Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #18

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“Playing House”

Last week, I was not very interested in the new story arc that The Sandman was starting off. This week, I am all in.

Funny how a week can change things. The whole story of Rose Walker and her search for his brother Jed was not catching my attention. I theorized last week when Rose showed up in the Dreaming at Morpheus’s throne room, business might be picking up and I was right. Right now I am fully engaged with this story of a sister trying to reunite with her brother.

We got more abut Jed’s life, trapped in a basement as his cruel foster father collected $800 checks every month and how Jed escaped into his dreams, with the aid of one of Morpheus’s missing nightmares, Gault, to become a super hero called The Sandman. Perhaps it was this dream that grabbed my attention, but, whatever it was, I thought this was so much more entertaining and gripping than it was last week.

The Corinthian was back again, being brutal and vicious in the most gentlemanly manner. When he showed up to take Jed, it was both a happy moment and one of anxiety. One thing is for sure, I was happy with the fates of the foster parents. They deserved every bit of what they got.

It seems more and more to me that Morpheus is not the hero of this story. On the surface, it appeared as if he wanted to help Rose find Jed, but it appeared that he only cared about retrieving Gault. His punishment of Gault was over the top too. I have to not think about Morpheus as a hero and instead thing of him like a force of nature. He is much like Galactus. Galactus consumes planets, but he is a necessary cog in the universe’s life span even if his actions could, at times, seem villainous.

The Lyta/Hector storyline still does not intrigue me near as much as the main story with Rose, but the dream baby does have some interest.

I am looking forward to next week’s installment, which is episode nine of eleven. We are coming to the end of the second program in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk series. I am actively looking for the third TV show to include after The Sandman concludes in three weeks.

Doctor Who S2 E7

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“Wish World”

It is May 24th, a date that has been of major significance in season two of Disney +’s Doctor Who. Exactly what the significance of that date is still a bit of a mystery (outside of it being the meta date that the finale was scheduled for on Disney +).

Last week, we saw a post credit scene where we see Mrs. Flood bigenerate into a second woman and it is revealed that she was The Rani, the last surviving Time-Lady.

And this episode started off with The Doctor and Belinda seemingly happily married in a world that felt unreal. There was a definite flavor of Doctor Who meets WandaVision in this episode.

Conrad returned as the man who was installed by Rani as the god-like being of Wish World. Still, even Conrad felt as if he were being manipulated by Rani.

As the Doctor slowly regained his memory, bizarre things were happening all over the place. We saw the return again of Ruby, who is always a welcome sight.

This episode was weird and wild, mostly setting up the big part two next week. They also mentioned Omega, who they said was the first time lord, one who created the Time Lords in the first place. This is a villain that apparently was around in 1972.

This episode did feel like it was here just for set-up, and not its own penultimate episode of the second season. I am looking forward to seeing how this wraps up, especially since the rumors are that Ncuti Gatwa will not be back for another season.

The Studio S1 E10

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“The Presentation”

Movies! Movies! Movies! Movies! Movies!

The first season of The Studio came to a rousing conclusion as the Continental Studios presentation at Cinemacon arrived with the participants all messed up from ‘shroom and drugs. In a high pressure presentation that could determine whether or not the studio is sold to Amazon, costing everyone their jobs.

All the chaotic events from last week’s part one paid off perfectly. This was a tremendous conclusion to the first season as Matt struggled to sober up his presenters before they lose everything.

This was hilarious and just so well written. I wanted to see every one of the films that Continental Studios presented at this event. I know that they are not real but they are absolutely compelling and the way the guest stars presented the slate went so great.

After a season of seeing Matt blundering his way through his new job, seeing an ultimate triumph made me really happy.

A great first season. I hope there is more coming on Apple TV + in the future.

The X-Files S9 E7

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“John Doe”

John Doggett is in Mexico and can not remember anything from his past. He is the John Doe of the situation.

Robert Patrick’s performance in this episode was exceptional and I was fully engaged with him as he struggled to try and survive, from the moment someone was trying to steal his shoe until some of the local criminals who were trying to kill him.

While I thought this was really a solid episode, I do think that the villain, Caballero, a “memory vampire,” was not developed well and seemed to just show up. His first appearance in the episode made me think he was the Cigarette Smoking Man. I think that was intentional.

Thankfully, Doggett gets saved by Skinner. There was not much of Gillian Anderson in this episode, but this was one of the few times where I did not feel the absence of the former X-Files stars.

This was probably the best episode of season nine so far. It was emotional and powerful, with the one flash of memory Doggett would get was of his son.

The Last of Us S2 E6

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When Joel died in episode two, I knew that we would be getting a flashback at some point. There were just too many mysteries that we needed to see play out. In particular, what had happened with Eugene and why did Joel kill him? I saw that Joe Pantoliano was listed in the credits as Eugene so I expected we would see what happened.

I did not expect an entire episode of flashbacks. A whole episode of flashbacks that were amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

Focusing in on Ellie’s birthdays during the years Joel and Ellie lived in Jackson, we saw how Joel tried to make each day something special for Ellie. Making her happy was a major goal for Joel. The guitar and song. The space shuttle. The dinosaur. All ways to try and make Ellie’s life a little better.

It also showed us how Joel and Ellie’s relationship was weakening. The whole situation stemmed from Joel’s lie at the end of season one involving the Fireflies. Deep down, even when Ellie was happy, she knew the truth. She just did not know the details. The scene on the porch where Ellie finally confronted Joel and he gave her the truth was tough, but had hope surrounding it as well, since Ellie said that she wanted to try to forgive Joel, even though she didn’t think she could.

That scene is made even more powerful as we know that this is the last words between the two of them ever. It is going to be the way that Ellie always remembers Joel.

The whole Eugene storyline was rough too. Joe Pantoliano delivered a great performance despite only being on screen for a few minutes. You really felt his devastation and his deep desire to see his wife one last time. Of course, it was a trigger for Ellie to solidify her thoughts about Joel. It was the look in his eyes when he lied to her.

Ellie was brutal when she outed Joel’s lies to Gail. It was a punishment for Joel by Ellie. She did not take Gail’s pain into consideration.

Next week is the season finale and I am not sure where this will go from here. For sure, the pain of losing Joel is only going to be worse now after we got the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with him and Ellie.

Duster S1 E1

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“Baltimore Changes Everything”

Josh Holloway returned to TV on HBO Max with a series called Duster. And I enjoyed it tremendously. Of course, I have a bit of a bias.

Josh Holloway was, of course, James “Sawyer” Ford on ABC’s LOST for the entire run of the series and LOST is my absolute favorite TV of all time. I have an unrequited love for the series and I have missed the characters.

So Holloway played Jim Ellis in this new show and, let’s say, he shares quite a bit of characteristics with Sawyer. When he called the little girl who was with him in the car “Peanut” I nearly lost it (no pun intended).

Perhaps I should be looking for the differences between these two characters instead of focusing on the ways that they are the same, but I have a major blind spot. Plus, they really are similar.

Jim seems to have some poor decision making skills, just like Sawyer. He had the same smart tongue. Jim just looked like an older version of Sawyer.

Jim is an expert driver obviously, and we never saw Sawyer show off much along the lines of his automotive skills (unless he did some driving in the Flash Sideways).

FBI agent Nina Hayes is a neat new character for Holloway to play off. Played by Rachel Hilson, Nina has so many obstacles to overcome. Placed right into the sexist/racist 1970s, Nina as a black woman in the FBI truly caused a stir just by walking into a police station. This dynamic is thrilling to watch.

I hope I can allow myself to see Jim Ellis as his own character and not just as an older Sawyer. However, episode one was very entertaining and I look forward to seeing more.

Poker Face S2 E4

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“The Taste of Human Blood”

Killer alligator!!!

I am not a fan. So this week’s Poker Face hit me in a different manner.

The best line of the episode was “This is Florida.” 100% accurate.

Charlie finds herself at a cop convention where a jealous officer, Fran (Gaby Hoffmann), who was tired of losing the cop of the year award to Gator Joe (Kumail Nanjiani), wanted to embarrass him at the awards. Unfortunately, her attempt led to his death.

So to cover up the inadvertent murder, Fran gave Daisy, Gator Joe’s pet alligator, meth and had her eat her owner up.

Like I said… killer alligator.

Of course, Charlie was able to help the, technically, innocent gator from the trigger happy cops at the convention who kept claiming that Daisy had to die because she had the taste of human blood.

Weird episode. Fit right in with Florida.

The Studio S1 E9

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“Cinemacon”

The Studio is on its way to Cinemacon to present a high stakes presentation for their slate of movies coming in that year. Matt and crew were extremely confident that the movies they had for Continental were amazing and that they were going to dominate Cinemacon.

So Matt threw an “Old-School” Hollywood party.

Mistake #1.

It was a dream of his to throw a party like this… it represented to him that he had made it. However, a miscommunication with his mushroom dealer lead to him having chocolates with a massive amount of ‘shrooms in them.

This sent the entire party into chaos just as Matt found out that Amazon was in negotiations to purchase Continental Studios out from under them.

Bryan Cranston reprised his role as studio CEO Griffin Mill, who was totally stoned after eating way too many drugs.

As always, there are plenty of cameos in The Studio. In this one, Dave Franco is here in full party-boy motif while Zoë Kravitz unsuspectingly consumed too many of the spiked chocolates. Rhea Perlman was here too as Matt’s mother.

Watching the crew run around the hotel, avoiding the entertainment reporters (such as Matt Belloni) while trying to keep their people from ruining the presentation was hilarious.

The episode ended with a TO BE CONTINUED message, which will lead to the finale(?) next week entitled “The Presentation.” This has been hectic and chaotic and really funny.

Andor S2 E10, E11, E12

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I wondered how this series would close, considering it is basically a prequel to the movie Rogue One. Little did I know that there was a twist coming.

At the very end of the show, we see Bix on the planet Mina-Rau holding a baby.

This piece of information was such a shock as it recontextualizes the entire Bix/Cassian story and their final meeting is given an entirely new perspective.

While this gives hope for the legacy of Andor, it adds even more to the tragic nature of Rogue One. Not only does Cassian Andor die during the film, he dies without the knowledge that he was a father.

I am pleased that Bix did not get killed off in this series, because there were definitely questions about why she had never appeared in Rogue One. Her survival and subsequent mothering of this baby was an exceptional end for the series as our characters head off towards Rogue One.

The death of Luthen was not unexpected, but that it came in episode 10 was a bit of a surprise. Taking his own life as a way of preventing the Empire from torturing him for information seemed to be the exact manner in which he would die, even though it took more than his own knife to get the final job done. Stellan Skarsgård has been outstanding from day one as the mastermind/puppet master of the rebellion.

Cassian Andor is one of my favorite Star Wars characters and I wish there was more to his story. Andor showed how good a Star Wars TV show could be and how it could be directed to adults as well.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #17

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“The Doll’s House”

This felt like a heavy set-up episode for the next arc of the show. Very little Morpheus and a lot of info on other characters, such as Rose Walker, the Vortex.

We also get more on the Corinthian as he is wooed by a group of “collectors” for a convention of sorts.

Matthew is sent to observe and report on Rose and her family. Her brother Jed is missing and they can not even find him in the Dreaming.

Another piece of info dropped here was the still missing entities: Gault the shapeshifter, The Corinthian and the supposedly reliable Fiddler’s Green.

Stephen Fry showed up to aid Rose in an alleyway, as she was about to be mugged. As we learned, though, she did not really need his help.

I struggled through this episode as I was not connected to much of the story. I did find it fascinating as Rose strolled confidently up to Morpheus in the Dreaming to ask him about her brother’s whereabouts. I am sure things will pick up again as we move toward the final 4 episodes of this show.

Doctor Who S2 E6

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“The Interstellar Song Contest”

We are just a week away from the May 24, 2025 date that has been causing trouble for The Doctor and Belinda this entire season. In the latest episode of the show, we learn (from a hologram of Graham Norton, of all things) that May 24, 2025 is the day that the earth is destroyed.

We saw a side to the Doctor that we have never seen before. Ice inside his heart… causing him to be vindictive toward Kid, our antagonist of this episode whose plan would see the deaths of 3 trillion people across the universe. While one could understand the anger directed toward such a terrorist, hearing those vicious words of violence and vengeance come out of the Doctor’s mouth was difficult to hear.

It shook Belinda as she heard him make his threats. It scared her and it scared the Doctor too.

There are some really fun moments in this episode, including a creative use of a confetti canon as well as two extraordinary skilled men in Gary and Mike.

Hey there Mrs. Flood, what’s up……????? Um, are you Bi-generating? Are there two of you now? “The definite article, you might say.” I guess she is coming for The Doctor now.

Was that Susan? The Doctor’s long missing, long mentioned granddaughter? Will she play a role in what is to come? I expect so.

We are heading into the two-part finale coming up of season two. I will say this every week, but I absolutely love Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor.

Poker Face S2 E2, E3

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“Last Looks”

“Whack-A-Mole”

I finished the next two episodes of Poker Face that were available on Peacock tonight. The next episode is released on Thursday.

I commented in the last write-up that I was hoping the running gag of the mafia hitmen chasing after Charlie was not going to be a long time storyline because it felt as if it was going to get old very quickly. Thankfully, that situation came true.

In the second of the two episodes, the whole mafia angle got wrapped up and resolved via a bit of a messy story featuring Rhea Perlman as one of the mafia heads who had placed the contract on Charlie’s head.

This episode also featured a list of guest stars, including Simon Helberg, John Mulaney, Chris Bauer, and Richard Kind.

Then, episode two featured Katie Holmes and the one and only Giancarlo Esposito. Esposito played a funeral parlor owner who had let a film crew film in his parlor. He wound up killing Katie Holmes (who played his disgruntled wife) and cremated her.

Charlie was able figure things out, but wound up being prepped for the crematorium herself.

That episode ended in a very tragic manner for Giancarlo Esposito.

I love the fact that Charlie is no longer on the run from the mob because it did not feel like something that I was going to enjoy. Now with that out of the way, I feel as if Poker Face can really take off this season.

Poker Face S2 E1

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“The Game is a Foot”

Peacock’s hit comedy/mystery show Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne returned to the streamer recently with all new episodes. The first episode had guest star Cynthia Erivo appearing in five, count them, five different roles as she played quintuplets.

The whole story actually confused me for quite a while. I must have not paid enough attention at the very beginning when the crime was being set up because I struggled to understand what was happening. I got it eventually, and that helped the story.

It was a real convoluted tryst as one of the quintuplets killed and tried to replace the one of the quintuplets that had been long lost. The long lost quintuplet was getting the full inheritance and it was a big scam.

Charlie Cale (Lyonne) met up with one and stuck her lie-detecting nose into the situation, confused by what was going on. She did not understand why the lies were coming.

Natasha Lyonne is excellent in this role and she makes the show a lot of fun.

Of course, Charlie is on the run from the mob from the end of the first season and she apparently is being pursued by a pair of hitmen who are worse shots than the Stormtroopers in Star Wars. The running joke of these buffoons shooting at Charlie as she runs away happened several times at the beginning and the end of the episode. It was funny at first, but I hope that is not a continual joke over the season.

There are two more episodes available currently and then regular episodes drop on Thursdays.

The Last of Us S2 E5

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“Feel Her Love”

Another strong episode of the video game adaptation on MAX. The Last of Us gave us the brutality of Ellie as well as seeing the group who were called the Scars and how horrendous they are.

Jesse made his way to Seattle (apparently with Tommy, though we haven’t seen him yet) and came in clutch as Ellie was about to be ripped apart by the Stalkers, the intelligent infected. Ellie and Dina were making their way to the hospital, and their trip through the big warehouse led them to these smart infected. Dina was able to lock herself inside a cage and Ellie was nearly killed, but Jesse arrived at the perfect time.

Of course, Jesse was pissed at them for leaving Jackson, and they had to run to escape the Wolves. They ran into the forest where they came across the Scars, also know as the Seraphites. They watched them hang a man and disembowel him, as Ellie and Dina had come across earlier. Dina gets an arrow in her leg and Jesse takes her while Ellie distracts the Seraphites.

Ellie winds up in the hospital and she comes across Nora, who had been the one to hold Ellie down while Abby killed Joel. Ellie chased Nora through the hospital and into an elevator shaft. They wound up in a basement area where Ellie sees a group of people connected to the plants, breathing spores. Nora was infected from the spores but Nora realizes that Ellie is the rumored girl who was immune.

Nora asked Ellie if she knew what Joel had done and then proceeded to tell her the things he had done. Ellie said that she knew.

Ellie took it even further as she was beating Nora with a weapon, trying to get her to tell her where Abby was.

The episode ends with Ellie waking up and Joel walking in to see how she was. HUH?

That was an unexpected moment. I always thought that Joel would be back in some kind of flashback sooner rather than later, but this was the weirdest placement for such a moment. There are a bunch of questions from this show and I can’t wait to see what the answers are.

The X-Files S9 E6

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“Trust No 1”

Hey, it’s John Locke!

I do not think I will ever be able to see Terry O’Quinn in a project without connecting him to LOST. So when he appeared in The X-Files as the Shadow Man, it hit me differently than it was intended.

The whole story was about Mulder with Shadow Man trying to convince Scully to bring Mulder back. He claimed that he would give Mulder, and only Mulder, the names of the super soldiers, but, of course, that was never going to happen. The episode title is Trust No 1. That was not just Mulder’s email.

Doggett and Monica were pushed to the side for this episode as Scully came to the forefront of the show. I did find her emails with Mulder to be strange considering we have not had much language such as this between them.

I do think that there were some interesting ideas here, specifically how Shadow Man knows everything that he does. The concept of electronic surveillance should have been the basis behind this.

We do learn about something that can destroy the super soldiers cause poor Locke gets got here sort of randomly.

The episode felt like it was strange, but it is always great to have Gillian Anderson to the head of the show.