Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Alien: Earth S1 E1, E2

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“Neverland”

“Mr. October”

A recent film from 2024, Alien: Romulus, reinvigorated a franchise that had seen better days. Alien and Aliens are two of the great movies of all time, but many of the films that have followed them did not build the franchise well. Some of them were even bad.

As I said, Alien: Romulus brought a new energy to the Alien franchise and, from that, we get a new series on FX/Hulu/Disney + called Alien: Earth.

Alien: Earth served as a prequel to the 1979 film Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the year 2120. It focuses on Wendy, who was a hybrid, a human child whose consciousness was transferred into a synthetic body because she was sick and dying, and her human brother CJ “Hermit” who was a soldier and medic.

A space ship, piloted by a cyborg named Babou, crashed into the planet, causing its “specimens” to be freed.

It is not just the Facehuggers and Xenomorphs involved in this show. There are some other alien species on this ship that are now free and causing chaos. These new alien creatures are really scary. There is a leech-like monster that inserts something into your neck and, apparently, drained the blood from the victim. There was another one that we met after it came out of a cat’s head, pulling the eyeball from the cat. There were giant pods hanging from the ceiling and the characters on screen would not listen to me as I yelled at them to get away from it.

The second episode was really tense. While the first episode was strong and did a decent job of setting things up, episode two had me yelling at the screen. I was tense and anxious as I watched Wendy trying to find CJ, who was desperately trying to stay alive. CJ also did not listen to me as I yelled at him to get out of there.

I don’t know what Babou’s plans are, but he was not someone I found myself rooting for. His reactions were horrible and seemed to be the reason why the ship crashed in the first place.

The Xenomorph looked frightening. It felt like the same kind of special effects you would see in a big time feature film. The show looked great.

I am excited to see where the rest of this series will go. Episode two ended in a huge cliffhanger and I hope the series continues with this level of intensity.

Dexter: Resurrection S1 E6

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“Cats and Mouse”

David Dastmalchian has an awesome twist in this episode of Dexter: Resurrection.

Dastmalchian’s serial killer, The Gemini Killer aka Gareth, showed up at Dexter’s place as the Blessing family above were having a wake for the dearly departed mother. Dexter took advantage of the situation and killed him.

However as Prater had organized a helicopter trip for the serial killer’s club, Dexter was worried that they would figure out that he was responsible as the new guy for the sudden disappearances of the group.

And then, The Gemini Killer showed up to get in the helicopter. Twins. Gemini Killers, plural.

What an awesome shock that I did not see coming.

This episode was packed full too. Mia wound up dead, hanging in her cell. It looked as if Charley had paid off a guard to take care of business. This happened coincidentally just as Batista, Wallace and Olivia had arrived at the prison to show Mia a photo of Dexter to see if she recognized him as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Of course, that would have been a big time reveal as she believed he was the Dark Passenger.

There were several great scenes here too. There were some wonderful moments with Dexter and Harrison. Harrison attended Blessing’s mother’s funeral. Harrison helped Dexter out after Dexter called his son and asked him if a hoody was proper attire for a funeral.

There was also a fantastic scene between Dexter and Blessing, who had came to apologize for being snippy about some ice. The scene was also very tense since Gareth was dead in the shower/tub.

Dexter is doing a wonderful job of being a part of Harrison’s life. Harrison told his dad that he had an image of killing the landlord, but Dexter talked him down, easing the anxiety that Harrison was clearly entertaining in his head.

I really enjoyed this episode. It felt like it was adding so many awesome moments that I kept waiting for it to end. The end with the reveal of the Gemini Killer was absolutely a masterfully campy end.

Wednesday S2 E3, E4

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Immediately, I was surprised with how quickly things are wrapped up in this season. They mentioned Wednesday’s stalker in episode one and we learned who that was in episode two. We found out who the Avian was in episode four. The biggest mystery still active is the potential vision of Enid’s death, so that must be the overarching storyline.

There were so many people killed in this show, specifically episode four. Characters that I never would have guessed would die. Christina Ricci returned for a one episode arc to try and save Tyler and it cost her. Christina Ricci felt very much like Misty from Yellowjackets.

Tyler’s escape in episode four clearly sets things up for the second half of the season.

Four also featured Uncle Fester in a big role and he is easily the best of the characters. Played by Fred Armisen, Fester is certainly standout as he is plotting to get sent to the asylum to help investigate.

The whole camping trip in episode three felt such a rushed plot point that was involved in this season for no apparent reason. It seemed that the entire purpose for the camping trip was to get a proper meal for Slurp the zombie. Sure Wednesday is kick ass and her winning the game was awesome, but the everything else felt lackluster.

The second part of season 4 drops in September on Netflix.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #29

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“Whitey’s On the Moon”

I really enjoyed episode one last week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk featuring Lovecraft Country. Unfortunately, this week’s episode felt like I was watching the show in fast forward. So much happened and there was a super ton of exposition and it felt like the flow of this was way off whack.

I am not sure exactly was was real and what had happened. There is a secret society based on Adam from the Garden of Eden. Leti died, but comes back. Atticus turned out to be a descendent of the founder of this secret society. Leti and George forgot everything about the night before and then a little bit later, remembered everything that had happened. They all had weird delusions in their rooms with people from their past although Leti’s delusion was having sex with Atticus who turned out to have a snake as his penis. Tony Goldwyn showed up having what looked like parts of his liver removed to serve for dinner. Then he turned to stone and got crushed in the last act of the episode. The castle collapsed into the ground. They found Montrose but the episode ended with George succumbing to his gunshot wound he got from Tony Goldwyn.

As I said, this was insane.

It all felt so rushed that it diluted what should have been a powerful moment at the end of the episode… the death of George. I am not sure if this is a final death or if he will be coming back like Leti did. Montrose’s arrival was also bizarre as he just dragged himself out of the ground in handcuffs.

Oh and it kicked off with the theme song from The Jeffersons.

I found this episodes too packed with stuff that could have been spread out over several episodes. I am not sure what is coming next, but the pacing was just such a problem for me. I do like the characters and the setting, but everything was just flying at such a pace that I was not able to engage as much as I would have liked.

Wednesday S2 E2

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“The Devil You Woe”

I have found the second season of Wednesday on Netflix to be a bit of a mixed bag so far. Anything dealing directly with Wednesday and her orbit has been great. Episode two revealed her stalker, an invisible girl who is Wednesday’s #1 fan.

There was also a great scene between Wednesday and Tyler at the insane asylum. Tyler’s psychiatrist makes me suspicious. There is more to this character than the few fleeting moments we get with her.

It was Prank Day at Nevermore, which feels like a horrible idea. Barry Dort is another of the new characters this year that clearly has more to his story than what we know. Will the principal of Nevermore now be like the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts?

Donovan Galpin, a major character of season one, was found dead by Wednesday, his eyes pecked out by crows. “Murdered by a murder of crows” as Wednesday said. Donovan’s eye found its way to Wednesday and Enid’s dorm room.

All this is fun and I expect will mix together before the end of season two. What I have not enjoyed at all so far has been Pugsley Addams and his storyline. There is just something about Pugsley that is off-putting. I am also not fond of Eugene this season. I loved that character last year, but I am just not feeling him in season two so far. These two together have been dragging these episodes down.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is great as Morticia and seeing her more this season is only a good thing. She has some storyline that requires her to bring in her mother. It ties into Barry Dort’s desire as he blackmailed Bianca to use her siren song on Morticia.

There are two more episodes in the part one of season two.

Wednesday S2 E1

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“Here We Woe Again”

The long awaited season two of the hit series Wednesday dropped on Netflix today. Featuring characters from the Addams Family, Wednesday sees Wednesday Addams return to school at the mysterious Nevermore.

The show does not miss a step in jumping right back into the mysteries of Nevermore as Wednesday has to deal with her sudden popularity over her saving the school in season one, Pugsley coming to Nevermore with her, a stalker, black tears, as well as a new cabal of characters.

One of those characters is the new principal, Barry Dort, played by Steve Buscemi in a strangely familiar wig and black mustache.

The first episode certainly threw a lot of different things into the fire (some actually literally) setting up what looks to be a jam-packed season two.

Jenna Ortega reminded us immediately that she was the perfect casting for Wednesday Addams. Her dialogue and character play is wonderful. Seeing her spend her summer vacation hunting down and scalping a serial killer made for a great cold open.

Emma Myers returned as Enid, Wednesday’s colorful werewolf roommate and bestie. The easy chemistry between these two is one reason this show had such an amazing season one. Enid feels as if she will be at the center of another psychic vision mystery as we see Wednesday at the end of episode one have a vision where Enid grabbed her and told her that she was dead because of her.

There are a bunch of new mysteries in the air around Nevermore and I will be working on completing the first part of season two over the next week or so. Four episodes dropped today and the second part of four episodes drop at the beginning of September.

Dexter: Resurrection E4, E5

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“Call Me Red”

“Murder Horny”

I was able to catch up with the new season/series of Dexter: Resurrection this morning. New episodes come out on Fridays on Showtime, so I can follow it along as the season progresses for however long it will last.

I was very excited to see episode four as I knew it had some kind of serial killer dinner party at the center of it. I did not know that the guest list would be as sparkling as it was. The party was thrown by Peter Dinklage was something that I knew. He played serial killer fan Leon Prater. He was the employer of problem-solver Charley, who is played by Uma Thurman. We had seen her before.

Having Prater show Dexter (whom he believed was the Dark Passenger) around his trophy room of serial killers was creepy. Especially when he showed Dexter the hammer of the Trinity Killer and the slides of the Bay Harbor Butcher.

Then, shocks kept coming as the rest of the guests arrived. This list included Krysten Ritter as Mia, Lady Vengeance, Eric Stonestreet as family man Al, David Dastmalchian as Gareth and Neil Patrick Harris as slimy Lowell, the tattoo killer. I did not expect such a Who’s Who of actors taking these roles, and it was even more amazing when NPH wound up on Dexter’s table at the end of the episode.

The show also teased a relationship between Dexter (still pretending to be Red, the Dark Passenger) and Mia. Dexter entertained the idea of working with her until he discovered that she was not exclusively killing sexual predators as the press had assumed. He framed her for the murder of the man that Harrison had killed in the hotel. That had a lot of holes to it (including Mia telling her intended victim that he would be her first kill in New York) but the media seemed to grab the idea quickly.

Batista was not as happy about the results. He had gone to see Detective Wallace with a plan to share ideas on the case that, he said, sounded similar to the bay Harbor Butcher.

The fifth episode ended with a promising connection between Dexter and Harrison, after Harrison learned that his father had taken care of the problem with his own murder. Harrison showed Dexter signs that he was not like him, which made Dexter happy.

What We Do in the Shadows Season 6

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Today I finished the final season of What We Do in the Shadows on Disney +. Season six had eleven episodes, one more than any of the other seasons. I have to say… I thought this season was the worst of the six. Not that it was bad overall, but it just did not feel like it was scattered all over the place.

These were a few of the highlights for me:

  • Laszlo’s ghost father arriving was a funny bit. His father trying to take over Laszlo’s body was a fun scene.
  • I enjoyed the Monster, created by Laszlo and Colin Robinson, but that joke ran out of steam during the season.
  • The big night for the Baron led to the vampires looking to kill the group. This felt familiar (no pun intended), but I thought it was one of the better episodes of the season.
  • I did like the concept of Nandor and Guillermo forming a crime fighting duo. I would have liked more of this during the season instead of a joke at the end.
  • The Finale. I’ll talk about that in a little while.

Low lights:

  • Jerry. Though it was funny that they forgot to awaken another vampire who used to live with them as he entered “super slumber,” the character of Jerry was hardly worth the time and turned out to be a throw away as the season progressed.
  • Guillermo working at the office. It had some funny moments, but it did not work well for me. It was lackluster.
  • They repeated a couple of beats from the series, including how Nandor was ready to go to war with the TV show filming outside.
  • Sleep hypnosis. Nandor as Richard Nixon was funny, but overall the idea was barely enough for an episode.
  • Nandor’s Army? That felt like a waste.

Let’s talk about the finale. I loved this. It was easily the best episode of season 6. It was so meta that I found it highly entertaining. The documentary filming was coming to an end and Guillermo was having trouble accepting it. They had so many fun meta lines which were referring to the documentary, but in reality were designed toward the actual show itself. My favorite was Nadja, who, when talking about how the documentary should end, mentioned how the doc should have ended last year after Guillermo was turned back to human after being a vampire. This line basically said the fifth season finale would have made a better ending to the show than anything done during season 6. She was 100% accurate.

They added some parody endings that came about when Nadja hypnotized the audience. The first one was a spoof of The Usual Suspects. The next two, which came as post credit scenes, were one like Newhart, with Nandor having a dream and telling Guillermo, who is in bed with him, about it. The third spoof was one of Rosemary’s Baby, with Nadja playing the role of Rosemary (and Colin Robinson back as a baby again). These were a lot of fun and an enjoyable way to end the series.

With the whole group (except Guillermo) singing “We’ll Meet Again” was a wonderful moment. Even better was when Laszlo exclaimed, “Now, everyone but the Guide!” because of how badly she was singing. I laughed out loud at that line, which was said off screen.

While this season would be my least favorite of the six, What We Do in the Shadows is one of my favorite comedies of all time. The stories were great. The characters were a hoot. It was very enjoyable. I do think it was time for the show to come to an end [although I would have loved more of the crime fighting Nandor (aka The Phantom…Menace) & Guillermo (aka The Cowboy Kid)].

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #28

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“Sundown”

Oh, I am in!

What a kick off to the next show for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. The only problem is I now have to wait until next Sunday to watch the next episode.

Lovecraft Country was a series that was on HBO, a horror, historical fantasy, drama that centered around the writings of author H.P. Lovecraft.

Starring Jurnee Smollett, Courtney B. Vance and Jonathan Majors, the show had one heck of a debut episode.

Majors played Atticus “Tic” Freeman, a young man who had served in the Korean War. He returned to his home in Chicago when he found out that his father had gone missing.

Going by his uncle George Freeman’s home, Atticus shared a letter that his father had sent him about Ardham, Massachusetts. With a little investiagtion, Atticus discovered this city was in the middle of Devon County, which was an area where H.P. Lovecraft had supposedly set many of his horror tales.

George writes for a black guide book (much like the movie Green Book) so Atticus, George and Letitia “Leti” Lewis, an old friend who was hitching a ride to her brother’s home, took off to this county.

They stopped for some food, only to be chased away by gun toting yokels who did not want black people eating in their diner. This was a tense and anxiety-filled scene as the locals shot at them with rifles. It is amazing that such hatred exists in the United States that there are people who think this kind of behavior was ever okay.

A mysterious silver sedan caused the yokel’s car to flip over and a enigmatic white woman came out from the car. Atticus had heard that his father had left Chicago in a silver sedan, so everything seemed to be tying together.

In Devon County, the trio was in the woods looking for an access road, when the racist sheriff came upon them. He told them that they were in a sundown county where any blacks out after sundown would be considered dangerous and he would have to do something about it. What followed was a real tense, horrific scene where Atticus desperately tried to get their car across the county line before the sun went down, unable to speed because the sheriff followed behind, waiting to pull them over for any infraction.

Making the county line, they came to a police roadblock, realizing that the race to the border was irrelevant. As they were face down and about to be lynched, monsters came from the woods and began attacking the cops. These creatures were shoggoths, monsters found in Lovecraft work.

In the end, Atticus, George and Leti found themselves at a mansion in the woods, where they are greeted kindly by a white at the door.

The scene with the shoggoths and the cops was really intense and bloody. You had no idea what was going to happen, although it was awesome to see that racist piece of crap sheriff get his during the scene.

The episode started with a dream Atticus was having involving UFOs, monsters and what looked like Cthulhu. Of course, there was also Jackie Robinson(?). I was in immediately. I love the air of mystery and the unexpected nature of the show. I can’t wait to see where this goes from here.

Building the horrors of segregation into a story with J.P. Lovecraft’s work at the center is ironic, considering Lovecraft was known to be a racist himself. Tying that all together creates a powerful dynamic that will help drive this story, hopefully through the rest of the series. There are plenty of secrets floating around (who was that that Atticus called in South Korea?) and these add such a great color to the plot.

Next Sunday can’t get here soon enough. I was a little nervous about committing to Lovecraft Country for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk as there were ten episodes, which will encompass over two months to finish. At this point, I am thrilled with the choice.

Dexter: Resurrection E3

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“Backseat Driver”

Dexter in NYC continued as he is able to capture himself the “Dark Passenger.” One of the things about Dexter that I love is how intelligent he is. He truly uses his brains to do his stalking of these serial killers.

I am very excited too about the next episode which seems to be a serial killer convention. Dexter took the invite that the Dark Passenger was given and he plans on attending in his place. I had heard about that episode before I started the series so I am excited to see what happens.

Det. Claudette Wallace is sniffing around Harrison, basically laying everything out in front of him in an interrogation, trying to get a confession. Harrison does a great job of keeping her at an arms-length.

I love the character of Blessing. The amount of friendship and joy that he brings to the canvas is really needed. I love his family and I also love how his wife isn’t a fool. She did a background check on Dexter (although that eventually helped Dexter find the Dark Passenger).

Angel Batista is on his way to New York as he is retiring from the police force in Miami. There will be some confrontation with Batista and Dexter at some point of the season, you would think.

Good episode. Excited to see the next episode.

Eyes of Wakanda four-episode limited series

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Marvel Animation released it latest animated series on Disney + this morning, executive produced by Ryan Coogler.

The four episodes were told across the history of the world, showing a group called the War Dogs and their efforts to retrieve artifacts that had been stolen from Wakanda. What felt like separate stories actually came together in a clever way in the final episode, “The Last Panther.”

I was watching Fatman Beyond on YouTube when Marc Bernardin announced that he had written two of the episodes and that he was also a producer on the show. I have always been a fan of Marc Bernardin so it only helped my anticipation for the series.

Disney + dropped all four episodes on the same day.

The show included a trip to Crete, to the Trojan War and to China. The very end of the fourth episode connected the show to the greater MCU too, which was a really fun call back.

The episodes got better with each one. The show looked beautiful and the action was very dramatic and violent.

There were some characters that I had a harder time getting behind, especially in the earlier episodes. However, that was not as much of a problem for me as the show moved along.

I loved the use of Achilles in episode two and the use of the Iron Fist in episode three (which was probably my favorite one).

I like that some of the ideas of the show is that Wakanda is shown as not necessarily the heroic kingdom, a kingdom that only cares about staying isolated. There are some moments of showing this too. I like the shades of grey that the show provided.

This was a worthy addition to the Marvel animation cannon. It was a fun and quick watch.

Dexter: Resurrection

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“A Beating Heart…”

“Camera Shy”

I started the new Dexter series on Prime today. I was not sure whether or not I was going to watch this after watching the up and down quality of Dexter: Original Sin. Add that to the fact that I did not watch the last several years of Dexter and I did not know the back story of what happened and I was not sure if I wanted to donate the time needed.

However, I have heard some positive word of mouth about the series and Dexter: Original Sin did have some upside to it. I have the opening in the schedule as I just finished two Apple + series so I decided to give this new version of Dexter a shot.

I will say that I enjoyed the first two episodes of this as Dexter came out of his coma after being shot in the chest by his son. Dexter followed Harrison, his son, to New York to do what he could to help him.

There is another serial killer in New York using the moniker, Dark Passenger, which ticks Dexter off right away.

If there is one thing that I would say about this series is that it feels like New York is really small. Dexter made his way around the city easily, maybe too easily.

I liked the scene that saw David Zayas reprise his role as Angel Batista from the original show, facing off with Dexter after he had awakened from his coma. Batista suspected that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher, but he had no evidence. Dexter was able to escape from the hospital before Batista returned to see him again.

There are two more episodes currently active on Prime (via Paramount + with Showtime) and released on Fridays.

What We Do in the Shadows Season 5

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I binged season five of What We Do in the Shadows today and it was a great season once again. This show is one of the most consistently funny shows on television.

This season had several running storylines that carried through most of the year. These included:

  • Guillermo’s slow transformation into a vampire after giving money to Derek to turn him. Little did Guillermo know how much of an insult that would be to his master.
  • A hex that had been cast over Nadja, causing terrible things to happen to her.
  • The Guide trying to fit in with the rest of the vampires.
  • Guillermo’s uncertainty over what he wanted to be.

My favorite episode of the season was “Local News”, which was an episode featuring a local news reporter covering the story of a water main break on the street of the vampires’ house. They interviewed Nandor and he believed he accidentally let slip that he had lived in the house for centuries. Believing that he had given away the truth that they were vampires, the group started going crazy. It was really funny and resolved wonderfully. It also crossed over with Guillermo going to see his mom to tell her about his life choice.

Another thing I really loved was the development of the character of Guillermo over the ten episodes. He was learning a lot about himself, to the point where he realized that he was not going to be able to become a vampire. His Van Helsing blood had been fighting off the vampirism all season, keeping him from fully turning.

I loved how, when Nandor finally discovered the truth, it led to another truth. Nandor never turned Guillermo into a vampire over the years because he knew that Guillermo did not have the stomach for the killing involved. Nandor really showed that he knew Guillermo well, but also cared for his familiar/bodyguard.

I also liked how the other vampires showed some concern for Guillermo, way more than they had ever done. I would go as far as to say that they all had accepted him as part of their lives. Laszlo, Nadja, Colin Robinson and even The Guide went out of their way to try and help Guillermo. That was way different than the first season.

Cameo of the season: Patton Oswalt. He became a major component in helping Nandor get past his hurt feelings, allowing him to save his friendship with Guillermo. And he did all this before being thrown to his death.

I am also a fan of how characters from previous episodes/seasons keep showing up. It gives the show a real flavor and world that has a lived in feel to it. The Baron, Derek, The Doll, Topher, Djinn etc.

Although I could see this change a bit, here is my current list of seasons in order of my favorites:

  1. Season 1
  2. Season 4
  3. Season 5
  4. Season 2
  5. Season 3

I could see seasons 4 & 5 flipping places after more time to reflect. Season six has 11 episodes instead of 10 and it is the final season of the show.

Murderbot S1 E9, E10

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“All Systems Red”

“The Perimeter”

I loved this series. I did not expect to feel this way about this series. A sci-fi/action/comedy featuring a robot that goes rogue and becomes a murderer. And yet, I found this to be fully entertaining and I was enthralled with the entire series.

I will say that the final episode left me feeling sad as Sec Unit left the others, departing for a new adventure. I did not expect that to happen. Sec Unit choosing to leave behind the humans who he had done so much to protect and who had rescued him from being melted in acid.

I wonder if the group would have let Sec Unit put on his armor and resume his role as their bodyguard if he would have made a different decision.

Sec Unit got on a transport ship, posing as a servant bot and said that he did not want anyone telling him what he could do, even his favorite humans, meaning Mensah.

Murderbot has apparently been renewed for a second season and showrunner Chris Weitz suggested that the second season would be adapting the next three books. I have not read any of them, but I do hope that the cast that I have enjoyed so much this season would be able to join Alexander Skarsgård for season two. At first I was not much of a fan of David Dastmalchian’s Gurathin, but he did grow on me after he stopped being such an opposition to Sec Unit.

Could we get more The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon next season? That was a real fun little show-within-a-show example and I love seeing Clark Gregg anytime I can.

Murderbot is on Apple TV + and is definitely worth it for any sci-fi fan.