We are moving along through the final season of Sha Na Na with episodes 10-14. There are some interesting things happening in these episodes.
Strangest of the episodes was when Frankie Avalon wanted to join Sha Na Na… and they did not want him. It was a fun switch up from what their normal story with guest stars were. They were playing off the Sha Na Na-Frankie Avalon in Grease bit. Avalon performed the Beauty School Drop-Out song from Grease with the Sha Na Na guys in pink dresses.
In the 13th episode, there was a nice shout out to the Lady in the Window, who has been gone this season. Played by Jane Dulo, the guys said that they had missed the insults that she would give to them since she had “moved away.” Johnny then put on a wig and gave some insults to make them feel better. I could not find a reason for the character to be gone, but clearly, this was a way to honor her.
Johnny Paycheck, Andy Gibb, and Mary Macgregor were the other three guest stars among this group of episodes. Paycheck did his famous “Take this Job and Shove It” song on the stage.
Episode 10 had a strange dual song at the end on the stage. First, it was Jocko and Ginger singing Ol’ Black Magic and it was immediately followed up by Lenny singing Daddy’s Home. I have never seen them do two songs in a row.
Whoa. Big episode. Major reveals leading into the finale. This was the first week that I really wanted to keep watching instead of waiting until next Sunday.
However, I am not sure how I feel about the reveal that it appeared that we got. I can’t see them doing this as a huge red herring at this point in the series. There really feels like there are some gaps in this potential solution that are very coincidental. It makes me think that there is something major missing yet.
Jack’s sister Zoe was murdered this week in a shocking moment. This was after she went to Jack and begged him to listen to her. As always, Jack was just too buried in his own crap to pay any attention to her. Zoe was worried about being the next victim and she wanted to tell Jack something about Anna. The show does a tremendous job of pointing the finger of suspicion at Anna until the last bit of the episode.
How much guilt will Jack have since his sister showed up practically begging for help and he blew her off?
That is until we see that the hotel rooms for Anna and Richard had been canceled and they had no where to go. Richard took Anna to his in-laws place, through the most dense forest around. The tension of that trip was tight as Anna recalled a memory of a time when the five of the friends, including the heavy-set girl named Kathryn (who we saw a few episodes ago in a flashback), who wound up getting raped at this get together.
We find out that Kathryn is dead as well. Zoe had told Priya while she was at the police station about Kathryn. Priya has been focused on the four friends, two of which were murdered. Priya was looking closely at Anna as a suspect.
When Anna and Richard arrived at the lake house, Anna discovered that Richard’s wife and her rival at the station, Lexy, was there too. Anna saw some pictures on the wall of Lexy’s family, her parents and … there was pictures of Kathryn too.
Could Kathryn be related to Lexy? Were they sisters?
Does that mean that Lexy is the killer? Does Richard know or is she just stringing him along. And if that is the case, there is one big thread that bothers me. When the murder of Rachel first takes place and Anna wants to follow the story, she specifically requested Richard as her cameraman. Isn’t that a huge coincidence that makes me unsure about the entire situation.
There is also the fact that Rachel was blackmailing somebody, and her husband, in a taunting scene with Jack, implied that it was not him she was blackmailing. Could it have been Lexy? Richard? Was this all a big revenge scheme to get back at the girls who were so mean to Kathryn when they were in school together? Why would it take so long? Is it connected to Kathryn’s death?
There feels like there are a piece or two that will connect everything together to make it all make sense… or at least I hope it does. Next Sunday I will watch the finale of the limited series and I hope it ties together well.
I found this episode very disappointing. They spent most of the time with the present day crew, which I dislike so much. Outside of Kurt Russell, there just is so little that interests me with them.
It did seem as if Cate was pulling her head out of her ass. If she can become less of a stupid character maybe I can stomach the present day more.
I guess the episode was just here to waste time as the doohickie that was stolen last episode is being retrieved. Feels like a waste of time.
It looked as if the big secret about Lee and Keiko might be revealed. Lee is clearly the real father of Hiroshi instead of Bill Randa.
Gaby has to face her own guilt, grief and emotions after Maya’s death. Maya overdosed and the question of whether she did it on purpose was making things tough for Gaby. She was withdrawing from her friends, from Derrick, but not from work. However, when she discovered something she did not know, she decided to take time off.
The episode was powerfully acted by Jessica Williams and she had some really strong scenes with Harrison Ford. The friendship of Paul and Gaby is one of the most original ones on TV and it shines with the writing of this show.
Jimmy has a new first date with Sofi that is not a family remembrance of Jimmy’s dead wife. It turned into a sudden therapy session with Sofi and her ex. It seems like Jimmy and Sofi are doomed to have awkward encounters… or maybe from that kiss at the end… maybe not.
The show also dealt with Brian and Charlie becoming more assertive when it comes to Liz. Of course, this actually came from Liz.
Another great Shrinking episode with some top notch performances as the main storylines continue to move forward. This is episode 8 out of what sounds like 11 for season three.
I found myself yelling “Don’t end there” at my TV as The Pitt went to black screen.
I thought the lead of this week’s episode would be ICE.
Instead, the sudden awakening patient who grabbed Emma, who was just checking his vitals. The patient was a golfer who had been admitted after passing out from drinking too much and, as he held Emma in the headlock, said “What did you do to me?”
Oof. That was rough and the door was closed, keeping the sound away from the busy ER. I hope Emma gets out of this ok.
Now, back to the big event this week… ICE brings in a detainee for medical attention and brings chaos with them. The Pitt has never shied away from the political storytelling, but this one was a big swing. The very presence of the ICE agents sent a ripple effect through the ER and the waiting room as people were just taking off in fear of what could happen.
It was certainly implied that the patient, the little lady with the torn rotator cuff, had that injury because of the ICE agents. Then, when they were trying to take her away (before she got her sling), nurse Jesse (Ned Brower) tried to intervene because the ICE agents were hurting the patient and he wound up on the ground, arrested too.
At first, Robby wanted to get the patient treated and out of the ER quickly to minimize the presence of ICE, but his monologue he delivered to one of the agents showed how on edge he was about the situation. This whole ICE beat played into Robby’s own struggles this year as he let him have it.
It was a tense stretch of time that really colored the episode.
There were other major things that happened. Rosie dies. Ogilvie is facing so many challenges, including a misdiagnosis that led to a patient’s major trauma. A young boy is brought in with severe heat exhaustion, and his mother struggled with the her failure to protect him. Mel is having issues with her sister’s sex life. Then there is a conflict with Langdon and Santos. Robby’s friend gives Robby the reason to stick around after his shift ends.
This was a solid episode with a lot of things happening.
Monkey D. Luffy might be one of the best characters in all of fiction.
I don’t know how you can watch Luffy and not love him. He is such a honorable, heroic, kind-hearted, awesome hero. He is always smiling and laughing and so child-like. He is unlike any character that I can think of.
The battle for Drum Island was the backdrop for the finale of season two. The people of Drum Island against King Wapol and his monsters was an awesome battle. Wapol fighting Luffy was epic. I do not think there was a better representation of the way Luffy is than when he threw himself in front of the pirate flag, taking the whole blast of Wapol’s canon, and, when the smoke cleared, he was there ready to monologue to the King. I found this remarkably inspiring.
Of course, Chopper is joining the crew as the ship’s doctor. The way this crew bonds with each other is such fun and you can see how much they mean to each other.
But again, the magic of the Straw Hats is Luffy. He is the center of this crew and I love how the others look at Luffy.
The episode continued to build the lore as we meet Mr. Zero, aka Sir Crocodile.
I speculated that the trip to Alabaster would be next season, and that is exactly what has happened. I love how the show has taken its time to introduce the character of Chopper and Vivi, and because of that, we love them.
Season two was sensational. It is every bit as great as season one, if not better. I could watch more than just 8 episodes per season. One Piece is such an amazing show and I can’t wait for the third season.
The next two episodes of season two gives us the debut and the origin of a character that I had heard about, but knew very little about him.
Chopper is a character that I heard some people wonder how they were going to adapt him. Apparently, Chopper is a reindeer who had eaten a Devil’s Fruit and turned into a being that walked on two legs and could talk. Moreso, we discover that Chopper is able to change between forms.
Katey Segal joined the list of guest stars this season as Doctor Kureha, who they took Nami to see after she fainted last episode.
The path to Dr. Kureha was one of the most tense moments of the series as Luffy and Sanji literally climbed a mountain side to reach a castle. They were told that the castle held a witch, but it is just Dr. Kureha and Chopper.
On the way up the mountain, Sanji slipped and fell. Luffy caught him by stretching his neck and catching him with his teeth. While that was all kind of bad ass, it had a weird CGI about it. Stretching can be a tough thing because it does not look natural. Still, Luffy using his teeth to save Sanji… great.
The story of Chopper’s origin is heartbreaking and is told to Luffy, Sanji and Nami by Dr. Kureha. It was after Luffy found a pirate flag in a crate and Chopper yelled at Luffy to not touch it.
The seventh episode was almost the entire story of Chopper and it goes to show you how important of a character he is.
We are introduced to the King of Drum Island, Wapol, who is just a horrendous character. Wapol also got a Devil’s Fruit at the beginning of episode 6 and he is one who really needs his comeuppance in the finale.
It really looks like there are a bunch of storylines that are not going to be wrapped up this season. The whole bit with Smokey and the Marines are not going to catch up yet. I am not even sure that Vivi is ever going to get back to Alabasta this season. Maybe as the cliffhanger. That is fine with me.
We got quite a cliffhanger at the end of episode six. Something that has been building since season one episode one. Xavier and Teri met eyes. Of course, it was right after Gary tried to kill Xavier by setting off the bomb early… the bomb that Xavier was setting up to blow up the people Teri was with because he was mistakenly believing that they had snatched Teri and was holding her prisoner. All because Gary had a weird fixation on Teri and he wanted Xavier out of the way.
Gary failed pretty amazingly considering. All he had to do was blow him up but he had to apologize to him first, giving Xavier the chance to get the bomb away from him so he would not be killed.
And this was not even the main focus of this episode.
This episode gave us background details on Jane and we learned how crazy she really is.
I mean… CRAZY…CRAZY….
She had a dark backstory for sure… but surely one that leads to the supervillain. Now I am not sure whether it is Sinatra that we should be worried about or Jane.
Meanwhile, Jeremy is preparing to try and escape from the camp he is being held at. Thankfully, he has Nicole Robinson to aid, despite it going against her better judgment.
Last season, One Piece was cruising along and then, suddenly, they had a two part episode. Season two has copied that idea as episodes four and five are a two part episode on the island in the Grand Line called Little Garden.
The Little Garden had all kinds of things we had not seen before such as dinosaurs, giants, and David Dastmalchian. Dastmalchian joined the roster of the Baroque Works as Mister 3, an assassin who can create wax.
This was an excellent pair of episodes that featured some awesome things:
One of the key storylines over theses two episodes includes trying to give Usopp an arc. He came through big time in these episodes.
The two giants and their century long duel was great and I loved how these giants were not the stereotypical giants one would come to expect.
The big fight with Miss Valentine and Mr. 5 at the giant wax cake was awesome, and, as I said, Usopp came through like a boss.
I love how the giants survived, even after it seemed as if they were dead.
Miss Goldenweek was perhaps the scariest of the Baroque Works assassins we’ve met so far. She caused a lot of suffering to Luffy.
We get our first interaction with the mysterious Mr. Zero, via a phone conversation between Mr. Zero and Sanji (who was pretending to be Mr. 3). I think he was being played by Joe Manganiello.
The two giants work together to help Luffy’s ship to get past a giant goldfish.
Three episodes remain in season two and I expect it to be awesome.
Another great episode of One Piece. Here we get to see Zoro and his new swords get in some action on the new island where they stopped. It seemed as if the island loved pirates and we so friendly. Of course, things are too good to be true.
The two assassins, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, were freed by Luffy… or at least Miss Wednesday was freed because Luffy’s gut told him to do it. They escaped and became a major problem during this episode.
However, Miss Wednesday turned out to be someone that we did not expect… a missing princess, undercover inside the assassins.
One of the best parts of the episode was the swordfighting of Zoro as he is seeing visions of Dracule Mihawk, the world’s greatest swordsman who left Zoro defeated and near death last season. Zoro counting off the number of agents of the Baroque Works he took out was awesome and showed some amazing fight choreography.
Back to booger bombs. Mr. 5 showed up with Miss Valentine as they chased Miss Wednesday. Apparently, Miss Wednesday has found the info on the identity of the leader of the assassins, Mr. Zero.
The show has done a tremendous job of building up a group of antagonists for our crew in the first few episodes that feel more than just the bad-guy-of-the-week. From Smokey to Mr. Zero and the assassins in-between, this has a good group of characters with mysteries abounding.
Another week… another week where I can’t stand Cate.
She ended the episode looking at the broken Golden Gate Bridge and feeling all kinds of guilt over her releasing the Titan X that the world now knows about. Maybe she is planning on jumping off the bridge. It is terrible to say, but I think the show would benefit from it.
We get the scene we have been expecting in one of the flashbacks where Keiko and Lee made love after escaping from the natives on the island. Keiko felt guilty here too, but I think it probably will lead to Lee being the actual father of Hiroshi instead of Bill Randa.
Bill found a letter from Keiko to Lee at the end of this week’s episode which tells me that things are about to happen.
Lots of melodrama this week, which is the weakest part of this show. The flashbacks are still the strongest part of the show while the present day is just hardly interesting. Even now with a new Titan swimming around, the present day is not that good. Monarch sure feels like an incapable organization.
This show needed some more Titan action as the human drama is not cutting it.
More drama is brought up between out two main characters and we get what we have needed… some face to face with two of the top actors around. Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson are both powerhouse actors and this gives us the first, real, face to face engagement between them.
I mean, they have had scenes together int he previous three episodes of Him & Hers on Netflix, but none of them were as powerful as this one at the end of episode 4.
It focused around the loss of their child and how they were tearing each other apart, even when they did not want to be doing that. It was painful and real, but it seemed as if they may have taken a step in their relationship… as the truck sex may indicate.
Both swear that they had not part in hurting Rachel and the second victim Helen, but I am still not sure I believe them.
The killings are certainly connected as the presence of a friendship bracelet at both scenes implied. It also pointed toward Jack’s sister, who also has one of the bracelets. The cameraman is looking a little sus too.
The city is flipping out and the mayor showed what a dumb ass he was by making Jack do a press conference. The city town hall turned into a chaotic mess and winds up getting broadcast on the news… thanks Anna, who stirred the pot big time.
It is the birthday of Tia so Jimmy and Alice are celebrating in their own way. The whole group of characters are circling around, lending their help and support. Alice is very worried that her father will be alone and be completely lonely when she went to college.
Jimmy definitely showed how much he still missed his wife, as we see a sweet scene with them singing “A Thousand Years” and Tia messing up the lyrics to sing “I Will Be Grape.”
Alice called Louis to come to Tia’s grave so Jimmy can see how good his life has become. Alice tells Jimmy that he was the reason why Louis was able to move on, and she worried that Jimmy would never be able to move on.
New epic guest star this week. Shrinking has amazing actors in secondary and supporting roles, and Candace Bergen is here as Constance, Derek’s mother, who has had a very contemptuous relationship with Liz over the years.
I love Candace Bergen and having her on Shrinking is fabulous. What was even better was the all-too-short scene between Candace Bergen and Harrison Ford. What a wonderfully written moment and I loved every second of it.
Michael J. Fox also returned this week in a session with Paul.
Then, we get Cobie Smulders back as Sofie, who gets invited to the final sing-a-long with Jimmy and his whole family/friends at the celebration of Tia’s birthday. A little awkward, but fitting right in with the way Shrinking goes.
Then, it ends with a brutal thud as Gaby gets a phone call telling her that “We lost Maya.” I assumed that she died, as she did seem like she had made a decision at the end of last episode.
Strong episode again as this show is just so awesome. So many amazing actors with such excellent writing.
I laughed at this line as Ogilvie was handed the severed leg of an incoming patient. The look on his face was just hilarious.
The Pitt was thrown several more rough cases after a water park ride collapse.
Robby is showing the stress of everything a bit more this year as he ripped into Samira after her panic attack. Robby did come right to the point sharply. He also had some words with Dr. Al-Hashimi. Robby has been slowly cracking over this show and those cracks are beginning to show.
There are a bunch of characters struggling with their own personal issues. Mel came back from her disposition and the lawyers were apparently rough on her. Langdon and Santos’s dialogue is sarcastic to say the best. Both Samira and Javadi are having mommy issues. Becca tells Mel that she had a UTI because she has been having sex with her boyfriend- lots of sex, she said.
Things feel as if they are beginning to get tense among the characters and I wonder if things are going to become rough soon.
Episode five is a very strong episode that kind of reminded me of the season one episode from The Last of Us where we met Bill, A Long, Long Time. It felt outside of the story that was being told around them for much of the episode.
This is the background of the story of where Teri has been and how she survived the three years outside of the bunker.
Turned out there was a mailman named Gary and a friend of his named Enos he met playing games online. The two of them were bouncing around conspiracy theories and how they would survive a zombie apocalypse, when things seemingly became real for them.
Gary discovered that there was a fallout shelter in the basement of the post office that he worked in that was hidden and was not used. No one even knew it was there.
Gary and Enos were collecting a small group of people to join them in the shelter and Teri wound up among that by happenstance.
There was also a young boy named Bean, who had an abusive homelife, that Gary would see on his mail route. Gary brought the boy with him into the shelter. It was Bean that helped bring Teri into the group as they bonded very quickly.
Gary was the man Xavier had at gunpoint at the end of the last episode. He had told Xander that he had known his wife and that she was taken.
However, this all seems like BS. The end of the episode threw a real twist as we see a scene where Gary and Enos went to see the people in the train and discovered that they were people looking to help others and were on the way to Colorado. Gary shot Enos to keep the story away from Teri (though it looked like Bean saw that happen) and Gary has been lying to Xavier this whole time.
I was feeling something was off with Gary for awhile during the episode. I thought maybe Gary was the one to destroy the radio, but Enos did admit to doing that.
There are some real questions about what Gary did and why he did it. I am sure that it will make more sense once we hear the full story, but, for now, Xavier is planning on attacking this group of people on the train to find Teri. It could be that she is not even there.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 