Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E2

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“Resonance”

It has gotten to the point where the little, creepy bug thingy that made its way onto the Monarch ship is chasing after Cate and I am cheering for the little bug creature.

I just can not stand Cate and every time she is on screen, I find her selfish and whiny. Everybody was trying to make her feel better about pushing the button last week, but she was still feeling guilty… she had a huge case of the “Whoa-Is-Mees” wondering around the ship. Every time she made some comment about it, I would yell at the screen, “BECAUSE IT IS YOUR FAULT!”

There is also an issue I have with the flashback section of the show, which is usually the best part of this show. The thing is that when Lee and Keiko is the cliffhanger at the end of the show where you are not sure whether they will survive, you know they are surviving. They exist in the future. Because of that, they should avoid placing them in these situations because there is no tension whether they will live. Of course, they will.

I liked the Kurt Russell parts of the show. He works very well with the weak Monarch group. The titan that escaped last week is on its way to do bad stuff… but it apparently wants the little bug thingy. Weird.

Not sure how much I liked this week’s episode. It was fine, but not as strong as last week’s. Cate is absolutely a black hole in the series for me.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #59

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His & Hers

So, I thought I was right for a moment on this episode of His & Hers. I speculated last week that it was Anna’s mother, in a state of confusion, that killed Rachel. I thought the show was hinting at that when Jack had to pick her up again as she wandered down the highway.

Then, there was a second body.

So much for my twist idea.

The show is making this look like it is Jack as he seems to be the last person to consistently see the victims, this time it is Helen Wang at the school. We know that Jack was there earlier, though we did not see the confrontation.

There was one flashback to the time when Anna, Rachel, Helen were in school together and Rachel had some other girl drink a soda with her pee in it. That was mean and gross and I’m not sure why we saw it, unless they were planting some kind of seeds. There were other ways to show that this was the group of mean girls at this school.

I tell you what, if I was that girl, I would’ve thrown that soda/pee combination right back into Rachel’s face. Instead, she just ran off giving everybody a good laugh. Why are kids so cruel?

I think Priya is the one who is going to blow this case open… especially finding the connection with Jack. She is a smart one and she is already suspicious.

Jack knows that Anna was at the graveyard on the night of the murder, thanks to the old coach and his camera system.

Half way through and I wonder where this is going next.

Paradise S2 E4

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“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.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E1

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“Cause and Effect”

When Monarch: Legacy of Monsters debuted on Apple TV + a few years back, the show was definitely hit and miss. Most of the misses came from the human characters in the present day.

It’s clear that those characters in the present day have not learned anything since season one.

Cate Randa showed off her selfishness and her stubbornness in the last half of this episode and wound up getting Natalia Verdugo, the Deputy Director of Monarch, killed by a new monstrous Titan that also escaped into the world when she opened a rift to retrieve Lee (Kurt Russell), who was stranded in the other world last season.

She would not listen to anyone else. She was going to do things her own way and to hell with any consequences. Well, Cate, you got an innocent woman killed. A woman who was just trying to get you and your foolish group to safety. She may be a bureaucrat, she may have different viewpoints, but she did not deserve to be swept away by some giant tentacle.

Cate really should be held accountable for Verdugo’s death. It was her fault.

The new Titan is going to be called Titan X and it sure looked as if Kong wasn’t happy Titan X was here.

Of course, Kong is supposed to be guarding the island, but he is too busy sleeping away in the middle of the afternoon.

Kong looked great in this episode. He was massive and the effects were movie-like. My memory of the first season was that everything did always look great, but the humans in the present day were just insufferable.

However, any time we spent time back in the 1950s, this show was so much better and it seemed as if that trend is going to continue. Wyatt Russell, Anders Holm and Mari Yamamoto appeared in the flashbacks and they were always smarter, more engaging and less likely to do something deftly stupid. This season looks to be the same way.

I was up and down with the first season. At least this year, the action was top notch. The question will be… can I stand the stupidity of Cate and her friends in the present? Will there be enough positives in the rest of the show to keep me from hating her?

Shrinking S3 E5

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“Hold Your Horsies”

Another funny episode of Shrinking dropped on Apple TV + this week.

Maybe the scene of the season so far was Jimmy and Brian singing the song, “The Confrontation” from Les Misérables as they were driving to pick up Paul’s daughter Meg. I had seen Jason Segal do this before with Neil Patrick Harris and it was tremendous. This was every bit as awesome, but I spent much of the time watching Harrison Ford reacting in the back seat. Paul’s comment at the end of their song, “Did you guys make that up?” nearly knocked me out of my chair.

We looked at the relationship between Derrick and Gabby as well as the relationship between Sean and Marisol.

I suppose it is more about the individuals in Gabby and Sean than it is in their relationships. They have wonderful significant others at the moment, but both are dealing with their own issues to overcome.

The episode ended with the surprising kiss between Meg and Jimmy, although, to be honest, it did not seem to be a surprise kiss to me. I saw some flickers between them, at least with Meg, earlier this year, that made me think that there might be something here.

Jimmy is struggling to move on, clearly. He wanted one uncomplicated kiss to help kick him into the next level, but, of course, that is not from Meg, who is like a sister to him and is the daughter of his best friend and mentor Paul. Maybe it was me, but it felt like Paul was pushing for Meg and Jimmy to go get the files together. Was he playing matchmaker? That does not seem like Paul, but that is how I took those scenes.

Shrinking continues to be one of the most entertaining shows of TV, with the best dialogue you will find anywhere. This talented cast never fails to fill the show with laughs as well as true feels.

The Pitt S2 E8

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“2:00 PM”

The Pitt dropped its latest episode this past Thursday, entitled “2:00 PM.” Our group of ER responders are facing yet another new threat.

At the end of last week’s episode, they were informed that they were shutting down their online presence because of another hospital that had suffered a cyberattack. Much like last season when the team prepped for the mass shooting victims they expected, everyone gathered around the hub and got their instructions on what they had to do now that so many of the items they were used to having would be unavailable.

Coming in clutch immediately was Dr. Joy Kwon, who admitted to having photographic memory and she was able to recreate the board when Whitaker’s pictures turned out too blurry.

Another MVP of the hour was Princess, who had to take over as floor nurse during the chaos because Dana was still tied up with the sexual assault case. Princess was never confident during the time, but she still did her job.

A new patient struck a chord with me as they wheeled in a man who was well over 450 pounds and the discussions of his weight hit close to home. Once again, I wanted to throttle Ogilvie for his insensitivity. The actor who played the overweight man was great though, funny, self-deprecating, and kind-hearted.

The anger shown by Dana when she had finished the new rape kit only to find one that she had done two weeks before still in the pick up location. He phone call to the police was a great moment of the episode.

We got some foreshadowing this episode as Robbie’s friend Duke was late showing up. That was apparently unlike him and makes me wonder if Duke is the motorcycle accident that the show has been hinting at all season long.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #58

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His & Hers

“Episode 2”

What a fascinating episode of His & Hers this week. It feels like this is one of those TV show that none of the characters are meant to be liked by the audience. Jack slept with the victim, Rachel, on the night of her murder, in his truck. Anna revealed info about the murder victim on TV claiming “It’s my job.” Rachel herself is being shown as a cruel individual whose husband is a piece of crap.

We met Clyde Duffie, Rachel’s husband, and it was revealed that he knew about Rachel’s extra-marital affairs. They had an apparent agreement since Clyde had heart problems. Clyde knows more than he is letting on though and he had some kind of connection to Rachel’s friend, Helen Wang. It did seem as if Rachel and Hellen were blackmailing Clyde.

Jack discovered Rachel’s phone in his truck. That was because it rang when Clyde was calling the phone to try and run out the battery- after Jack had told him to not call the phone nay more. There is something ont he phone that Clyde did not want people to see.

Of course, there turned out to be things on the phone that Jack did not want people to see as well… including some dirty pics on a text thread. Jack was having trouble unlocking the phone so he went to the morgue to use the face of Rachel to open the phone.

He deleted the text thread which won’t remove that totally from the phone. He as a detective should know that.

He also found, in a text conversation, that Helen knew of the affair Jack was having with Rachel.

Other details we learned:

  • The cameraman that Anna slept with last episode is the husband of her rival at the TV station who had taken the anchor job from her. Felt very purposeful
  • We got a flashback to when Anna told jack she was pregnant. This was back before the world made them such a-holes.
  • My favorite line of the episode was when Jack told Anna to stay out of the way or he would arrest her. Anna asked on what charge and Jack responded, “For being an asshole.” LOL.
  • Helen had been ignoring Jack’s calls all episode, but she wound up calling the Sheriff’s Department and asking to speak to the Sheriff, not Jack specifically. Is she revealing Jack’s connection?
  • Anna’s mother Alice is a sweetheart. She seems like the one person untainted by the world, even though she has been struggling with her mental health.
  • We learn that Anna’s year long disappearance had to do with a baby that she lost, probably the same one we saw her telling Jack about. I think we had inferred this already, but this confirmed it.
  • Anna gets called back to the station in Atlanta. Her rival Lexy has not shown up and they need Anna to fill in on the broadcast last minute. How much did this have to do with the cameraman/Anna?
  • Jack got his niece Meg to give him a DNA sample, which he then turned in as his own to prevent any identification from the body.

At this point, I think any of these people could be the killer. They all have motives. I wonder if we have met the killer yet? Could it turn out to be someone unexpected like Alice? She has been having trouble wandering recently. I hope it is not Alice, cause that would feel too soap opera-y.

I am fully engaged in the mystery at this point and I am looking forward to seeing next week’s Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

Agents of Shield S3 E13, E14, E15, E16, E17

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I got a chunk of episodes from season three watched tonight as I continue to try and fight my way through this cold that is kicking my butt.

“Parting Shot”

Starting off with the end of Bobbi and Hunter. They were originally written off the show to star in their own spin off Marvel’s Most Wanted, but it never got past the planning stages. It was a shame because I really liked these two…even though, technically, Bobbi Morse was not Mockingbird in the MCU. They were awesome members of the team and the story that wrote them out was strong.

The bar scene with the “Spy’s Goodbye” was one of the best scenes of the series.

“Watchdogs”

We get a little background on Mack as we are introduced to his brother and discover the lies that he has been telling him about his career. The Watchdogs are a new hate group formed to go after Inhumans… very much “mutant-esque.” In fact, they could easily have been the Friends of Humanity from the X-Men group.

“Spacetime”

We get an Inhuman who can glimpse into the future and show another person whom he touched the future. As with all futures, you only get a glimpse and so it is difficult to understand exactly what the images mean.

The team discovered that Ward is back during this episode, which really threw their plans out the window. Of course, it is not Grant Ward, but the Hydra “god” from the other planet, but with the face he showed, the buttons were drastically pushed.

“Paradise Lost”

This gives us a background episode for Malick as we see how he betrayed his brother in the traveler contest.

This led to Ward, or Hive- as he would become known, killing Malick’s daughter as a sacrifice. It also led to the Agents of Shield (non-Inhumans) to be captured.

“The Team”

Because of the team being captured, Daisy called in the Secret Warriors to help. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a huge mistake, as we discover that Hive is able to mind control Inhumans. The mission of the Secret Warriors to rescue everyone is now in question as Malick indicated that Hive may have compromised that team.

The paranoia is rampant and led to a lot of mistrust to be spread. Turned out it was Daisy herself who was turned by Hive, and she and Lincoln left the base together as Daisy was ripping it down with the others inside.

This is a great stretch of the series, but my memory is that I was ready to be done with Ward. There are still several episodes of the season to go.

Movie Fights 2026

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Movie Fights was one of my favorite YouTube Show that the Screen Junkies had done. It was a regular debate show where three pundits would argue over questions posed by a host. It was always fun because they had a Movie Fights Champion, with a Championship title (like wrestling would have) as well.

I was introduced to Dan Murrell through Movie Fights, who is one of my favorite online critics, as well as introducing me to John Rocha, Scott Mantz, the Schmoes, Hal Rudnick, Spencer Gilbert, Greg Elba, Roxie Striar (actually met her from TV Fights), Ken Napzok, Coy Jandreau and Andy Signore.

Movie Fights ended around February of 2020.

Then, last night, I saw a brand new Movie Fights on YouTube and I was so excited. When I pulled it up, Hal Rudnick was hosting the show with the three movie fighters, Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert and Mike Carlson. Murrell, the former Movie Fights champ, Spencer, one of the key writers at Screen Junkies, and Mike Carlson, who is as eccentric as possible, and they have great chemistry.

Dan Murrell continues to be the best debater that you will ever see. He is constantly providing strong arguments and intelligent takes on movies. Spencer does a solid job arguing as well.

The format of the show did not change. It was exactly like I remembered. Hal is a bit chaotic as a host, but he is funny and quick. Emma Fyffe was the fact-checker for the episode and she did a great job.

I don’t know if this is a regular return or not, but I enjoyed the show and would love to see more.

Paradise S2 E1, E2, E3

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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.

Shrinking S3 E4

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“The Field”

The fourth episode of Shrinking aired this week with a focus in on Paul and his return to his job. He had been out from his therapy position because of some side effects from the Parkinson’s Disease, such as hallucinating Michael J. Fox.

Paul started to show progress and his doctor decided it was time for Paul to go back to work. He was excited about it, but he started to realize that it was time for him to retire. They had a great scene with Paul and Michael J. Fox, who apparently was a real person that Paul had previously met and was not a delusion in this moment.

Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox was wonderful together as one would expect.

Derek accidentally took a bunch of his son’s drugs that he thought was candy and wound up in the hospital. Only Shrinking could make this as funny a they did. This episode featured Liz and her own issues about parenting, not only for the new baby that Brian adopted, but also her own kids, specifically Matthew. When she commented to Brian that she had raised an asshole, and Matthew was right there, it was crushing. Christa Miller has been a masterful supporting character actor for years, but this character is easily her crescendo.

Gaby takes Jimmy to her college class so he could speak to them, but she tossed that plan out to have Jimmy try and argue the benefits of his “Jimmyism” concept of his therapy. This was a fun.

A great episode that focuses on a couple of important characters.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #57

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His & Hers

We start a new limited series this week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. It has been one of the more popular Netflix shows over the last several months called His & Hers, starring Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson.

The show kicked off with a murder victim immediately in a small town in Georgia where murder is not common. Jon Bernthal is Jack Harper, the lead investigator for the sheriff’s department, and Tessa Thompson was his estranged wife, Anna Andrews, a investigative journalist looking into the story of the murder in her hometown.

The fist episode spent a lot of time setting up the relationship (or lack thereof) between Jack and Anna and giving us background on the setting of Dahlonega, Georgia.

Both Bernthal and Thompson are top notch actors and I am looking forward to seeing what they can bring to this show. The instant murder worked well in Twin Peaks, and this show has grabbed my attention. Admittedly, Twin Peaks had many more enigmatic characters running around than His & Hers do at this point and I do not think we have any kind of suspects as of yet. There are only six total episodes of the limited series so I expect there will not be the slow burn you would have seen in other shows where the central mystery is so important.

I liked this first episode. I am curious about the ending that showed Jack and the murder victim together in his truck having sex. I did not expect that and I am anxious to see where this heads.

The Pitt S2 E7

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“1:00 P.M.”

The Pitt dropped the reason why all the patients have been sent to them from the other hospital … it is a cyberattack. And, starting next episode, the Pitt is heading for a world without technology.

Before we get to that, the episode deals with several of the patients that have been taking up time during the season, plus a new sexual assault victim, who Dana spends a lot of time with.

We get a quick scene between Robbie and Langdon that just makes me think that Robbie is being hardheaded for some reason. It is tense, and it does not seem that the loss of Louie brought them together, but that does not seem to be the case.

Dr. Abbot returned to the ER after helping a police officer who had been shot in the field.

Sha Na Na S4 E4, E5, E6

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Lennie was in a dress in two of these three episodes…and Santini was in one in the other.

Lennie was in a Snow White dress for much of episode 4. It was a weird stretch of the show.

I’m going to be honest, but these were not my favorite episodes of the show. I did enjoy John Sebastian’s “Welcome Back” performance (the theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter). However, Jayne Kennedy sang a song (“Then He Kissed Me”) and she was not a singer. Her performance was not the best I have heard.

Then, there was Marty Allen, the comedian, and his comedy was not very enjoyable.

The comedy song/bits seemed to be extra long on these episodes. The best of the three was Screamin’ Scott singing “Act Naturally,” with it being skits about acting. Bowzer De Mill was the director and he was veyr lud. Jocko mispronouncing the word “sword” as S-Word was funny.

Best song from the three episodes was easily Johnny’s version of “Wonderful, Wonderful” at the end of the episode 6. Most of the other songs were ones that I had not heard before. Santini did a “Don’t Be Cruel” version too.