try.

See, I am a hypochondriac… well, sort of. Medical shows have bothered me in the past. I am bothered by things that can go wrong in the human body. While it does not make me feel as if I am having the same symptoms, it does bother me. That being said, the idea of each episode being an hour at a time in an emergency room made me think of 24 and I was intrigued.

I almost stopped at the first episode. A couple of scenes in that first show nearly finished me off. I was in on some of the storylines though so I decided to stick with it. After four episodes, I am fully in and will hopefully not have any further issues.

The storylines were coming hard and fast in the first four episodes. I was working on the EYG Comic Cavalcade as I was watching so the number of episodes just kept rolling as I worked. Perhaps I shouldn’t work as I watched, because I was being distracted by the show.

Noah Wylie led this cast of actors that I mostly did not recognize. Yet, they all did a great job with their roles. The short term stories with the patients were all very engaging and ranged from deadly serious to a good laugh.

One that especially caught my attention was a mother who faked an illness to get some help with her son. She found a list of girls to eliminate in his room, causing some serious tension of the story. That one is still percolating away. There was one that seemed to fly by faster with a brother and sister who desperately tried to keep their father alive, despite his wishes not to be on life-saving equipment. That story felt like it played out over a longer time than what it actually did, since the four episodes were designed to be only four hours total.

There were also a bunch of deaths in that four hour period. It truly showed the anguish the doctors and nurses have to deal with in their daily job.

The characters are introduced really well as there is not a ton of time to spend with them. Their minutes on screen are maximized extremely effectively.

I was not sure I was going to continue to watch this during episode one because of my own issues, but I am glad I pushed on. This is a strong series so far and my goal is to finish season one before the arrival of season two in January.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E8

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“Winter Fire”

What a finale!

Seriously, that was easily one of the best finales of the year.

The use of ghost Richie in the last scenes of the conflict on the ice and at his funeral had tears coming out of my eyes. It was a beautiful use of the character that we all fell in love with and mourned his loss last week.

I loved everything about this finale. It was suspenseful, anxiety-creating, and scary. There was also so many things that were satisfying about it.

Pennywise gave us a time travel rule, how he sees time all at once. He told Marge that she would be the mother of one of the kids who would kill him. Madge would later reference this and guessed that Pennywise might go into the past to try and make a change. It is a great set up for future seasons of this.

Dick Hallorann came through big time in this episode… as did Rose with her “voice in the head silencing” tea. The scene where he was coming out of his trance was unbelievable. When Rose offered Dick the tea to shut off the voices, she asked if he trusted her. I would be grabbing that tea immediately.

The dagger doing its best “ring of power” imitation as the girls tried to get it where it needed to go. All Lilly had to do was call it “my precious.”

Going back to Rich’s funeral, that was such a lovely moment and with ghost Rich invisibly comforting his parents and Will, it was emotionally powerful. Rich’s use in this episode is sensational.

What a fantastic season. It: Welcome to Derry truly was special.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E7

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“The Black Spot”

What a horrific episode.

I can honestly say that it nearly made me turn it off.

Rich died in the horrendous fire set at the Black Spot. I have not felt this empty after a scene on TV in a long time. It had that same feeling the night Negan killed Glen on the Walking Dead. I understand stakes, but some times the stakes are just too high.

Plus, to have Rich go out saving Marge, sacrificing himself.. I’m sorry, I just can’t handle it.

I have a terrible feeling that the racist bastards that set that fire at the Black Spot will not get their comeuppance. That radio report the next morning was absolutely sickening.

I was satisfied by IT killing Kersh. Chopping the top of his head off was great, though the clown taking a few bites from the head was gross.

Outside of the fire, we get some real background on Pennywise… specifically the original clown before IT took his form. IT realized that children were attracted to Pennywise, and that is why the monster took the form of a clown.

The army jumped into the horrible aspect too as they found and destroyed one of the pillars. Because the nation needs to be afraid… to have fear.

Pennywise showing up at Will’s house at the end will lead into the finale next week.

That fire nearly wiped me out. That was a nightmare.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E6

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“In the Name of the Father”

This was another fantastic episode of IT: Welcome to Derry.

So much happened here.

  • Leroy slapped Will when Will defied him and said he would never let his friends die.
  • Ingrid is the daughter of Pennywise (The sequence in black and white flashback was as intense as we have had so far).
  • Marge stood up to the popular girls.
  • Marge and Rich had several cool moments.
  • Rich played the drums at the Black Spot.
  • What is up with that bartender serving liquor to Marge and Rich?
  • Dick is having serious problems since coming out of the sewer.
  • Hank and Ronnie are reunited at the Black Spot.
  • Ronnie refuses to be with the others and try to go and kill Pennywise.
  • The sheriff lost his job, but leads a armed group in masks to the Black Spot after Hank.
  • The flashback to Mabel in 1935 was frightening.
  • Charlotte tells Leroy she is taking Will out of Derry tomorrow, after helping Hank.
  • Ingrid was dressed as a clown and was the person photographed and who Will saw outside his window.

There was so much going down and yet it felt like the show flew by. This is a sign of a beautifully paced show.

Pennywise is absolutely terrifying this episode and him eating poor little Mabel was just a horrendous thing.

Will is a real hero. He is so brave and not afraid to stand up to anyone, including his father.

I love, love, love Rich and Marge. Their scenes were so wonderful this episode. The changing of the dressing on her eye, her standing up to the popular girls, them drinking and Marge dancing to Rich’s drumming. Such a cool group of scenes. I hope they survive.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E5

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“Neibolt Street“

We have now officially seen Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the sewers of Derry. He is as frightening as ever.

I have to say, that I immediately really wanted that to be Matty… but I knew it wasn’t. Actor Miles Ekhardt looked amazing with his long hair and his white complexion. It was obviously a trap, but, man, I was hoping that Matty somehow defied logic and survived.

Of course, he did not.

When Matty changed into Pennywise, that was just terrifying. For a moment, too, I thought Lilly was a goner. I did not have any idea how she was getting out of that sewer. The magical rod (which was the piece of his cage that Daniel had brought in to the sewers and lost) stopping Pennywise in his place… awesome.

Of course, as soon as I saw Pennywise take the form of Charlotte and confront Leroy, I knew the kids, who were real and in the sewer, were in danger of being shot. I am glad they weren’t and I think Pauly needs more credit than he received for saving those kids lives. He took that bullet to stop Leroy from shooting Will.

We discovered the white woman that Hank was having his affair with… it was Mrs. Kersh. After the prison bus to Shawshank is attacked, Hank escapes and went to Mrs. Kersh for help.

Oh.. and Dick Hallorann … poor Dick Hallorann. He went through it…and he does not seem to be in his right mind yet.

Great episode. Very excited to see Bill Skarsgård in his clown attire.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E4

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“The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function”

Hm.

We got the origin of Pennywise, or the Galloo, what the Native American people called it. I’m not sure that I understood how everything happened. I guess the town of Derry was built inside the circle that they trapped it in.

I like Charlotte a lot. She went to the police in order to try and talk with Hank, Ronnie’s father. She is able to get in to see him, and we find out why he is lying about his alibi, and it was not connected to Pennywise. It was the racism of the time as he was having an affair with a married white woman.

The most horrific moment of the week was when Marge tried to use a table saw to cut out her extended eyeballs, thanks to her fear of her glasses making her eyes look like they bulge out. We heard about that in episode one or two and now it pays itself off. It was a scene where I was literally screaming for Marge to not do what she was going to do.

Of course, poor Lilly, who saved Marge’s life, is made to look like she had attacked her, as the entire lunchroom came to see the events. Not a good look for Lilly.

Dick used his shining to get inside the head of Daniel to find out about the pillars, which apparently are in the IT house where we know the well is located.

We are now half way through the season and we have yet to see clown Pennywise. However, the previews for upcoming weeks had some horrible scenes featuring Pennywise, so he is coming.

Oh, those floating red balloons… creepy!

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E

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“Now You See It”

Episode three of the new IT series on HBO Max is a banger.

We get some more psychic “shining” from Dick Hallorann, who we know ages up to work at the Outlook Hotel (and get an axe in his chest from Jack). The scene of him in the helicopter, flying over Derry and having psychic images of Pennywise in his forms, was exciting. Admittedly, as he was opening the cargo door of the copter, I never thought he’d fall out or die from that because I knew he had to be a part of the Shining eventually. Still, it was a tense moment.

Shawshank was mentioned too, which is part of the Stephen King shared universe. I do love how there are Easter eggs from other films in Derry. I’m sure there are some other hints out there that I do not recognize.

Ronnie’s father has something he is not telling anyone. It feels as if it is something that could work as an alibi, but he does not want to let that info out. Curious.

The flashback to the 1908 incident with Pennywise was scary. Frank and Rose’s interactions with the creature in the woods, a lookalike for the slender man from the carnival, was intense. Frank running from the creature only to be saved by Rose, wielding the slingshot that Frank had given to her (and Frank’s father had given to him). It was an exciting cold open showing what this episode would bring.

It was not as intense as when Ronnie, Lilly, Will, and Rich went into a graveyard to try and summon the monster that had attacked our departed friends from episode one in order to get pictures of it. I am not sure they could have come up with a more dangerous plan if they had tried. They were really fortunate to escape that event with their lives.

We end the episode with a pic of Pennywise as Will said of the photo he took, “It’s… a clown.”

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E2

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“The Thing in the Dark”

We have not seen the Pennywise clown version as of yet, and that is pretty cool. We definitely see the shape-shifting clown in other forms… and those forms are absolutely gross and frightening. The fang-filled vagina of Ronnie’s mother…. and the pickle jar with pieces of Lilly’s father. Man, those were rough.

The show is looking at the racism of the time more than the IT movies did. The racism in Derry was definitely in the movies, but this feels like a new level of focus on it. It has a feel much like Watchmen and Lovecraft Country. The smartest characters of the show seem to be the people of color.

We are introduced to a couple new kids in the show after the slaughter at the theater last week. Poor Lilly was facing her own struggles and the sheriff trying to get her to change her story about that night in order to get Ronnie’s father as the killer. Lilly kept saying that she did not see her father that night. The sheriff manipulates her to give him something he can use to arrest him.

We get the driving force behind the use of the military in this show. We learn that the military is in search of a weapon they can use in the Cold War. It is a weapon that can create fear in any man. It is clearly Pennywise that they are searching for.

There are a lot of really great scenes in this episode, including one in a jail cell involving a Russian gun. IT: Welcome to Derry has been very good so far, with amazing visuals and a group of intriguing characters.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E1

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“The Pilot”

I loved IT. I loved the original TV show miniseries starring Tim Curry and the 2017 movie. The second part of the movie was not as strong, but I am a fan of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

So when I heard that there was a series in the works for HBO Max set in Derry in prior years when Pennywise would terrorize the children of Derry, I was all in.

While we did not see Pennywise in this first episode, it was anything but lacking. In fact, I found it shocking and, somewhat, upsetting.

They set up a group of kids, much like the “losers” from the film, and gave them a mission. Find Matty, the boy who we meet at the beginning who wound up with a weird family in an attempt to leave Derry.

These kids included Teddy, Phil, Lilly, Phil’s little sister Susie and Veronica. They were trying to solve the mystery of Matty’s disappearance after Lilly heard him speaking to her out of her pipes in her bathtub.

Shockingly, Lilly and Veronica were the only two to survive the encounter at the end of the episode. I couldn’t believe it because it sure seemed as of Teddy and Phil were being set up as the main characters of this show. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I was sure something would happen to save them, even after seeing their blood splatter and Teddy actually being slammed face first into the projector room glass.

I am sad that they are gone, because I really liked them. I saw an interview with director Andy Muschietti who said they wanted to show that no one was safe in this setting. He did that for sure.

We’ll see where this goes from here. I thought this pilot episode was really good and it definitely defied what I expected to see.