Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Battlestar Galactica S4 E10, E11, E12

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“Revelations”

“Sometimes a Great Notion”

“A Disquiet Follows My Soul”

So much is happening.

In Revelations, there is a tense showdown between the Cylons and the Humans. D’anna wants the four of the five Cylons brought to them and Lee wants the Cylons to release their hostages.

The four were revealed to everyone and it led to some major frustration for Adama.

Starbuck, on a tip from Tyrol and Anders, figured out that a specific Viper had a destination programmed into it and she guessed that it was to earth.

The Galactica and the Cylons, in an alliance, found earth only to discover that it was a nuclear wasteland.

In Sometimes a Great Notion, the crew explored the ruined earth.

They discovered that the 13 Tribe was a tribe of Cylons.

Starbuck recovered her own corpse in her own ship, crashed on the earth. What does that mean? What does that make Kara who is living right now? She burned her corpse.

Roslin and Adama both wound up in a downward spiral from the failure of earth. Adama boozing it up and Roslin rejecting her medical care.

Adama, drunk and angry, stormed to Tigh’s room and tried to get him to kill him. It was a tense scene that felt out of place. Adama has been fairly inconsistent during this time. Not sure how this worked.

Dualla goes out and has a great date night with Lee and then kills herself with a gunshot to the head. Wha????

Then we find out that Ellen Tigh was the fifth Cylon. That revelation was fairly flat for me.

Finally, in “A Disquiet Follows My Soul,” more craziness with Adama and Roslin. They end up in bed together at the end of the episode. Hopefully a good Frack will straighten these two up because they are really needed to get back into their roles.

Tom Zarek is back to his machinations and he is teaming up with the angry and vengeful Gaeta. This was after Gaeta had a bitter throwdown with Kara, with neither of them holding back.

Tyrol’s son has a kidney problem and Tyrol rushed him to the doctor. This was where he learned that the little boy was not his son. Cally was unsure who the father was and, after the wedding, it was not Tyrol. I’m not sure why that was done, unless it was just to screw with Tyrol more.

Turns out the father was Hot Dog and Tyrol beat him up at Baltar’s speech that was so much negative and darkness.

Darkness is a good description for these last two episodes.

The Greatest American Hero S2 E7

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“The Lost Diablo”

It has been awhile since I watched an episode of The Greatest American Hero. The second season has been up and down, with some really good episodes and some episodes that I could leave. Episode seven is right in the middle.

Ralph, Bill and Pan took the kids on camping trip. However, Bill has a different idea. He had a map for a hidden treasure called the Lost Diablo and he wanted help gathering it up.

There were some silly moments in this episode, including a group of thieves setting themselves up to steal the claim out from under them.

Some of the action inside the cave where the gold was hidden was fairly dumb. There was one bobby trap and the mine was constantly threatening to collapse.

I was a little sad because I always like my heroes to be heroes and when the entire band of bad guys got crushed in the mine collapsing, I really wanted Ralph to be able to save them. Instead, he just left with Bill saying that none of them could have survived.

Not sure what this episode was really about, but it was okay, but not in the upper list of the show.

The X-Files S7 E16

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“Chimera”

We had an episode of The X-Files where Mulder and Scully spent no time together and we actually involved in different cases. Scully’s was just a stakeout that the show returned to for a few scenes, so I would assume that Gillian Anderson had something going on that required a limited film schedule at this point.

However, Scully did provide some great comedic moments in the episode with the boredom and the lewdness of what she had to watch. Mulder, on the other hand, was facing a different type of evil in a neighborhood where one would not expect it.

I did not remember much about this episode but I had things figured out fairly soon into it. At least, pieces at a time. This worked a fairly common thread for The X-Files and the pattern of the episode followed a consistent beat. Those local law enforcement agents always have some secret going on.

There were a lot of things left unanswered (of course, this is the X-Files), but the result of the case still worked well. I would have liked to know how this transformation took place or where it came from…something like that.

Nothing too bad on the episode. It is watchable. It just will. most likely, not stand out in my memory as many other X-Files episodes have done.

Battlestar Galactica S4 E7, E8, E9

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“Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?”

“Sine Qua Non”

“The Hub”

Big things happening in the world of Battlestar Galactica. Everything is amping up for this series’ push to its finale.

  • Lee Adama gets himself appointed interim president after Roslin disappears on the Cylon baseship.
  • Admiral Adama resigns as head of Galactica in order to search for Roslin. Appointed Sol Tigh, one of the Final Five Cylons, in his place.
  • The Hybrid jumped the ship multiple times, on its way to the Hub. The Galactica crew planned on capturing Number 3 (D’anna) and destroying the Hub.
  • They do succeed and destroy the Hub, meaning that there would be no more Cylon resurrections.
  • Baltar is severely wounded and Roslin thinks about letting him die for his punishment. Baltar’s drugged out mind confessed his sins from the start. Roslin saves him.
  • D’anna refuses to give out the names of the Final Five to Roslin. It is her only bargaining chip and she wants to be safe.
  • Roslin is reunited with Adama at the end of The Hub episode and tells him that she loves him. He says “About time.”

Three very impactful episodes. Still not sure how things are going to go. It sure seems as if both sides are ready and willing to stab each other in the back, but the uneasy alliance could lead to a positive result.

Still wondering whom that fifth Cylon is. When D’anna told Roslin that she was one of the five, she did it as a joke, but I am not unsure that it was. Who knows at this point. The number of potential choices are not large and I would think that it is not Starbuck, at this point.

The X-Files S7 E15

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“En Ami”

I was yelling at my screen at Scully to shoot him in the head. They never listen to me when I want them to shoot him in the head. I mean, he was in her car, trespassing… she could have done it and everything would be better.

Smoking Man returned to the X-Files to lure Scully on a trip to collect a potential medical cure to cure cancer. Scully went along with him and got taken in by the con. I’m telling you, shoot him in the head.

While the combination of Gillian Anderson and William B. Davis was spectacular, I am not convinced that Scully would get taken in as easily as she did. I do not think she ever truly trusted Smokey, but she certainly was naive enough.

It was also fairly creepy to have Smoking Man looking at Scully in the way that he was. I would not have gone along with him had I been Scully. I guess she is a better person than I am.

Mulder is on the bench for much of this episode, though he does recruit the Lone Gunmen to try and help find Scully. At the end of the episode, Mulder has an almost disappointed look on his face when Scully had taken him to where CSM’s “offices” were (cleaned out, of course).

Who knows exactly how much of this entire trip was true? I am not sure whether CSM told Scully anything that was true and not part of his manipulation. Why does he do this? He just tossed the disc with the info into the water.

Scully could have avoided all of this with just one (or maybe a couple) shots to the head. When will they finally take my suggestion?

PS- I should say that I love William B. Davis’s performance as CSM, and I don’t really want him shot in the head. Just his character.

Battlestar Galactica S4 E4, E5, E6

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“Escape Velocity”

“The Road Less Traveled”

“Faith”

Battlestar Galactica continues with its final season as some of these characters are going through some serious issues, especially those we have learned are Cylons.

Chief Tyrol went through it hard after Cally’s death. He was angry and responding violently. Part was the grief over his wife’s death and part of it was his continued confusion over his own truth.

Sol was having internal struggles as well. He would go down to question Six in the brig, looking for answers to his own self-image questions.

Kara has been acting crazy as captain of this mission to head to try and find earth. The stress and anxiety played havoc with his behavior and the support of the crew that went with her. However, picking up Leoben, who claimed there was a Cylon Civil War going on. Starbuck took a few of her crew (after a very tense mutiny) to the Cylon base ship looking for an alliance.

She found out from the Cylon Hybrid that “Thus shall it come to pass. The dying leader will know the truth of the opera house. The missing three will give you the five who have come from the home of the thirteenth. You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end. End of line.“

Baltar is another character going through it in this run of episodes. He had become a religious leader, speaking about a different, single God. Many of the people aboard Galactica would be listening to him. He had some trouble with Tyrol too.

Roslin’s cancer is moving forward, but she had a conversation with another patient dying of cancer that allowed her to refocus her ideas. Roslin has been a character that has felt inconsistent this season, but I do like the relationship between Roslin and Adama.

Kara seemed to be back in control after a successful trip to the baseship. I’m not sure how this is going to go over with Galactica.

Goosebumps: The Vanishing E4, E5, E6, E7, E8

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“Monster Blood”

“The Boy Who Cried Monster”

“The Girl Next Door”

“Welcome to Camp Nightmare”

“Invasion of the Body Squeezers”

After being very impressed with the first couple of episodes of this Disney + show, I binged the remaining episodes today. Overall, I would say that I liked it more than I expected, but there were some bumps that did not have anything to do with a goose.

What I liked. I enjoyed the ensemble cast. The young actors all were very likable and did a strong job with the material given to them. Considering some of the material was wildly odd, the actors should be considered a major positive. I especially found Devin, played by Sam McCarthy to be a standout. The chemistry between the young actors worked quite well and definitely was a huge plus to the series.

Of course, David Schwimmer was excellent too. I bought him in every weird moment, even as a disembodied head.

The mystery was compelling and the missing brother from the past was a good hook to bring us into the story. It did form together well with the characters involved.

What I did not like as much: The story did feel as if there were plenty of plot holes in it. If all of the people were changing into the alien bugs who had been in the cocoons, why did David Schwimmer not change? Some of the things that happened seemed to be happening because the script said it, and it did not always make sense.

The whole flashback to the alien ship episode was a bit much for me because I did not care about these characters at all. When the ensemble that I had been following was involved, I was much more engaged.

I am also not 100% sure I know what the resolution was, or how they figured it out. Again, some of the writing felt uneven.

At the end of the day, I think I enjoyed this one more than the other Disney + Goosebumps series starring Justin Long and I think this does a decent job of providing an intro to horror for a younger crowd.

Silo S2 E10

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“Into the Fire”

The ending of Silo season two made me think of the ending of LOST season 3, where Jack said “We have to go back!” That moment was such a mind-f that no one was expecting it. That is how I felt when suddenly, the end of Silo seemed to be in a different time before the silos were built.

It led to us seeing where the Pez dispenser came from. It was such an unexpected twist that it was wild.

Both sides of the storyline this year came together in some great scenes.

  • I was right about Walker and the others setting up Bernard, although, I have to admit, mid way through the episode, I was not sure if I was right. Loved the scene between Walker and Bernard that confirmed the plan.
  • Juliette coming over the hill as the whole of silo 18 was preparing for force their way outside was as dramatic as it could be. It was one of the best moments of the show.
  • Again, it may just be me, but Juliette writing “Not Safe. Don’t come out” and showing it on screen as she did reminded me of “Not Penny’s Boat” by Charlie on LOST. Yeah, I know I have LOST on the brain.
  • The Algorithm is strange. It said that Camille could stay but Sims and his son had to leave. Why? Solo kept saying that his mom did not come back when they went to deal with the Safeguard. Is this tied together?
  • The scene where Juliette let Audrey have it for her treatment of Eater, whom we learn has a named- Hope. This was awesome because I have thought Audrey has had something shoved up her butt since the minute we met her.

Last week I believe I stated that ep. 9 was my favorite of the season. That is no longer accurate as episode 10 was just completely awesome from the beginning to the weird flashback at the end. The fire that seemingly consumed Juliette and Bernard, the rebellion’s ‘end’, and everything else.

Silo has done a tremendous job of providing specific details and answers to mysteries while keeping plenty of them active to keep the audience guessing. Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Robbins were outstanding all season long with a special shout out to Steve Zahn’s Solo who may have been the best character we have met so far. Zahn’s performance was special and his bond with Juliette was incredible.

Season three looks to have a ton of surprises in store, and I cannot wait to see where this sci-fi series takes me. Apple TV + has yet another epic series on its hands.

Goosebumps: The Vanishing S1 E3

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“The Haunted Car”

I watched the third episode of Goosebumps: The Vanishing series on Disney +. I will admit that I did not like this one anywhere near the first couple. Still, this was entertaining enough and still does have moments that I really enjoyed.

I was not a fan of the whole haunted car bit during this episode and the character of Alex has not been the one that I have embraced at this point. Since this was a major part of the episode, that pulled down the episode itself.

Everything with David Schwimmer as Anthony and Sam McCarthy as Devin with the mysterious plant/animal creature and the vines was great. I do wish that they would just talk to each other. That is a horror film trope that I wish would not be here in this series. Hopefully, it will not be too many episodes because if they get together, they may be able to have more success than they are having separately.

Trey is back. Not a fan of this character, but I was not supposed to love him. He seems like he has been through it and Anthony’s discovery of and caring of the boy when he did showed a strong side to Anthony. It will probably lead to them bonding at some point.

So while I still liked this episode, it is definitely my least favorite of the season so far. I hope it continues to elevate the Anthony story since the haunted car took a header into the water.

Skeleton Crew S1 E8

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“The Real Good Guys”

Skeleton Crew came to a rip-roaring conclusion with the eighth episode of the first season that saw a big time happy ending and some very stressful moments.

Skeleton Crew has been a joy all season long, and the last few episodes have been filled with action and tense drama. Jod showed his true stripes and took up the mantel of the real villain of this season. Jude Law was sensational in this role, creating a real horrendous human being while still being charming and enthralling enough to wish he would make the right decisions. His past was driving him to this grand theft attempt and, for me, his actions were irredeemable, but when everything was obviously over, he threw aside his blaster.

What a great episode for Wim, who had been having so many troubles all season long. He had his dreams shaken by the realities of the galaxy, but he never completely gave up his hope. Wim was an absolute standout in this episode and the image of Wim standing with the lightsaber was epic.

It was nice when Wim’s father finally began listening to him. The parents played a huge piece in the story with Wim and Fern.

Our young heroes truly stepped it up. KB was awesome as she was able to pilot the Onyx Cinder back up past the barrier to get a message to Khym to send help… it the form of X-Wing fighters.

Oh, and by the way… was that Luke Skywalker????

I never once believed that KB had crashed the Onyx Cinder and had died though. That beat of the story was clearly not in the cards.

I am a little underwhelmed with the final few moments. I wanted more and I needed to know what the kids were going to do, what Jod was going to do etc. I needed more falling action after the huge climax. That is a minor complaint, but I just wanted to know what was next for these characters that have been such a wonderful group for the past eight episodes.

Skeleton Crew delivered some exceptional Goonies in Star Wars action and was one of the best Star Wars Disney + shows, right up their with Andor.

Goosebumps: The Vanishing S1 E1, E2

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“Stay Out of the Basement Part I”

“Stay Out of the Basement Part II”

I was not that interested in the new Goosebumps series on Disney +. I had watched the previous one a couple of years ago, and I liked it enough, but it did not blow me away. It was clear that this was going to be a new cast in what appeared to be an anthology type show starring David Schwimmer of friends fame. I had a moment to watch episode one Sunday night so I gave it a shot.

Holy cow! I was knocked over with the show. I was able to watch episode two tonight and things only got creepier as the show seemed to go full Audrey II.

I loved these first two episodes. I was completely invested with the new characters and the new scary story.

It kicked off with a flashback to a group of kids who disappeared and were assumed to be dead years before. One of those kids turned out to be the brother of David Schwimmer’s character, Anthony. It is a family mystery that is still very relevant for them.

Anthony’s twin children, Devin and Cece, came to visit him for the summer, kicking off plenty of weirdness and wild encounters. Devin has had several issues immediately, trying to impress an old friend/flame, Frankie. She was dating Trey, a real jerk of a guy who lived across the street from Anthony’s place and kept parking his car in his driveway. It was a deal he had made with Anthony’s mom while she was there. Unfortunately, she has been taken to a home with dementia.

The family element was stronger than I expected with the actors involved playing things deeper than a show like this would normal have. Schwimmer was excellent with the sadness and the confusion on how to deal with the problems he is facing.

Anthony is a botanist and that leads him to find a spore (or so he thought) on his brother’s clothes, which had just now been released by the police. That spore turned out to be an animal and a carnivore. So Anthony did his best Seymour Krelborn imitation and started feeding it dead mice from the pet store. Guess what… it started growing. Feed Me Seymour.

Trey gets eaten too… or transformed… or something.

All of the episodes are currently on Disney +, but I do not have the time to binge the rest. Maybe some time in the next week I will get to the remainder of this show, and I am excited because I really liked the first couple.

The X-Files S7 E14

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“Theef”

There were a lot of controversial themes hidden in this X-Files episode. Okay, maybe not that hidden, but when the story swings on the choice of a doctor to end the suffering of a patient who could not be saved, it can create a lot of intrigue.

Picket Fences dealt with the concept of Euthanasia several times, but one would not expect it to appear on an X-Files episode.

The episode also featured “hexing” which seemed to be a backwoods form of voodoo, including the voodoo doll, called a poppet which was how the episode villain was using this pwoer.

The villain, Orell Peattie, was played by Billy Drago, and he was excessively creepy. He played the father of the girl who had been given the excess morphine by the doctor, Robert Wieder, played by James Morrison. Both of these actors did a great job in the episode.

The only issue could see was making Orell Peattie apparently not very highly educated, making the whole character a stereotype. The misspelling of the word “thief” being the title of the episode and something written after his victims.

I do not remember watching this episode when it first aired in 2000, but I did enjoy this one now. As I said, there were several themes in this episode that could be looked at deeper yet including not only Euthanasia but also modern medicine vs. practical magic.

Scully keeping Mulder on his toes is a fun moment in this overall creepy entry.

Battlestar Galactica S4 E3

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“The Ties That Bind”

It is pretty clear that they are into the final season of Battlestar Galactica because major stuff is going down.

The Cylons are fighting within themselves and it sure seemed as if John Cavil (Dean Stockwell) set up the whole group of his opposition to be killed. I’m not sure how that will go over, but it sure looked that way.

Cally discovered the truth about Tyrol. She thought he was having an affair with Tory Foster, but she discovered that they, along with Tigh were Cylons. What did she get for her trouble? A trip out the space vent. Of course, this was after Cally was preparing to kill herself and her son by doing the exact same thing.

Cally had really lost herself the last several episodes and this was the final straw.

Is the show trying to make us dislike Laura Roslin? The show seems to be making her less like a president and more like a tyrant lately. And she is anything but forgiving.

This is really getting dark and I do not know where it is heading. I am trying to keep any spoilers for what’s coming up next away to ty and keep the suspense up.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E6

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“The Joy of Killing”

I have been disappointed with the new Dexter show since the first couple episodes. This new one, episode six, was the best one since the first two.

The show limited the amount of silly Dexter action, though there was some of that as he was getting his first blow job. Still, it was kept to a minimum and the cases were compelling.

The captain’s son was snatched much like the judge’s son earlier in the season. We met the captain’s son recently as he spoke with Dexter. That made this more powerful than just a kid who we had never met. The tension of the cop shop during this episode was at an all-time high.

I am not in love with the flashbacks, but these were fairly significant. We see the birth of Debra and Harry’s wife told him no more affair. Another awkward moment.

Dexter set himself up as a serial killer (officially killing his third victim). The alligator dumping was not going to work any longer as the police have discovered the arm floating in the swamp that we saw a few episodes ago. I figured that was coming back, and I am glad it made it.

Of course, Dexter is not going to be caught or even implicated because we know he does not get caught or implicated for years. The dangers of a prequel.

I hope the remainder of this season is able to match this quality more than it has been lately.

Silo S2 E9

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“The Safeguard”

Wow. This was an intense episode of Silo. It was easily my favorite episode of season two so far. Everything is coming together into major events setting up for the season finale next week.

If I am being honest, some of this season has not caught my attention. I have always been in on everything Juliette is doing, but a lot of the political stuff from the original silo has gone over my head. However, as things ratchet up, every scenes has grown in intensity.

Silo had a LOST moment too as Juliette comes across the Others. Okay, that is not their names, but she found this handful of young adults as she was searching for Solo. The inclusion of these characters brought a anxiety level that ramped things up. Rick and Audrey are angry and spiteful… at least Audrey is. She is very much like kill first and figure it out later. We see how she was behind a lot of the missteps that happened to Juliette earlier in the series (another LOST like trope that saw the same scene from different POV).

Juliette tried to figure out the combination to the vault for Rick and Audrey. Audrey had told her that she would kill Solo when her baby cried again because the baby was hungry. This all led to the reveal of Solo’s backstory and the tragic events that led up to him being stuck in that vault on his own. The whole scene of Juliette trying to convince Solo to give her the combination was effective and suspenseful.

Lukas winding up in front of the giant AI was amazing too. What is the Safeguard? I don’t know, but I think it is safe to assume that it is a way to protect the secrets by destroying the silo. We know there are 51 other silos out there and, according to the AI, only three other people had ever gotten the instructions it was going to give to Lukas.

What side is Sims and his wife going to end up on? I don’t know but all I know is that Bernard needs to face some justice. He is such a horrible character at this point, just concerned with his own power. Unless, that is, there is something that the show has not shown us yet, which is absolutely possible. I think Bernard is going to get his because of Knox. I think Know knows that Walker is the “traitor” and that he was setting up Bernard with a fake story. Maybe I am wrong about that, but the way he spoke to Walker about the possible traitor, it really seemed as if he had figured out the truth.

The finale looks to be a huge episode. This one was easily my favorite of the year so far as every story grasped my attention and made me anxious.