Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

The Bear S4 E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Green”

Several storylines that have been running all season continue to move along in a simple, but entertaining episode of The Bear.

Sydney has a nightmare and ends up deciding to stick with The Bear instead of going to the new restaurant. This arc has been going all season long and feels a little anticlimactic here. Perhaps there is another twist coming on this. Plus, there is a shot with Ayo Edebiri on the phone with Chef Adam Shapiro that was perhaps the worst looking green screen I have ever seen. It was so distracting. Sydney looked as if she was floating on air in front of Lake Michigan.

Carmy continued his personal growth as he prepared himself to take a photo album to his mother’s house. This was very tough for Carmy and the episode ended with him knocking on her door. My favorite scene of the episode included Carmy talking on the phone with Claire. There was so much hope in that scene. Carmy, you have to find that green sweater!

Richie was having great scenes at the restaurant throughout the episode. He is so much more likable of a character than he was in the early seasons.

Sugar and Computer made looking at restaurant data compelling. Again, there is some hope for the Bear, but it is still a longshot.

Two more episodes for season 4 are available on Hulu. I should be able to get this show finished over the next few days.

The X-Files S11 E10

Posted on by

Spoilers

“My Struggle IV”

Today marks the end of a journey that I started here at EYG in September 2023. I had just finished watching the five seasons of Twilight Zone and I needed something new to do as a rewatch. Despite being a little intimidated by eleven seasons of episodes, I decided to watch The X-Files, which was one of my favorite shows when it was on TV. Now with just about two months away from two years since starting, I watched the final episode of the series.

The finale was the fourth piece of an over-arching storyline about the Cigarette Smoking Man trying to release an alien virus and cause a planet-wide pandemic. It was a pandemic that we all lived through in the finale of season 10. We started season 11 with taking the results of that episode and having it be a vision Scully saw of the future and part of the idea was this was a chance to stop it. In order to stop it, they needed to find William.

We met William earlier in the season, setting up his powers. We also learn that William is not Mulder’s son, but was created by CSM in a lab. This was a horrible truth that everyone hated.

We are back to trying to find William in the finale and I wonder why Mulder and Scully spent this whole season ignoring this arc and doing all those individual episodes instead.

This episode was basically Mulder chasing after William, trying to catch up with him. There was a lot of running, some driving and so on. Then, Mulder and Scully was too far apart for most of the movie. I liked this much more when they got back together at the end.

Mulder FINALLY shot the CSM. He did not shoot him in the head though. How much of the pain would have been prevented had Mulder just shot him in the head when he first had a chance? CSM was shot in this manner to allow him to pull another “I’m not dead” moment had the show returned. It was finally CSM’s shooting of William (in the head, btw) that pushed Mulder past the point.

Oh, and… did Skinner die? He got run over by CSM? What a bitch way to go out for one of our longest running characters. Jump up on that hood of the other car, Skinner. Skinner did shoot Monica in the head, which I truly appreciated. I never liked that character.

I did enjoy the final scene with Mulder and Scully where she told him that she was pregnant. However, Scully did not seem to react to William’s death in the way that she would have. I know she learned about William’s origin but would that have affected the way she perceived this boy for all of these years? It is nice to have Mulder and Scully together with a possible happy ending.

William returning to life out of the water was a tag that felt like they wanted to continue, but the series needed to be done.

I feel like this is an accomplishment finishing the series after such a long time. I do love David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson because of these characters and this show.

I want to believe.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #25

Posted on by

Spoilers

“I Got It”

“Home”

Win or Lose’s final two episodes were the Sunday Morning Sidewalk this week and these episodes wrapped up the season long storyline.

Episode seven featured Kai and her overbearing dad who pushes her hard. Kai and her dad James moved into the neighborhood a year before and the softball team helped Kai become part of the community. She was really great at baseball, but the atmosphere of the Pickles made Kai want to play softball. James jumped in with both feet.

We see the drive of her father show itself in Kai as she was pushing herself to get better and wound up hurting her ankle, though she never told anyone she was hurt.

The episode ended with the championship game, getting a little further than we did last week. We see Kai at the plate after Laurie got hit by the pitch and Kai hit a big shot into the outfield, only to see that injured ankle become a problem again.

The final episode had to bring everything together that has been happening all year long and it does so really well. We focus in on Coach Dan for this episode and his own problems. Living out of his car, he spent his time at the field, grooming it for game time. There was a lot here that I could relate to as a former coach myself. As Coach Dan was watering the field, I remembered days doing the exact same thing.

Kai’s big hit split the outfield and Kai ran the bases, behind Laurie, who clearly had not done that before. Laurie scores to tie the game but Kai ends up in a run down and gets called out at home by Frank.

This set off a massive chaotic event as the crowd went wild, Coach Dan loses his temper and gets accidentally knocked into Frank the umpire. Frank throws Dan out of the game, which only caused Dan to lose it more. Dan was feeling the pressure of the parents who want to replace Dan with James next season.

Then we get:

  • Laurie trying to help calm her father down (with a remarkable imagery/metaphor)
  • Ira stops the Bleacher Creatures from stealing the cash box from the concessions. He does that by grabbing it and running away.
  • It was actually Ira’s calling for help that caused Taylor to leave the game, not the trouble with Yuwen
  • Rochelle and Vanessa finally got to the game in the middle of the chaos and jumped in to help.
  • Vanessa and Frank bond after Frank saved Vanessa’s baby from choking.
  • Taylor prevents the Bleacher Creatures from getting Ira and they return the cash box.
  • James found Kai, who was hiding after the play at home and they talk through their troubles.

After the baby was saved, this got back to reality and the chaos left the park. Dan had calmed down and apologized to Frank. Taylor, Kai and Yuwen all made up. The game moved on into extra innings.

After this we see a Pickles pizza party celebrating the end of the season. We do not know what the result of the championship game was and no one mentioned it again.

The show ended with Laurie telling her dad that she did not want to play softball any more.

This was such a wonderful show with so much heart. It gave us a ton of human emotion, wrapped within the concept of a softball game. The imagery of the show really spoke to me and the way certain emotions were displayed was remarkably creative.

This is truly some Pixar magic in a series where I did not expect that magic to be.

This ends Win or Lose for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. Next week, we start the two episode documentary series called Kisstory, about the band Kiss. It is two episodes, both about an hour and a half long. It can be found on Hulu or Disney +.

The X-Files S11 E9

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Nothing Lasts Forever”

We have reached the penultimate episode of the X-Files series, and it was one of the grossest of the whole run.

Blood, internal organs, blenders… ugh, gross.

Eating these fresh organs and blood help keep a couple of cult leaders young and beautiful. Fiona Vroom played Barbara Beaumont, a former child star actress who is obsessed with her appearance. She was over 80 but looked as if she were 30+. It still would not be worth it with the gross looking substances that they would have to consume.

The episode added a religious aspect for Scully and Mulder, and they ended the episode with a really strong one on one conversation that was separate of the rest of the show. It felt as if this was kind of setting up the finale next episode.

Jere Burns was in this episode as a creepy doctor/part of the cult leader. He is a solid actor and he made the horrific stuff in this show make a lot of sense.

One more X-Files episode to go.

Poker Face S2 E12

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The End of the Road”

Last week, after watching Poker Face S2 E11, things just did not make sense. The whole storyline with the Iguana setting up Charlie to lead him to Beatrix Hasp in witness protection seemed so full of coincidences and impossibilities that it was tarring what I had been enjoying. I had hoped, I even think I wrote it in the post, that the writers would have something in the finale to make it all work.

Boy howdy, did they.

They then tossed in the twist of all twists for this show. A twist that they had been setting up for several episodes now. See, last episode when we saw the Iguana killing that guy to go to the wedding and making his prosthetics, it wasn’t the Iguana. This was another hitman….

The Iguana was Charlie’s friend, Alex.

Patti Harrison played Alex, and we thought she had been set up by the real Iguana as a patsy in the murder of Beatrix Hasp’s adopted son in episode 11, but, in truth, this was the Iguana. The Iguana had grown tired of the assassin game, because it lacked any sort of challenge. Then, when someone was trying to hire her to kill Beatrix, the name of Charlie Cale was brought up. A woman who was like a human lie detector and who was infallible presented the challenge for the Iguana. Could she lie to the lie detector?

When she was explaining everything to Charlie, we got flashbacks to the last few episodes, placing everything into context, showing that it all would fit. There are some awesome details that were dropped and we see Alex and her ability to lie to Charlie. Alex told her that every time she had to focus on every little thing to prevent Charlie from discovering the truth. She said it was thrilling.

Poor Rhea Perlman. She had to come back for this episode just to play a dead body with a bullet in her skull. Charlie was able to figure out things, but just too late. I wondered why the show chose to focus on the “Big Red” gum Alex had given to Charlie. It was weird product placement, I thought. But it triggered a memory of a lie Alex had told Charlie a few episodes ago and it put Charlie on to the truth.

The chase scene was fun but let’s talk about the “To Be Continued” that flashed up on the screen as Alex seemingly drove Charlie’s car off a cliff into the Grand Canyon Canyon in Indiana, Thelma and Louise style. The screen froze with the car in the air, about to fall to their doom. I literally screamed out in shock. I wonder if anyone immediately shut off their TV in frustration at that point? I had just stared in shock at the unbelievable cliffhanger when everything started to rewind. The car went backwards and we see the POV of Charlie, as she jumped from the car and held on to a branch, dangling over the cliff as the car flew into the canyon and crashed in a fiery explosion.

What a moment that “To Be Continued” was. It felt both awesome and cruel at the same time. Somehow, Alex’s body was not in the car afterwards. Not sure how she escaped but the show is setting Alex up as Moriarty to Charlie’s Sherlock Holmes. The show gave Charlie an arch nemesis and I liked that, even if I had to suspend disbelief that Alex was not dead. However, after questioning the story last episode, I have learned that Rian Johnson has planned things out so when Alex inevitably returns, it will make sense then.

Sadly, Charlie is on the run once again, now from the FBI. Simon Helberg’s Agent Luca Clark giving Charlie a head start, telling her that the next time they met, he’d have to arrest her. I waited for Charlie to say “bullshit” but she did not, so I guess he is telling the truth. I like how this relationship with Charlie and Luca is progressing. Luca clearly is amazed with her and her intelligence and I hope there will be more with these two moving forward.

I know Poker Face has not yet been renewed, but this show has set up plenty of story for a third season so I hope Peacock knows what they have in this show or if they let it go, maybe another streamer like Netflix or Amazon would give it a go.

Natasha Lyonne directed this episode and she did a great job with several creative and original shots and images. Lyonne is also one of the most interesting characters on TV right now and I really want more of her.

Season two was very strong and ended with a big time splash.

The X-Files S11 E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Familiar”

Episode 8 of season 11 means that we only have two episodes of the series remaining.

“Familiar” is a classic feeling Monster-of-the-week style episode where Mulder and Scully investigated a mysterious death in a little town where what happened is not exactly what it seemed.

This did feel like an episode that might have aired in season three or four instead of eleven, which is an amazing fact for the show. The local police are always a big problem in X-Files episodes, either being the guilty party or an eventual victim.

Jason Gray-Stanford, who spent many years as Randy Disher on Monk, was one of those local police officers whose son was killed at the beginning of the show. It is always tough to see someone who I have seen as one character for so many years step into another role like Jason Gray-Stanford does.

Mr. Chuckleteeth, a kiddie show character, was running around the town being the evil killer. However, it turned out he was actually a demon that had been summoned by a witch to curse Gray-Stanford and the curse got out of control.

I liked this episode. It was creepy, but the addition of these hellhound/wolf things was a bit too much. Mr. Chuckleteeth would have been good enough, I think.

The X-Files S11 E5, E6, E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

I watched three more X-Files from season 11, leaving me with just three left to complete the entire series.

“Ghouli”

Episode 5 was a wild ride with Scully receiving a vision in a dream that led her to a case of two girls who seemingly did not know each other who had stabbed each other viciously.

The girls shared the same dream as Scully did, down to the last detail so Mulder and Scully were involved. Turned out that the only connection between the two girls was that they both were girlfriends for a boy named Jackson Van De Kamp.

When Scully and Mulder tried to find the boy, they arrived too late. They found the boy’s parents dead and the boy in his room, an apparent murder-suicide.

Van De Kamp was a name given to Scully a few episodes ago as a possible name used by William, her son. Scully was afraid that the boy who had killed himself was William and she tearfully spoke to his body before setting up a DNA test.

When the body was left alone, it unzipped the body bag and escaped from the morgue.

Turned out this was indeed William and he had some mental powers, specifically mental illusions that allow him to make people see things he wanted, such as himself dead on the floor.

The DOD was in pursuit of both Mulder and Scully and the boy as well. Mulder and Scully tried to find William, protecting him from a group of men trying to capture him. William used his abilities to escape.

The whole Jackson/William thread here created some strong scenes, but I did wonder why Scully thought this was her son. Maybe it was the connection to the visions that he had. She had talked to Jackson’s therapist and she confirmed that Jackson had seen the whole story from the end of season 10, with the virus and the collapse of the earth. Maybe it is just that mother’s feel.

The episode ended with William getting away, but he had approached Scully at a gas station making her see the form of Dr. Pierre Chang from LOST. Just kidding, the actor who played that role was in the episode.

This was a nice episode that left Mulder and Scully with the knowledge that there son was alive.

“Kitten”

We got an episode featuring Skinner, looking back at a time in his youth as he was in Vietnam.

In his platoon, a soldier nicknamed Kitten was accidentally exposed to a mysterious gas and it caused him to murder civilians.

Other members of Skinner’s troupe were being killed off too and Skinner disappeared. Kersh called for Mulder and Scully, expecting them to know what was going on with Skinner. When they did not, they started to investigate what was going on.

This episode featured Haley Joel Osment as the son of Kitten, Osment ended up being the killer as he had set several traps for the other veterans, including his own father.

People were having their teeth falling out in this town too. It is implied that this was because these people were also exposed to the gas. Perhaps in a small dose than what sent Kitten into a murderous rage.

Mulder and Scully seemed to be back on the trust train with Skinner, but he technically never told them about his current situation with CSM, so can they truly trust him?

“Rm9sbG93ZXJz”

What a bizarre episode this was.

The X-Files has had several episodes where they were involved with technology, such as artificial intelligence and typically those have been some of the worst of the episodes. This one is better than some of the other ones, but it all felt really odd.

The automation of all the technology of the episode made me think I was in a Ray Bradbury sci-fi story. I really pictured “April 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains.”

Everything started to go to hell after Mulder did not tip at a fully automated sushi restaurant. Apparently, the technology took this poorly. When Mulder finally tipped on his phone, all the chaos ended.

This episode was told with the minimal amount of dialogue. Both Mulder and Scully had very few lines and only spoke when absolutely needed. It helped create quite the mood of the episode.

It was an episode that spoke to putting aside one’s phones at times and, I guess, to make sure to tip your waitresses (although Mulder finally only tipped 10%).

The Bear S4 E5, E6, E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

Season four rolls along…

“Replicants”

I had a feeling that something was happening to Sydney’s father when he gave her that call at the beginning of the episode. A heart attack left Sydney shaken and all of us scared for Sydney.

Natalie bringing the baby to the restaurant brought all kinds of feels for everyone involved and there was nearly no other moment that was as sweet as Carmy holding his baby niece for the first time as Natalie left the room.

Neil trying to get as close to the baby as he could was hilarious, as was protective mother Natalie. When Neil asked to hold the baby, Natalie asked him when he last washed his hands. A couple days ago was probably the answer she was expecting.

It was cool to see Luca again. Will Poulter fit right into the cast perfectly after guest starring a couple of years ago.

Rob Reiner returned again to help with the business plan for Ebraheim.

“Sophie”

We get more on Sydney’s father’s heart attack and the episode is really showing how much everyone at The Bear loved her. Claire finds her at the hospital and comforts her as Sydney was waiting for word. The dialogue between them is one of the strengths of this show as everything is done so well.

Sydney’s father is going to recover and the rest of the episode was basically prep for the wedding with Tiff and Frank.


“Bears”

This was the best episode of the season so far and one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. It was the wedding of Tiff and Frank and the party afterwards where all of the family descended on each other.

All you can expect is yet another Berzattos crash and burn, and yet, this turned out to be a wonderful night with some remarkable scenes without the over-the-top drama that one would expect.

I absolutely loved the interactions between Richie and Frank. The tension was thick between them, but they were able to put anything side to help Eva, who was scared about doing a dance with Frank. All I could think of during this scene was “How big is that friggin’ table?” as more and more members of the Berzattos clan, both related and honorary, found their way underneath the table. It turned into a giant “What are you afraid of?” share time to help Eva feel better. I loved this scene even if it felt like there were enough people under the table.

Other awesome moments/scenes:

  • Donna and Sydney talking. Sydney got stuck with Donna as Carmy got taken off. The scene was both wonderfully caring and deeply sad at the same time. Jamie Lee Curtis is a tremendous actor and she conveyed multiple feelings with single looks.
  • The feud between Natalie and Francie went full boar as they yelled at each other but ended the day hugging as friends. Apparently they were a thing at one time.
  • The scene between Uncle Jimmy and Tiff was sweet and dealt with Tiff’s concerns that the divorce with Richie would lose her the Berzattos family.
  • As Carmy hid in the kitchen, Lee (Bob Odenkirk) showed up and they had a deep discussion over everything. The dialogue played it as if they were on the edge through the whole time, but that they both wanted to clear the air.
  • Sydney and Richie dance at the wedding and he asked her about the other thing she wanted to tell him. She said it was a decision she had to make. Richie asked if she had made it and she said she only really had one choice. Not sure what that meant.
  • Stevie, played by John Mulaney, was hilarious through the entire episode. His line about all of the Berzattos attending the wedding was laugh out loud funny.

There was so much wonder here and the amount of chaos was limited to a normal wedding, not a Berzattos meeting.

This was such a great episode.

The X-Files S11 E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat”

The fourth episode of season eleven of The X-Files brought another excellent, comedic show that loosed its venom on itself.

What I mean is that this is clearly a parody of the X-Files as a TV program, poking fun at a lot of the tropes of the series.

Our new informant was named Reggie and the episode featured the Mandela Effect (or as Reggie would put it, the Mengele Effect). According to Wikipedia, the Mandela Effect is when “specific false memories can sometimes be shared by a large group of people.”

Besides the parody of the show, the episode also had some pointed comments about both the use of disinformation and Donald Trump. One of the conspiratorial characters, Dr. They, told Mulder that the days of hiding the truth were gone because the truth can be told and nobody will believe it.

There was an alien that Mulder, Scully and Reggie (who claimed that he had been their partner on the X-Files for years- which included a theme song for the show including his picture) met at the end. This alien spoke lines directly from Trump, talking about building a beautiful wall (invisible), around the galaxy because earth was not sending its best people into space. The Trump effect was in full swing with this episode.

There were clips from previous episodes of The X-Files with Reggie superimposed in them to illustrate his point. Episodes included “Home,” “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” and “Small Potatoes” to name a few.

The whole parallel universe argument that Mulder was making was really funny, as was Mulder’s own frustration on how silly the parallel universe argument was. When Mulder threw his pencil across the room in a fit of frustration, it was just hilarious.

The X-Files could do silly as well as any show and this was a very good example of that.

What We Do in the Shadows Season Two

Posted on by

Spoilers

I decided that, since the show What We Do in the Shadow had ten episodes each around 24 minutes, it would be a good idea to go ahead and binge these seasons instead of spreading it out. I will be finishing the X-Files soon and my goal is to run through this total series before school starts again.

So I started the season two this morning and went through it. I think the second season was tremendous, and I think I liked it even more than I did season one.

There were some awesome guest stars/cameos during the season. This included an amazing performance from Mark Hammil, plus Benedict Wong, Haley Joel Osment, Craig Robinson, Greta Lee, James Frain, and Lucy Punch.

Some of the fish out of water things that the show threw Laszlo, Nadja and Nandor into some of the oddest situations. They had to attend a “Superb Owl” party at a neighbor’s house which was actually a Super Bowl party. They had to figure out their own laundry after Guillermo left them. The email curse, which everyone knows is BS, caused them massive concern. Colin Robinson’ promotion which led to his great power.

The show brought us a zombie (Haley Joel Osment who is killed by Guillermo accidentally), witches, ghosts (in a very clever episode), Black Peter- a talking goat and, of course, other vampires. There were vampire slayers too, or at least, a group of vampire slayer-wannabees, who get crushed by a house of vampires.

The story of Guillermo being a descendent of Van Helsing is a major driving force of story this year, as is Guillermo’s desire to be appreciated by his master. We see how vital Guillermo is to this group, even if they still do not necessarily see it. Even when Guillermo saved them from the Vampire Council by killing all of them, all Nandor could think of what his laundry.

Mark Hamill’s appearance as Jim the Vampire was so great and led to a solo story for Laszlo, who ran away from Jim the Vampire and hid out in Pennsylvania as a bartender named Jackie Daytona. Laszlo is able to hide his identity by having a toothpick in his mouth. This was a hilarious episode and one of the standout episodes of the season.

This was a great way to watch this season and I will continue to pick days to binge the remainder of the seasons of this show over the next six weeks or so before school. I have seasons 3 – 6 remaining, each season (except 6) have ten episodes.

The X-Files S11 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Plus One”

Who knew that playing Hangman could be so dangerous?

“Plus One” was the second consecutive really strong episode of season 11 that did not feature the show’s overall mythology. However, it does, once again, touch upon the biggest event in Scully’s life, that being her desire to be a mother.

Our antagonists, Little Judy Poundstone and Little Chucky Poundstone, are twins with some kind of psychic connection that can show people their doppelganger, which would drive them to suicide. Little Judy Poundstone and Little Chucky Poundstone were both played by Karin Konoval.

If you are a long time X-Files fan, you know who Karin Konoval was. She played Madame Zelda from “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” and Mrs. Peacock from “Home.” Both of these characters were creepy or over-the-top. Playing these twins add to Konoval’s rogue’s gallery of X-Files characters.

I liked this episode not only for the creepy villains and the strange story, but for the interactions between Mulder and Scully, as their banter continued to provide insights to these two characters, despite already knowing them for decades.

David Duchovny’s song “Unsaid Undone” was in the cold open for this episode. It was from an album that he put out in 2016, something that I had never heard before.

The Bear S4 E3, E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Scallop”

“Worms”

Two very solid episodes of The Bear are next in their season four on Hulu.

“Scallop” featured Carmy, dealing with a bunch of his own issues. There is a tremendous scene between Carmy and Marcus outside on a smoke break. Their dialogue between them was sharp and filled with evidence about how important they were to each other. Carmy is slowly straightening his life around by seeing the energy and effort given by the staff of the Bear.

Rob Reiner guest starred as Albert Schner, in the episode with Ebraheim, who had asked for his opinion as a mentor about the window for “The Beef” which had been doing great business as a window behind The Bear.

This episode finished with a long overdue confrontation with Carmy and Claire. I would be lying if I did not say that I was yelling at the screen about this scene, waiting for Carmy to just apologize. While it did not feel resolved, I think it is the first baby steps in getting these two back together. Splitting them apart was the start of Carmy’s downward spiral and getting them back together is so needed.

Then in “Worms,” we focus in on Sydney and her decision between staying at the Bear or moving over to Shapiro’s. She has been split over this choice dating back to the last season and she is reaching the point where she is needing to decide.

She goes over to her cousin’s place. Her cousin was played by Danielle Deadwyler, who had had some of the top performances over the last few years. If you have not seen her in Till, do yourself a favor, get some tissues, and watch it.

Sydney winds up watching her cousin’s daughter, TJ. TJ and Sydney have a really nice episode bonding and talking over their own troubles. Sydney tries to use an analogy to get TJ’s opinion about where she wanted to work. She pretended to talk about sleep overs, but, we find out in the end, TJ knew it was about a job.

Sydney called Shapiro and started to talk about paperwork, making us think that she was ready to make the choice to leave the Bear.

These episodes are just nice, calmer character episodes, keeping the craziness to a limit. I like the way this season is going so far, but I expect fireworks coming up soon.

The X-Files S11 E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“This”

“This” was an excellent episode the X-Files.

Bringing back Langley of the Lone Gunmen in a creative and original way really started the episode with a cool mystery that led to a wild conclusion and a typical X-Files ending.

The hardest part to accept, however, was when Mulder and Scully were at Arlington Cemetery at the graves of the Lone Gunmen and made their Batman Leaps to figure out what the message was. The clues with the presidents and their death dates was bizarre and practically impossible to figure out. Mulder and Scully figured it out in just a few minutes. Adam West and Burt Ward would be proud.

Seeing Mulder and Scully really work together to survive and to get through the mystery was awesome. They truly are a great pairing and the chemistry was still alive after all of these years. And Scully kicked some serious ass in this episode.

Tying this mystery to the death of Langley gave Mulder a way to honor his old friends who had died back in season nine while Mulder was in hiding. It also brought back the idea of Deep Throat, whose gravestone contained another surprise.

The comment about how the FBI was not in the good graces of the Executive branch during this time was a direct reference to Trump and his troubles with the agency.

This monster-of-the-week entry was considerably more entertaining than the bizarre season eleven opener. It still played up the mistrust between Scully and Mulder with Skinner, something that this show has built on not only the last few episodes, but across the run of the series.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #24

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Steal”

“Mixed Signals“

The next two episodes of Win or Lose are this week’s Sunday Morning Sidewalk and we have two more bangers.

The show has been playing with perspective of the same week between a win by the softball team The Pickles and the championship game. We actually got the first flashes of the championship game with the “Mixed Signals” episode.

“Steal” followed Ira, the little brother of Taylor, who was anything but excited about softball. He just wanted to spend time with his older sister playing video games. His imagination was in full throttle as he pictured himself as a hero, saving the world from a comet. However, a new boyfriend for Taylor interrupted Ira’s life, and he wound up meeting and joining with The Bleacher Creatures (Brian, Rinna and Chicken-Kevin)

The Bleacher Creatures get Ira to help them steal candy from the concession stand by being the distraction. Ira’s imagination makes the Bleacher Creature appear to be the heroes of the story, even though they were anything but.

Ira was taken to the party where the Brian was involved with holding Rochelle, trying to get her keys to the concession stand. Ira goes to the championship game with his sister and leaves a note of apology for his part in stealing the snacks, but Brian showed up and apologized to him.

Meanwhile, in “Mixed Signals” we get a focus on Yuwen, the loud mouthed pitcher of the Pickles who used the obnoxious attitude as a front to hide the insecure and lonely kid on the inside. The show illustrates this with “Little Yuwen,” a paper craft diorama character.

Through a series of youthful taunts and barbs, Yuwen shouts out that he liked Taylor and she agreed to go out with him on a date. They get along great at first, and Yuwen shared his insecurities with Taylor. This was such a sweet scene of young love.

They get in a fight over Yuwen’s jealousy of Tom, who was asking for tutoring help from Taylor. The carefully constructed relationship of trust and care crumbled away quickly.

For the first time, we got a glimpse at things happening in the championship game as Rochelle is a no show and Taylor takes over as catcher. Yuwen let his anger get the better of him and refused to throw any pitch that Taylor called, leading to the go ahead run to score. Taylor stormed off in the middle of the game.

We have two more episodes for next week to complete this first season. I can’t wait to see where this championship game goes and how someone else’s POV of the situation may change.

The Bear S4 E1, E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Groundhog Day”

“Soubise”

The Bear is back with a literal ticking clock.

The review is out. It was not a good one and the backlash hit the crew of the Bear in many different ways.

Uncle Jimmy and Computer came with an ultimatum about the restaurant. A clock plugged into the wall with a time that, when it reaches zero, the restaurant must be closed.

The first couple of episodes the characters feel like they are grieving over a loss, but still have hope for something to turn around.

Carmy, in particular, seems to have made a decision. He has looked on the inside and realized how much of an ass he was last season and has taken steps to draw himself back. I think he finally realized that he cannot exist in that chaos, something that Sydney calls him on in the nicest possible way.

Season three was easily my least favorite season of The Bear there was. It took some trips that I just did not enjoy much and watching Carmy self-destruct was not an enjoyable experience. Even after saying that though, the show had its moments and I am looking forward to the next season.

Season four kicked off feeling strong, even if nothing much really happened. These first two episodes helped show me why I enjoyed Carmy so much and pictured him as less of the screaming loon as I remember form season three. His apology to Sugar for not yet coming to meet the baby was the perfect realization for him.

It feels hopeful, while still having that looming failure hanging over everyone’s heads. We’ll see how things go.