Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Doctor Who S2 E3

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“The Well”

One of the wonderful things about the Disney + series, Doctor Who, is that this character can be in any kind of type of story needed. Last week we had the meta episode with the animated character. This week there was a space sci-fi/horror story with a lot of tension and mystery. Doctor Who can do whatever you need.

This week was tremendous. The Doctor and Belinda showed up in a space military operation on an unknown planet in the distant future. They encounter a mysterious force that stands behind a person. It is connected to a story that Doctor Who had told previous when David Tennent was the Doctor. It was fun when Ncuti Gatwa said, in character, that he had been on this planet before, and we get a flash from that episode with Tennent.

I truly did not know what was going to happen with this story as there were just a bunch of characters on edge. The show also did a great job of building these side characters quickly so I felt something for them when they were in jeopardy. It was not just a bunch of cannon fodder (though there were some of those here too).

The episode continued to build the overarching mystery of the season with the question about why the Tardis can not return to earth in 2025. These people in the distant future had never heard of the earth or the human race even though The Doctor indicated that the earth should have been known in the time. I do like how they keep planting those seeds even if it is not the main thrust of the episode. Oh and Mrs. Flood is there again, just taunting us with her continual presence.

I am such a fan of this version of the Doctor so far. Ncuti Gatwa is such a strong performer and seems to have chemistry with everyone. He is emotional and powerful, oozing a confidence that is shaken over and again. I have not seen many other versions of Doctor Who, but this one had made me a fan.

The Studio S1 E6

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“The Pediatric Oncologist”

Matt is dating a doctor. A pediatric oncologist, to be precise, and she invited him to a fancy black tie fundraiser with other doctors.

Things do not go well.

Matt agrees to go even though, as the studio head, he has to get a trailer for Johnny Knoxville’s new satire about projectile diarrhea approved.

This led to a conflict between Matt and the doctors who were with his girlfriend. They were looking down on his work, treating it as if it was not important. Matt disagreed, claiming his work as “art.”

While it is difficult to compare movie making to trying to cure cancer, these doctors were extremely dismissive of Matt and looked down their collective noses at him and what he does for a living.

This led to some extremely funny moments. My favorite one was when Matt outbid the doctors at his table for a gold trip to Ireland, even though he does not like golf. I actually cheered for Matt when he tossed out his winning bid at the last second.

I have been enjoying this Apple TV + comedy every week. Again, it feels so very meta, but has some very strong themes.

Light & Magic S2 E1

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“Are We Ready For This?”

The Light & Magic documentary series got an unexpected second season as it showed up with three episodes on Disney +. I enjoyed the initial season of this documentary, so I figured this would be a good series to add to the watchlist.

The story of Industrial Light & Magic, or ILM, is an fascinating tale of movie making and the way they took the business on an entirely new path.

This was around the time that George Lucas was preparing to create the prequels, the infamous films that were the pre-story of Star Wars, featuring Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker. Lucas did not want to start work on prequels until he believed that IBM was ready to create the digital work that he thought the movies needed.

The beginning of the doc included discussion on Caspar and Dragonheart. The episode indicated that once Lucas saw Dragonheart, he knew ILM was ready for The Phantom Menace.

They spent a good chunk of the doc on the creation of Jar Jar Binks. One of the most divisive characters in Star Wars, Lucas believed that Jar Jar was one of the most important pieces of the puzzle and that the film would not work if they did not nail Jar Jar. Such an interesting comment for a character that so many Star Wars fans hated.

They also discussed the pod racing scenes and how George saw these.

Whether I was a fan of these movies or not, the technology created and used on these films revolutionized the industry without a doubt. I am intrigued to hear the stories of the making of the prequels moving forward.

All three episodes of this documentary dropped on Disney +.

The X-Files S9 E4

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“4-D”

The multiverse comes to the X-Files.

This was an interesting and confusing episode as it started off with Monica Reyes having her throat cut, and Doggett getting shot, but returned from commercial with Monica at home and Doggett there with her.

Skinner called her and told her that Doggett had been shot.

How many times does Doggett die in this series? This is at least the second time.

Monica Reyes came up with the theory from out of nowhere. It was the kind of theory that Fox Mulder would have pulled out.

This was an interesting idea but the overall execution was at best okay.

The Last of Us S2 E2

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“Through the Valley”

I can’t believe it.

I was aware of Joel’s fate in general from the video game, but I knew no specifics. So as this was being set up, I was in denial. I was sure that they had planned on extending Pedro Pascal’s part longer into season two because of how huge of a star he had become.

Nope. Episode two and Joel is dead.

Honestly, right up until the end, before Abby drove that broken golf club into Joel’s neck, I thought he was getting out of it, somehow. I never played the game so I was unaware that this was setting up a scene that was straight out of the game.

Ellie held on the ground, screaming for mercy for the man who was like a father to her was heartbreaking, and I know that there are extenuating circumstances behind the vengeance of Abby, but I want her dead… just so dead.

Joel had saved her life earlier in the episode as she had been chased by the Infected and was about to be caught when Joel appeared from nowhere to stop it. The whole chase scene with Abby and the Infected, as well as the crawling beneath the collapsing fence, was just suspenseful.

Before this tragic event, the Infected crashing into the city and causing such a tremendous amount of loss. The standoff with Tommy and the Bloater was intense as you get on TV. I thought Tommy was a goner, but he was able to make it through, thankfully.

Bella Ramsey was amazing in this episode. They are absolutely setting up Ellie and Abby as similar characters for future face off. Historically, heroes and villains are like the other side of the same coin. This feels like the show is building a hero/villain archetype.

What We Do in the Shadows S1 E10

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“Ancestry”

The first season of What We Do in the Shadows wrapped up with episode 10 called “Ancestry.” Guillermo does some DNA testing on the vampires and himself to see what their ancestry would be. Guillermo discovered some interesting facts.

One, Nandor had 200,000 living descendants. This included one living descendant in Staten island. Nandor wanted to go see her and she turned out to be 94 years old. The sight of Nandor floating outside her window led directly to her death.

And two, that Guillermo was a descendant of Van Helsing, the well-know vampire killer, leading Guillermo to question everything about his life. Especially since he “accidentally” killed two vampires in the recent episodes. The idea that Guillermo, Nandor’s familiar is actually related to Van Helsing is a really funny idea.

What was also funny was how Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja, along with Colin, attended Nandor’s granddaughter’s funeral… inside a church. The vampires were in the back literally smoking and catching on fire. When Nandor sent Guillermo for water to put him out, he accidentally brought holy water, which burned him all the more.

The first season of What We Do in the Shadows was really funny and enjoyable. I do believe, moving forward with this show, I will be doing a binge day for the remaining five season, where I take the entire season and binge them in a day, doing a wrap up write-up at the end of the season.

The Studio S1 E5

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“The War”

Quinn and Sal are at war with one another over the director for a blatant rip-off of the Smile movie franchise called Wink. They go to all sorts of shenanigans to make the other one look bad until there is a dramatic and terrifying burrito accident.

The Studio is such fun show and, while I know this is a parody of the behind the scenes events that occur at a movie studio, I have this feeling that there is more truth to the episode than fiction, and that it is just turned up to a higher volume.

This episode featured Chase Sui Wonders as Quinn and Ike Barinholtz as Sal as Seth Rogan is more around the outside of the episode. We see him, but he is not the center of the chaos as he has been for the first four episodes. Several other cast members such as Catharine O’Hara and Kathryn Hahn are missing completely.

The show is very funny and I do like how it is willing to put Seth Rogan off to the side with confidence that the episode would still turn out great. The Studio is one more excellent series from Apple TV and I am glad I started with it.

Doctor Who S2 E2

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“Lux”

What a clever episode.

What a meta episode.

I loved this one.

1952. It is Miami. A group of people disappear after a strange cartoon comes out of the theater screen and does something to them. It is terrifying.

The Doctor and Belinda have to take on Mr. Ring-a-Ding, another of the Pantheon. Mr. Ring-a-Ding is voiced by Alan Cummings.

I was surprised that the secondary characters were so intricate even though they did not get as much screen time. The conflict from Reginald Pi is beautiful. I loved the Doctor Who fans as well. I found the fans so strangely emotional.

The writing is spectacular with so many film language weaved into the story. They had an animated section that was really excellent too. I loved how the Doctor referred to himself as Thelma (with the Scooby Doo references).

I thought the use of the segregation allusions were well done and made a lot of sense. I also liked how the Doctor understood this before Belinda realized the issue.

I have never seen “Blink.” Perhaps I should watch it. I hear it is a great episode.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #13

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“Dream a Little Dream of Me”

Happy Easter. Happy 4:20. Happy Wrestlemania weekend.

There is a lot going down today. It is also Sunday Morning Sidewalk #13, the third episode of the first (and only?) season of Netflix’s The Sandman, entitled “Dream a Little Dream of Me.”

Morpheus was in search of his items and he started with the pouch of sand that was in the possession of Constantine. That is Johanna Constantine, not John, by the way.

We also get the debut of a new raven, Matthew. This one is voiced by everyone’s favorite comic book geek, Patton Oswalt. Oswalt has appeared in Agents of SHIELD, voiced MODOK, Uncle Ben, Chameleon, The Atom, made an appearance as Pip the Troll and played himself in the Boys. He has also written comic books over the last several years. He has a ton of irons in the geek fire.

David Thewlis continued to be as sinister as could be as John Dee got himself out of the asylum he was living in thanks to his mom, Ethel Cripps. He immediately met up with The Corinthian, who gave him a coat. This pairing of villains are compelling and these two actors, Thewlis and Boyd Holbrook, are great.

This was another solid outing. I am pleased with what I saw this week. Week one, I was uncertain if I was going to enjoy this series, but the last two episodes have been very good so I hope we are on a entertaining path moving forward.

I guess the path we are on will lead to Hell as that is where Morpheus and Matthew were departing for as the episode closed.

Daredevil: Born Again S1 E9

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“Straight to Hell”

“We need an army”

Daredevil made this comment near the end of the episode, talking about how they are going to win the city back from Wilson Fisk.

Wilson Fisk, at the end of season one of Born Again, is on top of the world. He is dominant, he is in control. He has control of the police. He has put out the vigilante act. He has the courts. Wilson Fisk is the Kingpin Mayor of New York. He loves the city… and he is ready to take total control of the city.

We get some of the most brutal scenes in the entire MCU with the Punisher. Frank Castle was absolutely NOT Disneyfied. I can almost say that some of the moments in here are as gory and bloody as I have ever seen. Not only Frank, but when Kingpin literally crushed the police commissioner’s head with his bare hands in front of the police force… whoa.

Karen is back. I was worried that she would not make it through the episode. Heck, I was worried that Frank wasn’t going to make it through the episode.

Massive blackout across the city. Riots in the streets.

Another cool moment was when Frank asked Matt, “Why would you take a bullet for that *sshole?” and Matt responded, “I don’t know.”

I know some have not liked this series. I personally loved it. These last few episodes were absolutely stupendous and will lead into an unbelievable season two.

The X-Files S9 E3

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“Dæmonicus”

The first monster-of-the-week episode with the new regime of the X-Files is “Dæmonicus”. I have never been a huge fan of X-Files episodes that were religious background. This was a demon possession tale of sorts.

Plus, there was a gigantic puke scene, which are never good for me.

I found this episode to be dull and uninteresting. John just denied everything. In an obnoxious way. Monica moved around the episode with a weird look upon her face. Scully was there, now teaching a class.

None of this worked for me.

What We Do in the Shadows S1 E7, E8, E9

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“The Trial”

“Citizenship”

“The Orgy”

I was able to watch three episodes of What We Do In the Shadows season one tonight, and they were all really funny and enjoyable.

Probably my favorite of the three was “The Trial” as Laszlo, Nandor and Nadja are put on trial by the Vampire Council for the murder of The Baron, who was burned in the sunlight last episode. Of course, it was Guillermo who killed the Baron, however accidentally it was.

This episode was chocked full of cameos that were all just fabulous. Dave Bautista, Paul Rubens, Taika Waititi, Tilda Swinton, Evan Rachel Wood, Jemaine Clement, Danny Trejo, Doug Jones, Kristen Schaal, and Westley Snipes all made cameo appearances in this episode.

Laszlo, Nandor and Nadja were found guilty and placed in a well, to await the sun to burn them to death. Luckily, they were saved by Colin Robinson and Guillermo.

“Citizenship” included Nandor trying to get his American citizenship, and his lack of knowledge of America is hilarious. This episode is also dealing with Jenna’s transformation into a vampire and Nadja’s attempt to help teach her what she needed to do to become the best vampire she could be.

“The Orgy” revealed that Laszlo had been making pornos since the beginning of cinema, and, sadly, the pornos he made were boring. With the threesome looking to throw an awesome orgy, things do not go quite as well as they had hoped.

These were three great episodes. I have to finish up season one soon.

The Last of Us S2 E1

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“Future Days”

Season two of the tense and traumatic HBO Max show, The Last of Us, just debuted and the relationship between Joel and Ellie was shaken and on the edge. And it clearly is related to the lie Joel told at the end of last season, to hide the brutality that he committed against the fireflies in order to save Ellie’s life. It has been five years later and there have been issues since that lie, bringing them to the point where they are now.

The show kicked off and ended with the same group of people, the surviving Fireflies that Joel did not murder at the hospital. They, particularly a woman named Abby, swear that they will find and kill Joel, no matter how long it takes. Apparently, how long it will take is five years as they show up at the end of the episode again.

It looks as if the choices made by Joel is the driving force of the drama for this season, whether it be from the group looking for vengeance to Ellie knowing that he has been lying to her for years. I think it is obvious that Ellie knows that Joel lied to her. You can see it in her face.

Catharine O’Hara is a member of the cast this season as Gail, who is a therapist that has been working with Joel. Joel has not been wanting to admit to anything and even after Gail mentioned her husband Eugene, who apparently Joel had to kill, he does not go into specifics (I just saw that Eugene will be played by Joe Pantoliano, so… flashbacks I assume!). He does not seem to be good at hiding it, because it sure seems as if everyone could tell that he had something he was keeping inside.

There is a new type of infected too. It was an infected that did not just run right at you, but who stalked you, hid from you, and positioned itself into proper spot. It was a creepy scene where the infected stalked Ellie.

This episode built the characters and started to place them into position to where they will face the trouble this season. The distance between Joel and Ellie is hard to watch considering how close they had become by the end of the first season.

The Leftovers S1 E4

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“B.J. and the AC”

The Leftovers focuses back on Kevin Garvey after last episode with Father Matt. Someone stole the baby Jesus from the nativity scene and Kevin is getting pressure from the Mayor to find it (or replace it). Kevin suspected that his daughter was the culprit.

Laurie and Meg come to see Kevin. Meg read a letter written by Laurie claiming that she wanted a divorce. However, Kevin wouldn’t accept it unless Laurie tells him that she wants out. He is screaming at her, and Jill sees this.

There are some scenes that I do not understand, including the group of dead bodies in the road, all dressed in white. Christine said it was just like the dream, but I must admit to not being sure which dream she was referring to. Tom has been all over the place in this episode.

This was not as strong as last week, but there are some good moments in it.

The X-Files S9 E1, E2

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“Nothing Important Happened Today”

This two-part episode kicked off season nine of the X-Files, a show that had gone through a creative overhaul to focus on the character that had been heavily introduced in season eight, such as Agent Doggett and Agent Reyes.

Cary Elwes joined the cast of X-Files as FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer, a former lover to Monica Reyes. These first two episodes played him as kind of creepy jerk, but there may be more than what it seems.

Lucy Lawless appeared here too, but her character, Shannon McMahon, would not become a recurring character because of Lucy Lawless’s difficult pregnancy.

These episodes centered around a new conspiracy, the US Government involved in an attempt to manipulate ova to create super soldiers, one of which may or may not be baby William, Scully’s recently born son.

These episodes had their moments, but the specter of Mulder still hung over the show. In his absence, it is difficult to really get behind the new characters, and the seemingly switch of Kersh into an… ally(?) of Doggett and Scully felt weird.