Category Archives: hulu

The Bear S5 E6, E7, E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Focaccia”

“Caramel”

“The Original Beef of Chicagoland”

I finished the Bear’s final season tonight with episodes six, seven and eight.

Episode six and seven were both about the night that has been building up all season long. All season has been the same day so far and this was the night when the customers arrived.

Six and seven created such an emotional response from me. I was stressed the entire episode, on the edge of my seat the entire time. I kept waiting for something to happen that would derail everything for them, as the past episode 1-5 of this year was loading problem upon problem.

Then, the whole staff just came together and dominated these two episodes. CHEF!

Every problem that appeared, they worked together to come up with remarkably creative solutions.

By the way, this episode was about preparing food for a restaurant full of people, and it might have been the most tense, most suspense that I have been watching any TV show this season so far.

Episode six was all falling action, as we see how people wrap their stories up. We discover that the “UNKNOWN CALLER” that had been trying to call Carmy was the man giving out stars and that the Bear was given not one, but two stars.

This season of The Bear has been my favorite one since early on, maybe even since season one. These episodes were tight and worked so well as one day (with an exception of the final episode) and was an amazing viewing experience. I found this a wonderful way to end this series.

The Bear S5 E3, E4, E5

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Brigade”

“Dogs”

“Sheridan”

These three episodes were some of the best The Bear episodes probably since season one or two. There was a point after episode two that I literally was having goosebumps.

The whole season so far has been one day and the way they build that night with a massive overbooking was amazing and how the crew pull together- although it was not smooth sailing the whole time as Sydney blurted out that Carmy was quitting and leaving.

This whole run of three episodes do a great job of showing the relationships that have been stretched by the events and the stress of the restaurant.

Ceilings are falling in. Water still flooding as the rain continued to pelt down.

The first five episodes of the final season have been awesome so far. Three more episodes, and it looked like episode 8 is over an hour as episode 7 is in the 50 minute range.

The Bear S5 E1, E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Soda”

“Lamb”

The fifth and final season of The Bear dropped the other day on FX, Hulu and Disney +. I have been a fan of the show over the previous four seasons, though I do think it is time for the show to wrap up.

Kicking off, the show immediately tosses aside the shocking conclusion to the special “Gary” where Ebon Moss-Bachrach was shown as being in an automobile accident. We see it again in the first episode and it was such an after thought that I couldn’t believe it. When it happened in “Gary” I thought it was going to be a major storyline leading into the final season of The Bear, but it feels as if it was nothing important.

Episode 1 and 2 were both fairly short, with the first episode being around 22 minutes and episode two just over 25. Both episodes had large sections of them with a driving soundtrack that was keeping the tone extremely tense and unsettling.

The restaurant, which ran out of time to make the money they needed, was having some major issues because of a terrible storm that was raging across Chicago. The plumbing fought back against the storm by bursting some pipes. The first time the pipe burst was very funny, reminding us all that The Bear is classified as a comedy (even though it is anything but…)

Our cast are struggling with their own lives, connected to the failing restaurant. Cicero indicated that he lost a bunch of money and is trying to sell the restaurant., but no one was buying and the building was in terrible condition.

You can definitely tell that they are working toward a finale for the show and I am not sure where this is heading. The Bear dropped all of their episodes at once so I plan on working through these over the next week or so.

Gary

Posted on by

Spoilers

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.

Paradise S2 E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Exodus”

What a finale.

Paradise season 2 wrapped up with episode 8 in the most explosive way…literally.

The amazing action, reunions, and new twists and redemptions.

Sinatra making the sacrifice play, did not see that coming.

Xavier reuniting with his kids was amazing. Xavier and Sinatra working together to save their daughters who were trapped in the elevator. Link and his men coming across them and jumping in to help was a wonderfully heroic moment.

Jeremy coming back with help to save Nicole Robinson, who was badly injured and who demanded that Jeremy leave her behind. He showed himself as another hero on this show and seeing him and Presley kissing at the end was sweet.

I confirmed that Sinatra’s husband, Tim Redmond, was played by Tuc Watkins, who appeared on some soap operas I watched years ago (OLTL, GH) as well as on Desperate Housewives. I thought it was him, and I Googled him to conform the role.

Discovering the identity of Alex looks to set up the next season of the show as the underground bunker in the mountain is no more. Exodus, or the evacuation of the colony was unbelievable. What will those who were in the bunker for so many years, thinking that the outside world was gone, react to the fact that the outside world is still there and livable?

Oh and, surprise, there is another bunker under the Denver airport. This seems to be where Alex is, and Alex apparently is an AI that can see the future and determine what to do from it. An AI that is thinking on its own and answering questions that haven’t been asked yet. The show always had a sci-fi element to it, but it feels as if the show has taken a bigger step into the genre.

I think I may have liked season two of this show more than I liked season one, and I thought season one was exceptional. Season two had so much going for it and it captured so much suspense and drama with the characters and the difficult situations the show placed them in. Who would have thought that Sinatra would be the redemption arc of this show?

Bring on season three!

Paradise S2 E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Final Countdown”

Sadly, this is the penultimate episode of season 2 of Paradise on Hulu. It has been so great that I don’t want to see it end. We get some major events occurring in episode 7.

Xavier & Teri are reunited and are on their way back to Colorado. Of course, first things first… they had to get Bean, who was being held by Gary the Mailman. Xavier wanted to just blow him away, but Teri had a more diplomatic path. She talked to Gary and dealt with the emotions he was revealing, and confronted him over the murder of Enos. Gary cried and accepted the fate, and never got his head blown off. Bonus for Gary.

Meanwhile, we were seeing how Sinatra was continually manipulating everyone. She meets with Link and they have a tense back and forth. However, Sinatra makes a shocking discovery… or at least a possible discovery… is Link her supposedly dead son Dylan? Could that be? Could this be the variable that brings Sinatra down?

The outside forces are preparing for their attack… maybe cause Link enjoyed that apple pie so much.

It sure seemed as if Gabriela stabbed Jane in a shower, and left her bleeding out and dead. Now, there is no confirmation that Jane is dead and she feels like that type of supervillain that you can’t just expect to be killed by a stab wound or two. You have got to finish her off when you have a chance. So while she could be gone now, I would not be surprised if she crawled her way out of that shower.

We got a flashback to see more of President Cal Bradford before his murder. It is always great to see James Marsden in Paradise, so every flashback with him is thoroughly welcome. Cal was inspecting everything with Sinatra and making like a prophet and calling that the bunker would go down one day. Surely this is meant as some foreshadowing for what is to come.

This finale should be full of surprises and action. Maybe we will finally find out who the mysterious “Alex” is, as Sinatra arrived at a location, put on a jacket, and greeted Alex. This was after Link had told her that he was after Alex. I have no idea who or what Alex is, but I can’t wait to find out.

Paradise S2 E6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Jane”

We got quite a cliffhanger at the end of episode six. Something that has been building since season one episode one. Xavier and Teri met eyes. Of course, it was right after Gary tried to kill Xavier by setting off the bomb early… the bomb that Xavier was setting up to blow up the people Teri was with because he was mistakenly believing that they had snatched Teri and was holding her prisoner. All because Gary had a weird fixation on Teri and he wanted Xavier out of the way.

Gary failed pretty amazingly considering. All he had to do was blow him up but he had to apologize to him first, giving Xavier the chance to get the bomb away from him so he would not be killed.

And this was not even the main focus of this episode.

This episode gave us background details on Jane and we learned how crazy she really is.

I mean… CRAZY…CRAZY….

She had a dark backstory for sure… but surely one that leads to the supervillain. Now I am not sure whether it is Sinatra that we should be worried about or Jane.

Meanwhile, Jeremy is preparing to try and escape from the camp he is being held at. Thankfully, he has Nicole Robinson to aid, despite it going against her better judgment.

Paradise S2 E5

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Mailman”

Episode five is a very strong episode that kind of reminded me of the season one episode from The Last of Us where we met Bill, A Long, Long Time. It felt outside of the story that was being told around them for much of the episode.

This is the background of the story of where Teri has been and how she survived the three years outside of the bunker.

Turned out there was a mailman named Gary and a friend of his named Enos he met playing games online. The two of them were bouncing around conspiracy theories and how they would survive a zombie apocalypse, when things seemingly became real for them.

Gary discovered that there was a fallout shelter in the basement of the post office that he worked in that was hidden and was not used. No one even knew it was there.

Gary and Enos were collecting a small group of people to join them in the shelter and Teri wound up among that by happenstance.

There was also a young boy named Bean, who had an abusive homelife, that Gary would see on his mail route. Gary brought the boy with him into the shelter. It was Bean that helped bring Teri into the group as they bonded very quickly.

Gary was the man Xavier had at gunpoint at the end of the last episode. He had told Xander that he had known his wife and that she was taken.

However, this all seems like BS. The end of the episode threw a real twist as we see a scene where Gary and Enos went to see the people in the train and discovered that they were people looking to help others and were on the way to Colorado. Gary shot Enos to keep the story away from Teri (though it looked like Bean saw that happen) and Gary has been lying to Xavier this whole time.

I was feeling something was off with Gary for awhile during the episode. I thought maybe Gary was the one to destroy the radio, but Enos did admit to doing that.

There are some real questions about what Gary did and why he did it. I am sure that it will make more sense once we hear the full story, but, for now, Xavier is planning on attacking this group of people on the train to find Teri. It could be that she is not even there.

Paradise S2 E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“A Holy Charge”

What a fabulously emotional and powerful episode. The first three episodes were strong, but this episode of Paradise was tremendous. It was surprising, engaging, emotional. I found myself tearing up at a specific spot in the episode.

One of my favorite things was that as Xavier and Annie were on their way to Atlanta, they came across some people in another wagon. If The Walking Dead and The Last of Us have taught us one thing, it is that the real monsters in any sort of post-apocalyptic world are other humans. Annie begged Xavier not to look at these people, just to ignore them, and not speak to them. Xavier greeted them anyhow.

Later, Annie goes into labor, and Xavier ran for help from them. I swear I have seen this scene before on one of the aforementioned dramas. However, Xavier returned with a group of these people who went right into helping with the situation. I loved the fact that this show led with the message that not everyone has become monsters. There are good people still around.

The show did a juxtaposition between two births: Annie’s baby birth, and the first birth of a baby in the Colorado bunker (it was great to see James Marsden, once again). I was so on edge the whole time expecting something to happen to one of the babies, and they both survived. I was so happy.

Then, the show threw a twist that fit right with those other shows. Annie died from the birth. I couldn’t believe it. It was such a major shock. This was where I was nearly crying. The scene where the horse would not leave her graveside was so great.

Excellent episode. Next week looks like the story will be taking off, big time.

Paradise S2 E1, E2, E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

What an unexpected surprise. As I was going to Disney + this morning, there is was. An ad at the top of the page for Paradise season two, the first three episodes dropping together.

Paradise was a Hulu series from last year that was unexpected as well. Starring Courtney B. Vance and James Marsden, Paradise was a sci-fi series that was remarkably compelling and brilliantly set up. It was a sci-fi/apocalyptic show, a murder mystery and a thrilling political drama.

If I had known Paradise season two was scheduled for release in February, I had forgotten it. Three episodes, each about an hour long, starting off the second season was just was the doctor had ordered for a sick day at home.

“Graceland”

Of course, I had not expected the first episode to start off in Graceland, of all places. We get some details that told us how the end of the world came about. Supervolcano explosion, bringing cloud of dust across the planet. I am not sure I knew this detail from season one, but it made a lot of sense.

We are introduced to a new character named Annie, who was hired as a tour guide at Graceland, thanks to her knowledge of Elvis Presley.

We passed time, several years, with Annie while she survived at Graceland. We saw the other security guard at Graceland, who injured her leg on the first day, slowly die over the next two months. It left Annie alone.

That is… until a group of armed men arrived. However, they did not seem to be the typical armed men in this type of a setting. They were friendly, named after TV characters, and befriended Annie. Especially Link, whom Annie drew closer to during the time they all were at Graceland.

It did seem that this group had a hidden plan. They wanted to find the underground bunker in Colorado and kill Alex. They had told us that they were shutting down nuclear power plants, but I wonder how much of that is a cover story.

Annie refused to go with them and wound up heading out on her own, where she found a crashed airplane and an unconscious Xavier.

“Mayday”

The second episode went back to telling the story of Xavier and how he wound up unconscious on that ground. It also showed us how he and his wife met the first time.

The flashback took us to a time where Xavier had injured his knee and was in the hospital. He was placed in the same room with Teri, who had a surgery, a side effect of which made her blind. They bonded during the time when she was getting her sight back.

Xavier and Annie’s meeting was shown and Annie took him back to Graceland.

“Another Day in Paradise”

Then episode three focused in on the show’s main antagonist, Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond, and her recovery from the gunshot of last season and the further development of assassin Jane Driscoll. Jane is a terrible person and, in the course of this hour, assassinated the new President of the US and framed Agent Robinson for the job.

Billy Pace showed back up in a flashback working for Sinatra. He was told to get the rights to the company owned by a man named Miller. Miller refuses and there is an emotional standoff at his home, beside the bed of his comatose wife, Alex. Is this the same Alex from before? Miller gives his wife a lethal dose of something, and as she died, he asked one favor of Billy… don’t harm the boy from his class that was such a genius and who he felt like a father to. Billy kills Miller and ends up leaving the boy alone.

The boy turned out to be a younger Link.

Wheels are turning here.

Man there are a lot of things happening in this show and I am so pleased that it is back.

Only Murders in the Building S5 E10

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The House Always…”

Another season of Only Murders in the Building wrapped up with a finale that revealed the killer of the beloved doorman Lester and tied all the loose ends up neatly.

It turned out that Mayor Beau Tillman, played by Keegan-Michael Key, killed Lester, and it was his finger that had been severed and placed in Oliver’s shrimp. The billionaires knew about the whole thing too. They were in the game to find the finger and that person would receive the casino contract from the city.

After they were arrested, it seemed as if the building was saved, though I am not 100% sure how that happened.

I do love this show and there were so many wonderful moments in this finale as they were capturing the Mayor. Charles shimmying up the pole and sliding down like a stripper (instead of a fireman) was a hoot.

Introducing the “New mob” to the “Old Mob” was another fun thing. That group of men was ridiculously funny.

The show also set up the next mystery for season six as we hear a new podcast from Cinda Canning (Tina Fey) and she seems to have be killed… just outside the Arconia, disappointing everyone that she was not “in the building.” A final twitch of the body brought her hand just inside the gate… allowing the trio to investigate the new case.

Love this show. I can’t wait for the next season. This finale was much better than the penultimate episode.

Only Murders in the Building S5 E9

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Lestr”

Okay, the ninth episode of season 5 was actually my least favorite episode of the season. Watching the tenants packing up and getting ready to move out was depressing and the distance between Oliver and Charles was uncomfortable and, seemingly, out of nowhere. I was not a fan of that.

It was neat to see Nathan Lane return to his role from earlier in the show. It was fun to see him (and his son),

There was too much of Lestr in this episode. I am not a fan of the robot.

Turned out that Lester, the real doorman, was the one who killed Nicky Caccimelio, with the elevator crank in an attempt to save the building. That was a good twist.

Who killed Lester? That is still up in the air, although they point a finger (quite literally) at Nicky’s mother, Nonna. I’m not sure she is the final killer, but I do expect that to lead to the final resolution in the finale next week.

How will they stop the Arconian from becoming a casino? I don’t know but I hope to find out.

Only Murders in the Building S5 E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Cuckoo Chicks”

It’s Ladies’ Night on Only Murder in the Building and the mystery gets a new twist.

Mabel, Loretta (back from waiting with a delay at the airport) and Williams went to a “Ladies’Night” at the secret room in the Arconia in an attempt to figure out what happened and to get a confession out of Camila White.

Meanwhile Charles and Oliver went above ground in an attempt to convince their neighbors not to sell their apartments to Camila. At 49%, Camila only needed one more apartment to set her casino plan into motion.

However, none of those things work out.

Thank heavens for Loretta and her “psychic” abilities. She got a ton of info from Camila, via flashbacks in an intriguing format, that helped point to some new facts.

And Lester’s wife, Lorraine joined in and picked out a major clue from the, admittedly small, clue box. It led to a video of our new suspect, Randall, the new doorman. The video showed Randall picking up the bloody elevator crank, which Loretta discovered in Nicky’s office, and taking off.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Charles have a therapy session in their attempt to convince therapist and neighbor Dr. Stanley. After some deep character introspection, they were able to convince him not to sell. Sadly, it was too late as escro closed at 12 and it was 12:15.

Camila has the 51% she needs, so what is heading for the final couple of episodes? I don’t know, but I do love this series. It always keeps you guessing. This week we have a bunch of Oscar winners plying their trade together (four Oscar winning actresses).

Only Murders in the Building S5 E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Silver Alert”

I can’t believe this season of Murders in the Building is up to episode seven already. It has gone very quickly and it has been fabulous.

We returned to the billionaires as suspects as Oliver, Charles and Mabel got a tip from the Mayor (Keegan-Michael Key) who dropped a hint about Bash Steed.

The episode kicked off by seeing Oliver seemingly confused and scared, coming up to an unknown couple in a country area. There had been a silver alert sent out about a man with a purple scarf.

It was a weird beginning, but it made total sense later after we went back over the events that happened leading up to this.

Our podcasters arrived at Bash Steed’s mansion and met his oddball son. Oliver’s belief that everything was like a horror film made this all the funnier and would lead to his deserting of the case.

They found Bash Steed, Camila White, and Jay Pflug playing Operation, which was strange. Apparently, they play games to challenge each other and take out their frustrations.

They split up again, and Charles’s interactions with Bash were sensational. Steve Martin and Christoph Waltz have amazing chemistry with each other and they bounced the dialogue off each other brilliantly.

Charles and Mabel are able to recover the finger, which was what the billionaires were playing for. Turned out that it was about who would get to have the casino bid. Jay told Mabel that the finger was more dangerous than she knew.

Great cliffhanger too as we learn that Camila White was the person who had made the offer for Oliver’s apartment because she wanted to turn the Arconia into the casino.

This was a fabulous episode and it was excellent seeing the three back together facing off with the three billionaires once again.

Only Murders in the Building S5 E6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Flatbush”

Meryl Streep returned to the Arconia after a tragedy saw her apartment burn down. While she was processing the loss of her things, she jumped right into the case of who killed Lester.

Last episode, it seemed as if Lester’s wife Lorraine and Nicky’s wife Sofia were working together, giving us a new pair of suspects. However, this episode also basically cleared them as Oliver and Loretta followed them.

The episode was a trip down memory lane for Oliver, who had grown up in Brooklyn. It was some wonderful work as he strolled through past flashbacks of him as a child. It led him to the stage in an old theater where he had learned his love of the theater. These scenes between Meryl Streep and Martin Short are fantastic and help give us even more understanding of them as characters.

Meanwhile, it was good to see Donna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) involved more with the group. She was going to pick up the finger for testing, only to find that the finger was gone. It had been stolen. We find out that all the footage had been tampered with and that the company that ran the security was owned by Bash Steed, one of the billionaires (Christoph Waltz).

Waltz had been catfishing Charles as a “Priscilla” and digging for details of the investigation. He ended with a text saying, “You’re such a smartypants. Now I need to come hunt you down.”

Mabel and THE made up as this felt like a rushed storyline. Maybe there will be more to it as the season moves along.

I am excited to get back to the billionaires who have not been seen or mentioned much since they pulled the fast one over Charles, Oliver and Mabel.